Meanwhile, a busy month at the Navy as 4 COs/XOs get the heave-ho -- and what that has to do with Nitze and Zumwalt

I see that the
Navy ousted
the CO of its "Beachmaster Unit 2," of which I never had heard. (No. 16) The
comments of sailors on the Navy Times site ran in support of him, with
several saying he is a good leader and that anyone could be nailed for misuse
of government resources. It reminds me of what the drill instructors on Parris
Island told me: "If you're not breaking the rules you're not doing your job."  

And the CO
of Naval
Support Activity Saratoga Springs, New York, was dismissed from his
position after being busted for DWI. For those of you keeping score at home,
that's 17 for the year. 

Also, the former XO
of the USS Gettysburg also got the old heave-ho, for sexual
misconduct. Apparently he was facing a choice of court-martial or retirement. The
former XO
of the USS Roosevelt went him one better and got a year's imprisonment
for wrongful sexual contact and such.

And a shipyard
inspector was sentenced to three years for lying
about welds he claimed to have inspected on submarines. It is interesting
to think about making him serve his term aboard the subs he inspected. But that
would "unusual," and perhaps "cruel."

I spent part of my
August reading the crisply written memoirs
of Paul Nitze, who among other things was secretary of the Navy in the
mid-1960s. One day he turned to his aide, Adm. Elmo "Bud" Zumwalt, and
complained about a personnel problem, "Why does this have to happen to me?"
Zumwalt responded aptly that, "If you have more than a million men working for
you, every unpleasant problem that has one chance in a million of occurring
will occur at least once." (P. 254)