Battleland

A Woman Scorned: The Navy Responds

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Last Friday, we ran this post about this letter in the Naval War College Review by a woman engaged to a Navy commanding officer. She alleged he had lied to her, and dragged halfway around the globe – to Guam, no less – by him, forsaking her career and three years of her life.

We asked the Navy on Friday about the letter. Sunday night, Navy Lieut. Commander Ryan Perry responded with the following statement:

The Naval War College Review published a letter to the editor, entitled “Double Lives” as one of four letters for the “In My View” section of the Spring 2013 issue of the journal.

The letter was considered and published by the editor because it commented on the topic of a previously published article entitled “The Navy’s Moral Compass” in the Summer 2012 issue. This is not at all atypical for an academic journal of this kind.

Though we cannot speak to the specific details recounted in the letter, we stand by the high personal and professional standards to which we hold naval officers — especially those in command.

We expect them to lead well and to exemplify at all times our institutional values. When they fail to do that, they are held to account.

We’ve noted before on Battleland how the Navy, in our opinion, tends to hold its commanders more accountable than the other services when it comes to dealing with wayward officers. So we’ll reserve judgment in this case until we hear more.