Posted on 08/13/2012 3:48:35 PM PDT by castlegreyskull
Navy Cmdr. Michael P. Ward II, who has been accused of having an affair with a 23-year-old Chesapeake, Va., woman and faking his death as a means of ending it, has been relieved of his duties as the commanding officer of the USS Pittsburgh, just one week after he was put in command.
The woman said she met Ward, 43, on a dating website in October. She said Ward, who is married with children, told her her he was separated and that he worked in "special ops." She said he got her pregnant then, in an effort to end the relationship, faked his death in an email communication in July.
The special forces lie is the more puzzling lie. Why did he need to lie about what he did in the Navy? Seems like he had a pretty impressive career, right up until he got fired. Unless he planned to break off the affair with faking his death all along.
Sad. From what I’ve seen of sub training documentaries and what few bubbleheads I ever really knew that talked about sub school, I would’ve figured someone like that would get screened out.
Maybe some other stuff going on that got to him?
“What a liar, special forces, fake name......”
Reminds me of the clod in “True Lies” who tried to put the make on Jamie Lee Curtis’ character.....and when confronted later he tinkled in his BVDs.
He sent the e-mail posing as a friend of his.
He’s dead, Jim.
“What a liar, special forces, fake name, faking death and then appearing in the papers as you take on command! Incredible arrogance and stupidity. “
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I agree, It’s an an entirely Navy than when I enlisted at 16, Yes 16 in 1960. Those big oil tanks out on Terminal Island at the Long Beach Naval station, Proudly proclaimed that Long Beach was home to 710 USN Warships. Guys like CDR. Ward wouldn’t even have made it past the pier end of the brow.
Seems as if the commander couldn’t control his seamen.
I thought you had to be smart to be commander of sub. This does not add up.
Thats an oldie but a goodie.
Seems like he would have gotten away with the whole thing if he didn’t make up such outrageous lies.
One thing I wonder, is if the girl that blew the whistle, did this out of a sense of responsibility (to ensure our Navy wasn’t endangered by this guy) or anger. I would hope it was healthy combination of both.
DUH..what a bimbo. If she knew anything at all, she would have realized it was B.S. that if he had really been a Special Forces member, he would have slipped a piece of PIANO wire
around her neck when hugging her and given a hard jerk while playing the piano version of
the theme song of Victory at Sea..
Ahhhhhhh......he’ll hath no fury like a woman scorned.....except maybe if you get between Nancy Pelosi and her booze.....
Ward retired and is on his way to Canton.
I assume the 710 included the reserve fleet?
Ditto. The guy was too damn stupid to be in any command position, let along a commander of a sub. Having an affair was dumb, but forgivable. Stuff happens in life. But this lame attempt to avoid the consequences of his actions is totally inexcusable.
You have to wonder how the Navy allowed him to get that far in the command structure.
Admiral Rickover would not be pleased.
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Probably, But the reserve fleet wasn't a big % of it, there were just a lot of ships there at any given time with the rest of them being scattered all over the Pacific. It was almost possible to walk from MinePac headquarters to the end of the “mole” across the quarterdecks of destroyers, and I can remember being 5th or 6th destroyer out alongside the tender, it was a long walk to the pier.
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If you mean “mothballed ships” being “reserve fleet” the answer is no. The 710 meant “Haze Grey and Underway”.
I had no idea the fleet was that big. I remember Reagan’s 600 ship navy goal being abandoned because of cost, supposedly. Then again, there was a time when the UK operated 4 carrier groups and Canada had the third largest navy in the world. We’ve transitioned from warfare capability to welfare capability.
“I had no idea the fleet was that big. I remember Reagan’s 600 ship navy goal being abandoned because of cost, supposedly. Then again, there was a time when the UK operated 4 carrier groups and Canada had the third largest navy in the world. We’ve transitioned from warfare capability to welfare capability.”
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The fleet was big. That figure covered everything that had a hull number from a harbor tug to an aircraft carrier with most of them being built between 1941 and about 1945 and most of them being Destroyers. The navy tended to keep stuff that worked until it was way past its prime. I was stationed aboard a WWII Fletcher class Destroyer in 1968 that was built in 1943 and finely scrapped in the mid 1970’s.
I had forgotten about the Fletchers. What a terrific platform for sustained naval gunfire. Alas, there were no dedicated heads for the gals, so they all they had to go.
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You are exactly right, I served on 3 of them, one of them was my first duty station. They were the the best sea duty I ever had, go anywhere and do anything. I have been through a typhoon at sea on one of them ( one he** of a ride) and on one sitting in Danang harbor firing gunfire support missions.
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