[I’m puzzled by the repeated invocations of the word “freedom” as a justification for all of the Navy’s behavior, no matter how damaging or misguided it might be. ]

And there it is - you obviously have an issue with the military - connecting the dots in your words:  "damaging", "misguided", "behavior".

Integrated your bias with economic quackery - and getting paid for it - must have been really "cool".