US Navy fires over a dozen senior commanders with no explanations, claims confidence loss

The US Navy has fired more than a dozen senior officers since the start of the year, including five in one week, without providing any compelling reason for the dismissals to the American public.

The Navy reported on Saturday that at least nine commanding officers and two senior advisers have been relieved of their duties since April and that four commanding officers and a top leader were ousted between June 8 and June 14.

The Navy said a total of 13 commanding officers have been fired so far this year, including 12 in the Navy and one in the Marine Corps.

“These reliefs are not related,” Navy spokeswoman Cmdr. Reann Mommsen told US-based military news outlet Task & Purpose.

“Leadership decided to relieve these commanding officers for several different reasons. Historically, from 2011 through 2022, an average of about 17 commanding officers have been relieved per year. (Note, this does not include 2022 numbers).”

It remained unclear what prompted the dismissals as the Navy did not elaborate on specific conditions leading to the firings, but it stressed the importance of "trust and confidence" across all levels of the chain of command.

"The US Navy has long maintained high standards for all its personnel. Those who fall short of these standards are held accountable," said Lt. Cmdr. Devin Arneson, a Navy spokesperson, who added that such an action is "neither punitive nor disciplinary."

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The report comes as a cluster of suicides on the USS George Washington warship sparked widespread concerns over mental health crisis among American servicemen. At least five crew members died by suicide last year, angering some sailors and advocates who work to reduce military suicides.

Teri Caserta, who leads an advocacy group fighting to end suicide deaths among active-duty troops and veterans, said the US Navy owes the public an explanation every time an officer or enlisted leader is fired.

Her son Brandon died by suicide in 2018 while he was serving in the Navy.

“They always resort to ‘loss of confidence,’” Caserta said. “Well, what did they do that they lost confidence on? In my opinion, it appears that they pick and choose who they want to relieve.”

Caserta said it is unclear why the Navy disciplines some commanding officers and decides not to relieve others, such as her son’s leadership or the captain of the USS George Washington, which has lost several sailors to suicide in recent years.

“How many service members have to die before this commanding officer is held accountable?” Caserta added. “You cannot hand-pick some commanders as fall guys and leave others untouched.”

Bryan Clark, a retired Navy Cmdr., said the Navy owes the American public and taxpayers an explanation about whether reliefs of the command show that the service is putting people with bad judgment in positions of power.

“I think the public’s perception is: We’re holding people accountable, that’s great,” Clark continued. “But if we’re holding them accountable for a lot of actions that reflect on the core character of those officers, you kind of have to question what is the system we have in place that put them in command.”

War-mongering attitudes and politically-triggered hostilities of successive US administrations have heavily borne upon American servicemen and US occupation forces in what the White House officials refer to as endless wars by Washington.

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A 2021 study found that more than 30,000 active-duty personnel and veterans of wars that were launched following September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have died by suicide.

That number was almost thirty times more than the people who died in the 9/11 attacks and about three times as many US service members who were killed in post-9/11 war operations.

Following the 9/11 attacks, the United States under the presidency of Republican George W. Bush invaded and occupied Afghanistan, even though no Afghan was involved in the attacks. The occupation continued for 20 years. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans died in the US war on the country.

US officials assert that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists, but many experts and independent researchers have raised questions about the official account.

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