{"id":32767,"date":"2021-03-11T18:17:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T02:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=32767"},"modified":"2021-03-11T18:17:15","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T02:17:15","slug":"presume-the-best-get-the-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=32767","title":{"rendered":"Presume the Best, Get the Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

source:\u00a0https:\/\/www.usni.org\/magazines\/proceedings\/2021\/march\/presume-best-get-best?utm_source=U.S.+Naval+Institute&utm_campaign=056dba2d11-Proceedings_This_Week__2020_6_5_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_adee2c2162-056dba2d11-234933690&mc_cid=056dba2d11&mc_eid=3ac4fabe90<\/a><\/p>\n

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By Lieutenant Jeff Zeberlein, U.S. Navy<\/div>\n
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March 2021<\/div>\n
Proceedings<\/div>\n
Vol. 147\/3\/1,417<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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LEADERSHIP FORUM<\/a><\/div>\n
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We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die,\u201d wrote Captain Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the USS\u00a0Theodore Roosevelt<\/em>\u00a0(CVN-71). This concluded the letter he sent up his chain of command as a \u201cred flare\u201d in late March 2020. Captain Crozier was battling an outbreak of COVID-19 and desperate to give his sailors a reprieve from the close quarters of his ship, which were accelerating the spread of the disease. His words\u2014indeed the full letter\u2014found their way into the\u00a0San Francisco Chronicle<\/em>\u00a0a day later.1<\/sup>\u00a0The publication of the letter set off a chain of events resulting in the firing of Captain Crozier and the resignation of Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly.<\/p>\n

The warfighting nature of the Navy makes it essential to hold its leaders to the highest standards of competence, professionalism, and honor. But the perceived eagerness to keelhaul leaders for any mistakes, however small, erodes morale and trust across the fleet. It seems barely a week goes by without reports of the firing of a commanding officer, and the reason frequently cited is \u201closs of confidence.\u201d2<\/sup>\u00a0Undoubtedly, some people are unfit for leadership and should be removed. But it does seem that the confidence of senior leaders is too easily lost.<\/p>\n

The events surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19 on board the\u00a0Theodore Roosevelt<\/em>\u00a0have created a compelling case study on the nature of decisive leadership, faith in one another\u2019s character, and effective communication within and around the chain of command. Attempting to relitigate the case is fruitless, and debating who was right or wrong is irrelevant. There is no changing the past. The challenge, instead, is for junior officers to reexamine this unfortunate saga to glean some wisdom about the complexities of the issues they will face in its wake. In turn, more senior leaders must try to understand the perspectives of many junior officers disillusioned by what they saw as an overreaction to bad publicity.<\/p>\n

\u2018Too Stupid or Too Na\u00efve\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n

After leaving port from Da Nang, Vietnam, on 9 March 2020, because of concerns of exposure to COVID-19, the\u00a0Theodore Roosevelt<\/em>\u00a0quarantined 39 sailors while making way for Naval Base Guam.3<\/sup>\u00a0Though all 39 tested negative, precautions were taken to ensure the safety of the crew, and all newcomers on board were screened before arrival. The\u00a0Theodore Roosevelt<\/em>\u2019s leaders believed they had a COVID-free ship, but the world only recently had discovered the possibility of \u201casymptomatic carriers,\u201d making it impossible to know for sure without widespread testing, which was not available at the time.<\/p>\n

On 24 March, the\u00a0Theodore Roosevelt\u00a0<\/em>had its first three positive cases of COVID-19, none of them among the 39 originally quarantined.4<\/sup>\u00a0Three days later, that number had grown to 36 cases as the carrier moored in Guam.5<\/sup>\u00a0The situation was spiraling out of control, and the chain of command seemed to offer contradictory guidance on the requirement for testing prior to evacuating sailors from the ship. By 30 March 2020, with the ship now pierside for three days, the evacuation and isolation of potentially infected sailors was not going smoothly. The relatively few sailors and officers who were sent ashore were quarantined in a large gymnasium or warehouse and each assigned cots, which were spaced six feet apart. The measures both on and off the ship were not meeting the standards of the Center for Disease Control or Navy guidance.6<\/sup><\/p>\n

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