Charlie Crist nominates fired Navy captain for Profile in Courage Award

U.S. Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), addresses the crew during an all hands call on the ship's flight deck while conducting routine training in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. One of the crew members died from exposure to coronavirus. Image via AP.

U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist is nominating Captain Brett Crozier for the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, citing the Navy captain’s courageous leadership alerting military leaders to COVID-19 health concerns on a ship he captained with sick sailors aboard.

That courageous leadership got Crozier fired from his position in the Navy after he sent a letter, which was later leaked, criticizing the military for failing to respond to health concerns on the ship.

The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award recognizes officials at the federal, state, or local level whose actions demonstrate the qualities of politically courageous leadership in especially difficult times for the greater good.

“As our country and world face an unparalleled crisis, we need leaders to be courageous, brave and truthful. Captain Crozier displayed leadership of the highest order in his efforts to protect the health and safety of the sailors under his command,” Crist said. “Today, I’m proud to nominate Captain Brett Crozier for the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, recognizing his 28 years of military service and the actions he took aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt to save lives.”

Crozier, who was leading the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its nearly 5,000 crew members, wrote a four-page letter to Navy officials requesting more resources to manage an outbreak of the COVID-19 disease on his ship, which has reportedly infected 173 sailers. Crozier himself has since tested positive for the virus.

Then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly dismissed Crozier over what he described as a lack of leadership and failure to follow Navy protocol. He claimed, according to reports, the growing outbreak on his ship “overwhelmed his ability to act professionally.”

Modly himself later resigned amid criticism for dismissing Crozier. His resignation came shortly after Crist called on him to step down.

In a letter to the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award Committee, Crist praised Crozier as a hero.

“In the midst of so many heroes we have just witnessed a true Profile in Courage in the unselfish acts of Captain Brett Cozier who stood up for his crew when others failed to act, who put himself in harm’s way to protect the men and women under his command, and who took the incredibly courageous and unselfish act to reach out for the health and safety of his crew when others turned away four previous requests,” Crist wrote.

Crozier served 28 years in the Navy and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy.

Crist describes Crozier’s letter not as a lapse in leadership, but as an act of courage “exposing the dire situation and lack of adequate support facing the thousands of U.S. service members under his command.”

“Crozier found himself in an untenable situation, one in which his superiors denied his requests on four separate occasions to protect the health and well-being of the 5,000 Sailors under his command,” Crist wrote.