Tortuga CO, XO fired

[CommunityEditor]

SAN DIEGO — The top two officers of the Japan-based dock landing ship Tortuga were fired Thursday, according to a Navy statement.

Commanding officer Cmdr. John Zuhowski was fired by Rear Adm. Richard Landolt, commander of Amphibious Force 7th Fleet, because of “a loss of confidence in his ability to command,” the statement said. Landolt also fired Zuhowski’s executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Dennis Burke, the statement said, but no specific reason was provided for his relief.

“These actions are administrative in nature, not punitive,” the statement said. Both officers were relieved “based on their professional performance,” Lt. Denver Applehans, the Task Force 76 spokesman in Okinawa, Japan, said by telephone. “There was not any misconduct.”

Capt. Mark Weber, the deputy commodore of Amphibious Squadron 11 since August, has temporarily taken command of the Whidbey Island-class amphib, officials said. Weber’s assignments include command of dock landing ship Fort McHenry from 2003 to 2005.

Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Grant, who has been serving on the Task Force 76 command staff, has been temporarily assigned as Tortuga’s XO.

Zuhowski and Burke are being temporarily reassigned within Fleet Activities Sasebo, Applehans said. Zuhowski, a 1991 graduate of the Naval Academy, had commanded Tortuga for 10 months. He has commanded the patrol craft Shamal and served as executive officer of the dock landing ship Ashland.

Burke, who enlisted in the Navy in 1984, commanded the patrol crafts Tornado, Chinook, Typhoon and Whirlwind.


Article: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/0...fired_010909w/

[Boss Hog]

Seems to be a lotta dis Navy firin' stuff goin' on lately...WTF,O?

[Bruce]

Originally Posted by Boss Hog

Seems to be a lotta dis Navy firin' stuff goin' on lately...WTF,O?

I was about to make the same observation. I'm not sure if more skippers are being relieved now, or whether the Navy is just being more public about it. I've said before, and I still think its true, SECDEF sent a serious message to all military commands with his firing senior civilian and military leadership over such things as Walter Reed and the AF's handling of its nukes. Gates is taking no prisoners. The CNO's office has obviously gotten the message and is sending one of its own to all commanders that accountability is the "word of the day."

I wonder, though, would the Navy benefit more or get hurt if details about why COs were fired were made public? I suppose that if they are not using judicial discipline (and therefore not giving the COs a chance to rebut any allegations), a full public airing might create a risk of litigation. However, its probably not a bad idea for the Navy to draw a line in the sand and say "if you do this, you will be fired." What do you think?

[AIRFORCEAGGIE]

Originally Posted by Bruce

I was about to make the same observation. I'm not sure if more skippers are being relieved now, or whether the Navy is just being more public about it. I've said before, and I still think its true, SECDEF sent a serious message to all military commands with his firing senior civilian and military leadership over such things as Walter Reed and the AF's handling of its nukes. Gates is taking no prisoners. The CNO's office has obviously gotten the message and is sending one of its own to all commanders that accountability is the "word of the day."

I wonder, though, would the Navy benefit more or get hurt if details about why COs were fired were made public? I suppose that if they are not using judicial discipline (and therefore not giving the COs a chance to rebut any allegations), a full public airing might create a risk of litigation. However, its probably not a bad idea for the Navy to draw a line in the sand and say "if you do this, you will be fired." What do you think?

In any military organization, getting rid of the dead weight can be a good thing. However, too many firings and an one mistake military can also cause commanders to hesitant to do any independent action for fear of being fired. Hopefully, an even balance is being struck here.

[Bruce]

Originally Posted by AIRFORCEAGGIE

In any military organization, getting rid of the dead weight can be a good thing. However, too many firings and an one mistake military can also cause commanders to hesitant to do any independent action for fear of being fired. Hopefully, an even balance is being struck here.

You make a good point. While I firmly believe in accountability, I do not think that junior officers and enlisted men should be haunted by mistakes made early in their career. As a young officer, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz was court martialed for his role in the grounding of his ship. In fact, he insisted that he be brought to trial. As I recall, he was vindicated by the court and went on to big things.

[AIRFORCEAGGIE]

Originally Posted by Bruce

You make a good point. While I firmly believe in accountability, I do not think that junior officers and enlisted men should be haunted by mistakes made early in their career. As a young officer, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz was court martialed for his role in the grounding of his ship. In fact, he insisted that he be brought to trial. As I recall, he was vindicated by the court and went on to big things.

When I was at ACSC, I remember reading an article pondering on how some of the great military leaders would do in our modern military. Your comment reminded me of that article. I'm sure if Nimitz was an ensign now, he could kiss his career good bye for that mistake. Sometimes, we forget that we learn as much from our mistakes as from our avoidance of them.

