Another Albuquerque Guy Gone Bad
Coming so soon after reports that a USS Albuquerque Sailor had been arrested for passing secrets to foreigners, we read of a JO who did his Division Officer tour on the Albuquerque who also went out of his way to make the Sub Force look bad. From today's New Londay Day:
A Navy officer stationed at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton admitted during a Sept. 21 general court-martial that he deserted a U.S. Army unit at Fort Bragg, N.C., while training to head to Afghanistan this summer.For those who aren't familiar with the term, "dismissal" is the officer equivalent of a Dishonorable Discharge -- it's bad ju-ju. Probably what he deserved.
Lt. Robert J. Loomis III, an instructor at the Naval Submarine School, pleaded guilty to desertion with intention to avoid hazardous duty and dereliction of duty in regard to handling small arms.
A military judge sentenced Loomis to 13 months in a Navy brig and dismissed him from the service. However a pre-trial agreement will limit his imprisonment to 30 days, according to Navy Northeast Region spokesman Chris Zendan.
Loomis' sentence began immediately and he has been transferred from the submarine base to the Navy Consolidated Brig in Norfolk, Va., Zendan said.
For those wondering -- no, I didn't have to go to Afghanistan, but I sure could have when I did my IA tour just before my retirement. I have no sympathy for the guy. And although the article doesn't mention it, whenever someone is convicted at court martial, a follow-on administrative board will remove the offender's submarine qualification. People like this don't deserve to wear dolphins.
posted by Bubblehead at 9:00 PM
8 Comments:
you know with guys like this defending our country....wonder we have any left....HuRay for the guys who are men now....I keep my flag hanging for them all the time
10/05/2006 9:18 PM
It seems all too obvious that the guy made a real poor choice, but I'll let others pass out judgement on him. From my standpoint, it'd be far more interesting to know all the exculpatory facts.
In fact, here's one that seems far more relevant than the prosecution of the too-easy target the guy otherwise presents:
WTF, over? We're sending submarine officers to Afghanistan?? Nuclear-trained submarine officers??? To do...what? Draw fire?
10/05/2006 11:25 PM
Never mind...answered my own question. Here's what's going on: http://www.rontini.com/cgi-bin/eboard40/index2.cgi?frames=no&board=main&mode=Current&threads=Collapse&message=70245&index=
Let me just say this: I fear for the future of my country if we are in such desparate conditions that we are sending nuclear-trained submarine officers to Afghanistan to help train the locals. I'm calling an ace and ace here guys: this is absolutely stupid.
10/05/2006 11:34 PM
"...pre-trial agreement will limit his imprisonment to 30 days,"
Oh my, whatever could this have agreed that would reduce this officer's sentence for desertion from ten years to 30 days? Nothing strange there...
10/06/2006 9:53 AM
You asked the question; I'll attempt to answer it based on my experience with the Navy's IA program. They know that if you are a dolphin-wearing LT (aka been through the pipeline and the bs/rigor that goes with being on das boot), you can learn a lot of things extremely quickly. That, IMHO, is what they are looking for: guys that can grasp the situation and bring their problem solving abilities to the front. Seems to fit the sub JO community to the 'T'. Is is right? Is it our job? Hell, I don't know, but the guys I know that went 'over there' seemed to do a great job...and not one of them regretted it. Most of them were involved in intel-type jobs (I know, I know, but don't laugh). Don't confuse "desparate conditons" with using the abilities that are out there to their utmost.
10/06/2006 5:42 PM
Good post...
AubreyJ.........
10/06/2006 6:46 PM
1120s (submarine officers) are sharp, have the clearance already so you don't have to wait for a background investigation, and have been around the block a little.
They're requested, partly because a submariner out of his element tends to shine, partly because they get results.
For comparison the percentage of 1120 officers on IA is less than the percentage of skimmers, and much less than the percentage of airdales.
First active duty bubblehead officer with a Purple Heart I met was mined in Bangladesh back in the nineties doing some blue helmet work. This isn't new, just different.
10/06/2006 10:57 PM
congratulations, you just won the rush limbaugh award for professional journalism. i think there's a spot for you in bill o'reilly's culture warriors with the honorable title 'i don't think for myself'. repeating the sub forces rhetoric and spouting 'honor' and 'duty' out of your ass are what make it hard to 'transition to a civilian world'. let me ask you this, why do you love submarines so much? because you're supposed to? because that's what the talking heads above you repeat? come on, is it really an enjoyable profession? are we really serving our country? or could we do the same thing with a crappy satellite?
nukes are the nerds. we aren't soldiers. the navy doesn't recruit nuke soldiers, they recruit engineers. i've been to iraq, i've been shot at, so before you begin your typical ad hominem attacks, have you been shot at? were you recruited as an engineer and then tossed into a warzone without sufficient training? passive acceptance is what got us into iraq in the first place and is why the sub force and the military are in the position they are in - fucked. the people who attack others for being different, who are too weak themselves to ask 'how can i make this better?' by repeating the status quo in an overwhelming majority, you've driven out people who do think for themselves and can help the military move forward. if you sit a bunch of admirals down, how many different ideas do you think you'll get? the military is saturated with groupthink. we might be better off if people who passively accept submarines as awesome just shot themselves in the face.
12/07/2007 12:18 PM
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