[crustychief]

As a 20 + year Surface Warfare Navy Chief, OOD qualified and now a Naval weapons contractor working on Navy ships worldwide daily...
Before smartphones, sailors could text and send pictures and were mildly distracted while in cell phone range. As a CPO, you would ensure the phones were put away while on watch and in other situations. Sailors ( especially junior Officers and junior enlisted) being of the same age group would play video games and watch movies in common areas. When smartphones started making the scene it became a lot tougher because now the sailors did not have to be at a "plugged in" television or video game to play or watch their favorite shows. The last part of my active duty career I found many sailors standing watch playing fruit ninja, watching downloaded movies etc. Ass chewing first offense, Disciplinary review board and or Captains mast were the order of the day. Being retired since 2008 and still boarding ships daily, all those junior sailors are now the CPO's and command rank officers. Sometimes it is hard not to fall back on reliving my days as a Chief and tell them to put their phones away and pay attention. This is just one of the major issues I see daily. Another issue is ( especially in the LCS community) the contracting of everything from sweepers ( yes they have maids now) to stores onloads and routine maintenance. It has fostered a new level of apathy and a very serious atrophy of basic seamanship/occupational skills. I remember sailors used to have a sense of ownership for what their commands had accomplished and I just don't see that anymore. In the LCS community, even the Commanding officer participates in cleaning passageways. How does that affect the eager Junior officers aspirations to excel and become a Commanding Officer when they are pretty much on the same level doing menial tasks? I love my sailors but do get concerned at what I see daily. Sorry for the rant, just had to throw it out there