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Rethinking Navy Manpower In Light of the COVID-19 Response (Source: USNI Blog)

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Sailors disinfecting a Navy workspace during the early COVID-19 response.
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Brandon used the Navy’s COVID-19 posture as a live-fire experiment to show which manning, training, and equipping processes are truly essential—and which ones hemorrhage cyber talent.

Key topics

  • Pandemic-driven watch rotations and deployment pauses revealed bureaucratic steps that add delay without improving readiness.
  • The article called for leaner accession and training pipelines so cryptologic warfare officers aren’t sidelined when cyber billets open.
  • Brandon argued for data-driven force design that protects health, preserves operational tempo, and keeps cyber specialists in their lanes.