Navy IG Report on Removal from Command

[Pete]

The Admiralty & Maritime Law Blog has published excerpts from the Inspector General report on Captain Holly Graf's removal from command of USS Cowpens. Tom Ricks included a link to the blog today. The report describes a peculiar climate of command and can be read by clicking here.

[Rifleman]

It sort of sounds like she was trying to prove to the men that she "had a pair."

Did I really just say that?

Figuratively speaking of course.

[Hacksaw]

My first Battery CO was a female who seemed intent on proving she was "packing"....
I arrived late in the command and as a fairly senior lieutenant (if only relative to other LTs), and was never the object of her public displays of insanity but the command climate in that unit was corrosive...

Not sure what all that means...

[J Wolfsberger]

One of my first company commanders was female. She was also one of the best. Great command climate, great morale and unit cohesion. This looks like, at most, an officer kept in place for PC reasons long after unfitness was demonstrated.

[Red Flag 1]

It sort of sounds like she was trying to prove to the men that she "had a pair."

Did I really just say that?

Figuratively speaking of course.

I read of this several weeks ago in a Military Times Pub. Then, and in the source Pete noted, there was no mention of gender specific charges. IMHO, Capt Graff's concept of command saw her conduct and decisions take her to places not intended by the US Navy. While not defending Capt Graff, there is, IMMHO, a tendency for the military to select commanders for management skills over leadership skills. That having been said, leaders of the Gen Patton mold can be seen as a threat to management, YMMV.

It will be interesting to see where the investigation leads and what, if any, changes are made in selecting Naval CO's. Given the PC mindset our military is being held to, there will likely be fallout that is made public. I expect The Armed Forces Journal will respond over the next few months.

RF 1

[walrus]

Holly Grafs behaviours, in my layman opinion, fit a classic case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

I have interacted with Two females with this condition, one in management and one in a personal capacity, and it fits to a tee. The key characteristic of a narcissist is that they have no empathy, they just cannot put themselves in another persons shoes. They can thus commit outrageous behaviour with absolutely no qualms at all.

While it is not mentioned in the report, I would expect Holy Graf was extremely good at "Managing up" to her bosses, to the point where she was seen as Gods gift to the Navy. Narcissists do this by "calibrating' their target and then becoming, chameleon like, exactly what they believe the targets ideal image is. For example, if the target is a golfer the narcissist will learn Golf and then casually drop that fact in to conversation, and so on. Holly Graf would most probably "mirror" the targets idealised image of what a Navy Officer should be.

The trouble is that because they don't do empathy, they treat subordinates as tools, like a working dog. They treat equals as competitors to be eliminated by fair means or foul, and they will lie, cheat and steal to do this.