One of the biggest concerns for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is the loss of TSMC, a huge company that makes around 80% of the world’s advanced microprocessors and chipsets and 55% of chips overall. Think about that for just one second…55% of all chips in the entire world are made by one company. In your home alone, there are chips in your computer, cars, certain HVAC components, smartphones, your wifi router, TVs, and even things like refrigerators. 55% of these chips come from one company.

That’s pretty crazy when you think about it. TSMC has facilities around the world, although the majority are located in Taiwan. Why wouldn’t it open more facilities in the US? Well, because its expensive due to all the red tape involved in making facilities in the US and because there is not enough talent in the US to make chips. If we drop the nice language, TSMC has basically said it costs too much and Americans aren’t smart enough to make these advanced chips.

Ouch. So much for all that STEM money we keep throwing at education that gets misused. Since chips are key components of most weapon systems, Congress passed the CHIPS act to subsidize and incentivize chip manufacturers in America. But guess what came along with the money? A whole lot of strings, including DEI strings:

The law contains 19 sections aimed at helping minority groups, including one creating a Chief Diversity Officer at the National Science Foundation, and several prioritizing scientific cooperation with what it calls “minority-serving institutions.” A section called “Opportunity and Inclusion” instructs the Department of Commerce to work with minority-owned businesses and make sure chipmakers “increase the participation of economically disadvantaged individuals in the semiconductor workforce.”

– The Hill

This is exactly why China and other nations can beat us at these high-end games. Americans are known for working hard and figuring things out, and until recently the advanced nature of American colleges and other education institutions was known around the world. But we’ve allowed morons (and if you support DEI, you are a moron) to write our laws and corrupt our institutions. The steady rise in costs from these morons has driven everyone away, from chip manufacturers and oil and gas production to basic tools and batteries.

We did this to ourselves. We can undo it too. Imagine a world without stupid bureaucrats running everything into the dirt. Imagine the US unleashing its potential and the hard work and smarts actually paying off, not being stifled by people insisting on laws and incentives that make no sense in the real world. A far better world, and one within our reach, if we choose to make it so.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

Re-entering the workplace after being a stay-at-home mother has to suck. It used to be considered a noble and honorable thing to take care of small children. Heck, it used to be considered a profession that would normally pay on the order of $100K-$120K a year. When you think about it, a stay-at-home mother is balancing checkbooks, cooking meals, taking care of sick children, constantly doing laundry and sanitizing her home (young children are terrible spreaders of disease), and increasingly home-schooling children while driving them to various activities.

Yet most employers look at the “break in resume” as a negative, and don’t view stay-at-home mothers as doing any work. Then again, most of these people probably forget to thank their mothers on Mothers Day, so perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. My wife recently re-entered the workplace, and although she is working from home (and we still have a 2 year old), it was a challenge to find an employer that didn’t look down on her decision to care more about her children and husband then a career.

In honor of her decision, and given the increasing desire to hire older workers over younger workers, I asked Microsoft CoPilot to build some resume bullets for a stay-at-home mom re-entering the workplace, and I got these:

1. Multitasking & Time Management: Successfully managed a busy family schedule, including educational activities, sports commitments, and doctor appointments, while maintaining a clean and organized home.
2. Budgeting & Financial Planning: Effectively managed household budget, making strategic decisions to ensure financial stability and meet long-term family goals.
3. Conflict Resolution & Problem Solving: Developed strong problem-solving skills through mediating sibling disputes and addressing unexpected household issues.
4. Communication & Interpersonal Skills: Fostered an open and supportive family environment that encouraged open communication, emotional support, and mutual respect.
5. Project Management: Led and executed various projects, such as planning family events and home improvement tasks, demonstrating strong organizational and leadership skills.

