Mark Esper defends removing USS Theodore Roosevelt commander who sounded alarm over coronavirus
By Devan Cole, CNN 1 hr ago
© Issei Kato/AFP/Getty Images US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper arrives for a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Abe's official residence in Tokyo on August 7, 2019.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday defended the recent removal of the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, who warned that action was needed to save the lives of his crew from an outbreak of coronavirussaying the move is an example of how "we hold leaders accountable for their actions."
"I think acting Secretary (Thomas) Modly made a very tough decision -- a decision that I support. It was based on his view that he had lost faith and confidence in the captain based on his actions," Esper told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." "It's just another example (of) how we hold leaders accountable for their actions."
Capt. Brett Crozier was relieved of his command last week by acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, for what Modly called "poor judgment," going outside the chain of command and too widely disseminating the memo over an unsecured system.
Asked by Tapper if a current investigation into Crozier's actions should have been launched prior to his removal, Esper said such a decision was "not unheard of" in the Navy.
"All the services at times relieve commanders without the benefit of an investigation up front because they have lost confidence in them. It's certainly not unique to the Navy. The Navy has a culture of swiftly and decisively removing captains if they lose confidence in them," Esper said.
CNN previously reported that as of Saturday, 155 sailors from the Roosevelt have tested positive for the virus, according to the Navy.
#1: Pinguinite To: BTP Holdings (#0)
His crew was proud of him when he departed, giving him a standing ovation which also was publicized, and that irked the brass even more. If there's one thing worse than an insubordinate subordinate, it's him getting praise from his subordinates for the act for which he was removed from command. High level Navy brass now has a credibility crisis within its ranks. It'll blow over but this type of think isn't forgotten. Safe to say it's the brass that was taken to school on this one and they'll handle future incidents of captains similar cases more seriously.
Pinguinite posted on 2020-04-05 12:26:36 Reply Private Reply
#2: TommyTheMadArtist To: BTP Holdings (#0)
TommyTheMadArtist posted on 2020-04-05 12:33:00 Reply Private Reply
#3: BTP Holdings To: Pinguinite (#1)
The woodshed has its place. But the Navy is ultimately the main concern of the President since the Navy is the only branch of the armed forces mentioned in the Constitution. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-05 13:13:35 Reply Private Reply
#4: BTP Holdings To: TommyTheMadArtist (#2)
I knew a guy in Chicago who was an escapee from Maryville. That was a home for wayward children.
His kid brother joined the Navy. He did his basic at Great Lakes Naval Training Center. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-05 13:20:28 Reply Private Reply
#5: Pinguinite To: BTP Holdings (#3)
Back in 1789, each state was essentially considered a separate country, so armies were not considered a federal matter, and of course the airplane was more than 100 years away.
The navy, on the other hand, obviously involved the seas which were considered more of a common defense issue.
Pinguinite posted on 2020-04-05 13:38:43 Reply Private Reply
#6: BTP Holdings To: Pinguinite (#5)
Yes and sailors sailed the ships and Marines fired the cannons. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-05 13:54:55 Reply Private Reply
#7: Cynicom To: Pinguinite (#1)
That part should be questioned.
I will guarantee the crew was forced to turn out and SHOW enthusiasm ...or else...
That is a game played by the military...for show and ego effect...
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-05 14:31:43 Reply Private Reply
#8: Fred Mertz To: Cynicom (#7)
You can force G.I.s to stand at attention and march, but you can't force them to clap.
One of my best memories, is when in 95 degree heat and 95 percent humidity, we were given the command to, "Stop sweating!"
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-05 14:38:19 Reply Private Reply
#9: Cynicom To: Fred Mertz (#8)
Four thousand enlisted are enthused over any CO??? That is incredulous and idiotic.
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-05 14:53:15 Reply Private Reply
#10: Fred Mertz To: Cynicom (#9)
He's a 00.01% per center and I don't get it. Maybe it's the way he grab their pussies. I don't know.
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-05 15:02:35 Reply Private Reply
#11: BTP Holdings To: Fred Mertz (#8)
In the 'Nam the saying was that you "sweat out all those things that poison your body and pollute your mind."
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-05 15:47:59 Reply Private Reply
#12: BTP Holdings To: Fred Mertz (#10)
Another poster on here has that as his tagline, "grab life by the pussy". ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-05 16:05:17 Reply Private Reply
#13: Pinguinite To: Cynicom (#7)
Given the video I saw, that statement just doesn't make sense in this case. It's one thing to have a standing formation all shouting "horrah, horrah, horrah" in unison, but quite another to see a general crowd of them all cheering and clapping on their own.
If you've not seen it, check it out. I think your guarantee is one you'd have to make good on, in this case.
