There has been a spike in Navy commanding officer firings this year, according to the Washington Post. The WaPo reports:
Navy has fired a dozen commanding officers this year, a near-record rate, with the bulk getting the ax for offenses related to sex, alcohol or other forms of personal misconduct.
The terminations, which follow a similar spike in firings last year, have shaken the upper ranks of the Navy, which has long invested enormous responsibility in its commanding officers and prides itself on a tradition of carefully cultivating captains and admirals.
The Washington Post further reports:
Over the past 18 months, the Navy has sacked nine commanding officers for sexual harassment or inappropriate personal relationships. Three others were fired for alcohol-related offenses, and two on unspecified charges of personal misconduct. Combined, they account for roughly half of the 29 commanding officers relieved during that period.
Improvements in communication have been cited as the root cause of the increased firings.
Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations, called the increase in firings “bothersome” but said the Navy was duty-bound to uphold strict behavioral standards, even when commanders are off-duty. He attributed the rise in part to the revolution in communications and technology, which has made it easier for sailors and their families to snoop on one another and then instantly spread the word — even from once-isolated ships at sea.
The Navy feels that what goes on in a commanding officer’s personal life very much affects job performance.
“We believe it does, because it gets right to the issue of integrity and personal conduct and trust and the ability to enforce standards.”
Some of the firings dealt affairs, other people’s wives, and inappropriate relationships with underlings. The Navy was very vague and those fired didn’t respond to the press inquiries.
Good for the Navy for enforcing its own rules and regulations in the upper ranks. There has always been a certain amount of wink wink nudge nudge and its time those folks fall off the pedestal also. Someone always knows and it sets a bad example for those with less rank. Some of the ‘Old Salts’ have always thought the rules didn’t apply to them. At any rate, someone sure cleaned house.
Of the 29 officers fired since last year, 3 have been women. One of the women was fired for sexual impropriety. Another woman was sacked for subjecting the crew to cruelty and maltreatment. A third lost her position for “endangered two sailors with a loaded weapon, failed to prevent hazing and cultivated “a hostile work environment permeated by verbal abuse, fear and intimidation.” Those last 2 are horrible and disgusting.
Some people have theorized that those in the Navy have not had to deal with women on the job as much as other branches of service. Women have been on sailing vessels since 1994. About 15% of the commanding officers are women. About 10.3% have been removed. The Secretary of the Navy doesn’t see this rash of firings as a failure in leadership.
A commanding officer makes a good salary, has a fairly large housing allowance, nice perks and a decent retirement. When these officers are sacked, do they keep their retirement? Anthony Weiner gets a pension of just under $50k for life and a parking place at the Capitol. Has Congress been as generous with the military as it has been with itself?
“Some of the ‘Old Salts’ have always thought the rules didn’t apply to them”
There haven’t been any “old salts” for years. That tradition died out in the 90’s. The new traditions of zero tolerance have cost many a commanding officer their jobs. Furthermore, fraternization has become increasingly easier to prosecute over the last 20 years.
If the officers serving in WWII had served under the conditions we have today, we would have probably lost the war in the Pacific. Like that CO that lost his command because of silly videos that he put out as XO. His superior officers refused to back him and he was hung out to dry. Everything done on that ship was approved by his CO, who was a retired Admiral when that officer was prosecuted. It was a witch hunt and he was used as an example of the new Navy that is gay – tolerant. He was cashiered because of bad jokes.
Unless an service member is kicked out of the service, they get any pensions, etc that go with their position or retirement. If they get a dishonorable discharge, they get nothing.
@Cargo, perhaps you know a different definition of old salt than I do. I am not sure of what tradition you mean.
I was using it in thee general, civilian sense of the word that those of us who grew up post WWII knew as those venerable old sailors who had been around a long time.
It sounds like these 29 were kicked out.
My definition of Old Salt is a sailor that worries mores about results than appearances. One that is unafraid of making decisions that might be politically incorrect if its the right decision. One that understands that mistakes can be made, you correct them, and move on. Not a rules lawyer that will bring a sailor up on charges but will punish a sailor so that he learns the lessons needed.
Today’s crop of officers are hamstrung by politics, zero tolerance, cowardly superiors.
Those 29 may have been removed from command, but that doesn’t mean that they were kicked out of the service. But they might as well resign their commissions. They won’t get promoted, etc, ever again. Depends upon the charge.
Shoot, I wasn’t implying all that when I said ‘old salt’– just the usual definition of one who has been around forever.
I expect all branches of service are hamstrung by rules as there is more diverisity amongst those who serve.
@Moon-howler
I understood that when I read it. Just thought I’d bring it up though. My last skipper on a ship was an “old salt.” When he found skis in the speedboat that the SEAL’s were using, he didn’t reprimand them. He asked their Chief. “Chief, what the hell are those skis doing in your RIB?”
Chief: “Those aren’t skis, skipper. Those are Close, Inshore, Recon Platforms.” With a completely straight face.
CO: “Fine. You show me how they work when we get to Marseilles and you get to keep them.”
He reconned the harbor and all around the ship.
I consider myself and “old salt” having entered the Navy 6 years after WWII and then spending 39 years as a Navy enlisted man and an officer. Oddly enough, I never served in a ship, but spent most of my career serving with the Marine Corps. There is no question that the rules were much different back in the day. I held several command jobs as a junior, mid-level and senior officer and as Cargo has pointed out, I was more concerned about the mission than what was politically correct. I was concerned that my people got the resources the needed to do their job and that their needs were taken care of-first to eat, first to be provided shelter, etc.
Commanding officers have always been subject to a higher standard–that’s always been the rule. And they have always had to step through a minefield of rules and regulations. The problems is that today there are many more mines in the minefield.
There was a day when commanding officers had many more perks than today but that is now pretty much restricted to flag and general officers. Now no extra special additions to salaries, housing allowance, etc and their retirement is based on the same rules as every other officer.
The Navy became much more conscious of problems with the infamous Tailhook affair in 1991 but the genesis of Tailhook began long before that. Some 14 admirals and 300 naval aviators had their careers wrecked. That should have been the alarm bell for future COs and other officers in positions of resp;onsibility but obviously there have been those who thought they were either invisible or teflon coated.
http://www.broadside.net/09060122.htm
Old Salt.