Del Toro censured some officers who had been faraway from their jobs shortly after the sinking, however expanded culpability to incorporate Lt. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman, who was about to step down and retire the day the catastrophe occurred. Osterman was “chargeable for mitigating the inherent dangers in operations and coaching,” Del Toro wrote, and “didn’t absolutely recognize the potential destructive affect” of the coronavirus pandemic on the fifteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit, which fell below his command.
“The Marine Corps requires its leaders to perform the mission, even in seemingly insurmountable circumstances,” Del Toro wrote in his letter to Osterman, dated Sunday. “You did not establish and mitigate the human, materials, and coaching failures that resulted on this mishap. Accordingly, you’re censured for failing to successfully guarantee applicable ranges of coaching and materials readiness in items below your command.”
The opposite officers censured embody Marine Col. Christopher Bronzi, then-commanding officer of the fifteenth Marine Expeditionary Unit; Navy Capt. Stewart Bateshansky, who oversaw an amphibious process concerned; Navy Capt. John Kurtz, then-commanding officer of the USS Somerset; and Lt. Col. Keith Brenize, then-commanding officer of the third Assault Amphibian Battalion. All held management roles, and Kurtz oversaw the ship from which the car was launched whereas at sea.
Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey, a spokesman for Del Toro, mentioned in an electronic mail that the secretary determined to make the choice after a “cautious evaluation of the command investigations and discussions with senior leaders” inside the Navy Division.
The censured officers couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
The Marine Corps beforehand discovered that the 35-year-old armored car — designed to hold Marines ashore in fight — suffered quite a few leaks and got here from a fleet of autos that was in dangerous situation. Strains created by the pandemic sophisticated the coaching schedules of the Marines concerned, the service discovered.
The lifeless included Pfc. Bryan J. Baltierra, 18, of Corona, Calif.; Lance Cpl. Marco A. Barranco, 21, of Montebello, Calif.; Pfc. Evan A. Tub, 19, of Oak Creek, Wis.; Navy Hospitalman Christopher Gnem, 22, of Stockton, Calif.; Pfc. Jack Ryan Ostrovsky, 21, of Bend, Ore.; Lance Cpl. Guillermo S. Perez, 20, of New Braunfels, Tex; Cpl. Wesley A. Rodd, 23, of Harris, Tex.; Lance Cpl. Chase D. Sweetwood, 18, of Portland, Ore.; Cpl. Cesar A. Villanueva, 21, of Riverside, Calif.
