“SWO Life – more like No Life Amirite?”
or
“A Sailors Life For Me” Part 2
USS INGRAHAM (FFG 61) – “The Last and Finest”
Why can’t the Navy keep its surface warfare officers? (navytimes.com)
Continued from part 1
Big Navy does this because of how many SWOs leave around the eight-year mark of their career, the report states.
While noting that he does not know what current SWOs are enduring, retired SWO Bradley Martin —who spent two-thirds of his 30 years at sea — said that over-commissioning has gone on for a long time to ensure there are enough department heads down the career line.
In other words, “attrition is built into the system,” said Martin, now a senior policy analyst with the Rand Corp. and director of their National Security Supply Chain Institute.
“This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he added. “Poor job satisfaction, diminished training opportunity, big crowds of people on the bridge and in other watch stations pretty much induces attrition.”
Newly minted SWOs can feel like they have been dropped into the middle of the ship with little to no guidance from higher-ranking SWOs dealing with their own deluge of work, according to the lieutenant, who recalled having “a made-up job” on her first ship.
It’s often easier for more seasoned SWOs to just do jobs themselves than take the time to teach a junior officer how to do it.
“We say that SWOs eat their young, and it’s true,” the lieutenant said. “They’re essentially told to figure it out. It’s a double-edged sword of people in the upper chains having no time to train the ensign and then they get mad because they’re not trained.”
Some go-getter ensigns — the type of officer the Navy would want to keep — end up eyeing the exit because of the lack of meaningful work or purpose, she said, while some who are content to do nothing end up sticking around. The lieutenant recalled the situation of one junior officer on another ship who also had no job.
“She was just walking around asking people if they needed help,” the lieutenant said. “She had nothing to do.”
Junior officers also suffer from imposter syndrome, according to the midgrade SWO, who recalled his own early days.
“I felt really dumb,” the SWO said. “I kept getting popped from job to job. You spend so much time trying to cultivate value in yourself.”
A lot of junior officers never get to do the job they thought they were going to do, he added.
“It’s called a surface warfare officer,” he said. “A lot of people go through their entire time as a (division officer) and never encounter that ‘W’ at all. It’s the surface admin officer or the surface PQS officer. When does the rubber meet the road? It never does.”
No Shit Sherlock. This is absolutely one of my biggest issues. But it requires a little more background first.
In the army, we had maintenance and training – all services do. For me, that involved intel school, and hands on training for things like weapons qualifications, NBC gear cleaning and maintenance and *basic* “level 10” maintenance on our S-2 HMMVW in the motorpool. I know the gun bunnies had more PMCS (Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services) on their 105mms and trucks – heck, the army has a regular comic book series on maintenance (lowest common denominator).
The Navy takes maintenance (Preventative Maintenance System (IIRC) – PMS) to an entirely different level (not getting into aviation-level issues). A ship is everything once you’re underway. It’s your barracks, your armory, your weapon systems, your mess hall, your office, etc, etc. I’m not kidding when I say that literally every valve handwheel is tracked on a maintenance schedule – for testing, lubrication, operation, etc. And that goes for every single pump, motor, pistol, torpedo tube, radar, antenna, computer server rack, etc. Thankfully, they’ve decided that some shipboard maintenance (ie. complete disassembly and reassembly at a preset number of hours – normally for generators/pumps/etc) is optional – ie. Some checks can be rescheduled/pushed right if there’s literally nothing impeding operation and no evident degradation. This is all tracked in a set of very in-depth manuals and computer programs – that are updated on a quarterly basis.
Radar Maintenance
At the same time, the Navy has a system called PQS (Personnel Qualification System) – that governs *everything* on the ship. Basic 3M (Maintenance) has several levels of qualification starting with the hands-on level and going up levels into maintaining the maintenance tracking system, writing jobs, ordering parts and approving jobs and maintenance schedules (by the division officers, etc).
But PQS doesn’t stop there. Literally every single job on the ship has a PQS – that requires verbal verification of knowledge questions and well as standing the watch “under instruction” “x” number of times. For engineers that includes “Sound and Security” watches – where they roam the ship and check fluid levels, operating temps, etc. For deck watches, that includes standing the Officer of the Deck watch in port and carrying a weapon on the quarterdeck – and all the responsibilities, communications involved and responses to visitors (wanted and unwanted), etc. Breaking that down, there’s also a PQS just to safely operate a 9mm pistol – that must be completed before you even go to the range to qualify on it.
* Secondary aside – regarding PQS qualifications – they are very specific by watchstation, ship class, etc – in the case of the USS John S McCain collision, it was determined that several folks qualified on one ship for one watch station were not appropriately qualified on the same system on a different ship due to external factors. Normally this is a fairly minor point of requalification or recertification, but when it’s ignored or missed or “gun-decked” – the results can be fatal.
A DDG bridge (helmsman in the foreground), Lee Helmsman is the sailor in the center behind the khaki arm – on an FFG, the helmsman is actually seated just in front of the windshield with a wheel about 6 inches across….
Similarly, Basic Damage Control is another critical PQS – but (other than getting to go to the fun “ship on fire simulator” for hose training or the “floating” USS Buttercup simulator – see previous link) that involves sitting down with the damage control enlisted folks to have them go over things and train you – which is easy sometimes when you’re underway, but extremely difficult when you’re in dry dock. I’d be sitting in the wardroom reading on a duty day, CHENG (Chief Engineer) would walk in ask me how my DC PQS was doing and hint that I should be working on it. I’d find my paperwork, and wander around the engineering spaces looking for the Duty DC petty officer – until I found him and he told me he was too busy dealing with something to conduct training and maybe to find him the next day…. To fit my experience to the interviewees above, when I checked on board, I had essentially zero guidance from my first department head who was getting ready to transfer. A few weeks after we went in the dry dock, the XO called me into his office and told me I would be riding another FFG for 2 months of RIMPAC. An excellent experience all around that I may write about in more detail in the future – but what I didn’t get was any specific training guidance other than vague suggestions for qualifications. There wasn’t anything concrete like “Complete DC, 3M, SWO Engineering, etc, etc” and have your signatures ready for me when you get back.” There was no actual discussion of expectations and I still had no idea what was going on in that system based on my previous experiences. C’est la vie…. In my opinion the lack of clear expectations nearly set me up for failure.
