Liar, Liar, Dress Whites on Fire

Who owns the accountability process when lies are told on a Navy base? Where does the accountability start and stop?

The Navy doesn’t seem to have an answer, or at least not one it follows. In 2020, the USS Bonhomme Richard burned for four days in San Diego, destroying the 1.2 billion dollar Navy ship.

No one took responsibility for that, so the Navy placed blame on a low ranking Sailor, who was later acquitted in 2022. Those who had the helm, failed at their duty. They were excruciatingly careless in their duties. Yet, they did not outwardly take ownership of their failures.

According to a Sept. 9, 2022, NY Times article—

“Going into the trial, it was clear the prosecution faced challenges. At a preliminary hearing in December, a Navy judge recommended against taking the case forward, saying the lack of evidence made a conviction unlikely. Even so, the commander with convening authority over the case, Vice Adm. Stephen T. Koehler, decided to proceed.”

Sailors have less than two years to make an impression before they apply for their next duty station. Your family, your service, your duty, your actions all play into that next placement, or that next promotion.

Wives protect “their own.” Sailors protect “their own.” Aviators protect, “their own.” Who are “their own?”

I am curious why Vice Adm. Koehler decided to proceed with the trial despite the lack of evidence. Was he protecting “his own?” Was he being pressured from above to place blame publicly as opposed to studying the mind-numbing breakdown of organizational systems that led to the inexcusable loss of a ship that took years to build?

Were the admirals and captains of both the pier/base and the ship/people asking the right questions and listening to the Chiefs, the LTs and LTJGs who may have been sounding off warnings early on? BUT FOR UCMJ and the need to adhere to leadership without questioning them, a necessary and core system for the execution of the mission of the Commander and Chief, but a sharp sword to die on when UCMJ is abused.

From the point in time when mistakes or failures occur in the Navy, onboard a base or a ship, it seems ethics, oaths, integrity, transparency, and basic decency are no longer adhered. With no commanders coming forward taking public ownership of the failures aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard before this young Seaman went to trial, the number of Navy Sailors with authority over him snowballed, the number of those “taking care of their own” above him snowballed. These acts of not speaking up, not being accountable, not looking more deeply into what went wrong increased the number of those who had a hand in deepening the hole the Sailor, already with a troubled Navy past, must fight to climb his way out.

While he may have played a part in the fire, he is not responsible for the lack of ethics in the Navy’s overall response to the costly and embarrassing issue.

When I began asserting my questions to the Navy in 2020, they went unanswered. In 2021, I broached it again, and I did not receive adequate or respectful answers. In 2022, many officers, and civilian employees were given the opportunity to respond with the integrity the Navy laments.

Yet, no one did.

In July 2023, with my responsive documents in hand stemming from my CNIC Inspector General grievance submitted in February 2022, I learned that not only did the individuals who responded to the IG blatantly lie, but their lies were taken as truth based on what I received from the Navy.

The IG did not question them, despite the Navy having in its possession nearly the same facts I have to negate what was said. Their Superiors did not question their responses, nor did they question their own responses.

Their lies provided to the CNIC IG in April 2022, sat for SEVEN months before the IG sent me an acknowledgement that my case was closed and I could submit an FOIA request if I wanted to learn more. Another EIGHT months passed before my FOIA request was sent to me.

During the 15 months, when no civilian, no officer, would answer any of my questions, the Navy from my purview retaliated with unearned righteousness on social media. The piling on of passing the accountability commenced.

There would be a Navy Gold Star Program Facebook post “liked” by a CNIC communications employee that was written I believe in response to my complaint.

A NAVAIR Vice Admiral would visit and publicly thank the therapist/s that I accuse of wrongdoing and those at the Fleet and Family Services Center, for doing a great job and the photo-op posted to NAS Patuxent River‘s Facebook page.

Screen Capture of NAS Patuxent River’s Facebook Post

Then, the CNIC Vice Admiral (the top boss of the respondents) publicly saying on LinkedIn that EVERY ONE of the Navy’s therapists are HEROES. This all occurred while I waited for answers.

Screen Capture of CAP Program Manager’s LinkedIn Post

And then, this realization, tonight 9/12/23:

Screen Capture of Likes on CAP Program Manager’s LinkedIn Post

John Mustin, Chief of Navy Reserve, Commander, Navy Reserve Force at US Navy, liked the Vice Admiral of CNIC‘s comment.

How and why was the Chief of Navy Reserve (my husband’s top boss) so compelled to like this obscure post by CNIC Vice Admiral Lindsey? Is he a bully? From my purview, yes. As is Chebi. As is Lindsey. I’ve reached out to their PAO offices several times. If there was an explanation they’ve had the opportunities to share them with me.

This is retaliation.

When I received the documents from my FOIA request, I was crushed under the weight of the lies told to the Navy’s upper echelon in Washington, DC, not to mention the piling on and unprofessional approach to sharing the lies with an email chain containing the titles of those I voiced concern about to the Inspector General’s office. I thought my concerns would be taken seriously.

Yet, no one did.

I do not believe the Navy as a whole is deserving of the reputation it orchestrates with its own social media posts. The USS Bonhomme Richard fiasco and subsequent investigation should be taken as a warning to all of us that the Navy is ill-equipped to face the challenges ahead.

The Navy’s deficit of character and lack of accountability should be a red flag. Next time, it might not be a 1.2 billion dollar ship that we lose, it might be more lives, or we could lose a war fought on our shoreline.

What is happening to my family is representative of a deeper cavern of flawed Navy culture, based on a wartime reputation, a wartime rally call, and a wartime privilege of overlooking basic priorities like an oath, sworn to defend, and a mission that we as a country cannot afford to ignore.

This is my red flag. I am not bound by UCMJ.

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Red flag

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