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USNI: Taking Our Institute Back – Following the Numbers Salamander Style
There is a saying in politics that if you really want to find out what is going on, follow the money.
The current Chairman of the USNI Board of Directors has cited the need for the Institute to gain financial stability as the prime motivator behind their actions leading up to the mission change. Following the numbers though, surfaces a different perspective, and one CDR Salamander throughly dissects. As he summarizes – “Good people can disagree on what direction USNI should take, but this just smells funny.” Indeed, something is fishy and it isn’t the Severn at low tide…
I gave up on Naval Institute Press and basically have boycotted all of their products since last year, when the latest edition of MARINE CORPS AVIATION SINCE 1912 appeared and proved to be riddled with errors and format changes that were visually unappealing while the book was grossly over-priced, with no color at all. When I wrote to complain, I was initially promised an “investigation” into the numerous errors that I detailed. Nothing happened. Ultimately, after several repeated attempts to get through to them that the problem was serious, they finally told me that they had no interest in changing anything. I lost all confidence in Naval Institute Press and encouraged friends to steer clear of them as well. They don’t make money because they are over-priced, elitist and arrogantly assume that they can make no mistakes. They don’t listen, they don’t care and, as a result, ultimately, they don’t deserve to remain in business. The whole institution has severe problems and NIP is just a symptom of a larger disease. I had considered becoming a member of the USNI but, after my experience with their books, I decided not only to avoid and boycott all NIP products, but to consider the Institute as a whole to be a waste of money and time. They obviously care nothing about standards and their concerns seem limited to the Almighty Buck and their prestige. They don’t deserve to exist. I had no idea that this debate was raging on the inside but I could tell there was a problem by the low standards reflected in their publications. Again, it was a mere symptom of a much larger problem within the organization. As an aviation historian, I should be a major booster and supporter of such an organization. Instead, I am sad to say that I have to recommend avoiding their products as both over-priced and substandard in quality.