NTWLF ONE
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2016
- Messages
- 226
Let me guess, the highest ranking officer that got relieved was 05 or below. It happens in all branhes, but general officers and admirals usually don't get held accountable. In a CNN article, a commentator made a comment that he didn't understand why those two boats were making a 300 mile trip. Perhaps in the Navy, an O5 could make a decision to make a 300 miles trip in a very sensitive area, but fact that it was allowed to happen in the first place with "poorly planned and executed and their unit training was not up to standards" makes me believe the issue is a lot higher than O5 level.
Why were thr riverbine force deployed in the first place? Perhaps, strategically they didn't neeed to be there but tactically someone wanted their medals and ribbons.
I'm an aviator not a black shoe, so my knowledge is limited to what was released publicly. I am not sure if the group commander (O-6) was relieved or not. The echelon command responsible to man, train and equip them is NECC. That would be the first flag level that would be held accountable. You are correct, usually the O-5 in command makes the cover of Navy Times, the flag goes away quietly. The 5th Fleet/NAVCENT commander in this case doesn't suffer fools, the discipline applied was more than likely justified and fair.
Since 9/11, the Coastal Riverine Force, has been renamed, reorganized, up sized, down sized, relocated and the mission changed so many times I don't know how they keep up...they are deployed now to Bahrain and Kuwait for maritime and port security operations. As far as improving their training goes, I would start with SERE and navigation in a GPS denied environment....
Back to the Chinese seizing the underwater "drone" from the MSC oceanographic research ship, I hope we inserted a virus when the PLA-Navy downloaded the data...STUXNET anyone?