The former commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, who was removed from his post after he pleaded for help amid the coronavirus outbreak on his aircraft carrier, has taken a temporary job with Naval Air Forces in San Diego, according to a report.
Capt. Crozier arrived in San Diego on Monday night after leaving Guam, Naval Air Forces spokesman Cmdr. Ron Flanders told the Navy Times.
He will serve as special assistant to the Naval Air Forces chief of staff, Flanders added.
A Naval Air Forces rep told the Times of San Diego: “He is not in quarantine. He has been reunited with his wife.”
Crozier was relieved April 2 by then-Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly after the San Francisco Chronicle reported the contents of a leaked letter he wrote to superiors in pleading for help as his crew battled an outbreak of COVID-19.
The ship docked in Guam, where Crozier tested positive for the disease shortly before joining his former sailors in quarantine on the island.
Despite a recommendation by Navy brass that Crozier be given back his job, acting Navy Secretary James McPherson recently ordered a secondary probe into his firing, Politico reported last week.
Modly later resigned after delivering a speech to the Roosevelt’s crew on the ship’s public address system in which he slammed Crozier as “stupid” for not realizing his message would be leaked.