More detail on the 'STINKY' SSID WiFi network: https://pic8.co/sh/NYBhY4.jpeg https://pic8.co/sh/Qol5lx.png https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/there-is-dysfunction-and-then-theres >CDR Salamander There is Dysfunction, and then there's USS Manchester (LCS 14) Gold Crews in 2023 > yes..."stinky" is appropriate > You know those stories that the more you read it and the more you ponder it, the worse it looks? And then, when you see the reaction of the Navy to it, it just makes less sense? > Well, this is one of those stories. > It is hard to get your head around Diana Stancy’s reporting at Navy Times on Tuesday about what happened on the USS Manchester (LCS 14) Gold Crew in 2023. Don’t get me wrong, the reporting is great, but the story? > To start with, remember, LCS crews are small. > Something of this scale is … well … > BEHOLD! > As the ship prepared for a West Pacific deployment in April 2023, the enlisted leader onboard conspired with the ship’s chiefs to install the secret, unauthorized network aboard the ship, for use exclusively by them. > So while rank-and-file sailors lived without the level of internet connectivity they enjoyed ashore, the chiefs installed a Starlink satellite internet dish on the top of the ship and used a Wi-Fi network they dubbed “STINKY” to check sports scores, text home and stream movies. > At the bottom of the post, look at the CV of Marrero. She knew the danger she was putting the ship in, not to mention the outright insubordination floating around in a stew of ethical, legal, and yes moral failures. This isn’t just a bunch of junior Sailors being Sailors. Not by a long shot. > I can understand an individual failure, but an entire Chiefs’ Mess? > Led by the senior enlisted leader of the ship’s gold crew, then-Command Senior Chief Grisel Marrero, the effort roped in the entire chiefs mess by the time it was uncovered a few months later. > Marrero was relieved in late 2023 after repeatedly misleading and lying to her ship’s command about the Wi-Fi network, and she was convicted at court-martial this spring in connection to the scheme. > She was sentenced to a reduction in rank to E-7 after the trial and did not respond to requests for comment for this report. > Only to E-7? > After this? > …more than 15 Manchester chiefs were in cahoots with Marrero to purchase, install and use the Starlink system aboard the ship…including the covert installation of a Starlink satellite dish on the outside of the Manchester. > … > The Starlink dish was installed on the Manchster’s O-5 level weatherdeck during a “blanket” aloft period, which requires a sailor to hang high above or over the side of the ship. > During a “blanket” aloft, duties are not documented in the deck logs or the officer of the deck logs, according to the investigation. > It’s unclear who harnessed up and actually installed the system for Marrero due to redactions in the publicly released copy of the probe, but records show Marrero powered up the system the night before the ship got underway to the West Pacific waters of U.S. 7th Fleet. > For those who are not aware—this is not innocent jackassing. This description is an understatement. You don’t want to know the classified description. > Unauthorized Wi-Fi systems like the one Marrero set up are a massive no-no for a deployed Navy ship, and Marrero’s crime occurred as the ship was deploying to the West Pacific, where such security concerns become even more paramount among heightened tensions with the Chinese. > “The installation and usage of Starlink, without the approval of higher headquarters, poses a serious risk to mission, operational security, and information security,” the investigation states. (continues)