# The necessary character traits of a navy submarine commander **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2016, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-necessary-character-traits-of-a-navy-submarine-commander/745688 "2016-02-10T06:58:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-necessary-character-traits-of-a-navy-submarine-commander/745688/41 "2016-02-12T17:45:36Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Doesn’t seem so very different from being a decent civilian manager or even a decent human. Exactly > [@](#): > > What kind of decisions would they be brought into as reward? No idea for sub duty, as I’ve never been on one. In the Naval construction arena, I would include smart young men in the project planning phase and give them additional responsibility on the job site. I could also recommend them for inclusion on a ‘detachment’ for the next deployment, which were generally plum assignments. > [@](#): > > If a submarine CO realizes he has a bad apple in the middle of a long deployment, what are his options? After verbal counseling, cautions or reprimands, without an improvement in performance, a Captain’s Mast for reduction in rank and in pay may be in order. In the extreme, all boats have a brig for those guilty of criminal mischief. Punitive measures were always a last resort for me. I think that in 23 years I sent only few people to Mast, and only a couple who worked directly for me, who were just misfits. The others were men who didn’t show up for their watch when I was the guy in charge of the duty crew, and who I likely had no other contact with on a daily basis. Many times, people who don’t show up for duty have a perfectly legitimate reason for not doing so, but the default response of the OOD is to initiate a report and let the chain of command sort it out later. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-necessary-character-traits-of-a-navy-submarine-commander/745688.md?page=2)