Here is the article from the santa Barbra news press about the Landon Jones. Please read and pass it on. Lets make a change!!! Theresa Jones fights command over loss of husband in Red Sea By NORA K. WALLACE, NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT Share Story Share on Facebook Family members of Lt. Cmdr. Landon Jones receive flags during a memorial service in San Diego. From left, Stacy Morrissey takes the flag for Lt. Cmdr. Jones son, Hunter; Hunter Jones; Kelli Boutros; Anthony Jones, older son of Lt. Cmdr. Jones; and Theresa Jones, with her back partially to the camera. COURTESY PHOTOS Lt. Cmdr. Landon Jones Navy Cmdr. Jana Vavasseur January 4, 2015 2:47 AM The widow, parents and friends of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Landon Jones are mounting a public campaign to stop the promotion of the Naval officer they say is at fault for the Lompoc mans death in a helicopter mishap more than a year ago. In any branch of the armed services, it is rare for the families of military officers to speak out against such promotions or higher-level command decisions. But Theresa Jones and others believe the Navys decision to promote Cmdr. Jana Vavasseur is so egregious, and could potentially cause the loss of more lives, that it must be stopped. Shes going to get applause at a promotion ceremony and I still have nightmares of my son screaming about where his father is, and of my youngest son never meeting his father, Mrs. Jones, widow of the lieutenant commander, said in a telephone interview. Wheres the justice in this? Last May, the Navy placed the blame on the commander for the fatal helicopter crash in the Red Sea that killed Lt. Cmdr. Jones and Chief Warant Officer Jonathan Gibson, 32, on Sept. 22, 2013. Both men left wives and two small children. A Cabrillo High School graduate, Lt. Cmdr. Jones, 35, was a 2001 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and father to Anthony and Hunter. Recently the Navys Major Command board selected Cmdr. Vavasseur, a 1994 Naval Academy graduate, for a major command, which means she could soon be in charge of a group of warships or a Navy cruiser, among other responsibilities. Mrs. Jones is infuriated about the pending promotion. She gets praise and accolades and were forever changed, Mrs. Jones said. Any happy event is accompanied by sadness because hes not here to watch. At what point does their humanity, their sense of decency kick in? These are lives. On the day Lt. Cmdr. Jones and CWO Gibson were killed, a flight crew secured the helicopter after it had landed on the flight deck of the USS William P. Lawrence for a quick stop. Heavy seas caused the ship to lurch from side to side, pushing a wall of water over the starboard side and smashing into the aircrafts spinning rotors. The crafts tail broke, and it washed overboard with the aviators from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Six still strapped in their seats. Their bodies have never been recovered. A Navy rescue swimmer pushed a crewmate to safety, before one of his legs was crushed from equipment that fell out of the helicopter. A Navy report concluded that the ship, under Cmdr. Vavasseurs direction, was moving too fast-more than 30 knots-in high winds and was turning into quartering heavy seas, leading to the helicopter being pushed overboard. The Navy board promotion decision is just another in a line of slights the Jones family has felt since the beloved Naval officer was killed. Mrs. Jones learned via a Navy social media posting about the helicopter from her husbands unit going overboard, and also from an official Navy posting on Facebook that the search for her husbands body had been called off-both long before Navy representatives turned up at her doorstep. Perhaps the worst conduct she says, comes from the ships commander - Cmdr. Vavasseur, she says, has never called nor written her since Lt. Cmdr. Jones death. I didnt expect her to admit fault, Mrs. Jones said. But there were no condolences whatsoever. Im sure the Navy imposed a gag order. But theres no sense of humanity. The Jones and Gibson families are asking those who knew the lost men to write the secretary of the Navy and the chief of Naval Operations, in protest of the promotion they call a slap in the face. Not only were the two men killed, but the rescue swimmer was permanently disabled when his leg was crushed, Mrs. Jones said. In addition to the human toll, the commander is responsible for the loss of the $40 million MH-60 helicopter and extensive damage to the USS Lawrence, she added. The Navy finding officers culpable for wrongdoings is not unprecedented, Mrs. Jones said, citingrecent Navy Times newspaper articles about other commanding officers mustered out for actions that did not include human casualties. Two top officers of the dock landing ship Tortuga were relieved of duty in December after a Navy report found them responsible for having struck a channel buoy and causing $2.5 million in damage to their ship. Another was removed from command for conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, and became the 12th commanding officer to be relieved of duty by the Navy in 2014, according to news reports. Cmdr. Vavasseur received a counseling letter in the aftermath, which is not