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Actually he put our first line of defense in the Western Pacific in serious jeopardy by not following proper protocol. He created a vulnerability in our defenses. It would be as if an Air Force Commanding Offecer stood down his nuclear missiles for a similar reason.

His comment that we are not at war was an outrage. The CV could be called upon at any moment to deploy to a trouble spot at the President’s direction. If he takes his CV offline (as he did) he reduces our capabilities by one half causing the sailors on the other CV task group to have to double time it.

This carrier and the other forward deployed carrier have the duty to support the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the show of power in the South China Sea, the contractual obligations to Japan and other allies.

He placed far more peoples lives in jeopardy than those of his ailing sailors. People above his paygrade are the ones who have to make those life and death choices. His duty was to follow his orders and to formally announce to his chain of command any serious degradation of his ship’s abilities so they and the President can make those judgment calls.

Clearly, you never commanded. The difference is that, as the Commanding Officer, you are responsible for the lives of the young men and women in your command. You are the one who has to write the letters to the parents/wives of the ones you lose, you are the one that carries the memories of those dead with you for the rest of your life.

We are not at war - and not likely to be any time soon. He did have an extremely communicable disease running rampant aboard and he limited time to deal with it.

He took action, as any genuine Commanding Officer should and when the higher echelons decided to risk his troops, he put them on the skyline for all of us to see.

Good thing for all of us, you never commanded anything.