{"id":29162,"date":"2017-11-14T22:22:30","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T22:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/11\/14\/mccain-military-personnels-100-hour-work-weeks-must-stop\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:38:11","slug":"mccain-military-personnels-100-hour-work-weeks-must-stop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2017\/11\/14\/mccain-military-personnels-100-hour-work-weeks-must-stop\/","title":{"rendered":"McCain: Military personnel’s 100-hour work weeks must stop"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Senators made it clear to Defense Department nominees at a nomination hearing Tuesday that they expect action to address problems with military personnel readiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI look you in the eye and tell you a 100-hour work week is too long for a young member of our armed forces,\u201d said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. \u201cThey are working 100-hour weeks. It has to stop. Otherwise you\u2019ll see more tragedies such as took place with recent collisions<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCain described it as a \u201cmilitary readiness crisis\u201d that has affected every branch of service, with ship collisions, air crashes, vehicle accidents and personnel shortages in critical roles like aviation and cybersecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe department is struggling to make do with budgets that are too small, unpredictable and driven by politics rather than strategy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, he said, personnel and readiness are hardest hit by these budget issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCain said when he recently visited with the families of sailors on the destroyer John S. McCain, 10 of whom were killed in the aftermath of a collision with a merchant vessel<\/a>, they told him \u201cthey believe their young people were not provided with what they needed to effectively operate in defense of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of that, he said, is the 100-hour work week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSomething\u2019s got to change,\u201d he said. I don\u2019t like looking at those mothers whose children\u2019s deaths could have been prevented. This is a serious issue. It\u2019s pretty obvious according to the chief of naval operations, that this could have been prevented. And Congress is also complicit in this almost criminal behavior.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCain pointed to the shortage of pilots, noting that it will be a crisis. \u201cI want a new look at this whole issue,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I had a priority for you, I would address that first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He urged the nominees \u2015 Anthony Kurta, nominated to be principal deputy undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and James E. McPherson, to be Army general counsel \u2015 to visit pilots and ask why they joined the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\t