Thursday, January 9, 2014

An unpleasant FIRST for 2014


Commander Joseph Martinez, CO of Fleet Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) ONE FOUR ZERO (140) embarked in USS DWIGHT D EISENHOWER was relieved for cause on 8 January 2014, making him the first Navy CO fired in 2014. 

Commander Martinez was fired by Captain Terry Morris, commander of Carrier Air Wing 7 (CVW-7), because of a “loss of confidence in his ability to command” according to the release, issued by Cmdr. Mike Kafka, spokesman for Naval Air Forces Atlantic. 

The JAG Manual investigation found poor leadership and a negative command climate among the squadron’s officers. It also found Martinez had willfully ignored Navy instructions, knowingly submitted inaccurate officer fitness reports, made inappropriate racial comments, exercised undue influence on subordinates, and made false or misleading statements.

NAVNEWS story is HERE.

Quote from a very respected Shipmate of mine, "I worked for this guy on the Lincoln. A bit abrasive, but he seemed like an okay fellow."

3 comments:

Captain Steve said...

"made inappropriate racial comments"

And there you have it. TThe unforgivable sin that cancels anything and everything positive.

Captain Steve said...

"made inappropriate racial comments"

And there you have it: The sin which cancels ever thing and anything positive.

Anonymous said...

The bigger question is: what do you think of a disgruntled DH handing the CDRE a year's worth of notes containing all of the CO's shortcomings over the previous 12 months....?

A dept head who didn't get the FITREP he thought he deserved - and a squadron that met all of it's operational tasking and brought all of its people and planes home after being deployed for 18 or 24 months.

is this what being a CO has come to? A spineless O-4 can take SEVERAL instances out of context and get you fired because he doesn't like you?

The Navy is due for a round of CO's that it truly deserves...