Pentagon Error--Brindel Is a Captain
The Pentagon says it isn’t sure whether the frigate Stark was attacked by one plane or two. But it did discover Wednesday that the ship’s captain is a captain, not a commander.
For three days the Defense Department referred to the Stark’s skipper as Cmdr. Glenn R. Brindel. But a photograph of Brindel taken in Bahrain on Wednesday showed the four gold stripes of a captain on his sleeve.
That set off a search through Pentagon files, which confirmed that Brindel, indeed, was promoted from commander to captain in January.
“When we first got the word from the Navy on Sunday, he was referred to as Capt. Glenn Brindel,” a Pentagon public affairs officer said. “But someone . . . scratched that out and wrote in ‘Cmdr. Glenn Brindel.’ ”
“It was an assumption, because officers with the rank of captain don’t usually command frigates,” said another official.
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