Category: Navy

Several folks have sent us links to stories about this former US Navy Captain, Daniel Dusek, who was sentenced to 46 months in prison for trading Navy secrets for hookers and luxury hotels rooms. From Military.com;

Also Friday, U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino ordered Dusek to pay a $70,000 fine for giving ship and submarine schedules to help Leonard Glenn Francis carry out a scheme in which his company, Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., or GDMA, overbilled the maritime branch by more than $34 million.

Dusek told the court he will never forgive himself for his actions.

Yeah, he really shouldn’t. I’m sure, at his rate of pay, hookers in Malayasia are probably relatively cheap – considerably cheaper than the millions he gave up in retirement compensation.

From BBC;

Judge Janis Sammartino said: “It is truly unimaginable to the court that someone in your position with the United States Navy would sell out based on what was provided to you – hotel rooms, entertainment and the services of prostitutes.”

From CNN;

He admitted to using his influence to benefit Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA). For decades, the contractor provided port services to U.S. Navy ships and Dusek would steer them GDMA’s way.

According to his plea agreement, he hand-delivered Navy ship schedules to the GDMA office in Japan or emailed them directly.

I’ll admit that I ignored much of this story because it just seemed inconceivable to me that any American military officer would involve themselves in something like this.

Hack Stone and Bobo send us a link to the Virginian-Pilot story of Senior Chief Dwight Newton, who was the Chief of Boat aboard the USS ALBANY. It seems that Chief Newton pissed hot on a urinalysis test.

He has been charged with wrongful use of a controlled substance and making false official statements, the Navy said.

Newton has been reassigned to Submarine Squadron 6 pending disciplinary and administrative review. He had served as chief of boat, the commanding officer’s senior enlisted adviser, since October 2013.

He had 21 years of service. The article doesn’t mention which controlled substance was found in his body, but whatever it was, they probably found some traces of “dumbass” in there, too.

One of our fans send us links to the story of Rocky Allen, who was a Navy surgical technician in Afghanistan until he got caught stealing drugs from the dispensary in the hospital where he worked there. He pleaded guilty to the charges in 2011 and spent 60 days in confinement. The Navy booted him after about a year in the Navy.

Two years later, at a hospital in California, working as a surgical technician again, he was caught stealing more drugs. They fired him. The following year, he was working at two hospitals in Arizona, and guess what? He was fired for stealing drugs from them, too. Within three months of beginning work. So, he moved to Colorado and he was working in another hospital, and since old habits are hard to break, a few months later, he popped hot on a urinalysis test after he was caught stealing drugs, once again. This time the hospital called back 2900 patients to be tested for Hepatitis B and C and HIV.

Of course, you know what comes next, right? His lawyer says that it’s our fault because he caught the PTSD in his few months of being in Afghanistan;

Allen’s defense attorney says Allen suffers from PTSD from his yearlong service with the Navy. He never experienced battle, but his attorney said he witnessed a lot of trauma and horror in Afghanistan.

Yeah, well, it sounds to me like he had a problem before he joined the Navy. It also seems like this healthcare system isn’t doing something right if they keep putting this guy in circumstances where his predictable behavior continues. Busted five times in the last five years seems like a pattern of bad behavior in which someone might want to intercede at this point.

At about 1:30 this afternoon, Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Edward C. Byers Jr. will be awarded the Medal of Honor at the White House. You can watch the ceremony at this link, live when the ceremony starts. In the meantime, Chief Byers tells the story of the action in December 2012 that earned him the award in this video that the Navy sent to us the other day;

For the record, it doesn’t look like Chief Byers is very excited about all of the attention, according to an interview in the Washington Post sent to us by Chief Tango;

Byers is believed to be the first service member to ever receive the Medal of Honor for actions while serving with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, commonly known as SEAL Team 6. Defense officials declined to confirm that, but said that Byers is the first living SEAL to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War. U.S. officials have previously acknowledged that the 2012 raid was carried out by SEAL Team 6.

“I’ve lived my entire career a very private life,” Byers said Friday in an interview at the Pentagon. “We don’t talk about what we do, and this honor carries with it some obligations that I need to carry out. You know, you follow those through. But, I plan to continue doing my job as normal and to continue being a SEAL. It’s something I love and grew up wanting to be.”

UPDATE: The Navy PAO sends us links to their photos from the ceremony;

They also sent us a link to an info-graphic of the operation.

The Stars & Stripes reports that Petty Officer 2nd Class Alejandro N. Salabarria, a Navy Corpsman with the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, Marine Raider Regiment will be awarded the Silver Star Medal for his heroism during 2014 in Afghanistan when an Afghan insugent committed a “green-on-blue” attack on several of the members of his unit;

Several U.S. and Afghan personnel were wounded.

Salabarria engaged the rogue commando and dove between him and a severely wounded fellow corpsman, using his body as a shield to prevent further injuries, the Marine Corps said. Protecting the other corpsman with his body, he engaged and “eliminated” the rogue commando. After securing the area, Salabarria rendered aid to two wounded team members and coordinated their evacuation.

Mick sends us a link to the Virginian-Pilot which reports that the Navy has sunk another commander’s career. This time it’s Captain Brian K. Sorenson the commander of the USS ANZIO, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser guided missile cruiser. The ANZIO was most recently deployed to recover the 10 sailors who were imprisoned by Iran last month.

Sorenson wasn’t there, though – he hadn’t been on her decks since September. He was answering to a board for his misconduct while ANZIO was recovering sailors;

A command investigation obtained by The Virginian-Pilot through the Freedom of Information Act says Sorenson also committed public drunkeness, used alcohol aboard the Anzio, possessed personal firearms aboard the ship, sexually harassed female officers, used indecent language and misused government vehicles. Batchelder wrote that he concurred with all of the investigation’s findings.

Most of the charges stem from one night of debauchery, I guess. One night in 25 years of service. How’s that song go? “I know what I was doing, but what was I thinking?”