On my first ship – as the ordnance officer, my GQ (General Quarters/Emergency) watch was “Aft Steering Officer”. That meant I got to sit in one of the spaces farthest aft under the flight deck where I manned the alternate emergency [manual] steering station. And when I say “manned” – that means I sat there as the officer in charge and supervised the junior sailor assigned Aft Steering Helmsman and the other junior sailor who operated as phone talker and validated that every single rudder command from the bridge was received and echoed by my sailors and that the visual indicators in my space matched what was on the bridge in the case of a possible loss of steering. In the case of an actual loss of steering – real or exercise, I would validate that my helmsman responded to the verbal commands from the bridge verbatim and that our rudder operated as expected.
Now to get to my central point regarding the Officer PQS ladder. Aft Steering Officer is one of the first qualifications a SWO will get when they get to a ship – the watch station is manned every time you are in a restricted maneuvering situation – ie. pulling in and out of port, conducting underway replenishments, General Quarters, etc. From there you will generally go to the Bridge and start Conning Officer. There’s not normally a PQS for the Conn – it’s just something you do – mainly because you are taking your lead from the Officer of the Deck – or the XO or CO depending who’s up there. You may make small adjustments on your own – depending on wind and currents if you’ve been given a position to take, but typically you’re following someone else’s guidance.
When I was commissioned, I had about 2-4 weeks of Junior SWO training in Newport right after commissioning and before I went to my ship. (I think it was 2 weeks of dead time with a bit of simulator work – waiting for the next official class, and then 2 weeks of actual classes with some more simulator time). I believe they’re back up to two full months of training now, but still not the same as the 6 months plus they used to have in the 90s and early 00s (not to mention the auxiliary yard craft they used to have in the 90s and earlier for actual hands-on ship driving experience – and still use at the Naval Academy). The simulators weren’t bad, (but most of them *were* a lot simpler than this one since we were only training on Conning initially) particularly when you have the opportunity to focus on a particular platform with their respective engine setups and shafts – very different to conn a Frigate pierside with a single shaft but two Auxiliary propulsion units than an Arleigh Burke DDG with two shafts. The simulator had a lot of focus on proper voice commands and speaking clearly, which is critical in the role of conn.
The weird disconnect is that after you’ve Conn’d for a while, they want you to alternate somewhat between CIC Watch Officer (CICWO) and Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD) – although this is often ship/CO dependent. They’re both the next steps that you need to get signed off for prior to starting your real OOD qualification.
CICWO is fairly minor position depending on the class of ship. On the DDG, I don’t think they even stood it up half the time – since there was a LDO/warrant in charge of CIC – maybe just during complex operations when we had to juggle communications with a lot more folks. On the Frigate it was a station that was always manned by a watchstander for administration/communication purposes.
JOOD is basically OOD (minus). You’re essentially doing the OOD’s job and being evaluated and overseen by the actual OOD who has the CO’s authority and trust to operate the ship when the CO is not on the bridge. Obviously, there are a lot of legal implications, which is why the CO’s trust is important. On my first ship, I think we had just one ensign who never picked up her OOD letter – she was alright, but a little too frantic, had trouble making clear reports to the CO, etc. (Our CO at the time was a woman too.). Due to her being an Academy grad, she was able to get an exception and transfer out of SWO life to another billet – they’d put a lot more money in on training her already than say someone like me.
Underway small arms qualifications
My experiences were a little messier. We got out of the drydocks, but every time we got underway for training, when I needed to be knocking out my CICWO watches, we had gun shoots for qualifications and I felt it was my responsibility (right or wrong – maybe priority issues) to assist the shoots and update my ordnance records. So even after we finished the entire training cycle and deployed about 1 1/2 years after I got to the ship, I still didn’t have my CICWO, much less my OOD. Normally (in 2011), you were required to have your OOD in 18 months after arriving at the ship. I barely got mine at 24 months and left the ship a few months before the end of deployment in order to get my next “basic SWO” class in Newport – attendance of which is a prerequisite to even sitting for a board to get your SWO letter from the CO. I met the ship in San Diego on the way back from deployment and managed to cram in a [dry run and] official board between San Diego and Everett on the way home. Again…there’s a lot involved in the timing and attitude of the CO and chain of command regarding your readiness. It wasn’t the best board ever, and I brain dumped nearly everything afterwards, but the CO passed me.
(Speaking of which, the actual OOD PQS includes an insane amount of material that no single ship will ever actually see during the scope of an 18 month period – barring possibly wartime (not to mention that it’s not class-specific so you need to be able to speak to things you’ve never actually experienced). It includes everything from routine operations, pierside maneuvering, underway replenishment maneuvering, operating in a channel swept for mines, zero visibility operations, amphibious ops (which you need to know enough to speak about for the SWO board even if you never see it – hell, my first time on a ship with a well deck was this past January), how to respond to emergencies such as fire, flooding, loss of power, loss of communications, weapons operations, formation ops with allied ships, etc, etc, etc).
Underway Replenishment aka UNREP
The midgrade SWO attributes a lot of these problems to the diminished fleet size and not having enough ships to accommodate everyone and allow junior officers the chance to really learn.
