The “standards of conduct” training for COs recently
mandated by the CNO (in the wake of the firing of those involved in the “XO
Movie Night” episode) is merely Scotch tape on the problem—a robust, durable,
career-long emphasis is still not in place. Once an officer has been selected for
command, it is too late to try to develop integrity and character. This absence of
training for all officers to a set standard has led to a failure of leadership. Many
commanding officers have shown misguided support to junior officers who
display character flaws such as alcohol abuse or infidelity. “I did that when I was
younger, so why should I punish them for doing the same thing?” seems to be
the theme.
Captain Mark Light
More HERE.
2 comments:
I take strong exception to this post. Literally everything it states is just wrong. Moral compass? What moral compass? Was that the one loosely based on the Bible? The one that made sex between men punishable under the UCMJ? Was the moral compass troubled when hundreds of years of morality was overturned overnight by the "leadership"?
When everything that happened badly was blamed on alcohol and thus everything became an alcohol related incident it lost any moral meaning among realists. There will always be alcohol. Punishing people for doing the legal thing is right up there with pretty damned stupid. Right up there with casting men and women together and preaching that sex won't happen! If sex does happen it's the girl's fault! If sex does happen it's the guy's fault. If sex does happen it's alcohol's fault. Was there a failure of leadership there? Oh yeah. And nobody saw it coming at all.
It twists the truth to hear leaders at the 05 level blamed for the turpitude of the moral compass itself. An explosion of sex crimes. A rash of alcohol incidents. Heck, I loved working at SURFPAC and reading the traffic every morning. Sailor arrested because xgirlfriend broke into his apartment and hit him with her shoe while he was sleeping. There were dozens of these cases. Always the guy was arrested or got a courtesy turnover to the base police.
The navy has no moral leg to stand on but let's be honest. The admirals and the civilians that actually run the navy did that, not us.
Well said! Ethic and leadership training should start at the very beginning of career and continue passed retirement. I’m sure there are many leaders how would be glad to pour time and energy into the junior officer and be there for the midgrade office. Real mentorship and accountability. V/R Mario Vulcano
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