I've been wanting to come out to the ship since we first found out you
had COVID cases on here. I was actually planning on being here last
Tuesday after I went to see the Mercy off in Los Angeles. So I want
you to know that no one in my level has been ignoring the situation
here from the very beginning.

I reached out to your CO through my Chief of Staff very, very early on
in this crisis. On Sunday, told him that I wanted to come out to the
ship and if it would be okay or if it would be too disruptive. I told
him that because I wanted to be able to help, if there was anything
else he needed as this massive effort was underway, to get you guys
healthy and clean and safe. He waved me off. He said he felt like
things were under control. He had been concerned a day or so before
that things weren't moving quickly but things—he still wanted to get
more beds—but he didn't think it was necessary. He also talked to my
Chief of Staff and emailed back and forth with him.

On Sunday night, he sent that email. And that email went out to a
broad audience of people. I know that I mentioned that it was over
20. We believe that it was forwarded to even far more than that. And
immediately it was picked up by the San Francisco Chronicle, which
published sensitive information about the material condition of a
Naval war ship. If he didn't think—it was my opinion, that if he
didn't think that information was going to get out into the public, in
this information age that we live in, then he was A, too naive or too
stupid to be the commanding officer of a ship like this. The
alternative is that he did this on purpose. And that's a serious
violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which you are all
familiar with. That message, and all the contents of that message was
perfectly fine for him to send to people in his chain of command in a
confidential way so they could get acting on it. He in fact could have
given it to me, through my Chief of Staff, or to me, as I asked him to
do when I first reached out to him on the ship, when we first found
out that there were COVID cases here.

It was a betrayal of trust with me, with his chain of command, with
you, with the 800 to a thousand people who are your shipmates on shore
right now, busting their asses every day to do what they need to do to
convert what they do in a normal day to get you guys off of here, get
you safe and get you healthy, get you clean, and get you back on this
ship where you are supposed to be.  (INDISTINCT YELLING IN BACKGROUND)

It was betrayal. And I can tell you one other thing: because he did
that, he put it in the public's forum, and it's now become a big
controversy in Washington, DC, and across the country [LOW BACKGROUND
YELLING: HE WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP US] about a martyr CO, who wasn't
getting the help he needed and therefore had to go through the Chain
of Command, a chain of command which includes the media. And I'm gonna
tell you something, all of you. There is never a situation where you
should consider the media a part of your chain of command. You can
jump the Chain of Command if you want, and take the consequences, you
can disobey the chain of command and take the consequences, but there
is no, no situation where you go to the media. Because the media has
an agenda. And the agenda that they have depends on which side of the
political aisle they sit. And I'm sorry that's the way the country is
now, but it's the truth. And so they use it to divide us. They use it
to embarrass the Navy. They use it to embarrass you. (INDISTINCT
YELLING IN BACKGROUND)

While you're out here dealing with something that this county hasn't
had to deal with in over a hundred years, and the world hasn't ever
dealt with anything like this on this scale, the American people
believe in you. They think of all the people in the world that can
keep their shit together in something like this—it's the United States
Navy [INDISTINCT BACKGROUND CHATTER THROUGHOUT] and our sailors—and
they're stressed. They may be stressed, they may be tired, they may be
scared, but they're keeping their shit together and they're taking
care of their people on the shore who are busting their ass to get
them off this ship. They're not taking shots at them. They're asking,
how can we help them? What can we do? How can I help the E3 that works
for me? I'm an E4. I'm concerned. What do I do to help the E2's and
E3's that are on this ship? That's your duty. Not to complain.

Everyone's scared about this thing. But I tell you something, if this
ship was in combat and there were hypersonic missiles coming at it,
you'd be pretty BLEEP scared too. [BACKGROUND YELLING: WHOA!] But you
do your jobs. And that's what I expect you to do, and that's what I
expect every officer on this ship to do, is to do your jobs.

One of the things about his email that bothered me the most was saying
that we are not at war. Well we're not technically at war. But let me
tell ya something, the only reason we are dealing with this right now
is because a big authoritarian regime called China was not forthcoming
about what was happening with this virus. And they put the world at
risk to protect themselves and to protect their reputations. We don't
do that in the Navy. We are transparent with each other, in the proper
channels, and with each other. And that's what we are supposed to do
and that's what you're expected to do.

I got your list of questions. I'm very, very thankful to have gotten
them. I know they're all sincere. I don't think there is any agenda in
any of those. But there's a lot of them and I'm gonna answer every
single one of them, but I've gotta do it respectfully, and I've gotta
take some time so you understand all the nuances of the questions you
are asking. And there's a lot of them here. So rather than answer them
all today, I'm going to take them back with me to Washington and I'm
going to answer them.

And let me say one other thing, everything I am telling you guys now,
I will never, ever, ever throw you guys under the bus in Washington or
anywhere else in the media, anywhere else. And don't, I expect you
never to do that to your shipmates either—the ones on the shore right
now who told me that when Captain Crozier's email made it to the San
Francisco Chronicle after working 15 hour days, they were demoralized
because they knew what they had been doing for you guys since the 25th
of March to get you guys what you need.

