Petty Officers (Bill Whittle discusses an incident aboard the USS Manchester)

https://rumble.com/v5el3gt-petty-officers.html ^ | 9/12/2024 | Bill Whittle

[rlmorel]

Bill Whittle and his compatriots discuss a highly disturbing incident aboard the USS Manchester (a Littoral Combat Ship, LCS) that I found very difficult to swallow.

LINK: "Petty Officers" (18 min)

Bill Whittle, Scott Ott, and Steve Green discuss this issue, and Bill Whittle's summary characterizes it this way:

"...The experienced, practical, level-headed, down-to-earth, non-commissioned officer has been the backbone of both the army and the navy since time immemorial. Not the kind of people one would expect to find scurrying up the rigging of a US warship operating in hostile waters in order to install their own, Petty Officers Only, Starlink wifi so that they can keep up with their emails and TikTok videos while deep in the Western Pacific. And the Commanding Officer of the USS Goat Rodeo does not exactly cover herself in glory in terms of getting to the bottom of this bilge water..."

I recommend watching it in its entirety as these three men do an excellent job describing just how egregious this is, and do so in both biting and entertaining analysis.

[rlmorel]

I was aghast when I heard of this (though it is a fair criticism that I shouldn't have been) so let me summarize as follows:

• USS Manchester LCS-14) is an Independence class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)
  
  
  

• This incident took place in April-August 2023, while the "Gold Team" was deployed, but details were only released last week.
  
  

• In the Spring of 2023 Chief Marrero pitched the idea to all the Chiefs aboard ship, and they pitched in a total of $2,800 to buy a Starlink System to install on the ship. They all chipped in to buy it, agreeing not to disclose the system's existence to anyone.
  
  

• They used the Chief Petty Officer Association’s debit card to pay off the $1,000 monthly Starlink bill.
  
  

• The Commanding officer CDR Colleen Moore is a woman, and was informed by her XO CDR Matthew Yokeley in May 2023 that an unauthorized wireless network existed on the vessel.
  

  
  

• The now "former" XO, CDR Matthew Yokeley was relieved of duty in late May 2023. The US Navy says the demotion was unrelated to this incident. One can be excused for not believing this.
  
  

• The Senior Chief Petty Officer (E8) involved who organized the illegal purchase and installation, CMC Grisel Marrero, is a woman, her background is in Navy intelligence, and she earned a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in information security and digital management
  
  
  

• The unauthorized Starlink System was installed on the exterior of the vessel on the O5 Weatherdeck:
  
  
  

• They installed it at a time when maintenance was going on for other things (a "blanket aloft") so it didn't have to be entered into a log in order to conceal the installation.
  
  

• When Chief Grisel Marrero's superiors became suspicious about the existence of the network and confronted her about it, Marrero failed to come clean on multiple occasions and provided falsified documents to further mislead Manchester’s commanding officer, the investigation states.
  
  

• She thought she was being clever by concealing the SSID (not broadcasting the ID)
  
  

• The Chiefs weren't getting good connections, so they installed repeaters in various places.
  

  
  
  

• When a crewman found the link, likely with a frequency scanner and asked her about it, she changed the SSID from "Stinky" to something that resembled a wireless printer, even though there were no printers like that aboard.
  
  

• When that same crew member placed something about it in the Captain's suggestion box, Marrero took the document out and concealed it from the Captain.
  
  

• On August 18, a civilian from the Naval Information Warfare Center installing an authorized Starshield satellite communication system on the Manchester notified the officer of the deck of the chiefs mess Starlink satellite dish on the O-5 weatherdeck.

In all Marerro lied to her Commanding Officer on at least four separate occasions, falsified documents, changed the name of the network to avoid more suspicion, and endangered the lives of the crew and exposed the ship itself to discovery and attack.

For all this, this Affirmative Action POS was relieved of her duties and "busted" to E7.

Astonishing. How this punishment is somehow deemed appropriate when one recalls the case of Kristian Saucier, a sub sailor who took six pictures of the inside of his submarine so he could proudly show his friends and family what he did for a living, and spent a year in jail and got a dishonorable discharge.

