Ross James

Right now I am writing this in tears. Thank you @SECNAV @HungCao_VA from the bottom of my heart. The US Merchant Marine has been defunded, denigrated, and stripped of respect for decades. The result? The Navy pulled 17 critical logistics ships manned by Merchant Mariners from the active fleet, and only 86 🇺🇸 cargo ships remain in international service against China’s thousands. Over the last three years, what started as a tiny group with @brentdsadler @Heritage gained traction through @michaelgwaltz and snowballed into countless meetings with Senators, Admirals, and senior White House advisors. Together with dozens of patriots, and with the personal support of President Trump, we wrote the SHIPS for America Act, the Maritime Executive Order & the Maritime Action Plan. We overturned the UN carbon tax that penalized shipping, fought for new USTR rules, stood up @JerryHendrixII’s White House shipbuilding office and a new Navy shipbuilding plan, won critical support from @SecWar & got an actual USMM Captain, Steve Carmel, nominated as Commandant of the USMM. It hasn’t all been unicorns and rainbows. We are still fighting to get the SHIPS Act through Congress and to get the bureaucratic state to execute the executive orders. But my biggest frustration, one I raised at EVERY SINGLE MEETING, was this: we are swinging for grand slams while nobody guards first base. And the easiest bunt of all is the most basic sign of respect: a service ribbon for US Merchant Mariners who served in combat. My wife displays a single ribbon from her service in Iraq. Everyone who enters our house asks about it, giving me the chance to be the proud service spouse I am. But that combat ribbon, one of dozens on the books for Merchant Mariners, is the only one regularly issued to our service & was essentially forgotten during the Obama years. @PeteButtigieg refused to issue it when the USMM returned to combat in the Red Sea. That ribbon is what kept me pushing. At every meeting with the top people in DC, I asked for one simple bunt: issue the ribbon to our mariners in combat. Nobody did. A few tried. A few made phone calls. Most ignored the request, and some rolled their eyes. One even told me: “This is ridiculous, John. We are budgeting billions for ships and you won’t shut up about a ribbon. Ask any mariner if they’d rather have a new ship or a ribbon and 100% will say a ship.” They aren’t wrong. The problem is ships take time, we are three years in and they don’t have a ship. A ribbon can be issued in days. The bigger problem is they don’t understand Colonel John Boyd: “People, then ideas, then platforms & technology. In that order.” The fact that nobody is asking for a ribbon is exactly what makes it powerful. A few weeks ago I met with Hung Cao and opened with the same ask I’ve made hundreds of times: “Dust off an @MSCSealift medals & give one to the crews in combat off Iran.” He said what most have said: “Give me a few weeks, I’ll look into it.” I’ve heard that before, so I got mad. Madder still when @shesova told me a USMM World War II hero had been overlooked for a medal. I called my Commandant & said, “GD it Steve, we still have a WW2 veteran who’s been overlooked.” “Give me a few weeks John, I’ll look into it.” 🙄 Well, I woke up today to an email from Sheila inviting me and @SecDuffy to a ceremony awarding Charles Mills, World War II USMM combat veteran the USMM Outstanding Achievement Medal. Wow! Then @MikeSchuler published this today. I asked for a simple USMM combat medal nobody would recognize. Instead President Trump & Hung Cao delivered a Presidential Unit Citation, one of the most prestigious awards in the military. Yesterday @HungCao_VA said the Navy’s top 3 priorities are people, shipbuilding & the homeland. Senior officers have said that for years. The difference is Hung Cao means it. “Acta Non Verba,” deeds not words, is USMM Acadmy’s motto & boy did Secretary Cao deliver! PEOPLE FIRST 🇺🇸

#OTD in 1981: The #1 song was "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang