22 thoughts on “Disgraceful firing?”

  1. “Acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly … said the commander exercised poor judgment. Modly said the letter was sent through the chain of command but Crozier did not safeguard it from being released outside the chain.”

    Seems justified to me.

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    1. RE: “Seems justified to me.”

      Sounds like it. There’s also the fact that ship drivers tend to be removed for anything that goes wrong on their watch, whether it is their fault or not. Sounds harsh, but the Navy is never wrong.

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    2. “I don’t know who leaked the letter to the media. That would be something that would violate the principles of good order and discipline, if he were responsible for that. But I don’t know that,” acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said when asked multiple times whether the captain faced discipline.

      So far the official word is “we don’t know who leaked it” and “ the letter was sent through the chain of command but Crozier did not safeguard it from being released outside the chain.”

      So who else up the chain got kicked out? The Captain did everything to safeguard his crew and followed the chain of command.

      But he was the lowest rung on the ladder and to paraphrase from my old Navy days, “Poop flows downhill.”

      Classic CYA by an administration post that has already seen firings because of “failure to be obsequious enough”, UCMJ Article Yada, Yada.

      BZ Captain for probably saving lives of the men under your command.

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    3. “but Crozier did not safeguard it from being released outside the chain.”

      Navy-speak for “he wrote it”. But, this is the Navy that blew up its own ship and blame the crewman who saved the ship and 1000 lives.

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  2. Here’s a copy of the captain’s letter:

    He’s a smart guy, but I’d fire him, too. It’s pretty clear that he lost his nerve in the face of an emergency.

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    1. …”lost his nerve in the face of an emergency.”

      HORSE SHIT! His job is to protect the assets assigned to him, including his personnel. He was begging for relief and guidance up the chain and got nothing until it was too late. As contagious as this virus is known to be, action should have been taken immediately, as soon as the first three cases were reported. Especially as tight as quarters are on a Navy ship, including something as large as an aircraft carrier.

      I am thinking he suspected this would happen, but knew in his heart of hearts it had to be done. He sacrificed his career for the lives of his sailors. If that isn’t bravery, I don’t know what is. I would have served with him in a heartbeat knowing this.

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      1. RE: “His job is to protect the assets assigned to him, including his personnel.”

        Yes, it is. Regretably for him, he tried to pawn off his problems to his superiors. Now he is in no position to help his subordinates. Good thing. They’ll be better off without him.

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        2. You are proving how clueless you are.

          The CO of a ship cannot just go ahead and pull into a port, off load his crew and plant them in a hotel on the beach. Not without the 1) approval and 2) the funding from above. If that were the case, the TR would have had a port visit in Key West back in ’04 instead of coming back to Ches Light to lead the armada pulling out because of a hurricane. AND, we had a 2-star, battle group commander embarked.

          Even the CO has to follow the chain of command above him. There was no “pawning off” of anything. He did his duty and was ignored or rebuffed (we don’t know which yet) by the chain above him.

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          1. RE: “The CO of a ship cannot just go ahead and pull into a port, off load his crew and plant them in a hotel on the beach.”

            Obviously not. But the CO is supposed to be able to communicate effectively to his superiors.

            You might notice that the letter doesn’t actually convey any solid data that might get someone’s attention. For example, it mentions that the infection is spreading, but it doesn’t quantify the transmission rate. It doesn’t provide any comparative fitness estimates or projections for different components of the ship’s crew. And other than shore-based isolation, it doesn’t mention any risk mitigation efforts taken or contemplated, or describe any successes.

            If details of this type were already known to the chain of command, then the captain already knew what the response to his pleading would be. He should have kept his mouth shut.

            Good riddance to this guy.

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          2. …”what his secure communications of March 20, 23, and 27 looked like.”

            Like N_N pointed out, we have no idea what he sent previously. Plus, the PUBLIC reporting of the virus had been happening days before this.

            …”it doesn’t mention any risk mitigation efforts taken or contemplated,”

            Yes it does. Try reading paragraph 3.

            Let me try to explain something to you: You cannot contain an infectious disease onboard a Navy ship. You can attempt to contain it, but in this instance containment was next to impossible, as he pointed out.

            The deadly effects of this disease are widely known, regardless of your posts saying we don’t know HOW deadly it exactly is. Just ask the families of the 6,068 AMERICANS (as of 1030 today) who have died already. It matters not how deadly it is when it is a family member or SHIPMATE that has the virus.

            Good riddance? If we had leaders like him in Washington, we’d be in a better spot now. Why? Because he reacted quickly and vociferously, and HONESTLY about what was going on.

            You don’t know dick about being aboard a Navy ship. And you prove it every time you comment about anything that has to do with being aboard.

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          3. RE: “You don’t know dick about being aboard a Navy ship.”

            Suit yourself, but aren’t you the sailor who thought he could tell PEO Carriers how to manage its flags, but never did anything about it except rag at his section chief, who told you to mind your own business?

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      2. JTR is a clueless wannabe that can sit at the safety of his keyboard and pretend he’s worthy of denigrating those who serve.

        Frankly disgusting.

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  3. Letting the virus run its course and sacrificing the vulnerable seems to be Navy policy.

    Right here in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard hundreds of people are working in the internal spaces of a submarine.

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  4. I posed the headline as a question, but in my humble opinion it is a disgraceful decision. First, the Captain is absolutely correct that we do not needlessly sacrifice the lives of young men and women. That is true in war and infinitely more so in peace. Second, he worked in the appropriate channels and is not at fault if someone else leaked it.

    If the brass tried to ignore his recommendations and HE leaked it to spur them to action, then he is a true hero in this situation and has shown the kind of independent thinking and initiative that is often sorely needed in a CYA organization. IMHO.

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  5. Apparently he sent it through unsecured channels thus subjecting it to a possible leak. What is unknown, and is likely to remain that way, is what his secure communications of March 20, 23, and 27 looked like.

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