Posted on 04/06/2020 10:49:56 AM PDT by billorites
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly addressed the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Monday to defend his decision to fire the aircraft carrier’s commander, Capt. Brett Crozier, who wrote a memo last week demanding more urgent action to address an outbreak of coronavirus.
According to a recording of the address and descriptions by relatives of crew members and by U.S. officials, Mr. Modly delivered the remarks to the crew of the ship, which is now docked in Guam as crew members undergo a quarantine because of the Covid-19 outbreak. More than 150 of the approximately 5,000 members of the crew have tested positive.
The remarks, over the vessel’s public address system, were tinged with profanity, according to the recording and the descriptions of the remarks, with Mr. Modly saying that sailors were expected to “keep their shit together and take care of each other.” At another point, Mr. Modly, addressing fears over the virus, said: “If the ship was in combat and there were hypersonic missiles coming at it, you’d be pretty f------ scared too.”
Many crew members on the Roosevelt were critical of the Navy’s decision to fire Capt. Crozier, who drew cheers and applause from sailors as he walked off the ship’s gangplank last week for the last time. President Trump has backed the decision to fire the commander.
But Mr. Modly, referring to Capt. Crozier in his remarks Monday, said: “If he didn’t think, in my opinion, that this information wasn’t going to get out into the public, in this information age we live in, then he was either too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer of a ship like this.”
“The alternative is he did this on purpose, which is a serious violation” of military law, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I’m not sure the crew needed an address to explain the Navy’s action. It’s a management decision between the Navy and the Captain.
If they needed to explain anything to the crew, it should have been brief and all business. Maybe pointed instruction privately to the ranking officers and CPOs about how to handle their predicament going forward until
the new CO is piped aboard. IMO.
Mr. Modly graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science, with distinction. Upon graduation he joined the United States Navy and proudly served as an UH-1N pilot and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He left active duty in 1990 to attend business school and to pursue a career in the private sector. As a midshipman at the Naval Academy, Mr. Modly also attended Georgetown University where he began work on a Master of Arts in Government/International Relations. He completed this degree prior to starting flight school in Pensacola in early 1984. He also attended Harvard Business School from 1990 to 1992 where he earned a Master’s in Business Administration with Honors with a concentration in Business, Government and Strategy.
I’m amazed at how many people freak out about ass chewings.
You can get away with negligently killing people, but don’t chew somebody’s ass.
Who knew that a snowflake could command a United States aircraft carrier. Sounds like he wanted to be loved by his crew at the expense of ship discipline, which is always a recipe for disaster.
So apparently a large part, perhaps the large majority, of the crew viewed the former CO was a popular and well respected leader. Now the Secretary of the Navy has just told them they are naïve and stupid. Wonder what that does for morale?
One time, I had a USN Lieutenant (Division Commander) tell me my “mouth was writing checks my azz couldn’t cash”. I shut up immediately.
Just like with Patton slapping the soldier.
Today’s Press reminds me of the snarky reporter who asked Patton, if he was going to slap any more soldiers during his next assignment in Malta.
Funny story....thanks. :)
Scold.
But going to the press? Nope...that won't fly (no pun intended).
Assuming that the Captain has 20+ years in he'll draw a comfortable pension and will probably be lobbying Senators and Congressmen before you can say "working lunch".
I ran into that Colonel again a few years later.
Fortunately, he didn’t remember me.
He probably chewed out a lot of Lieutenants.
A nasty side effect of the social media era.
And that is the point I’ve been trying to make to many here who still think the US Navy is the Navy of their youth. It’s not and the prior two admins ran it *way* downhill. We have some very real threats out there and there are many here that are far too complacent about the state of our Navy.
He didn't jump over anyone. He is Acting SecNav who wants the crew to know what the policy of the Navy is straight from the horse's mouth. The reaction of some of the crew applauding this a$$hole as he left the ship is a disgrace. Not the US Navy I served proudly in for 8 years.
The MSM and the Dems are making this guy a hero. He is not. He not only violated the chain of command, he jeopardized national security by his grandstanding. Our enemies don't need to know about matters that affect adversely operational readiness.
And not to put too fine a point on it, but in our country the military is under civilian control. SecNav is a USNA graduate. He is not alien to the culture.
Sending the letter outside of the chain of command was inappropriate. Further, this address was also inappropriate.
“Shall we relieve them as well?“
*****
Can’t do it in mass. Replacing over 4,000 highly skilled and specialized sailors would take awhile....
I think you can add General Milley to the group.
“target down, move on.”
I am sure it was.
This is very similar to the Chief Gallagher episode. That event, IMO, could have been and should have been handled with a couple of phone calls (and woe be to anyone who leaked it, E- or O-).
The Don has demonstrated in addition to having a trigger finger, that he is capable of allowing a system to make its decisions at the lowest level.
It appears, however, he may need a more experienced Military Advisor, or at least one knows how to graciously and effectively insert himself in such matters. One who knows how to work the system "by the book" and get the very bottom of the command what it obviously needs while satisfying the seniors above.
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