“We’re in a constant bum rush to deployment … on a sprint to meet all these requirements the fleet doesn’t have the capacity to reasonably meet,” he said. “You’ve got a bunch of junior officers in washed-out jobs that don’t really reflect the kind of opportunity we’d want them to have, on ships that are strung out and undermanned.”
“None of that is a recipe for success.”
Still, the SWO said he is hearing good things about reforms to basic and advanced division officer courses, as well as increased simulator training the Navy stood up following the 2017 collisions.
“If the fleet and fleet manning were different, I think that the training that’s in place, all the simulators, I think we could do a really good job,” he said. “We just don’t have the time and we don’t have the ships. … It’s just this death spiral of personnel and force structure decisions.”
Navy officials told GAO they were aware that “over-commissioning” junior SWOs increases competition aboard ships at sea.
Those officials argued to GAO that such practices can be beneficial, “as it provides additional personnel to conduct ship-board duties while at sea.”
The sea service has expanded the amount of classroom training for junior SWOs, while constructing new simulator-based training facilities and no longer assigning junior SWOs to ships in extended maintenance.
Junior SWOs have also had their first at-sea assignment lengthened from 24 months to 30 months, according to GAO.
“However, these changes may have exacerbated the issue of hindering training opportunities at sea, since they ultimately reduce the number of ships new officers can serve aboard, further increasing the number of new SWOs aboard ships at sea,” the report states.
The midgrade SWO said he thought the Navy would be courting disaster if it started commissioning fewer junior SWOs, because the results would be horrendous if the same number quit down the line, leaving massive holes in the force.
Adding to the glut is the fact that more than 20 percent of newly commissioned SWOs are on a career path that will see them leave the SWO world and transfer into other Navy jobs that don’t accept newly commissioned junior officers, such as intelligence and cryptologic warfare.
The recent GAO findings are not news for the Navy.
After the 2017 fatal ship collisions, the Navy’s Strategic Readiness Review noted that over-commissioning junior SWOs “directly contributed to declining SWO readiness,” according to GAO.
A parallel Comprehensive Review “noted that the U.S. Navy’s practice of over-commissioning SWOs makes it challenging to build proficiency and experience in ship-driving.”
The Navy could better capture the effects of these practices if it pulled data from the Surface Warfare Mariner Skills Logbook, which since 2018 has required SWOs to document their ship-driving and related experience in a handwritten logbook.
But GAO found that to date, the Navy hasn’t analyzed logbook data for insightful trends.
———-
To be concluded.
The weird disconnect is that after you’ve Conn’d for a while, they want you to alternate somewhat between CIC Watch Officer (CICWO) and Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD)
So the Navy can blame the JOOD.
That’s my impression of being a SWO. Here is a ton of responsibility with no fucking training.
Never been on a boat, but the Army sent me to NPS for two years. The SWOs generally seemed a miserable lot.
heck, the army has a regular comic book series on maintenance (lowest common denominator).
MSgt Halfmast need to turn some squid ass into calimari. Connie and Bonnie were the bomb.
Yeah, I was a private when Bonnie went from low-grade spank material to prim-and-proper.
One thing our author might appreciate; I believe Bernie Wrightson did some covers for PS magazine back in the day.
He did early Swamp Thing comics and stuff for Heavy Metal, like Captain Sternn.
“She was just walking around asking people if they needed help,” the lieutenant said. “She had nothing to do.”
Yes Maam I do, we have this rusty scupper over right next to this needle gun.
*insert here after over*
Never served in the military, thanks for a peek into athis world. Lots of good stuff, and I found this interesting:
“Some go-getter ensigns — the type of officer the Navy would want to keep — end up eyeing the exit because of the lack of meaningful work or purpose, she said, while some who are content to do nothing end up sticking around.”
This is by no means unique to the military. I have seen exactly this in every large organization I’ve had the misfortune to be employed at. Those who place high value on job security tend to stay, the ambitious find better things to do.
I’ve seen it work poorly both ways. I’ve seen very competent people get shit canned for being happy to stay in their current role. I’ve seen ambitious people bail because the current role began to bore them and the chance to change that was years away.
Good point. $employer is really pushing career development ATTM, which sorta makes sense since our employees are mostly in their 20’s and ’30s. I’m not sure they know what to do with a 68 year old developer who left a long career in middle management because he wanted to do something useful and interesting. If everyone gave as few fucks as I do about their development programs, they’d have to lay off a dozen HR staff
At my work, there’s a bunch of people resting on their laurels. For whatever reason, they are left alone. I show up early every day, follow the rules and work when it’s time to work and at a level higher than most of them, but I constantly get punished for some stupid shit that required mental gymnastics to arrive at. Now, I’m about to start getting punished for not getting the vax. I ain’t taking it anymore. I should have sued at the first round of harassment. This time, I have no hesitation.
You are punished for making everyone else look bad.
Thank you, but the truth is, they make themselves look really bad. They’re about to get themselves deep in hot water trying to push this vax thing. They have said that they are going to require the unvaxxed to test on our own dime and our own time. Punishing us for not engaging in a medical experiment. That might seem like a good way to curry favor with the dipshit mayor, but I doubt it’s going to be a good look for them later in court.
There needs to be massive numbers of lawsuits in as many possible jurisdictions as possible. With people demanding the courts open and hear cases or forfeit all legitimacy. This has become an absolute boondoggle of governmental proportions with courts acting as if COVID is the fucking plague, Never have we had the contempt of the bureaucrat for the taxpayers on display as we’ve seen with this scamdemic.