Not bad CoPilot, but I think I can do better:

1. Professional chauffeur. Successfully balanced the extracurricular needs of five individuals whose activities are always located during rush hour traffic and at opposite ends of the city. Managed to avoid accidents, get children to places on time and yet still get dinner on the table.
2. Skilled negotiator. Can successfully argue with children from 2 to 18 years old, providing persuasive arguments in the wide spectrum of age ranges. Able to bribe without being discovered by peers.
3. Outstanding Communicator. Able to switch seamlessly between soothing words needed to calm a 4 year old to the angry words needed to vivisect a school administrator that decided pornographic books are a great idea in school libraries. Utilizes full volume range, from sweet whispers to banshee-level screaming to prevent small children from playing in traffic.
4. Multitasking Momma. Can you take a shower, get dressed and put on makeup, balance a checkbook, take out the garbage cans, make four lunches and boot a cantankerous teenager out the door to school, all before 7 AM and without the luxury of coffee?
5. Long Range Planner. Provided life guidance to children otherwise lost in the world. Able to keep a husband motivated despite a soul sucking job that cares little of him. Builds her own world that might look messy on the outside, but has more love and charisma then any corporate party.

Given that the next generation seems to whine about showing up on time, putting on real clothes (no, pajamas at your job interview don’t count), and can’t think out more than 2 days…I’ll take a stay-at-home mom as an employee over a whiny 20-something any day.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

Plenty of people make New Years Resolutions. Plenty of those have been broken by this time already. It seems the Navy wants to engage in that silliness too. Check out NAVADMIN 003/24, titled America’s Warfighting Navy. Sounds cool right? Well, let’s take a look.

1. Who We Are. We are the United States Navy, the most powerful navy in 
the world. We are the Sailors and Civilians who have answered our Nations 
call to service. We are Americans who embody character, competence, and 
dedication to our mission. Our identity is forged by the sea and we serve 
with honor, courage, and commitment.

2. What We Do. We are here to preserve the peace, respond in crisis, and win 
decisively in war. We operate far forward, around the world and around the 
clock, from the seabed to space, in cyberspace, and in the information 
environment to promote our Nations prosperity and security, deter aggression, 
and provide options to our nations leaders. We deliver power for peace, but 
are always postured and ready to fight and win as part of the Joint Force and 
alongside our Allies and partners.

3. Where We Are Going. The threats to our nation and our interests are real 
and growing. The strategic environment has changed; gone are the days of 
operating from a maritime sanctuary against competitors who cannot threaten 
us. The National Defense Strategy makes clear that we must defend our 
homeland, deter strategic attack, deter and be prepared to prevail in 
conflict against the Peoples Republic of China, and meet the acute challenge 
of an aggressive Russia and other persistent threats. Our adversaries have 
designed their militaries to overcome our traditional sources of strength. We 
must move rapidly to stay ahead and continuously create warfighting 
advantages. We must think, act, and operate differently, leveraging wargaming 
and experimentation to integrate conventional capability with hybrid, 
unmanned, and disruptive technologies. Tomorrows battlefield will be 
incredibly challenging and complex. To win decisively in that environment, 
our Sailors must be the best warfighters in the world with the best systems, 
weapons, and platforms to ensure we can defeat our adversaries. We will put 
more players on the field platforms that are ready with the right 
capabilities, weapons and sustainment, and people who are ready with the 
right skills, tools, training, and mindset.

4. Our Priorities. We will focus on Warfighting, Warfighters, and the 
Foundation that supports them.
   a. Warfighting: Deliver Decisive Combat Power. We will view everything we 
do through a warfighting lens to ensure our Navy remains the worlds 
preeminent fighting force. We will prioritize the readiness and capabilities 
required to fight and win at sea, and the logistics and shore support 
required to keep our Navy fit to fight. We recognize that we will never fight alone. We will advance naval integration with the Marine Corps, and synchronize and align our warfighting efforts with the Joint Force. We will design and drive interoperability with our Allies and partners to deliver combined lethality.

   b. Warfighters: Strengthen the Navy Team. We will use the principles of 
mission command to empower leaders at all levels to operate in uncertain, 
complex, and rapidly changing environments, ready to take initiative and bold 
action with confidence. We will build strong warfighting teams, recruiting 
and retaining talented people from across the rich fabric of America. We will 
provide world- class training and education to our Sailors and Civilians, 
honing their skills and giving them every opportunity to succeed. We will 
ensure our quality of service meets the highest standards, and we will look 
after our families and support networks, who enable us to accomplish our 
warfighting mission.

    c. Foundation: Build Trust, Align Resources, Be Ready. We will earn and 
reinforce the trust and confidence of the American People every day. We will 
work with Congress to field and maintain the worlds most powerful Navy and 
the infrastructure that sustains it. We will team with industry and academia to solve our most pressing challenges. We will cooperate with the interagency to bolster integrated deterrence. We will align what we do ashore with the warfighting needs of our Fleet.

