Captain Crozier
What was the dilemma facing the Captain?
The corona pandemic posed a significant challenge to the United States military. More so, the military’s readiness to deploy in the event of war or chaos anywhere in the world. The USS Theodore Roosevelt is a good example of much the coronavirus had devastated the United States navy. A significant percentage of the USS Theodore Roosevelt crew members and officers had been infected with the virus. This impacts the operational efficiency of the strike group to perform its objective. This is because many of the crew members who were affected by the pandemic were not in proper health conditions to accomplish their daily tasks in the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
To address the challenges posed to the Navy, Captain Crozier, Commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, tried on several occasions to address the issue through the established military protocol. However, the situation was worsening on the USS Theodore Roosevelt (Fidell, 2020). This is because there was no immediate response or assistance on how the USS Theodore Roosevelt should deal with the effects of the coronavirus. The lack of proper response from the “top brass” placed the Captain in a dilemma on how to solve the Covid problem. Being a high-ranking official and an active member of a strike group, he was not in a position to involve the public in critical matters affecting the Navy. However, before proceeding to involve the public, he should have assessed his position in the Navy and the implications of breaching secretive protocols of the Navy. Being a senior officer Captain Crozier was sworn under oath to maintain the secrecy and integrity of the Navy. But, his ethical judgment was faced with the dilemma of assisting his men in receiving better care.
Should the Captain have sent the message? Why or why not?
Breaching military communications protocol can amount to serious conviction in a military court irrespective of the prevailing conditions or situations. Thus, fundamentally, Captain should not have sent the message, which leaked to the public. Essentially, his actions affected the integrity and image of the Navy, which is considered the powerful in the world (Gopinath & Bakshi, 2020). The Captain’s intention to seek assistance for his crew was welcoming, but his methods of sending the message override his actions. Thus, Captain Crozier should not have sent the message.
Was the content of the communication appropriate?
For the purpose of communicating his request, Captain Crozier opted to utilize a memorandum, which he then sent using an unclassified e-mail system. The Department of the Navy Correspondence Manual states that memorandums should only be used to “…correspond inside a single DON activity or between DON operations.” The system may be used by subordinates to communicate directly with one another about the normal official activity.” This may seem to be a little matter, but excellent correspondence practices aim to communicate clearly, effectively, and acceptable with the recipient. When presenting what is almost certain to be a contentious document to a higher authority, it is recommended that you employ the proper communication method for the task at hand. Furthermore, Captain Crozier did not adhere to any of the prescribed forms for a Navy memorandum throughout his writing. It’s possible that doing so might have helped him organize his arguments and request for aid more successfully in the future.
Moreover, Captain Crozier detailed the severity of the coronavirus on the crew member aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. In the memo, Captain Crozier stated that “I believe if there is ever a time to ask for help it is now regardless of the impact on my career.” Such remarks were exclusively meant to be seen by senior commanding officers who are above Captain Crozier. Exposing such content to the media is gross misconduct for a military leader of his caliber. More so, military opponents of the United States may use such information to understand the state of the United States Navy and its leadership.
Moreover, the email was directly issued to people who did not have “top clearance.” Thus it can be assumed that the letter was intentionally sent to the public through proxies in order to create maximum damage by galvanizing the public. Therefore, the content and medium of communication used by Captain Crozier were not appropriate.
What should he have done differently?
Ideally, Captain Crozier was faced with an enormous ethical dilemma. Nonetheless, he should have considered his position as a military officer before breaking communication protocol to air his grievances. From my perspective, I think Captain Crozier should have used the proper communication protocol to address his concern to his superiors. If the situation could have persisted, he should have resigned from his position and then raised his concern through the media as a private citizen. This would have ensured that he upheld his oath as a military leader while advocating for quality medical services to the troops. In so doing, Captain Crozier would have gained enormous support from both the public and military perspectives.
Captain violate Navy ethics.
The united Navy is guided by ethical codes that all enlisted and commissioned officers must adopt and implement. Regarding Captain Crozier leaked email to the media, it can be observed that he violated multiple Navy ethical guidelines. One of the Navy’s ethical codes dictates that an officer of the Navy cannot undertake any action that can be viewed as illegal or unethical (Carter Jr, 2015). From the military perspective, Captain Crozier wrote and distributed a controversial letter that pleaded for help for crew members stricken by the COVID-19 virus in March of 2020. Coherently, it is unethical for navy personnel to use federal property, which is at the disposal of the Navy. But, Captain Crozier use Navy property searches as computers, servers, and internet at his disposal for unethical purposes. Specifically, sending a message to the unsanctioned or authorized person can be viewed as unethical. Nevertheless, the ethical guidelines established by the government ought to have been used to judge his actions. This is because the ethical guidelines supersede individual interests.
Punishment justified
As part of his punishment, Captain Crozier was fired from the Navy. The decision was arrived at by the nay leadership. Overall, his punishment was justified since he violated the ethical codes of the Navy regardless of his intentions to plead for help for crew members stricken by the COVID-19 virus in March of 2020. However, from the public’s perspective, his dismissal may be viewed as uncalled for or unfair. On the contrary, his crew demonstrated tremendous support towards their Caption. His controversial letter gained much praise and recognition from the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Reference
Carter Jr, V. A. W. E. (2015). Ethics in the US Navy. In Routledge Handbook of Military Ethics (pp. 133-138). Routledge.
Fidell, E. R. (2020). COVID-19 and Military Law. J. Nat’l Sec. L. & Pol’y, 11, 181.
Gopinath, M., & Bakshi, S. (2020). Crisis aboard the aircraft carrier uss theodore roosevelt. Journal of Organizational Behavior Education, 69-70.
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