Posted on 08/26/2019 7:32:10 AM PDT by C19fan
The second-in-command of a Navy submarine was fired this week, making him the third senior leader of a ship to be dismissed in two days.
Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Cebik was removed Monday from his position as executive officer of the USS Jimmy Carter over concerns regarding his personal judgment. Two other senior officers were removed for the same thing Tuesday.
Such dismissals are by no means unusual, current and former Navy officers told the Washington Examiner. A 2004 Navy inspector general report found that 78 officers were removed for similar reasons between January 1999 and June 2004, an average of slightly more than one per month.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
If the U.S. Navy had such a policy 50+ years ago, we never would have heard of John McCain.
Zero Tollarence means no matter how stoopid you are all you need to do is follow the rules.
It seems the reporter was given a tip that something needed to be looked at - something important - but the person giving the tip didn’t give enough for the reporter (Russ Read) to track down the real story...
I suspect we’ll find out more in the future.
I was not Navy, but; I never found one perfect way to fit every situation especially in war.
Check for transfers to econcom.
Zero tolerance policy = leaders that are afraid of their own shadows and run away from any/all risks.
The problem with ANY “zero tolerance” policy can be easily displayed with the results of many school districts: a kid gets punched in the nose, AND gets suspended from school, even though they never threw a punch - why? Because there is a “zero tolerance” policy against fighting. And since “technically” they were involved in a fight, they must be expelled.
Management and leadership do not work well under “zero tolerance” policies for the same reason as shown above...because the TRUTH is often lost in the details, which are never revealed because “zero tolerance” is a nice, easy, quick solution that doesn’t require any effort to solve the REAL problems.
When “zero tolerance” is the rule, nothing outside of upper management’s expected methods and results are acceptable (because exceptions would make upper management look bad and it would require upper management to actually have to deal with the real problems down at the lower levels). So when things happen, upper management just pulls the trigger and use the “zero tolerance” excuse to avoid dealing with the reality!!
No, zero tolerance , as a general policy, means, those in charge are largely too stupid or too lazy to actually spend the time to understand a situation and make a reasonable judgement.
Its a cop out for laziness and cowardly behavior generally.
I don’t have to worry about making a tough judgement call, just follow a blanket edict without thought.
I served as an Investigating Officer for the Inspector General for a while and you wouldn't believe the stupid/venal things leaders can do.
As the article points out had you had such a policy 100 years ago we never would have heard of Chester Nimitz.
“USS Jimmy Carter”
Isn’t that the one that surrendered to Iran as it slid down the ramp upon being commissioned?
McCain’s grandfather and father were both admirals. The rules didn’t apply to John McCain.
The arrogance of senior officers and senior NCOs can be deadly to their careers. I was on active duty for only 8 years, but I saw enough. Some of these men and women get so used to having their arses kissed on a daily basis, and it goes to their head.
There are a few that slip through the system, i.e. they're great staff officers that never should be put in a leadership position. I had one for a battery commander in Germany, a position he was ill-equipped for.
During an ARTEP, he encoded a mission's coordinates incorrectly, and the equally incompetent platoon leader didn't challenge the mission, proving again that the most dangerous weapon in the Army is a 2nd LT with a map.
As the acting XO, I interjected myself into the situation, taking 15 minutes to tell my platoon leaders and platoon sergeants exactly what their units would do the following day (I was the only officer who had successfully led multiple platoons through evaluations, and I knew what the evaluators looked for).
I made no friends with my exhortations...I was really angry at the lack of leadership I saw during the first two days, and my soldiers suffered for it.
Little did I know that the lead evaluator was standing outside our CP, and heard every last word I said. When I saw him, I thought "oh crap", but he had a big smile on his face and said, "LT, that was beautiful."
Yeah, we passed, but for my efforts I received the worst efficiency report of my career.
Apologies for going O/T.
The rules are applied differently when you're a ring-knocker.
Of all wartime leaders I have read of, Chester Nimitz ranks right there at the top for me.
Apparently, one of his favorite sayings was “Every dog deserves a second bite” no doubt in homage to his acquittal in running his ship aground as a young officer.
Years later, while in command of a cruiser (USS Chicago maybe) he came in to the dock too fast and had to resort to backing the engines at full to avoid causing damage.
He turned to a young officer who was likely the OOD he relieved as they cam in, and quizzed him: “Okay, Lieutenant. What did I do wrong?”
The young Lieutenant gulped and said “You came in too fast...you didn’t judge the currents correctly, you didn’t have a detail to drop the anchor as an emergency (I don’t recall the verbatim answer) and so on.
When the young officer was done, Capt. Nimitz said “That’s right. Don’t forget any of those mistakes I made when it’s your turn.” (or something like that)
Gotta love a man who leads like that.
Saving a superior from himself is always a dicey thing...says a lot about you the way you handled it. Of course, if they are worth their salt, you get a heartfelt “thank you”.
If they aren’t, you get a cold shoulder and a lousy fitness report.
Zero Tolerance defined: don’t make the girls and queers mad.
We both ended up at Fort Bliss at about the same time, and I worked for him again for 18 months.
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