Ok let me go a little into command (Capt Honors)

[nadinbrzezinski]

I heard the interview by Lawrence O'Donnell with a young Petty Officer (ret) that served under Commander Honors (By the way at the time he was a commander now he is a captain, yes it matters, 'nother rant, bellow)

Now the Petty Officer defended his former XO and said he didn't get it. Then Lawrence introduced the young enlisted to what John McCain had to say, and asked whether the difference in how this plays out has to do with McCain having been an officer, and finding this unbecoming.

Well McCain gets it, (and he'd better as much of a basket case as he was) and anybody who has had some sort of command gets it. In the military you do not have to be distant from the troops, for your crew to be effective, but pulling these stunts does not help. They are juvenile and the kind that you mostly would expect from young either enlisted or officers, not somebody with about 22 years under his belt at the time.

Good officers lead by example... this means that you always have to show up early, leave home late, and if you are going to insist that your people have their shoes shined, better you do it too. Yes, that means being squared away at all times. And if regulations say NO sexual harassment the last person to make a tape that is borderline sexual harassment is you, I had the unique experience of being a mustang (and it don't matter if it is a different place) When you are a lower enlisted blowing off steam... is done one way. When you are an officer even blowing off steam means doing it by example.

Now to the rant about rank... since I have heard the Nooz refer to this guy all day as a Navy Commander... no... he is a USN Captain.

Here are rank designators

http://www.defense.gov/specials/insignias/officers.html#O5

A Commander is an O-5, while a Captain is an O-6... yes it matters, and it shows something else. We have so little contact with the services, that even the News has forgotten that it matters. Yes an O-6 outranks an O-5... and usually the XO of a carrier is a Commander by rank, but if his Captain gets sick or disabled for whatever reason, he (or more rarely, but they are coming up) she, will become the Captain by Authority, and no ship can have two captains, so if you have two full birds on board, it can interesting.

My personal leadership style was simple... I was there before the shift started. I left well after the shift ended... doing full turn overs. I cleaned ambulances with my crews. I never asked anybody to do anything I was not willing to do. Yes, it boils down to that. Something is telling me that this man probably forgot that somewhere along the way. Oh and of course. I relied on my senior enlisted to keep me in the loop. Oh and we were the least parade ready unit you could find. Ok we had some standards... but marching? We were a clusterfuck.

[NuclearDem]

1. K&R massively

You're the kind of officer I would have been truly proud to serve under. :patriot:

I think in my time, outside of Basic, I think I marched a grand total of one time, and that was during a holiday parade we put on for the Salinas community back when I was in Monterey.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Well I was technically Mexican Army

and when my hubby had to do his clearance after we married (US Chief Petty Officer Ret) me being an O-3 retired (I resigned on ilegal orders issued)... was all kinds of fun.

I marched more often since I also helped train cadets... and we needed to teach them how to do the left, left, left right left.

Which they promptly forgot five seconds after graduation...

[NuclearDem]

3. Well, regardless, I still would've been proud to serve under an officer of your caliber

And same here...I think most USAF Airmen (unless they were honor guard) forgot how to march as soon as graduation was over.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. I go into these issues from time to time

since I really don't think people who have never served get it.

On a funny one. We were asked to march for Independence day. So I got my people together and after ten minutes of .... oh my you guys went though basic right? I called the Military Region Commander and highly suggested we take a couple ambulances. That be a lot less embarrassing. The Cadets did march though. But my duty personnel... it was painful. That was the ONLY time I did a uniform inspection as well.

[sarge43]

13. My favorite by the media

If the discharge isn't honorable, it's dishonorable. Ah no, there are degrees of badness.

Yeah, rank and duty title are not the same thing. First Sergent is another one the media can't seem to get straight.

[Dappleganger]

5. It's conduct unbecoming, plain and simple.

And this business of the higher ranks trying to make the enlisted folks "feel good" by making movies is bullshit. It's akin to a parent trying to be best friends with their kids instead of parenting them.

Yes, I was a Navy brat and grew up in Norfolk/VA Beach and saw all kinds of shit--never anything like this from a captain, however.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. We did things like have barbecues

we paid for them.

You know social get togethers. And this was exactly what also happened after I married my husband with his commands.

But the feel good, is also coming down from some changes hubby saw at the end of his career. I am not kidding, recruits got STRESS chits at bootcamp.

Hey a movie night is not unheard off either... but like it or not you need to keep a certain distance. And the higher in the food chain, the larger the distance.

[Ilsa]

6. #5. great post. You nailed it. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Thanks this was one of those

that both hubby and i were going... oh my lord!

[Recursion]

9. O5-O6 is a huge jump

Whether the O6 is a colonel or a captain, that's the rank where you start to assume independent command (I think O6 is still technically a "post-rank" in the Navy?)

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. It is but the Press has been calling him all day

COMMANDER... why it rubbed me the wrong way.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Just a correction, which makes this worst

the man was a Captain by rank at the time. Yes just watched a few of the videos posted by the Navy times.

And mostly they are not that raunchy in context... but they are enough where yes, some questions need to be asked.

Lets just say women in shower is harassment.

[kimi]

12. He was in command of the ship

that may be why the press calls him a "Commander". Rank doesn't mean the same thing to civilians as it does to military personnel.

The guy was way way out of line. I was perturbed by the former petty officer (I believe that's what he was) on O'Donnell's show. Maybe he doesn't get it, but his ranking personnel have to lead by example, as you said, among other things. The example is NOT set by distributing vids like those. And, it's fine and all to have a sense of humor - hell, troops can appreciate that in a superior, and the smart superior knows this - but that stuff? Showering, words that have no place coming out of an officer's mouth when he's on duty, and the obvious time he took away from that duty to put all of it together - no. Wrong, on so many levels.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

14. thanks, that's what I figured