Former military brass ‘shocked,’ ‘angered’ over USS Gabrielle

[Geee]

Daily Caller:

Despite the country’s respect for former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, not everyone in the military community was thrilled with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ Friday announcement that the Navy’s new Independence variant littoral combat ship (LCS) will be named for her.

“The Navy motto is Semper Fortis, Always Courageous,” said Mabus during the Friday ceremony with Giffords, who was shot last year during an assassination attempt in Tucson.

“Unwavering courage has defined the Navy for 236 years and it is what we expect, what we demand of our sailors every single day,” said Mabus. “So it’s very appropriate that LCS 10 be named for someone who has become synonymous with courage, who has inspired the nation with remarkable resiliency and showed the possibilities of the human spirit.”

According to a number of former and current military members, however, the decision to name the LCS after Giffords was not, in fact, “very appropriate.”

Retired Rear Admiral George Worthington, former commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, told The Daily Caller that there are many people more worthy of a ship bearing their name.

[Valin]

As I recall the tradition is to not name ships for people who are alive.

[Argyle58]

Not in anyway meant to diminish the ordeal through which Gifford suffered, but I don't see a courageous act there. She didn't fight a battle, or even face her attacker. She was shot by a maniac by surprise. Hardly an act worthy to be honored in such a way.

[Pepper]

I am reporting you to AttackWatch. You are not playing the game right

 

[cudjo]

They've made too much of a big deal over her, she did nothing courageous, brave or anything else, anyone can be standing somwhere and get shot, an I'll just bet the vast majority would not receive the super medical care she did. No way should anything be named after her

[pollyannaish]

Gabrielle Giffords is to ship naming...what Al Gore and Barack Obama are to Nobel Peace Prizes.

[SrWoodchuck]

I find it ironic that the Marines/SEAL teams that will come from her ship......will "hit the beach" and kill anything that moves with high-powered rifles & pistols. Not that far-left idiots would think that one through.....

[Pepper]

@SrWoodchuck

 

I don't understand...

 

 

See tagline

 

[Evad]

Perhaps her recovery was courageous..

Perhaps her fight to return to the real world was courageous..

Perhaps her giving up her seat when she realized it was "the best thing to do for the common good" was courageous..

Perhaps she was able to face and deal with this danger and fear without flinching;

..but...naming a ship after her. I don't see that one.

[Pepper]

Perhaps her recovery was courageous..

Perhaps her fight to return to the real world was courageous..

Perhaps her giving up her seat when she realized it was "the best thing to do for the common good" was courageous..

Perhaps she was able to face and deal with this danger and fear without flinching;

..but...naming a ship after her. I don't see that one.

 

Good post.

And if those first four are the criteria, it applies to many others. We better rechristen a million ships.

[Draggingtree]

DDGs named for John Finn, Rafael Peralta

 

 

 

 

By Sam Fellman - Staff writer

Posted : Wednesday Feb 15, 2012 15:26:21 EST

 

 

 

The three latest destroyers will be named for Navy and Marine Corps heroes from Pearl Harbor, Vietnam and the Iraq war, the Navy announced in a statement Wednesday.

 

The announcement also included the names for the two latest littoral combat ships.

 

The destroyer names are:

 

• John Finn, the then-chief petty officer who manned a machine gun during the Pearl Harbor attack. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery. He retired as a lieutenant and died in 2010 at age 100.

 

• Ralph Johnson, the Marine private first class who hurled himself onto an explosive in Vietnam, saving a life and preventing a breach of a patrol’s perimeter. Johnson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

 

• Rafael Peralta, the Marine staff sergeant who shielded fellow Marines from a grenade with his own body in Iraq. Peralta was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.

 

“Finn, Johnson and Peralta have all been recognized with some of our nation’s highest awards,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in the statement. “I want to ensure their service and sacrifice will be known by today’s sailors and Marines and honored for several decades to come by a new generation of Americans and people from around the world who will come in contact with these ships.”

 

(One recent exception was the Feb. 10 announcement to name LCS 10 for former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who survived an assassination attempt in January 2011 in Tucson, Ariz.)

 

“There are many appropriate ways to honor Mrs. Giffords, but this is not one of them,”