Who Would You Follow?


I’m not going to rehash the mistakes made by the captain and crew of the USS Greeneville on the afternoon of February 9th, 2001. That has been done ad nauseum by the major networks and news outlets. Sailors made mistakes, procedures were ignored or gundecked, and people died. There’s an object lesson there that begs every sailor’s attention.

For the record, though, in my opinion CDR Waddle modeled exactly how a ship or sub commander should act following an accident of such massive proportions. He was straightforward and honest, keeping as low and quiet a profile as he could. That is, until April 23rd. On Dateline NBC, Stone Phillips presented a report that included portions of an interview with CDR Scott Waddle that was conducted prior to the Admiral’s Mast. During the interview (who knows actually when, because of the editing), in front of a national audience, CDR Waddle broke down in an embarrassing show of emotion, crying and blubbering, “I’m in such pain.” As if that mattered.

Compare the NBC interview with CDR Waddle to the press conference held last Thursday (April 26) by former SEAL and Senator Bob Kerrey in response to the story finally being published of a midnight raid in Vietnam where he and his SEAL team killed “innocent” civilians. (Was there such a thing in Vietnam? But that’s an argument for another day). Sen. Kerrey stood on the stage for the better part of an hour, being bombarded by slanted, even blatantly hostile questions from a corps of disapproving journalists, many of whom I’d bet aren’t old enough to remember Vietnam. But stand there he did, withstanding the arrows and barbs of cruel fortune, with nary a tear to be seen. In fact, Sen. Kerrey was almost defiant, even though as leader of the mission, he took sole responsibility for what happened, as was appropriate for him to do, just as CDR Waddle did.

However, the difference in stature and composure between the two veterans was obvious.

Don’t get me wrong. CDR Waddle has the right to feel the way he does. And I believe that most of what he described about how he feels is probably accurate. But don’t air that in public in such a fashion. Not only do most people, especially sailors, not want to see that, it isn’t the image the Navy needs to portray. I also understand that the Navy needs to do some PR damage control, and that necessarily includes interviews and statements by those individuals involved, but we can take responsibility for our actions without unguarded emotion.

The copyright of the article Who Would You Follow? in U.S. Navy is owned by Andrew Willis. Permission to republish Who Would You Follow? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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