Navy Carrier Raunchy Video by XO

[03Foxtrot]

Before I posted my first post on this subject, I originally thought like many have said already, that this naval officer made a mistake that possibly indicated his lapse in judgement should be interpreted as an indication that he was less than what was needed for the capacity he served in, Captain of an aircraft carrier. Then I reconsidered. There are far too many new political considerations that seem to have a bearing on this entire matter. First, this in-house movie made for only the crew of his ship was made years ago and many in the Navy knew of it's existence long before it's recent public display. Is it only a coincidence that this matter has become public just as the 'Don't ask, Don't tell' policy has been repealed and the current President and his Defense Secretary have both publicly pushed for the new policy and want it implemented as soon as possible ? Also, as far as his judgement and his command abilities are concerned, was he not promoted to full command of this ship after the fact and with the Navy having full knowledge of this entire matter ? I also believe that this in-house movie was made for the morale of the crew and that the making of it with the cooperation and participation of the then, 2nd in command of this ship, is an indication of a man that is confident in his own abilities to command and someone that is inherently able to lead by example and yet, still identify with the common man. He was an exemplary fighter pilot and we all know that they and those who command aircraft carriers in the American Navy are some of the best of the best that our military has. I ask you, is this really about his command abilities or is this more of the political correctness that is forced on our military by those civilian leaders who are more concerned with getting reelected than protecting America from our many and varied enemies all across the world.
Semper Fi

[R Landry]

03Foxtrot,

Great post. Goes well with what I just rand across - below:

Earlier today, I was reading about the Navy's lewd videotape scandal when my phone rang. Total serendipity--it was Pete Clark! Longtime readers of this blog will recall that Pete was the profane sailor who'd served under Eric Massa and made a memorable appearance in the item I wrote when Massa tickled and groped his way out of Congress last year ("Eric Massa's Navy Files"). Pete's the guy who introduced "snorkeling" into the political lexicon. "Meat-gazing," too. Pete is to profanity what Mozart is to music. You have to marvel.
Turns out that in addition to knowing Eric Massa he's good friends with Captain Owen P. Honors of the USS Enterprise, the same guy who made the videotapes that are all over the news and was relieved of his command today. Apparently, Pete is plugged in to every sex scandal in the Navy. He was furious because he felt the media was railroading his friend O.P. [Capt. Honors] and ignoring the other side of the story. He'd just finished up a hit on the "Today Show" where Matt Lauer had cut him off before he was finished defending Honors. I told Pete I'd air his full-throated defense, provided he keep it clean, or as clean as he could manage. Our lightly edited conversation is after the jump.

"I grew up with O.P. in Syracuse," Pete told me. "He was my brother's best friend growing up. I know both of these people very well, Massa and O.P. Honors. I've never met a person that's never not loved the guy [O.P. not Massa], from high school till now. Even the crew.
"Dude, there's a whole story behind the friggin' political correctness and how it's friggin' ruining this country. We're relieving the most beloved aircraft carrier captain I've ever heard of, in my life--and I know a lot of people in the Navy--he's being relieved for a bunch of videos that were misrepresented because they were all cut and spooled together. See, the crew LOVED this guy. Loved him. So if you read any of these people who served with him on Facebook--black, white, female, male, gay, straight--gay people are like, 'He was great, we loved him!' It's unbelievable."
I said I hadn't realized Honors had gay supporters.
"Dude, there's gay people on the support website supporting him! Because it was a joke! It was a spoof! It was a series of tapes over an entire deployment! So then they cut 'em into, like, the funniest parts, which obviously everyone else would think was insane, and someone turned in this video, and it looks bad, but it's not! Not when it's been fully examined. But the bottom line is, he got relieved."
That's true.
"The investigation that's being done, I mean everyone's covering the story, but they're covering it on its face and they're not digging in about how these tapes were made, why they were made. All they're doing is looking at these clips from the tape."
Yeah...
"Here's a perfect example [of what I'm talking about]. Have you ever seen the movie 'Brokeback Mountain'? It's kind of weird I'm using it as an example, but have you ever seen 'Brokeback Mountain'?"
Actually, no.
"I know you don't want to admit to it, you liberal. You pole-smoker! You can't even say 'pole-smoker' anymore without getting fired! What a ****ing joke. Snorkeler! You can't say snorkeler."
Yes, you can. That made it everywhere, even "Saturday Night Live" (click to view clip).
"But here's the deal. In 'Brokeback Mountain,' there's parts of that movie where they're makin' out, and basically gettin' it on with each other--it's very aggressive--and if somebody just took clips of that they would think that that was what the movie was all about, and no one would have seen it. And it's actually about these two guys who are in love with each other, which--whatever. But the thing is, no one would go see the movie if you just took the clips! So that's all they did from these series of [Navy] movies over five or six months. They took these clips, and, you know, it was an ongoing story that they were telling. Ships are a really stressful environment. There's 24/7 around the clock launching of aircraft, bomb-making, fixing the bombs in the ships. On the deck it's completely dangerous. People are stressed out. And the only thing they look forward to is this movie night with the X.O. [executive officer] because before they show the movie, the X.O. usually passes the word about what's going on for the week, and O.P. is genius enough to come up with a way to do it via skits, like water conservation, things of that nature. The crew loved it! Because the previous X.O.s, all they ever did was, like, read off a freaking teleprompter or read their notes. O.P. did these skits that the crew loved! And they got ratted out for it, four years after when he had command of another ship!"
That part is odd.
"Dude, this is the first casualty of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell! You take this political correct bull****, you take Major Hassan [the Ft. Hood shooter, who Pete believes wasn't stopped because of political correctness], you take a couple other things and it leads to real degradation of the military, it really does."
Okay, but the media and the senior Navy officers who punished Honors weren't acting as theater critics, they weren't objecting because the movies were taken out of context, they were saying the objectionable parts are objectionable in any context, especially from a commanding officer.
"Yeah, because one or two people got offended. The rest of the crew loved it. You can't please all of the people all the time. We're now to the point where we're willing to take a guy, a senior, very well respected naval captain who's put 27 years in, who's commanded a fire squadron, a command ship, and the carrier itself, he's gone through all the wickets, all the boards and everything right, and after a video four years ago--four years ago!--that everybody knew about, they're firing him now?! It's ridiculous. No one in the civilian world would run an operation like this.
"The bottom line is, they're trying to run the military like it's a corporation and it's not, because you don't live, breathe, eat on a ship six months at a time in your building. And if you did, you'd certainly change your rules. It's a joke!
"Did you see my interview with Matt Lauer? As soon as I went to the politically correct point on the 13 people dead in Ft. Hood, he like changed the subject. He's such a p-- You know, I ****ing crushed him. I'm mean, he's a good guy, and he was being fair, but I got my point across, didn't I?
I think so. Did you ever hear from Massa?
"No. He's a clown. But you don't think there's any traction here with this story about the politically correct bull****?"
I'll make sure your views get aired, promise.
"Alright, dude. I gotta go. Supposedly Diane Sawyer's trying to get in touch with me."

