I have written before about character and leadership, and I am sickened at the lack of leadership from the White House under trump. (Sorry, I won’t capitalize his last name, can’t do it).
Five years ago, I wrote a Kos article about my experiences serving under one of the finest Captains to serve in the 7th Fleet, Captain Harry C. Schrader, Jr.
To give you another example of his character & leadership, I shall recount an encounter I had with him on the bridge of the USS Long Beach while we were at sea.
We were performing a rather routine operation at sea, I was on the bridge as the Captain’s phone talker when he strode onto the bridge, took his chair and began reading the latest issue of Navy Times. He had only read it for a few minutes when he angrily threw the newspaper to the deck of the ship and began swearing loudly.
“Jesus F-ing Christ! They’re going to ruin this man’s navy! This is outrageous!”
His outburst caught the entire bridge off-guard and stunned them into silence. What the hell was wrong with the Old Man?
Now I knew it wasn’t anything we had done, but something he had read in the Times that had triggered his outburst, so I gingerly asked, “What’s wrong, Captain?”
He jumped out of his chair and began addressing not only myself but the rest of the bridge crew.
“It’s this damn Belknap incident. They gave the skipper of the Belknap only a letter of reprimand to slip into his personnel folder.”
Ahh! Now everything was clear. The USS Belknap was in the company of the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy when the Kennedy ordered and executed a sharp turn. The other ships in the group executed the turn properly, the Belknap, with an inexperienced Officer of the Deck, and the Kennedy collided with the Belknap, killing 7 on the cruiser and 1 on the carrier.
Where was the captain of the Belknap when this happened? In the officer’s wardroom, eating popcorn while watching a movie.
His inexperienced OOD has no business conning the ship in such close proximity to the carrier under foul weather conditions.
That was what infuriated my Captain. He addressed us and said, “I am the Captain of this ship. I am responsible for whatever happens under my watch. I am given a lot of perks as the Captain of this ship, but I also must assume and bear great responsibility.”
So if we hold the captain of a ship to such high standards, I must ask Nancy Pelosi: When are you going to bring Articles of Impeachment again trump for his Dereliction of Duty?
I need only cite three examples to make my case, there are too many for me to list but you can add your own in the comment.
Despite being aware of this pandemic in early January, trump sat on his rather fat ass and did nothing for two months when this country should have swung into high gear to prepare against and combat this pandemic. For his lack of action, we should name it the Trump Virus.
He is still doing nothing beyond holding nightly “news” briefings to pander to his bloated ego. While thousands of our fellow citizens are dying, he is giving us nothing that passes for wise guidance or leadership.
And in these briefings, he gives medical advice that is dangerous and perhaps deadly advice to his audience. He is not a medical doctor, he should leave the medical advice to the medical professionals.
Those are just three examples. They are all examples of a gross dereliction of duty. It is time to indicate trump for his crimes against the American people during this crisis.
To those of who would say that Pelosi can’t do this in a time of national emergency, I say BULLSHIT! How many people are we going to slaughter on the altar of trump’s ignorance, laziness and incompetence?
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