Observing CO Contempt for Colleagues and Crew

The Navy has now fired 20 Commanding Officers this year, and with this list the number of high profile firings for 2011 is remarkable - and it's not even Halloween yet.

Part of me believes that 20 CO firings suggests the Navy is healthy as an organization because the organization is enforcing it's rules. However, another part of me has me very concerned about quality control processes in place regarding Commanding Officers.

Can the Navy explain how an organization that claims to have a competitive promotion system appears to have so many quality control issues with the people being selected for leadership? I am finding it increasingly difficult to reconcile the number of character related firings this year as opposed to the profession related firings, particularly when in the Navy - quality for both are required for success. Are both professional merit and a persons character measured at a level of sufficient quality? Navy leaders say people come first, but that is only true when people aren't put into the situations by a leader in the Navy as described in this Gidget Fuentes article on Navy Times.

Cmdr. Jay Wylie, 40, who commanded the Everett, Wash.-based ship until he was fired April 27, is scheduled to appear in a courtroom at Naval Base San Diego and has been charged with one count of rape, two counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of abusive sexual contact, one count of sodomy, two counts of maltreatment, three counts of conduct unbecoming an officer and four counts of violating general orders, according to the charge sheet.

According to the charges, the first incident occurred Dec. 31 in a bar during the ship’s liberty visit to the Seychelles town of Victoria. Wylie “became publically intoxicated, ... made unwanted sexual advances and engaged in an unwanted sexual contact with ... a junior officer,” the charges state.

Wylie had “unduly familiar conduct” and made “unwelcomed sexual advances ... and contact” with the female officer, according to the charges, by “rubbing her shoulders, leaning against her and pinning her to a bar, requesting that she kiss him, attempting to kiss her, putting his hand up her dress and inside her underwear.”

Wylie encouraged the junior officer “not to report” the incident, the charges state.

Four months later, on April 25 and while Momsen was at Naval Magazine Indian Island, Wash., a “publicly intoxicated” Wylie coaxed an enlisted woman into his cabin aboard the ship, according to the charges.

Wylie allegedly engaged in “unduly familiar conduct” and made “unwelcomed sexual advances ... and contact” with the sailor by “brushing his hand on her shoulder, requesting that she come home with him, placing his hand on the small of her back, escorting her to his cabin, grabbing her shirt, kissing her” and placing his hand and mouth on her genitals.

Two days after that alleged incident, Wylie was fired by Rear Adm. Mark Guadagnini, commander of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, due to “loss of confidence in his ability to command stemming from allegations of misconduct.”

It is hard to assume much without more detailed information, so I'm going to plow ahead - cautiously. First, it is hard to believe a 40 year old destroyer CO suddenly, after 18-19+ years in the Navy, discovered the combination of alcohol and sexual harassment at that stage of his life and career. I do not know if there are other cases of this type of behavior in this guys history, but assuming there are not is less believable than assuming there is. If we assume there is not, is it a legitimate concern that judgment can be tossed so casually overboard by a Destroyer CO?

Something in the system doesn't work, but it is also worth suggesting the system may also never work. Had the junior officer reported the first incident, the enlisted female would not have found herself in that situation. At the same time, had the JO reported the incident when it first happened, it probably would have been a he said/she said incident and destroyed her career. The second incident makes it easier for the JO to come forward regarding the first incident, and the promotion system that - for legitimate reasons - weighs heavily on the evaluation by the CO of the JO, seriously undermines the ability of the JO to act.

It is very easily to pass judgment on the JO for not acting immediately, but you aren't the fresh out of college young 20s O-1 who was placed in that situation by your 40 year old O-5 boss - the most important person in your career - who finds oneself potentially intoxicated and harassed while enjoying a New Years Eve liberty (after months at sea) in the context of being one of the most junior leaders of a warship patrolling the armpit of planet Earth. I'll stop there - the dynamics and complexity of this JOs situation doesn't lend itself to black and white - right and wrong answers without throwing rocks in a glass houses.

In the big picture, the Navy is lucky the big firing controversy that blew up in public this year is Captain Owen Honors and his poor judgment and antics with questionable motivational videos, because situations like this are much worse - and sounds even worse on the TV national news. The poor judgment of Honors was a self-inflicted wound, while this situation is predatory and has serious impacts on the lives of others.