[USNAviator]

This gentlemen is just a good old Cluster F$Ck. It's a bunch of Flag Ranks and Flag Rank wannabe's protecting their career and their collective butts

On the first few of my deployments this type of humor was not only exhibited, it was also encouraged.

Six months or more aboard a CVN is tough on all but especially the young enlisted members of the crew. It was usually the SNCO's who took it upon themselves to organize skits or shows to break the constant 24/7 of launches and traps, which can be incredibly stressful. But you can be assured they did this with the blessing of the CO. Some of the skits with and about the Marines aboard were down right hilarious and raunchy but all in good fun and without any animosity

The technology has changed. It's no longer the smokers on B deck, it's broadcast throughout the ship. Hence it reaches a broader spectrum, some of whom are not going to be comfortable. That's understandable. But what has irked me is how rapidly and vociferously the "media" has jumped on this story

Can anyone here name a major news anchor who served a day in any branch, let alone as a combat grunt or working air ops? Yet they pounce, judge and then sentence without gathering all the facts. Let them answer to all who have served. Check out the Facebook page backing Capt. Honors. Tens of thousands of postings

One final suggestion gentleman, perhaps this would be best served if it were move to the political forum.

Just two cents from the Navy

[R Landry]

As the OP, I concur with moving to political forum.

[USNAviator]

As the OP, I concur with moving to political forum.

Thanks Ron..seemed like a good idea.

[USNAviator]

Dan, your post 36 is right on target, but post 34 is absolutely brilliantly laid out. At first glance, the video seems to be worse than it is, but then you think, this was four years ago, it was not meant for 200 million people to see, and thanks to the wonders of YouTube, millions did in fact see it, but it was made for internal viewing only, and done in fun.
What happened as a result of this video is way out of proportion to what should have happened. But this is the age we live in, in a nutshell. We make a big deal out of small things and we ignore the really big issues. This is how we got to be where we are today.

Agree 100% Dave. Post number 34 was spot on!!! I was trying to give the perspective of someone who has been there. And I think Ron has made the correct decision, as the OP, to request it be moved to the political forum

[rktect3j]

Looks like something you would expect form a frat house than an officer who is supposed to be professional and be the example. Very poor judgment.

Ever cross the equator on board a ship?

Fun times. And very professional too.

Of course that may have also changed by now.

[AAV Crewchief]

Hope the ones for all this gets punished for this!! Couldn't watch the video, but have been reading about it and it's disgraceful at somebody would do this!! What is becoming of our Armed Forces?
Semper Fi
Linda

It's all in fun and you can read about the crew who is even defending his actions. He was doing the job of the XO which revolves a lot around crew morale and welfare. None of this was done with the intent to HARM anyone. We've become a politically correct bunch of morons that is more concerned about how we might offend someone instead of worrying about what might help out the majority of people. If you think this is disgraceful, I won't tell you about what kinds of other things that go on because this is actually small time stuff being blown out of proportion by the media.

[03Foxtrot]

I learned a lot from the Marine Corps and I used it the rest of my life. I became a professional firefighter and a Company officer and I always maintained that it was better to lead by example and I always valued the respect of those who served under me more than those over me. And to hell with public opinion and political correctness. Perhaps that is why I never rose beyond the rank of Captain on an Engine company. The next rank was more concerned with public image and management by command, not example or grunt work.
Semper Fi