This was my experience when I was in the Navy.  I have seen a few situations that would support this point.  But, whenever something uncontrollable goes wrong for a Navy Captain, the Navy will turn on him as quickly as he commissioned him. 

Let’s examine this for a second.  This was the USS George Washington that had a carrier fire.  We are not talking about a small patrol ship.  We are talking about a city on the sea with thousands of sailors onboard.  So, a fire ignited when someone was smoking in an engineering space.

And, you fire the CO and XO?????  That is disgraceful.  These are men who honorably served their country for years.  As a Captain, you have little control over every action of ever sailor onboard the ship.  Bottom line.  Can you really control it when some idiot lights up in an engineering space – 1 out of 5,000?  Doubtful that you can.

So, what happens now?  These guys’ are careers are over.  They are disgraced – after years of service.

I used to say that it was ridiculous that I – as a Junior Officer could be on watch in the middle of the night, t-bone another ship because I was an idiot, never call the Captain.  And, it was HE who would pay the ultimate price… his career and life would be over.

This zero tolerance mentality in the Navy is ridiculous.  Cut these guys some slack.  When officers see something like this, they have to be asking themselves why they are staying in an organization that would so viciously and quickly turn their backs on them.  Before I would ever agree that this is a good decision, I would have to see direct evidence that something that these officers did or did not do contributed to those practices.  But, that is not likely.  Because the Navy operates like McDonald’s.  Everyone and everything has a role, and they know that role.  And, for God sakes, everyone knows not to smoke inside the skin of the ship.  I would be SHOCKED to find that the CO & XO condoned that practice.

Tags: USSGeorge Washington, Navy