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Two points that have irked me. First, nothing in the letter he sent was classified information. Having spent 18 years in the Navy, I’m pretty familiar with what reporting requirements are classified on ship readiness. The Captain was brilliant in the way he phrased his letter because none of it hit the classified mark. Second, he is being denigrated for the letter leaking. From some friends of mine on the 7th Fleet staff, he didn’t leak it, someone else did. Holding Capt Crozier responsible for it leaking would be the same as me sending a SIPR email, it gets leaked by someone on the to or cc line, and it’s my fault it leaked. Capt Crozier did what he needed to to help his sailors. I’m not surprised he got fired because it made his chain of command look bad, and people don’t like being told by their subordinates that they are all ed up.

Well, our Navy, the best Navy in the world, deserves a better Secretary. I wager a case of Pliney IPAs that CAPT Crozier drafted that message, read it 50 more times, sipping a scotch or whatever hooch he has squirreled away in his office, gazed out the window at the sea reminiscing of good times, and knew once he hit send, his career was over, but his folks might get the help he wanted them to get, and that was worth it. It's a shame shit like this has to happen, but it will keep happening because we will always have piss poor people in important jobs above us. And I just guessing here, but a few more heads will roll, probably starting with the "Adm down the hall." Out

This one was me. I got told by the AD recruiter when I was graduating undergrad back in 2004 that I wouldn’t get a flying spot without a STEM degree. Recruiters never lie, of course, so I took it as the truth and chased after playing fireman. About 15 years later, the turntables and here I am; an age-waivered ancient 2LT in UPT.

Just spitballing here, but perhaps the Captain considered it "extreme circumstances" to be on a ship of ~4K sailors all stacked up nuts-to-butts while a deadly virus swept the ship, despite being docked at a friendly port, all under a bureaucracy that was slow-rolling his attempts to evacuate the crew 🤷‍♂️ Dude knew he was falling on his sword to protect his people, the SECNAV played stupid games and won a stupid prize, and Monday morning quarterbacking is kind of like masturbation...we all do it and it's fun up to a certain point, but only to a point. There are always things to address in the debrief, but I'm not having a hard time seeing who was broadly right and who was broadly wrong in this situation even with limited information.

The new rules are like the TSA, but for everyone’s health and without the excitement of advanced screening pat-downs. All mostly theater to make it seem like something is being done and to give some folks warm and fuzzies.

I'll pick up that torch. 6. Crozier retires with an O-6 pension. 7. Lands a comfortable, high-paying gig. 8. Writes a book and/or becomes a news SME. 9. Looks back at his decision with his head held high. 10. Realizes he's much happier now that he's out of the shitshow that is the service.

“...there is no doubt that Crozier was more right than wrong...” Also to paraphrase: “the Navy is too concerned with fixed deployment schedules and should be more apt to Mattis’ ‘be strategically predictable, but operationally unpredictable’ with respect to sending CSGs out” A worthwhile read.

The Navy gives a ship CO an incredible amount of latitude on how they deal with their boat. The Admiral has a say, but it’s mainly on having boat A in location B to do the fighting. 99.9% of the actual boat day-to-day is left up to the CO. In my opinion, what makes this whole situation completely f-ed up is that SECNAV relieved him. If the relief was going to happen it should’ve been (or I would’ve expected) from the strike group admiral or 7th Fleet, or at highest Pac Fleet. The fact that it went all the way to SECNAV makes me think that the chain of command was actually OK with the letter.

A cluster all the way around... Send out a 30+ recipient email with opsec/national security concerns that makes it to the press? Yeah, you are going to get fired. Publicly denigrate the (popular) CO you just fired to his (supportive) crew and the audio makes it to the press? Yeah, you are going to get fired.

