Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Firings and such

I think the chief engineer of the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov should get an Order of Putin medal or something.

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gen_arthur_j-_lichte

 

 

— The former chief of the Air Mobility Command got busted from four stars to two stars for coercing a subordinate officer into having sex with him three times. Retired Gen. Arthur Lichte apparently would have been recalled to active duty for a court martial except that he had outrun the statute of limitations. He maintains that the sex acts were consensual; the officer disagrees.

— The Marines fired another squadron commander at Miramar. And yet another. Hard-working Jeff Schogol of Navy Times quotes from an internal investigation that, “The multiple inspection failures were a consequence of Lt. Col. Workman’s unwillingness to listen to his maintenance department leadership and to comply with suggested adjustments.”

— The USS Antietam, a cruiser, ran aground in Tokyo Bay. My feeling is, If you ain’t grounding, you ain’t sailing! But the Navy takes a harder view.

— The no. 2 guy in the Canadian military was “suspended.” No one is saying why, but it may have been a leak.

— I think the chief engineer of the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov should get an Order of Putin medal or something.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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