Check out this article from USA TODAY:

Acting Navy secretary is out after bungled firing of USS Theodore Roosevelt's captain

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...shandling-virus-plagued-ship/2963986001/

Schiett. Unreal

Maybe more than one lapse in judgement... at least the Captain's is excusable (to me) for protecting his command, if it WAS he who gave his memo to the rag.

No excuse for Modly- that was sheer hubris.

Good riddance.

Looks one of those middle manager types for Krispy Kreme, that comes up with winning promotional ideas like green donuts on St Pat’s day.

So he got a call ...

This is where I am at. I am 50/50 whether the Commander was getting stone walled and intentionally leaked the doc to help his crew, or, someone in his upline with an ax to grind leaked it knowing it would flow back to the commander. As stated in the link above, I think there is more investigating that needs to be done.

As far as Modly, very juvenile. When you terminate someone, you make the decision, do the deed, move on. You don't fly half way around the world to "explain yourself" and denigrate the person you fired in the process.

seems like both of those guys exercised some pretty poor judgement.

I'll give the captain a bogy on this one, he was given a chit sandwich by command and I believe he was looking out for the best interest of the crew. I really don't know if there were better options available or not.


The secnav was a turd, he had to go after his comments on the captain.

^^^^^^^^^^^^ This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If the Captain sent (leaked) his letter to the paper, I’m sure it was not a lapse, but done intentionally to help the crew. Still not it was he, and not someone sandbagging him.

Morley was in over his head.

What it looks like to me after the other shoe dropping is that Crozier bumped it up the CoC to the on board admiral and Modly said no way it will embarrass the president. Crozier did what he had to and Modly got pissed. Modly acted out and no one in the navy was going to save his ass.

You'd have thought with a ship of some 5,000 crew members they'd of had at least a 30' plank for that [bleep] to walk.

Phil

Since the OP link does not allow viewing with adblocker...

Acting Navy Secretary Modly resigns
PAUL SZOLDRAUPDATED:APR 7, 2020 5:55 PM EDTORIGINAL:APR 7, 2020
Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigned Tuesday after traveling nearly 8,000 miles to Guam to berate thousands of sailors on Monday, later saying he stood "by every word," and then subsequently apologizing for the remarks within the span of about eight hours.

Modly submitted his resignation a day after audio of his speech on the carrier was published by Task & Purpose. James McPherson, Undersecretary of the Army, will be tapped to replace Modly, a defense official told Task & Purpose.

"This morning I accepted Secretary Modly's resignation," Defense Secretary Mark Esper wrote in a memo he tweeted Tuesday afternoon. "He resigned on his own accord, putting the Navy and the sailors above self so that the USS Theodore Roosevelt, and the Navy as an institution, can move forward."

In a memo sent to the entire force shortly before his resignation, Modly apologized for his actions, saying that he lacked situational awareness and let his emotions get the better of him. "The crew deserved a lot more empathy and a lot less lecturing," Modly wrote. " ... I disappointed you by not keeping our ship out of harm’s way. It’s my fault. I own it."

Modly, who came into the job after his predecessor was forced out for going against President Trump during the Eddie Gallagher affair, faced intense pressure to resign over his handling of the situation on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier which quickly went from having three COVID-19 cases to hundreds among a crew of nearly 5,000 sailors after a port visit to Vietnam in early March.

Modly spoke over the ship's intercom for roughly 15 minutes on Monday, chastising sailors who enthusiastically cheered for their captain, Capt. Brett Crozier, as he departed the ship. In his remarks, Modly said Crozier was either "too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer" of their ship since a letter he wrote to Navy leadership subsequently leaked to the press.

Crozier was relieved of command over the leaked letter, in which he pleaded with senior leadership to allow the evacuation of his sailors from the ship since social distancing is practically impossible.

"Crew of the Teddy Roosevelt, you are under no obligation to love your leadership, only respect it," Modly said. "You are under no obligation to like your job, only to do it. You are under no obligation, you are under no obligation to expect anything from your leaders other than they will treat you fairly and put the mission of the ship first."

