RIVRON 3 Patrol Ranking Officer Appeals NJP Punishment
The ranking officer on the ill-fated 2-boat patrol from the US Navy’s RIVRON 3 captured by Iran IVO Farsi Island earlier this year has appealed the punishment he received under non-judicial punishment .
The individual in question, LT David Nartker, was among a group of 4 individuals who received NJP last week in conjunction with their actions during the patrol. Punishment was imposed on 3 of the individuals; the fourth was found not guilty by the Commander, Naval Expeditionary Combat Command. Three more senior members of the chain-of-command in charge of the fiasco had previously received administrative sanctions likely to end their careers.
Nartker was the ranking officer on the patrol. He also apparently agreed to be interviewed by Iran on video as a condition of release. Iran later used the interview for propaganda purposes.
During that interview, Nartker admitted the Navy had erred and apologized for the error. Investigators determined Nartker’s conduct to have been in contravention of the Code of Conduct.
Nartker is apparently the only one of the three found guilty at NJP to appeal his punishment. It is unclear whether any of the others will do so, as the 30-day period for filing appeals has not yet ended.
The Commander, PACFLEET, will consider Nartker’s appeal.
Category: Navy
Basically an Article 15 for going on Iranian TV and running his yap instead of keeping it closed and acting like an Officer in the US Armed Forces.
Now has the balls to appeal this slap on the wrist? Where were those balls before??
Kinda what I was wondering myself at first, nbcguy54ACTUAL.
Then I realized that for this guy, an appeal is a no-risk/no-lose situation – he can’t end up any worse off than he is now. But actually fighting back at sea would have required risking actually getting hurt or killed.
I don’t think he’s got the stomach to risk the latter.
Where were they? You have to ask that question, do you?
Please! I haven’t had breakfast yet!
How about properly navigating your unit from A to B without infringing upon another country’s territorial waters where they have a naval base? Let’s start there… then we can move on to the not surrendering while you have the means to resist and giving another country propaganda points. I’m thinking there’s an Article 15 in there no matter how you slice it. And even without the Article 15, I’m thinking the OER bullets will be ones for the ages.
Yeah, I’d love to read that guy’s FITREP covering the period including the incident in question.
“This officer is so dense, light bends around his head.”
I could’ve used that bullet on a couple NCO’s.
“His sailors would follow him anywhere, but only out of curiosity.”
Modifying some “draft” comments I have previously seen, to fit the hypothetical under-achiever in nautical service:
Faint praise indeed:
He is usually an adequate sailor when closely supervised.
If one wants to be more blunt:
Sailor will reliably do the right thing when thouroughly cornered.
Dropping the reality hammer:
The subject of this report could not lead a liberty party to a brothel with GPS and a sea-bag of C-notes.
The Navy has built a well educated, racially and ethnically diverse workforce that is sensitive to multi-cuturalism, sexual preference, and gender preference. The Navy will not tolerate a disagreeable workplace in which its employees are made to feel uncomfortable, unworthy, or unappreciated. LT Nartker, a 2011 USNA graduate is a sterling example of the young officers of today’s Navy. A year ago, almost to the day, he was quoted in the RIVRON 3 FB: “This, right here, is the reason I joined the Navy. I’m leading a small group of Sailors operating with foreign Naval forces in a country I have never been to. It’s a fantastic opportunity.” I’m glad he got to visit Iran. I hope he found it to be a fantastic opportunity.
Well he has the right to appeal, so he will choose to exercise that right. I have to believe regardless of the outcome of the appeal this incident has to be a career killer so the appeal seems to make little sense but lately things that make sense and the military appear to be somewhat mutually exclusive.
He needs about 1 year in leavenworth, then a BCD. It’s a crying shame when good sailors get shitty officers, fortunately I was luck enough to get really good and great officers throughout my 4 years.
Dunno about the Leavenworth part; that might be overkill. But IMO the guy should certainly be cashiered, either legally or administratively.
His conduct in this incident demonstrates that he’s been “tried and found wanting” as a commissioned officer – USNA grad or not. IMO the military simply doesn’t need officers like him.
A minor note: an officer can’t receive a BCD as the result of court-martial. Under the current USMJ and Manual for Courts-Martial, if tried by general court martial an officer can either be retained in grade or be dismissed (equivalent of a DD) if found guilty. BCD or reduction in rank are not options. Don’t ask me why; I don’t know – and to me, that makes no sense.
However, it appears that dismissal can be imposed on an officer for literally any conviction by GCM if the court-martial so elects and the convening authority approves. Don’t ask me why about that, either.
