The deaths of 17 sailors in the summer of 2017 shook the U.S. Navy to its core. Those sailors were not SEALs on the ground, fighting in an obscure corner of the world. Nor were they pilots flying combat missions over hostile territory, taking enemy fire. In fact, many were sound asleep in their racks when the tragic events of that summer unfolded. Those sailors were on board the guided missile destroyers USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and John S. McCain (DDG-56) when their respective ships were involved in collisions at sea with civilian vessels barely more than two months apart.
At a time when the armed forces of the United States continue to fight the Global War on Terror and face growing competition from peer nations, it is hard to believe that routine operations have become one of the Navy’s greatest challenges. As the service prepares for the future battlespace—one which includes cyber warfare and a progression into the domain of space—it must overcome these challenges and also address the shortfalls of moral conduct and discipline among some leaders that have been a plague in recent decades. The true weight of that shift in culture rests upon the shoulders of the Navy’s youngest leaders, including those still undergoing officer development as midshipmen or officer candidates, as they will be the leaders charged with facing the challenges and fighting the battles of the future.
The investigation reports released in October 2017 revealed significant failures of watchstanding and failures leadership prior to, and during, the Fitzgerald and John S. McCain incidents. These reports came as little surprise to many sailors who have witnessed training standards slip and complacency rise throughout the fleet in recent years as budget concerns and a lack of manpower have pressured the Navy to do more with less resources.
Considering the challenges of today and those ahead inspires one to consider what the future naval force will be like. It likely will return to its roots of maritime superiority by focusing on discipline in seamanship and tactical proficiency. Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis said in a 2018 memo that “all service members learn to fight well by doing the little things perfectly, otherwise they cannot possibly get all of the big things right when all goes wrong.” As the nation faces potential conflict with peer nations that possess similar technological capability, it will be important to establish an asymmetric advantage by heeding the words of Secretary Mattis and ensuring we have the most disciplined force in the world. For the Navy, that will manifest itself, at least in part, in the form of commanding officers expecting junior officers to take on greater leadership responsibilities and leaving the management of the deckplates to in the Chiefs’ mess.
The naval force of the future also is one that partners with the other services on both strategic and tactical levels. The formation, growth, and unparalleled success of U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in interservice coordination over the past few decades should serve as a resource to current and future naval leaders in improving interservice operations. To illustrate that point one needs only remember that in 1980 the United States attempted a mission, Operation Eagle Claw, to save U.S. hostages in Iran, which required units from the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. Although the units involved were among the best in the best military in the world, the mission failed because of a lack of coordination and interservice training. The formation of JSOC is a direct result of that mission’s failure and there is no doubt that the special operations community has become the most elite combat force in the world, one that exemplifies the advantages of interservice coordination.
Many leaders who will serve in the future force are being trained at maritime service academies, Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) units, or Officer Candidate School (OCS). Many more still are high-school and middle-school students who have not yet made the decision to serve their country, but who will be commissioned as a naval officer through the same means nonetheless in a decade or more. Are these naval commissioning sources preparing them well for what lies ahead?
The overall quality of current Navy leaders is a testament to the training these commissioning sources provide, but the Navy believes in constant progress and so it is worth considering what parts of training require a greater focus. For example, basic seamanship, navigation, and operations at sea are a challenge for young officers currently in the fleet. Senior leaders, however, have been challenged by failures of moral conduct, discipline, and integrity; at least 16 members of a Navy command triad have been relieved of their position this year alone. The connection between these two challenges could be explained by a lack of moral courage. If just one junior officer on board the John S. McCain or Fitzgerald had the moral courage to challenge the status quo of the training or shipboard operations of their ship and his or her commanding officer had had the moral courage to evaluate what the young officer had questioned and made the right, although probably difficult, decision, then the big things might have gone right when all went wrong. How can these lessons on the importance of unwavering moral courage be effectively impressed upon the future leaders of the Navy?
It starts at the commissioning sources. Naval ROTC programs likely have the greatest experience in promoting moral courage by virtue of their integration in a civilian campus. Midshipmen in those units are exposed to the same peer pressures as every other student while being expected to maintain the standards of moral conduct, discipline, and integrity required to be commissioned as an officer. That environment introduces situations in which the midshipmen must have the moral courage to do the right thing for the right reasons, and they experience those situations for four years.
There is no question the U.S. Navy is the most capable naval force in the world. It faces challenges every day, not only from its enemies, but from within its own domain. It has persevered through a shifting landscape of vastly different battlespaces and defeated seemingly superior enemies, but the key to its success in the future lies within the ranks of its young leaders and their pursuit of excellence based on a robust foundation of strong moral character and discipline.