Brett Crozier Isn't Bitter
By John Waters
June 17, 2023U.S. Navy
Captain Brett Crozier lost his job in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not because of a layoff. Not because his position was terminated. No, Captain Crozier lost his job because he sent an email. The “to” line of that email happened to include a few admirals and several Navy captains, and the contents criticized the Navy’s management of a COVID-19 outbreak aboard Crozier’s ship, the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Crozier had wanted permission to evacuate nearly the entire crew over concerns that he could not adhere to social distancing guidelines promulgated by the CDC. “We are not at war,” Crozier wrote. “Sailors do not need to die.” But Crozier’s superior officer had decided evacuating the ship was a step too far. And so, as the confirmed cases of COVID-19 multiplied and senior Navy officials deliberated what to do with the ship’s crew, Crozier sent his email demanding action. It wasn’t long before the email leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle, prompting acting-Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly to swiftly and summarily discharge Crozier for demonstrating “extremely poor judgment.” When Crozier walked off the ship a final time, the crew applauded and chanted his name.
Despite all that, Crozier is not bitter about how his Navy career ended. “I would have stayed in the Navy for as long as they would have had me,” he told me by telephone. “Acting-Secretary Modly had the right to fire me—for good or bad.” Like most who serve, the military has been a family business for Crozier. His loyalties run deeper than one job, one boss, one disappointing outcome. “My oldest son was an aircrewman. My younger son is in flight school. I still encourage people to pursue a career in the Navy.” Crozier’s equanimity comes across in his enjoyable new book, Surf When You Can (Atria, 2023). In 10 digestible chapters, Crozier explains the thought processes and leadership approach he developed over the course of his career as a Navy pilot. It’s an approach that treats leadership as a relationship between those who issue the orders and those who execute on them, an approach Crozier applied when making the decision to press his leaders for authority to protect the crew of the Roosevelt. We talked about losing his command, his long career leading sailors and what might come next.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/06/17/brett_crozier_isnt_bitter_941340.html