Hondo, unless things have changed since my Marine Corps Adjutant days, Officers in the Naval Service can be punished in another way – loss of lineal numbers.
In other words, you can be bumped down so low in your peer group you will never be promoted and will not be retained. It used to be used as part of Officer NJP for dick steppers that were not blatantly criminal in nature.
I would be curious if that happened in this guys Mast.
2012 edition of the MCM appears to indicate that loss of numbers is no longer authorized as a punishment. See p. A21-75.
Officers (commissioned and Warrant) have an appointment from the president, at whose pleasure they serve.
They aren’t discharged per se, but can be removed from active duty or have their commission or warrant revoked by a board. Following a Court Martial, a separate board will usually revoke their commission and remove them from active service.
However, all of the services hold ‘show cause’ boards, in which officers who are either criminals or incompetent have to demonstrate why eye should be retained on active duty.
This clown will no doubt receive an absolute,y horrible fitrep, which in these times will ensure he is not selected for promotion on his next board- he essentially demonstrated that he is not fit to command operationally at the lowest possible level- no way they would set him up for more responsibility.
. We are back to an up or our system, which means that he will automatically go to a separation board following his (probably) non select to the next grade. However, his punishment was a FO LOR, which will go in his permanent performance file and essentially ensure that he won’t be promoted ever. Even if he wins this appeals, his car ever is over. This will actually make t worse because now everyone on any future board will remember that he is not only tactically and technically incompetent, but he can’t take a reprimand and keep servo honorably like a leader should
Now,Mir he has less than 5 years of commissioned service he is actual probationary, and they can remove him from active duty based on a single incident like this.
He’s apparently a 2011 USNA grad. That means he went over 5 years commissioned service about 2 1/2 months ago and is probably now nonprobationary. (I say probably because in a case like this it’s possible that date of misconduct may take priority over total service time since the misconduct occurred while he was still in probationary status.)
AR 600-8-24, Chapter 4, governs officer eliminations. If the Navy’s procedures are anything like the Army’s, it’s possible he may be eliminated prior to his 1st consideration for O4. However, since he’s likely now nonprobationary that now may require a board of officers.
https://armypubs.army.mil/Search/ePubsSearch/ePubsSearchDownloadPage.aspx?docID=0902c85180010e83
Well, what is he getting for NJP? Is he (or any of the others) going to have to run the buffer, or chip paint off bulkheads and repaint them? Will he be cleaning heads with a toothbrush? It was always fun to have to supervise someone doing EMI, but I never had a chance to supervise khakis doing that. Might have been even more fun.
Maybe the LT will get what I experienced: I gave a trooper light NJP (filling some sand bags…which he probably would be doing anyway), in VN. He protested. The Summary sent his ass to LBJ (Long Binh Jail). At least that ended the guard house lawyering in the Company.
Geez…. so much anger for us who turned to the dark side… lol. I was enlisted first, I swear.
Predictions:
1.) Vote for Hillary then win the appeal.
2.) Win the appeal then vote for Hillary.
3.) Lose the appeal then have a beer summit.
As an FYI:
“There are only two grounds for appealing NJP – the punishment imposed was “unjust” or the punishment imposed was “disproportionate” to the offense.
“Unjust” punishment exists when the evidence is insufficient to prove the accused committed the offense; when the statute of limitations prohibits lawful punishment; or when any other fact, including a denial of substantial rights, calls into question the validity of the punishment imposed.
“Disproportionate” punishment exists when the punishment is too severe for the offense committed. Although the punishment imposed may be legal, it may be too severe based upon the nature of the offense; the absence of aggravating circumstances; the presence of mitigating factors; and the servicemember’s prior record.”
I still think he got off easy and should take his wrist slapping like a man.
Indeed. He could have been sent to a general court-martial for dereliction of duty (Article 92) – and if convicted, sent to prison for a year followed by a dismissal. Article 133 (conduct unbecoming) would also have been a possibility.
My guess is that’s why he accepted NJP in the first place, and that he’s now grasping at straws trying to lessen the impact.
I was gonna say, in most (if not all) cases of NJP I saw, you pretty much lost all right to appeal.
You could decline NJP and ask for a CM, which you could appeal, but then again, only REALLY stupid people even considered that option.
And by not going quietly, all this guy is doing is making his inevitable return to CIVLANT that much more interesting.
“Oh, so you’re THAT Mr. Nartker! Well, thanks for coming in, thanks for your interest at being a janitor for XYZ Corp., and we’ll be in touch.”
