Everyone in the media has been hammering the Navy on the number of Commanding Officers being relieved over the last couple of years as evidenced by this statement:
The U.S. Navy has an integrity problem in the ranks of its commanding officers (COs). Consider these headlines: “Cruiser CO Relieved for ‘Cruelty.’” “CO Fired, Charged with Solicitation.” “CO of Attack Sub Fired for ‘Drunkenness.’” These are just a few cases in a recent deluge of early reliefs of “skippers.” In 2010, twenty-three Navy COs were relieved of command and “detached for cause,” an enormous increase over previous years. The trend continues: twentyone commanding officers were fired in 2011 as of the end of October. Even more worrisome is the fact that a large and increasing percentage of those dismissals are due to personal misconduct, such as sexual harassment, drunkenness, and fraternization. Although (as far as we can tell) over 97 percent of the Navy’s commanding officers conduct themselves honorably, the increasing number of those who do not raises concerns that the Navy must address. Alarms should be sounding at the highest levels of Navy leadership, but a review of recent literature reveals only a trickle of discussion on the subject of personal misconduct by military commanders. Instead of calling the service to action, a Navy spokesman said in January 2011 that there was “no indication that the reliefs are the result of any systemic problem.”
CAPT Mark Light, Aviator and Naval War College Instructor, wrote this article of the Naval War College Review (HERE).
Now when you look at the ‘raw’ numbers, 23 and 21 are NOT good, but as a percentage (3%) that means 97% ARE doing a good job.
I can’t help but wonder what that percentage is in the business world??? 50% of time away from home, pretty much absolute power, very ‘limited’ accountability, etc…
I would posit that the Navy is doing pretty dang good to have that low a rate, and it’s pretty transparent in the way these are being handled in that not a single one has been overturned. It is a fact of life that you cannot “catch” all the bad apples, regardless of what you do. And to see these small numbers, year after year, is pretty damn good; considering how much the ‘rules’ have tightened since the Vietnam era, I’m actually impressed!
And it’s not just men either. CAPT Holly Graf was relieved as CO of USS Cowpens (article HERE), and this was her second CO tour!
And HERE’s the latest CO relief… Sometimes you just have to ‘wonder’ at how these folks think they can get away with stuff like this!!!
Bottom line, I think the Navy continues to do the right thing, even if it is pure hell on the ship, boat or squadron until the offender does get relieved. I saw real good COs, and real bad COs during my career, and the less impressive ones usually did not promote, or ever get another command.
The U.S. Navy has an integrity problem in the ranks of its commanding officers (COs). Consider these headlines: “Cruiser CO Relieved for ‘Cruelty.’” “CO Fired, Charged with Solicitation.” “CO of Attack Sub Fired for ‘Drunkenness.’” These are just a few cases in a recent deluge of early reliefs of “skippers.” In 2010, twenty-three Navy COs were relieved of command and “detached for cause,” an enormous increase over previous years. The trend continues: twentyone commanding officers were fired in 2011 as of the end of October. Even more worrisome is the fact that a large and increasing percentage of those dismissals are due to personal misconduct, such as sexual harassment, drunkenness, and fraternization. Although (as far as we can tell) over 97 percent of the Navy’s commanding officers conduct themselves honorably, the increasing number of those who do not raises concerns that the Navy must address. Alarms should be sounding at the highest levels of Navy leadership, but a review of recent literature reveals only a trickle of discussion on the subject of personal misconduct by military commanders. Instead of calling the service to action, a Navy spokesman said in January 2011 that there was “no indication that the reliefs are the result of any systemic problem.”
CAPT Mark Light, Aviator and Naval War College Instructor, wrote this article of the Naval War College Review (HERE).
Now when you look at the ‘raw’ numbers, 23 and 21 are NOT good, but as a percentage (3%) that means 97% ARE doing a good job.
I can’t help but wonder what that percentage is in the business world??? 50% of time away from home, pretty much absolute power, very ‘limited’ accountability, etc…
I would posit that the Navy is doing pretty dang good to have that low a rate, and it’s pretty transparent in the way these are being handled in that not a single one has been overturned. It is a fact of life that you cannot “catch” all the bad apples, regardless of what you do. And to see these small numbers, year after year, is pretty damn good; considering how much the ‘rules’ have tightened since the Vietnam era, I’m actually impressed!
And it’s not just men either. CAPT Holly Graf was relieved as CO of USS Cowpens (article HERE), and this was her second CO tour!
And HERE’s the latest CO relief… Sometimes you just have to ‘wonder’ at how these folks think they can get away with stuff like this!!!
Bottom line, I think the Navy continues to do the right thing, even if it is pure hell on the ship, boat or squadron until the offender does get relieved. I saw real good COs, and real bad COs during my career, and the less impressive ones usually did not promote, or ever get another command.
True that! I would say less than half of the CEOs I’ve worked for over the years are the kind of people I would work for again.
I suppose I’ve been lucky. I only served under one I would call incompetent. But, he was Canoe U and from a legacy family.
Some of us refused to fly with him after several incidents, including putting the tail rotor into the trees after I warned him we were too close.
He wound up flying himself into the ground. Fortunately, he was the only fatality.
Hmm. I wonder what the Percentage is of the Civilian LEADERSHIP in Government that are doing the exact same thing, yet THEY are not being fired. Sending you a story about the DHS broad acting like she was in “Animal House.”
If I recall correctly, under the modern US Navy rules, John Paul Jones never would have made O-2.
Gerry
Perhaps the same ruler should be applied to “civil servants” – from the Big “O” all the way down to the local dog catcher.
Honestly it really pisses me off when you look at what is expected of the military, the enormous percentage that does their job in exceptional fashion each and every day – and then we hear about the 3% that are assholes.
If only 3% of our government officials were assholes – what a wonderful world it would be!
At 21412, there were essentially 3 well respected, accredited Major fields of study: Rum, Sodomy & the Lash. The Fleet must have so little on its plate & so much free time integrating the ahem, ladies– that they are getting bored with #1 & #2. Poor squids.
Thinking that heroes and officers, which are often not the same people, must be of a higher standard because of what they should be doing – ignores the culture that pretends bad is good.
Lessons from History, say differently.
As an organization, the military is a better group of people, until the politically correct show up to fix it. And I am not talking about gender, sexual issues but out right crimes are fewer than the ones in media or other public service.
*blink* *blink*
…
*blink* *blink*
Wow.
I’m not sure that the comparison with CEOs is the right one, though. They may be in charge of a Billion dollar firm, but putting someone in charge of a nuclear sub is a whole different matter.
Andy- You’re not the first I’ve heard say that…
Don- True, but in that case Darwin won!
Les- Thanks!
Gerry- Yep… Of course neither would Nimitz…
eia- Ain’t THAT the truth!!!
Russell- Point! :-0
Earl- Concur!
BP- Why not? The CO is there 1-2 years, a CEO for 10+ BOTH can cause a war, but only ONE is held to a high standard!
Agree with ya.
My sister left the Navy in ’82 after 6+ years because she had a boss she couldn’t deal with. Even at the time, I cautioned her against the decision, telling her he (or she) would get orders soon and her problem would be resolved.
In civilian life you can have a bad boss forever. She now regrets her decision, of course, and has had several bad bosses for YEARS.
The bad ones are the exception.
(Wesley Clark sucks.)