Colorado Native Crew Member Defends Cpt. Honors

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - "Extremely poor judgment" -- that's how the head of the U.S. Naval Fleet describes videos made by Cpt. Owen Honors. On Tuesday those videos cost Honors command of the USS Enterprise.

One of the former crew members defending the captain is a Colorado native. Jessica Zabawa from Aurora was a cook on the USS Enterprise for 3 years and knew Honors as both the executive officer and the commander.

"He's always been someone I can look up to," Zabawa said. "He is very professional with his job but he also knows when to have fun and take time to share that with his crew."

She says the videos that eventually led to his removal were something the crew looked forward to. Saturday nights included pizza and Honor's comedy skits before a movie.

"It could be about how sailors complain about cleaning; he's made a video about that. He had a little parrot that somehow disappeared and he would look for it. He tried to make something entertaining to the crew," Zabawa said.

"If that's a morale booster it's beyond me," Navy veteran Ted Sandoval said.
Sandoval served in the Navy for 30 years and says entertainment is needed on a ship.

"Everybody gets a little bit moody after a while," he said.

But Sandoval says videos like the ones made by Honors are uncalled for, especially from a high-ranking officer.

"Well they're someone that I respect and for something like this I just would not have respect for them," he said.

"You can only be at the standard for so long before you lose it," Zabawa said.

Zabawa still keeps in contact with crew members on the Enterprise and says a new commander so close to deployment isn't a good idea.

"If they have a new captain they're not going to know what to expect from him," she said.

Well wishes keep coming in on Facebook for Honors but there's also a page where people called for his firing.

The Enterprise is set to deploy later this month for 6 months to the Middle East.