Sunday, November 18, 2012

2012 Navy Firings - A quick review

Captain Jeffrey Riedel was fired Jan. 26 as program manager for the Navy’s littoral combat ship program due to allegations of inappropriate behavior.
Commander Diego Hernandez was fired Feb. 4 as CO of the ballistic-missile submarine USS WYOMING’s gold crew for mishandling classified materials.
Captain Robert Marin was fired Feb.10 as CO of the cruiser USS COWPENS “while an investigation into inappropriate personal behavior is conducted.”
Commander Jeffrey Wissel was fired Feb. 27 as CO of Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron ONE amid allegations of “personal misconduct.”
Commander Jon Haydel was fired March 12 as CO of the yet-to-be commissioned amphibious transport dock USS SAN DIEGO amid an investigation into “personal misconduct.”
Captain Kim Lyons was fired April 6 as CO of Navy Health Clinic New England after a survey found a poor command climate.
Commander Dennis Klein was fired May 1 as CO of the attack submarine USS COLUMBIA due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command after a number of external assessments.
Commander Lee Hoey was fired May 1 as CO of the Navy Drug Screening Lab in San Diego due to command climate problems at his command.
Commander Derick Armstrong was fired May 8 as CO of the destroyer USS THE SULLIVANS due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.
Captain Chuck Litchfield was fired June 18 as CO of the amphibious assault ship USS ESSEX, in the wake of ESSEX’s May 16 collision with the replenishment oiler Yukon as both ships were en route to San Diego.
Captain Liza Raimondo was fired June 29 as CO of Navy Health Clinic, Patuxent River, Md, due to a loss of confidence in her ability to command due to a significant lack of leadership and integrity.
Commander Michael Ward was fired Aug. 10 as CO of Los Angeles-class submarine USS PITTSBURGH for allegations of personal misconduct.
Commander Franklin Fernandez was fired Aug. 21 as CO of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion TWENTY FOUR due to loss of confidence in his ability to command.
Commander Martin Arriola was fired Aug. 30 as CO of the destroyer USS PORTER due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.
Commander Sara Santoski was fired Sept. 1 as CO of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron FIFTEEN due to a loss of confidence in her ability to command.
Commander Sheryl Tannahill was fired Sept. 14 as CO of Navy Operational Support Center Nashville, Tenn., due to a loss of confidence in her ability to command.
Captain Antonio Cardoso was fired Sept. 21 as CO of Training Support Center San Diego due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.
Captain James CoBell was fired Sept. 27 as CO of FRC Mid-Atlantic after an investigation found he was abusive to subordinates and used them to conduct personal favors.
Rear Admiral Charles Gaouette was fired Oct. 27 as head of the USS JOHN C. STENNIS Carrier Strike Group while the CSG was deployed to the Arabian Sea. The Navy cited “inappropriate leadership judgment” for his “temporary reassignment.”
Commander Joseph Darlak was fired Nov. 2 as CO of the frigate USS VANDEGRIFT, along with his XO, OPS and CHENG, after investigators found the ship's crew had behaved inappropriately during a September port visit to Russia.
Captain Michael Wiegand was fired Nov. 8 as head of the Southwest Regional Maintenance Center “due to loss of confidence in his ability to command.”

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Captain Lambert,

In the past 50 years there has been a significant change in the caliber of the individuals that have sought and achieved a commission in the United States Navy, those 50 years ago I was a Sailor that felt my Commanding Officer was next to God and he could do no wrong, but the bastardization of our society in general has led to leaders that are evidently not of the caliber that we expected those many years ago. Or maybe it is the declination of the moral attitude of the civilian individuals that have authority over the senior military personnel.

Very Respectfully,
Navyman834

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm ... something about the person who has not sinned can cast the first stone. All of this is overblown. People will fail and yes some of them will be CO's. With the way we can commuicate today - it seems people get off on the public failings of our CO's. Captain Lambert is no exception. Just remember - we have a ton of great Naval leaders in our history with personal failings as well. The difference is - we gave them a pass since they got the job done. Now, regardless to how effective you are, we want to flog you in public. The solution - hold all civilians in the DoN to the same 'high personal standards' of our CO's. Dig into their personal lives and publicaaly fire them when you find anything wrong. Once that is startted - the appetitie to subside.

Mike Lambert said...

Anon @ 09:32AM

I think I am an exception. It's not about "getting off" on these CO failings. I think we have sufficient numbers of exceptional officers without these failings that we don't need to have these "failing" officers in command.

Anonymous said...

Trust me, there are plenty of us who are without sin. Particularly free of the sins of these COs.

Anonymous said...

While I doubt that there are any of us "without sin", I think we are missing the point of the public firings and CAPT Lambert's noting them on his blog. Some great advice I got as a child from my father was this, "learn from other's mistakes, so you don't have to make them yourselves to learn the same lesson". The simple point is that we will all make mistakes, just do your best to not make them, don't make the same one as someone else, and you will most likely do just fine.

And yes, there are plenty of amazing officers out there capable of being great COs and there is no reason we should give any other officer a "pass"...that is simply a road to ruin we cannot espouse.

Curtis said...

Only a suggestion but perhaps you could intersperse some CO Ashore pins in with the CO Afloat pins.

Anonymous said...

Add MOUNT WHITNEY and FORT MCHENRY for those who are keeping count.