Acting Navy Secretary Resigns after
Suggesting Ousted Captain
Was ‘Stupid’ for Writing
Coronavirus Letter
National Review Online,
by
Zachary Evans
Original Article
Posted By: VirtuDawg,
4/7/2020 4:58:42 PM
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly offered his resignation on Tuesday after calling an ousted aircraft carrier captain “stupid” and “naïve.” It was not immediately clear whether Defense Secretary Mark Esper would accept the resignation. Modly had apologized for the comments on Monday evening.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
happywarrior 4/7/2020 5:04:46 PM (No. 371886)
General Keane on Fox remarked that Modly himself broke the chain of command by taking up the matter and commenting on it before the Admirals below him could start the process of investigating this debacle.
18 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
FunOne 4/7/2020 5:07:34 PM (No. 371887)
Regardless of the disposition of the Captain, it was stupid of the Acting Secretary of the Navy to call the Captain "stupid".
21 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 4/7/2020 5:09:11 PM (No. 371890)
Screwed up going up and going down, this is what 8 years of Idi Obola has done to our military command structure. We need to get rid of all the "politics" in the Pentagon both Flag Rank and Civilian. Send them all on a long term assignment in a central Africa to bring peace and stability to that horrid mess. That would have far more strategic value to the U.S. than propping up tyrants in the Middle East.
22 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
stablemoney 4/7/2020 5:24:10 PM (No. 371901)
The Navy has a problem. The Secretary resigned for insubordination to the President, now the Acting Secretary is offering his resignation, a ship's captain has been fired for emailing information about his ship over unsecure communications, and also to the media. Then there are the issues with Navy ship's crashing into other ships, at least 2 reported, no word yet on how those investigations are going. In the Viet Nam War, the enemy was able to intercept and read all Navy communications, due to one of their own providing them with a code book, and the Soviets seizing the Pueblo off North Korea to get the hardware they needed.
9 people like this.
Not the United States Navy I served in.
11 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
chumley 4/7/2020 5:30:15 PM (No. 371912)
I've worked for both kinds of commanders. Theres the kind the military likes, who will sacrifice their men for whatever the mission de jour is whether it is legitimate or not. For them, their men are just a resource to be used and discarded, all while paying lip service to how vital they are. They will have some clerk write to the parents.
Then there are the commanders who actually take care of their people and see them as people. They are rarer because they don't often get promoted, but they attract the fiercest loyalty from their troops. I worked for a 2nd Lt once who always accomplished the mission while using his people's talents to the maximum and looking the other way when he needed to. He was not shy about standing up in front of a commander supporting his men. People went the extra mile for him because they wanted to. His boss was a colonel who was nothing but a slimy politician who would stab a guy in the back rather than admit error. The LT got out after a couple years. He couldn't stand the BS.
I preferred the Lt.
11 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Bur Oak 4/7/2020 5:53:02 PM (No. 371930)
Both showed their incompetence and lack of intelligent discretion. Our troops deserve better.
8 people like this.
RE: #4, yes, and with the Pueblo, they got the key list for entire Pacific command. Serious? There is only ONE Potus worse than LBJ and that would be Hussein. Just sayin' ...
13 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
watashiyo 4/7/2020 6:06:42 PM (No. 371940)
Yup, now the whole world knows what's going on inside that Carrier and the conditions of those crews running the ship. Our Enemy must be amused and will use this incident as a case study to undermine our military. PC and a broken trust have its consequences.
9 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Krause 4/7/2020 6:27:45 PM (No. 371950)
What a mess. Why did Crozier get write the letter, knowing he would probably lose his job? Were the higher-ups ignoring him? And it's been said that the ship docked in Vietnam and the men were allowed to go ashore, is this true?
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
fayebeck 4/7/2020 6:32:17 PM (No. 371951)
If he isn't naive or stupid, then it's worse than I thought.
5 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
bad-hair 4/7/2020 6:39:25 PM (No. 371962)
After many years at sea I can assure you that the 4 stripes on your shoulders does not necessarily mean you're not stupid.
6 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
earlybird 4/7/2020 7:18:12 PM (No. 372007)
Crozier was wrong. Modly’s choice of language was wrong. They are both gone. Crozier may have been miscast in his job. Ditto Modly.
5 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
earlybird 4/7/2020 7:20:15 PM (No. 372011)
Crozier didn’t just write a letter. He sent 20 copies far and wide to the media and persons who shouldn’t have received it, and via insecure communications. He had to know there would be leaks. In the meantime he failed to notify his immediate superior, who was on the same ship and quartered very near Crozier. You could stretch that from naive to stupid…but…that should have been said in private.
8 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
volksford 4/7/2020 7:29:40 PM (No. 372022)
A Skipper of a aircraft carrier with a crew of five thousand is not afforded the luxury of a bad day.
9 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DVC 4/7/2020 7:35:48 PM (No. 372029)
The SecNav was right. Perhaps a bit strongly worded... but he was right, and shouldn't back down.
7 people like this.
This has now become the biggest PR mess the Navy has gotten itself into since Tailhook ’91 and it’s sounding more and more like some personality incompatibilities are involved. The CO screwed up, bigly. By going outside the chain of command he put the reduced state of readiness of a strategic asset on the front pages for everyone – friend and foe – to read about as the media second-guesses it all. The acting SECNAV screwed up, even biglier. By flying halfway around the world to personally address the crew he subverted about 6 layers of the same chain of command. Up to this point the CinC might have been able to remain above it all but he no doubt had to step in order to stop the bleeding. Is Modly a never-Trumper? The toughest job in the Navy right now is that of the incoming CO, who’s been tasked with getting the demoralized crew re-focused and the ship underway and back to its mission ASAP.
3 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Shmowry1 4/7/2020 8:15:30 PM (No. 372069)
Can we move on to things that matter? This does not. Captain was right to be fired. Navy Sec was interim. Move on.
4 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
TJ54 4/7/2020 9:15:13 PM (No. 372111)
National Review = Never Trump Central. Ergo, I will not read the article
2 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Geoman 4/8/2020 12:55:32 AM (No. 372235)
FTA: "Modly said in a statement. “Let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naïve nor stupid. I think, and always believed him to be the opposite.”
I fault Modly more for reversing himself than for making his original statement regarding the Roosevelt's former skipper. I also do not buy the argument that he had no business addressing the ship's crew. He is the civilian leader of the Navy, not a uniformed officer, beholden to follow civilian authority. He may have been trying to nip any nascent "resistance" among the crew in the bud and chose his words poorly but if he felt that exigent circumstances required his immediate response, then he was within his authority to address anyone or any group within the navy, unless the SECDEF, Modly's boss, saw it otherwise.
0 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
D S Craft 4/8/2020 1:03:14 AM (No. 372236)
The definition of irony. Those two must have bunked together.
0 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
agrunt 4/8/2020 1:18:32 PM (No. 372865)
Virtudawg has hit the nail on the head. Both points.
0 people like this.
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Comments:
As a former US Navy Surface Warfare Officer, I was in total agreement with Acting SECNAV, given the information available, in relieving CAPT Crozier of command for his severe lapse of judgment in sending classified information about the operational/combat readiness of his command outside the chain of command, where it was picked up by the national news media. On the other hand, I am disappointed by the equal lapse of judgment by Acting SECNAV for his comments that denigrated the service and character of a fine Naval Officer whose only mistake was in a temporary lack of command judgment. I think that it is appropriate for Secretary Modly to resign under the circumstances.