Aircraft carrier captain removed from duty after pleading for help with coronavirus outbreak

It doesn't matter if you agree. You don't understand how the US military works...

 

As I understand it he pretty much did the equivalent of yelling HELP from the rooftops...rather un-soldier like and definitely un-captain like. The coronavirus kills mostly older people... suggest he was more concerned for his own wellbeing than that of his fit and healthy soldiers.

 

What? Are you saying that a Trump hating liberal was quick to jump on the blame Trump bandwagon without all the specifics, crap, that never happens. I am shocked.

I saw a guy out walking a dog today, and the dog was not wearing a mask, can you believe it, Trump hates dogs and wants them to die. Someone call CNN.

 

I think the captain was very concerned for his crew. But his wheelhouse was bigger than just the crew.

If your military unit (ship, air wing, battalion, etc.) has weakness, the last thing you do is advertise that weakness to the world. Weakness encourages an attack on your unit if it is known.

 

If this guy is a democrat he could be our next President. He certainly has the backing of his people. Watch this and cheer!

Sailors cheer for Navy captain who sounded coronavirus alarm

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics...lieved-cheering-sailors-send-off-nws-orig.cnn

 

True, but I have a fair idea how Trump works.

 

He placed the well being of the sailors above security protocols. I admire him for that. Who was that Navy Seal that Trump pardoned after he killed a couple of Iraqi citizens? How could he pardon that guy, yet allow this Captain to be punished for doing the right thing?

 

I probably would not have released that letter in a manner that would have made it available to the public - even had I exhausted all efforts to achieve a more rapid response from my chain of command through what I assume he had already executed through proper secure channels.

Although it is possible he fired off this letter in a fit of frustration at having the perception that his superiors were themselves approaching a dereliction of duty, without having already picked up the phone, it seems a bit unlikely to me. To be clear, in my opinion it is exceedingly unlikely that he hadn't already picked up the phone. But it is possible.

However, when you state that this isn't about his fitness to command a carrier, I would argue that that is exactly what it is about. That it is exactly what this letter is about, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6821571-TR-COVID-19-Assistance-Request.html#document/p1

National Security breech of communication protocol, yeah, sure - loose lips sink ships and all that: he clearly states in this letter that the TR is able to proceed with combat operations if necessary, but that is only for the immediate time being, isn't it. Not to mention that not everything is a national security issue. What was the TR's stop in Da Nang for? Shore Leave? Or this one in Manilla?



"The U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt is anchored off Manila Bay as it takes on top Philippine officials and businessmen for a cocktail reception Friday, April 13, 2018 west of Manila, Philippines. The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), and several escort ships sailed in the South China Sea in a display of America's naval..."

There was an excellent 10 episode series about life on an US Aircraft Carrier. There is little doubt in my mind that in spite of CV19 the TR is perfectly within necessary personnel strength to carry on with not only mission critical projections of US power, but also with hosting cocktail receptions, for at least another couple of weeks.


However, given what continues to be a politicized and exceedingly poor national response to CV19, he may have felt that he had a higher priority to get more immediate action for his sailors.

Back when I served, we had a saying, "Take care of the troops and the troops will take care of you."

However, with worldwide social distancing in effect, and no active mission to provide Persian Gulf or Indian Ocean or whatever, say South China Sea EMP defensive deployment, yeah it gets a bit silly when the Captain of 4000 of our brothers and sisters has to effectively throw himself under the bus to get a sense of urgency to his command request to decon his ship and preserve the strength of his combat personnel: before it reaches the point that the disease wipes out his mission capability! The infection rate by now is known to roughly double every three days in the general population, what do you think it might be on a Nimitz Class Carrier? Might be a bit of a trick to land your F/A-18 whilst infected with CV19 and possibly with your LSO running a fever and a massive headache.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/aircraft-carrier4.htm

Seriously, this is one of the most demanding jobs on the planet for all 4000 service members.

And for those who see implicating this feckless piece of **** Donald Trump as a side issue, I would argue that it is not.

