Browsing: Navy Times

The push for unisex uniforms is moving forward and led from the top — Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. Mabus believes it’s time for female sailors — and Marines — to wear the same uniforms as their shipmates so as to better blend into today’s Navy, where women serve in fleet units and shouldn’t wear different covers and uniforms in formation. “When we look out, we shouldn’t see male sailors or female sailors,” Mabus told Navy Times. “We ought to see sailors.” Intended as a step to reduce discrimination against females in the Navy, the effort could also spell big changes…

Sailors and their families have grown accustomed to Washington, D.C., showdowns. But this latest one may be the gravest, as the shuttered American government lurches closer to a possible default on its national debt – now about 12 hours away. A default imperils the government’s ability to pay its bills, including military pay and veterans’ benefits. Economists believe it will throw the world economy into a crisis, as the U.S. is the world’s largest economy and holds the largest debt. And long term it would likely diminish the military’s size and power, as the nation would no longer be able…

Seeking to cut the tally of fired commanders whose behavior has embarrassed the service and raised questions about how they were selected for the service’s most prestigious positions, the Navy’s top officer has tightened the standards for command and ordered a pilot study of an evaluation that allows sailors to rate their own bosses. The end goal is officers better suited for command. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert spelled out his plan in a June 4 instruction that overhauls the command screening process and applies it fleetwide. By June 4, 2013, every new CO will have to go…

The wait is over: New crackerjacks are coming. The Navy’s top officer has approved the long awaited overhaul of the iconic dress uniform, a modernization that officials say will make them more comfortable and functional. Both dress whites and dress blues, worn by E-6 and below, have been updated after a six year trial-and-error effort. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert “has approved the revised designs for the service dress blues and the service dress whites,” Rear Adm. Tony Kurta, director of military plans and personnel for the chief of naval personnel, said in a May 17 interview. “With…

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