More raunchy videos surface from Enterprise - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

More raunchy videos surface from Enterprise

Additional “XO Movie Night” videos shown on the carrier Enterprise in the 2006-07 time frame, independently obtained by Navy Times, depict more of the foul language and suggestive humor that cost then-executive officer Capt. Owen Honors command of the ship Tuesday afternoon.

WARNING: Videos are unedited and contain crude language and sexual references.

But one of the two additional videos — one is undated and the second is dated March 2007 — contains a new wrinkle: An officer Honors identifies as a member of the carrier strike group admiral’s staff appears to have been aware of the videos. This casts doubt on Honors’ repeated, on-air claims that shipboard and strike group leadership had no idea the videos were being produced and broadcast.

In one clip, Honors interviews an unidentified strike group staff officer — his name tag can’t be made out — who is apparently is a military lawyer. The officer jokes, “Before you say anything sir, I’ll have to advise you of your rights.”

In his statement announcing the firing, Adm. John Harvey, commander of Fleet Forces Command, pointed out that an investigation into the videos “will continue to look at all aspects of the production of the videos, to include the actions of other senior officers who knew of the videos, and what they did or did not do in response.”

The Enterprise Carrier Strike Group was led by Rear Adm. Raymond Spicer, now the Navy’s assistant deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans and strategy, until February 2007, when the current 2nd Fleet commander, Vice Adm. Daniel Holloway, took over. Spicer could not be reached for comment. Holloway, through his spokeswoman, declined to comment and referred questions to Harvey’s office.

It’s also apparent that the video production continued as the carrier sailed into the Persian Gulf as the Iraq war was raging. Enterprise deployed to the Middle East twice during Honors’ tenure as executive officer — from May through November 2006 and July through December 2007.

“We’re through the Strait of Hormuz, we’re getting ready for combat operations,” said Honors, seated at his shipboard desk. “It’s hot.” Through a video trick, his “alter ego” pops up from behind the desk and chirps, “No s—, it’s getting hot. We’re gettin’ close to hell.” The seated Honors replies, “Please drink a lot of water, stay hydrated out there.” Defenders who’ve posted hundreds of online letters of support have pointed out that Honors often used his humor to make larger points.

Edited and masked versions of the two videos — each about six minutes long and broadcast weekly ahead of a feature movie — were previously published on the website of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper, which broke the story Saturday. Navy Times obtained the videos Tuesday.

The two videos depict much of the same sort of racy humor depicted in the first video that The Virginian-Pilot posted and that cost Honors his job. After announcing that he’s been criticized because the clips aren’t as funny as they used to — “the XO’s lost his balls,” he says he’s told — Honors says he’ll go ask the crew what they’d like to see.

He asks one sailor on the mess decks who says, “A thong,” and points to Honors, who replies, “Oh, me in a thong.” The scene dissolves into a still photo of four comely women in skimpy bathing suits, with Honors, in between them, naked save for a superimposed strip of digitized fabric that covers his genitals.

The original photo featured the movie character Borat, played by Sacha Baron Cohen, posing on the beach at Cannes, France, during the Cannes International Film Festival in 2006. Honors’ head is superimposed on Borat’s body.

The second video, which Navy Times has labeled for readers as “XO movie night 2,” is prefaced with six-plus minutes of a regular shipboard news program dated March 10, 2007, and a “photos of the week” segment produced by the ship’s public affairs office.

When Honors finally appears, he talks about a “great first week of cyclic operations,” referring to pre-deployment training. A movie then begins but is interrupted and cuts back to Honors’ office, where he fields some rapid-fire calls about problems throughout the ship and tells staffers to execute “Alert 7.”