The Kings Speach was phenomenal, a picture of a true leader, and his speach therapist, who became lifelong friends. Prince Albert was forced by circumstances into his position, which he embraced and fought through his stammer heroicly. His leadership was exemplary, maybe they could have this shown to the empty telepromptor reading fraud in the white house.

Adm. Harvey appears to be on top of things when it comes to his Captains.? How is it possible that the Admiral doesn't have informants on each ship to keep a check on things?? Captains are viewed as lords of their domains(which is crap, especially in peace time and the advent of modern communications) and because it's old Navy, and while the Admiral probably doesn't care about the videos, he got caught with his pants down(maybe he should have starred in one of the videos?) and had to "make a statement". Revealing his ineptitude in the process...

The captain of the Enterprise is a product of a system that fosters independent and sometimes aggressive thinking and rewards defensible actions within the established code of conduct (See rules of engagement).

The captain here loss sight of the flip side of that position - your actions that do not conform ro are defensible within the code of conduct are also your responsibility. As captain of the ship your responsibility is absolute - even if there is a courtmartial afterwards to judge whether you acted properly. If you do an action that brings into question your fitness to adhere to that standard - the ability to have absolute power - then your removal is the price you should expect for such actions.

This is an important document. It uses a couple of very timely episodes to address a very real issue, that is the erosion of standards and decency and what used to be called "acceptable behavior. Our modern culture by accepting anything in the name of diversity has practically eleminated all standards. If one wants to find a culprit for Saturday's shooting's, perhaps it would make more sense to look at the mindless absence of training the young to an acceptable standard of adult behavior rather than blame a political philosophy.

The mention of Elmo Zumwalt in the same line of text with John Paul Jones is in itself, offensive.

Ms Noonan. A great piece. I seldom watch TV anymore, except for the news (only local), and RFDTV which is a family oriented channel. Almost everything on ABC,CBS,NBC, and Fox is filth. Although my wife and myself are Christians, we are not blue-noses. However; so much of what is presented as entertainment, or educational, is designed to cater to the lowest common element.

Richard Ryan

Lamar, Missouri (Birthplace of Harry S Truman)

The following quote from John Paul Jones is taught to every naval officer:

"It is by no means enough that an officer of the navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. He should be as well a gentleman of liberal education, refined manners, punctilious courtesy, and the nicest sense of personal honor.... He should be the soul of tact, patience, justice, firmness, and charity. No meritorious act of a subordinate should escape his attention or be left to pass without its reward, even if the reward is only a word of approval. Conversely, he should not be blind to a single fault in any subordinate, though, at the same time, he should be quick and unfailing to distinguish error from malice, thoughtlessness from incompetency, and well-meant shortcoming from heedless or stupid blunder."

Captain Honor rose through the ranks in the fighter jet community. Think Tom Cruise in the movie "Top Gun." This type of frat rat bravado is rewarded in a very stressful environment that needs men of great courage and daring.

As these officers increase in rank and experience they are expected to become mature, sober leaders of men. They leave the cockpit and join the world of senior leadership. Not all, however, grow up. Some wish to remain as Tom Cruise. Captain Honor, to his great detriment, did not grow up.

Captain Honor is a technically brilliant man with great capability and potential. The Navy wished to reward that; unfortunately Captain Honor failed himself and the Navy.

"Only a seaman realizes to what great extent an entire ship reflects the personality and ability of one individual, her Commanding Officer. To a landsman this is not understandable and sometimes it is even difficult for us to understand. But it is so!

A ship at sea is a distinct world in herself and in consideration of the protracted and distant operations of fleet units the Navy must place great power, responsibility and trust in the hands of those leaders chosen for command.

In each ship there is one man who, in the hour of emergency or peril at sea, can turn to no other man. There is one who ultimately is responsible for the safe navigation, engineering performance, accurate gunfire, and morale of his ship. He is the Commanding Officer. He is the ship.

This is the most difficult and demanding assignment in the Navy. There is not an instant during his tour as Commanding Officer that he can escape the grasp of command responsibility. His privileges in view of his obligations are almost ludicrously small; nevertheless Command is the spur that has given the Navy its great leaders.

It is a duty that most richly deserves the highest, time-honored title of the seafaring world … CAPTAIN."

— Joseph Conrad

I have served in Command at sea. I have never forgotten the training I received about the special relationship and duties of a Naval Officer stressing dignity and respect. As a Navy LT told me, a college freshman in a NROTC program at the time - "your crew will never forget seeing you drunk and pushing a peanut down the table with your nose - don't EVER put yourself in that position. You're not "one of the guys" - you're their leader. You should embody those things to which they aspire."

While such folks have a kind of staid, conservative "not 'with it' " reputation, their conduct is irreproachable and respect immense in times of trouble.