Yes. I’m drafting a letter demanding that all mandates, consequences for not getting and rewards for getting the vax and any other policies regarding vaccination be delivered to me in writing, signed and dated. I want to prove who said what and when. I am not going down without a fight. I just found out that there are at least two other holdouts in my shop. It’s even more egregious for us, since we actually work for the government. They are picking on us merely because they have leverage against us, but they are the government, on top of being our employer.
Underway small arms qualifications
On the bright side, they don’t have to worry about what’s behind the target.
#insert fail video where barrel assembly goes into the drink when firing.
Bureaucracy. Prior to WWII the Services would get severely pared back after war, and the peacetime service just flat out had to run leaner (which is not to say there was no bureaucracy, but they simply didn’t get to have enough people around to build up all the barnacles that normal bureaucratic empire-building entails). All that changed after WWII – sure it was a big drawdown but there was now an enduring worldwide mission, and that glorious 5-sided building wasn’t going to be made available for non-defense use.
Just as the education bureaucracy the last 30-40 years has been focused on growing the administrative role, so too the military has maintained a top-heavy structure (far too many FOGOs) and instituted a personnel system that is most concerned with replenishing those top ranks. The actual warfighting functions are starved so that boxes on personnel forms are checked and rungs on ladders are climbed at a specific pace. If eleven years as a MAJ was acceptable for Eisenhower, it would not be for any officer (in any service) after the war.
PQS………..I haven’t read that in more than a few years.
My first ship in the CG was commanded by a LT and the XO was a LTJG. After a bit of training I was qualified as JOOD as a SN. I made SNBM on that boat and moved on.
Thanks for the insight into big ship squid world LCDR Fish.
and moved on.
That’s one way of putting it I guess.
Those third world governments won’t topple themselves!
GI Beans and GI Gravy –
Gee, I wish I’d joined the Navy!
Sung sarcastically by Marines with a few beers in them, it’s actually quite funny.
My college roommate was a blackshoe. Good man. He crossed the line in ’89 (I believe) as a midshipman. Man of Man! Did he have a story to tell after he got back from that summer.
I had just gotten back from OCS so he got no sympathy from me.
Okay, that didn’t add anything of value. Let me say this in 30+ years of being around the naval services: SWOs get treated like shit and always have since the brownshoes took over. (Nautical trivia: Aviators are allowed to wear brown shoes, vice the black ones that SWOs and everyone else in the “regular” Navy does.) I say that as a Marine aviator, btw. Here’s the real problem:
James Webb resigned as SecNav under Reagan (circa 1987, IIRC) over the refusal of Congress to fund a 600-ship Navy. We have 300 active ships now. And think about what we require of that Navy and how many of those ships are carriers. The consider what a carrier battle group requires, what the associated Amphib Ready Group that floats with it requires, one for the Med and the WesPac always going, someone coming back from that, someone ramping up to replace it… then contingencies and unforeseen disaster relief, and the usual Pentagon fuckery. Oh, yes, and then there’s protecting US shipping and keeping the SLOCs open (thanks, Mahan!). And then there’s how many ships are actually nuclear-powered – and all that comes with that.
If government really wanted to burn some money on “infrastructure” – they could do worse than making us a naval power again, including civilian shipping and trade. Of course, that would require making more goods for export, etc. but being a naval power is one of the few things I can justify as a govt function of supporting and protecting commerce abroad.
Useless trivia: The Army has more boats than the Navy.
Mostly little stuff, though.
The Army “used to” have more boats than the Navy. WWII used to.
Navy slang for ships is “boat”. Boats fit on ships and not the other way around.
When I was stationed at Lajes AB in the Azores in the mid 70’s:
The Army ran the docks.
The Navy had the flying mission (P-3 Orion sub trackers)
The Air Force ran the base (I was in communications)
A good friend of mines little brother is in the Merch Marine as an officer. He specifically works in military goods transport*, and holy shit does he make good money. And he isn’t even a captain yet, just first officer, putting in his hours.
*I forget the actual name for it. Sea Lift Command? Something like that.
The Navy doesnt need that many ships but ships do take years to build, so if a war kicks off you go to war with what you have.
Naval conflict with China is probably inevitable. China is pulling the same co-prosperity sphere bullshit that Imperial Japan did. China has 30+ amphibious landing ships. And by ships, I mean they can land thousands of troops and tons of equipment. Which is what you need to invade Taiwan, the P.I., and Indonesia (for oil).
If all the commies operating in the Democrat Party are an indicator of how many commies are in the military/government, America’s ships/subs and ICBM silos will go dark under ransomware during WWIII with China.
From the last thread,
Who’s the best drummer? It’s a toss up between Meg White and the guy from Def leopard after his crash. Fight me.
This guy.
Between that and my picks, I think it’s a wash.
There’s something just a bit off kilter about that one.
It’ll all make sense, once it goes through the spin cycle.
If you’re into that be-bop thing.
“Who’s the best drummer?”
Neil Fucking Peart!
He was also a motorcycle rider.
Exactly.
Don’t even know why this is a question.
Love him, but Buddy Rich
https://youtu.be/9esWG6A6g-k
From the comments, lol:
You’re all wrong.
Bonzo!
Excellent video. Thanks.
Pretty sure Neil would have +1’d this right here.
Gene Krupa was no slouch either – https://youtu.be/H-H6Xt17DMc
This is correct on both counts. He also wrote some decent books. It’s a shame he felt the need to change his mind and become a lefty when it might start to affect his wallet.
????
Stella Mozgowa would kick his ass with half the kit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T9Q1uKl-Qg&ab_channel=APinhert
I am a massive Tony Allen fan, loved his stuff with Fela Kuti, where he helped invent a new music style and I love his solo stuff. He was still playing and creating into his 70’s when he died last year. Here he is explaining some of the beats he created in afrobeat music. A very understated drummer, but awesome. I even got to shake his hand after a free show he played in Spain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnxL66aHWsI
Mike Portnoy.
