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A different outlet reported her sentence: > A U.S. Navy officer pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty Tuesday in the collision of a U.S. Navy destroyer that ki

by hluska 9y ago

A different outlet reported her sentence: > A U.S. Navy officer pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty Tuesday in the collision of a U.S. Navy destroyer that killed seven sailors last year. Lt. j.g. Sarah Coppock was sentenced to receive half-pay for three months and a letter of reprimand. (Source - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lt-jg-sarah-coppock-pleads-guilty-in-uss-fitzgerald-collision/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lt-jg-sarah-coppock-pleads-guil...)

walrus01 9y ago
This is effectively a career ender as well, she will never be promoted if she stays in.
- hluska 9y ago
  Thanks! I don't know a thing about military justice, so I was wondering about the significance of this plea/the punishment.
  - walrus01 9y ago
    The main significance is that if she stays in, she will get the shittiest assignments in the entire navy until 20 years is reached (pension retirement), and is a pariah forever. And never any promotions.
    - metaphor 9y ago
      Nope. She's a junior officer with less than 4 years time in service, not a demoted NCO approaching minimum retirement age...completely different game.
      - walrus01 9y ago
        What I meant is that the chances of her being able to continue past 4 years and make it to 20 are just about nil, if her original intentions were to be career Navy.
      - torstenvl 9y ago
        That also makes her probationary under 10 U.S.C. § 630. She can be discharged without a Board of Inquiry (BOI), unless there's a desire to give her an Other Than Honorable characterization of service.
    - hluska 8y ago
      Wow, that's a lot nastier than three months at half pay. Thanks so much for your insights!
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  And because she won't be selected for promotion, she’ll be discharged fairly soon by the “up or out” policy, which requires discharge of officers at her grade that fail for promotion twice.
  - torstenvl 9y ago
    Up or out is law, not policy. 10 U.S.C. § 632. It also does not necessarily "require[]" discharge for twice failing of selection for promotion; officers can be continued on active duty. 10 U.S.C. § 637; SECNAVINST 1920.7B.
- hudibras 9y ago
  This definitely falls into the category of "Useless Information that I Happen to Know," but any Navy officer who is punished at court martial or Captain's Mast is also required to face a Board of Inquiry to show cause for retention in the service. Many officers (who don't hire lawyers) decide "Oh, I'll just plead guilty and get a letter of reprimand and move on," only to be separated by the Board of Inquiry. In this case, it's pretty cut-and-dry that she'll be separated; the BOI will just be a formality or she might even waive it. The pertinent Navy instruction (page 7), if you're interested. http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/milpersman/1000/1600Performance/Documents/1611-010.pdf http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/milpersman/1...
  - torstenvl 9y ago
    I agree with pretty much all of the substance of what you said, but the better source is SECNAVINST 1920.6C. https://doni.documentservices.dla.mil/Directives/01000%20Military%20Personnel%20Support/01-900%20Military%20Separation%20Services/1920.6C%20CH-5.pdf https://doni.documentservices.dla.mil/Directives/01000%20Mil...
- belorn 9y ago
  Even if we consider that as part of the sentence, isn't that a bit lenient given that 7 people are dead? I am just thinking what would happen to a doctor who freak out, act opposite to training, do not communicate with fellow staff members and as a result 7 patients dies. In that case I would imagine that the person would loose their job, possible their license, the hospital would be liable to the families and likely implement safeguards so that the same thing would not happen again.
  - danielvf 9y ago
    The captain is going to take the brunt of this, and is actually facing manslaughter charges, since the ship and crew had oceans of known problems going into that night. For example the OOD had a habit of not waking the captain when ships were too close, and the captain knew about it and did nothing about it. Thus by navy logic the captain is the one responsible. The crew on deck at the time had been working hard since 6:00am, and the collision happened at 1:30am the following day. That scheduling was captain's responsibility. Almost everyone (everyone?) on the bridge and in the combat information center failed at doing their jobs that night. This again by Navy logic is all on the captain, who is responsible for making sure that people know their jobs. The ship had even lost its certification of seamanship before the accident. I feel bad for everyone involved. The USS Fitzgerald was utterly overworked and overcommitted, and had not had the time available to train its crew or officers. The fault was a fault of the system, and in another world with more time for training, all of those in command that night may have turned out fine officers with long careers.