It came from thin air, and biased preference. Simple economics, think recruitee supply and demand. I know a guy who got a 4 yr AFROTC scholarship for a BA in Psychology, 2005 commission era. He DG'd 3 flying formal schools, so the system wasn't so abrasive to/of him. Seems an engineering degree isn't required to do well in flying courses. Perhaps pedigree is more important in later career, only time will tell ...or not. My $0.02 on the real reason and answer to your question - perception. Its predominantly perceived that doctors and engineers are capable, responsible, and accountable. Mother Blue wants the best she can get (the moment the board decides)[because most important AF decisions are boarded by a panel to mitigate bias], who wouldn't; so she accepts the best she can when she can, which in an ideal state, is the perceived best. Biases are strong, but time can prove them wrong; sometimes a career's worth of time. Othertimes a generation-long or even an inter-war period. It all depends. What is your context? Here's to moonshine and sunshine, and COVID for the opportunity! God rest those not so fortunate. Drink responsibly and to those at peace and those not, a 6' distance, if prudent. BTW - what do any of us really know? Philosophically speaking that is...

40 days to terminal...can't catch me! Also, our Shirt said in today's Sq sync that he wanted to throat punch whoever put that out. Shirt's going to fit in fine.

Because they fired a commander that did something that most of us wouldn't accept from an O-3 under our command? "Hey, CNN... we are way short on jet fuel needed to accomplish our mission; the food is terrible because a bunch of refrigerators are broken; and we have leaks in over half of the bathrooms. I hope my bosses will get this stuff fixed!" CAPT Crozier sounds like a great guy and a number of my Navy acquaintances have nothing but good things to say about him. I have to think that he realized that jumping that much of the chain of command was going to have blowback. Maybe he didn't realize how much... who knows? But he had to go. SECNAV's handling of the aftermath is a completely different discussion.

Origin story of my screen name. In short, don't do it, it's not worth it nor necessary. Let my life regret be your cautionary tale. 😄

PBS Frontline episode entitled China Undercover covering the crackdown on Uighurs and the overall extent of the police state in Xinjiang.

Four days ago, they had the Elder at the grocery store. Totally out of the blue. $5.99 a bottle and there were at least a dozen bottles. I said something to the checker as I was buying one, and she said "yeah... this never happens." You're being stupid and naive. I keed, I keed!

I had the pleasure of 3 bottles of the Younger last month...amazing. If the Elder is selling for $7+ a bottle, I shudder at the Younger pricing. Sorry to derail this thread.

Except here we are waiving requirements left and right! Tongue in cheek...Not for TPS that I know of, but for almost everything else so there’s definitely truth in that sentiment.

Fits DoD policy perfectly. "Here, put on these masks so we don't spread Covid-19 all over the military. Stop movement. No TDYs. No PCS. No leave". "We know you have two dozen positive cases, but keep hot bunking and working inches away from the sick crew members.".

Go get a ride in a RV and you will see why owning is better.

Not the point. First, just because it isn't classified doesn't mean it doesn't have to be protected. Secondly, he had easy access to SIPRNET, so reporting sensitive information via it would have made a lot more sense. Thirdly, his immediate boss, Commander Carrier Strike Group NINE RADM Stuart “Studa” Baker was literally just down the hall from him. I understand there reportedly were "tensions" between Crozier and Baker, but that's no reason to jump the chain of command except for extreme circumstances. Again, there's too many unknowns at the moment to determine who was actually right; and to be honest I suspect all parties have blood on their hands when it comes to this incident; but there is clear evidence that Crozier had better mechanisms to communicate his concerns, and didn't use them. Does that justify his firing? Not really, but it does address the accusation of claims of bad judgment in terms of communicating. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/dont-fixate-on-secretary-modly-we-need-to-hear-from-rear-admiral-stu-baker-on-captain-crozier

Early 90's, it was that more scholarships were offered for enginerding, so that became my major. Ended up with a degree in potions (chemistry), which is actual witchcraft. Small irony, way too many of my classmates that started in enginerding became meteorology grads. The seniors would even shout, "pre-met!" when any frosh would mention that they were majoring in EE/ME/Etc. Out

Just learn how to take advantage of the situation. See how long you can go without shaving now!

