Rescue of Captain Phillips - The Story Behind the Story

Herb Schwartz is a Navy Blue and Gold Officer for the Naval Academy  and father of the highest ranked graduate at the USNA in 2000. He flew missions over the former Soviet Union with Francis Gary Powers, taught at the Judge Advocates College and briefed President  Kennedy as an intelligence officer. The best is that he is my friend and a man I trust. Did I forget that he is an author and a retired Military Judge?
Jim O'Neal

 The real story of Captain Phillips written shortly after the event by someone who was there.

All of us want to raise our glass the highest this week to the Navy SEALs who popped those three Somali pirates. And I'm sure you want to hear the real story of what happened, especially because there is a revoltingly opportunistic and cowardly side to it. Guess which side Zero (aka: our president) is on.

Why, for example, did it take SEAL Team Six (aka DEVGRU, Navy Special Warfare Development Group, the Navy's equivalent of Delta Force) over 36 hours to get to the scene?

Because Zero refused to authorize the SEAL deployment for those 36 hours, during which the OSC - the on scene commander, Cmdr. Frank Castellano of the USS Bainbridge - repeatedly requested them.

Once the SEALs arrived - parachuting from a C-17 into the ocean near the ship - Zero then imposed Rules of Engagement (ROE) specifying the SEALs could not do anything unless the life of the hostage, Captain Richard Phillips, was in "imminent" danger.

Thus, when Capt. Phillips attempted to escape by jumping off the lifeboat into the ocean, the SEAL snipers had all four pirates (one later surrendered) sighted in and could have taken them out then and there - but they could not fire due to Zero's ROE restrictions.

When the SEALs approached the lifeboat in a RIB (rigid-hull inflatable boat) carrying supplies for Capt. Phillips and the pirates, the pirates fired upon them. Not only was no fire returned due to the ROE, but as the pirates were shooting at the RIB, SEAL snipers on the Bainbridge had them all dialed in. No triggers were pulled due to the ROE.

Two specific rescue plans were developed by Cmdr. Castellano and the SEAL teams. Zero personally refused to authorize them.

After the second refusal and days of dithering, Cmdr. Castellano decided he had the Operational Area and OSC authority to "solely determine risk to hostage" and did not require any further approval of the president.

Four hours later, the White House is informed that three pirates are dead and Capt. Phillips has been rescued unharmed. A WH press release is immediately issued, giving credit to the president for his "daring and decisive" behavior that resulted in such success.

Zero has absolutely no military knowledge or experience whatsoever. He demanded decisional control over the entire hostage drama to the last detail. All actions required his personal approval. He dithered like a coward while the world laughed at our warships flummoxed by four illiterate teenagers with AKs in a lifeboat.

Only when the Navy Commander decided to ignore his Pantywaist-in Chief and take action and responsibility himself, were the incredible skills of the SEALs put into play.

That Zero could cynically and opportunistically claim that his "bold" "calm" "tough" leadership was responsible should remind everyone that not a single action, not a single word of this man can be trusted. He is bereft of honesty and moral character. That's why he's Zero.

We raise a glass full of pride and gratitude to Navy Commander Frank Castellano, the Navy SEALs for their incredible competence, and our military as we also recognize Zero for what he is, or more appropriately, for what he is not.

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

 ~ Thomas Jefferson

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent."

~ Thomas Jefferson

"We have room for but one flag, the American flag...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people"

~ Theodore Roosevelt 1919