Monday, May 3, 2010

Once genius is submerged

"I don't mean to suggest... that he is a man who is without controversy. He speaks his mind.

Sometimes he has rivals who disagree with him; sometimes they are right, and he is the first to admit that sometimes he might be wrong.

But the greatness of the American military service, and particularly the greatness of the Navy, is symbolized in this ceremony today, because this man, who is controversial, this man, who comes up with unorthodox ideas, did not become submerged by the bureaucracy, because once genius is submerged by bureaucracy, a nation is doomed to mediocrity. "

President Nixon on awarding Admiral Rickover his 4th star

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Captain Lambert,

You have generated a number of posts concerning Adm. Hyman Rickover on this blog, in the last couple of years, and there has only been one individual that has responded to any of those posts. Does it make you wonder where the mind of these individuals are that fail to respond to anything Hyman Rickover did for his country? Are they, too busy, totally unaware, or are they too self-absorbed in their own little world of advancement and what they have to do to achieve that, to notice such things as Hyman Rickover’s achievements? These same individuals unfortunately do not realize the importance of this mans contribution to the Navy and to the world, and even though he was an abrasive and demanding individual his nuclear power program was probably the biggest factor responsible for the evaporation of the Soviet Unions power and the end of the Cold War. The Sailors that manned those Boats and Ships in his day are mostly gone now, as is the Admiral, but these relatively new Sailors, Commissioned or Enlisted that post their words that only tend to prove that “they do not know they do not know” should educate themselves to find what allowed them to be in existence today.

The type of Sailor that says “what relevance is this in today’s Navy” when referring to the Duke of Wellington is an indication that, that Sailor should probably brush up on the importance of naval history. That same type of individual that rebukes the tools typically used in presentations today (MS Power Point) is most likely blaming his lack of knowledge of the tools and the subject matter on his own insufficient efforts, and fails to even realize it.

Captain Lambert, it appears to me that many of your responders on this post should follow your advice and “Anchor Up” except in respect to their participation concerning this blog it is some Commissioned Officers that should “Anchor Up”.
Very Respectfully,

E. A. Hughes, FTCM(SS)
USN (Retired)
Navyman834

LCDR Bob Morrison said...

Master Chief, right on the money as usual!