Why would these sailors do that? Perhaps because they would know what was going on inside that ship over the last few weeks better than anyone shore bound.
Pinguinite posted on 2020-04-05 18:25:32 Reply Private Reply
#14: NeoconsNailed To: BTP Holdings (#0)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-05 18:37:06 Reply Private Reply
#15: Cynicom To: Pinguinite, All (#13)
Because they were told to. To believe otherwise is the the height of naivete.
Having attended two such farewells in the Air Force, it was a joke.
In contrast my last attendance for a military commemoration was at NSA in Washington, with 900 other civilians and military in attendance, gathered from around the nation. That was a salute to comrades shot down by the Russians AND DENIED THEIR DUE BY THE GOVERNMENT AND THE MILITARY.
That was respect for totally unknown people. They paid for the respect with their lives and were denied.
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-05 19:54:33 Reply Private Reply
#16: Lod To: Cynicom (#15)
Lod posted on 2020-04-05 20:17:30 Reply Private Reply
#17: BTP Holdings To: Pinguinite (#1)
It is more likely the brass was taken to the woodshed and got the paddling they deserved. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-05 20:56:42 Reply Private Reply
#18: Cynicom To: Lod (#16)
Been there did that.
Very simple, what you see is not always TRUE.
OIC of each unit tells his senior enlisted man what they are to do, and they are to comply or the senior enlisted will have his ass in the grinder.
Military is life unto itself. Been thru two of such melodramas, scripted and choreographed beginning to end.
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-05 21:03:19 Reply Private Reply
#19: BTP Holdings To: NeoconsNailed (#14)
I did not see there was any Jewishness in his family. ;)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar...#Early_life_and_education
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-05 21:03:57 Reply Private Reply
#20: Fred Mertz To: Cynicom (#15)
You're full of shit. I'm calling you on it.
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-05 21:20:14 Reply Private Reply
#21: Cynicom To: Fred Mertz (#20)
The first part may well be correct.
The second part illustrates false bravado, fostered by ingrained ignorance or both. Takes a lot of ignorance to assume 4000 men are of a like mind at the same time. Such ignorance is not acceptable.
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-05 22:30:07 Reply Private Reply
#22: Lod To: Cynicom (#18)
Weren't the rules, regulations, and requirements much more stringent when you were indentured?
Lod posted on 2020-04-05 22:44:32 Reply Private Reply
#23: NeoconsNailed To: BTP Holdings (#19)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-05 23:50:52 Reply Private Reply
#24: Cynicom To: Lod (#22)
Rules may differ but the military mindset never changes.
My only neighbor came home from Viet Nam a physical wreck. The military and VA cast him aside. After a stroke two weeks ago, the VA sent him to a convalescent home. Yesterday he was brought home and he has the virus.
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-06 01:15:23 Reply Private Reply
#25: StraitGate To: BTP Holdings, Cynicom (#0)
https://www.zerohedge.com/health/navy-secretary-apologizes-calling- carrier-captain-too-stupid-230-sailors-now-infected
The Daily Caller reports having the speech:
https://dailycaller.com/2020/04/06/transcript-speech-thomas-modly-navy- brett-crozier-uss-theodore-roosevelt/
If the Daily Caller's transcript of Modly's speech is accurate, then he didn't actually call Crozier stupid; he said Crozier was "too naive or too stupid to be CO" -- OR (alternatively) -- "he did this on purpose”.
StraitGate posted on 2020-04-08 01:10:40 Reply Private Reply
#26: Fred Mertz To: Cynicom (#21)
It is exactly correct Old Man.
So the Captain ordered them all to clap for him and pat him on the back? Get real.
Take your dementia pills.
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-08 01:53:28 Reply Private Reply
#27: Cynicom To: Fred Mertz, All (#26)
Please try to keep discourse on a non personal basis.
The one video I saw was in ships fighter hangar. Those people are NOT a part of the ships permanent crew. They are TDY usually for three or six months to a carrier. Otherwise they are landlubbers.
It is incredulous that anyone would buy into a scripted fair tale that is totally military pap for the gullible.
My two forays into such window dressings were real laffers.
NCOs, what ever I do, you do and I will be watching you. Some junior officer wetting himself in fear the "men" were not enthusiast enough.
Difficult to believe anyone would buy into such idiocy.
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-08 08:23:21 Reply Private Reply
#28: NeoconsNailed To: Cynicom (#9)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-08 08:50:27 Reply Private Reply
#29: Fred Mertz To: NeoconsNailed (#28)
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-08 11:08:04 Reply Private Reply
#30: NeoconsNailed To: Fred Mertz (#29)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-08 11:45:37 Reply Private Reply
#31: Fred Mertz To: NeoconsNailed (#30)
Just axe him.