It is preferred, but not required. It is required for TPS. Probably a lot of old data floating around that is assumed to be current. "You need 20/20 vision to be a pilot." Maybe true in WWII, but not now!

One word of caution from a guy who got a full ride ROTC scholarship out of high school for a liberal arts degree; you might think twice about putting all your eggs in the pilot basket. It worked out great for me and I wouldn't change a thing. Been flying fighters for 15 years now and not once have I wished I'd done a technical degree. But if I'd had a medical issue, I'm not sure what I would have done for a living with my degree other than a career in the AF as intel or become a professor. I'm sure some contractor gigs could have opened up, but looking back I basically put my entire life's income on red. As I said, worked out great for me, but YMMV.

When use or lose will expire? End of Fiscal year. Last day in September every year for the Air Force (probably DOD too but I’m not sure)

Did you have special leave accrual that allowed you to carry over additional days? If not, just log into Leaveweb or check your LES. It states what your use/lose balance is. You'll lose those days after 30 Sept under the current law.

I’m with Huggy on this one. I have more of an issue with the Secretary being a complete loser and bowing to the pressure of the unwashed masses than with his decision. His whole bleeding heart point was that the strategic value and combat readiness of a carrier was compromised by Capt Crozier’s actions in a world that’s “not totally at peace“. What do you think the message is to China that if you make enough noise on Twitter that they can get high level government officials canned? I’ll admit that this thing was fucked up from Jump Street, but there is absolutely zero courage to make tough calls in large portions of our government now.

Bye Felicia... https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/07/politics/modly-resign-crozier-esper-trump/index.html

I can't imagine the average pilot will fly enough per year to justify owning their own plane. Couple reasons I own. For one, I love flying tailwheel aircraft and there isn't one for rent within 100 miles of me. There is one place that has tons of tailwheel aircraft, but it's a 2.5 hour drive and their insurance restrictions are ridiculous (still a cool place). With my own aircraft, I can fly it anytime and anywhere I want. I like knowing what's going on with the plane...I've seen videos of guys doing some pretty stupid shit in rental planes. Finally, I enjoy the "community" out at the airport, our airfield has Cubs, N3Ns, L-5s, a chipmunk, a Meridian and everything in-between. We have a good group that loves to share rides and have beers at the end of the day. It's a bit extreme and you really have to have a passion for aviation, but I hope to move to a fly-in type community when I get out of the Guard. I've hung out at a few and it's awesome grabbing a coffee in the am and strolling down the road (taxiway) and wondering into hangars. Guys are always willing to show you their planes, plus there are tons of A&Ps around to learn from...which is always great for airplane ownership. Not every community is created equal, so you have to choose wisely.

The benefits of wearing a mask may be non-zero, but I think the jury is still out on the benefits of haphazardly wrapping a t-shirt around your head.

Having a speech writer does not guarantee sticking to the script, as seen on a daily basis.

I am in AZ and need a Flight Review. Can pay with toilet paper, masks, and/or Purell.

Air Force: You are mission essential! You and your job are so critically important we need you to continue to come to work during a pandemic. Also the Air Force: make a face mask out of an ABU sock

The Crozier situation has sparked many illuminating conversations up and down the chain. No, we don’t know all details but the core issues ring true to anyone who has experienced mid-level authority in the military: line commander lacks ability to decisively solve a time-sensitive crisis, and explores unconventional options to address inadequate senior leadership. Most people who run into these experiences never pass from “explore” into “execute” phase; they stop upon realizing the cost of a solution doesn’t match the gravity of their situation. Crozier was experiencing something unprecedented in our times; who here can know how they would handle it? My personal thoughts: I’d rather work for people like Crozier than the people who fired him. And I’d rather be an O6 fired for helping his troops than an O10 protecting the system. Our greatest military resource is our people; not our machines and not our OPSEC.

I’d say it’s more a bastard child of ACC trying to live up to its grand pappy SAC but with a massive inferiority complex.

Thanks jazzdude. Same here. Kinda expected them to say we had to use them while working from home.