Our cover story this week focuses on how a hard-partying, hard-drinking commanding officer warped the morale and authority lines of the Bahrain-based task force he led. He attended a string of parties at a subordinate’s apartment over the summer of 2011, where heavy drinking frequently led to public indecency, a highly inappropriate spectacle in an Islamic country where modesty is the norm. Officers were afraid to warn him or report his behavior. And so it continued until he became the 19th CO of the 22 fired in 2011. Here’s a short intro to the story: By nightfall June 3, what…
Browsing: 5th Fleet
Despite trash-talk from Iran, the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group is keeping its cool. After practicing blockading the Strait of Hormuz, a highway for about 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, Iranian Army chief Ataollah Salehi pledged consequences if a U.S. aircraft carrier entered the Persian Golf. “I advise, recommend and warn them over the return of this carrier to the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once,” Salehi said. Days earlier, one of his country’s aircraft captured footage of the Stennis as it operated in the Gulf. Iranian officials claimed…
The Norfolk-based destroyer Mason finally made it home today, bringing up the rear of the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group, most of which arrived at home ports or bases July 15. One of the happy sailors was Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Eugene Andal, who was selected to debark and receive the traditional first kiss from his wife and kids: The Strike Group left Norfolk Jan. 13 to support theater security cooperation and maritime security cooperation efforts during a deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility that covered nearly 60,000 miles.