Best drummer is the one that gets you your pizza in under 30 minutes.
Keith Moon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0iqg2UanEc
Second. Considering they had the greatest rock bass player too, that was an incredible rhythm section. Daltrey & Townshend could focus on melody
Thanks for the interesting articles. I enjoyed this peek into another world.
Me too. Not much I can add on the topic however.
Back when i believed the US government was a force for good i went down to the recruiting office and tried to join the marines. The recruiter told me i was shit out of luck because i have a tattoo that goes from my chest up onto my neck. I was pissed. I asked “can i get into the army at least?” He said “No youre going to have to join the navy.”
I said fuck that i didnt want to spend my life on a boat and those neckerchiefs they wear are ridiculous. I always wonder how my life would have turned out if i joined the military.
My brother and I discussed it after 9/11. It was still a remote possibility. I am just plain allergic to being told what to do, so I was just expressing my anger. My brother had served for about 2 years in the early eighties and got kicked out for using drugs while training with high explosives. I doubt they’d have taken him back, but he would’ve certainly gone.
I was one signature away from going to the Air Force Academy. Then I realized I don’t respond well to being yelled at. I’m glad I chose a different route.
But my cousin retired from the Air Force at age 40 with all the benefits…
Kid I used to babysit for did JROTC all thru high school, loved it, got into Annapolis. And … he quit during Basic (or whatever it’s called – the couple weeks training camp before the academy). I always kind of wondered what he’d been sold vs what the reality turned out to be ,because clearly he had no idea what was going to actually happen.
I was pretty gung-ho about the military when I was a kid. Dad was USAF, as was his brother. I did JROTC for three years in high school, and got an ROTC scholarship with the assurances that I could get a waiver for my eyesight. Then after passing everything else they said ‘no waiver for you, but if you want to enlist and salute dumber people with better eyesight, we’d love it!’
Pass.
Nowadays, servicemembers like society in general look like ex-cons.
Saw a snapshot of an Olympic swimming team, I thought it was a strangely clean-cut gang.
Please don’t give USWNT any ideas.
The stifling micro-organization of everything…. Sounds suffocating.
I’m reminded something John Glubb wrote – the more elaborate an organization around a person, the more initiative is stifled.
Remembering the Marine Corps in the late 80s, there was of course discipline and the expectation of obedience to orders. But there was also often a looseness, where young Marines were expected to take initiative. During an exercise once, our Air Officer was off in a meeting and we found an enemy position – so another Lance Corporal and I said “fuck it” and ordered a for-real flight of Harriers to launch and handed them off to the local controller. When our boss (a Major) got back he was happy to hear it.
League day, 9 hours on the course, marking, setting up games, making bets, we finished in the dark, Good Days!
Ozy: “Let me say this in 30+ years of being around the naval services: SWOs get treated like shit and always have since the brownshoes took over.”
As a non-flyer in the AF who worked with a lot of squids I figure this is a major part of the problem. Heard more than one SWO complaining about having to train his brown shoe skipper how to drive a boat so the brown shoe could get ticket punched.
BTW Mr Fish. I knew a 2Lt Fish in the AF. FRANCIS not Frank. He was pretty weird.
Why would anybody of a certain age walk right into that joke?
https://youtu.be/syV2LkGpQB0
As a Onescore I thought of trying a hitch with the AF and Navy after I finished my Army time, then decide which I liked the best. The Army recruiter talked the best story, a bonus, guaranteed school of my choice (from a group of 3, my choices were crypto equipment repair, micro equipment repair and radar equipment repair). As it turned out, I got # 2 and my decision to be Army Strong was the right one. I had good assignments, promotions (until I hit captain for 8 years).
Your article seemed to include a lot of paperwork, self-reporting, which we didn’t have in the army. OTOH I’ve been gone for 45 years so I really don’t know what the current practices are. Thanks for bringing some enlightenment to an old ground pounder.
My opinion, the Army started being woke about 1972 with Project 100,000, and continued with the integration of women into many specialties that were difficult for women to accomplish, in addition to the many morale problems that the Army hadn’t anticipated.
Try not to throw right next to a tree, you can break a hand, this was a pulled shot, ouch!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZwjMwVEWQTVvnvu1A
Kroger is hedging it’s bets that the R’s might be back in control. They just gave a board seat to his wife.
Whose wife?
Crap. Cocaine Mitch.
Turtlehead himself.
Elaine? Establishment to the core.
CCP spy, I’m pretty sure. Probably is pals with the Bat Lady. Probably why Turtlehead keeps her around, he can learn Mandarin for the day when China Joe finally hands them the keys to the kingdom.
I hate being the first to break a focused thread like this, so I typically don’t do it. But I can’t resist this one and wait until tomorrow. So I apologize in advance for the breach of protocol.
Lawlessness
Constitution? Supreme Court? Who cares, I am the Supreme Bumblefuck!
I want every Cuomosexual to issue a public apology on Facederp for being so fucking stupid.
They have zero self awareness. Right now on WaPo, the posters are all not only predicting that everyone in FL and TX will die from Covid, they are actually wishing for it. It’s a sickening spectacle. Fredo Cuomo wants you locked down and Don Lemon is actually saying ‘No vaccine, you can’t go to the grocery store’. This guy is actually saying we’re going to starve people to death if they won’t get the vaccine. And some democrats are now calling for any of us who criticize Fauci or other health ‘experts’ on the internet with a federal hate crime and imprisonment.
It didn’t take long for them to go off the totalitarian deep end.
#ChipLampWoodPost
So is Deblasio. It’s not reality yet, but that’s what he wants.
