NORFOLK, Va. – A Sailor has been discharged from the Navy after taking responsibility for a role in the May jet fuel spill at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana.
The Sailor pleaded guilty in November to charges connected to the jet fuel spill.
The Navy said the Sailor, assigned to the Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, received an other-than-honorable discharge and was separated from the Navy, Monday after accepting responsibility for his actions. He has been administratively separated from the Navy instead of court-martial.
The Navy said they have been holding all responsible individuals accountable for their actions that led to the spill. Nine uniformed military personnel, ranging in grade from junior enlisted Sailors to senior officers, received disciplinary or adverse administrative actions as a result of the incident, the Navy said.
The range of administrative actions include administrative reassignment of duties, non-punitive letters, and administrative separation from the Navy. Disciplinary actions included reductions in rank, forfeiture of pay, extra duties and punitive reprimands. Additionally, one civilian employee received an adverse administrative action in the form of a written reprimand, according to the Navy.
The disciplinary and administrative actions followed the Navy’s investigation into the spill which cited multiple instances of human error, dereliction of duty and local oversight failure as causing the chain of events that led to the spill. The redacted Navy administrative investigation in conjunction with the incident was also publicly released Tuesday.
“We have a responsibility to be good stewards of the resources the American public entrusts to us to defend the nation,” said Commander, Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, Rear Adm. Jack Scorby. “We take these responsibilities seriously and we hold people accountable when they don’t. We set high standards for our people and we won’t tolerate those who fall short of those standards.”
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