Today that number has dropped to well below 30 percent. In contrast, the level of Navy battle force ships forward deployed has remained constant. If that were not enough, we are 45 percent fewer in the number of ships today, yet we are three times busier than we were during the peak of the Cold War. Your forward presence is noticed. And, you remain the envy of navies worldwide, both in terms of equipment and of spirit - the belief that what you are doing means something, in a world that is less sure of anything today.
Retention is a serious challenge, both for officers and enlisted.
And you know as well as I, that our inability to adequately pay and compensate your service has had an adverse effect as well. But I maintain that it is your own ability to reinvent the very culture of the surface warfare community that will have the greatest impact on retention, quality of life, and the pride that you have in your community. There is a great scene in the book, and the movie, The Caine Mutiny, that illustrates my point. While waiting to see Admiral Bull Halsey himself, the XO has a sudden, panicked, realization. It dawns on him that perhaps he has not exercised all of his options, that he will be faulted for not doing everything that he can to master the destiny of what is his ship as well.