A series of racist messages allegedly sent by a sailor from the destroyer John S. McCain through the social media app Snapchat outraged other sailors and prompted even more degrading comments on a subsequent Facebook thread.
Fireman Cameron Kyle Alsbrooks reportedly recorded a video this week that featured white individuals using racial slurs with one another, according to multiple sailors who spoke to Navy Times on the condition of anonymity.
When another sailor questioned him about the video, Alsbrooks, who hails from Texas, allegedly responded with a series of racist messages from his Snapchat profile, which, as of publication, has a username of dallas_fire.
That sailor screenshot the exchange and posted it to her personal Facebook page, making it public.
Once he caught wind of the Facebook post featuring his alleged comments, Alsbrooks tagged one of his friends, another McCain sailor named Austin Fromm, who, according to a May 25 post on the destroyer McCain’s official Facebook page, was recently frocked to third class petty officer.
Fromm quickly joined the fray with derogatory comments of his own, allegedly responding to disgusted sailors with a series of insults.
In one comment, Fromm allegedly asked a female sailor if she is actually a woman, which he then followed up with another post featuring a picture from the female sailor’s own Facebook page.
Many of the original comments made by Alsbrooks and Fromm in the Facebook thread have since been deleted, and the two have blocked many of the sailors who called them out on their behavior.
Four different active-duty sailors provided various screenshots of the exchanges to Navy Times, however, and other sailors have corroborated the sequence of events.
When one sailor privately messaged Alsbrooks about the Navy’s stance on racism, Alsbrooks responded, “So how does the navy hate racists?”
Other sailors continued to dispute the series of derogatory comments, only to allegedly receive snarky replies from FN Alsbrooks.
Whenever comments came from Alsbrooks’ Facebook profile, additional remarks from Fromm were never far behind.
Seventh Fleet officials have confirmed that an investigation into the exchanges is underway.
“We are looking into this matter,” said Cmdr. Clay Doss, public affairs officer for U.S. 7th Fleet. “This type of behavior is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in Seventh Fleet.”
Alsbrooks joined the Navy in April 2017 and reported to the McCain at the end of September, one month after the destroyer’s catastrophic collision with an oil tanker, an accident that claimed the lives of 10 sailors.
J.D. Simkins is the executive editor of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.
