Where was everyone?
The Navy was expecting 5,000 people, but only 1,500-2,000 showed up for the decommissioning of the USS John F. Kennedy on Friday.
JFK crew members who organized the two-hour event said they were overwhelmed with requests from Kennedy alumni and others who wanted to attend. But on game day most of them were AWOL.
After receiving a dozen or so e-mails from former sailors desperate to attend the event, I'd love to know why so many didn't show up.
Jeff
JFK crew members who organized the two-hour event said they were overwhelmed with requests from Kennedy alumni and others who wanted to attend. But on game day most of them were AWOL.
After receiving a dozen or so e-mails from former sailors desperate to attend the event, I'd love to know why so many didn't show up.
Jeff
posted by Jeff at
4:12 PM
2 Comments:
My husband was aboard the ship from '93-'97. We are heartbroken that we hadn't heard the ceremony was today. We would've been there. Now I'm desperately trying to find a video copy of the event! Too bad there wasn't a more organized announcement to former sailors, perhaps by mail ahead of time.
When I first got an inkling that JFK could be decommissioned back in December I would occasionally do a Google search in an attempt to get more information. I found an article in the Middle-East editon of The Stars and Strips in Dec. 2006, citing "navy officials", saying she would be decommissioned on September, 30 2007, but that the process would begin in March.
In Februay I found articles in Boston, Norfolk and Jacksonville newspaper websites that announced the March 23 decommissioning date, but nothing about how to attend.
I made plans to be in Jacksonville with no idea if I would actually get to the ceremony.
Earlier this week, as the date approached I renewed my search for information. I found this blog, which has been the best resource for accurate info and I thank Jeff Bromley for his good work.
It was from Jeff that I got the email address to the PAO office who sent me the invitation. Earlier in March I had read somewhere that tours of the ship would be allowed the morning of March 23. I learned on March 20 that tours would only be allowed on Thursday March 22, too late for me to adjust my schedule to attend.
In a conversation with Jeff and a Lt. Commander Dan Doolittle after the ceremony I learned that the NAVY only gave JFK the offical date of March 23 in the middle of February. Regardless, I think the ship could have done a much better job of getting the word out. A simple press release with details of who to contact and how would have been picked up by newspapers catering to the naval community and easily found in a Google search.
So the reason so few people were in attendance is simple; the NAVY did a poor job of getting the word out. But in defense of KENNEDY, they didn't have a lot of time or perhaps even the resources to do the job properly.
Lt.Cmd. Doolittle noted that email has been the primary tool for sending out invitations, but he also said that they have had significant "bandwidth" problems so response times have been slow.
Bottom line: From beginning to end a typical government operation; ineffective and inefficient.
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