XPost: sci.military.naval, soc.retirement, alt.politics.republicans   
   XPost: sac.politics   
   From: bksperman@outlook.com   
      
   The Barack Obama gay Navy.   
      
   WASHINGTON — The commander of the USS John S. McCain when it   
   collided with a commercial tanker last year in the Straits of   
   Singapore pleaded guilty Friday to dereliction of duty and   
   acknowledged his role in the deaths of 10 sailors.   
      
   Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez appeared somber and tearful during a   
   special court-martial at the Washington Navy Yard for the   
   criminal charge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.   
   Sanchez pleaded guilty as part of an agreement and was sentenced   
   to a letter of reprimand and forfeiture of $6,000 in wages.   
      
   Sanchez, who has spent more than 20 years in the service, said   
   he will retire as part of the agreement.   
      
   “I am ultimately responsible and stand accountable,” he told the   
   court. “I will forever question my decisions that contributed to   
   this tragic event.”   
      
   Sanchez and other witnesses recounted the chaos and confusion   
   that dominated the bridge in the moments leading up to 3-minute   
   sequence of events that resulted in the deadly Aug. 21 crash.   
      
   Sanchez said he had not ordered the necessary detail to handle   
   some of the busiest waters in the world until it was too late.   
   Earlier, he had sent that overworked crew to catch up on sleep,   
   his lawyer said.   
      
   “I failed to set a sea and anchor crew” before entering the   
   Straits of Singapore, Sanchez said.   
      
   Sanchez said in the confusion, he thought the ship had lost   
   steering control, when it had not. This, as the crew did not   
   know how to properly use the McCain’s navigational system.   
      
   On Thursday, a chief who was charged with training and use of   
   the navigational system on the McCain pleaded guilty to   
   dereliction of duty and as a result was demoted in rank. Chief   
   Petty Officer Jeffery D. Butler said he had never been formally   
   trained on the Integrated Bridge and Navigation System and the   
   McCain was the only ship in the 7th Fleet with the advanced   
   system.   
      
   “That seems to me the single overarching failure is   
   understanding how the console operates,” Cmdr. Charles Purnell,   
   the Navy judge presiding over Friday’s court-martial, told   
   Sanchez.   
      
   Sanchez said while a combination of factors contributed to the   
   crash, he should have directed more rigorous training of the   
   system.   
      
   Also, Sanchez said he took control of the ship when it was too   
   late. In the dark waters, the McCain’s officer on deck issued   
   orders that later fell to a young helmsman.   
      
   “We put this on an 18-year-old” seaman at the helm, a tearful   
   Sanchez said. “That’s my job.”   
      
   His lawyer, Cmdr. Stuart Kirkby, said after Friday’s hearing   
   those words highlight an urgent concern for the Navy.   
      
   “One of the things that is lost in many of these proceedings is   
   we’ve got 18-year-old sailors, 19 year-old, 20 year-old …kids   
   who are driving these ships,” Kirkby said. “They have a limited   
   amount of training and experience.”   
      
   More than a dozen relatives of the McCain’s fallen sailors   
   attended Friday’s hearing, and they addressed the court through   
   a series of searing and emotional victim impact statements. Many   
   spoke through tears of paralyzing grief and lingering questions   
   of their loved ones final moments.   
      
   Karen Doyon, mother of Petty Officer 3rd Class Dustin Doyon, 26,   
   of Connecticut, said she often thinks of her son struggling for   
   air, his lungs filling with diesel fuel and saltwater.   
      
   “I am haunted by it every day,” Doyon said. “This is a tragedy   
   that should have never happened.”   
      
   More than a half-dozen impact statements were read for Petty   
   Officer 2nd Class Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26, of Maryland as   
   relatives recounted his love of animals, nature and adventure.   
   Some said Sanchez and the Navy cut corners that cost lives.   
      
   “I lost my beautiful son because of the Navy,” mother Karen   
   Bushell said in a statement.   
      
   “The world will never know what greatness he could have   
   achieved,” said father Thomas Bushell. “Ignorance and arrogance   
   sent these fine sailors to their watery graves.”   
      
   Theresa Palmer, mother of Petty Officer 3rd Class Logan Stephen   
   Palmer, said the two deadly crashes will now haunt the Navy.   
      
   “I kept him alive for 23 years,” Palmer said. “You took   
   possession for three months and failed.”   
      
   In addressing the court, Sanchez told the families that although   
   he can not bring the fallen back, he hoped Friday’s hearing   
   would bring some closure. Kirkby said his client’s role in the   
   crash is just one piece of a larger problem.   
      
   “I’m not here to say Cmdr. Sanchez didn’t do this… he’s   
   cooperating, he’s taking responsibility,” Kirkby told the court.   
   “We join the families in asking this not be the end of the   
   proceedings” and more be done by Congress and others to address   
   the failures of last year’s Navy ship crashes.   
      
   Kirkby added that more did not perish because of the actions   
   Sanchez took and his crew’s quick orders to seal off the   
   flooding.   
      
   “Did he stand idly by?” he asked. “No… This could have easily   
   been 100 lost souls.”   
      
   Late last year, Sanchez faced punishment through a non-judicial   
   proceeding known as an admiral’s mast in which he received a   
   letter of reprimand and surrendered nearly $5,000 in wages.   
   Those efforts will be credited towards Friday’s sentencing   
   terms, the judge said.   
      
   In January, Navy officials said Sanchez had been charged with   
   negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and hazarding a vessel.   
      
   A new charge sheet released Wednesday said Sanchez was facing “a   
   dereliction in the performance of duties through neglect   
   resulting in death.” The charge sheet went on to say that   
   Sanchez knew of his duties as commanding officer and was   
   derelict in the performance of those duties.   
      
   “He negligently failed to ensure the safe navigation of the said   
   vessel,” the charge sheet said, “as it was his duty to do as   
   Commanding Officer to ensure a proper watch was set for   
   transiting a high-density contact environment; take proper   
   action and control of the vessel during system casualty; follow   
   operational Standing Orders during a conceived system casualty,   
   and that such dereliction of duty contributing to the death” of   
   the 10 sailors.   
      
   Wednesday’s details didn’t mention the homicide charge or   
   hazarding a vessel. On Friday, Navy prosecutors confirmed that   
   those charges were withdrawn as part of the pretrial agreement,   
   which was reached behind closed doors in April.   
      
   Sanchez will now face a “retirement grade determination,” where   
   he could be retired at a lower rank than commander, his lawyer   
   said.   
      
   At the closing of Friday’s hearing, Purnell told the families   
   that their anger came through loudly and eloquently. He   
   encouraged Sanchez not to give up in his future endeavors.   
      
   “Don’t become the 11th casualty of the McCain,” Purnell told   
   Sanchez.   
      
   https://www.stripes.com/former-uss-john-s-mccain-commander-   
   pleads-guilty-in-plea-deal-will-retire-1.529163   
      
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