Posted on Jul 24, 2015
ADM John Harvey here. I'm stopping by this coming Tuesday. What questions do you have for me?
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*Post Your Questions Below*
From RallyPoint Staff:
Admiral John C. Harvey most recently served as the 31st Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command through September 14, 2012. During his reputable career, Admiral Harvey served aboard the USS Enterprise, USS Bainbridge, USS Mcinnerney, USS Nimitz and USS Long Beach. He also served as Commander of the USS David R. Ray, USS Cape St. George and the Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group. Needless to say, if you’re looking for a well-informed perspective on the future of the Navy, or its role in affairs abroad, Admiral Harvey is the guy to ask.
In 2012, we were honored to have Admiral Harvey join our esteemed board of advisors. We’re delighted to welcome him to RallyPoint for a Q&A on July 28th!
From RallyPoint Staff:
Admiral John C. Harvey most recently served as the 31st Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command through September 14, 2012. During his reputable career, Admiral Harvey served aboard the USS Enterprise, USS Bainbridge, USS Mcinnerney, USS Nimitz and USS Long Beach. He also served as Commander of the USS David R. Ray, USS Cape St. George and the Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group. Needless to say, if you’re looking for a well-informed perspective on the future of the Navy, or its role in affairs abroad, Admiral Harvey is the guy to ask.
In 2012, we were honored to have Admiral Harvey join our esteemed board of advisors. We’re delighted to welcome him to RallyPoint for a Q&A on July 28th!
Sailors
ADM
Q&A
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 38
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Adm, my sincere respect for your position and leadership. I am strongly concerned about the new PC movement in the ranks of our Navy. When you take away 1st ammendment rights of the freedom to worship the Christian faith openly, I think we will really pay a price in the future. With the mixture of transgenders, Gay rights with special days of honor, women rights and special exemptions such as Muslims able to wear their headgear in uniform is a standard we can abide by and still be the effect team as before? All I hear from friends is my son will never join into that crap or what happened to our countries leadership. My father served as a career officer in both WWII and Korea and died in a VA hospital. He always said, for God and country, and he told me always take care of your people and your people will take care of you and not only did I love my Dad, but did my best to emulate him. Are we going out as a severely weakened Armed Forces both in strength in abilities to defend and ineffective choices in morality leadership. Our edge was the strength in our members to always work as a team and to win at all cost as a team.
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SSgt Anya Arisohn
When you take the Oath to join the military's, 'signing on the dotted line' that is the giving up Constitutional rights in exchange for a new set of values--for that, you are willing to defend and give your life for, in exchange for the protection of the U.S. Constitution for ALL Americans past, present & future. With that said, the future of ALL U.S. MILITARY is at the mercy of the voting public & the politicians they choose to lead us and other nations. Although the President is the CIC, congress is incredibly influential in decisions made for things like 'social justice' to push certain 'agendas'. I've heard it from the mouth of Christine Polosi(sp?), daughter of Nancy Pelosi(D-CA). I've also heard Democrat presidential nominee(potential) Hillary Clinton speak on "changing fundamental bedrock principles" in relation to Christian values of marriage. That's a DIRECT OPPOSITION to the 1st Amendment! There's a breakdown of American values in regards to the teaching of civics & ethics in our schools, our homes and in our communities. We deserve better, from everyone top to bottom and left to right, we need accountability and leaders that are willing to embody traditional American values of God & Country...BUT we first must embrace those values within ourselves and our friends & family before we can ask it of others. [i know I'm not the Admiral but I sure did take the liberty of answering and giving my opinion like I was! LOL have a great day! And thank you]
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SGT Christopher Wilson
SSgt Anya Arisohn - Yes I agree, they should not be talking about Christian values as it relates to law and policy but instead working towards fair and equal treatment of all humans.
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ADM John Harvey
MCPO Miller, I don't see the force has being severely weakened by a "PC movement" that, by the way your question is worded, you appear to perceive as "taking over: today's military.
Just look at how our small units (squads, platoons and companies) performed over the past 13 years in Iraq and Afghanistan - under extremely difficult conditions it appears to me that unit cohesion was generally very strong.
In my own experience, the Navy today is extraordinarily different - opportunities for minorities and women, open to gay members, etc - from the Navy I joined in 1973, but certainly no less effective in its ability to deploy and carry out assigned missions.