The time for learning is as a junior officer - I have personally been downgraded in my "personal behavior" fitness report score (yes - the Navy grades your personal behavior!), and have received a non-punitive letter of caution - all while a JO. By the time you reach a leadership position, you are expected to have learned those lessons.

While I agree that the hue and cry is well beyond what is called for with regard to "the sensitivity of the crewmembers", these sorts of morale-raising efforts would be more appropriate from more junior personnel. Such humor is effective in communications efforts, and parody is a welcome relief from the stress of continued combat operations on a remote assignment. If offense is taken, it is dealt with promptly and publicly. By the respected leadership.

YOU, Ms Noonan, are a class act needing no improvement. Well, that's the way I see it. Thanks for a nice bit of inspiration, "The Captain and the King". If Americans can get our values straightened out, perhaps we can make good decisions and the appropriate efforts to turn our nation around. We don't have to go broke and lose our freedom. It all starts with values, ethics, morals, etc. We need to be like the King and do the job that is needed, not the one that..... well, you know.

Unfortunately this article clearly shows why Peggy must go.

CAPT Honors when he made the videos was the XO. Since dearest Peggy fails to understand the distinction between and XO and CO the whole article is a failure.

There is no excuse for such a pathetic attempt at journalism.

After 26 years in the US Navy, I could care less about how the XO behaves in a video. How he treats the crew and how he prepares the crew for battle is the more important measure.

Just how did the videos stop the Big'E' from pushing planes off the pointy end?

A more egregious video is one of the females on board the USS Ronald Reagan putting together a video to the tune of a Shania Twain song. The whole video is full of Naval Officers acting in unbecoming ways.

Pathetic.

Actually, compared with some of the examples cited, CAPT Honors's behavior hardly stands out. John Paul Jones had a notoriously bad temper, killed one of his sailors in a fight early in his career, and was reputed to be one of Czarina Cathrine's lovers later on. Of course there's Admiral Nelson, who carried on a flagrent affair with the wife of the British envoy to Naples - I wonder how long he would have lasted in today's U.S. Navy? Was Honors vulgar? Maybe, but it was General Patton who once observed that a gentleman was someone who could swear for five minutes straight without repeating himself. And did he drink? Oh, horrors - a sailor who drinks on liberty! So did General Grant, but Lincoln, who was actually more concerned about winning the Civil War, just quipped that all the other Union generals could use a barrel of the same whisky. And I rather suspect that the main reason we haven't got anything on Adm. Zumwalt is that there weren't any video cameras or picture taking cell phones when he went on liberty in Subic Bay. Sorry guys - what happens in WESTPAC doesn't stay in WESTPAC any more.

Excellent movie. I only want to add, as one who suffered terribly from stuttering, but was called nonetheless by God to be a preacher, I found a far better way than cussin' to get rid of inhibitions. First, I stomped a lot behind the pulpit, to get words out, & that led to me being a "dancing preacher". Then at the otherwise awkward pauses I shouted Halleluja & Praise God, & once in a while kicked the back of the pulpit as dignifyingly as I could, or spat out a song. Before I entered the pulpit, in private, I spoke in tongues, which helped immensely. So in the past 25 yrs of ministry, I've preached from pulpits in 25 U.S. states, 4 in Mexico, 9 provinces in Mozambique, & in other countries, to God be the glory!

Career Ensign, there seems to be some disagreement about whether or not the Captain-then-XO acted as an officer in his position should. Some say an XO's job supporting crew morale makes his videos appropriate and others say he went too far. Also there is a lack in this discussion on some people's part about this having taken place years ago and that his superiors knew all about this when he was promoted to Captain last year. It looks to me like the Navy was being politically correct and threw the Captain under the bus - but he did make himself vunerable to this happening. This was only 3 or 4 years ago, not 10 or 20 or more years ago in a different age; he should have known he was making himself vunerable, especially since Tailhook.

That said, most civilians don't have the perspective of a Navy Vet like yourself and won't see the distinction between the XO's job (he is the #2 officer in command!) and the Captain (#1) you see. I think you are over the top in throwing Peggy under the bus here.

Here's another 'explanation' of my attitudes and behaviour. I'm not pushing you to be like me...but please understand who and what I am. OK? oxox Mom

Captain Honor's should have given that directive to the entertainment officer not took it upon himself. All we do for us American People for peanuts we should get a little excitement for ourselves. Reading some of the posts here I agree the Captain is King of his ship but it stinks from the head down. Meaning our Government is so corrupt and liars and cheats of us Americans, I wonder if his actions were on purpose to shed light on that? I wouuld have like to see some fun while I was standing in a little pea coat at 13th and Indiana at 70 below zero? Porno or not the question is He just we didn't draw staws to make him Captain....HE EARNED IT! and Those men and women aboard the Enterprise would follow his orders to the bitter end. Sounds like the protesters here are the conservative bible thumpers!!!!