Making things happen in the Navy...
"I'll send you a message, you send me a message, then we'll get a bunch of guys together and make things happen."
From the best-selling paperback - "The Wit and Witticism of Chairman How" - Captain Howie Ehret, Old School Publishing Company
Back in the day, it wasn't any more complicated than that. Have a great idea? Let's make it happen - 'Chairman How' style.
5 comments:
Well, that may work with some people. What about the civilians or government employees that don't care? We have the problem in the military of only being somewhere for 2-3 years, and often time one lazy civilian or government employee in another organization drags that whole system down.
And I'm not saying we don't have lazy slackers in the military, or that all non-military is lazy. But when you get a guy or gal that just doesn't plain want to work and they aren't in your CoC...it's bloody frustrating.
Nowadays it takes weeks to staff a message for release. I hear you NG36B.
It doesn't have to be more complicated than that even today. It doesn't happen often enough these days, but I can assure you it does still happen. In fact, I'll see if I can't make a little of that happen today. It's all about seeking out those who care enough to make things happen.
The combination of unneeded layers of bureaucracy and the absence of urgency buries good ideas. The only option I have is to write papers and hope for the best. I’m still writing and still hoping.
I worked for (then) LTjg Howie Ehret aboard the USS SPRINGFIELD (CLG-7) as a member of the NSG Det, Staff, COMSIXTHFLT. Even as a junior officer, he was a go getter, and he was, even then, destined to rise through the ranks. Within the NSG at the time, and through his career, his philosophy on getting things done worked. I saw it then, and I saw it years later when he was a CAPT and CO of a major NSG Activity.
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