Tuesday, April 7, 2020

if armed forces want puppies they should recruit puppies


   Modly’s comments drew sharp criticism from Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia:  “Secretary Modly’s comments (at Guam on 4-5) were completely inappropriate and beneath the Office of the Secretary of the Navy,” Kaine said in a statement released by his office.  “It’s deeply disappointing that he would deliver a speech on board a U.S. aircraft carrier suggesting that Captain Crozier might be ‘stupid’ and bashing the media for trying to report the truth.  These dedicated sailors deserve better from their leadership.” …
  In a profane and defensive address that one crew member described in an interview as “whiny, upset, irritated, condescending,” Modly took repeated shots at the integrity of Capt. Brett E. Crozier….Given the number of people Crozier included on his email, he should have known it would leak, Modly said. “There is never a situation where you should consider the media part of your chain of command,” he warned. “You can jump the chain of command if you want and take the consequences.  You can disobey the chain of command and take the consequences, but there is no situation where you go to the media.” 
  (At root:  Truman had a semi-public squabble with head of Korean theater Gen. D. MacArthur over whether America should fight to win the war or go for stalemate, so he sacked MacArthur and had the rule written that U.S. military cannot speak to the press, in the name of the Wall Street elites who wanted one world government even then and today.  -r)…
  “I stand by every word I said, even, regrettably any profanity that may have been used for emphasis,” Modly said. “Anyone who has served on a Navy ship would understand.”  [I understand, and many others understand and are heartily glad you resigned, but Trump was the guy actually fighting Crozier. -r   At a White House coronavirus task force news briefing Saturday “I thought it was terrible what he did:  To write a letter?  I mean, this isn’t a class on literature,” Trump said, adding Crozier “shouldn’t be talking that way in a letter.”   (No it’s a class in common sense, obviously.)    https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/05/esper-defends-firing-navy-captain-coronavirus-165635]    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/magazine/modly-crozier-coronavirus.html    
………………………………………...............…
4-4  Firing Crozier before the Navy had completed an investigation into the incident makes the Navy look “petty and small,” a retired Navy admiral told Task & Purpose.  “It’s not just horrible optics; it’s a horrible decision, particularly at this stage in the events aboard Theodore Roosevelt,” the admiral said on condition of anonymity.  “It would have been better, frankly, for the Navy to complete the investigation that Adm. Gilday announced he was going to do and then see if you need to make any personnel decisions as a result of that, rather than relieve a CO in the middle of trying to get thousands of his sailor safely ashore and away from potential infection – and only feeding the fear and uncertainty that the crew and their family are already feeling.  “It really to me comes down to a petty, vindictive resentment over the fact that, perhaps, he embarrassed the Trump administration,” the retired admiral said….
  It’s a shame that the same Navy that produced Chester Nimitz and Raymond Spruance now wants all of its officers to be sycophants instead of leaders.  https://taskandpurpose.com/pentagon-run-down/navy-captain-unfairly-fired
……………………………........................…
4-2    Crozier sent his March 30 letter over unsecure email to multiple Navy leaders in and outside his chain of command….“The idea that it (Crozier’s viewpoint/concern) got out there and it created panic among families — you don’t think the families didn’t already know what was going on on that ship? You don’t think the sailors weren’t already telling their families what was happening on the ship? That’s ridiculous,” said David Lapan, retired Marine Corps colonel who served as the top spokesman for the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Marine Corps….
  John Kirby, a retired rear admiral who served as the State Department’s head spokesman from 2015 to 2017, tweeted, ”I understand the ‘trust & confidence’ argument. It’s sacrosanct in the Navy.  But based on justification put forth by acting SECNAV for why he lost trust & confidence in the USS Theodore Roosevelt CO, hard to see it as anything other than an over-reaction & unwarranted at a vital time for the ship.” 
  Of Modly’s suggestion that Crozier should have contacted him directly, Lapan said it directly contradicts the secretary’s reasoning for the firing.
“You’re the acting Secretary of the Navy. You’re going to suggest an O-6 ship captain coming directly to you is not going outside the chain of command?  Everyone above that O-6 would have been furious,” said Lapan….
  But during Thursday’s brief press conference Modly said he had informed Defense Secretary Mark Esper that he was leaning toward relieving Crozier, and he said Esper had promised to support him in whatever decision he made. (Civilians above military at any cost. -r)  https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/04/aircraft-carrier-captain-fired-poor-judgement-over-coronavirus-letter/164336/
……................................................…
  Crozier's removal from prestigious command of an aircraft carrier with almost 5,000 crew members has taken on an added significance, as his punishment is viewed by some in the military as indicative of the government’s handling of the entire pandemic, with public officials presenting upbeat pictures of the government’s response, while contrary voices are silenced….
  Representative Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, is a former enlisted Marine who saw heavy combat in Iraq.  In an interview Friday he described the Navy’s actions in firing Captain Crozier as “dangerous.”
“For the men and women on the Roosevelt and across the Navy the message is this,” Mr. Gallego said. “If the commander is looking out for you and doesn’t go about it the right way he’s going to get punished.  It’s dangerous, it’s going to impact morale and retention rates.”…
  Each ship--with confined berthing areas, mess halls and shared bathrooms--is a cramped cell where social distancing is nearly impossible.  Once the virus gets on a ship it is bound to spread, both military officials and infectious disease experts say.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/us/politics/coronavirus-brett-crozier-theodore-roosevelt.html 
............
related:  https://www.zerohedge.com/political/pat-buchanan-crushes-kissingers-new-world-order-plea

1 comment: