This is happening right now at Naval Air Station Pensacola

[LittleLebowski]

Navy assigns partial blame to the command, I shit you not. I suspect the Navy would not have blamed itself if it was an American shooter, but we must appease the Sauds. Fucking disgusting.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/...te-factor.html

A U.S. Navy investigation has determined that the Saudi pilot who killed three people when he opened fire on Florida's Naval Air Station Pensacola last year was self-radicalized.

However, it also found that Navy leaders could have picked up on a pattern of negative behaviors exacerbated by the "toxic" command climate at the base.

[TGS]

Well, there's no finer organization in history than the US Navy at setting up their people for failure and then scapegoating them for the predictable.

Given that, I wouldn't even have thought it had anything to do with appeasing the KSA but rather just normal USN shenanigans of feeling some need to assign blame. Someone has to hang, regardless of the shooter's nationality.

[Rocky Racoon]

What am I supposed to be mad about, and why?

[Borderland]

I can tell you what the security was in 68 because I had the duty but you wouldn't be interested.

OK, I'll tell you anyway. If you bring a guest (woman) onto the base you better have her off of the base before I leave my post at 0600 or you will go on report. That was for officers and enlisted. Never had a problem as everyone understood.

[LittleLebowski]

What am I supposed to be mad about, and why?

If I have to spell it out for you, after having already spelled it out for you...

[BehindBlueI's]

Navy assigns partial blame to the command, I shit you not. I suspect the Navy would not have blamed itself if it was an American shooter, but we must appease the Sauds. Fucking disgusting.

I'd be shocked if they didn't assign partial blame to the command, regardless. Even when I was in the command got a bad mark against them if one of their soldiers got a DUI. Or accidentally discharged a weapon. That's not realistically something someone at the company or battalion level can control. Haven't we seen captains disciplined and removed from command for shipwrecks that occurred while they were asleep and someone else was in charge?

I get what you're saying but it seems like "zero defect" business as usual to this outsider.

[JTQ]

The local news reported on this earlier this week.

Blame was placed on instructors, and other students for an inhospitable working environment. Certainly possible and I suppose some self reflection is always useful.

On the other hand, having a sense of humor and a thick skin goes a long way in a military training environment. Not everybody has that, and of course, most folks that lack those abilities don't shoot up the place, but then it's not everybody.

[TGS]

The local news reported on this earlier this week.

Blame was placed on instructors, and other students for an inhospitable working environment. Certainly possible and I suppose some self reflection is always useful.

On the other hand, having a sense of humor and a thick skin goes a long way in a military training environment. Not everybody has that, and of course, most folks that lack those abilities don't shoot up the place, but then it's not everybody.

There's usually resentment between officers from the Gulf and instructors/students from the West. On one hand you've got a group of people who are literally royalty and view their military "career" as a novelty and frequently choose to not put out or straight up not participate in training at all...and on the other hand, you've got people who generally have a drive to do well and are held to a standard. The resentment is especially noticeable when you've got training programs with students from other foreign countries outside the Gulf states, as well.......as those allies of ours are typically living in the shit everyday, no days off, so they're incredibly gracious and hard working.

Maybe there was a legitimate command problem that I'm whitewashing, but I'm betting it's just more of the unavoidable stuff that results from incompatible cultures. We're talking about officers who are royalty and act like it, working alongside a bunch of self-made studs who abide by a culture of, "Officers eat last". There's bound to be friction.

[JTQ]

Maybe there was a legitimate command problem that I'm whitewashing, but I'm betting it's just more of the unavoidable stuff that results from incompatible cultures...

Or simple American humor as we often throw around "Nazi", "Hitler", "Ayatollah" in conversation. For instance, standing in the lunch line making a "soup Nazi" comment and then realizing you're standing next to a handful of German students.

Another comment from the report made on the local news was the student had passed through several organizations while at NAS Pensacola, and there was very little command continuity to determine a pattern of anything, either from the student's perspective or from leadership.

[JTQ]

Adding - I agree the Saudi students do go through the program with a different attitude than the US and other non-US students.