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The CBC reports: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/navy-warship-wifi-1.4481346
The Canadian navy has dropped what its top sailor called the "draconian" policy on the technology and has embarked on a program to install Wi-Fi on each of its warships.
"There are other navies that operate with NATO that have Wi-Fi in far more spaces than we do." said Vice-Admiral Ron Lloyd, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy. "And we're saying 'No you can't have it aboard' — period? That's crazy."
The U.S. navy began installing 4G LTE networks aboard its ships in 2012, while Canadian sailors have over the same period of time been forced to stow their cellphones while at sea — particularly when in secured areas — and rely on the occasional satellite phone conversation with family at home.
Those infrequent chats conducted through "morale phones" were largely dependant on the warship's jammed-up operational network.
Chief Petty Officer 1st Class Michel Vigneault was amazed to see, for the very first time, a sailor having a Facetime conversation with family back home on a smartphone. The moment neatly captured the conundrum he and the top brass have faced in making the navy, which has for a decade been perpetually short of sailors, an appealing place to work. The moment encapsulated two issues: the longstanding prohibition on Wi-Fi coverage aboard warships and the amount of time sailors are away from home.
Both have become central to the retention and recruiting makeover that is underway as part of the Liberal government's recently introduced defence strategy.
The ban on Wi-Fi was an obvious irritant.
"I realized then how important it is. Maybe not for my generation, because we didn't grow up with that, but for younger sailors, being connected is very, very important," Vigneault told CBC News is a recent interview. "Everything we can do to enable that for the benefit of the sailor and his or her family is very, very important."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by linkdude64 on Sunday January 14 2018, @01:41AM (4 children)
Expect a lot more fucking off and a lot less unit cohesion with this change. No more gathering in a room to watch a movie, no more playing cards, no more talking to each other.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 14 2018, @02:25AM (2 children)
Interesting idea. On the one hand, I never saw that movies and card playing were "good things". I rarely participated in either. Those cribbage marathons? I'd rather beat myself over the head with a dogging wrench. Talking to each other? Mmmmmmm . . . . I really don't know about that.
More fucking off? Get serious. Those who fuck off, fuck off. Those who are mission oriented, get on with the mission. The fuckoffs never needed any kind of technological aid. Seriously, man, all you ever had to do, was to take your eyes off of a fuck off, and WHAM! He was fucking off again.
I can see that the availability of communications can be good for morale. Especially if those communications are free or ultra-cheap. Us older people spent months at sea, unable to call home. Oh, there was a system whereby in an emergency (death in the family, for instance) our radio room could contact a HAM operator, who would patch a guy through to home telephones. But, typically, any phone calls were made from a telephone exchange, in port, at mind-blowing rates. A thirty minute call might require your last three paychecks - payable immediately, in cash, with an operator interrupting every minute and a half to demand payment.
None of us can *REALLY* put ourselves in another person's shoes. You and I didn't grow up with smartphones, so we can't really say how we might use all this stuff aboard ship. But, I don't THINK that being able to talk to the wife would impact my job performance. If anything, job performance might improve. I do recall grousing and moping from time to time, because there was no word from home. Watching your kids learn to walk is priceless. Reading about it in a ten sentence letter is just frustrating. Being able to participate, even remotely, in daily decisions at home has got to boost morale.
Life at sea is lonely, even for an old asshole such as myself. There is no getting around that. Communications with home will help to combat that loneliness, IMO. The fuck offs? Give them the tech, and if/when they abuse it, restrict their access. Problem solved?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:34AM
In 1990, I made a call from a payphone in Berlin to a friend in Canada. I stacked up about 8 5-mark coins on top of the phone (maybe $25 or 30 US at the time), while I was talking, I had to feed those coins in almost as fast as my fingers could manage, whole call ran about 3 minutes before the money ran out.
By 1997, I was idly chatting with some Australian bloke stationed in Greece, from Miami, for free per minute - over my dialup internet connection that cost about $20 per month.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @03:36AM
Ever see the movie Jarhead?
Sometimes it's better to leave life at home behind, and not be caught up in the daily drama / shit-storms.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday January 14 2018, @11:09PM
Not to mention the gaping security violations from both chatty sailors and potential enemy hacking. The military doesn't deprive you of things you like because they are meanieheads, they have legitimate reasons for reducing their surface area of vulnerability.
The more shit like this I read, the safer I feel, because it indicates that WWIII isn't going to kick off anytime soon.