Once upon a time ya know, it used to be that the Rs spoke a bit of a mantra about the importance of character with respect to leadership. His leadership has been a rolling CF of turnover, without even getting into the character issues, but just for reference to those character issues, justify this my fine R country and city friends, let me know how many lawsuits y'all have gotten into, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_affairs_of_Donald_Trump 3500 lawsuits.

There are at least three threads here at PF on this subject of this Carrier Commander. I read a post from, ah, Nightmare515 I believe it was praising Trump's revisions to ROE versus Obama's ROE. No doubt it seems to me that Trump vastly improved on them - what other possible explanation is there that ISIS quickly became under strict control. However, at the G19(?) summit having once again secretly met with Putin, He returns to announce the US withdrawal from Syria and Mattis resigns. This past October the 13th or thereabout he issues slapdick orders to abandon our Kurd allies, only to have the DOD more or less, quietly, return most of the armed forces in a support role to just about the exact same region and conduct ongoing operations as expressed in this DOD transcript, https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Tr...g-by-secretary-esper-and-general-milley-in-t/. I would be pleased to have anyone correct my understanding of this particular situation between abandoning the Kurds on the 13th and taking out Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and securing the oil fields on the 28th.

Regarding classified information, pfffttt. His son-in-law couldn't even pass a TS/BI, but in our new dictatorship unilateral executive, Trump just used his Cartman like Authoritah to be all Mariah Carey and Make It Happen... Hahaha,

And then there's the infamous photo op we received from TASS I believe was the only photographer allowed in the room. It went along with a story about our allies no longer trusting us to keep sensitive intelligence from the Russians.




So, when Captain Crozier made his decision to end his likely promotion to an Admiralty, you can best believe that part of his calculus was working for a command that included the CnC who interceded on behalf of an all-but-obviously roid raged seal so he could keep his trident, among the few other issues I have posted here about the unfitness of DJT to hold the office of the President of the United States.

 

Spot on. I was chasing a link to that pardon and then saw your Post. The fat orange puke is pissed orf that one of his most senior Captains has spilt the beans. Trump has lost control of propagandising this nasty all because of his pig ignorance and belief that the almighty 'USA USA USA' and his Admin including not least himself are above other mortals and no way could this nasty have an impact on him and his shitty selfish ego. ************ never survive. They go the way of all snake oil salesman. Humpty Trumpty does not want anyone to know that even the Military is not above contracting this thing. Gee, please get rid of this grub! The US Navy is denied assistance because Trump does not want you to know the truth. Worse, 'you' sacrifice one you should admire and respect at the Altar of Ego Trump.

 

The captain should have been sacked for allowing a 5-day port call in Vietnam in the middle of a pandemic.

 

I don't believe it's quite like that. My guess is that Captain Crozier was looking at a typical response time of weeks when he needed stuff to happen in days. That he chose to throw his career under the bus to try to make an impact is to me what speaks to what may have been an essential reconsideration of his career choices when such an inspirational glorious leader as Bone Spurs is his boss.

 

I'll have to agree with this. Real life is complicated and in spite of my previous rant, wtf was he thinking? So stupid....

 

Dunno....but that is NOT why he was sacked.

 

In short......do not show Trump up as an idiot who is stuffing this whole thing up with 'miracles' and tests which simply do not exist?

 

Trump had nothing to do with this. Not much Trump could do unless formal charges are brought...

 

Why has he not stepped in to ensure Crozier is re-instated?

 

Why would he do that? Naval command took his ship, he's never getting another one...

 

In for a penny, in for a pound.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/15/trump-military-pardons-afghanistan

 

Not exactly. In short, Trump is filling positions of authority with people of similar character. Esper recommended removing him from command and it is difficult to believe that he did not acquire Trump's approval to do so.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/02/esper-coronavirus-defense-162403

 

Yes.....hence the Thread.

 

There is a whole lot of CYA in that article as well. Espers is the man in charge. He likely needs to do better. Testing different approaches might not be a bad idea if this is an ongoing problem...

 

Similarly, however, how far up the chain of command does the responsibility for this port call authorization go?

 

Thank you.

 

I'm sure Trump has heard about this case. He could speak up for this Captain even before formal charges are bought up.

 

Not a 0-6 in the Navy he wouldn’t. Get a grip dude. Your TDS is ruining your life.