Replying to TattonChantry

Then, I told them at quarters that every time someone in the Navy has told me to read that, they didn't understand it themselves. They didn't understand the responsibility of McKinley. If Garcia had failed and the message got into enemy hands, McKinley would be responsible for the failure. Today's Officers say to read Message to Garcia, but if you do something they didn't tell you to, they throw you under the bus and take no responsibility.
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Zaque T 2y ago

It’s all about the nature/value of the message. If it’s not a message worth carrying then I agree, it’s M’s failure as a leader. Then it gets to the question of how much responsibility does Rowan bear to understand what he’s carrying and know what level of sacrifice is incumbent upon him to bear in order to see it through, IMO

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TattonChantry 2y ago

That's right. I'm thinking more about the backup of that's the right word.

When I was at NSW, we had a CDR that said we needed to get a "thing" onto a yacht. He said the left limit is the law of physics the right limit is the law. They ended up spending millions on it and when he got in trouble for spending too much he blamed it on the team being idiots. Then he wrote them all up.

A year later a new CDR said about the same thing and when they executed a crazy idea launching UAVs with fishing poles, he got a talking to and he took all the responsibility. When it ended up working great and awards came out, he said it was all the team's work.

In my experience, most leaders in the Navy that tell me "Message to Garcia" are going to be like the first. They want you to figure it out because they don't know how to do it and they don't have to take responsibility for it going wrong.