Unrestricted Coast Guard Chronicles (UCGC)

The Unrestricted Coast Guard Chronicles (UCGC) are a series of bio epics of interesting and sometimes strange events in the lives of Coast Guard personnel. They contain information about the Coast Guard, its Roles and Missions, including biographies, and histories of nautical subjects. The founder is Judge London Steverson, United States Administrative Law Judge (Retired), and LCDR, USCG (Retired).

Monday, April 13, 2020

Costa Rica Trip


Letter to Señor Martino, Proprieter of Martino Resort and Spa, Allajeula, Costa Rica (circa 1999)
Dear Señor Martino and Staff,
Mr. George Bernard Shaw said that "The great advantage of a hotel is that it is a refuge from home life". This is to say that your hotel, The Club Martino, provided me and my fellow members of the Association with more than a refuge, but a veritable paradise while we were in Costa Rica.  Everything about your hotel is first class. The rooms are luxurious. The grounds are immaculate. The spa well equipped. The food is scrumptious. The service is professional. The view is breathtaking. The flora and fauna are soul satisfying. The owner (referred to Alfonso Martino) is a man of arts and letters and quotes George Bernard Shaw. Our stay was unforgettable.
Warmest regards to you and all the Staff.
Judge London Steverson - Apr 1999
chez Martino Resort and Spa, Allajeula, Costa Rica
 

 
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Wednesday, April 8, 2020

THE FAITH OF A FATHER, CLEON SMITH

THE FAITH OF A FATHER, CLEON Smith
Cleon Smith is a Coast Guard Academy Graduate in the Class of 1978. He was a Classmate of Vice Admiral Manson K. Brown, the Coast Guard’s first African-American 3-Star Admiral.

Cleon is also the Father of Cadet Webster Smith, the first Coast Guard Academy cadet to be punished by a General Court-martial. Cleon Smith never lost faith in his son. He knew his son was not guilty of a Crime under the Uniform Code Of Military Justice (UCMJ).

He tried very hard to resolve the matter. He went to meet with Douglas Wiznieuski, the Commandant of Cadets. CDR Wiznieuski was hell bent to Court-martial his son. He would not settle for a Summary Court-martial, or a Special Court-martial That could have sentenced his son to 6 months in jail. No, CDR Wiznieuski wanted a General Court-martial that could have sentenced his son to jail for 20 years to Life. He wanted to make an example out of Webster. He had the backing of The Academy Superintendent Admiral James Van Sice and Connecticut Congressman Christopher Shays. They wanted to send a message to the World. They did not care whether Senior Cadet Webster Smith was Innocent or Guilty.

The Coast Guard Academy had been the first Military Academy to admit female cadets. In the era of complaints of sexual assaults on female cadets, these men wanted to be the first Academy to punish a male cadet for assault and harassment. The Academy wanted to reassure the Alumni of female cadets that their daughters were safe, and Congressman Shays wanted to get re-elected. He saw this as a great Election Year issue. Unfortunately he was wrong. He lost his next election.
(Pictured above USCGA Class of 1978. Cleon Smith is Top Row, Farthest Right. Manson Brown is Bottom Row, farthest Left.)
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Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Belinda Smith The Wonders Of A mother's Love

THE WONDERS OF A MOTHER'S LOVE.
The Court-martial of Cadet Webster Smith was just too much for Belinda, Webster’s mother. She exhibited great dignity and restraint. She was the most gracious lady under pressure while in the public spot light since Coretta Scott King, Myrlie Evers, and Jackie Kennedy all rolled into one. They mourned the death of their husbands. Belinda mourned the sacrifice of her son, and the death of his Coast Guard career.
The civilian employees at the Coast Guard Academy could not help but notice, her poise and dignity under such enormous pressure. They were mothers and sisters. Webster could have been their son or brother. They were so moved that they were compelled to act. They had to reach out to her in a practical way. They presented her with a note and a gift. The card read,
"We are so proud of the way you have carried yourself here, with much dignity and poise. Please take this small token of respect and do something nice for yourself. “

Belinda Smith found some relief in writing a journal. She reduced her thoughts to writing. This is a sample:
QUOTE:
“ If you could only feel what I have felt for these past 6 years, I have a strong relationship with JUSTICE that I am not able to shake. People say, "get over it, get a life!" I cannot! I closely watch Webster's life and all of my children's lives after this tragedy, and I am amazed by the spirit within them."
QUOTE

Part 1. (To be continued)
#ucgc #justice

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53
People Reached
13
Engagements


























