Capt. Holly Graf, relieved as commanding officer of the cruiser Cowpens in January 2010 for cruelty, will retire with an honorable characterization of her service this year, overturning the recommendation of her board of inquiry, the Navy said in a statement released late on Friday.
The determination was made by Juan Garcia, assistant Navy secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, after he took into account her 26 years of service.
“Ultimately, Capt. Graf’s conduct fell short of that expected of our commanding officers,” Garcia said in the statement. “As a result, her non-judicial punishment, early transfer from command and early retirement are warranted. However, I have also determined that her conduct did not rise to a level sufficient to warrant the characterization of her service as less than honorable, especially when weighed against the totality of her service to the Navy.”
The three-member board of inquiry recommended in December 2010 that Graf retire with general conduct, the category below honorable.
Well, it isn’t like she killed anybody. That we know of.
A man would’ve been booted with a general. You know it, I know it, she knows it.
Let it lay.
Bye.
Standards must be set.
Standards now depend on your color, your sex, and who you’re sleeping with. Two legs bad, four legs good.
That’s been updated to XX chromosome good, XY chromosome bad. Non 1950′s American cultural attitude good …
Sigh. We usta know how to be the best Navy in the World. We had robust damage control training, force on force exercises, ship designs built for hard combat, and enemies mercilessly crushed by our victorious sailors. Now we are just a force for good times — for some. /s
2 bells, DLTDHYOTWOB.
Can you say “Perfumed Princess”?
Her sister made it into the club. Holly was going to make it out okay.
they should have busted her out as an E-1 and given her a big chicken dinner.
as usual, some pigs are more equal than others.
And, once again, how many careers were ruined by an inept CO? Seen it too many times before, and once the damage has been done, there’s damn little that can be done to fix it. They’re left with fitreps that kill any chance of climbing the ladder a bit higher.
Appeling to BCNR is a long, burdensome process that takes longer than the window of opportunity for promotion/selection.
Mikey – I’m not so sure of that. My selection board experience is that the members apply premiums and discounts to the reputation of the reporting senior. Most, but certainly not all, of the members of future boards will apply a serious, Greek-bond level, discount rate to anything with CAPT Graf’s signature.
Good to know. thanks
At least you can hope so. At least Graf was, shall we say, celebrated for her behavior and you hope such a discount shows up.
All the guys I knew that went up for Office Hours, and I don’t ever remember anyone trying to tell the C.O that they should be let off because they had mostly been good Marines, except for when they weren’t. RHIP. So does gender.
Good news is that the wicked witch is gone. The exact type of discharge at this point is a distinction without a difference as far as any practical impact on her future. Everyone knows, and she knows that she was a P-poor excuse for a naval officer and skipper.
Yeah, perfumed princess and blatant bias in favor of the gurlz, but we got bigger problems to deal with.
Let’s go pick on LCS or figure out how to treatthe trauma after the the impending DOD budget seppuku.
I smells something foul. Me thinks the delicate flower will surface again, perhaps as a “consultant” to the administration on DoD cuts. Honorable discharge and all.
Must be nice. A male officer would’ve gotten a BCD and been busted down to E-1. Reading about her command style made me sick to my stomach.
Double standard? The hell you say.
http://blog.usni.org/2011/01/14/good-for-the-goose-not-good-for-the-gander/
I re-read all the comments before mine,as well as those after. I would not change a thing I said. I stand by my judgment of Harvey. He’s a moral coward and should be cashiered. Holly Graf should be as well, along with her raters that allowed her to reach the level of department head, much less XO or command.
The difference in circumstances between Honors and Graf say all that needs to be said. Mittlescherz can say what he likes, but he’s an apologist for the current status quo.
Damn. I had forgotten about how they treated Honors. Good point.
Bravo Sierra. That is all.
It’s things like this that make me think we’re headed towards the path of the USSR. Not the periodic arrests, socialist economics, or MSM. It’s the growth of the politically connected class of people who clearly have more rights and privileges than their rank theoretically gives them or that they can earn.
Why should Enlisted have any faith in their Officers or the Navy when things like this happen in public?
When the General expressed his fear that the Ft. Hood shooting by Nidal Malik Hassan would harm Diversity, the Enlisted guys I knew lost any trust in the Army for a while. That trust had to be built back up very slowly and by personal example of Officers and Senior NCOs. Are our Junior Officers good enough to offset the stupidity of the Senior Officers?
I don’t know how it works (highest rank held?) but it pisses me off to think we are paying her pension.
E-1 or E-2 would be mo betta.
Thank you so very much AssSecNavManResAff Garcia, for devaluing further that little lapel pin that was my official ‘thank you’ for a number of years of my life.
In this “enlightened” age can they still have an assistant Navy secretary for MANpower?