The Bull presents to you the following statements released by the United States Navy:
May 10: Vice Adm. Mark Fitzgerald, Director Navy Staff, relieved Cmdr. Thomas C. Graves, Commanding Officer USS Constitution, due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to command.
May 8: Capt. Adam Levitt, Commodore, Destroyer Squadron (CDS) 23, relieved Cmdr. Jeffrey P. Menne, commanding officer, USS Higgins (DDG 76), due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.
May 16, 2007: Commodore of Submarine Squadron 11, Capt. Paul N. Jaenichen, relieved the commanding officer of USS Helena (SSN 725), Cmdr. William A. Schwalm, due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.
All of the above in one month – plus there was a squadron commander relieved earlier this year. What the hell is going on? Always the same “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command” horsecrap with no further explanation. Granted, it might not really be The Bull’s business, but if you don’t want folks asking questions then don’t post these things at all. Am I right? Seems like one helluva lot of shuffling CO’s out with career-ending moves. I hope like hell these are not politically motivated in any way.
What brought about this midnight tirade was reading about the commander of Helena and the commander of Arleigh Burke in the same email from Military.com. At first the Arleigh Burke looked just like the others, then I noticed that the Navy had tacked on a second paragraph. Here’s the release:
Rear Adm. Dan Holloway, Commander, Carrier Strike Group 12, relieved Cmdr. E.J. McClure, of command of the guided missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) due to a loss of confidence in her ability to command.
Holloway temporarily reassigned McClure to commander, Naval Surface Forces Atlantic in Norfolk, pending the final results of an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the May 15 grounding of Arleigh Burke.
“…grounding of Arleigh Burke.”
Oh! Ok. The Navy has good reason on this one. No, I will not make any snide remarks about skimmer-pukes or women drivers either! I’m tempted, but there was that incident with the USS San Francisco (SSN-711) in January 2005…
Bull, out.
Thanks,
Paddy
I’m not with the Navy, but I was looking for information about your father when I came across this website. I served under your parents as a missionary in Concepcion. I’d really like to find a copy of your father’s obituary to learn even more about him. He was an example to me for the year that I served under him.
Thanks for your time. I can be reached at michael.rogers@wnco.com.
Michael Rogers