THE WONDERS OF A MOTHER'S LOVE. (PART 2)
The Court-martial of Cadet Webster Smith was just too much for Belinda, Webster’s mother. She exhibited great dignity and restraint
PART 1.
QUOTE:
“ If you could only feel what I have felt for these past 6 years, I have a strong relationship with JUSTICE that I am not able to shake.  People say, "get over it, get a life!"  I cannot!  I closely watch Webster's life and all of my children's lives after this tragedy, and I am amazed by the spirit within them."
UNQUOTE

Continued:
PART 2.
QUOTE
"I sometimes think,  I use to be able to overcome obstacles, (I had so many). If this is possible, I gave my spirit, my soul and my mind to my children, and they are using it to go on in life. Today though, I felt that in many ways I failed......I became an empty shell at one point in my life, soon after the death of my brother. Looking back, those are the moments when I knew my children's firm foundation was in place.  I see it now in Webster, Brittney and the twins.  They have been through a lot and look at them, still achieving and motivated to make it. That's why I said I failed them, I lost that!  God's grace is sufficient. “
“The two weeks of the court-martial was very difficult for me, because as I've said before; I knew in my heart that Webster was being setup and I was sure when the evidence was heard, he would be exonerated.   Somewhere along the way, I begin to tell myself, these people are not going to allow my son to walk out of here an innocent man that he is, because this would bring the Coast Guard to their knees.  There is a lot I could say about this but I will not.  Would I let another one of my sons go to the Academy, well, one of my twin sons was determined to go the CGA, actually Alex was in the prep program a NMMI, until Capt. B decided not to accept him because he had a 2.4 GPA but accepted other cadets at NMMI that had a even lower GPA to go to the academy.  That same year Kristen Nicholson’s younger brother was accepted.  Kristen said in an email to my daughter and me, and she actually said, I am doing what I was told to do and went on to say as I understood, you do what those over you tell you to do,  There were two female cadets that came to the court-martial in support of Webster, but were afraid to say so,  They would always come up to me and give me a hug.  One even alluded to the fact that Jesse Harms would go from the court-martial to the upstairs law office where the girls were to tell them what was said in court.  One day, I waited at the end of the stairs and yes he came down the stairs just as they said.  I was also told that Shannon and Shelly were spending time together during the court-martial, and we actually saw them together at Panera’s Bread when we all went to eat.  I bought this up to LT  Kirkby, Webster’s Navy lawyer, and he did nothing about it. During the Court-martial, Admiral Van Sice came up to Webster and me, and he spoke to Webster and said something to the fact that , everything will be alright it will take some time.”
“This is LIPSTICK JUSTICE that we have witness.  Lipstick covers the lips in order to make them beautiful and when it wears off, you will see  all the imperfections that is always there.  The girls in this trial wore that lipstick and I will not rest until I see their bare lips.  You may not understand my analogies, but it make sense to me.  I know for sure that as I read further the record of trial, that night that those girls met, LTJG Miller said that there were 7 girls and so did the first reporting in the news.  Then at trial she said there were seven (7) girls and later changed it to five (5) because the judge said and lead her to change it to 5,  You know why, the second meeting that they had, Katie had told them about Shelly and Sheri and Kristen went to get those two.  I know they are hiding that lie.  Katie was the only person that knew about Shelly and Stacy was the only one that knew about Katie,  When Stacy met with Kristen in their private meeting, Stacy told Kristen about Katie and that's how Kristen found out.  They then went to Katie and confronted her about Webster and all she could do after that was to join in because she was angry possibly that Webster had told Stacy.  Katie knew she had to save her face so she wrote a statement to keep her and her father out of trouble to appease them, but she had enough integrity not go alone with the "witch hunt".  The biggest secret isn't Shelly's. it's the fact that they are covering up why Shelly did not want to come forward and bring charges against Webster until she was confronted by her regimental commander and the legal team, especially after they threaten to  charge her with disobeying a direct order and article 125. They either falsified the date of Shelly's statement which is Feb.16th or they had to use undue command influence to get her to testify either way; it was unethical. Even then, if the statement was written on Feb 16 why did they not give this to the Defense upon their Discovery Request?  No, the defense did not know about Shelly until March 8th when Anderson sent a letter stating, all witness has to on the list by March 10th.  This caused the defense to have to delay the Article 32 to compose themselves.  Sometimes, I think this was a plan to delay the trial so that they all could graduate before the trial began in order to convince Shelly she could get her degree, even if she was charged with any crime.  At least she had her degree if they gave her walking papers. 
“I know I will find a way to be heard!  I am missing something!  I pray for Katie and the other girls in this case and when I feel it's time, I will reach out.  I have noticed that Katie no longer has friends from the Coast Guard on her Facebook.  That may be because she has broken ties with them.  I am researching and studying as much as I can from information from these sites.  I have also noticed, that Kristen, Shelly, Kristen's friend "Jersey" who also testified are all pregnant or had babies before there 5 years were up.  Kristen married Howard Baker the guy who told her about Katie's relationship with Webster.
UNQUOTE.

