The last posting for this question was posted quite a while ago, that said I served in the US Navy for 20 years and from reading some of the answers, I have a suspicion that I am the only one in the room that has ever worn a naval uniform. DA60 was quite imprecise when he wrote "close down all the bases." The error in the statement is we only have two foreign (Sasebo & Yokosuka) with most placed domestically (i.e. Pearl Harbor, San Diego, Everett, Bangor, Bremerton, Mayport, Norfolk, and Pascaloosa). And by domestically, I mean on American shores. Questerr was real close. 7th fleet (Sasebo & Yokosuka) provides ships to augment deployed ships if needed, but for the most part deployed ships come from US naval stations, and to correct a common error, with underway replenishment all "bluewater" navy vessels can remain at sea for extended periods, limited only by the sanity of the crew. Modern naval ships make their own water via Sea Chest (desalination). Finally, the figure of 11 Strike Groups come from the deployment schedule so deployments are no longer than six months. Cut down the number of Strike Groups by half means deployments lasting a year+. Translation of that means sailors not seeing their families for a year or more, which by any definition is harsh and a hardship. Given what navy pay is, nobody would want to join. You have to figure in those unintended consequences. Again, the last posting for "What is Ron Paul's plan for the US Navy?" was in 2012. So I hope someone reads this, but will not be surprised if it is ignored.
