Read the whole thing but this struck me as crazy...
The Naval Vessel Registry lists 245 active hulls as of June, 2011. The same registry lists 268 Flag Officers: 243 Active, 22 Active Duty for Special Work, and 3 Full Time Support. Last time I walked the Naval Station piers, only three ships had broken an Admiral’s Flag at the masthead.
What has me pounding my head is the idea that every US Navy ship could be commanded by an Admiral. I was high and to the right and ready to post in the comments section how freaking insane that is and why someone hasn't done anything about it.
Then I thought about the Marine Corps. From various sources, the word is that the Marine Corps is capped at 80 general officers.
80.
Eight - Zero.
For a force that at its height in modern history might have numbered 202, 000 men.
That's roughly a General for every 2500 Marines.
A General for every 2500 Marines! Say it out loud and see if that makes sense to you.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? (I don't even want to look at the number of Colonels.)
We won't be lean. We won't be expeditionary. We won't be the Marine Corps that the nation deserves until we get as savage when it comes to promotion and retention at the top as we are at the bottom...by my estimation we could cut at least 1/2 these billets with no difficulty.
We should do it today.
