![\"LT-david-nartker\"](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/LT-david-nartker-500x333.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nLieutenant David Natker, the commander of the boats which were seized by Iran earlier this year thinks that he should be praised for saving his crew rather than fired for being an incompetent boob, according to Foreign Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Speaking publicly for the first time about the case, Nartker last week offered an alternative narrative to the one painted by the U.S. Navy, which has reprimanded him for \u201cdereliction of duty.\u201d<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n Nartker considered the possibility of aiming his M4 assault rifle at a Iranian gunner only about 10 feet away.<\/p>\n \u201cI know I could have hit that guy and killed him. There was eye contact,\u201d Nartker said.<\/p>\n If he had taken the shot, his boats could have tried to make a run for it, he said. The Americans would have had to race about eight to ten nautical miles to make it to international waters \u2014 but within the potential range of two machine guns on the Iranian boats.<\/p>\n Nartker ruled it out. \u201cI was thinking, \u2018I am not going to kill this guy right now over a bullshit navigation mistake,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere would be a dead Iranian in Iranian waters. And there was no way to claim it was international waters.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yeah, well, that’s not what he was being punished for – according to everything I’ve read on the incident, it was a goat-screw from the beginning of the planning stage. CNN quotes<\/a> from the Navy’s investigation of the incident;<\/p>\n “This incident was the result of failed leadership at multiple levels from the tactical to the operational,” investigators wrote in the detailed, partially redacted, report.<\/p>\n The report found the crews were poorly prepared, their boats not properly maintained, communication almost entirely lacking, and their conduct after being captured by the Iranians wasn’t up to military standards.<\/p>\n In a stunning finding, the report said the sailors veered off course almost immediately after heading out to sea and had no idea where they were when a mechanical failure struck one of the boats.<\/p>\n “The boat crews could visually see Farsi Island, but were not concerned as they were unaware that it was Iranian or that they were in Iranian waters,” the report said. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n In other words, LT Nartker, it doesn’t matter what you did when the Iranians showed up – that doesn’t make up for you being lost and off-course to begin with. If Nartker had been doing even a half-assed job of supervising the operation, it never would have happened.<\/p>\n Nartker said he believed the fallout from the video turned him into a scapegoat. \u201cI embarrassed the Navy, and therefore they punished me,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n No, sorry, you are an incompetent boob who shouldn’t lead troops in combat, so adios, Dave.<\/p>\n Thanks to Bobo for the link.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"