A United States naval Captain-- the commanding officer of a nuclear powered aircraft carrier none-the-less-- was relieved of his command this week and hailed as a hero by his cheering subordinates and the press. Why this is a dangerous and appalling situation.
Here is a question for you? When (in a free society) should the needs of public servants outweigh the needs of the public?
I will be the first to admit that I am often at my happiest when I'm out of step with popular opinion; but this week I got a real jolt when I read glowing praise heaped upon a naval captain who not only by-passed his commanding officer (who was on the same ship) and the rest of his chain-of-command-- but was lauded as a hero for it.
First, I am going to extract the emotion out of this equation. Yes. It is tragic that those sailors were trapped on a ship and that that ship was stuck in Guam. We never like to see military members in harm's way and no one wants to feel helpless while his employees are suffering. It reeks of sadness and helplessness. Emotions.
Now that we have eliminated the "emotional" aspect of this dilemma; lets think about the "logical" aspect. That is what we pay naval officers to do. To command logically. The idea being that you start off your naval career with a few subordinates and work your way up to where you are entrusted with the command of a nuclear powered flagship with thousands of junior officers and enlisted men/woman, and an ungodly contingent of firepower. What logical options did this officer have? Not many. And as he should have known based upon decades in the navy-- the same limited options that were available to his superiors including his Commander-in-chief-- the president.
Even if someone could order them off the boat-- where would they go and how would they get there? Does the navy risk infecting an entire civilian population on an island commonwealth in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, even more isolated and cut-off from mainland assistance than Puerto Rico and Hawaii are? The Federal government can barely help the contiguous states-- what are we supposed to do to help Guam after thousands of infected sailors disembark? Was there a reasonable way to isolate them on an atoll? Could we med-e-vac them? And if so-- to where-- how? Should this have been a priority for anyone in the federal government considering the ongoing threat to civilians all across the country?
Beyond the emotional and the logical aspects of this farce there is an even more dangerous aspect; the ethical one. Each and every member of that ward room and mess arrived there voluntarily. No one forced them into military service. They were neither drafted nor shanghaied onto that ship. They all volunteered and swore to serve-- up to and including giving their lives-- to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States-- a document that begins with a resounding We the People not We the Military. Not so with the civilians on Guam whom they are sworn to protect and defend as American citizens.
And beyond Guam and the USNS Roosevelt-- what is the ethical price to be paid for following this inept captain's"leadership" example. Does the next captain become a hero because he won't move a ship into a war zone were it might get sunk? Does a hospital administrator get lauded as a hero when he decides not to put his doctors and nurses at risk and closes a hospital? Does the grocery chain CEO become enmeshed in laurels when he or she shuts down all of his or her stores and people starve?
We have civilians every day on the front lines of this epidemic risking their lives, not to mention police officers and emergency medical personnel. As the crises grows greater and more National Guardsmen and women are needed to maintain order-- do their commanding officers have the right to just cry foul! We're not at war?
We are at war. Whether the enemy is a true enemy or a bug-a-bear is yet to be seen. But as long as the press and the governments of this (and most other countries) are asking the citizenry to react as if we were at war-- we can ask nothing less of a naval captain and his crew.
Reject the emotional. Consider the logical. And weigh the ethical. It is only by taking a deep breath and thinking before we react that we will get through this crises with our civil society and our inalienable rights intact.
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