The act is bad enough - but the timing ...... just ouch.
The executive officer of the destroyer Chafee was fired Friday, the same day he was supposed to move up and become that ship’s skipper, Navy officials said today.Note his last job - he was on the fast track; now, notsomuch.
Cmdr. Larry Gonzales was detached “for cause” after Capt. Richard Clemmons, who commands Hawaii-based Destroyer Squadron 31, “lost confidence in Commander Gonzales’ ability to lead the command,” said Agnes Tauyan, a spokeswoman for Navy Region Hawaii.
The decision “was based on findings from a DesRon 31 investigation,” Tauyan said, declining to specify what findings or events led to his firing. She said the commodore’s decision was not based on any operational, safety or security issues involving Gonzales or the ship.
Gonzales graduated from the Naval Academy in 1992 and has served on several ships, including as engineering officer aboard the frigate Vandegrift and as XO aboard the cruiser Normandy. He served as a flag aide with 2nd Fleet in Norfolk, Va., before reporting to Chafee.Well Larry - I do wish you the best going forward. This too shall soon pass.
Lesson to all; always, always have Plan B ... and Plan C .... and Plan D. Regardless of how well you think you have things set up - life will throw you inside curve balls; and on occasion kick you in the teeth.
Though it has nothing to do with this case, for the record - I do not like the Fleet-up program. It is hard for an XO to be an XO when he is to focused on being CO. $.02.
This person was my XO while onboard the Normandy. Terrible times dealing with this guy. Like finding out after our 6 month Gulf deployment we were going to certify DC Rip on the way home. Nothing like have Gonzalez screaming on the 1MC at 0200 to set GQ. The day we pulled into Newport to pick up our tigers we had a guy jump overboard. There's a time and place for everything, but after a 6 month deployment it's fairly inappropriate to bring 50 ATG inspectors onboard for DC drills. When we did our CoC one of the first things our new CO said to us was that he was going to fix the atmosphere of USS Suicide. Our ship was completely demoralized during the tenure of Capt Hampton and LCDR Gonzalez. I was proud, and am still proud of my time onboard CG60, but the period of those two were some of the toughest of my life personally.
ReplyDeleteI was actually happy when I discovered this article in an old Navy Times when I was on watch a few days ago. What goes around comes around, and it finally came around for this guy. I hope he was as embarrassed and uncomfortable as he made us so many other times.