Navy: Your service means nothing, on pace for one of the biggest years for “relieved of command”

– The advent of electronic communication has made it easier to catch personal indiscretions, the Navy says, and modern social norms mean there are more rules to trip over these days –

By Jeanette Steel in the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

The Navy has fired 13 commanding officers so far this year, as senior sailors make career-ending mistakes at a pace that will produce one of the decade’s biggest years for being “relieved of command.”

The advent of electronic communication has made it easier to catch personal indiscretions, the Navy says, and modern social norms mean there are more rules to trip over these days.

But still there’s no real explanation for why so many seasoned officers are commiting errors that usually force them into unplanned retirement, and can even get them kicked out of the Navy.Among the latest was the skipper of the San Diego-based Peleliu, Capt. David Schnell, who was relieved of duty Aug. 15 with a sparse statement from the Navy saying his boss had “lost confidence in his ability to command” because of “unduly familiar” behavior with the crew.

Another firing came Aug. 21, when the Navy ousted Cmdr. Mary Ann Giese from command of the U.S. Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station in Bahrain. Former and current Navy leaders insist the process, which usually provides few details about what the ousted officer did wrong, is fair and that removals as a percentage of all commanders is low, at 1 percent.

They say the performance expectations for commanders, especially at sea, is just extremely high — and needs to be.  Chief of Naval Operations Gary Roughead said Thursday that each firing bothers him. He looks at every case to see if there’s a common thread, and the Navy mulls the issue in leadership seminars.“I do think about, ‘Is there a  change? Why is there a change?’ ” Roughead said. But, he added, “You’re not going to change the standard, just because the number may be getting high.

”Of the 13 commanders fired this year, seven were removed for personal misconduct, including fraternization and inappropriate relationships. Three were removed because of mishaps at sea, such as a ship hitting a pier. But it was unclear what happened in the three remaining cases because details released were vague.

Why would someone who has devoted years to the Navy, reaching the pinnacle of a career, imperil that by engaging in sometimes sophomoric behavior — such as the captain who was arrested in January for soliciting a prostitute not far from his South Carolina base?“Power is a funny thing,” said retired Rear Adm. Mac McLaughlin, now president of San Diego’s USS Midway Museum.

Naval officers feel the pull of it, just like politicians, he said.“Your state in life can get to the point where you make a series of or a major mistake, that maybe without that powerful position wouldn’t have grown into your DNA,” McLaughlin said.  The Navy’s Personnel Command in Tennessee  doesn’t have computerized data from before 2000, so officials couldn’t say whether the rate of firings has increased during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

For the past 10 years, the annual average has been 12 to 14 commanders relieved of their posts. The Navy saw a spike in 2003, when 26 got fired. Officials said there’s no single reason for higher numbers that year, or this one. But Capt. Leo Falardeau, assistant commander at Navy Personnel, said people are probably getting nabbed more often for personal misconduct these days.

First, there’s e-mail. An indiscrete commander sending love notes in the office is easily discovered when the Navy searches for e-mails sent across a government computer. Also, changing social standards mean more wires to trip over. Drinking and driving is one example. Bars on Navy bases used to be the norm, and Falardeau said it’d be naive to think everyone drove home sober.

“I think what we’re seeing is conduct that may have been, years ago, wrong like it is today, but generally speaking it was acceptable,” he said.“The undercurrent is, some guys who get in trouble can’t figure out that we’re living in 2010. We’re not living in 1960,” Falardeau said. “You know, going out and swinging from a chandelier and raising cain is ‘what sailors do.’ It’s not what sailors do.”

He ventured a guess that nearly every commander fired 50 years ago got in trouble for running the ship aground or hitting a pier.Falaradeau defended the Navy’s tactic of revealing little about the reasons behind many firings. In Schnell’s case, the public was left to guess what “unduly familiar” behavior meant, and many commenters on this newspaper’s website speculated it was a romantic relationship.

However, it could mean a commander unfairly favored one sailor over another.Current and past Navy leaders said fired officers have a right to some privacy about the details and called the investigation process painstaking. Schnell declined to be interviewed.The ousted commander is usually allowed to quietly retire. In some cases, the Navy forces the officer to prove why he or she should stay in uniform.

Since 2006, eight former commanders have gone before an inquiry board; five were allowed to stay.Being in command is a pressure-cooker situation, and there’s a joke in Navy circles. The best days of a command are the first day on the job — and the last day, if the Navy band plays.

“If you depart earlier than you should, the Navy band doesn’t show up,” McLaughlin said.Still, taking a command is the dream of nearly every young ensign. “If you go to sea as a line officer, your ultimate goal is not to become an admiral,” said retired Vice Adm. John Morgan. “Your ultimate goal is to become a commanding officer.”

• Capt. John Titus, Jan. 8, from Naval Supply Corps School in Athens, Ga., for failing to adequately discipline a junior officer accused of inappropriate conduct, the Navy Times reported.

• Capt. Holly Graf, Jan. 13, from the Yokosuka, Japan-based cruiser Cowpens after an inspector general’s investigation said she mistreated and humiliated her crew

• Capt. Glen Little, from Naval Weapons Station Charleston, S.C., after he was arrested Jan. 26 on a charge of solicitation of prostitution.

• Cmdr. Scott Merritt, Feb. 12, from Naval Support Activity North Potomac, Md., because   of fraternization, the Navy Times reported.

• Cmdr. Timothy Weber, Feb. 17, from the Norfolk, Va.-based destroyer Truxtun for having an inappropriate relationship with a female officer in his command, according to news reports.

• Capt. William Reavey, Feb. 26, from Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., for “inappropriate conduct,” according to news reports.

• Cmdr. Jeff Cima, March 15, from the Pearl Harbor , Hawaii-based attack submarine Chicago for drunkenness and conduct unbecoming an officer during a college campus visit, CNN said.

• Cmdr. Neil Funtanilla, May 18, from the Mayport, Fla.-based The Sullivans because his destroyer hit a buoy off Bahrain.

• Cmdr. Herman Pfaeffle, June 22, from the Mayport, Fla.-based frigate John L . Hall after his ship hit a pier, according to Stars and Stripes.

• Capt. William Kiestler, June 30, commanding officer of Norfolk Naval Shipyard, for a “series of events over the past few months that affect the management and execution of work” at the shipyard, the Navy said.

• Cmdr. Fred Wilhelm, Aug. 12, from the Virginia-based dock landing ship Gunston Hall, after charges were filed against him for sexual harassment, maltreatment of a subordinate, simple assault, conduct unbecoming an officer, drunk and disorderly conduct and use of indecent language – all related to the ship’s recently completed deployment, the Navy Times reported.

• Capt. David Schnell, Aug. 15, from the San Diego-based amphibious ship Peleliu, for being “unduly familiar” with the crew.

• Cmdr. Mary Ann Giese, Aug. 21, from the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station in Bahrain, because of allegations that she had been involved in “inappropriate relationships” with other Navy personnel.