Combine Medical, Chaplains, and Legal for all Services? Officer Leadership says “NO”.

Well they have talked about it for years.

The “PURPLE” Medical Dept, in essance combining all medical shops of all services and combining them into “1″ force.  It has always been “Scuttlebutt”.

Until now.

Read below, I appreciate the officers saying no, but to see it actually in writing?!?!?

In a bullets-or-bonuses debate about financial pressures facing the Defense Department, service personnel chiefs ceded no ground to the competing needs for weapons modernization.

At a Nov. 17 forum sponsored by the Military Officers Association of America, the Air Force, Army and Navy personnel chiefs rejected the idea of a joint medical, legal and chaplain corps to save money on training and management, insisting on the continued need for service-specific training and duties.

This is the first time I have acutally seen it where it was actively discussed.  I know they are already trying to combine or are combining our training pipeline down in San Antonio, But this?  While it may look good on paper, I just think the different communities would make this a hard thing to do.

You can read the whole areticle here: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/11/airforce_gunsbutter_112308w/

Comment below, what do you think?  To really get the discussion going how about joining and commenting in our Scuttlebutt Forums.  (Eaiser to track!)

Wow, this is a gigantic shift of thinking…

D/C

Game Show looking for Military Families Good Luck!

Game show seeks military family contestants

The producers of a new game show for ABC are looking for military families to be contestants on the pilot episode of the show, which will offer “a huge cash prize.”

Families who want to apply to be contestants must submit their requests by July 3.

Information about the name of the show, how much the prizes will be, and what kind of game show it will be is not available for proprietary reasons, said Victor Hurtado, head of Martenvee Media, which specializes in military casting. But he said the show will be “family friendly” and involve “general-knowledge questions.”

Hurtado also handled military casting for the NBC show “Nashville Star” earlier this spring.

Contenders are families that are “outgoing and fun … with teenagers and/or kids ages 7-21,” he said.

The entire family will participate in the show, which will come to the family’s house, said Hurtado, who served as artistic director of Army entertainment from 2001 to 2007.

He said the show is being produced by the same producers of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” and “Oprah’s Big Give.” The producers understand the sacrifices of military families, he said, and would like to reach out to this community. Since it’s difficult for them to get onto military bases, he said, they are reaching out publicly for military families who want to apply to be contestants.

Families who want to be considered for the game show can send an e-mail to tvshowcasting@yahoo.com with the following information:

* Name.

* Contact information.

* Picture of your family and your home.

* Brief biography of each family member, and their ages.

* Any challenges you’d like to include.

* Wish list of home improvements.

* A statement of why you want to be on the show.

Families can send as much or as little information as they are comfortable with. If the producers are interested, they will work with the family to get more information through their local military installation’s public affairs office.

From NAVYTIMES

Mercy on another mission of Mercy

We are up to our eyeballs in debt, fighting a war.. Hey Lets go rebuild some other 3rd world country with the money we “DON’T” have, all the while Gas is about to go to 4.00 a gallon, and Food is going through the roof.

Btw Did you all know you were put on “WELFARE” this month? When you get your Tax check it is supposed to go to Food and Gas prices.. Wow. so gracious of them..

I’ll be quiet now..

Nope I won’t. Look I think we need missions like this, but darn it we can’t afford to fix barracks for the Army, our ships can’t even fire weapons due to safety problems, but hey lets go help build a school!!

Now I am done.. D/C

Mercy to deploy for humanitarian mission

By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday May 1, 2008 6:18:20 EDT

SAN DIEGO — The hospital ship Mercy, carrying about 700 Navy personnel, will leave its homeport here Thursday morning for a humanitarian mission in the South Pacific and Southeast Asia, Navy officials said.

The deployment is the second goodwill mission for Mercy since its short-notice orders in January 2005 to assist in the aftermath of devastating tsunamis that struck Indonesia and South Asia.

Mercy will operate as part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s “Pacific Partnership 2008” mission and provide humanitarian civic assistance alongside non-governmental organizations specializing in medical, dental and construction. Navy medical teams and Navy Seabees, from the service’s construction battalions, are among the sailors who will participate in the missions during the deployment.

“They will get a lot of people throughout the deployment, on and off,” said Navy Lt. Sarah Self-Kyler, a U.S. 3rd Fleet spokeswoman in San Diego.

These include medical teams from the naval hospitals in Oak Harbor and Bremerton, Wash., and Seabees with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 from Gulfport, Miss., according to the Pacific Fleet.

Mercy, a Military Sealift Command ship, is slated to provide assistance in the Philippines, Vietnam, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.

Leading the mission is Capt. W.A. Kearns III, who commands Destroyer Squadron 31. Navy Capt. James P. Rice will command the Military Treatment Facility aboard Mercy, which is skippered by a civilian master, Capt. Robert T. Wiley.

Article From: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/04/navy_mercydeploys_043008/

USS Stout, USS Chosin found unfit for service

What do you do when you can’t prepare a boat for a man oberboard?  How about when you can’t fire you main gun due to massive corrosion in the gun cradle?

This and many other problems were found on both the

USS STOUT(DDG-55),

and the

USS CHOSIN (CG-65).

You would not believe it unless you saw the report, which you can HERE.

What a shame, is it because there are no funds, or a lack of leadership at the deck plate?  I can assure you both leadership teams will be canned.  I wonder what happens above them?  I wonder if the CO had reported to the respective squadrons o the problems prior.

Time will tell.