Let the Dead bury the Dead.

It has been often said that one should not speak ill of the dead. This Final Report into the deaths of Lieutenant Jessica Hill and BM2 Steven Duque does not speak ill of Lt. Hill, but it points the finger at her.
It does not accuse her of being derelict in her duty, but it appears to place the blame on her for everything that went wrong while at the same time never accusing her of any wrongdoing. The three most senior officers on the ship are squarely charged with dereliction of duty. Instances of lax performance by Lt. Hill are mentioned, but she is not accused of misrepresentation or poor performance. This is as it should be, because her actions and recommendations were filtered upward through three levels of senior officers before they were implemented. Even when she gave erroneous advice, the decision to go ahead was ratified by the Operations Officer, and the Executive Officer and the Commanding Officer. So, the ultimate responsibility and accountability for the cold water dive operations are placed where they belong; at the top, not at the bottom of the chain of command.
The Report lays out a prima facie case of negligence. There was duty, breach of duty, foreseeable consequences, and resultant harm. The CO, XO, and the Ops Officer are blamed; and they are charged. They are tried at an Admiral’s Mast, a form of non-judicial punishment, and they are given token slaps on the wrist, but they are not really punished. The forfeiture of one months pay is suspended. A Letter of Reprimand is little more than a footnote in their service records. They dodged a bullet. Granted, no homicide was committed, but to some it will appear that they literally got away with murder.
There are several red flags about this Final Report. The first thing that you notice about the Report is that it was released at the close of business on Friday, January 12, 2007 at the start of a three day weekend, a federal holiday. Apparently it was hoped that no one would notice it until it was old. Four days is a long time when you are trying to distance yourself from a bad situation.
In the movie “SCHINDLER’S LIST” there is a scene that typifies what this report is trying to do. Some one has stolen a chicken and the Nazi guards are interrogating a group of prisoners. No one will confess. So, the camp Commandant orders the guard to start shooting the prisoners. After the first prisoner is shot dead, a young prisoner raises his hand and confesses that he knows who stole the chicken. When the Commandant asked who it was, the prisoner pointed to the dead man. Why not blame it on the dead man? He has nothing more to loose.
Why not blame this tragedy on Lt. Jessica Hill? She is dead. She has nothing more to loose, relatively speaking. She does not have a career to protect, or a family to feed, or a professional service record to keep clean, or a reputation to protect. She will no longer compete with her peers for choice of assignment. So, why not blame it on the dead?
This case highlights another problem that male officers will always have working with female officers. It is hard to stop treating the women as their daughters, or mothers, or wives, or girlfriends, or muses, or secret love interests. It is more difficult to give them an order than another man. Men are unable to hold the women to the same standard as they do the other men. When the men have a difference of opinion from the women, they are less forceful in asserting that opinion. Men relent more easily and let the women have their way. That appeared to be the case when the Operations Officer told Lt Hill that her dive plan had been approved by the Captain. He then asked Lt. Hill if all three divers, including the Supervising Diver, could be in the water at the same time under the regulations. Lt Hill replied in the affirmative and indicated that she would brief the Captain. The Ops Officer told her that he was not sure that she was correct, but that he would take her word for it. He never did verify the accuracy of Lt Hill’s statement. Even though he suspected she was not correct, he acquiesced and let her have it her way. Most male officers would rather be liked than respected. They want to impress, or they acquiesce.
Nowhere in the Final Report does it say that Lt. Hill was unqualified. Nowhere does it say that she was derelict in the performance of her duties as Dive Officer. It just hints that if she died, it was her own fault; it was due to her own negligence. Was she unqualified for he role and the duties that were forced upon her?
If the CO, XO, and Ops Officers were truly derelict, and that dereliction led to the loss of two people’s lives, then they deserve more than a gentle slap on the wrist. Someone is reluctant to spell it out. They should be court-martialed. We convene General Court-martials for less. The Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy court-martialed a cadet for making love to his girlfriend, and taking nude pictures of another female cadet. No one was killed. There was no loss of life. No Artic Operational deployment was curtailed. Someone’s value system is seriously malfunctioning. If the Coast Guard wanted to send Webster Smith to jail for 20 years to life by convening a General Court-martial, then how on earth can three people be accused of causing the deaths of two innocent people and walk away with only a gentle slap on the wrist. Who was liable for the death of Lt Jessica Hill and BM2 Steve Duque? Was it the CO, XO, or the Ops Officer? Or was it Lt Hill? But she is dead; then let the dead bury the dead!