1-I've been asked a bunch. So here's my take on Capt #Crozier 's firing. Disclaimer: Within my year group and the ones immediately following me at Annapolis , there are a few dozen ship captains. And I was a ship driver. #navy

2-My information on this is of the sort one can glean by knowing how the system works, reading what's public and taking the temperature of my network. These folks don't share secret information they're not supposed to...so I've got no "gotcha" info. #Navy

3-First, the firing was extremely fast. My normal disclaimer is there's always "something" we don't know about what happened so we should mostly hold our opinions. This was so fast that there was not much investigation. #navy

4-So either he was doing something terribly egregious and secret or there really wasn't anything at all beyond the correspondence that he sent. The acting SECNAV comments this week pretty much confirm it was the latter. He was fired for the email.

5-If you understand Navy correspondence you understand that if one wants to ensure something never gets outside of official channels one simply sends it over the secure internet...which means anyone leaking it is committing a federal felony and goes to jail.

6-He didn't send it that channel...so it's not unreasonable to believe he wanted it to get out. Nearly everyone I've talked to who's had command expected some repercussion for the email. Which means the pearl clutching over "he did absolutely nothing wrong" is not a broadly

7-shared opinion. That said, none of them believed he would be publicly fired. Reprimanded, moved up the change of command date quietly, something else. They view the way it went down as extreme and intentional...and not directly proportional to the offense.

8-Which takes me to what he actually did. And now it's important to point out exactly what the CO of a carrier's job is. It's not what most people think. A nuclear powered aircraft carrier is a strategic asset. There are a handful of them. And their existence is what acutely

9-seperates the US Navy from every other navy in the world. Cozier is a Captain. An O6...one rank higher than what I was when I got out. He does not make decisions on where strategic national assets go and what operatation's they participate in. These are SECDEF lvl calls

10-Crozier's job is to make sure the ship and crew are mission capable and that the ship is where it is supposed to be doing the things it is supposed to be doing. Any criticisms of him regarding anything beyond that, don't understand how it works and can be dismissed.

11-Crozier had an outbreak on his ship. And he believed he wasn't getting the response that was required. Moreover he was mostly being told to offload the sick and continue mission. This was at a time when we in America were still trying 2 pretend the issue was going to just die.

12-This isConsistent with what Crozier got from his COC. So it's likely he had a problem and wasn't getting the support he needed. As egregious as this sounds...commanders in the field/afloat not getting what they want from the brass & griping about it is the gripe cdrs have

13-In this instance Crozier's gripes were founded. What we know about the disease and certainly knew by the time he sent the email is that the ship simply couldn't remove those tested positive and continue on. It would be a down ship within a month...with some fatalities.

14-What gets missed by focusing on the "we don't need people to die" part of the correspondence is that, at the risk of sounding insensitive, the bigger risk was a non mission capable carrier for a much longer period than was possible with more aggressive measures early.

15-Crozier knew it. And him going down with the disease himself tells you the reality of concern here. The ship was going down one way or another. It's a floating city with common living areas. Literally the worst place on the planet to be in an outbreak.

16-Moreover, knowing what we know about the disease, there are certainly other ships with some level of outbreak that were getting a similar response from the brass. Captains talk. They know this. It's entirely possible that Crozier wasn't simply taking one for his team.

17-But taking one for THE team...as in the Navy. And he assumed a reprimand was worth it. But didn't think he'd get canned. The outpouring of support from officers who stop short of saying he shouldn't have been fired (they can't say that) but say what an incredible leader

18-of character he was is telling. I've fished bit...no one will bash him personally. And so I think those that know think at least a little positive of his actions. Time will tell how we view Crozier. There's enough uncertainty to not go full outrage here,but if you made me bet

19-...Crozier took the fall for something that mattered a bunch. And history will likely tell that story. Be wary of people shouting outrage though...outrage isn't the right speed here. Surprise yes...outrage...likely a political take.

20-As for what the SECDEF did, flying 8000 miles to talk to the crew, who cheered off Crozier (not common at all) and then bash their skipper..there's no uncertainty there. It was inappropriate. He's since apologized...credit to him.

21-The broader narrative of the admin and how it deals with high visibility Navy issues, contrast SEAL Eddy Gallagher v Crozier...is worth discussion beyond this. The active duty officers anywhere near the administration have a posture of simply surviving while hoping some

22-moral leadership dilemma doesn't fall in their lap. Because they understand that if one does, there's really one input into how it's going to go. And if you end up on the wrong side of POTUS, you get burnt and a career of service is down in flames.

23-POTUS is the CINC...so the desire not to fall out of favor with him is not unhealthy. That his desires aren't particularly predictable or aligned with past principles (don't get involved in good order and discipline issues for instance) is what makes it scary.