part of her Navy personnel file and thus could notbe considered by the Major Command Selection Board. She and Navy officials have declined comment on the fatalities and her promotion selection. Its very infuriating, Mrs. Jones said. What kind of agenda is there here? Does the Navy think were blind to the blatant hypocrisy? It says Landons life means nothing. In the Navys report on the fatal crash, it states that the commanding officer did not do all that should have been done. A series of seemingly minor, innocuous mis-judgments had a cumulative catastrophic outcome when graded by the harshness and unforgiving nature of operations at sea. U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Harry Harris was stronger in his condemnation, saying the Commanding Officer did not exercise the highest degree of judgment, seamanship or prudence. The incident report said she should have used caution and she didnt, Mrs. Jones said. How do you know shell be able then, when it comes time again for another judgment call, that it will be OK? She is now above behing held responsible for anything. A classified safety report obtained by the News-Press speaks more in-depth and technically about the fatal incident, noting that the commander ordered a course and speed that created hazardous conditions, authorized unnecessary hazard and displayed a complacent attitude toward possible hazards. The report noted a number of similar incidents in the past decade, and determined in this case that the ships leadership and ship handlers lacked a fundamental understanding of the cumulative effect of ship speed, heading, relative seas and sea state could have on their vessels freeboard and stability. Lt. Cmdr. Jones childhood friend, Vincent Culliver, is writing letters to Congress, Fox News and beyond in an effort to call attention to the upcoming promotion. A civilian firefighter at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Mr. Culliver tells those hes writing about his friends meritorious career, including decorations that include Navy and Marine Corps commendation medals. Then theres the fact that Lt. Cmdr. Jones never saw his young son because the boy was born while his father was deployed to the Red Sea. The Navy says (Cmdr. Vavasseur) didnt do anything wrong, but that she used bad judgment, Mr. Culliver said. Now they want to award her with a promotion to command bigger ships possibly and more lives ... They did not put this incident in her folder when she was evaluated for promotion. The situation, he states, is an injustice. I am appalled and disgusted that this is even happening, he said. This incident was not Landon and Jons fault but due to an over-aggressive commander in a hurry to get back to the rest of the fleet without regards to her Navy shipmen... I will not stop pushing this until justice is served for Lt. Cmdr. Landon Lee Jones and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jonathan Shelby Gibson and their families. In the template letter Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Gibson and others are encouraging supporters to send to Navy brass, they note that its almost certain that while Cmdr Vavassuer demonstrated moments of prudence and valor during her long career, her actions that day are so grievous that they outweigh the good. The mishap report suggested appropriate administrative action for the commander in wake of the deaths. A major command at sea seems to be in direct contradiction with what any reasonable person would deem appropriate, and would appear to reward negligence, Mrs. Jones said. Blogs on naval topics have been filed with discussions of the pending promotion and a general sense of disbelief that the Navy selection board had no information in the commanders file about the loss of life under her leadership. It is absolutely (incomprehensible) that the CO of a ship whose error in judgment resulted in the death of two of her crew and the loss of a (helicopter) would notbe immediately relieved of command, one blog post states. Adding to the entire sense of outrage is the fact that Mrs. Jones has been denied access to a Servicemembers Group Life Insurance policy, due to what the family says is a technicality. Lt. Cmdr. Jones, who was killed five days before the couples 10th wedding anniversary, was given the paperwork for the insurance, but declined to accept the policy. In Navy regulations, when that occurs, Mrs. Jones is supposed to receive a letter informing her of the decision. She never received the letter. The Navy told her that even though a law exists that she must be notified, the failure of the Navy to do so does not affect the outcome of her husbands decision. The life insurance is a $400,000 policy, she explained. Our youngest was 4 months old when Landon was killed. Its something that needs to be allocated over a very long period of time. It would be amazing to have that for them. Shes working with her local members of Congress to ensure the situation does not happen in the future to other military wives. The Navy killed my husband and then promotes the person responsible, Mrs. Jones noted. They did not do their job. email: news@newspress
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:42:32 +0000
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