Apparently the Navy dug ol' Uncle Ernie up, injected him with zombie juice, and turned him loose, because:
1. A skipper who grounded his amphib in the Persian Gulf has been relieved of command;
2. The CO and XO of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS George Washington have been relieved of command after a major fire burned for 12 hours, injured a bunch of sailors, and did millions of dollars in damage, all due to the carelessness of someone smoking a cigarette.
All of this started, of course, when a couple of warships were found to be unready for combat, as I blogged here.
The Navy goes through cycles like this. Just before I enlisted, there was a huge problem with drug use in the Navy, which resulted in tragedy onboard the USS Nimitz. The Navy cracked down and eliminated most drug use in the fleet. Apparently discipline is getting lax again, and this is the result.
I sympathize with the officers involved, but it's the Navy way; the CO is responsible for what goes on in his ship.
update: the man himself, in all his shambling zombie glory:
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