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Letters

Frocking to chief

After reading Chief Religious Programs Specialist (SW/SCW) Patrick Mondragon’s comments, I was left to wonder: Was this superstar never frocked as a petty officer [“Why wait on pay?” Letters, May 25]?

I doubt he was forced to wear khaki. Maybe he missed something in transition.

I was frocked for 12 months as a chief petty officer and 13 as a senior chief; I felt honored to wear the anchors early.

I hope this E-6 comes to enjoy the privilege of wearing the hat.

-- Lt. Cmdr. Terry Rhodes, Oklahoma City

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You have a point, chief — certainly Big Navy should take action.

But why not take matters into your own hands and not wear the uniform until your date of pay? Problem solved.

-- MMCM (SW) Michael Corriveau (ret.), Middletown, R.I.

No pride in uniform

After reading Legalman 2nd Class Samuel Frankel’s letter [“Poor choice for uniform”] in the May 11 issue, I felt that I needed to say a few things about the service uniform.

My son is an E-2 on active duty and was issued the enlisted service uniform at boot camp. When he recently came home on leave from “A” school, he wore his service dress blue uniform while traveling. Of course, he was instantly recognized as a sailor and was shown a great degree of respect by everyone he came in contact with. He is extremely proud to wear that uniform, just as Frankel was proud to wear his Marine Corps dress blues back when he served as a Marine.

How much pride can be generated by wearing the new service uniform? Not much, I’m afraid. My son has been saluted (once by a petty officer) while wearing his black and tan service uniform. So it’s obvious that the uniform’s design confuses Navy people. It’s going to be far worse with civilians, the vast majority of whom don’t know anything about the armed forces.

How can a uniform be a source of pride when it’s not understood? How can civilians show respect for our sailors when they don’t know one when they see one?

I submit that the Navy ought to have an interest in ensuring that its personnel wear distinctive, recognizable uniforms when in public. Convenience and cost are important factors, but they are not the only ones when setting uniform policy. The Navy saw the error of its ways back in the early 1980s by eliminating the impractical coat-and-tie dress blue uniform for E-6 and below, a uniform that was mandated just a few years before. Back then, it realized that tradition of the “jumper” uniform was of real value when it returned to the “crackerjacks.” Maybe that can happen again.

-- Reserve Capt. Paul Ryan (ret.), Jenison, Mich.

Torture and Abu Ghraib

I agree with the theory of the appeal that attorney Charles Gittins has filed on behalf of former Army Spc. Charles Graner Jr., who was convicted along with several others for abusing prisoners in Iraq [“Torture memos spark Abu Ghraib appeal,” May 18].

At the time the trials were going on, I marveled that these very junior enlisted personnel, with little training in the proper care of prisoners, were being court-martialed for abusing prisoners, while at the same time others were using even harsher “legally sanctioned” tactics.

None of the court-martialed guards was a lawyer. How can the guards be expected to know the law when there is still a raging debate as to whether waterboarding and other techniques are torture or otherwise violate the Geneva Conventions?

If the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces does not reverse the convictions of all those who were convicted from Abu Ghraib, then President Barack Obama should give them all full pardons.

-- Cmdr. Wayne Johnson (ret.), Alexandria, Va.

The true cost of alcohol

The cost of reportable incidents is but a fraction of the total cost of alcohol abuse to the Navy [“Battling booze,” May 18]. Often overlooked is the cumulative cost of subpar performance of people in a duty status who are hung over and those inebriated but not to such an extent that they can be labeled “drunk.” And that’s not to mention the havoc alcohol abuse wreaks on familial and other personal relationships. We know that even small amounts of alcohol impair both mental and physical abilities.

The irony of alcohol is that while the costs of alcohol abuse have been well-documented, there is no case to be made for any good to come from drinking. While it is true a majority of people are able to drink in moderation with no untoward effects, are those people better off than they would have been had they not consumed alcohol?

In virtually all cases, the consumption of alcohol provides no net benefit to people. I’ve been to many social events — some formal, some informal, some with alcohol available, some without any alcohol. My observation is that those without alcohol were at least as successful and enjoyable as those with it, and often they were decidedly better. The idea that we need to impair our brains and senses to socialize successfully with others is just plain nonsense.

The Navy should take the lead in a campaign to significantly reduce alcohol consumption. That campaign must start with those in leadership positions up and down the chain of command. They must set the example by eliminating their consumption of alcohol. Bars and parties provide useful social venues, but there are a variety of juices and other drinks that can substitute for alcohol.

It took us many years to realize smoking is detrimental to our health. It’s time to come to that same realization about alcohol.

-- Reserve Capt. John Kjellman (ret.), Henniker, N.H.

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The Navy shortchanges our young sailors by providing them with computer-based initial technical training, which they all hate and from which they learn nothing.

Then they are sent to undermanned ships where they are required to work harder to overcome the lack of manpower. This is, of course, if they haven’t been sent on an individual augmentee assignment to supplement the Army.

They can’t wear the Navy Working Uniform anywhere except to work. Deployments are longer, and port visits are fewer and further between.

Now, why would anyone drink under those conditions? It must be the fault of the chiefs’ mess, just like everything else.

-- ICC (SW/AW) Anthony Soares, Norfolk, Va.