Navy captain insists controversial videos were approved by higher-ups

[alp227]

Source: CNN

Washington (CNN) -- The Navy captain whose high-flying career was clipped over his raunchy videos shown aboard the USS Enterprise now says his superior officers knew what he was doing and repeatedly praised him.

Capt. Owen Honors defiantly defends himself in a 15-page written statement to investigators, saying the videos prompted not a single complaint and had the "affirmative and tacit approval" of senior Navy leadership.

"Their consistent encouraging feedback constituted approval and affirmation that my conduct was within acceptable Navy standards as the ship's Executive Office," Honors writes in his declaration, first made public by the Navy Times. Its legitimacy has been confirmed by CNN.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/02/01/navy.videos.captain/index.html

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Talk about throwing someone overboard

Honors takes the cake on this one.

:banghead:

[LuckyLib]

2. Good ole boys slapping each other on the back -- tacit approval from higher command.

What a sleaze. Legal fees should bleed him dry as he tries to present himself as innocent of such fundamental stupidity.

[Skittles]

6. CORRECT

[Submariner]

3. But they will NEVER admit it

If anyone thinks a 2 or 3 star Admiral is going to admit to that and risk not getting their next star to save a lowly Captain, then I have a bridge for sale....you know the rest. They're all General Petraeus to some degree. World Class ASS KISSERS.

[Jakes Progress]

4. He can say bye to his cushy job

with the military industrial complex. He ratted on his scummy superiors. The good-old-boy system frowns on that. In that system you always lick the butt of the one above you.

[pezDispenser]

5. with no comment on this Captains actions

being a Captain in the US Navy is not what I would call a 'cushy job'.

[Jakes Progress]

8. I wasn't referring to his captaincy.

I was referring to the cushy, high-paying job that would be waiting for him when he leaves the Navy. To maintain their monopoly and the trillions of our dollars that flow like water into their accounts the military supplier corporations make sure to reward those from the service that help keep that money flowing with just that kind of job. It sends the message down to those still in service. He won't be offered that kind of job. That form of punishment is how the MIC shows solidarity with those higher ups that keep their cash (our cash) flowing.

[crikkett]

9. Lots of words

saying nothing. You don't know what this man had waiting for him upon retirement.

[Jakes Progress]

10. Lots of crap.

You don't know what I don't know. I know how this system works. Do you? Are you a part of this system?

Are you trying to say that there is no quid-pro-quo between military and MIC?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

13. hundreds of officers fighting it out for a very few lucrative factory pilot jobs

failing that they either go to airlines much too late in their careers to make it very far up the seniority list or just go find average joe jobs.

[Jakes Progress]

15. Who said anything about pilots?

Are you even reading the threads where you post?

Now I will ask you. Are you saying that there is no quid pro quo between the MIC and officers?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

16. you said...

I was referring to the cushy, high-paying job that would be waiting for him when he leaves the Navy.

There is no guaranteed "cushy high-paying job" guaranteed to an individual such as the one in question upon retirement, Captain Honors is an F-18 pilot. There are lots of cushy jobs in the defense industry, but there are a lot more officers chasing them and unless you worked in a procurement or evaluation capacity you probably don't have the connections to land one.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

17. How many retired Admirals are chasing those slots?

Honors was, as his fitness reports labeled him, "Flag Officer material." He was destined to be a policy maker.

To say he wasn't in line for a cushy post retirement slot if he wanted it is just silly. We're not talking about a retired LT. Commander.

Heck, my Retired AF Chief Master Sargent Uncle did pretty damn well for himself working in the biz.

[Jakes Progress]

18. Try to read carefully. I didn't say anything about pilots.

But I suspect you knew that and wished to divert the subject. My reference was the the hundreds of ex-military that sit in cushy offices, taking trips to the Pentagon for lobbying with their old friends, buying expensive lunches for those that will learn the culture of quid pro quo from this. I have relatives (big time republicans) who have been the benefactors of this tax-funded largesse. It was their comments about the guy that prompted my post.

I suggest you either don't know how these things work. Or do you have some reason to say they don't happen? Let's try again. Are you claiming that there is no quid pro quo situation that exists between military brass and MIC?

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

19. I need to read carefully?

Yes, there are hundreds if not thousands of such people - however thousands more retire every single year and I guarantee more of them are working for Home Depot than Lockheed.

Yes, there is a revolving door between the Pentagon and Defence industry, but I don't think many people have a good clue just how many senior officers there actually are. There are almost 300 Admirals and more than 3000 Captains in the Navy alone, the combined annual officer retirement of the combined services is enormous and if you think even a significant minority of them are taking up cushy jobs in suburban office parks in Virginia you are nuts.

Somebody like the accused in this situation isn't really positioned to cash in.

[Jakes Progress]

21. Yes. And try to address the issue of the post.

You are discussing the numbers of service personnel. It does not make your point. You agree that their are thousands of rewarded ex-military. Then you say that there is no reward system because there are 300 admirals. You are sloppy with numbers. How many of those three hundred retire each year? How many ex-admirals are working at Home Depot?

I do think that admirals who had command and authority over significant areas, particularly those who like the accused who was described frequently as up and coming, take up cushy jobs in suburban office parks in Virginia. I am not nuts.

You speak as if you are ex-military. I'm sorry if your level of activity didn't get you a cushy job, but my relatives (again, asshole republicans all) got their expense account cushy jobs because of their connections to the Pentagon which came from their connections while in the service. None of them was admiral level. All of them say admirals receive nice offers if they were part of the "club" while in the service. Lobbying for defense budgets is big business and involves lots of people. I don't think you have a good clue as to just how many lobbyists there are.

Your last line was exactly the point I made. He lost his chance to cash in. Then he doubled down on his calamity by calling out his former superiors. Those former superiors were shoo-ins for the cushy chairs. Had the accused been more discreet (played by good old boy rules) he could have still been rewarded for "taking one for the team". But he blew that chance.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

23. I never once disputed it exists, but the magnitude is comically exagerated

The retired officers most highly sought after are those with sway in procurement and evaluation, that is the "club". A senior officer with twenty years experience rearranging rubble in Baghdad, no matter what his competence... not so much. The morons on the other hand who mismanaged the JSF program... it is country clubs and call girls for them.

[Jakes Progress]

24. More comically denied.

And still a long way from the point of my post. But at least you have admitted that your original blow-off was silly.

[tabasco]

20. Along with a nice retirement and full health care.

Boohoohoo. :cry:

[TheMadMonk]

14. His posting alone says that he was "going places".

Doesn't matter whether it was with Boeing, MD, Dynacorp or whoever.

You don't get a captaincy like that without being involved in the patronage game up to your neck.

[pezDispenser]

11. fair enough

now that I have reread your post, I understand what you were saying.

[Skittles]

7. LOL

SUCK IT UP :rofl:

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

12. A friend who is a career naval officer says...

These are among the LEAST offensive "home movies" he has seen, pictures I have seen of the "decoration" of a bunch of target drones by some female munitions techs would probably send pearls across the country flying across the room.

I am sure far more offensive fare is made every day in high schools and college dorms around the world.

[Jakes Progress]

22. Nice to know that our war heroes

have the mentality and decorum of drunken teen-agers.