Our force will certainly continue to change as our society evolves and some of these changes will prove quite jarring to those whose religious beliefs or cultural backgrounds cause them to see these changes as fundamentally wrong from a moral perspective, but I don't see an existential threat to the all-volunteer force from run-amuck PC.
I think we'll be OK - we've come through far more challenging times, believe me. All the best, JCHjr
Just look at how our small units (squads, platoons and companies) performed over the past 13 years in Iraq and Afghanistan - under extremely difficult conditions it appears to me that unit cohesion was generally very strong.
In my own experience, the Navy today is extraordinarily different - opportunities for minorities and women, open to gay members, etc - from the Navy I joined in 1973, but certainly no less effective in its ability to deploy and carry out assigned missions.
Our force will certainly continue to change as our society evolves and some of these changes will prove quite jarring to those whose religious beliefs or cultural backgrounds cause them to see these changes as fundamentally wrong from a moral perspective, but I don't see an existential threat to the all-volunteer force from run-amuck PC.
I think we'll be OK - we've come through far more challenging times, believe me. All the best, JCHjr
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Sir, given the expansion of the Chinese Navy why don't we give some of our allies in the area some Military assistance? For example we have been mothballing the Perry class Frigates wouldn't it make sense to donate 6 or 7 of these to the Philippine Navy? Also donating one or two of the Tarawa class Amphibious Assault Ships along with Harriers to Australia would make a serious statement to China. Another option would be creating small task forces with LHA class ships with Harriers or F-35B's and stationing them in Asia. I am not wanting us to get into a shooting war with China but they should understand that they cannot just take an island or even make an Island where they want without repercussions. This form of aggression poses a danger to Japan, the Philippines and other friends of ours. We have a number of warships sitting in long term storage that could still be not only put to good use by other nations but would be happily accepted by them.
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ADM John Harvey
SN Robinson, I share your desire for a more steadfast response to Chinese excursions in the South China Sea and I also share your aversion to getting into an armed conflict with China - such a conflict would be a true disaster for all concerned with no happy ending for anyone.
So what do we do? #1 - maintain a meaningful forward presence that is seen to deter China and reassure our allies, friends and partners, #2 - strengthen our relationships with all the other affected nations in the region (Japan, S Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc). And I don't mean just military relationships; our most important issues are economic so we need to stress trade agreements, etc. #3 - sign the Law of the Sea treaty. We need to hold China account in international courts, the UN and the court of international public opinion - it's awfully hard to do that if we refuse to sign on to the treaty we're trying to enforce!
With respect to a more aggressive military assistance program, while we certainly have extremely capable ships that we have retired, these ships are also extremely expensive to operate and maintain. It would also be extremely expensive to develop the infrastructure that could produce and sustain well-trained crews.
Japan, Singapore and South Korea have very modern, capable navies and Australia is re-building hers with new ships - the Philippines simply couldn't afford to operate many of the types of ships we'd have available.
Your idea to transfer our retired FFGs, though, is spot-on. These ships are relatively inexpensive to operate and can be easily modernized to increase their service life and capabilities. I hope we se the FFG transfer program pick-up significantly in the near future. All the best, JCHjr
So what do we do? #1 - maintain a meaningful forward presence that is seen to deter China and reassure our allies, friends and partners, #2 - strengthen our relationships with all the other affected nations in the region (Japan, S Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, etc). And I don't mean just military relationships; our most important issues are economic so we need to stress trade agreements, etc. #3 - sign the Law of the Sea treaty. We need to hold China account in international courts, the UN and the court of international public opinion - it's awfully hard to do that if we refuse to sign on to the treaty we're trying to enforce!
With respect to a more aggressive military assistance program, while we certainly have extremely capable ships that we have retired, these ships are also extremely expensive to operate and maintain. It would also be extremely expensive to develop the infrastructure that could produce and sustain well-trained crews.
Japan, Singapore and South Korea have very modern, capable navies and Australia is re-building hers with new ships - the Philippines simply couldn't afford to operate many of the types of ships we'd have available.
Your idea to transfer our retired FFGs, though, is spot-on. These ships are relatively inexpensive to operate and can be easily modernized to increase their service life and capabilities. I hope we se the FFG transfer program pick-up significantly in the near future. All the best, JCHjr
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SN Earl Robinson
I thank you for your kind words ADM and hope you will continue to frequent this web site as I have found it it a good place to trade ideas amongst persons with a love of country.
