I have spent the best part of 35 years as a deckplate research-and-development engineer and manager in surface antisubmarine warfare. I may not have as much total underway time, but I believe I have seen a much wider sample of ships than most career Navy personnel. I can tell the "feel" of a good ship and of one that is morale challenged. Because of this, my perceptions about retention often are somewhat different from those of active-duty Navy people.
Pay and benefits are vastly overrated as retention factors. This does not mean we should not offer decent wages, but everyone knows the military never can compete with private industry on salaries. Sailors sign up for other factors: training, security, or a feeling of doing something worthwhile. The Navy's task is to maintain the attitude that motivated these people to enlist in the first place. Most sailors will stay as long as they are appreciated and get enough financial remuneration to feel secure for themselves and their families.
Sailors also want to be led by someone they respect. I cannot understand why this is mentioned so seldomly. I have been on ships in which the crew thought the commanding officer (CO) was a prince and in which they thought he was a dunce. The difference usually had little to do with the CO's knowledge of his ship's systems. More often, the difference was in things such as perceived warfighting and shiphandling skills. I listened to one crew give their past CO praise for running the Strait of Messina at 17 knots, instead of the 5 knots their current CO preferred. Was the latter more prudent than the former? Probably, but the former got high marks for intestinal fortitude.
The most important factor in garnering respect is the crew's perception of fairness. A CO will get no respect if the crew members believe they are being used primarily to enhance his reputation. I once was treated to an underway ammunition offload in a winter storm in the Gulf of Alaska. Watching from the bridge, I thought it was one of the most dangerous evolutions I ever had seen. Seasick sailors tried to keep their footing while working as fast as they could on heaving sleet- and vomit-slick decks at an evolution considered hazardous even under ideal conditions. All the while, through most of the night, the CO drove them by screaming on the IMC that he was trying to set a fleet record. It got to the point where the normally reticent weapons officer told the CO in my presence that he was going as fast as he believed was safe and simply would not go any faster. That night, the CO lost whatever respect the crew had for him. There is little doubt that that experience was a factor in a number of crew members' decisions to bail out of their naval careers at the first opportunity.
In terms of junior officers, enlisted crew members do not really expect them to be oracles on their divisions' responsibilities. There are two qualities they do expect, however: officers must be willing to stand up to authority for their personnel and also exhibit the same "fairness" expected of the commanding officer. Sailors realize their junior officers are in training and generally respect their authority. That respect is easily lost, however, if sailors perceive their officers do not care about them. I have seen junior officers whose experience and even physical appearance were far less than ideal but who still received the full support of their divisions' enlisted men because they were seen as "stand-up guys."
What is the answer to retention? As with most engineering problems, there is no single solution. There is no quick fix. Increased pay and benefits may have a short-term effect for a small number of people, but for the long-term we must instill the sort of pride that will make naval service a "calling." One need look no further than our own Marine Corps to see a good example of this. Shipboard duty has no parallel in any other service and is one on which the mantle of elite could be fitted. Pride in being a man-of-warsman afloat requires more than slogans; we must concentrate on making the Navy a rewarding career.
Mr. Stevens has been a research-and-development project manager at both the Naval Surface Warfare Center and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.