Guam Sub Officer Shooting Follow-Up
(Intel Source: The Sub Report) Earlier this month, we read about the strange case of a JO on USS Helena (SSN-725) reporting that he'd been shot by an assailant onboard the Naval Base in Guam. It now appears that the young officer has admitted that he shot himself:
"In his written statement he had admitted to wanting to do harm to himself," said Navy spokeswoman Lt. Arwen Chisholm.
"The unidentified officer, a lieutenant junior grade from the visiting submarine USS Helena, was doing rounds on Polaris Point on June 5 when the shooting occurred. That prompted a five-hour lock-down of the entire Navy installation on Guam in a search for the intruder. The officer had told investigators that he'd been shot at and then had fired back, but that the suspect fled the scene...
"...Navy officials have not charged the officer with any wrongdoing and have released the officer back to his command on the USS Helena, but the investigation is ongoing.
"The situation is still under investigation because he did falsify information, so they're going to have to investigate why he did it..."
"The officer may face charges such as falsifying information, conduct unbecoming of an officer and having a non-Navy-issued weapon on a submarine..."
Although he's been released back to his command, you can be sure that they just won't fly him out to Helena's next liberty port. Hopefully he'll be heading back to San Diego, where Squadron 11 can get him the help he needs.
Going deep...
posted by Bubblehead at 12:01 AM
4 Comments:
Nuclear trained Officers appear to have come a long way from the ones I used to know "Back when I was in"
Enlisteds, not officers would usually be the ones who would bring aboard unauthorised weapons if at all. It would appear that this guy was trying to make a name for himself by shooting himself and returing fire. Not good. While the nuclear trained officers I used to know were strictly by the book, soo much so that they would trefer to lose / die by the book rather than survive / win by improvisation.
6/26/2005 12:26 PM
From a PR point of view, the unfortunate event seems timed to add fuel to the further demise of submarines. The public is given evidence of instability in the submarine officer ranks. Hmmm. A political statement that results in an early out?
What happened to psychological evaluations? This guy needs to be reduced in rank to enlisted and serve out his entire, remaining obligation on a destroyer.
Say his defense attorney uses a "multiple personality disorder" defense. Whose bullet struck him- his or his assailant's? Who fired first? The guy could not be that nuts. He could be very political, however.
6/26/2005 10:02 PM
If he is unstable in submarines why do you think he will be any more stable (or less dangerous) on a destroyer?
6/27/2005 10:06 AM
I know the officer who shot himself, we went through the pipeline together. From day one everyone thought this guy should not be on a submarine because he clearly had issues.
But, the pipeline is about quantity these days, not necessarily quality. So he made it through - even passed the psych screening eventually.
For the record, 99.9 percent of today's nuke JOs still hold the same standard as our predecessors. This guy just slipped, or was pushed, through the cracks.
I personally think he should be discharged and placed in a mental institution where he can get help.
Did I mention he was an Academy grad?
7/09/2005 3:43 PM
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