5. Our Charge. America is counting on us to deter aggression, defend our 
national security interests, and preserve our way of life. With the right 
tools, a winning mindset, and the highest levels of integrity, we will 
operate safely as a team to deliver warfighting excellence.

Well…good luck! You certainly have your work cut out for you!

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

To nobody’s huge surprise, “Dr” Fauci revealed that the 6 foot “social distancing” rule was basically made up.

Lest anyone forget, there were plenty of 6-foot Nazis that screamed at you for getting inside the 6 foot distance…unless it was at a BLM riot. People were doing all sorts of logical backflips to justify riots while shutting down church services. I remember having to open church doors and stream service using a cell phone, laptop and projector so the people outside could still attend.

What frickin’ rubbish.

But that’s not the point of this article. During this time thousands of service members were dismissed from service for refusing the vaccine, which we are finding doesn’t work well, and that COVID is going to essentially be like the flu: annoying, even temporarily incapacitating, but not really a threat to young and healthy that (at least now) make up our military force. Most of these were General Discharges, which can negate the amount of VA benefits you receive. Worse still, this was done as businesses were recovering from the shutdown, so many servicemembers and their families suffered through unemployment and underemployment.

Plenty of Republican lawmakers are making it easy for those members to return to service, and most are…not taking it. These same lawmakers are proposing legislation to open VA benefits to these servicemembers and discharge upgrades. I don’t have an issue with any of this, except that this is first aid, and in reality people should be fighting back.

First aid helps people that have been hurt. In this case, servicemembers got screwed out of good jobs, retirement benefits, VA benefits, and all the other things they were promised if they raised their hand to defend our country. Restoring those things will help in the near term, but its not going to repair the long term damage done. Look at how poorly our recruiting efforts are going. More than a few young people watched how a loved one was poorly treated and said “Gee, I’m not signing up for that!”

First aid isn’t enough. People need to fight back.

Every official that pushed this nonsense needs to be punished.

• Send Fauci to jail. Sounds extreme? The man admitted to spending US money in CHINA developing bioweapons. I see people getting angry over retired service members caught helping the Chinese learn how to land on aircraft carriers. How is this any different?
• Court martial flag officers that pushed for General Discharges. At least the Navy had the good sense to use Honorable Discharges for most of its folks. Every flag officer that used a General Discharge knew they were screwing people out of benefits, and even late in the game they continued to push for it. Court martial every, single one of them. For the ones already retired, bring them back and charge them, which is still legal (although perhaps bringing back a few admirals and generals will get this thrown out).
• Fire the civilian leaders that pushed this nonsense. Their zeal and glee in punishing people needs to be matched with stiff fines and jail time.

First aid doesn’t save you when you’re being assaulted. Only fighting back will.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

Over the holiday period I didn’t bother checking the latest NAVADMINs, because spending time with my family was for more important. So when I looked this week, I saw I missed a doozy: the Navy’s message concerning retention boards.

In December the Navy announces its promotion boards, which are in January (for Captains), Feb-March (for Commanders), and April-May (for Lieutenant Commanders). Some years ago the Navy began convening the retention board immediately after these boards to decide the fates of anyone not selected for promotion. The overarching policy of retention boards is a direct measure of the health of the service, and well, the Naval Service is not healthy.

Take a look at NAVADMIN 291/23. I’ll break it down below:

Paragraph 2 states that any Captain (O-6) that has certain AQDs (basically, special training or expertise in a specific area) that relate to Acquistion can stay until 33 years of service. Normally Captains have to retire at 30 years of service. This isn’t a huge surprise, the Navy is in dire need of Acquisition Workforce personnel, so it’ll keep anyone that it can.

LCDRs (O-4s) that twice failed to select for CDR (O-5) will simply be kept until 20 years, when they can retire. They won’t even be considered for retention…it’s assumed. In the past the retention board could be used to shape manpower by removing the bottom performing LCDRs. That is not happening at all now, essentially if you have a pulse and made O-4, you can stay till 20 years.