I would take the Captain to task for ability to provide leadership. She apparently did not realize that her command did not have her back, otherwise someone would have come out with the truth before August of 2023. That fact that her actions seem least egregious in all of this is very telling about the state of this DEI (DIE) Navy.

[Leaning Right]

> an unauthorized wireless network existed on the vessel <

That would make a good start for a novel. Except that it’s too far-fetched to be believable.

[atc23]

You got chick CPO’s on Navy boats now? I mean, WTF, man????? - in this case the C.O (a privileged leftist white woman. Surprise surprise) should have been immediately relieved of command and the “Chief” should be court martialed and when found guilty - executed for espionage and treason.

THIS IS INSANITY

[Ann Archy]

OMG!! Is this from The BEE????

USS. GOAT RODEO??? COME ON!!

[Red Badger]

Ping!....

[ansel12]

Heads should roll and the NCO given hard prison time with all the chiefs that were part of the operation going to trial, never again to be in a position of trust or leadership.

[silent majority rising]

That means that if you had a traitor on board, he (now he/she/it) could communicate with the enemy. This breaks so many Naval protocols that they are too numerous to mention. I am old Navy, and they should all be court martialed, including Mrs. Captain of the ship, and the ship docked until a new crew could be installed.

[PeterPrinciple]

In the Spring of 2023 Chief Marrero pitched the idea to all the Chiefs aboard ship, and they pitched in a total of $2,800 to buy a Starlink System to install on the ship. They all chipped in to buy it, agreeing not to disclose the system’s existence to anyone.

---

how many Chiefs are there?

[Navy Patriot]

The Battle Strategy for the modern, Diverse, US Navy, is to force the enemy and other nations to Laugh Themselves To Death.

The US Navy is certain that they will execute Operation Last Laugh, while they should be examining mission results.

[mbrfl]

I’d start watching Bill Whittle again if he stopped having that insufferable, smarmy Never-Trumper Scott Ott on the show. I just can’t stomach the jerk so I’m going to have to rely on commentary from the thread.

[Leaning Right]

The Chief involved was busted one rank. That’s it.

Such a “punishment” sends a clear message. It’s no big deal if you deliberately cause a major security breach.

It’s also demoralizing to the many good folks who play strictly by the rules.

Can Trump 2.0 turn all this around? Maybe, but only if he’s bold enough to fire every Biden-appointed senior officer. Clean house, and start anew.

[cgbg]

This is like the old TV show “McHale’s Navy” where everything was a scam.

Try everyone on board in Court Martial proceedings and let them all point the finger at each other.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Thanks for writing that excellent summary. I watched about one-third of the video, but it is such a slow way to get information (drives me crazy). But I do like Bill Whittle a lot (saw him in person at the Lincoln Day Dinner in Coeur d'Alene, ID a few years ago).

I found an article on Navy Times about the incident, but it has less information than your summary.

How Navy chiefs conspired to get themselves illegal warship Wi-Fi
By Diana Stancy
September 3, 2024

It is astonishing and inconceivable that the ship's INFORMATION OFFICER would lead this effort to expose her ship in the Pacific to such vulnerability. She should be in prison and lose her pension, not busted just one rank.

[mbrfl]

>>”You got chick CPO’s on Navy boats now? I mean, WTF, man?????”

Seriously. The United States military has its priorities completely out of whack.

[jacknhoo]

Basically a chief for every discipline/rating group.

[mbrfl]

🤣🤣

[Vermont Lt]

Wow. Just wow.

I guess they get points for creativity. But they should also get discharged for putting their ship at risk.

But, you gotta keep up with your Tik Tok videos. //sarc

[Organic Panic]

How else were they suppose their little TikTok dances online?

[mbrfl]

I do hope Trump addresses this insanity once he’s back in the White House.

[PeterPrinciple]

Basically a chief for every discipline/rating group.

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so it was a conspiracy is my point.