During Wednesday's Senate Armed Services hearing, Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) grilled Vice Admiral Richard J. Cheeseman Jr. about the over 20,000 gaps in sea billets and how it impacts the Navy's readiness.
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00:02So, Senator Warren, you said that you can be very unpleasant about all this.
00:07It's called oversight.
00:08Yes.
00:09And if we need to be unpleasant about it, so be it.
00:14So, General Weifel, did you say that this is the last time you're going to be testifying?
00:19Oh, thank you very much.
00:22Congratulations for doing what you do, and my best wishes to you.
00:27So, you know, let's face it.
00:30I am deeply concerned about, Secretary Higgs says, personnel policy changes within the DOD
00:36and their impact on military personnel and overall readiness.
00:42You all acknowledge how important all these programs are, including child care and everything else on readiness,
00:47but he's making these cuts.
00:49The reinstatement of the Transgender Service Ban and the rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs
00:56raised serious questions about their effects on recruiting, retention, and unit cohesion.
01:06Furthermore, reports of abrupt dismissals of tenured and nonpartisan military officials,
01:15most recently General Hall, without clear justification, call into question the institutional stability
01:23and apolitical foundation of our military.
01:28These concerning developments require a thorough examination to ensure that DOD policy supports
01:35a diverse, inclusive, and effective fighting force.
01:39Even as there are all these attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion, the fact of the matter is
01:45that all of the services need to recruit from as wide a swath of people as possible.
01:52So, these attacks on DEI, they are the wrong way to go.
02:00As I said, we should be recruiting from as wide a swath of people as possible.
02:04Now, this is for Admiral Cheeseman.
02:06The Navy currently has over 20,000 gaps in at-sea billets,
02:14and this shortfall has serious readiness implications since it requires the Navy
02:20to pull sailors assigned to ships and submarines undergoing maintenance
02:26and assign them to units going on deployment.
02:29This cannibalization of personnel causes cascading and disruptive effects across the service.
02:37Question to you.
02:39I mean, does this gap concern you?
02:42Senator, thanks for the question.
02:43It keeps me awake at night.
02:45Yes, so it concerns you.
02:47That's right.
02:47What are you doing about it?
02:49Yes, ma'am.
02:50Our survey data tells us the single biggest concern among our sailors is burnout due to lack of manning.
02:57All right, so with that, we've done a number of things.
02:59First, we have completely merged our distribution and advancement systems
03:04into something we call billet-based advancement.
03:07That has shown great strides in this area.
03:10From E5 to E9, I essentially have no gaps at sea.
03:14In fact, I have a small surplus.
03:16All of our gaps at sea right now are among apprentices,
03:18and it speaks directly to the recruiting challenges we've had in the past.
03:21When we contract over 40,000 sailors in 2024, it takes time to get those sailors through the pipeline.
03:28They will start arriving to ships in 2025.
03:31By the end of this fiscal year, we should have about 18,000 gaps,
03:35and by the end of 2026, we should be down to about 8,000 gaps.
03:39It takes about, on average, nine months for a sailor to get through the pipeline.
03:43Those new sailors are coming.
03:44I hope you achieve those goals, and in fact, we probably will be following up with you
03:49on how you are doing because this is a huge gap,
03:53and you're not going to eliminate the gaps by hoping that it will.
03:58I just want to ask you all, are women in the military important?
04:03Let's start with you.
04:04Senator, yes, they are.
04:06Senator, absolutely.
04:09Yes, Senator, absolutely.
04:11Absolutely. Yes, ma'am.
04:12So when we talk about how important child care is and all of those kinds of things,
04:19it makes me wonder whether, in fact, women are important in the military.
04:24And let me just point out a program that was created.
04:29It's called the Women's Initiative Team.
04:31All the services had women's initiative teams.
04:34Apparently, they are all gone.
04:37Are they gone in all your services?
04:39Are you planning to bring them back?
04:40Well, it's important, I would say, if women are important to the services.
04:46Do you still have WITs?
04:51I'm not aware that we do, Senator.
04:54Pardon me?
04:55I'm not aware that we do, Senator.
04:58Did you ever have them?
05:00I believe we did.
05:01Okay.
05:01What about you?
05:02Senator, for the Navy, we folded our women's initiative.
05:05We stood down the women's initiative team, but we do have a Navy culture advisory group that takes in all issues from all sailors.
05:15Senator, I'm not aware of that particular initiative, but we can incredibly value our females in the Marine Corps.
05:21Well, I am told that all the services have them.
05:23So the fact that you're not aware when you say that women are important, and this is one of the ways that we can recruit, retain them, and support them, I would suggest.
05:31In fact, I'm going to follow up and put language in the NDAA that requires all of you to reinstate this program.
05:39So that if women, in fact, are important to the services, then your policies and practices will reflect.
05:46Do you want them?
05:48All of our affinity clubs have been stood down temporarily.
05:52Yeah, I wonder why.
05:54I know why.
05:55That is a rhetorical question.
05:57Ms. Kelly?
05:59Yes, Senator.
06:00We connected with the Air Force for this as well.
06:04They have been stood down, but I acknowledge your point.
06:06Yeah, and they've been stood down because they're all supposedly under attack for being, promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
