According to Instapundit, the Navy ran a "climate assessment" survey aboard the two destroyers that collided with merchant vessels. The surveys asked crew men about how short of sleep they were, how they felt about the ship, the mission, and the Navy. And how they felt about their officers. Basically the men reported being tired, overworked, and not too sure their officers knew what they were doing.
Wow.
I was an Air Force officer for six years back during the Viet Nam war. USAF did not run surveys of any kind back in that day. How the troops, both NCO's and enlisted men felt about me, my leadership, the Air Force mission, and fixing aircraft right was important to me. I put in a lot of hours in my shops looking around and talking to the troops, likewise out on the flight line. I joined a stock car racing club the troops had organized. I said nothing when the troops posted Lt. Fuzz cartoons on the shop bulletin boards. I would not have benefited from or believed in a USAF survey. I had seen how my troops had massaged the maintenance date reporting system to indicate that they were all working hard, and doing things right. I would have figured the troops would respond to a survey with answers that they figured would do them good.
Gotta wonder about that Navy. Competent officers keep in touch with their men and have a pretty good idea of what they are thinking. They don't need "climate assessment" surveys.
The Navy has never given clear answers about how those two destroyers managed to collide with merchies. Could it be that the entire bridge crew just fell asleep, letting the ship plow straight on under autopilot control?
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