Yeah, I saw that too. Totalitarian groupthink. And they call others Hitler and Stalin. That’s some real projection there, it’s so strong that it must actually have mass and it’s own gravitational field.
Sorry rhy. Not in the same scale, but mask mandate is back at work. I told my boss that it’s bullshit and his bosses need to tell HR to pound sand. Fucking idiot new boss of his jumped all over the poorly worded initial directive rather than slow rolling it.
I got a memo from my main client this afternoon. I didn’t read it, I was too busy doing real work, like the mission critical kind. I just saw something about the Delta variant and filed it away in my read tomorrow pile if I have time. I assume they’re bringing back the mask mandate after they finally backed off it it for fully vaccinated employees. Doesn’t affect me, I haven’t been to the office in 20 months and am now on full time remote work.
Why you guys wear them funny hats?
It’s a flotation device?
Fun fact, a sailors dixie cup (white hat), dungaree trousers, and dungaree shirts could all be used as flotation devices. Shit you knot.
The Navy switched to camo coveralls after my time, so not sure if you can use those.
My little friend has got game,
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GQhXVbE82LyZ1MDy7
You guys are going to start a super spreader. Commander Whitmer will be down there to shut down your super spreader course.
You guys have been warned before and… well, nothing happened… But that wasn’t real Covid, you’re all really going to die this time!
we Golfers spread disease whereever we go!
/I hope She is a super spreader, IYKWIM,
#GolfDiscSpreadersUnite
thumbs up Emoji goes here,
Our Club doesn’t wear masks, we shake hands, we smoke weed together, and pretty much act normally around here, I think the rest of Manistee feels the same,
No Rules!, Just right!
I think I told you I had a friend in Traverse City, not too far from you. Dollar Doobie Night at the drive in! LOL. Just keep heading North, Yusef, you’ll be a Yooper before we know it, Eh?
Yooper Dialect
My grandparents and their families was up around there and Manistee at one time. Haven’t kept up on descendants but likely some distant cousins still there.
Ayup! already gotts a slang eh? never know whatcha might find up here’ns
I lived in MI for about a year when I was a kid. I remember the snow because I didn’t see much of that after we moved back to Cincy. There was that winter in I think 77/78 where it snowed ten feet and the Ohio River froze over. But besides that, we didn’t get the sort of snow that upper MI gets. I don’t think we got much more than an inch of frozen precip here last winter. The clime here is probably closer to Nashville, with more rain.
Anna good golf in Traverse yea, a bit north iof here but a nice drive up and back you know,
Good Friday.
https://mobile.twitter.com/theLDCshow/status/1422014569266913286
If I’m suffering from a no laugh day like today, I know I can count on you guys to make my day.
If I can just remember to not click any of Sean’s links, so I don’t have to use that eyeball bleach again, that really stings. But oh, oh… now it’s better! Eyeball Bleach
Wait, what?
Good stuff and takes me back to my life in the US Navy.
In nuke school, we used to have Captains (O-6) attend our classes and sit in for a week here and there. Not sure how much cursory knowledge of a shipboard nuclear reactor was necessary to command a nuclear powered ship but a week was too superficial IMO. Nuke school used to be one of the most condensed schools in the Navy and we attended about 12 months of in school training.
One reason the US Navy has never had a nuclear “accident”.
I was disheartened when the US Navy has had two preventable collisions at sea in recent years. People dont understand that during those collisions, sailors had to shut and secure hatches which potentially trapped other sailors inside to drown. These water tight compartments are vital to keeping the steel ship afloat, especially with holes below the water line.
Another fun tidbit. I was stationed on the La Salle, AGF3 in Gaeta, Italy. We were the command ship for the Sixth fleet, so we had multiple foreign officers attached. I remember officers of the Russian military entering top secret spaces where I couldnt even go.
I got out of the Navy for multiple reasons but one was that being able to unwind, off duty, was becoming a career breaker. You come back to the ship drunk in a foreign port and you risk disciplinary action. You fuck one of the female sailors and that event goes sour, the male sailor gets in trouble. Tail hook was the beginning of the woke revolution in the military. Not that pilots cant be assholes. Just that if you focus too much on non-warfighting behavior, you might miss out on really good war fighters.
Patton was probably America’s best senior mechanized warfare general but was a train wreck with politics of Alliances and treating soldiers who shirked duty or had PTsD.
I’ve actually toured the Naval Academy 3 times. Does that count? I wouldn’t have jumped off that high board, man that is scary.
The one guy who guided the tour, he’d been around there for like 40 years and had all these great stories of Academy lore. Lots of Navy Army game lore, lots of lore of former academy attendees. He knew John McCain, attended at the same time, and talked about him too much. That was … awkward since I despise McCain. At one point the guy pointed out a picture of McCain on the wall and my wife leaned over and whispered to me ‘Please don’t say anything bad, he’s so nice, please?’. I didn’t, but man I wanted to.
I hated McCain because I suspected he was a benedict arnold RINO. Sure enough.
Funny thing about the benedict arnold RINOs like McCain, Romney, etc is that they always expose their Lefty ways if you pay attention. Romney gave it away with
Now look how butthurt RINOs are in Arizona that they will help Democrats steal elections.
Democrats used to have to steal elections themselves. Now they have RINOs assist them.
I really wasn’t going to say anything about McCain to that guy. He was the best tour guide. I’m that big of a smartass, but I’m not that big of an asshole.
Yeah, McCain was a complete traitor, he’s the sole reason we couldn’t get rid of the disastrous ACA, only because he wanted to spite Trump. Mittens, is there something in the water in Utah? They’re not sending their best.
