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from the pain-and-disability-are-their-own-punishments dept.
Former USS Fitzgerald CO Benson to Retire as Commander Next Month - USNI News
The former commander of a guided-missile destroyer that was involved in a fatal collision in 2017 will retire at his current rank and will be eligible for retirement and medical benefits, his lawyer confirmed to USNI News on Wednesday.
Cmdr. Bryce Benson will retire from the Navy on Dec. 29 after a two-year legal battle with the Navy over his role in the June 17, 2017, collision of USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and container ship ACX Crystal off the coast of Japan that resulted in the death of seven sailors.
Benson's retirement was first reported by ProPublica.
The Navy had scheduled a Board of Inquiry for Benson following the dismissal of criminal charges earlier this year, USNI News had learned. The ruling of the board could have threatened his medical care for treatment for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder Benson suffered during the collision. The stateroom where Benson was sleeping during the time of the collision was crushed by the bow of Crystal, and Benson was flown off the ship for medical treatment as soon as help arrived on the scene. The Navy reversed course last month and allowed Benson to leave the service without a board of inquiry.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @02:57PM (6 children)
The guy was seriously injured in service to the US. Whatever systemic failures in leadership there may have been on the ship, he was sleeping and did not have immediate influence on the accident. Why should he not be retired with benefits?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:00PM (2 children)
Must find a scapegoat! ONE scapegoat who's to blame for EVERYTHING.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @03:54PM
And not touch people actually at fault.
Bonus points if the victim ended up brain damaged.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 23 2019, @05:22PM
the US military has a saying, probably most starkly applied to US Navy ship and boat commanders: one can delegate authority, but one cannot delegate responsibility.
in a ship incident, the shit tends to roll up hill, not down, and stops at the Captain's Chair. like a Katamari, they unfortunately attach many other people to them (casualties, broken very expensive hardware).
and the "scrambled eggs" suite doesn't like being embarrassed... so that shit still rolls downhill until it finds its hapless victims..
a ship collision is always a very big embarrassment for them...
it is what it is.
and it is human nature to always find anyone besides "me" as being negatively responsible.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Saturday November 23 2019, @10:15PM (2 children)
Because he was ultimately responsible for the running of the ship, and he should have had competent watch officers in place, and steersmen who knew how to operate the machinery they were entrusted to control.
It is a personal tragedy for him that he was severely injured. Had his cabin been on the other side of the ship, he would have been fine, and we would not be asking whether he take the consequences of the failure to discharge his responsibilities correctly.
On a purely human level, yes, of course he should be cared for. He was in active service, and his superiors failed in many way, including running poor training programmes, so he should not be the scapegoat - his failings were not the only ones. Blaming a single person for all aspects of the processes that led up to the incident is unwarranted and unfair.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday November 23 2019, @11:19PM (1 child)
The problem here is that the Navy opened its ranks to women and queers, and worse, allowed them to become commissioned officers serving watch in the pilothouse. Women can barely drive cars, what crazy jackass decided to let them drive ships? And that's on the rare occasion they're actually doing their jobs instead of preening themselves and getting into catfights with the other women.
Queers are a bit better at their jobs because they are men, but they too have problems with being in the pilothouse when they are supposed to because they are too busy having gay homosexual buttsex in the many unseen nooks and crannies of the ships.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 24 2019, @03:21PM
It's the Navy, Eth.
I don't think gays are a new thing in their ranks.
No disrespect, just admitting a fact that has been acknowledged for centuries, usually in a joking way.