Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Officer Conduct

"Unless and until officers conduct themselves at all times as officers, it is useless to demand and hopeless to expect any improvement in the enlisted ranks. Matters of correct attitude, personal conduct, and awareness of moral obligations do not lend themselves to control by a set of rules or to scientific analysis.

Many methods of instruction and different approaches to teaching them will present themselves. Each naval officer must consider himself an instructor in these matters and the future tone of the naval service will depend on the sincerity which he brings to this task." 

Admiral T. C. Kinkaid
United States Navy
1947

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I sure wish that the offices at tail hook had remembered this. As far as I know, there was not one enlisted person at tailhook; all officers.

Yet after all the fallout, all the enlisted personnel had to take special training about this.

Now if this had been all enlisted at an event that misbhaved in such a manner, then the least that would have happened was that the senior elisted personnel would be punished even if they had done nothing. They did not stop it.

Just saying...

Anonymous said...

I sure wish that the offices at tail hook had remembered this. As far as I know, there was not one enlisted person at tailhook; all officers.

Yet after all the fallout, all the enlisted personnel had to take special training about this.

Now if this had been all enlisted at an event that misbhaved in such a manner, then the least that would have happened was that the senior elisted personnel would be punished even if they had done nothing. They did not stop it.

Just saying...

Anonymous said...

That was over 20 years ago. That couldn't happen with this generation of Officer.

(Well at least CONUS)

Anonymous said...

WOW ! The officer's poor conduct does go unnoticed. Turn your head the other way: see no evil, hear no evil = speak no evil. The misuse of their power is phenomenal!!! And heaven forbid if one speaks out about the misconduct! Truth, Honor, & Morality no longer exists. The statement: "The truth will set you free": is definitely a career ending move. Way to go flight community!!!
What have you become?

Anonymous said...

@anon 6/20 1354.

WOW. Bitter much? Your BROAD generalization is not only ignorant, but also absolutely incorrect and offensive.

I'm not sue what experiences you had that led you to these simple conclusions - but I pity you for it.

Just like a Divo spends 90% of his time dealing with the extremely small number of his Sailors who get in trouble - you and other paranoid (media) types spend 90% of your time worrying about the extremely small number of officers who screw up.

You couldn't be further from correct by suggesting that officers who screw up go unpunished. That may have been the case years ago - that would have been a leadership failure.... The margin for error for today's officers is razor thin - which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But you're wrong.

Justin Rogers ENS, USN (1170) said...

The IG Hotline called: they said they want their anonymous comments back.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately in the current Navy far too many Officers have forgotten this line of thought. Instead of doing whats right they pay lip service to it and then turn around and violate the rules thinking they don't apply.

I am an LDO, so I am not bashing just the SWO community it extends across all communities. It's not about being above enlisted personnel or better than enlisted personnel, it's just that a Naval Officers role is different than an enlisted person's role.

Part of the problem stems from the Navy making Chiefs at the 5 to 7 year mark. Far to many are not ready for the increased responsibility or even know what is required of them in their new role.

The senior officers are so out of touch, or just don't care, with what is really going on in the fleet. Many are no longer warfighters but simply managers. They have eroded the prestige of what it was to be a Naval Officer. Ultimately unable to make hard decisions and tell the truth about their JO's. Our Navy has fallen into a sad state of affairs and I worry what the future holds.
V/R OPS LDO