[kojack]

Patton would NEVER rise in todays military of pregnant nondeployable mommies and rank equality, enlisted generals, etc.

I suspect there are probably large numbers of officers who pass on commanding after coming out on the lists for the reasons listed. Afterall, the pay is the same. Why risk it in a PC military?

[MPLisa]

It will only get worse under Komrad Barry Obama, just as it did under Korporal Komrad Klinton. Let me explain why:

1) Over the past 2 decades, as a society we've embraced all underdogs. Now, normally, this isn't a bad thing, the Statue of Liberty even welcomes the world's downtrodden (thankyou France...).
2) Liberals fall all over themselves to ensure that the government supports the downtrodden. Part of this is an effort to elevate self-esteem of all individuals. (self-esteem, I guess, in and of itself is a guarantee(??) of success in the eyes of Liberals).
3) Thus, to build up self-esteem and be all inclusive, we award a trophy to every 4 year-old kid on every T-Ball team. We don't want to award the "winners" only, because the "Losers" would feel bad. So, rather than making the losers practice more (i.e. WORK HARDER), we pat them on the back and hand them a trophy. By doing this we accomplish two things: First, we build their self esteem. Second, we take away any guilt we have for being the "bad guy" in making the losers work harder to achieve their goals.
4) This is how we've ruined our society by building the expectation of entitlement in our younger generations that "achievement" is not economical, but, rather, in self-image/esteem. It is economical too in the sense that we've turned our country into a huge welfare state whereby we levy confiscatory taxes on "the wealthy", in order to give that money to the sick, lame, and lazy.
5) So, on to the Tortuga. In an effort to ensure we've leveled the playing field in the competition for promotion and command, we've done away with the Navy meritocracy, and instituted the celbritocracy, whereby officers are promoted based on skin color, gender, and soon, sexual deviancy. By doing so, we've placed in command a bunch of incompetent officers who, while they might mean well, are incapable of fighting.
6) Because of the promotion system, we've created a bunch of COs who - once they attain a postion - will not risk anything, thus they become grossly ineffective and worthless as warriors.

The Navy is following the rest of the country into the cesspool created by a omnipotent and omnipresent federal government. It is time to consider alternatives to a strong federation of states.

[AIRFORCEAGGIE]

Originally Posted by MPLisa

It will only get worse under Komrad Barry Obama, just as it did under Korporal Komrad Klinton. Let me explain why:

1) Over the past 2 decades, as a society we've embraced all underdogs. Now, normally, this isn't a bad thing, the Statue of Liberty even welcomes the world's downtrodden (thankyou France...).
2) Liberals fall all over themselves to ensure that the government supports the downtrodden. Part of this is an effort to elevate self-esteem of all individuals. (self-esteem, I guess, in and of itself is a guarantee(??) of success in the eyes of Liberals).
3) Thus, to build up self-esteem and be all inclusive, we award a trophy to every 4 year-old kid on every T-Ball team. We don't want to award the "winners" only, because the "Losers" would feel bad. So, rather than making the losers practice more (i.e. WORK HARDER), we pat them on the back and hand them a trophy. By doing this we accomplish two things: First, we build their self esteem. Second, we take away any guilt we have for being the "bad guy" in making the losers work harder to achieve their goals.
4) This is how we've ruined our society by building the expectation of entitlement in our younger generations that "achievement" is not economical, but, rather, in self-image/esteem. It is economical too in the sense that we've turned our country into a huge welfare state whereby we levy confiscatory taxes on "the wealthy", in order to give that money to the sick, lame, and lazy.
5) So, on to the Tortuga. In an effort to ensure we've leveled the playing field in the competition for promotion and command, we've done away with the Navy meritocracy, and instituted the celbritocracy, whereby officers are promoted based on skin color, gender, and soon, sexual deviancy. By doing so, we've placed in command a bunch of incompetent officers who, while they might mean well, are incapable of fighting.
6) Because of the promotion system, we've created a bunch of COs who - once they attain a postion - will not risk anything, thus they become grossly ineffective and worthless as warriors.

The Navy is following the rest of the country into the cesspool created by a omnipotent and omnipresent federal government. It is time to consider alternatives to a strong federation of states.

What does this incomprehensible rant have to do with the subject at hand????

[MPLisa]

Of course my "rant" would not make sense to someone from a service that routinely loses nuclear weapons.

What is meant by the well written and highly articulate tome is that we'll probably be firing more Navy COs who have grown up in an era of liberal "leadership".