by hluska 9y ago

walrus01 9y ago

This is effectively a career ender as well, she will never be promoted if she stays in.

hluska 9y ago
Thanks! I don't know a thing about military justice, so I was wondering about the significance of this plea/the punishment.
- walrus01 9y ago
  The main significance is that if she stays in, she will get the shittiest assignments in the entire navy until 20 years is reached (pension retirement), and is a pariah forever. And never any promotions.
  - metaphor 9y ago
    Nope. She's a junior officer with less than 4 years time in service, not a demoted NCO approaching minimum retirement age...completely different game.
    - walrus01 9y ago
      What I meant is that the chances of her being able to continue past 4 years and make it to 20 are just about nil, if her original intentions were to be career Navy.
    - torstenvl 9y ago
      That also makes her probationary under 10 U.S.C. § 630. She can be discharged without a Board of Inquiry (BOI), unless there's a desire to give her an Other Than Honorable characterization of service.
  - hluska 8y ago
    Wow, that's a lot nastier than three months at half pay. Thanks so much for your insights!
dragonwriter 9y ago
And because she won't be selected for promotion, she’ll be discharged fairly soon by the “up or out” policy, which requires discharge of officers at her grade that fail for promotion twice.
- torstenvl 9y ago
  Up or out is law, not policy. 10 U.S.C. § 632. It also does not necessarily "require[]" discharge for twice failing of selection for promotion; officers can be continued on active duty. 10 U.S.C. § 637; SECNAVINST 1920.7B.
hudibras 9y ago
This definitely falls into the category of "Useless Information that I Happen to Know," but any Navy officer who is punished at court martial or Captain's Mast is also required to face a Board of Inquiry to show cause for retention in the service. Many officers (who don't hire lawyers) decide "Oh, I'll just plead guilty and get a letter of reprimand and move on," only to be separated by the Board of Inquiry. In this case, it's pretty cut-and-dry that she'll be separated; the BOI will just be a formality or she might even waive it. The pertinent Navy instruction (page 7), if you're interested. http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/milpersman/1000/1600Performance/Documents/1611-010.pdf http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/milpersman/1...
- torstenvl 9y ago
  I agree with pretty much all of the substance of what you said, but the better source is SECNAVINST 1920.6C. https://doni.documentservices.dla.mil/Directives/01000%20Military%20Personnel%20Support/01-900%20Military%20Separation%20Services/1920.6C%20CH-5.pdf https://doni.documentservices.dla.mil/Directives/01000%20Mil...
belorn 9y ago
Even if we consider that as part of the sentence, isn't that a bit lenient given that 7 people are dead? I am just thinking what would happen to a doctor who freak out, act opposite to training, do not communicate with fellow staff members and as a result 7 patients dies. In that case I would imagine that the person would loose their job, possible their license, the hospital would be liable to the families and likely implement safeguards so that the same thing would not happen again.
- danielvf 9y ago
  The captain is going to take the brunt of this, and is actually facing manslaughter charges, since the ship and crew had oceans of known problems going into that night. For example the OOD had a habit of not waking the captain when ships were too close, and the captain knew about it and did nothing about it. Thus by navy logic the captain is the one responsible. The crew on deck at the time had been working hard since 6:00am, and the collision happened at 1:30am the following day. That scheduling was captain's responsibility. Almost everyone (everyone?) on the bridge and in the combat information center failed at doing their jobs that night. This again by Navy logic is all on the captain, who is responsible for making sure that people know their jobs. The ship had even lost its certification of seamanship before the accident. I feel bad for everyone involved. The USS Fitzgerald was utterly overworked and overcommitted, and had not had the time available to train its crew or officers. The fault was a fault of the system, and in another world with more time for training, all of those in command that night may have turned out fine officers with long careers.