“That's your duty,” Modly continued. “Not to complain. Everyone is scared about this thing. And let me tell ya something, if this ship was in combat and there were hypersonic missiles coming in at it, you'd be pretty [bleep] scared too. But you do your jobs. And that's what I expect you to. And that's what I expect every officer on this ship to do, is to do your jobs.”

Several Democratic lawmakers on Monday called for Modly's resignation, while President Donald Trump said he might intervene. Under pressure from Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Modly apologized late Monday.

Meanwhile, Modly also wrote a response to an op-ed published in The New York Times by Tweed Roosevelt, great grandson to Theodore Roosevelt, in which he called Crozier a "hero." The response by Modly was published and later deleted from The Navy's Live Blog, though it still appears on The Times website.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined other lawmakers in calling for Modly's removal. "Modly's actions and words demonstrate his failure to prioritize the force protection of our troops," Pelosi said in a statement, adding that he showed a "serious lack of sound judgment and strong leadership."

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, applauded Modly's resignation and asked for a "thorough review" of the actions of Navy leadership and if The White House played any role in the Crozier's ouster.

"Congress must continue pressing for answers to ensure the health and safety of our sailors and troops comes before political considerations," Reed said in a statement.

Haley Britzky contributed reporting.

TAGSNEWSU.S. NAVYACTING NAVY SECRETARY THOMAS MODLYCAPT. BRETT CROZIERUSS THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Paul Szoldra
BY PAUL SZOLDRA
Paul Szoldra is the editor in chief of Task & Purpose and a former Marine infantryman. Reach him [email protected] or on Twitter: @paulszoldra

Whoops, link to above website:

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/modly-fired

He was stupid!
Well, bye!

It is political at that level.

Isn't the operational preparedness of a carrier at sea considered classified information?

Shouldn't the captain's messages be sent through secured channels?

Mobly is a stupid martinet. What he should have done is called Crozier (and probably some others) and gotten the story from his viewpoint. If he decided to fire him, he should have done so and released a brief written statement. You don't EVER EVER fire a manager and them go out of your way to badmouth the guy you fired to his former subordinates.

That's a really bureaucratic way of saying he went full retard...

Not sure exactly where situational awareness sits on the list of essential skills for a military leader, but it’s got to be close to the top if not the top.

How do you know it wasn't done that way and was ignored for "convenience". When facts threaten Washington/politics-first Brass, facts get swept under rugs. Maybe this was the catalyst of Crozier's ultimate fate. (??)

IIRC that's where Custer said he went wrong in that draft report he never finished.

Now that is really, most sincerely funny 😆

Agree with this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.

But the Capt. did have to go, good hearted gesture but a monumentally bad military decision.

What happened to a simple 'relieved of command' without insults? Crazy how the culture has gotten.

No one I have read has yet stated Crozier sent the memo to media... they sidestep it by saying it should never have been written lest it fall into the wrong hands. Until they make they clear I think it is virtually as likely Modly sent it to the media...

I think message being sent through unsecured channel was intentional for "leak" to media to occur. It smells of political grand standing to me.

Concur.

No argument here or from most here, I would wager.

"Loose Lips Sink Ships Careers"! In this case, both of the people involved got torpedoed! The SECNAV was a real douche canoe- - - - -I doubt if anyone will miss him. It sounds like the captain put his crew's well-being above his own self-interest. I'd be honored to sail with him.
Jerry

From what I’ve heard and read, yes they did.

Be interesting to know as suggested above if he had first gone up the chain of command and got stonewalled, so he then did what he did.

His crew who were on the scene seem to have been impressed.

The captains first responsibility is his command and second is to keep his ship combat ready. I can't believe there isn't more talk of being down a carrier in the Pacific with China on the rise. His letter should have been acted on twice.

This, with bells on it. Get that flat rop operational. All else is horse manure.

