You have the appreciate the fact that the Admiral lays his cards on the table for all to see. Check out his blog post on the firing of Captain O.P. Honors HERE.
Senator John McCain, acknowledging his own misbehavior as a Naval Aviator, said Admiral Harvey got it right. He also went on to say that he was thankful for Captain Honors' many years of naval service.
7 comments:
While giving him credit for all the right stuff that Captain Honors possesses, you still must fire him for his lack of judgment. I would venture that a hero of or time, Captain Sullenberger would NEVER display the lack of judgment that Captain Honors has.
"...I would venture that a hero of or time, Captain Sullenberger would NEVER display the lack of judgment that Captain Honors has."
Apples and oranges.
There is no logical way to compare someone who, overall, has had a successful career as a military leader with an airline pilot who, agreeably, did a heroic deed.
It doesn't work.
"... someone (Honors) who, overall, has had a successful career as a military leader..."
In today's Wall Street journal, Peggy Noonan (Peggy Noonan!) described Honors as 'nitwittish and vulgar ... acting in a way that was without dignity ... ."
If that's success, I'd hate to see failure. The man disgraced himself - his uniform - and my Navy - and thus will his 'successful career' rightly be remembered.
Interesting piece by a former Sailor who was on ENTERPRISE when Captain Honors was the XO.
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/01/perspective-uss-enterprise
Admiral Harvey made the call. Tough call. Not everyone agrees with the decision. But the decision was made. Aye, aye.
... the videos were a shock in that this was a captain of the U.S. Navy, commanding a nuclear-powered ship, and acting in a way that was without dignity, stature or apartness. He was acting as if it was important to him to be seen as one of the guys, with regular standards, like everyone else.
But it's a great mistake when you are in a leadership position to want to be like everyone else. Because that, actually, is not your job. Your job is to be better, and to set standards that those below you have to reach to meet. And you have to do this even when it's hard, even when you know you yourself don't quite meet the standards you represent.
A captain has to be a captain. He can't make videos referencing masturbation and oral sex. He has to uphold values even though he finds them antique, he has to represent virtues he may not in fact possess, he has to be, in his person, someone sailors aspire to be.
Compare Capt. Honors' situation to that of Capt. Holly Graf.
Captain Honors made some dumb videos 4 years ago and stopped his behavior when his superiors told him to. He executed his next 2 assignments without incident.
Captain Graf commmitted numerous egregious offenses during successive shipborne assignments (Curtis Wilbur, Churchill, Cowpens). Despite having access to the counseling and advice of an admiral (her sister), Graf refused to change her abusive behavior.
The navy made the wrong decision in punishing Capt. Honors. In doing so they set a terrible precedent for military justice. Basing justice on feelings, with no statute of limitations and no requirement to demonstrate actual harm, will destroy the military.
I wonder what Admiral Harvey will do when someone who took part in an equator-crossing ceremony with him decades ago decides to lodge a complaint about it, because it was inappropriate?
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