U.S. Navy: Accelerate Your Life
By Wyatt Earp | March 6, 2010
And, if possible, your guided missile cruiser. Those warship races don’t just win themselves, you know.
WASHINGTON — A Navy captain was demoted because she berated and assaulted her crew, not because she led her guided missile cruiser on a drag-race with another U.S. warship in the Pacific, an investigation shows.
Capt. Holly Graf was relieved of her command of the cruiser USS Cowpens after an investigation substantiated crew allegations that she was abusive and used her position for personal gain.
A Navy inspector general report said investigators had substantiated that Graf assaulted subordinates (pushing one, grabbing another and once throwing wadded up paper at another sailor) and that she regularly verbally abused subordinates by publicly berating them, belittling them and using profane language.
Graf once ordered a subordinate to stand in a “timeout” in a corner in front of the full watch team, which he complained to investigators was demeaning to him, according to the report. The report also found she used her office for personal gain — that is, asked junior officers to play piano at her private Christmas party and to walk her dogs.
Okay, here’s my take on this, which I am sure will earn me nothing but scorn from my readers who have served. In my opinion, if you are serving aboard a warship, you had best have a pretty damned thick skin. Verbal abuse is sometimes part of the job. Suck it up. However, when a captain puts a crew member in “time out” and/or has junior officers walk her dog and play piano at her parties, said captain is completely out of line. To me, she sounds like a female version of Captain Sobel.
I do not know enough about naval procedure to decide if Captain Graf’s actions warrant a demotion, but it should warrant some disciplinary action.
Topics: The Troops | 31 Comments »
Wyatt – Am going to piss you and a lot of women off here. Am retired militery and firmly believe that women should not be serving in or commanding anything that can go in harms way. They don’t have the temperment or emotional stability to handle a combat environment. The social engineering that has gone on in the military during the last 25 years has affected morale and made the services less combat capable than what they could be.
Minuteman26 – That doesn’t piss me off at all. I understand the feeling, since there are more than a few female police officers in Philly that are a complete and utter waste of a badge. Some are top-notch, but others are useless – especially in the ranks of Captain and above.
She’s an embarrassment, guilty of what I’ve termed “girling-out”. You want the job, you want the money, but you use your position to have your underlings walk your dogs.
And the time out? Was she a daycare teacher in another life? Does she take away snack too?
Mrs. Crankipants – Her priorites do seem a tad askew.
C’mon, Wyatt! She was just trying to be one of the guys!
Ahh, but the strawberries that’s… that’s where she had them. They laughed at her and made jokes but she proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with… geometric logic… that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and she’d have produced that key if they hadn’t of pulled the Cowpens out of action!
(Actually, the Navy may have done her a huge favor! Who wants to be known as the captain of a ship called “Cowpens”?)
She really didn’t get demoted (rankwise) but she was tossed out of her command, which in the Navy is a career killer. She’s going to end up somewhere (not DC) where it might be advantageous for her to retire/resign. Just wait until the girls get on board the subs!
I guess she just couldn’t pass the Navy’s Holly Graf test! Heh.
I saw this news story yesterday and since it was furlough Friday, I had lots of time to research it. She has a history of horrible behavior and bad command decisions her entire career. But just like Dr. Hassan in the Army, diversity was put in front of safety and duty. If a man would have behaved like she did, they would have been criminally charged for some of the things she did. But it was all swept under the rug because the Admirals were more worried about looking good in promoting women in the Navy.
This diversity crap is going to be the downfall of America. The FBI is a laughing stock, most government agencies are mismanaged because of it. The military is putting it ahead of troop and sailor safety.
Look at the professor in Alabama. She was hired because they needed to increase the number of female professors. When I was in college and working on campus, they “had” to hire a female athletic director. The only one they could get for out Podunk D-2 school was horrible. She was eventually fired for sending cocaine through the campus mail system.
It no longer matters how good you are at your job it only matters what race or gender you are. Or if you are a white male it only matters how you promote women or minorities through the system. Our District Engineer is not even an engineer she is an environmental planner and she got her position for one reason. The District Engineer that was retiring was a woman that had worked her way up through the ranks and she had to be replaced by another woman or else the Department might look bad.
Next assigment OIC “Gitmo”
Proof – Better than being captain of the McCain. Ba-zing!
Al – I wonder if they’ll look like Lauren Holly from “Down Periscope?”
Ingineer66 – Either way, the decision to give Graf a command seems like the wrong one.
Crusty – Watch out for those Koran-clogged toilets!
I was a Puddle Pirate in the early 70′s! There were not many woman then. An Officer should never lay hands on any sailor. That is what the Chiefs are for. An Officer has to have higher standards and expectations. I never had an officer demean me in any of my 6 years. I dunked a few Ensigns at the boat dock, and they all took it very well. (Right of passage is excusable.)
Does any one else reading this think she looks a little “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” ish? The photo kinda makes me see Bull Dyke, not that there’s anything wrong with it!!
The guy she put in “time out” in front of the watch section was a Master Chief Petty Officer (E-9). How’s that for eroding morale and discipline?
