When I was in the Navy I experienced my first day in “the fleet” whereby I embarked upon a ship and took a “billet” and began the most misguided adventure in my entire life. I say this not because it was “bad” to be in the Navy. I say this because it was bad that I could not make the most of this situation — and that I left the service at a point in my life when I would have much better off to just stay and do another tour … or two or three or four.
My misguided attitude was where the problem lay. I considered the service something that was beneath me. I thought the lifestyle to be harsh. I felt that the order it presented was very mundane from a standpoint of jumping through hoops for a ‘superior’ who couldn’t really read nor write.
Little did I know.
My first shipboard commanding officer was Commander Richard K. Beggs. At first glance he might give the impression of a surly intolerant man with an axe to grind. However, I came to know that not only was this NOT the case — but he was actually quite distant from that type of individual altogether.
He did not suffer fools. He did not go in for anything less than placing your best foot forward and doing your duty to the best of your ability. I never had an interaction with him that I would characterize in a derogatory fashion; even when I was being corrected on watch. He made me a better person.
He was relieved by Commander Robert C. Jones, who later attained the rank of Rear Admiral. This man was friendly and personable with a “go getter” style and he just made you want to be on the team and do the best you can as well; with a different leadership style that was equally effective as that of his predecessor. He was the man who both promoted me to Petty Officer and signed my discharge request.
Both were fine fellows and they imparted an influence upon me that I value to this day.
They are the reason that recent news events regarding tough times for Naval Commanding Officers was so surprising; as well as disconcerting.
The Navy has relieved six COs of duty in 2010 and this is an unprecedented 300% compared to other years. One of those was Captain Holly Graf of the USS Cowpens — a guided missile cruiser who was determined to be habitually subjecting her crew to “cruelty and maltreatment”.
At first I thought these accusations had to be unsubstantiated. After all, during the entirety of my hitch the conduct of my leadership was consistently beyond reproach.
I could never fathom the horror stories on the message boards regarding Captain Graf, who was referred to as “Horrible Holly” as well as a modern-day Captain Bligh then characterized in the most severe terms with those anecdotal accounts of her behaviors being so totally egregious that I am surprised that she was merely “relieved” and not keelhauled.
Whereas both of my commanding officers were approachable by the lowly likes of me, she obviously had no tolerance for being bothered with those who looked to her for leadership. Based upon all I have read in the past week, something in the selection process failed very badly.
Tags: Good Grief, People