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ADM, I actually have 2 questions.
I would like to know where you stand on dual military BAH and all the other proposed BAH changes.
I would also like to know your position on the proposed overhaul of military compensation and benefits. As a retiree my pension is safe but I feel that the proposed 401(k) style retirement will be bad for retention. I also do not like the proposed changes to Tricare. As the parent of a special-needs child I'm already paying quite a bit out of pocket for my daughter's care that Tricare doesn't cover but if the changes get approved I will have to pay even more. I don't know about anybody else but I'm already on a budget and I feel like the Navy and military in general don't care about its greatest asset, people.
Very respectfully,
IT1(SW) John Miller (Ret.)
I would like to know where you stand on dual military BAH and all the other proposed BAH changes.
I would also like to know your position on the proposed overhaul of military compensation and benefits. As a retiree my pension is safe but I feel that the proposed 401(k) style retirement will be bad for retention. I also do not like the proposed changes to Tricare. As the parent of a special-needs child I'm already paying quite a bit out of pocket for my daughter's care that Tricare doesn't cover but if the changes get approved I will have to pay even more. I don't know about anybody else but I'm already on a budget and I feel like the Navy and military in general don't care about its greatest asset, people.
Very respectfully,
IT1(SW) John Miller (Ret.)
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ADM John Harvey
IT1 Miller, you've raised an incredibly important issue. Some very sweeping changes to the current compensation and retirement policies are being proposed. I'm OK with some of them, agnostic on several others and totally against two in particular - cutting support for the Commissary system and the proposed cut of dual-BAH.
Hitting the commissaries as proposed will generate very little (comparatively speaking) in the way of savings, but could negatively impact our most vulnerable junior enlisted in the active force and elderly retired living on fixed incomes. It is the wrong approach!
Abruptly, rpt abruptly, cutting dual-BAH is, in my view, a breach of faith with those who planned lives together based on that policy. if the policy is to be changed, it needs to be phased out over time, not just stopped.
All these changes being discussed will require the force at every level - from E1 to O10 - to be far more financially literate than is currently the case in order to make fully informed decisions that will have life-long impacts. We are not ready to implement the proposed changes and won't be until our people, not just the budgeteers in DC, understand what these changes will mean to them. All the best, JCHjr
Hitting the commissaries as proposed will generate very little (comparatively speaking) in the way of savings, but could negatively impact our most vulnerable junior enlisted in the active force and elderly retired living on fixed incomes. It is the wrong approach!
Abruptly, rpt abruptly, cutting dual-BAH is, in my view, a breach of faith with those who planned lives together based on that policy. if the policy is to be changed, it needs to be phased out over time, not just stopped.
All these changes being discussed will require the force at every level - from E1 to O10 - to be far more financially literate than is currently the case in order to make fully informed decisions that will have life-long impacts. We are not ready to implement the proposed changes and won't be until our people, not just the budgeteers in DC, understand what these changes will mean to them. All the best, JCHjr
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PO1 (Join to see)
ADM,
Interestingly enough there are probably many situations where planning a life together based on current situation leads to issues. Going from a dual income household in Jacksonville, to a single income family in Atsugi cut our income nearly in half. We could have stayed in Jacksonville for the financial benefits, but chose to come to Japan for career enhancement. I do not think the Navy would be receptive to a request for some sort of compensation for this.
It is my understanding that BAH is provided to offset the housing costs for us Sailors. Do dual military couples really rate the ability to nearly double dip? I do not think dual military stationed abroad get dual OHA, which would cost the government a fortune, so why do we do it stateside?
Interestingly enough there are probably many situations where planning a life together based on current situation leads to issues. Going from a dual income household in Jacksonville, to a single income family in Atsugi cut our income nearly in half. We could have stayed in Jacksonville for the financial benefits, but chose to come to Japan for career enhancement. I do not think the Navy would be receptive to a request for some sort of compensation for this.
It is my understanding that BAH is provided to offset the housing costs for us Sailors. Do dual military couples really rate the ability to nearly double dip? I do not think dual military stationed abroad get dual OHA, which would cost the government a fortune, so why do we do it stateside?
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