Navy Captain loses her command.

[Silver Fox]

Navy Captain Assaulted Crew, Report Says

The commanding officer of the guided missile cruiser Cowpens, Captain Holly Mcgraf has lost her command because of assaulting and berating her crew and not for running a drag race with the destroyer USS John S. McCain.

[Kimble]

[Insert sarcasm] Shocking! [/Insert sarcasm]

[retdetsgt]

What's sad is that she didn't just become that way. She's been promoted and no one has been willing to hold her accountable for all these years.

No doubt the fact she's a ring knocker has a lot to do with it.

[Adrenolize]

That is nothing compared to what Naval Captains have done in the past. In fact, you would almost expect the Captain to be snarling and screaming, right? Maybe she was a bit cockey, but she was in command of a cruiser! The only thing bigger is an aircraft carrier, right?

Maybe it is different in the Navy, but in the Marines we were proud if our CO was the meanest SOB in the Corps. Then again, Marines are known for their sadistic pride in surviving the worst conditions.

It just sounds a bit like when the Army introduced the stress cards in the 90's. No one can possibly survive with hurt feelings and demeaning treatment, right?

[retdetsgt]

It just sounds a bit like when the Army introduced the stress cards in the 90's.

The "stress cards" were an urban legend. The closest thing to it was the Navy, not the Army anyway.....

snopes.com: Stress Card

I don't care what branch of the service it is, there is a huge difference in running "tight ship" and treating people like that just because you can. I served under some senior officers who were no nonsense, but they had good reason when they upbraided someone. Just being an asswipe isn't going to get you respect.

That article is a condensed version of an earlier one I read. She did a lot more than is stated in this one. The one I read talked about her berating junior officers in front of enlisted men which is the ultimate in poor management skills. The "time out" was done to a master chief. Did the Marine officers routinely do that to Sgt Majors? Sounds to me like she suffered from permanent PMS.

[Kimble]

The one I read talked about her berating junior officers in front of enlisted men which is the ultimate in poor management skills. The "time out" was done to a master chief. Did the Marine officers routinely do that to Sgt Majors?

Just to reiterate, these are two HUGE no-no's for good leadership in the military. O-6 or not, an E-9 upper management, and has earned the right to be treated as such. Also, discipline has to be in place, but publicly berating subordinates not only causes poor morale, it absolutely KILLS good order and discipline among the troops in the long run. That's Management 101 stuff, and applies across the board, regardless of branch.

[retdetsgt]

The other article said that when she was relieved of command of her last ship, as soon as the new captain said he relieved her, the ship's company cheered wildly. I've never seen anything like that with even the strictest commanders.

I had a Lt. Col. who wasn't wrapped too tight either. He had spent most of WWII in a Japanese POW camp and had become a fundamentalist minister on the side. When you talked to him, you found yourself carefully choosing your words as not to set him off. Junior officers avoided him like the plague. But we respected him and no one would have thought of cheering when he transferred out.

[Wolfman]

It doesn't surprise me at all. I think the general public would love to see some of the issues that happen that get covered up. There are some great CO's out there, but it sucks at how many slip through to command level.

I actually went through a horrible CO experience where the CO was relieved as well; so not to hijack the thread, just look up the name "Navy Pickney fired," in google if anyone is interested, you'll find several links.

[retdetsgt]

There are some great CO's out there, but it sucks at how many slip through to command level.

And unless things have changed (which I doubt), the ones that move up anyway are all academy grads. I saw the West Point Protective Assn. in action when I was in. It wasn't pretty.

[Adrenolize]

In the Marine Corps, I never saw any senior NCO or Officer dressed down in front of me. I knew when it happened, especially when a new 'Academy' butterbar showed up and started having us do wild things. I don't know it was a power trip, but that incident happened over the weekend and then Monday he was in the Major's office. After that, it was like a new guy showed up. LoL. Most of my officers I served under were squared away. I had one Colonel that I swear they must have modeled Jack Nicholson's character in A Few Good Men after.