A pretty thoughtful post on the matter by someone with solid credentials.

https://warontherocks.com/2020/04/the-navys-crisis-of-special-trust-and-confidence/

There's a lot we don't know I suspect.

It was a tough day in the squadron today. The SECNAV stuff was all over AFN, and his boy flies F-16s here. He seemed a bit distracted.

This whole episode stinks of drama queens at every level. And they said that letting the queers into service wouldn't effect their readiness.

That's a pretty thorough dismantling of Modly.

Many thanks for posting that link. It is a thoughtful analysis indeed.

I’m sympathetic to Captain Crozier, but will withhold judgment until the investigation is complete. As you suggest, there is a lot we don’t know about his prior efforts to solve a serious threat.

As for Modly, in what universe could he believe his remarks to the crew would make things better? That was a textbook example of how not to handle public relations.

This!

A lot of different thoughts on this. Hasbeen



https://creativedestructionmedia.co...ights-feminization-of-american-military/

Short and sweet right there.

Of course any decent Captain would do his best to take care of his crew, and it seems impossible to believe that the Navy upstairs would not have responded quickly and properly to such a problem on a big carrier in foreign waters. If the Navy is operating as it should (and has) it is a relatively simple thing for the Captain to send up the line a concise report of the situation/needs and get action. These people supposedly are highly trained and super-qualified to do this stuff.

Instead, a long-winded hairy "letter" gets written and sent up and also deliberately made available outside the chain of command. It gave the appearance of grandstanding beyond getting the necessary things done. No excuses for that.

And, absolutely none for the behavior of the Secretary

That guy is working so hard at grinding an axe I don't see that he made any relevant points.

Captain Crozier need to go, an enlisted man or junior officer would have been lead off the ship in hand cuffs. The ship is now sitting helplessly in dock and the South China Sea is unguarded and the whole world knows it!. Captain Crozier's commanding officers state room was less than 100 feet away and he went around him! He was in this case "stupid".

Wonder if any of these women like men?

After reading Doyle's review and commentary on the manner I have pretty strong suspicions that it went down like this:

Crozier was presented with a situation that without question threatened his ship.

Crozier would certainly have discussed it in person with the admiral on board because you do not make it past O-3 if you blindside your superiors.

The normal operational and readiness reports typically sent over secret level encrypted media would have contained his concerns.

Crozier would have discussed that with the admiral, and requested clarification.

It seems very obvious that Modly made a political decision that Trump may be embarrassed by the open knowledge that all of that military hardware was incapacitated by a virus Trump was down playing.

That decision cascaded into inaction when the disease refused to be cowed by Modly.

Crozier took the only route available to him knowing full well that it would cost him his command and his career.

Modly took personal offense at Crozier taking action, and put on his stupid hat and flew to Guam for a little personal retribution.

My view of this is that Crozier got backed into a corner. If he failed to act to correct Modly's bad decision his command and career was doomed anyway. Modly failed to grasp that his position as SecNav is not to be a functional part of CoC, but rather a safeguard against military ambition against the country. Because of that he inserted himself and the office of SecNav politically into something that was far beyond his comprehension. Like I said earlier, I have seen one O-5 and one O-6 removed for cause and it did not take SecNav to do it, nor did it require SecNav approval. If Crozier needed removal the admiral on board was fully capable of doing so and assuming command of the ship himself, He knew this and certainly had to make a decision to pass on removing Crozier. This was if anything, an example of that civilian safeguard position of SecNav inserting itself into the almost exclusive province of military CoC.

That Crozier failed to manage the politics of the situation well is perhaps reason enough for him to be passed over in a couple years when it's his turn for consideration to flag rank. Not though for removal from command. What Modly did cannot be undone that I can see. Nor can I see much way for Crozier to ever return to any command. THAT is the tragedy of this. You do not get to be command on a carrier and not be a very valuable commodity for the navy, and that is something that Modly should have thought long and hard about before he took action.

