Navy officer fired amid fallout from U.S. sailors' arrest by Iran
Source: Navy Times
The head of a riverine squadron at the center of an international incident in January was fired Thursday, the first officer to be publicly disciplined for errors that led to 10 sailors being captured by Iran after getting lost in the Persian Gulf — a debacle that nearly scuttled the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal at the 11th hour.
Cmdr. Eric Rasch, who at the time of the Jan. 12 incident was the executive officer of the Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, was removed from his job by Capt. Gary Leigh, head of Coastal Riverine Group 1, for what a Navy Expeditionary Combat Command release said was “a loss of confidence” in his ability to remain in command.
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The move is the first in what sources expect to be a series of disciplinary measures for what was a high-profile embarrassment for the U.S. Navy. The 10 riverines were captured and their high-speed special mission boats were seized when they drifted into Iranian waters around Farsi Island, a remote Iranian military outpost in the middle of the Persian Gulf. During their 16 hour detention, one of the U.S. sailors appeared to apologize while being videotaped, which became part of the flurry of Iranian propaganda publicized in the wake of the arrests.
The investigation is still under review and is expected to be released by the end of May, said two Navy officials.
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Read more: http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2016/05/12/iran-farsi-island-sailors-capture-firing-rasch-meyer/84225038/
David Larter, Navy Times 6:25 p.m. EDT May 12, 2016
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