Most people know the basic premise of the story, the collusion of several young women that resulted in the court-martial of the first cadet at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Shelly Raudenbush Wyman was the lone victor of the several women that accounted for the 22 charges against Webster Smith. Why did she come forward over two months after Webster Smith was removed from classes, following the allegations by then Regimental Commander-Kristen Nicholson, her two best friends Shannon Frobel, Kristin Strizki and Nicholson's subordinates: Stacy Chmielecki, Keri McCormack, and Katie Colella?
During the Court-Martial, Webster was represented by LT Stuart Kirkby and Merle J. Smith. Neither believed that the charges would prevail for the government. They did not pursue details of Shelly's relationship with the other female cadets. They could not mention Katie Colella or call her to the stand, Captain Judge, the Trial Judge at the court-martial, denied her as a defense witness. Besides Kristen Nicholson, she was the only person who could detail how and why she came forward. Her father had just been appointed the Dean of Students at the Academy and wanted no part of it. This was not the only reason that Smith's attorneys did not further pursue Shelly. Shelly Raudenbush Wyman was charged with two UCMJ violations--including disobeying an order--by the Coast Guard Academy, to push her to cooperate. She consulted with an attorney before the Smith trial and would not testify in the May pre-trial hearing so that she would not incriminate herself. The academy did not give her prosecutorial or testimonial immunity until the day she testified.

Why did she come forward?

The only cadet that knew about Webster and Shelly's sexual relationship was then-cadet Katie Colella.
Katie Colella and Webster went out several times in November of 2005. Over Thanksgiving Break when Webster decided to stay at the Academy, he picked her up from Captain Colella's home in Ledyard, Connecticut. They went out on the first of two or three dates, with the blessing of the Captain. The first night, they went to a club called Complex and outside of the Complex Webster told Katie about Shelly. Katie asked Webster to end it if he wanted to hang out with her.
Before the investigation, as the evidence revealed, Katie had not told the Regimental Commander about Shelly.
Katie played as integral a role as Kristen Nicholson did in pushing the charges but when it came time to end Webster's career, she was nowhere on the charge sheet. The circumstances around their relationship could not be crafted for a charge sheet and maybe she had a little more integrity than the others.
In February of 2006 when CAPT Wisniewski realized that Webster was not going to plead guilty to the original charges, he stood before the Corps of Cadets in the Chase Hall wardroom and asked for any additional female cadets to testify against Webster Smith.
Katie Colella, Shelly's track teammate, told Kristen of the conversation about Shelly. Kristen, the acting Regimental Commander, approached Shelly (Shelly admitted in trial) and several days later, she was interviewed by CGIS.
Not only was there a question of criminal prosecution for Shelly, she squelched rumors to save her engagement to Grant Wyman by agreeing to help the girls with Webster Smith. Shelly's fiancé was not there to support her during any of the hearings or the trial. Shelly did not attend or testify against Webster at the sentencing hearing Katie Colella was later kicked out on an Honor Violation; but, she was readmitted later in the Spring of 2008. Several other senior officers’ kids were readmitted after being kicked out. (Another cadet who was kicked out of the Coast Guard Academy because of an honor violation was the son of Admiral James Loy (retired). He was readmitted to the Academy  in about1992, and then kicked out again for another Honor Violation. Then he goes through OCS and earns a commission despite his Academy background.)
Webster's continued relationship with Shelly was never allowed into evidence in court. Her lobbying Webster to join the track team, and her frequent trips to Webster's dorm room to comfort him after several issues that Webster had had with his ex-girlfriend, Kristen Nicholson, in early November were never allowed into evidence.
The Court of Appeals majority ruling stated that there was no reason for Shelly to misrepresent the truth in trial.
Even in civilian life, after a conviction and serving time in jail, Webster was not free from Coast Guard interference in his life. A web site was set up for his friends and family to keep in touch. It was shut down.
This entry was posted by cgreports.wordpress.com on June 11, 2009 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.

