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At least three complaints have been filed against the commanding officer of an Annapolis Navy base after he allegedly unleashed a torrent of curses and insults at Naval Academy gate guards before speeding onto the yard without their permission on two separate mornings in late October, according to police documents and an interview with one of the guards.</p>
<p>Capt. Michael Fierro, commanding officer of Naval Support Activity Annapolis, is accused of berating three sentries, calling them “motherf———,” “ignorant sons of b———,” and “pieces of s—-” before driving onto academy grounds without being waved through on Oct. 21-22, according to copies of written reports of “violent behavior” made by two Navy sentries and a civilian academy employee and given to the Department of Defense Police Department in Annapolis last month. Documents containing the statements were obtained by Navy Times....
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<p>This is similar to the incident involving the Superintendent back in 2003. That Supe was relieved of command.</p>
<p>Yes, it is, in a way, or else it's a "perfect storm" of stupid behavior while within a 1/2 mile radius of USNA. Note that the Captain in question was visiting the Academy. He is CO of the Naval Station. He could have carried out his alleged behavior in many other locations, (or not at all), for all we know, but it just happened to occur at USNA. Of course, in the story, what do people notice? It's the Academy again.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see if Captain Fierro also has a history of abusing his subordinates like former Superintendent Richard Naughton did. If so, why wasn't his abusive behavior reported by Navy personnel using Navy protocols? It took a civilian employee to report this incident, which sounds like it was the right thing to do. Additionally, I'm sure the office of public affairs at USNA, though not issuing a formal press release regarding such incidents, does cooperate with the news media to get some of the facts straight. Perfect example of the value of a free and unfettered press.</p>
<p>I remember reading a news article of the summer in the Sun (I think it was the Sun, not sure though) about a plebe who was inducted this year who was previously a guard at USNA when Naughton was supe.</p>
<p>My opinion is that, in a given situation, if a "news" article can be chosen to reflect poorly on USNA, or can be slanted to amplify the negative aspects of a situation, many news sources will do so. Sensationalism sells papers. Of the thousands of current and former mids, I'm quite sure that with a tiny bit of diligence, the Sun could find the ideas for at least one positive article every day, but it doesn't happen, because it doesn't sell.</p>