Small Town Dad Special Edition: Navy Captain likely scuttled by racy videos...

Ok – so generally speaking this blog isn’t the kind of place where these things get kicked around.  There are 8 million other places in cyberspace where people will be opining about these things.

But there are a couple of dynamics at play here that prompt my comments; 1) investigating workplace mischief is exactly what I do for a living, so the case interests me from a professional point of view.  And 2) as a father of a boy and a girl, the issue of sexual harassment and this kind of mischief has a very immediate relevance to me.  One consequence of doing the job that I do is that I am keenly aware of the kind of American workplaces for which I am preparing these two kids.

What matters and what doesn’t?  Where do you draw the line at workplace fun?  I always marvel at the Mackinac Bridge – if the men who built it could see the modern American workplace, they would shake their heads and wonder how it is we ever get anything done with everyone running around like Chicken Little the first time someone tells an off-color joke. Yet that bridge got built, didn’t it?

And I have to admit I am not altogether decided on what to make of this business on the USS Enterprise.  As a taxpayer, I am concerned that my money was used to produce these videos.  This isn’t exactly someone’s home video of skit night.  These are edited videos with some high production values – in one video the Captain has been edited in to play three characters in the same scene. So, if taxpayer money was used in making these, then I am concerned.

As a labor relations professional, I am concerned that the videos are four years old.  That tells me instinctively they are being used to settle a score.  Someone didn’t get the promotion they wanted, someone didn’t get the rating they thought they deserved, or the seven headed media ninny factory just decided it needed something to talk about during a slow news cycle.  Regardless, the offenses are hardly current and there is no allegation that they are repeated.  They are demonstrative of bad judgment entered into 4 years ago.  Where the hell was the concern then?  Why bring it forward now?

As an American with a vested interest in national security, I am also concerned that I have made an incredible investment in the training and career development of this naval warrior.  He is a fighter pilot and a decorated officer with 24 years service.  That kind of employee is very expensive to cultivate and develop.  I hate to think the by-product of that investment in development is so fragile that it cannot withstand a little workplace mischief. 

As an American who has been paying for this officer’s training and development for more than the last half of my life (24 years), I’d like to get a greater return on my investment and have him commanding the forces defending our country.  It would be kind of a short sighted decision to march him out of the service and into his pension and a lucrative Defense contractor job for this tempest in a teapot (which is four years old, did I mention that yet?).

And finally, my professional instincts kicking in again, I am torn.  Part of me says that you don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.  In all just-cause disciplines at work, you have to prove proportionality.  Does the punishment meted out match the offense?  Taken objectively, he didn’t drive the Enterprise into a pier, fail to zig-zag while in enemy waters, or lose a squadron of planes.  He made a racy video.  That’s it? So isn’t there something else that can be done to record the employer’s apoplexy short of throwing this guy out of his job?  Keep in mind, Navy; at one point he was your first choice for that job. At some point you thought he was the best person to safeguard that asset (the Enterprise) and to safeguard the country as Enterprise’s captain.  So is there a problem with your selection process, Navy?

The other part of that equation is this – there are only 11 Captains of US aircraft carriers at any given time.  It’s true, I looked it up.  Eleven people on planet Earth at any one given time are deemed to have the right executive mettle to command the most magnificent platform in the world’s most magnificent Navy.  11.  Part of me says that if there are only 11, and we have been paying for the career development of an entire corps of US Naval surface warfare officers, then there is probably a 12^th ready to step in somewhere.

The gist of all of this is this – and I am looking right at you any of you media talking head ninnies that are slapping yourselves silly over this issue -  the US Navy has been in the business of protecting America since October 13, 1775.  That’s 235 years in human years.  While I might have all manner of egg-headed questions about what goes on in the modern workplace, I think this might be one for the Navy to decide on its own.  Maybe they look at this like a proper disqualifying event from which the Captain’s integrity might never recover. They have all kinds of experience in judging leadership integrity and its affect on the battlefield – more than I do.  And maybe they look at this like a scandal that they won’t tolerate because it distracts from their mission.  And maybe the commander-in-chief decides it by saying “no way.”  One of the luxuries of being the boss is that you get to be the boss.

Whatever the decision, it is a sure bet that politicians will make hay over it and media talking-heads will sell airtime talking about it.

So thanks for stopping by my blog today – a bit of a departure from the usual family friendly, folksy content.  As always I appreciate your support.

Dennis

smalltowndad@hotmail.com