“But we will forward your resume to the All Points Logistics corporate recruiter. I have a sense that you are definatelty APL material.”
His career is essentially over at this point regardless of what he does and what the outcome of his future actions may be. Hopefully he will be passed over for promotion twice and then have to leave the Navy, or resign his commission up front and save us all a lot of time, trouble, and money. So says a retired CWO4 USN.
Can’t speak for the Navy – but in the Army, doing something like this could conceivably trigger a “show cause” board to evaluate whether the officer should be retained or administratively separated. If I recall correctly, all it takes is one of the GOs in an Army officer’s chain-of-command to decide he/she may not be suitable for retention to cause such a board be convened. I presume the Navy also has a similar way to remove unsuitable officers quickly.
Army promotion boards also now review officer files for referral to “show cause” boards. I presume the Navy is similar in that respect. If that’s the case, I kinda doubt that he’ll make it to a second look for O4 even if he does manage to hang on for a few years.
Yup. There are boards every year now.
Remember also that officer appointments and promotions are confirmed by the senate, and they have actually held up entire lists or individual promotions in the recent past.
May not have to wait for his file to be considered for promotion. See my comment above that references AR 600-8-24.
https://youtu.be/DKmJPnAGUJk
Sounds like his only defense is “what does it matter now?”
well, it seems to have worked before…
Good one! Thanks for the chuckle.
Always appeal NJP. There’s nothing to lose, everything to be gained. A lost appeal lets the punishment stand, it can’t increase it. However, I’ve never seen an appeal actually get approved.
LT Narker still needs to pack his bag and be shown the door. He should never be allowed to operate any watercraft that won’t fit in a standard size bathtub.
I think I remember seeing one Article 15 where a part of the punishment was reduced on appeal. But if so that was 30+ years ago, and my memory may be incorrect.
An appeal can let the punishment stand, toss the punishment completely, or reduce it. It can’t ever increase it but I’m sure there were (and are) commanders who would’ve loved nothing more.
Back in my Squad Leader days, had to bust one of my Soldiers for a bad check. he was a good troop, but stepped on his wiener. His Article 15 resulted in 30/30 and a bust from E4 to E3 (our Company Commander had little tolerance for things such as this and the punishment was pretty much the norm within the Battalion as well.
On our installation, married E4s and above were eligible for post housing. My troop had just moved into on-post quarters with his wife and two kids. A bust would boot him out of housing and not really help his money situation. He was a great field Soldier, just needed some polishing in the Garrison world.
I helped him do an appeal based on the “disproportionate” part and I’ll be damned if the Battalion Commander didn’t buy off on it and the troop and his family stayed in quarters.
That kick in the nads is all he needed – he made E5 quickly, took over the squad when I left and eventually retired as an E7 and is now sucking up easy money at some hoity-toity High School as an ROTC instructor.
So I reckon the occasional appeal of NJP may work or be worth it, but I still feel that this LT got lucky that NJP is all he got….
He has nothing to lose in appealing and I saw a couple of Article 15s overturned in my AD days (we had a shitty CO and 1SG in that unit).
Except his pride and any shred of dignity he had left…
I don’t get it. Nartker is appealing because he’s being punished for apologizing on Iranian TV, and not because he put the boats in harm’s way?
Ever since we first learned to float around on things, it has always been the boat commander who has ultimate responsibility for the safety of the vessel and those who sail aboard her. And it doesn’t matter if the vessel is a 40-foot ketch on the way to Catalina, or an aircraft carrier off Qatar. Period. Full stop.
It seems to me Nartker is guilty of either some bad seamanship, or bad judgment of the threat level. The TV apology is just a sideshow.
But this is the opinion of an ex-Army guy. If any TAH naval folk have a different view, I’d be glad to hear it.
PG: the published articles on the appeal don’t give full details (what the NJP charges were, what punishment was assessed, etc . . . ). For all we know the Admiral “maxed out” this guy because he was the one in charge of the patrol.
Since the Commander NECC is of flag rank, he can take 1/2 of the guy’s base pay for 2 months. (He can also order arrest in quarters for 30 days or restriction to limits for 60 days, as well as a formal reprimand.) I’d guess the Admiral did exactly that (max fine plus other actions), and the LT’s trying to whine enough to get at least part of the fine back.