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-08 11:51:29 Reply Private Reply
#32: NeoconsNailed To: Fred Mertz (#31)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-04-08 12:00:41 Reply Private Reply
#33: Cynicom To: NeoconsNailed (#32)
I do have young friend that is SQ. commander of F/A18 Navy fighter jet SQ. Few months ago he did his first three month deployment on aircraft carrier in Middle East. For 18 years he has been on his quest for Star rank. Now after his first and last deployment and 18 years,all he wants is twenty years, retirement and out. His brother is Air Force doctor, I told him make sure his brother leaves active duty with some kind of disability that would prohibit flying duty.
I was only PNC rank in the Air Force, Fred not a clue about that.
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-08 16:14:31 Reply Private Reply
#34: Cynicom To: NeoconsNailed (#28)
Good question...From experience, we were told to turn out at a certain time in class A uniform. We were seeing someone off etc etc. Ten thousand men and women standing in the hot sun, to wave goodbye to someone we did not know nor care about. Meat wagons were in a line behind the ranks. As people keeled over the medics dragged them out and hauled them away.
That was my second and last one.
Imagine ten thousand people, one day wasted at tax payer expense, that has always been the bane of the military and will never change.
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-08 17:29:19 Reply Private Reply
#35: Fred Mertz To: Cynicom (#34)
You continue to crack me up.
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-08 17:33:26 Reply Private Reply
#36: BTP Holdings To: Cynicom, Fred Mertz (#34)
Whether it is 10,000 or 1,000 it is still a waste of both time and taxpayers money. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-04-08 17:42:32 Reply Private Reply
#37: Fred Mertz To: BTP Holdings (#36)
I'll wait for a better time. By then I'll be at 80 psi. ;^)
Edit: I notice my personal telephone calls have increased quite a bit. I can't talk to the walls so I speak with family and friends.
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-08 17:53:02 Reply Private Reply
#38: FormerLurker To: Cynicom (#33)
What exactly is a PNC rank Cyni?
FormerLurker posted on 2020-04-08 18:01:11 Reply Private Reply
#39: FormerLurker To: Cynicom (#15)
Where in Washington is the NSA? I always thought the NSA was at Fort Meade, Maryland.
FormerLurker posted on 2020-04-08 18:06:34 Reply Private Reply
#40: Fred Mertz To: FormerLurker (#39)
I had a work colleague take command of some sort of signal battalion.
We drove to some hole in a mountain to attend the ceremony. Actually, the ceremony was outdoors but the operations were under ground.
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-08 18:12:59 Reply Private Reply
#41: FormerLurker To: Fred Mertz (#40)
NORAD Cheyenne Mountain?
FormerLurker posted on 2020-04-08 18:36:23 Reply Private Reply
#42: Fred Mertz To: FormerLurker (#41)
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-08 20:01:10 Reply Private Reply
#43: Esso To: FormerLurker, Cynicom, 4um (#38)
Private, No-Class.
Esso posted on 2020-04-08 20:22:07 Reply Private Reply
#44: FormerLurker To: Esso (#43)
LOL!!!
FormerLurker posted on 2020-04-08 20:36:54 Reply Private Reply
#45: Esso To: FormerLurker, Cynicom, 4um (#44)
I wasn't joking, that's what Cyni always calls it.
Esso posted on 2020-04-08 20:40:11 Reply Private Reply
#46: FormerLurker To: Esso (#45)
FormerLurker posted on 2020-04-08 21:11:09 Reply Private Reply
#47: Cynicom To: Esso (#45)
STANDARD ORDER WAS WE HAD TO BE IN UNIFORM WITH RANK TO RECEIVE DISCHARGE ON LAST DAY. I HAD TO BORROW A UNIFORM FROM FLIGHT ENGINEER WITH PROPER STRIPES.
I wore army fatigue pants with saddle pockets, jacket said USMC, fatigue hat with hole in top, frayed bill. Sold my winter uniforms to a lifer for beer money two years earlier.
I suspect we have here some wannabe generals that were low ranking lifers that wore knee pads and their pants on backwards.
Anyone has to be a low grade moron to believe 4000 enlisted people waved their hankies and cried to see some idiot leave. .
Cynicom posted on 2020-04-08 21:37:27 Reply Private Reply
#48: Fred Mertz To: Cynicom (#47)
Made for a nice tribute to the man in front of the cameras.
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-08 22:16:14 Reply Private Reply
#49: StraitGate To: All (#25)
(My post #25 here)
StraitGate posted on 2020-04-08 22:36:07 Reply Private Reply
#50: Fred Mertz To: StraitGate (#49)
I'll give you my Subject: This fuckhead will be gone quickly
I don't think I should have ended it with an adverb, but I was ticked off.
Fred Mertz posted on 2020-04-08 22:53:48 Reply Private Reply