Will the Navy really charge LCDR White? If so, how does that make you feel?

He violated an order. Cut and dried. Therefore, he should be called into a room with his commander, from which loud noises will issue for an extended period of time, and then he should be seen walking out to go have a beer with his buddies, sans any official reprimand other than the one he'd just had.

CAPT (Join to see) Unfortunately, he broke a regulation, but most likely saved additional lives, so that will be taken into consideration. Hopefully, they will do what they have to do to make sure that discipline is always prevalent in the uniformed services, give him a small slap on the hand, then award him a medal for taking the initiative to think quickly and do what he was trained to do when faced with adversity. Regulations are there for a reason and they must go through the process. Hate to say it and be the bad guy, but it is what it is! Just my opinion.

I hope that cooler heads prevail and that they decide not to charge him. This sends the exact wrong message.

LCDR White clearly violated an equally clearly foolish regulation. The violation was the better part of valor. Think of it as leaning forward.

The inherent right to self-defense should not be abridged.

A Navy officer's oath of office, up front, states that "I will defend....against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

The story is in the Washington Post this morning at http://wapo.st/1DpIJa8.

Extracts from DoD Directive 5210.56:

"It is DoD policy that DoD personnel ....have the inherent right to self-defense."

and
"Deadly force is authorized under the following circumstances:
(1) Inherent right to self-defense. When there is a reasonable belief that a person(s) poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm to DoD persons. Self-defense includes defense of other DoD persons in the vicinity."

That attack meets the number one criteria for the use of deadly force: self defense and the defense of others. What message does this send to our junior soldiers and sailors?

Would this happen on the watch of any previous administration? When you are sent in to battle you should have every right to protect yourself and come home in one piece. When I hear or read of situations like this my mind thinks back to Vietnam and how we were betrayed. It makes me angry.

I say proceed with the trial, Find him NOT Guilty. award him a metal and call for the resignation of the Secretary of the Navy and his Boss the President for actions against this country. These two would rather do harm to this country than admit neither one has ANY idea on how to run a military. One last question. Is it a violation of an order when that order is not a legal or in this case a smart order?

I withheld my initial response (waiting for the cooler side of the brain to kick in). Here's my take-I understand the importance of enforcing regs; without discipline, everything goes out the window. However, what sort of individual would you rather have in command, someone whose instincts are to wait for orders ...or someone who's first instinct is to take immediate action to combat a threat to his sailors? I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Marine Corps major and pilot killed in Kabul some time back during a terrorist raid. That gentleman jumped up from chow with nothing more than his M9, organized what troops he could muster, and hit the enemy on his own initiative. I'd like to know how this situation is any different (as I recall, it wasn't 'per regs' to roll hot at Phoenix either).

More functionally, how long is it going to take the DOD to realize that in today's world, any military installation is a potential target? I say train up the personnel at the Reserve Centers in Force Protection, post an armed watch just like these same sailors and Marines would do anywhere else, and have an OOD with a sidearm and a radio. This HAS been done stateside already, so what's the hold-up? We don't want to show the "wrong image" to the civilians?

I agree with some of the comments here about a "slap on the wrist" only because you have to consider the other half of this issue...the officer was using his own weapon outside of an organized protocol. Don't want every service member with (or without) a carry permit John Wayne-ing a situation and potentially making it worse. Take the existing FP protocols...train the personnel...protect this house.

If there's enough outcry from the public they will back down. They don't want to look bad.