June 1924 Proceedings—In “United Air Service,” Navy Lieutenant Commander V. D. Herbster opposed those advocating for combining naval aviation with the Army Air Corps into a separate united air service. He wrote, “No one can serve two masters. . . . It stands to reason that if we place aviation under a United Air Service, Naval Aviation is no longer a part of the Navy—it will become a loan to the Navy. It will be neither fish, nor fowl, nor flesh either.”
June 1974 Proceedings—Lamenting how few officers of flag rank were considered expert tacticians, retired Navy Captain R. A. Bowling noted in “Where Have All the Tacticians Gone?” that “during the McNamara years, much of the officer talent gravitated (or was dragged) into the Washington arena to manage the procurement of more sophisticated ship and weapon systems. . . . Of course, the requirement to go to sea and to have command was fulfilled; but such tours appeared to be of as short a duration as possible to ‘get the ticket punched,’ and then back to a management billet. And as the shore tours went from two to three years duration, command at sea tours were reduced in length.”
June 1999 Proceedings—In “Is Navy ‘Information Management’ Becoming an Oxymoron?” Lieutenant Commander Robert L. Buchanan, U.S. Naval Reserve, and Lieutenant Commander Sean Donohoe, U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired), wrote, “Warfighters need quick and seamless access to information in order to control and understand the modern battlespace. Getting this information to those who need it should be a simple process, but the Navy’s divided and redundant information management commands are creating chaos—and are failing to articulate a coherent vision for the future.”