Time Line:

Link

Apparently events started way before they did here and the chain of command was involved from get-go. And the letter that was supposed to have been leaked, if leaked it was by someone other than the Captain. It stating that the letter was sent to only naval personnel.


Phil

WTF does that have to do with a Navy Captain, beer virus or aircraft carriers?

This is very good look at how this could have gone down. It sounds like you have some experience at that command level. Thanks.

In the simple command and leadership training I had in the fire service, the biggest takeaway in all this to me was that you praise in public and criticize in private. The captain may well deserve everything he gets but for me, this was very vindictive act by the secretary. That was incredible stupid and would shake my confidence in the chain of command.

Thanks Pugs.

I think Miles 58 has it about right. Admiral says he knew nothing about it until receiving the cc letter? If so. IF SO, then that was indeed a lapse on Crozier's part. But we do not know the politics and personalities involved.

Overall, it appears to me, more and more, that Crozier was sandbagged by someone in COC above him, and the letter was NOT sent to the rag by him. It also appears it WAS sent by him through normally or reasonably secure channels for non-classified communications.

Brush up on your reading comprehension. If you read anything at all about it other than MSM.

Career bureaucrats are accustomed to getting away with making incredibly stupid decisions, and not having to suffer the consequences of their stupidity. Trump doesn't play that game!
Jerry

If you think that China and Russia do not know the state and position of the 11 carriers in the USN you're a fool, or most likely just ignorant of the ways of the intelligence gathering. Capt Crozier DID inform the CARGRU and the chain up to the SecNav. All that takes is reading comprehension since it's documented in the articles and by the SecNav.

As to your "led off the ship in cuffs". Hyperbola has its uses but this is silly and precedent shows inaccurate.

Yes, this is something taught to every military person above the rank of E4 and pounded into their heads, just cannot comprehend how this mess happened. The very worst that should have happened to the Captain should have been a letter of reprimand, and a phone call would have been sufficient.

That's where I'm at.

Trump had commented that he was going to "get involved" and "look into it", and that he didn't want to see a man's career destroyed for "having a bad day".

It would be interesting to know if he ended up calling for Modly's resignation.

Las,

The letter was sent over open email for two reasons. Crozier wanted it released where it might do some good. He did not want to put anyone else's career on the line for releasing official communication or worse yet, classified information. For him to release what amounted to a readiness report was punishable under UCMJ. To release even a report classified as confidential for anyone else was punishable under UCMJ. He wrote a clean email knowing that at least one of the people on the CC list would see to it that it was made public. He did it knowing it would take down some of the people who were letting this happen and that he was not going down alone. That alone will guarantee he never commands more than a desk again. While he did the right thing by his ship, his crew and the country, he also exposed the next two up line in his CoC. Crozier was not "sandbagged. He was in a no win situation and he chose the only honorable course through it. Clearly the Admiral aboard could have prevented this. Clearly SecNav could have prevented this. Clearly SecDOD could have prevented this. Each of those people made their decisions knowing that men would die. Highly trained men in which the country had invested enormous amounts of training and money reaching down into the lower enlisted ranks aboard. I think it is very obvious that he was willing to sacrifice his career and command for a last ditch attempt at not throwing those lives and that investment away.

Fox News reporting 416 of the TR crew test positive with one in ICU.

Both Captain Cozier and Secretary Modly were both out of line. The Captain certainly had the right to question the support he was being given but he didn’t have the right to send those concerns widely over an unsecured email that he knew very well could be leaked. Up the chain in a secure fashion and then execute orders to the best of his ability. He didn’t need to agree with or like his orders but he did need to execute them without undermining the chain of command.
Modly was an unprofessional prick who injected himself loudly where the chain of command should have handled the problem professionally and quietly. Modly’s petty public insults were a disgrace to himself and the Navy and his interference in the CoC were just as disruptive if not more so than Captain Cozier’s actions.
The question I have is how was the professional relationship between Captain Cozier and his direct superior so bad that the Captain felt a widely disseminated letter was the appropriate action ? There was a problem long before this incident.