We never have gotten the truth or the details regarding this sordid mess. The gov’t lied about it, then contradicted that lie with a different lie, and that’s that. Lies. lies, everywhere a lie. First we were told one of the boats was out of commission. Lie. Then we were told that the boats drifted off course. Lie. It was a royal CF. If we hadn’t seen the video with the US female sailor wearing a head cover to comply with Muslim whatever, seen a male sailor crying like a baby, and heard the OIC say, calmly and nonchalantly, he’s sorry, we would never had heard peep about this. What sort of vessel took the two US boats? Were the sailors on the guns and told to stand down? I don’t know. Hell, I’m still waiting to hear the Benghazi details from those who were there and survived. I guess the days of name, rank, serial number, and fuck you are long gone.
Maybe the Obama Administration still has time to rewrite the Code Of Conduct before he turns professional on the golf course. Of course, it will need to address the requirement for safe spaces and providing lavatory accommodations to the current self identification of the service members.
You are a wise man, AC. I wasn’t there. Who knows what he was ordered to do. I’ve seen enough Photoshop video and audio that I don’t trust anything any more. Hopefully the truth will come to light. Until then I’m not one to judge or condemn. Just glad it wasn’t me put into that mess. Semper Fi, AC!
The Navy’s Command Investigation Report on the incident has been public with some redactions for quite a while, 2/17. I’ve included links to it in comments to multiple earlier articles concerning the incident. Here’s yet another copy of the link to the report:
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2931717/RCB-JAGMAN-Declass-Stamped.pdf
Best I can tell, other than names the redactions in the declassified report appear to cover mostly operational organization and procedures. What’s there in plain text is enough to show that the operation was as effed up, planning- and execution-wise, as the proverbial football bat.
This guy IMO definitely deserves to take the fall for dereliction of duty. Assuming he in fact made the statements attributed to him in the video – which the investigative report clearly indicates he did after prodding from the Iranians – then that is IMO clearly also conduct unbecoming.
You might want to read the ROI linked above before defending these folks. They (and their whole chain-of-command) seem to have treated pretty much everything relating to their deployment extremely sloppily and cavalierly right up until the Iranians captured the patrol. Then “sh!t got real” very quickly, and they were completely unprepared.
Based on the findings in that ROI, IMO this LT – as well as a few others – are lucky they didn’t face court-martial and the possibility of jail time followed by dismissal/DD. And I’m pretty sure that’s precisely why none of them demanded trial by court-martial in lieu of NJP.
“You might want to read the ROI linked above before defending these folks.” I am not defending anyone. I am accusing the US gov’t of changing its story regarding this taking and of lying about it. As for this guy Nodick/Nardick/Whatever, they should hang him. According to the investigative report, some guns were unmanned and crew on a couple were indeed told to stand down lest the boats be perceived to be intimidating. That’s sooooooooo fucked up. I thought our military was supposed to be intimidating. And where does he get off allowing two vessels of any size come right at him? How many pounds of explosives can be fit in a kayak? He endangered his boats and the lives of his crew and there is no excuse or good explanation for that. Training or no training in water combat, I’m ordering a couple of bursts and if the bastards continue heading for me and mine, they are gone. Bravado? No. Just common sense.
Pilots have a saying that the best way to avoid a bad situation is to think ahead of the aircraft. And anyone who has ventured on the water in anything larger than a canoe knows if you don’t know where you are at all times– you have no business being on the water.
If memory serves from having read the incident report awhile back, the moment things started going sideways for Nartker was when the helmsman on the second boat balked at leaving the scene. He probably made the correct decision to not leave the other boat behind, but still had options to avoid capture. One was to replace the existing helmsman; another was to fire warning rounds to make the Iranians back off.
The effectiveness of a warning shot is that it doesn’t take a Farsi interpreter to say in very clear terms that any further approach is considered a hostile act. Come any closer and we’re going to dance; you won’t like the sound of the music.
Nartker was going to get hanged from a yardarm regardless for getting himself in the situation. By not showing the stones to make the Iranians back down, he made things worse. Better to be hanged for a hawk than a hen.
NJP?
Dude should have been put against a wall and shot, for the gross negligence and incompetence displayed in that event.
Word ????
Wow, now he finds his nads and wants to appeal his Mast? Where were his nads when all of this shit went down?
I wouldn’t trust the O-3 to be a SLJO anywhere. He needs to pack his bags and go back home ASAP.
(SLJO = Shitty Little Jobs Officer)
Well, he committed the two big no-nos – he embarrassed his country and his service – can’t see the Powers That Be being in a forgiving mood. I’m pretty sure the Navy doesn’t like looking like doo doo to the world, and especially to the other services.