“This will require a political solution but it is the right thing to do. We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted assest…”
This leader is in charge of one of the twelve most powerful warships in the history of America and the world. No more than 5 or 6 are deployed at any one time. Literally 20% of American’s forward deployed combat power.
How about this:
Send a factual status to the chain of command. Figure a way to deal with the situation and to continue the mission with a huge chunk of America’s forward deployed combat power. Because we actually may need that power, sometimes overnight, to protect American troops.
This virus rarely kills the young and healthy (CDC’s numbers are well below 1% of those sick enough to warrant a test and are probablyin the 0.001% range for all young/healthy exposed). You have large amounts of medical personnel aboard and the assets of the entire US Navy to assist.
This is not some office in Scranton making mortgage loans.
Instead, what should have been a TS level status brief turns into an embarrassing public situation, leaked to the press by this “leader,” that has paralyzed a national asset because a few dudes got the sniffles and the Captain sh!t in his pants.
All in front of the Chinese who are taking notes.
It’s more than embarrassing. It’s a disastrous PR situation for the Navy and the arm chair Admirals in Washington. The media and government have done all they can to scare the wits out of everyone and so when the Captain knows the virus is spreading among his crew, he wanted to do something about it. He said if it was war, we would fight sick. But it’s not war and he did the right thing.
How many of those ships have the ability to handle biohazard quarantine? The pictures I’ve seen of lots of medical professionals, they’re wearing more for this than the Ebola outbreak. Granted the media fluffed the previous president daily, it looks pretty bad. There’s no immunity, there’s no vaccine.
I watched a video of a doctor explaining how it kills. It attacks the type 2 epithelial cells, causing pneumonia. There’s even some on here that said it was no worse than the regular flu, some even saying only a little worse than the common cold. I’m pretty sure doctors and nurses don’t wear sealed suits with air masks to treat people with the flu.
What has happened to the military??? Isn’t it regularly trained to operate in NBC environments? I know I was. Maintain good fitness and hygiene in biological attacks, but never sacrifice the mission.
No. We are not currently at war, but we could be. Exposing information regarding the military’s ability to survive and operate in biological attacks—or lack thereof—makes us much less secure.
This commander is a joke. He’s supposed to keep that carrier ready for war, not bitch and whine to the media (assuming he leaked his letter to the press). Mission first! The military isn’t supposed to curl up in a ball and give up, especially when the current threat is a virus that is almost zero threat to young, healthy military members.
2banana, I totally agree. If this ship’s crew seriously think they should shut down an entire carrier group over COVID19, what will they do when facing a real threat?
Yep - some laud him for “trying to take care of his folks” but you do that by going up the chain - not around it...and it ain’t necessary to blare out about a potential weak spot for our enemies - if China, or other’s who wish us ill and who want to be the superpower, were to contemplate doing something bad, this type situation would seem a likeliest bet.