I saw a guy in the hardware store yesterday wearing a fucking Romney-Ryan t-shirt. I certainly hope he’s just one of those old people who stopped giving a fuck what they wear and throw on whatever t-shirt and cargo shorts are in sight. Because if you actually LIKE Romney in 2021, then holy shit.
Romney gave it away with
Care to finish that thought, Lc?
He gave it away with mittens. That’s why they call him Mittens, duh!
Haha. Not sure what happened there.
Romney gave it away with romneycare in MASS. That showed how Romney was on board with socialist controlling the means of production, in this case health insurance in one state.
I lived pretty near the training center in Orlando, when it existed, which is where they did nuke training. (At least it was one of the places). I”d sometimes take walks to Lake Baldwin, right next to the base, where you’d often see squids getting some decompression time. It was also the closest thing to a body of water near the place. The Atlantic is ~50 miles away, as is the Gulf of Mexico.
So, that’s what happened to the folk in Ocala? They got radiation poisoning brain damage? That does sort of offer an explanation for Florida Man and Florida Woman.
I’m not sure what you’re referring to, Hyp. Ocala’s 80 miles NW of here, and if they ever had a Navy center, I was unaware.
That said, this is Florida.
Well, my brother used to drive from Ocala to Orlando every day for work. So I wasn’t sure how far it is. I thought he said it was less than 2 hours.
Yeah, it’s possible, especially if you don’t have to drive downtown or further south, or you’re driving at non-typical commuting hours. Even during drive-time, 75 and 91 aren’t bad routes to take, as there’s not a ton of commuting traffic. (AFAIK; your bro might call BS on that).
I “drove” I-4 for 2 weeks from O-town to St. Pete, and that was enough for me. My office had a bean bag and I slept on that for a few nights, then moved down. But that was going through all Orlando traffic jam then Tampa traffic jam, so much worse.
I really don’t know FL traffic as I’ve never driven much there, very little actually. I doubt anyone who’s ever driven in NOVA or MD thinks it’s that bad. NOVA traffic, if not the worst in the country now, is probably in the top 5. I meant there are traffic jams at 10pm, routinely where you can sit in traffic for hours. 695, the Balmer beltway is just insanely dangerous. I don’t drive much now because I work from home, but when I was commuting, I would see near or actual catastrophic accidents every single day. People in luxury sports cars driving in excess of 100mph cutting in and out of traffic and across 6 lanes all at once, and people driving 35mph in the slow lane and constant road rage. And an off ramp means I need to speed up and cut everyone off who tries to get in my way. Many Marylanders are the nicest people, until you put them behind the wheel and then they are homicidal maniacs who want to commit suicide and take you out in the process.
These are really good, Senor Fish. Keep them coming.
I was never in the military, and always kinda wondered if I had what it takes. But at fifty, that is long past.
I never had what it takes. Not afraid of fighting, but terrified of discipline that I can’t just walk away from and ‘get another job’. I’ve only ever walked off one job in my entire life and that was in a foundry with open vats of metal and a guy got burnt up really bad, I didn’t see it myself, but just hearing about it made me turn in the my hardhat and just walk away. Not worth it, I went back to painting houses.
Thanks, Fish This is great insight into a branch of our armed forces. Good read.
Welp, just got fingered, prodded, poked, stabbed and jabbed. Hope my health check goes as smoothly. Hiyo!
Sodomy is nothing to brag about.
I ain’t saying it was aliens. But it was ALIENS!
“Hey doc, buy a guy a drink first, huh?”
Good article Fish. I’m enjoying your series.
Interesting read.
I went through the process of joining the Navy, but they couldn’t successfully get me an appointment to go to MEPS. There were two or three times when they’d tell me to pack a bag and show up at the recruiter’s office, but then some administrative fuckup would prevent me from going that day. Eventually I just dropped out of contact with them. Looking back, it was probably for the best.
One of the things I really fucking hate about my current job is how much time is wasted on unproductive paperwork bullshit, and it sounds like the military is full of that these days. No thanks. I’ll find other ways to make this country a better place.
Nevertheless, I still catch myself pondering what my life would have been like and what kind of person I would have become if those goofball recruiters had been able to get me that damn appointment.
It’s just another day of incredible competence at the CDC.
Example 1: https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2021/08/03/anthony-fauci-tells-cnn-francis-collins-misspoke-parents-do-not-need-to-wear-masks-at-home-with-their-kids/
Example 2: https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2021/08/03/legal-scholars-have-told-president-biden-extending-the-eviction-moratorium-is-unconstitutional-so-hell-do-a-new-one-until-it-gets-shot-down-in-court/
Why in hell did the CDC wade into eviction law? Is the FDA going to review steel mill safety now?
No, wait, don’t tell me.
Don’t give them any ideas.
SCOTUS already ruled on it, it’s unconstitutional. And lawyers who are advising him are telling him it is unconstitutional. He’s a senile old man who is scared to death of the democrats unhinged lefty radicals.
I completely agree. This might even have a marginal impact on normies. It’s one thing to get shout down by the SC. It’s quite another when you do the same thing again after being shot down.
Biden, the neoJacksonian Democrat
I like story book bedtime tunes.
Shot Down in Flames
Biden is fighting for the common people as they are not provided for by the constitution, which was written to protect slave holders.
Yeah, this has nothing to do with the ‘vid. It’s caving to the far-left again, who want nothing less than “free” housing. It’s a human right, after all.
It’s not so much caving as it’s buying votes. Too bad they had to attack the governmental balance of powers to do it but that’s a feature not a bug to them.
Normally I don’t quote out from other forums but this is too much to resist.
After a few more replies
Just wow. Totally oblivious.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9857353/Jennifer-Aniston-reveals-shes-cut-people-life-refused-COVID-19-vaccine.html
Well, there goes my chance.
