Navy Captain Assaults Crew

[Bubblehead Nuke]

Originally Posted by Kazuaki Shimazaki II

I find it amazing you just swallow her pathetic defense whole. It reeks of the 1930s era Imperial Japanese military (and probably other cases) where they beat the subordinate for minor perceived errors and then claim it is all for their own good...

The correct method to achieve appropriate pressurization is by realistic drilling and high standards, not the excessive insertion of swear words or yelling. That just makes you look out of control and lowers your own prestige.

Realistic. Like in people shooting at you? Things going to hell in a hand basket and you suddenly have to think on your feet. The enemy not doing what the script said they were supposed to do??

You will NEVER have realistic drilling. All you can have is a close approximation. Even then you KNOW that it is just a drill. You KNOW that with a simple 'Secure the drill' it is over.

Setting High Standards are a nice PC thing to say. Really touchy feely and great thing to write. The trick is that you have to hold people to those standards. Otherwise you get the "Well, I was not trained to handle this so I am going to do nothing instead." mentality.

Sometimes you have to jack up the stress levels other ways. Do I condone striking someone? No. Do I condone putting the fear of god in them? Yes.

Some of the most memorable training I ever had was to be embarrassed beyond belief and having it pointed out to my shipmates in colorful language. I guarantee you that I NEVER messed up again on that issue.
My boat nickname 'Mercury Joe' came out of one of those sessions. I used that name to my advantage later on, but that is another story. I STILL use my nickname YEARS later to keep me humble and sharp.

I find it amazing that you just assume that all her officers and crew are dumbasses, on THREE ships (she had a XO tour, a destroyer command and a captain's command and got the same comments from all 3 groups), and she is correct.

I never made an assumption as to the aptitude of the crew. I always assume that the crew is competent within the guidelines of their ratings. Granted, that might be stretching it for the surface force as I was a bubblehead. I DO know that sailors tend to bitch. When a crew is NOT bitching then I would be worried.

How many people SUPPORT her and are not saying a thing? Geesh, I would have thought you understood media bias by now. Not to mention the old sailors saying: "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story"

Of course, one can never know the whole story. However, since apparently at least some of her crews got very high marks on inspection (probably a reason why she lasted so long), it suggests her crew probably ain't dumbasses and probably didn't deserve quite that much flak. Which leaves her.

A crew is only as good as its leadership. You have a lousy leader, you have piss poor inspections. That is a FACT and not an opinion.
[quote]

As the CO, guaranteeing the completion of the preparation of her department heads for their responsibilities, and then guaranteeing the start of their preparation for higher ones, is her job. She can (and must) delegate some of the execution to the XO, more senior department heads and the CPOs, but some of which she has to do personally, and we all know delegation doesn't mean transferring the responsibility.
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Again, we are only hearing half of the story.

A good department head will depend on their chiefs. A good chief will know what he is doing. If he is not good, then you go to the leading first. A department head will have SEVERAL department chiefs to assist them. I cannot belive that they are ALL bad. If the department heads have a problem with ALL the chiefs then the problem lies with that department head.

Also, while of course any superior wants their subordinate leaders to work independently, there will always be times when they need guidance or support, when they need to "upchannel". If you are a routine centralizer or control freak, there would likely be more of these times. The day they don't is probably the one they are sitting in your chair.

Both of these should be expected, and calmly treated as part of the job, not some extra burden to be pushed off by random yelling.

Was it random? Or was it to make people think about what their job is and act accordingly.

She got her command, did these others who complained about her? Or did they dead end at a desk?

Yes, and you also know should anything happen, all the immature acts your ship conducted in the name of "fun" will likely be held against you.

Never did I say that my Capt did something reckless or immature. If something bad happened then it would have been held against him. He knew that. He also understood the need and importance of pride in one boat. Both CO's I had did things differently, one gave a crap about his crew and I would go back tommorrow if he called me and said we needed to go. The other is currently Navsea08, and I would listen to him and them wish him a good day and walk off without regret.

Anyway, as I understand it, people object not so much to the drag race, but the way she maneuvered in the drag race. That's probably why the other CO doesn't seem to be in so much hot water. It also does not help that her opponent was IIRC a destroyer or frigate. Thus, the other commander can use the "senior officer" clause as a shield.

Breaking the rules is breaking the rules. If something had happened then BOTH Commanders would have been held accoutable. A CO is responsable for the safe operation of thier command. Period.

In any case, from the commentary on the blogs, if the goal is to raise spirit or any such crap, it didn't work, which makes it a pure dumb maneuver.

In fact, the accusations are all the opposite, more on the side that she lasted so long because nobody wants to look unPC and fire this Captain Bligh (actually, Bligh is too nice for her because as I understand it, Bligh was competent, and apparently this Graf wasn't).

Besides, even if it is true that this command style might have been tolerated had she been a male, well, then that's the reality that any woman aspiring to command has to adjust to.

What?? A double standard? Why should She have to adjust to it when a male can get away with it?

They want females in combat, then they had better be ready for a ball breaking b*tch.

I would not respect a CO that was all 'lets be friends' with me. I would want to see someone who I KNEW would be there right beside me when it got bad. I would want to know that my shipmate would listen to them and do as ordered becuase MY life could well be on the line, and if the other person decide that today, they did not have to give 100%, then myself and OTHERS may die.

I know that I would want someone who would TELL me when I messed up. If that meant tearing my head off, then so be it. I would rather be yelled at for something small than go 'Oops, I did realize that would happen' after I failed to do my job.