@blatham,
Does it strike you as odd that no other Captains of deployed ships had previously done something similar?
The crew of a Nimitz-class carrier is about 5,600, the median age about 20, and crewmembers with diabetes or heart disease are all screened out before assignment. In short he crew involves only the least vulnerable people in the country. A deployed carrier generally has about 11 doctors assigned and a large onboard medical facility or sick bay as it's called. CVN 71 was already in Port in the Guam Naval facility, and already had onshore facilities assigned able to accommodate up to 1,000 from his crew for quarantining or merely to reduce the onboard density. I read the letter soon after it hit the news and the reported fact that he had e mailed it without security classification to 20+ people, and immediately concluded that he would be quickly relieved for cause and his failure to accept his responsibilities for his ship and crew. Instead of reporting the facts of the situation; his plan of action for dealing with it; and making specific requests for assistance, he wrote an emotional, largely rhetorical screed in effect blaming the Navy for his situation. Worse, in the unclassified mode of its transmission he invited the release to the press that occurred within hours after the e mail's transmission.
His was a serious responsibility and he had rather clearly demonstrated his inability or unwillingness to deal with it.