Woof! If the military thing doesn’t work out, will she star in “The Jan Michael Vincent Story?”
It makes sense that if she looks like NY Giants coach Tom Coughlin, that she should act like him as well.
Engineer 66:
From your references to Furlough Friday and District Engineer, I’m guessing you work for Caltrans? I’m a licensed engineer at the Translab in Sac. Our paths may have crossed professionally…
Dannytheman, you know if you walked in any of the watering holes she frequented on shore leave you would see nothing but cows. She signed up thinking she would see alot of dikes.
Wyatt, is she the one requesting all the babe pictures? Send her Anna’s and she will die of exhaustion.
Dannytheman: I though she looked a little like Gary Busey in Under Siege, but I thought I’d take the high road! (For a change!)
Ms. Graf not only berated her crew and threw things at them. She once choked a junior officer from the Royal Navy that was on her ship as part of an exchange program. And supposedly she has a boyfriend. Maybe it is a cover for him too.
Hey Mike, A few years ago I had so many things being inspected/tested at Translab they said mine was the default name in the database.
I am actually taking my furlough days off right now, instead of working 5 or 6 days a week.
I thought only surveyors and barbers were licensed. Engineers are Registered like Nurses and Sex Offenders. rim-shot.
Engineer66:
Got my license in ’77 when they were cheap! Still in training toward becoming licensed as a Sex Offender, though my wife says I can be pretty offensive at times.
With your attitude, you must be in Structure Construction. (Cheap shot).
J. Wilde, if it’s true it was a Master Chief she put “in time out”, then I have less respect for him than her. Any good Chief would have told her to “fuck off”, in front of the watch section, and taken the trip to the Admirals office.
As for the racing thing, don’t let anyone convince you it’s a rare occurence. It’s a regular thing.
Damn. I sure do miss the old days. No Girls. Except in those far off, exotic ports-of-call. One of the biggest mistakes the Department of The Navy ever made.
Middies aboard The Good Ship Ranger in the summer of 1980. We were working up for deployment on the Jimmy Carter Hostage Cruise. Female Midshipman and an E-3(seaman) from the Deck Department got caught he’in and she’in in a fan room by the Ship’s MAA. Kid got time in Leavenworth, the middie got a slap on the wrist.
My liberal, schoolteacher mother even drew the line. Dad was a former Air Force Crypto(spook) and Green Beret. Not in a Man-of-War, Tactical and Strategic Combat Squadrons or Infantry and Armor of The Line. Period. Barefoot and Pregnant? Fine with me.
See the Time write up on her.
A PC protected C**nt.
There is no place on a ship of the line or anwhere else in a combat role that is suitable for women. A friend of mine was in the first Gulf War Navy, he was a combat rescue swimmer. He said there were a lot of women on board and that most of them came back very rich and very pregnant.
She’s just angry she looks like a dude.
My uncle was smacked in the face with a rifle when he was in the Marines. They didn’t have time-out, I guess.
RT, I was knocked on top of the head by a helmet liner in basic. Those things were hard but not near as hard as fucking up in combat would have been. Needless to say I didn’t fall asleep in class again.
Time Out? How about the guy that was struck by wadded up paper? He could have received a painful cut.
Danny – She’s quite the “handsome”woman. Heh.
J. Wilde – I can’t think she would be very popular after that.
Crankipants – She can be a stunt double in the Airwolf movie.
TJS – Wow, that’s harsh . . . and funny.
Crusty – Bawahahahahahahaha!
Proof – Another accurate portrayal.
Ingineer66 – Assaulting a Royal Navy officer. Classless.
CP – Maybe he was afraid she would throw him overboard? And personally, I think the warship races are damned cool.
Glenn – Yeah, but they have to have pretty feet to go barefoot. Come of them need to keep their socks on.
Skip – Well, not anymore. Heh.
tjbbpgobIII – Lovely. Just what we need.
RT – Eh, rub some dirt on it.
tjbbpgobIII – Yeah, that’s a mistake someone makes only once.
Wagonsux – Those things really sting!
If they wanted people to pay attention to the article, they should have saved the “warship drag-racing” part for the end. On a related note, I have an awesome idea for the next Fast and Furious movie.
Hey Mike. I am not part of the Dark Side. But do work with them a lot.
I will guarantee you one thing: this Navy Captain was never treated as she treats her subordinates. Ever.
This is once again another shining example of how affirmative actions creates both an entitlement culture and a “can’t touch me” culture.
But I am glad she lost her command. The only thing worse than not getting a command is having one taken away. Even for an affirmative actions quota hire, this is the kiss of death.
Amongst Holly Graf’s offenses to military regulations:
Incompetence at ship-handling (ran the ship aground and broke the starboard screw); Ignorance of ship engineering & systems; Killing a whale with her ship and falsifying the ships log to conceal the fact; Spitting and throwing objects (binders, ceramic coffee mugs) at crewmen; Choking a subordinate; Showing blatant disrespect for visiting senior naval officers;
Read the stories of those who served under her:
http://navycaptain-therealnavy.blogspot.com/2010/01/number-two-in-our-countdown-is-captain.html