Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Lieutenant David Nartker must be Court-Martialed
US Defense Watch ^ | April 30, 2016 | Ray Starmann

Posted on 04/30/2016 9:40:22 PM PDT by pboyington

In January, two US Navy high speed Riverine boats were apparently underway from Bahrain to Kuwait when they strayed into Iranian waters, while attempting to contact a vessel to refuel. The Pentagon first said that they had engine trouble. Yet, if that was the case, why didn’t the other boat tow the boat with mechanical problems to international waters and safety?

Then, the Pentagon said that they had navigational issues. How is this possible in 2016, with each boat having an array of GPS and radar equipment? Even if one boat’s systems completely shut down, couldn’t they rely on the other boat’s GPS or radar?

Somewhere during this time, the Americans strayed into Iranian waters near Farsi Island.

Lieutenant David Nartker, commanding officer of the two US Navy Riverine boats, surrendered his men and his craft with superior firepower to a half dozen Iranian thugs in bass boats that looked like they belonged on Babe Winkelman’s fishing show. Nartker surrendered without firing so much as a flare. After boarding the Navy boats, Nartker and his men were ordered down on their knees while the Iranians trained machine guns and cameras on them.

Nartker doubled and tripled and quadrupled down on his disgraceful conduct by apologizing to the Iranians for a worldwide TV audience.

“It was a mistake. That was our fault and we apologize for our mistake,” Nartker said in the video. “It was a misunderstanding. We did not mean to go into Iranian territorial water. The Iranian behavior was fantastic while we were here. We thank you very much for your hospitality and your assistance.”

Fantastic?

To add insult to injury, one of his men felt it was an opportune time to start bawling his head off like he was a guest on Oprah, letting the Iranians and everyone on the planet know that US Navy sailors are complete wimps. In an earlier Navy, a keen eyed Chief would’ve have put an end to that disgraceful behavior by muttering under his breath that if the young sailor didn’t stop crying, he was going to find himself at the receiving end of the Chief’s fist.

Have no doubt, Lieutenant Nartker’s first action, to surrender his boats and personnel without offering any resistance is a violation of the US Military’s Code of Conduct, Article II, which states,

I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.

Nartker’s appearance on the video and his subsequent conduct during the interview were a blatant violation of Article V of the Code of Conduct, which states,

When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.

As of now, the public has never been told what actually happened in the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon has done a good job of hushing up and cubby-holing the disgraceful conduct of the US Navy in the Persian Gulf last January. After a couple weeks of news coverage, the story disappeared like a fishing trawler in a Bermuda Triangle gale.

Smoke and Mirrors is job one at the Pentagon.

The conduct of Lieutenant Nartker and his men (and one woman) speaks volumes about the decaying state of the US Navy in 2016. And, I’m not talking about all the budgetary and readiness issues the Navy has. That is another disaster entirely.

Lieutenant David Nartker should be court martialed. Nartker may not be in violation of Article II, as he may have been ordered by some feather merchant echelons above God to surrender.

But, Nartker is certainly in violation of Article V. If found guilty of violating at least Article V of the US Military Code of Conduct, Lieutenant David Nartker should be given a dishonorable discharge and tossed out of the Navy.

In response to the disgraceful conduct of Nartker and his men, the Navy laid out a huge smokescreen. Cmdr. John Schofield, said that specialized fleet training, such as that regarding capture, depends on fleet warfare designations.

“Training for those specific designations does not take place at commissioning accession sources like the Naval Academy,” he said. “The Naval Academy trains and educates all of its students morally, mentally and physically to become officers of character and consequence.”

I’m sure Mr. Nartker learned about the code of conduct at Annapolis and at Surface Warfare School as an Ensign. Commander Schofield’s comments are genuine Grade A horse dung.

Nartker must be brought up on charges to show the world the US Navy will not tolerate cowardice and more importantly, to show the enlisted personnel of the US Navy that their senior leaders will not tolerate junior officers who are cowards. The enlisted personnel in the US Navy must know that their officers have the courage to lead them into battle. Enlisted people will tolerate a lot of behavior from officers, but they will not countenance people leading them who lack intestinal fortitude.

Nartker should be cashiered before he gets someone killed. He obviously doesn’t have the chops to be a surface warfare officer or any kind of officer in the US Navy.

Moreover, our enemies must know that the US Navy does not tolerate incompetent officers and cowardly officers.