QUOTE:
"We were notified today that Webster Smith, the first cadet to ever be courts-martialed at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy has had his site blocked by the U.S. Coast Guard. Smith’s website “Friends of Webster” is not accessible inside the Coast Guard domain. We reviewed the site and couldn’t find anything in our cursory review that would warrant being blocked."
UNQUOTE
(See-http://cgreport.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/webster-smith-former-u-s-coast-guard-academy-cadet-blocked-inside-coast-guard-domain/)
#ucgc #justice

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Posted by ichbinalj at 10:25 AM No comments:
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Thursday, December 12, 2019

Congress Concerned Concerning Coast Guard Handling of Harassment Cases




The U.S. Coast Guard’s leadership has failed to conduct prompt, thorough and impartial investigations of harassment and bullying allegations, according to a congressional investigation released Wednesday December 11, 2019.
 The Congressional Report had no historical perspective. The authors of the Report appear to have done no background investigation, at all. The History of Black Americans at the Coast Guard Academy is only about 50 years old. The History of females at the Academy is only about 30 years old.
 https://cgachasehall.blogspot.com/2020/09/us-troops-battling-racism-report-high.htmlhttps://cgachasehall.blogspot.com/2020/09/us-troops-battling-racism-report-high.html
The Coast Guard has been around since 1790. The Academy was established in 1876. The Report appears to have gone no further back than about 2005.
The background for the Report was so weak that the Report has no persuasive value. It lacks merit. Policy makers can almost ignore it with impunity. It will not spur policy changes.
Conspicuously absent from the Report was any mention of the Cadet Webster Smith Case where a Senior Black Cadet was expelled in 2006 after being punished by a General Court-martial. Nine months after his girlfriend had aborted their child, he was charged with having raped her, among other things.
The Rape Charge was dismissed at the trial, but Cadet Smith was convicted of other charges. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail, and a Bad Conduct Discharge, among other things.
The severe undeserved punishment directed at Cadet Smith makes harassment and bullying seem like child’s play. He took it like a man. He moved on. He appealed his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court, to no avail.
This was the first court-martial of a Cadet. It was an American Tragedy. The story of the case was fully documented in a book, CONDUCT UNBECOMING AN OFFICER AND A LADY, UCGC, Vol 02, Nr 01A, by Judge London Steverson (Amazon.com).
The report, called “Righting the Ship,” also found Coast Guard leaders didn’t hold officials accountable for deficient and incomplete investigations and didn’t take corrective action to address retaliation against people who report harassment and bullying. It concludes that the service needs to make “significant improvements” in its policies and procedures.
The U.S. House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees launched the 18-month investigation after questions were raised about how complaints were handled at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. Subcommittees for the two committees discussed the findings Wednesday, December 11, during a joint hearing.

By way of background, a study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2008 after a series of revelations about sexual misconduct at U.S. military academies, found that  the Coast Guard was not required to report to Congress any measures taken  to stem the tide of sexual assaults and harassment cases at the Coast Guard Academy. The GAO noted the Coast Guard Academy was the only U.S. military academy not required to report to Congress on sexual-misconduct cases.
According to the GAO Report, from 2003 to 2006 there were NO sexual-harassment complaints at the Coast Guard Academy, but there were 12 incidents of sexual assault reported to the Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), with one incident in 2003, one in 2004, “NONE” in 2005 and 10 in 2006.  

The GAO report suggests that CGA’s figures may not tell the full story. In Point of Fact, thirteen female cadets and 11 males at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (CGA) reported anonymously in an April 2008 survey that they experienced “unwanted sexual contact,” ranging from touching to forced sexual acts, during the 2007-08 school year. 
More than three-quarters said that alcohol or drugs were involved and that the offender was a fellow cadet.  None of the women sought professional help and only 7 percent discussed the incident with authorities. Not enough of the male respondents answered follow-up questions to provide data, according to the Defense Department survey.
”The fact that we have cadets who are being predators on cadets bothers me because I'm committed to giving cadets a safe living and working environment,” said Capt. John Fitzgerald, the new Commandant of Cadets at the time. “I'm not going to rest until the day I leave here, working to eradicate that.”
A survey of cadets, done by CGA in October 2006, found that there were 23 incidents of sexual assault involving 14 women and nine men. Cadet focus groups revealed acceptance, and even encouragement, of alcohol use. A few months before that survey was taken, senior cadet Webster Smith was court-martialed on charges of sexual assault, among other things.
The Defense Department conducts a congressionally mandated “service academy gender relations survey” every two years at West Point, Annapolis and the U.S. Air Force Academy. CGA, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), voluntarily participated the previous year instead of doing its own survey of cadets. Participating was a way to make CGA more transparent and to give Coast Guard officials an unbiased look at the state of gender relations at the school, Fitzgerald said.  Cadets were told about the survey at a meeting and could choose whether or not to complete it.
It is difficult to draw comparisons between past CGA surveys and the DOD version because the surveys use different terminology, like “sexual assault” versus “unwanted sexual contact,” and ask about different time-frames, such as a cadet's entire time at the academy versus one school year.
At the DOD academies, 9 percent of women and 1 percent of men reported experiencing some form of unwanted sexual contact in 2006, while 52 percent of women and 11 percent of men said they were sexually harassed. At CGA, 44 percent of women and 14 percent of men reported being sexually harassed. More than three-quarters said the offender was a fellow cadet.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Michael McAllister said at the hearing the service’s senior leaders are taking “every step to foster and develop a climate that’s free from harassment, bullying and retaliation” and take all complaints seriously. The congressional investigation was launched by the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat who worked on Coast Guard diversity issues throughout his career, and Thompson, in consultation with U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney. Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat whose district includes the academy, said the report isn’t an attack on the Coast Guard, but if there’s a problem it needs to be fixed.
Adm. Karl Schultz, the Commandant of the Coast Guard, was asked to testify Wednesday December 11, 2019. Committee leaders said Schultz declining to appear reinforces their concerns that the Coast Guard leadership does not takes the issues seriously enough. They criticized the Coast Guard for delaying the delivery of requested documents and heavily redacting them during the investigation.
In their report, the lawmakers said other Coast Guard officers, including retired Capt. Kevin Lopes, former head of the Coast Guard Academy’s Management Department, and retired Rear Adm. James Rendon, the former Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy, also declined requests to speak to the congressional investigators.
But McAllister said he spoke for the service because he is in charge of human resources, training and personnel policy. He said it was their intent to be responsive and transparent, and pursuing a diverse and inclusive service is a top priority.
#ucgc #justice
#ucgc #justice
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Conspicuously absent from the Report was any mention of the Cadet Webster Smith Case where a Senior Black Cadet was expelled in 2006 after being punished by a General Court-martial. Nine months after his girlfriend had aborted their child, he was charged with having raped her, among other things. This was the first Court-martial of a Cadet. The story of the case was fully documented in a book, CONDUCT UNBECOMING AN OFFICER AND A LADY, UCGC, Vol 02, Nr 01A, by Judge London Steverson (Amazon.com).
Posted by ichbinalj at 12:47 PM 1 comment:
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Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Bill Kelly Becomes 42nd Superintendent at USCGA, May 2019

New Coast Guard Academy Superintendent Says His Job Is To 'Seek Out the Blind Spots'



