Ship life is hard, and ship life while said ship is in dry dock for maintenance in Norfolk is its own kind of suck, as anyone following the Navy in recent months has come to understand.
So a big Bravo Zulu to Capt. Judd Krier, skipper of the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, who took his massive crew of 700 sailors — minus the duty section, of course — to see “Top Gun: Maverick” at a local theater late last month.
The Daily Press first reported this act of good CO’ing, wherein Krier even sprang for the sailors’ drinks and popcorn.
The idea came to Krier as he huddled with his command team and looked for ways to make things suck less for his crew as the ship undergoes maintenance at the General Dynamics NASSCO-Norfolk shipyard in Virginia, according to the Daily Press.
“It’s a chance for everyone to connect with a great Navy movie,” Krier told the publication.
Props to Krier for looking after his men and women during this maintenance time, and for giving future COs, executive officers, and command master chiefs across the service a look at what good leadership and morale-boosting look like.
Last month, the Iwo Jima crew was treated to a visit from several WWE pro-wrestling superstars before their show in Norfolk.
Iwo Jima chief engineer Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Davis took some time off to explain shipyard goings-on to Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins, collectively known as the Street Profits.
It remains unclear whether Davis, Krier or the other Iwo Jima shipmates on the tour gave the high-flying duo any advice for how to dethrone The Usos, WWE’s undisputed and dastardly tag team champions, who would never take an entire crew to see a movie on their dime ... probably.
Regardless of where you stand on the Navy’s morale-boosting activities, we can all agree that Ford’s frog splash is a thing of beauty — a dive that the Navy should most definitely work into its swim test qualifications.
Eddie Guerrero would be proud.
Geoff is the managing editor of Military Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.
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