Things has certainly changed a bit. Hopefully this comparison is not entirely accurate.

Some things never change. Some WWII history for ya. My mom ran into the same "anti-woman in the military" issues when she joined the SPARS in 1944. At a baseball game in Washington DC with another SPAR the men seated behind her started to berate her and he friend for bing women in the military. In those days, a good woman lived with her father and mother until she got married. It was in the Bible so they said. So these guys dumped a beer on mom's friends head and they left. As they were leaving, a couple of navy men saw they were upset and asked why. When mom told them what had happened they had her lead them back into the stadium and point the goons out. The navy guys waited for the men to leave after the game was over and beat the crap out of them. BTW, that United States Naval Officerr has a much bigger resume than the one the meme paints a picture of.

My hat is off to all in the military.

Carry on men

 

Is this a bad moment to point out that King was not great at his job? Perhaps if he had studied journalism WW2 would have been shorter...

 

Depends on the job…She may not be the pick to lead a carrier group, but be an exceptional man manager. Not all positions are about combat as we know.

 

Admiral Franchetti does have a diverse resume and is qualified, though based upon the other appointments made at the same time it appears the administration selected these candidates based upon sex, gender and race instead of pure "best for the job. The Navy needs a leader right now to get itself back on track, and it was male CNO's Admiral's Gilday and Richardson that were leading the Navy the last number of years when many problems have surfaced, from the DD-Fitzgerald and DD-McCain collisions, to the Bonhomme Richard fire to the ten suicides in 10 months for the CVN-George Washington, etc. etc. Our problem today is that the political powers that be, promote and place politically managers in most of the senior leadership positions, when we need fighters and leaders.

They do have a point about the ribbons and award inflation. Ribbons are worn in order of precedence based upon importance. Admiral Franchetti has the National Defense ribbon, this is the ribbon you get for even one days service during a specified period of conflict. It is the one ribbon that you see recruits wear as the only ribbon they rate. It is the last ribbon on the FOURTH row up from the bottom on Admiral Franchetti's stack! The description of King's awards is misleading. He ended his service with 4 1/2 rows, the highest award being the Navy Cross. the nations second highest award for heroism, his very last ribbon on the bottom row was the National Defense ribbon.

Now to Ricky's comment,

I doubt if King's lack of consideration for journalism cost a single life or extended the war another day, and I can guaran-damn-tee, journalism didn't win any battles. Journalism on the other hand has led to quite a few bad decisions and bad outcomes by stirring up adverse public opinion in areas the public, and likely the journalist don't fully comprehend.
King lead the US Navy in its biggest war in history. Assuming the role of COMINCH of the US Fleet from Admiral Kimmel on 30 Dec. 1941 and took over the role of CNO from his friend and mentor Admiral Stark in March 1942. He oversaw the US Navy during it's massive expansion and worldwide commitments during the war, it was his leadership that saw to it that the US Navy was the largest and most lethal navy in the history of the world. He was an angry, ill tempered, SOB but he made the Navy function efficiently and win. There have been very few Admirals and world history that could have performed the task he successfully performed.

 

The maestro said it all.

 

As always, good points. While award inflation is out of control (is it the USAF where by the time you leave boot camp you can have up to 3 ribbons?), it is important to look at the actual ribbons themselves rather than the quantity of ribbons before rendering judgement on an individual's credentials/accomplishments. One thing to add that some people overlook: many flag officers during WW2 would only wear the top row of their ribbon rack (which contained the highest-precedence awards). Like FADM King, each of these individuals had far more than the 3 or 4 ribbons shown on their uniforms. This is still occasionally seen today.

A few examples:

Eisenhower:


Nimitz:


Gilday (former CNO)

 

Much worse than award inflation is rank inflation. There are currently about 900 flag officers on active duty to command 1.3 million in uniform. In World War II, there were just over twice as many - about 2,000 flag officers - to command nearly ten times as many - 13 million.

 

I was friends with a fellow who was a G Canal vet. Stayed in the guard and reserves for 40 years. He only wore his CIB. He said it said it all.

 

It's called wearing your "top three." This practice is allowed today, and you see it once in a while. I actually did it later in my naval career.