The US military is in crisis mode. David Nartker’s lack of bravado is atypical of the death of the American warrior under Obama. The warrior spirit of the US military is being flushed down the drain and with it 240 years of glorious heroics.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter may be able to stow Nartker away from the public and John McCain’s radar sweep, but he can’t hide the Navy’s incompetence and cowardice from the enemies of this nation.

Lieutenant David Nartker is the poster boy for the new Navy.

We are weak and the bad guys damned well know it.


TOPICS: Government; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: 201601; ashcarter; bahrain; davidnartker; iran; kuwait; mccain; nartker; navy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-31 last
To: atc23

First of all the woman never cried and in the pictures I saw she was the only one with a scowl on her face. Some pathetic puke guy broke down boo hooing.

That being said the fish rots from the head down. I have no doubt that Nartker was told over comms to surrender and not make a fuss because they were trying to close the Iran nuke deal. Its sickening but Ash Carter and Barack Obama and John Kerry need to face a firing squad for treason and maybe a couple of generals on the Joint Chiefs.

The whole thing was stomach churning to the max.


21 posted on 05/01/2016 7:30:18 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee

This incident smells. Reminded me of the multiple satellite rocket ‘crash’ in China during Slick Willie’s reign.
Staged to give the other side electronic, engineering , component info.

IIRC those boats were carrying the latest in proprietary military GPS gear. Iran would love to get hold of it.


22 posted on 05/01/2016 7:45:23 AM PDT by Vinnie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: BuffaloJack

“David Nartker’s lack of bravado is atypical [sic] of the death of the American warrior under Obama.” - RS

Your suggestion that the Navy boats were possibly tricked into wandering off course is just one example of scenarios that Mr. Starmann “typically” fails to consider. I swear this guys reminds me of some E-4 barracks lawyer who knows EVERYTHING about how the military SHOULD run.

While I appreciate his constant bashing of the administration as the root cause of military problems, his inflammatory rhetoric and consistent straw man arguments continue to detract from his waning credibility.


23 posted on 05/01/2016 8:02:40 AM PDT by Dr. Pritchett
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Georgia Girl 2
That being said the fish rots from the head down.

That old saying, while intuitive, is incorrect. It rots from the guts out as the intestinal bacteria begin to break down and consume the dead flesh.

24 posted on 05/01/2016 9:10:53 AM PDT by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Georgia Girl 2
You are not obligated to follow unlawful orders as per UCMJ. I would have taken my chances in the court of public opinion and before a military court and let the chips fall where they may - but I would have sunk the bass boats and that's a fact.

I mistakenly typed "she" - yes, it was a little puissant Obama striker (male) doing the crying jag. S

25 posted on 05/01/2016 10:47:01 AM PDT by atc23 (The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Hot Tabasco

Yes, but by making the video and praising the Iranians, he violated Article V


26 posted on 05/01/2016 12:22:13 PM PDT by pboyington
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: pboyington
Yes, but by making the video and praising the Iranians, he violated Article V

First off, HE didn't make the video.......

Secondly, nobody in the public sector knows what orders he was given.

And last of all, the fact that he has not been brought up on charges for the violations of the UCMJ that YOU think he violated, tells me everything that I need to know...........He was under orders.

So stop it with your "Article V" silliness since you know absolutely nothing about what actually transpired.........

Amazing how the "experts" in military conduct such as yourself are so quick to condemn, send to trial and convict this member of our military.........You and those others are pathetic.

27 posted on 05/01/2016 1:10:46 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: pboyington
As a post script, how many of our Vietnam POW's would you have equally condemned for reading scripted apologies in front of their captor's cameras?

Did you also condemn the U.S. Iranian hostages for their "confessions" during their captivity back in 79 - 81?

28 posted on 05/01/2016 1:19:35 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: atc23

I’m with you on most of this. Zero excuse for crying. I’m no hero but I can tell you for a fact that you will never see me on TV crying and not a mark on me. Those Aholes would at least had to knock me around a little.

As far as surrendering to a couple of Boston Whalers they had to be ordered to do it. The whole incident was insane.


29 posted on 05/01/2016 4:52:54 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee

With second radar signal of the same characteristics (frequency, pulse repetition rate, etc., but stronger in amplitude.)


30 posted on 05/01/2016 5:42:46 PM PDT by BuffaloJack (The reason for Gun Control has always been Government's Fear of Rebellion.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Hot Tabasco

I served my country honorably in war. Nartker is a disgrace to the uniform.


31 posted on 05/02/2016 8:59:23 PM PDT by pboyington
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-31 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson