Navy Commander Says Defense Dept. Can ‘Now Not Be Trusted With Your Sons & Daughters’

Texans Jack & Dodie, Clever Journeys, 10/23

The United States military is suffering a recruitment crisis says Robert A. Green Jr., an active-duty commander in the United States Navy. 

“If I had a message for the American people, it would be this: The DoD (Department of Defense) cannot now be trusted with your sons and daughters,” Cmdr. Green warned. 

“The failures of the past 20 years will continue unless there is radical action to right the ship, rebuild trust by defending individual rights, and re-prioritize warfighting readiness,” he continued.  “We need to clean house, particularly at the highest uniformed leadership positions.”

Although Pentagon maintains the “concerns about vaccines and ‘wokeness’ are among the least likely to be raised as reasons not to join the military,”  Cmdr. Green argues that the “ways in which our senior military leaders betrayed the trust of service members and the American people are both numerous and sordid.”

“In nearly every major case, senior leaders circled the wagons to protect themselves and the institutions they led rather than holding individual leaders accountable.”

Green explains that our 20-year ‘War on Terror” is a failure without “clear strategic objectives or victory criteria” that has resulted in:

•Over 7,000 military deaths.

•The historical tragedy of Joe Biden’s generals pursing a poorly-planned and executed withdrawal from Afghanistan resulting in 13 avoidable military deaths and more than $7 billion in military equipment left behind for the Taliban.

•The expulsion of more than 8,400 service members, many with unjustly-blemished service records, for resisting COVID-19 vaccination.

In all these cases, “no military leaders were held accountable,” Green wrote. “In an effort to protect themselves and fight for their individual constitutional rights, service members launched nearly 40 lawsuits against the DoD and their military leadership. At the risk of emphasizing the obvious, this is not a sign of a healthy and trusting force. Nor is it a sign that military leaders have any credibility with a significant portion of that force.”

Green warns, “We are more vulnerable than we have been in many years and our near-peer adversaries are preparing to take us on,’ yet ‘the Pentagon has cast more obfuscation in an attempt to blame anything but themselves.”

“DoD leaders refuse to ‘get real’ about their role in betraying the trust of service members and the American people. They also refuse to do what it takes to ‘get better.’ Until Pentagon leaders are willing to take these valid concerns seriously, the Navy’s ‘Get Real Get Better’ campaign can only be taken as a joke or an insidious method of whitewashing massive strategic failures. 

“The Pentagon has repeatedly attempted to paint those of us willing to speak out as ‘political.’ This could not be further from the truth,” he continued. 

“We just want our leaders to follow the law and honor individual constitutional rights. In this accusation of being ‘political,’ DoD leaders are projecting upon those defending the Constitution, something that they themselves appear to be guilty of. It has become obvious that our senior military leaders will prioritize their own career progression above all else.”

“Their excuse is that they were ‘just following orders.’ This excuse did not work at Nuremberg in 1946 and it will not work now. The only option left to us is to publicly call for accountability.”

“His deep dive into the current crisis details the harms perpetrated against service members and their families and the destruction of military readiness that resulted,” according to Green’s 2023 book, ‘Defending the Constitution Behind Enemy Lines, A Story of Hope for Those Who Love Liberty.’ 

“The crisis our military is facing will only be solved by following in the footsteps of our Founding Fathers and returning to an adherence to the Constitution that our forebears sacrificed everything to leave us,” Green writes.

In the meantime, a pattern of commanders being relieved of their command has sent waves of concern throughout the Navy. 

In September, Captain Paul Choate, the Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic’s (FRCMA) commanding officer, was  relieved of his duty.

This was followed by the loss of duty of commanding officer of the USS Alabama submarine blue crew, Cmdr. Michael Lyle.

Others who were relieved of duty include:

• Capt. Michael D. Nordeen, commanding officer of the amphibious transport dock Mesa Verde, Cmdr. 

•Alexa Jenkins, commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer Carney. 

•Cmdr. Peter Lesaca of the destroyer USS Preble.

• Capt. Jeffry Sandin, commanding officer of the Navy’s Recruit Training Command.

• Commanding officer Cmdr. Devine Johnson and Command Master Chief Earl Sanders, of the destroyer USS Bulkeley, were relieved “due to a loss of confidence in their ability to effectively function as a command leadership team.” 

• Cmdr. Kenji Igawa of the Missle Destroyer Howard.

• Commanding officer, Capt. Jeffrey Lengkeek.

• Executive office Cmdr. Michael Jarosz.

• Capt. Amy Larson.

• Command Master Chief Matthew Turner.

• Cmdr. Matthew McCormick, head of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 137.

In at least the last two years, an average of 18 Naval commanders have been relieved of duty. 

In that same time period, suicide rates for total military have climbed to about 1,500 annually.

Navy Commander Says Defense Dept. Can ‘Now Not Be Trusted With Your Sons & Daughters’