Well, its funny you say that because I truly started out in that other camp. I've served in the Army for years, but I don't think I really understood HOW AN ENTIRE FIELD can be so secretive. It's literally an entire branch of the service that is classified. After running into roadblock after roadblock trying to find info, I'm getting the picture.
This is a complete shift for me because there's so little about EQUIPMENT in the Army that's classified, and our contractors blab and blab about our stuff (pitching sales to everyone in the world, literally) all the time, so it's an entirely different thing. And the acute silence from people who work in the undersea warfare field only adds to that frustration, and is initally VERY misleading.
Surface warfare is much less spooky than the sub warfare crowd, and those contractors also seem to be less secretive. We know MUCH more about what an Aegis can do, than any of the 688s.
In many ways it would be easier for someone OUTSIDE the field to do a game like this, because then they'd have no restrictions on guessing about stuff. If they were right, they were right, but they wouldn't have to worry about people looking over their shoulders like I'm SURE SCS does.
The part where this secrecy is hurting the sub-branch in the USN right now, is that because they are so specialized, and their secrecy is so all-encompassing, literally NOBODY in the political world seems to understand what you folks do, and how incredibly important our sub force is to the nations security. You guys HAVE to sell yourselves better to the DoD and the head shed. That's why you guys are getting raped by the BRAC, and it's frustrating even to those of us in the other services that know better. Elected officials simply don't know any better.
They see the money, and they run it like accountants, because the bottom line is the only thing they can understand from an outsiders point of view.
If war kicked off with China tomorrow over Taiwan, I want the Pacific to be like a feeding frenzy when the PRAN assault force hits the water. They should be AFRAID to go in the water. Seaborne invasion should be a non-option to them. The only way for that to work, is if we keep the Navy strong, even when it's NOT the tool of choice for our current conflict. (The war in Iraq/GWOT.)
And if my bird got shot up in N. Korea, I want to be able to make it to water, and know you folks are out there! Even if I'm bobbing around in the water for a while. If I were in deep, I'd rather take a chance on ditching in the ocean than letting those goons get my bird anyway.
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