Even though the Navy originally went with a statement that insisted Capt. Owen Honors’ drag-fag videos were “not created with the intent to offend anyone” and “were intended to be humorous skits focusing the crew’s attention on specific issues such as port visits, traffic safety, water conservation, ship cleanliness, etc.,” brass there quickly wised up to how serious the situation was, and replaced that sentiment with a statement saying “production of the videos … were not acceptable then and are still not acceptable in today’s Navy. The Navy does not endorse or condone these kinds of actions.” That, combined with the quick ouster (or at least temporary removal of) Owens, has Gay Inc. lauding the Navy’s handling of the situation. Does this mean we all get to rally around Adm. Gary Roughead, the current naval chief, who’s been easing up on his views of gay servicemembers?
Last night Anderson Cooper spoke with Kirk Lippold, former commanding officer of the USS Cole, and Katie Miller, who left West Point over DADT, who says it’s “possible to get rid of these sort of incidents” like the ones involving Owens.
Of course we’re only having this conversation because Capt. Honors’ videos, made in 2006 and 2007, went public. Members of the Navy, including top brass, undoubtedly knew of their existence back when they were made. As Lippold points out, the timing of the videos is very curious. It’s not as if the clips were accidentally released; they were purposefully leaked to the media by sailors.
JAW
Listening to all of the talking heads on TV concerning this I have heard a lot of Questions and suggestions brought up…
Why was it just brought up… could be that new members of the crew found the tapes in old files on computers… could be that Gay sailors now feel comfortable since DADT is almost over
Other Questions as to why it was Not brought up before, was because this guy used to pick on everyone… There are a bunch more tapes that he did… perhaps he was an equal opportunity pain in the ass… he did pick fun of himself.
Has anyone ever gone to a Gay “Comedy” Club show?… They can be pretty nasty and pick on all sorts of minorities within the LGBTQDQDKGQ community
Does the Navy get a thumbs up from me… Yes it does.
Spike
The video is from 2007, last I checked it’s 2011, how is that considered ‘swift handling’? Seems to me that a whole lotta military personnel did a whole lotta nothing for 2+ years before the matter was swiftly handled. Curious that it took this long for the video to leak to the media given the higher number of gays in the Navy.
Ted B. (Charging Rhino)
While the Pentagon brass gets some credit for not closing-ranks once the horse was out of the barn on this. Major points-off for their previously not catching this in 2007 at his post-deployment fitness review, and dealing with it then. He should never have been placed in the fast-track to the captaincy of the USS Enterprise; his immediate commanding officer had to have known, certainly the crew knew, and the battle-group’s commanding admiral and his staff should have known since they were on-board at the time. If he had been a middle-ranked aviation-officer, the videos would be be mildly offensive and sophomoric. But as the XO of the Enterprise they call into question his command-judgment, his fitness to command and ” to continue enjoy the confidence of his superiors”. …Especially for command of a USN strike carrier armed with nuclear weapons.
Hopefully the current inquiry will put “dents” in the careers of those who; a)didn’t act once complaints were made by crew-members. And b) those in the chain of command who either personally knew about this, or who sat on the fitness review and promotion boards that advanced CMDR O.P. Honors’ career since 2007’s deployment. As with many “political” transgressions, it’s not so much the actual “act” that gets everyone in trouble, it’s the cover-up and the CYA’ing afterwards once the S**T hist the fan. …Or in this case the newspapers, and the Evening News as the lead story.
B
No. 1 · JAW wrote, “Listening to all of the talking heads on TV concerning this I have heard a lot of Questions and suggestions brought up… Why was it just brought up… could be that new members of the crew found the tapes in old files on computers… could be that Gay sailors now feel comfortable since DADT is almost over”
What probably happened is that someone who thought it was funny posted a copy on youtube for his friends to laugh at and it then spread like wildfire.
ALEX
The fact is – the Navy knew all about this yet still promoted the ass-hat to command of the vessel. The handling was swift in that after everyone found out about it, the Navy brass did the right thing. But it is very bothersome that had the videos not been leaked, this moron would be in one of the highest spots in the active duty Navy. Good thing this wasn’t a WIKILEAKS revelation or it would have been ignored still. Lesson – we need to covet our whistle-blowers and those courageous enough to reveal such actions rather than jail, slander, and libel them…
zaniell
I’ll bet anything Honors is bisexual