The Rise and Fall of a Female Captain Bligh

Submitted by Matt on Sun, 2010-03-07 19:02

Article here. Not to say there are not abusive commanders in the armed forces who are not also men; indeed, since the vast majority of ship commanders in the USN are men, nearly all abusive ship commanders in the USN are very likely also to be men-- this by deduction. The point of this article appearing on MANN is to show that the dogmatic feminist assertion that by appointing more women to positions of command (naval or not) is likely to make more commanders (as a percentage of commanders) *less* likely to be abusive or exploit their positions for personal gain is spurious. Excerpt:

'Women are so common in the upper ranks of the U.S. military these days that it's no longer news when they break through another barrier. Unfortunately, the latest benchmark isn't one to brag about: being booted as captain of a billion-dollar warship for "cruelty and maltreatment" of her 400-member crew. According to the Navy inspector general's report that triggered her removal — and the accounts of officers who served with her — Captain Holly Graf was the closest thing the U.S. Navy had to a female Captain Bligh.

A Navy admiral stripped Graf of her command of the Japan-based guided missile cruiser U.S.S. Cowpens in January. The just-released IG report concludes that Graf "repeatedly verbally abused her crew and committed assault" and accuses her of using her position as commander of the Cowpens "for personal gain." But old Navy hands tell TIME that those charges, substantiated in the IG report, came about because of the poisonous atmosphere she created aboard her ship.

The case has attracted wide notice inside the Navy and on Navy blogs, where her removal has generated cheers from those who had served with her since she graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1985. While many denounced Graf, even greater anger seems directed at the Navy brass for promoting such an officer to positions of ever-increasing responsibility. Graf declined an interview request.'

UK press covers the story here as well.

Like0 Dislike0

Comments

Good God, what happened to them in that class anyway? Commenter on the UK article notes that Graf was a classmate of Lisa Nowak:

"John McCord wrote:
No one seemed to note this in all the articles. The above referenced officer is a classmate of Lisa Nowak (ref: the diaper bit astronaut). As one who knew Lisa way back when and knew of the above referenced officer, I am forced to wonder...
March 7, 2010 3:07 AM GMT"

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Matt on Sun, 2010-03-07 19:14

Women who are fast tracked and promoted beyond their true paygrade often become "gods gifts" to the organization which serves their egos and personal needs; they do not serve the organization and in this case the entire US Navy was only a mechanisim that only existed to meet the needs and whims of this nimrod. The same thing happened to Hewlett Packard when it suffered under its first female CEO. Everyone jumped with joy when she was finally canned.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Luek on Mon, 2010-03-08 16:10

I see that happen. Women who have potential but have yet to pay their dues and learn what must be learnt (always the hard way-- there are no easy paths to real knowledge) are thrust forward just to meet the ideological P-C aspirations (or perceived ones) of the organization and of course fall flat on their noses. Meanwhile they actually come to believe they can do what they have been sent to do: with almost no management role entries on a resume, suddenly they are able to lead a 20,000-person multinational business? No.

At the same time, truly qualified people who have earned their stripes are left by the wayside. It's ridiculous. And not only unfair and sexist, it also throws the organization under the bus. Those 20,000 employees are badly-served by having a CEO who lacks the appropriate education-experience-characteristics to lead such a large enterprise. It must perforce be less competitive in the same way a ship commanded by a person not ready for command must perforce be less effective in its duties. If the commander/CEO is like the brain in a body (also by way of analogy, the ship or the corporation), the brain, even in a healthy body, can bring it down if it is unable to steward the body correctly. (Ever see a great athlete get into drugs? The brain is exposed as being incompetent to steward the body as evidenced by its choice to get into drugs, and so predictably the body fast follows suit from being in great shape to being in terrible shape.)

Affirmative action was originally this: deciding because of race or sex that the non-male/non-white person should get the job WHEN ALL OTHER THINGS WERE EQUAL: education, experience, etc., or almost-equal. That has morphed into this: political correctness. Hell or high water, in a position of this or that kind, there MUST be a woman or non-white in it, period, OR ELSE. This leads to anti-male sexism as well as anti-white racism, not just ideologically, but measurably in terms of an indefensible seizure of the other person's right to be fairly treated and to compete equally for the position.

It also leads to situations where corporations, or sometimes, naval vessels, both of which inarguably need qualified commanders/CEOs, don't get them because of this kind of sexism and racism. Thus the ship/corporation/whatever gets royally shafted, often at a time it really can't afford the luxury of it-- like nowadays.

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Matt on Mon, 2010-03-08 16:43