We Want You!
This issue of Proceedings contains our annual look at the U.S. Coast Guard, the nation's smallest military service, but one that has been much in the news in recent years.
We lead off with a story on the latest in Coast Guard tactics, the Deployable Operations Group, or DOG, which draws together deployable specialized forces under a single, unified command. This will be a more effective and efficient way to train and equip existing forces currently under separate command structures. Several related articles on the Coasties follow, including a fine piece by Art Pine on the Coast Guard Auxiliary, the service's little-known volunteer component that has seen its duties expanded in the post-9/11 era.
We welcome back to these pages Jim Lacey, one of our more thoughtful contributors, whose perceptive eye and sure voice has been missing for too long. Jim, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, is the author of the recent Naval Institute Press book, Takedown: The 3rd Infantry Division's Twenty-One Day Assault on Baghdad. He weighs in this month with "Adapt or Die," a warning that the armed forces must rethink how they take on unconventional challenges now and in the future.
This month's platter of articles is, as always, lavish, but there is a short item on page 95 that qualifies as little more than an extended editor's note that I'm hoping will answer the most frequently asked questions of prospective contributors. Titled "Writing for Proceedings," the note describes the types of articles we're looking for, the tone we consider appropriate, maximum lengths of the different categories of pieces, and pet peeves (for example, an article so clogged with acronyms that it resembles an eye chart). For your reference, we intend to run this item in every issue. You'll also find it on our Web site, www.usni.org.
"Writing for Proceedings" is intended as more than a nuts-and-bolts guide for producing the kinds of articles we look for. It also is meant to signal to our readers by its prominence in every issue that we want you to write for us.
And by "you" we mean You! The pages of this magazine are open to all. At the same time, no one holds title to any real estate in Proceedings. I've heard Proceedings occasionally referred to as the "voice of the admirals." To an extent that may be true. We encourage articles from flag and general officers and are most grateful when we receive them. What these men and women have to say matters, and we are proud to broadcast their words. On very rare occasions, though, pieces submitted by flags come across as little more than Power Point briefings or barely disguised press releases. These wind up on the cutting room floor.
We are thankful for the many submissions that come our way from across the spectrum of the national security community. The same goes for the fine pieces we receive from veteran journalists who honor us by their willingness to work for peanuts when we call on them. But there's something we're not getting our share of and it's probably our fault because we haven't done enough to encourage it. I'm talking about articles from active duty officers of the Sea Services from the captain/colonel level down through ensign/second lieutenant. In addition, we are looking for articles from noncommissioned officers, the backbone of all the services, and other enlisted personnel.
Editors are facilitators, we come and go. Writers are the ones who count and Proceedings is only as good as the quality of thought and clarity of writing of its contributors. Writing is easy, someone once said, you sit down at the typewriter and blood comes out of your forehead. That's about right, but it is worth the bloodshed. The services prosper when fresh ideas are turned loose. Young officers, NCOs, and other enlisted are a reliable source of those ideas. Proceedings is the place to air them. If we take you seriously enough to put your story in the magazine, rest assured others will do the same.
Sad news. The Navy and the nation has lost one of its greatest World War II heroes. Rear Admiral Eugene Fluckey passed away in June at the grand age of 93. The Medal of Honor and four Navy Crosses. Almost impossible to get your head around that. We pay tribute to him and bade farewell on page 14. A funeral service is planned for 28 August at the U.S. Naval Academy.