What a wildly stupid reason to remove someone from a command post. This is something that should have been met by a jokey meme, not relieving him from duty.
It’s never one thing.
The picture brought attention to him, and most Captain’s have done some shit. When they’re out to sea they’re pretty much the final authority. Like no one is ever going to hear about what they do from UCMJ cases.
Until something like this. Then you have an investigation and they look thru everything and talk to everyone.
That’s what gets them kicked out.
Yeah I grew up around some Navy veterans and the weird stories I know is kinda impressive, im also going to note these were all doen with the captains permission and/or knowledge.
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Cooking a turkey with the smokestack.
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Shooting seagulls with an AA gun, related to the previous one.
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Shooting seagulls with a pressure washer, unrelated to the person from before.
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Shooting seagulls with an M1 flamethrower, this is from an entirely different person from the two before.
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Blaring music over the loudspeaker “because it annoyed the British”
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Smuggling “Way too much” whiskey
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Making “The Man Signal” with a floodlight
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Confetti cannon, I have no fucking clue what this means I assume they filled a ship cannon with confetti
Making “The Man Signal” with a floodlight
Some dude was very proud of his dick and wanted to show God.
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Meanwhile sexual abusers practically get a free pass in the military. Still an ol’ boys club.
It was also a relief of command, not a court martial, not non-judicial punishment, not a demotion or and not a punitive action. It happened because it affected the image of the force, but not necessarily anything that is terribly bad. Relieving someone of command can be a precaution or a temporary measure, not always leading up to anything drastic. He will probably get additional training and a small mark on his record that will go away in a short time as long as the trend doesn’t continue. He may even still get to keep his command or just move somewhere else to command.
No, it is not as severe as NJP or court martial, but being relieved of your command during a deployment overseas is a very serious reprimand for someone at an O-5/O-6 level. Its a statement that the wider command does not trust in your ability to lead during combat maneuvers, which is your entire role at that level in your career.
It is likely that this ends his career, not that he’s just allowed back. I would expect “voluntary” retirement at a minimum.
We’ve had similar incidents with weapon safety (and other things) in the past that were more serious than what was going on in that picture. It all depends on the circumstances, and I’ve seen it go both ways. The point I was making is if there was anything more substantial, it would not just be ‘relieved of command’. No mention of an actual reprimand, which is more serious. I’m not saying it couldn’t ultimately lead up to that, but we don’t know that yet.
He picked up a rifle and fired it with a scope that would show everything very tiny. If he didn’t notice then he shouldn’t be in command of a naval vessel since he doesn’t notice small details. If he did notice and didn’t say anything that shows that he isn’t confident in his own knowledge. That is the reason the navy lost confidence in him.
Is anyone replying in this thread a US military armorer? I’d love to know who gave him the weapon with the sight installed backwards. I was never allowed to touch an installed optic other than to sight it in. I was never in the US Navy, but in all my training I never got a class on anything but an iron sight for the M16, M4, and M9. How would someone who isn’t a master at arms and probably qualifies on a weapon once, maybe twice a year going to know that someone else installed the sight on his weapon backwards? You don’t even know that it was his issued weapon and not someone else’s who also shot with it backwards.
All valid concerns, but the fact is if you accept the weapon and anything happens, you are at fault.
We’ve had people get issued, and immediately, check and clear their weapon in the presence of an armorer in the bucket, and get in trouble for it misfiring, despite the fact that it should have been checked and cleared prior to change of hands and in addition to the fact that you hadn’t been issued ammo yet. It’s dumb, but people die over this, so they are very strict, even when it sometimes seems unnecessary.
Nothing happened, and nothing could have happened other than him missing a practice target by a mile. It doesn’t even show him aiming at something in particular, just looking down the barrel. Ammo can kill you, not having a working optic is not a safety issue no matter what direction it’s installed. Did he check the chamber to see if there was a round? Did he flag any other sailors? Did he keep his weapon pointed down range? Every single person around him let him shoot the weapon like that, they obviously didn’t feel too unsafe to be around him. None of them even seemed to noticed it was on backwards either. How can you tell it’s backwards from this picture of him?
He wasn’t dishonorably discharged or court Marshalled (idk how to spell that). He was just replaced. I want to think the reasons you listed played into that decision and why he didn’t recieve further disciplinary consequences.
They as good as ended his career with that. You don’t think every sailor hasn’t already heard or will hear at his next command that he is so ignorant he can’t even fire a rifle right? If he’s that incompetent they shouldn’t have let it get so far that he got a command in the first place. He’s either so incompetent that he can’t do basic sailors tasks OR they made up a reason to fire a sailor who made a non critical mistake. Do we publicize IN PRINT when an army infantry NCO has a negligent discharge at clearing barrel? Maybe locally, but it doesn’t mean he is completely unfit to lead men to war.
How would someone who isn’t a master at arms and probably qualifies on a weapon once, maybe twice a year going to know that someone else installed the sight on his weapon backwards?
Well, in the photo he’s looking through it. You ever look through a telescope or some binoculars backwards? Scope supposed to make things bigger, not smaller, good clue. And tbf he should know that.
This is a staged photo and that mag looks full so he probably just pulled it up quickly on command and started firing. Which would also explain his bad stock placement. He rushed for this photo op because everyone likes to look like a bad ass especially when there are cameras around.
I think the bad stock placement was more due to the terrible eye relief on a backwards LPVO lol.
Haha I think that could also be it.
Yep, but everyone is an expert right.
You never touched your optics? What service were you in? I constantly adjusted my ACOG and red dot while i was in the army in iraq.
He would know the instant he looked in the scope and everything was tiny.
US Army Aviation and two deployments with the AF. I was never even issued an optic as we only had a handful per company. Can’t touch what Uncle Sugar doesn’t allocate. The only time I touched a weapon that wasn’t a helicopter was during annual qualifications.
Ah, that makes sense then. Combat arms you pretty much have to know as much about your optics as you do your rifle. Can’t wait for an armorer when you’re out in the willywacks and your shit is broken.
Yep, and I agree an 11b or equivalent who doesn’t know his ass from the front of the sight isn’t fit for duty, but this guy is a naval officer and was probably just stoked to look cooler than normal, and someone could have just as easily been playing a joke on him to see if he would notice. We play pranks on people all the time asking for PRC-E7, or grid squares, or blinker fluid.
I doubt it’s true it’s the reason he was relieved of command, but to even think it was a last straw is crazy because if he was really that bad of a leader they wouldn’t need to use something as trivial like just a funny picture to some among the gun owner’s who know what they are even looking at.
