With the myriad and very significant challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plight of Capt. Brett Crozier appears to have been quietly swept under the rug.

Readers may recall that Capt. Crozier was publicly censured, relieved of command of CVN Theodore Roosevelt, briefly reinstated, then summarily fired, ostensibly for inappropriately voicing his concern for crew safety and failing to properly react to the spread of COVID-19 aboard the ship. The Navy’s investigation described near “paralysis” of the ship’s command team. a description that seems at odds with Crozier’s actions and expressed frustrations. At the very least, it would appear that what occurred on Roosevelt eerily mirrored the chronic confusion and ineffectiveness of the national response to the ongoing pandemic.

If the Navy’s standards for responsible leadership in this crisis and its handling of the Crozier incident were applied to the rest of the U.S. government, then its “captain,” the commander in chief should be relieved as well. Who else should be held accountable for 137,000 deaths? And unlike Capt. Crozier, whose entire career as a decorated and admired officer, aviator and sailor is over because he had the audacity to care, the commander in chief, who has never served, is permitted to run for re-election.

Peter Pressman, M.D.
Navy Medical Corps (retired)
Yarmouth

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