Recommended: No court-martial for 2 Fitzgerald junior officers

[rangerrebew]

Recommended: No court-martial for 2 Fitzgerald junior officers

 
 

By DIANNA CAHN | STARS AND STRIPES Published: June 7, 2018

WASHINGTON — At a pretrial hearing last month, the Navy painted two junior officers at the controls the night the USS Fitzgerald collided with a merchant vessel as negligent and complacent officers who failed to communicate adequately and were accountable for the deaths of seven sailors on board.

But after some deliberation, the Article 32 hearing officer has recommended that Lt. Irian Woodley, the ship’s surface warfare coordinator, and Lt. Natalie Combs, the tactical action officer, should not face court-martial, according to Combs’ lawyer.

https://www.stripes.com/recommended-no-court-martial-for-2-fitzgerald-junior-officers-1.531674

[driftdiver]

Recent story how a navy review found 85% of junior officers had problems driving a ship.

They weren't trained.

[sneakypete]

Recent story how a navy review found 85% of junior officers had problems driving a ship.

They weren't trained.

@driftdiver

Junior officers like that should NEVER be left without senior officer supervision when playing at being in command. They have NO command experience or they wouldn't be junior officers.

I wasn't even in the Navy,and I understand how complex it is to be in command of an actual ship if something goes wrong,and there are many,many "somethings that can go wrong".

The CO of the ship is the one that should be court-martialed for signing off on letting junior officers run the ship un-supervised at night.

[driftdiver]

@driftdiver

Junior officers like that should NEVER be left without senior officer supervision when playing at being in command. They have NO command experience or they wouldn't be junior officers.

I wasn't even in the Navy,and I understand how complex it is to be in command of an actual ship if something goes wrong,and there are many,many "somethings that can go wrong".

The CO of the ship is the one that should be court-martialed for signing off on letting junior officers run the ship un-supervised at night.

@sneakypete
IMO it wasn't the Captains fault.  Yes he is responsible but if 85% of all the officers fail then its a Navy problem and not a Capt problem.   Years of doing more with less and Admirals who won't take no for an answer.

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete
IMO it wasn't the Captains fault.  Yes he is responsible but if 85% of all the officers fail then its a Navy problem and not a Capt problem.   Years of doing more with less and Admirals who won't take no for an answer.

@driftdiver

I don't doubt or deny that is a huge part of the problem,but I learned as a young NCO to man the bleep up and accept your responsibility,not make excuses like some whiny bitch.

The Commanding officer of that ship was in command,NOT "the Navy". Going over a duty roster is part of a command responsibility,and as anal as Naval officers are,you are not going to convince me he didn't know that Lt's would be running his war ship after dark,and that most likely they were going to be terrified of waking him or the XO to ask for advise.

You pin on the rank,you take the responsibility of command. Even when it's not pleasant.

[driftdiver]

@driftdiver

I don't doubt or deny that is a huge part of the problem,but I learned as a young NCO to man the bleep up and accept your responsibility,not make excuses like some whiny bitch.

The Commanding officer of that ship was in command,NOT "the Navy". Going over a duty roster is part of a command responsibility,and as anal as Naval officers are,you are not going to convince me he didn't know that Lt's would be running his war ship after dark,and that most likely they were going to be terrified of waking him or the XO to ask for advise.

You pin on the rank,you take the responsibility of command. Even when it's not pleasant.

@sneakypete
I also learned that you can only do so much.   If the Congress won't give the Navy budget.  And the Navy won't train its people or maintain its ships then there's an impact.   I'm not saying he doesn't have some of the blame but its wrong to ignore the Admirals responsibility as well.

I lived it during the Clinton draw down and know how it works out at the bottom.