Eleven chief selects in limbo after misconduct cancelled their initiation

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2017/10/17/sailors-receiving-e-7-paychecks-despite-unofficial-advancement-amid-investigation/

Eleven chief selects in limbo after misconduct cancelled their initiation

By: Mark D. Faram    11 hours

Alleged misconduct in the enlisted ranks in San Diego this summer prompted Navy officials to shut down a command’s chief initiation season, leaving 11 sailors who were selected for chief wondering whether they will actually pin on anchors. The alleged misconduct came during a chiefs’ season golf game on Aug. 18, when some chief petty officers running the event were accused of damaging the golf course. “They had things like shaving cream and silly string, and were putting them in the holes and over the greens — apparently those things kill the grass, so the golf course manager escalated the issue,” said a Navy source familiar with the incident who spoke to Navy Times on condition of anonymity. "All the selectees and [chief petty officers] were investigated, even read their rights before questioning,” the source said.

The misconduct involved sailors from Assault Craft Unit Five at Camp Pendleton, California, which operates the Landing Craft Air Cushions, or LCACs, that Marines use for ship-to-shore operations. At least one of the sailors, and possibly more, were already chief petty officers – known during the initiation process as “genuine CPOs,” the Navy source said. “Anything the selects did was only at the direction of the genuine CPOs,” the sailor said. “They feel like it was typical shenanigans and nothing that anyone would lose a rank over.”

But the command sees this as more serious. ACU-5′s immediate superior command, Naval Beach Group One, shut down the remainder of the initiation season and directed the investigation.
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Navy-wide, it’s become an annual tradition to pin all newly selected chiefs in September, with most of those putting on anchors only being “frocked” to chief petty officer.
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But for now, at least two of the selects in San Diego have reached their advancement date, but are still wearing first class uniforms, even though they’ve officially been advanced to chief petty officer and are being paid as such.
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Navy officials say the matter is on hold for now, but the pinning issue could be revisited once the investigation and any resulting discipline has been put to rest, though there are no guarantees.
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“Expeditionary Strike Group 3 received and completed an investigation of misconduct regarding the ACU-5 CPO mess stemming from an event which took place in August on a Golf Course at Camp Pendleton,” she said. “The investigation is complete, with disciplinary and administrative actions pending at this time.”
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