Let’s say you’re a LCDR that is a flight instructor, chaplain, cyber warfare engineer, foreign area officer, information professional, maritime space officer, medical corps, nurse corps or supply corps. What if you want to stay past 20 years? Well, you can!

URL 1310 aviators with primary AQDs of DIP or DA5/DA7/DB2/DB5/DB6/DD1/DH3/DL3/DS2 (TACAIR), CWE, FAO, IP, and SC officers selected for continuation will be continued for a period of 3 years to 23 YOAS.  CHC, MSO, MC, and NC officers selected for continuation will be continued until the last day of the month in which the officer 
completes 24 YOAS.

That right there is a bad sign. That means we are significantly short in all those areas, and we’re willing to keep people for an additional 3-4 years to cover the gaps.

What about Lieutenants (O-3s)? Typically LTs that are passed over twice for O-4 are sent home at the end of the next fiscal year. The only LTs I’ve seen the Navy hold onto are people that were prior enlisted and needed another year to reach mandatory officer retirement criteria. But now:

Lieutenant (LT)  Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer (AEDO), CHC, CWE, Cryptologic Warfare (CW), Dental Corps (DC), FAO, Intelligence Officer (INTEL), IP, Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC), MC, Medical Service Corps (MSC), MSO, NC, and SC will follow the below as applicable:
    a.  2XFOS LTs covered in paragraph 4 with less than 18 YOAS and selected 
for continuation will be continued for a period of three years, but not 
beyond retirement eligibility at 20 YOAS.

FOS stands for “Failure of Selection.”

So now LTs can stay for 20 years until they can retire. I never thought I’d see that, but here we are. Granted, it’s not every officer, but it won’t surprise me if the retention board eligibility expands to include more officer specialties.

I want to remind everyone that this crisis was generated 100% by our own government:

• We changed the retirement system way back in 2016-2018, which was the number one thing that kept good people in past 5-10 years of service. I predicted this would end badly, by the way.
• Then we started losing wars, specifically Afghanistan. We drew out of Afghanistan in a horrible way, so everyone that lost limbs or part of their sanity fighting in that war felt betrayed. This in turn made them tell their kids to never join the military.
• Oh, and we stayed around in Syria so more of our people could die needlessly. Because nothing says we love our Special Forces more than allowing them to die needlessly in a crappy country where we don’t have an exit strategy.
• THEN, we kicked people out over the COVID vaccine. Instead of handling that crisis with care, we booted people with general discharges. But don’t worry, we’ll invite them back, I’m sure they’ll come in droves!
• THEN, the Navy played politics and openly told Congress to go f*#! themselves and used OPTAR money to pay for abortion.

NOW, we are SHOCKED! SHOCKED! that we are in a huge recruiting. crisis. I made a prediction back in February that the Navy would use its “BINGO card” to keep people in:

1. Not kicking people out for physical fitness test failures
2. Waiving darn near everything, from age to non-violent felonies
3. Asking people to pretty-please stay around a few more years
4. Opening OCS and other admissions
5. Raising bonuses
6. Make life better for officers
7. Reduce opportunities to leave early
8. Op-Hold people

The Navy has in fact done all the things in bold. The only missing one is making life better. Maybe that’s a draw, since if you wanted free time and per diem off to go murder your unborn baby, you can now get it. The only prediction that hasn’t held was that the Navy would remove marijuana from its drug test, although it was totally an option in Congress.

My prediction for 2024: it only gets worse!

• We’ll relax rules on marijuana, opioids and other drugs
• Mental health rules will relax
• Bonuses will be handed out just to get on the bus
• We’ll create some new ribbon candy to congratulate people on passing boot camp
• We’ll see Navy advertisements EVERYWHERE, especially on Reddit, YouTube, Amazon Prime and other streaming platforms

None of it will work. When we spend more time focused on renaming the John C Stennis aircraft carrier, continue to allow flag officers to violate rules and get away with it (remember, you can sexually assault people and not go to jail, so long as you’re a 3-star in the Air Force), and continue to allow a broke acquisition system to churn out expensive weapons, we can’t recruit the best people. The best men and women want to join the Navy to fight for their country, with people and leaders they trust and on equipment that works. They want people held accountable for their actions, and they want others to hold them accountable because that’s how they become better.

We’re doing all the wrong things, and I expect 2024 to be another terrible year for military manning.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.