Rear Adm. William G. Kelly became the 42nd Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on May 30, 2019. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Matt Thieme)
Rear Adm. William G. Kelly became the 42nd Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on May 30, 2019. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Matt Thieme)
10 Sep 2019
The Day, New London, Conn. | By Julia Bergman
NEW LONDON -- The new superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy, just over 100 days into the job, said the academy has done much over the years to increase the diversity of its student body. Women now make up 40 percent of the roughly 1,000 cadets on campus, and minorities constitute 32 percent.
Now the question is: "We're at the point where we're diverse, but are we inclusive?" Rear Adm. Bill Kelly said during a meeting Monday with The Day's Editorial Board.
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Kelly, a 1987 academy graduate, who was previously the Coast Guard's chief of human resources, has described his return to the academy as a homecoming. He was stationed on campus from 2003 to 2006 as the leader of the Officer Candidate School, and again from 2008 to 2012 as the head of the Leadership Development Center.
Related: Coast Guard Rescues Nearly 300 People in the Bahamas Following Hurricane Dorian
He pointed to recent news headlines, which demonstrate the important work of the Coast Guard, whose officers all undergo training at the academy, including rescuing hundreds in the Bahamas following Hurricane Dorian, responding to the worst maritime disaster in recent California history, and just Monday, rescuing crew members from a capsized cargo ship off the Georgia coast.
"We're out there doing good stuff. We are the world's best Coast Guard. ... That's my perception. That's my reality," Kelly said, adding that he's looking through "a set of glasses that are 54 years old, that of a white male."
"Does everybody on our campus feel the same way?" he said.
As superintendent, Kelly said one of his main responsibilities is "to seek out our blind spots."
The academy, which was ranked one of the top colleges in the 2019 U.S. News & World Report listings, has its challenges, Kelly said, but what he's learned from meeting with his counterparts from across the country since taking the job is that other colleges and universities are facing similar issues.
"They're dealing with mental health. They're dealing with diversity and inclusion on board their campuses. They're dealing with financial constraints," he said.
Kelly took over as superintendent in the midst of a congressional probe into the academy's handling of discrimination and harassment complaints, and a separate review by the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General into whether the academy has adequate processes in place for reporting, investigating and acting on such complaints.
He said one of his main priorities is creating a safe and inclusive community on campus, and that he is engaging a cross-section of people on how to best do that. The academy now has a system in place to more easily identify inequities on campus, he said.
After being the first U.S. service academy to undergo a process called the Equity Scorecard, which evaluates institutions on student performance with a focus on equity, the academy put in place a system to collect and analyze this data on its own.
The scorecard found discrepancies in graduation and retention rates, disciplinary action, and academic performance, for example. Speaking to one of the findings, that black cadets faced disciplinary action more than any other group, Kelly said data the academy has collected since shows "the numbers have changed."
"We've raised the understanding of equity across the campus," he said.
The data are allowing the academy to more readily evaluate and address inequities, but another way Kelly said he can gain insight into the culture at the academy is through a course he's co-teaching on morals and ethics for sophomores, juniors and seniors.
"Think about being in a morals and ethics discussion with your cadets, what greater insight can you have than to do that?" he said.
While the cadets are "warming up" to the idea of being taught a class by the superintendent, no one has asked him a question yet. "They haven't said, 'Sir, what do you think about X,'" Kelly said. It's his responsibility, he said, is to create an environment that they feel comfortable doing that."
This article is written by Julia Bergman from The Day, New London, Conn. and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.
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Thursday, September 5, 2019

Floating Coffins




"The Responsibility of a Coast Guard Commanding Officer for the safety of the ship‘s crew is absolute", said Vice Admiral Charles Wurster, Pacific Area Commander, at a press briefing for the Coast Guard‘s Integrated Support Command following the deaths of LT Jessica Hill and BM2 Steve Duque caused by the negligence of CAPT Doug Russell, CO; and CDR Jeffrey Jackson, XO; and LCDR James Dalitsch, OPS.
CDR John R. Bitterman was listening closely. That is one reason he chose not to go to sea on a Floating Coffin in Seattle, Washington. He pointed out some repairs needed to make his ship 💯% seaworthy. For this, among other things, he was given a Punitive Letter of Loss Of Confidence. He was relieved on command. And his spotless record fatally tarnished. His 28 year career was over. ADM Ray told him that he was going to be THE FALL GUY.
This is an outrage. CDR Bitterman was not brought up on charges under the UCMJ. He was lynched administratively. This is a gross miscarriage. This can’t be. It must be reversed.

In a nutshell, CDR Bitterman, this decorated Officer, was given a “Loss Of Confidence Letter” and relieved of command based on gossip, rumor and lies. He pointed out certain structural deficiencies that were long term. He did not want to skipper a floating coffin. The crew lacked discipline and complained through back channels. And some staff officers were quick to torpedo his career for various reasons: jealousy, envy, and to cover their own butts. They had been hiding structural and disciplinary problems for some time. CDR Bitterman became the Fall Guy because he would not play ball. #ucgc #justice
Posted by ichbinalj at 10:00 PM No comments:
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ichbinalj
I am a thoroughly civilized, humane, cosmopolitan, polished, restrained, enjoyable, entertaining Info-maniac. I am a staunch exponent of individual dignity, freedom, equal access to legal services, and equal protection of the law. Here I hope to demonstrate my emotional restraint, humbleness of sentiment, psychological subtlety, lucid style, and simple language, without evading political reality or eternal truth. Daily I am excited that I have the right to create the beginning of a new self and to challenge old habits and attitudes I no longer choose to accept. I choose to relax in the present with my direction firmly in mind. I have an enormous capacity for creative and clever ideas and thoughts. It is phenomenal what I can do. I am capable of so much learning and absorbing a lot of information. My potential is a source of pleasant surprise for me. Each day, I increase in knowledge, skills, strength, faith, and abilities.With each adventure, the boundary hemming in my potential expands easily to accomodate my growth and achievements.
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