And the other thing you need to understand is we're in Guam. It's a US
territory but they have their own government, and they have their
healthcare problems, and they're scared too, just like every other
part of the world. And the Governor of Guam has stuck her neck out big
time with their own population to say that she is willing to open up
hotel rooms all over this this country, or this state, this territory,
so that sailors from the USS Teddy Roosevelt can go and be
safe. Because she believes that you all are her brothers and sisters,
her brothers and sisters who are protecting this place for her
citizens. And so she's willing to put all that at risk to take care of
you guys.

And she told me today when Captain Crozier's letter came out in the
public, she had to then deal with all her constituents—who are saying,
"holy crap what's happening? We're going to have 5,000 people with
COVID in our city, without proper health care and everything else."

So think about that when you cheer the man off the ship who exposed
you to that. I understand you love the guy. It's good that you love
him. But you're not required to love him.

So I want to share something with you that I read at the Navy Academy
graduation in 2018. I said it to the graduating class, but I'm going
to expand it a little bit. I said, as officers and sailors of the
United States Military, you are given tremendous responsibility to
respect and protect those who are placed under your command. The
American people will trust you with their sons and daughters. And they
place their security and the security of our nation in your hands. Do
not expect to be loved by everyone for this—even though it may
happen. As Secretary Mattis my former boss was fond of saying to us
who were so honored to work with him in the Pentagon—he said your job
is to protect the nation.

So l'm going to give you a little bit of advice to make this
important—and often difficult—job far easier on yourselves. My best
advice to you is don't ever be—don't ever worry about being loved for
what you do. Rather, love the country that you are asked to
defend. Love the constitution you pledged your lives to protect.

And importantly, love the people you are ordered to lead. Make sure
they eat before you do. Care about their families as much as your
own. Be invested in their success more than your own
accomplishments. Nurture their careers more than you pursue your own
advancement. And value their lives to the point that you will always
consider their safety at every single decision you make. It's only
through this level of servant leadership that you will maximize and
empower those you lead to meet the demands that will face us in this
century. And those demands are getting more complicated every day, as
we're all learning. But it's also going to accrue incredible personal
satisfaction to you during time of service.

Crew of the Teddy Roosevelt. You are no obligation to love your
leadership, only to respect it. You are under no obligation to like
your job, only to do it. You are under no obligation to expect
anything from your leaders other than they will treat you fairly and
put the mission of the ship first.

Because it is the mission of the ship that matters. You all know
this. But in my view, your Captain lost sight of this and he
compromised critical information about your status intentionally to
draw greater attention to your situation. That was my judgment and I
judged that it could not tolerated from the commanding officer of a
nuclear aircraft carrier. This put you at great risk even though I am
certain he never thought it would. I'm certain he loved you all, as he
should. But he lost sight of why the TR exists and fate brought you
all together in the middle of this COVID crisis.

Your nation back home is struggling. No one expected this pandemic. As
we are all working our way through it, your fellow sailors in the
States are volunteering, putting on uniforms and running into the fire
in places like New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and New Orleans. I've
seen them, no fear, running right into COVID.

Nothing is easy in this for anyone. But from the very beginning, we
have been engaged from my level down to bring you the help you need as
fast as we possibly could. Understand it takes time to flex up for a
crisis this unique.  But the TR has to stand strong as warriors, not
weak like victims. The TR has to work its way through this with grace,
not panic. The TR has to demonstrate to the citizens back home that it
has its act together, and that it is knocking down this virus, just as
it would knock down the Chinese or the North Koreans or the Russians
if any one of those nations were ever so stupid enough to mess with
the Big Stick, because they thought she was vulnerable.

I cannot control or attempt to change whatever anger you have with me
for relieving your beloved CO. If I could offer you a glimpse of the
level of hatred and pure evil that has been thrown my way, my family's
way, over this decision, I would. But it doesn't matter. It's not
about me. The former Vice President of the United States Joe Biden
suggested just yesterday that my decision was criminal. I assure you
it was not. [BACKGROUND YELLING: WHAT ARE YOU...] Because I understand
the facts, and those facts show that what your captain did was very,
very wrong, in a moment when we expected him to be the calming force
on a turbulent sea.  There was very little upside in this decision for
me. You can believe that or not. I made the decision for the Navy I
love, for the Navy I served in, and now serve for. And mostly for the
sailors I'm responsible for, not just to you here, but on nearly 300
other ships in the fleet. Your captain's actions had implications for
them too. Imagine if every other CO also believed that the media was
also the proper channel to hear grievances with their chain of command
under difficult circumstances. We would no longer have a Navy. And not
longer after that, we'd no longer have a country.

Still, I understand you may be angry with me for the rest of your
lives. I guarantee you won't be alone. But being angry is not your
duty. Your duty is to each other, and to this ship, and to the nation
that built it for you to protect them. Even amidst an unexpected
crisis, it is the mission of this ship that matters. Our adversaries
are watching, and that is why we are here. We will get you the help
you need. You have my personal word on it. Your CO had my personal
word on that from Day One. Whatever else you may think of me, I don't
go back on my word. And when it comes to the TR, whether you hate me
or not, I will never, ever, ever give up this ship and neither should
you. Thanks for listening, and I'll get the detailed answers to your
questions to you some time later this week. Go Navy.

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