Cheering, huh? I guess there was a lot more to it than what was said. I've never even heard of that!

[Wolfman]

And unless things have changed (which I doubt), the ones that move up anyway are all academy grads. I saw the West Point Protective Assn. in action when I was in. It wasn't pretty.

I'm not sure how it is fleet-wide, but it seemed that O-5/O-6 command billets were pretty even with USNA and ROTC, but the flag levels (O-7+) seemed to be a greater amount of USNA grads. I definitely think they take care of the ringknockers.

[retdetsgt]

In the Marine Corps, I never saw any senior NCO or Officer dressed down in front of me.

That's the crux of the problem with her. The new issue of Time Magazine has a more comprehensive story about her. I went to the site and the full article isn't there. But apparently, that was common practice for her on the bridge with others present.

We used to say that a major was usually a nice guy unless you were a captain. As an enlisted man, I never saw it either, but as a 2nd Lt., I had my *** handed to me more than a few times by either an 0-2 or a captain. It was also only in the company of other officers. As a 1st Lt., if I had to "correct" a 2nd Lt or an NCO, it was in private.

I had a nose to nose with an E-6 when I was fresh out of OCS. He was going to play screw with the new butterbar and I put an end to that bull**** immediately. But again, it was done in an office with just him and me.

The article also said she wasn't training junior officers which hurt their careers. If they came off that tour and unable to perform the tasks she needed to teach them, they could be screwed career wise. She was quoted as saying she didn't have time to do that...

I never minded working for a hardass if he was competent. I was fortunate in that most of the ones I served under knew their jobs. I didn't need to be friends with them, but I needed to be able to trust them to help me do my job better. Even that crazy battalion commander I mentioned earlier knew his **** and backed his people in their duties. It was just weird things that would set him off. I got into an "incident" in Vietnam as a platoon leader and had to go see him with my CO. I didn't know if I would get a medal or go to Leavenworth, either was possible with this guy. I was shocked that he gave me ample time to explain the situation and my actions and listened to everything I said. That wasn't his reputation. Obviously, I didn't go to Leavenworth and I realized that this guy might be a nuts, but he was a soldier.

[retdetsgt]

I'm not sure how it is fleet-wide, but it seemed that O-5/O-6 command billets were pretty even with USNA and ROTC, but the flag levels (O-7+) seemed to be a greater amount of USNA grads. I definitely think they take care of the ringknockers.

When I was in the Army, especially in Vietnam, it was common place for Academy grads to be taken care of. Junior officers had to do all the same dismal bull**** that the rest of us did, but I saw some awards and medals given to them for pretty mundane things. Field grade officers who were OCS or ROTC weren't treated badly, but again grads were given opportunities to punch their career cards. I don't know about other branches, but in the Army, to be promoted as an officer, you have to have certain awards, assignments, etc. to qualify. Getting all those aren't automatic unless you're a member of the WPPA.

For instance, in the Army, a Combat Infantry Badge is imperative for an infantry officer to get promoted. For everyone else, it means you actually have to serve in combat. With some grads in Vietnam, it could involve flying over some combat zones a few times over a 30 day period and not all were actually in infantry. I saw that happen with several 0-4's and 0-5's who were staff officers. That's why you're not going to see many generals without one. That's also why I'm always impressed with an enlisted man with a CIB, not so with officers. They may or may not have really earned it.

I recently read about the guy given command of the Illinois state police. He was an Army major, West Point grad, etc. The bio said that although he was some sort of liaison officer, he was given credit for something like 29 combat forays in Iraq. That's what I mean by WPPA, they pad each others' career steps.

[JoetheGI]

Read this and was amazed as the leadership style she exhibited was more representative of an E-4 with 3 years in service rather than that of an officer, let alone a commander of a U.S. warship.

[Piggy]

It's probably the hardest anything named "John McCain" has worked in years.