Navy’s 7th Fleet no stranger to high ops tempo

I was often in the HIGH Op TEMPO area of the 7th Fleet and was "forward deployed" in Hawaii. (No, it is not all pearly shells and hula girls there.) We trained intensely because we were forward deployed and knew we were on the cutting edge of the sword is things turned worse. Our job was to really hang on until the rest of the fleet was ready and able to respond, much like the guard at the gate alerts the rest of the base when SHTF.

I am not buying into the argument that forward deployed units do not have time to train. All we do in peace time is train for war and anytime we are not engaged with enemy forces we are training for the moment we do engage. The ships forward deployed have one other major job, intercept any missiles launched from the West of Japan. That means any and wherever they are going, Japan, Guam, of the US. To do this they have to be in 100% working condition, not broken.

True, but it is rather scary that they now have four Aegis mishaps this year. Something is amiss. Training? Maintenance? Too many officers to qualify? I have heard lots of issues from folks around the Navy, not just in 7

Thanks for sharing the unsurprising news PO1 Tony Holland that the 7th U.S. Navy Fleet is no stranger to high OPTEMPO.