Meh, she was quite the catch 20 years ago though.
Meh. She’s aging out. We all are.
Not surprising, Hollywood types, particularly middle-aged women, are very much in favor of injecting themselves with all sorts of toxic shit. Why would they fear a CDC promoted vaccine?
Hilarious. Most anti-vaxxers are lefties. Are they even paying attention? No, they’ve given up that in favor of just making shit up.
I am not anti vax. I’m anti ‘vid vax (for me).
This x 100. The Covidians are taking a term originally coined to describe a fringe element who generally believed all vaccines to be part of some evil plot to enslave us all and using it as a pejorative against those who don’t tow the lion on this one.
Yeah, true antivaxxers are relatively few but “anti unapproved with no established long term side effect profile and a unique mRNA formulation that’s untested and the shots don’t work that well anyway and liability to the manufacturers has been deferred vaxxers” doesn’t roll off the tongue worth a damn.
It is a broad brush meant to slap the shame of the “Crunchies” and the “Crazies” across everyone who doubts the efficacy or even the need for these untested treatments.
1) Im not getting a vaccine or experimental medicine for something where I have a <1% chance of dying. To me its stupid to risk complications for disease that I have a 99% chance of being fine if I get it.
Its why I dont get the flu shot either.
2) Im certainly not getting the vaccine now the commies want me to get it. I already dont trust those fucking commies like jennifer anniston, el presidente biden, fauci, etc. they are stupid and dangerous propganadists and/ or tyrants.
3) if this is the hill the commies want to die on, so be it. The sooner the commies die, the better for America.
It’s from TOS, isn’t it?
Do you promise to leave me TF alone then?
Anyone that’s enough of an asshole to cut someone out of their life for not getting vaccinated is actually doing that person a favor. It’s a blessing in disguise.
I recently took two Navy vets to the range. What do I win?
A threesome?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HKtsdZs9LJo
?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/just-missouri-governor-pardons-mark-patricia-mccloskey/
Good.
“McClosky said one of the militants pulled out a loaded pistol magazine and clicked them together and said ‘you’re next.’”
Clicked what together? ?
Things that didn’t happen for 800$,
I don’t blame the Richies for being a little on edge, to be Faaaiiirrrr….
https://pix11.com/news/not-again-gorilla-glue-challenge-sends-louisiana-man-to-the-er/
I…uh…*shrug*
*walks away*
LOL the pic!
?
Should have tried fingernail polish remover before that trip to the ER.
That requires a higher IQ than what is indicated in this particular case.
Fixed it for them.
These people vote.
“Stop doing that!” /Hyperbole
I do what I want! I do what I want! /everybody else
https://www.fox29.com/news/upper-merion-school-district-requiring-teachers-staff-to-be-vaccinated-or-get-tested-twice-a-week
Same page: https://www.fox29.com/news/cdc-new-data-suggests-vaccinated-people-could-transmit-delta-variant
Honk honk.
Get vaccinated so you don’t catch and spread that which the vaccine doesn’t really prevent. Yep, pretty stupid I must say and it’d be fairly harmless if they weren’t forcing the stupidity down other people’s throats.
suh’ fam
yo whats goody
sweet morning: another day without state income tax
but: wondering what I do next after mask mandates destroy what I’m doing for a living now
government is a very bad boyfriend: he doesn’t beat me often
A boyfriend you can’t leave, he’ll find you and he won’t be happy either.
Good morning. It’s my day off this week. I’m getting a corned beef brisket prepped for the sous vide for dinner, then making eggs, bacon, and sausage for a nice sammich.
Yeah, they fucked-up and gave me the night off, too.
Bubble-wrap can be your friend, Tres. Just sayin’
I really need to wall-mount the TVs. Kinda tough to fall UP.
It can be done. Ever seen an earwig underfoot?
Good morning, homey! And Sean and Stinky and Yu and Don and l0!
Boss is WFH today, so maybe I’ll get something done. Or not. Between the phone, e-mail, Teams, and the messaging function in our new phone system, we have too daggone many ways to communicate, which means he might find a way to bother me.
Mornin!
*stares blankly*
::gently taps on U’s shoulder:: Good morning, U! Just drink some Dew.
Mornin’. Another day in paradise. Off to Jersey shore for some R&R next week. Hoping our dear leader Murphy holds off on trying to keep up with NY on the Nazi bullshit (there, I used the n-word, hope I don’t compromise our family friendly rating). Please, Phil, one more week before the beatings resume.
we’re headed out for several days Monday
what I’m not planning is to drive 600 miles, pay $300 a night for a room, $10 for a beer, and then be told I can only take off a mask for each sip
looking at you, North Carolina: behave
Good luck, hoping the Southern variant of the stupidity epidemic is less virulent than ours.
Good morning, ‘patzy! I’ll keep fingers crossed that your trip isn’t spoiled by any resumption (or “enhanced continuation”?) of the especially stupid stuff.
Good heavens! No wonder my Dad quit the Navy even though he was first in his class. Too many people with not enough to do. I would go insane. He went logging and chasing girls instead. Shame. It would have been cool to have my stoner friends call him “Admiral” when we were kids! Mornin’ all!
I swear to God, the hardline pro-vaxxers are worse than the hardline anti-vaxxers.
At least the latter want to leave me alone.
https://somebitchtoldme.com/its-time-to-organize-against-vaccine-passports/
I’m currently arguing with someone on an LP forum about whether or not you’re going to be reinfected with COVID and die after developing a natural immunity. She’s convinced we’re all going to perish and should get the vaccine, which is less effective than natural immunity. But some people get reinfected, so that means all of us will get reinfected.
I’ll give them this, they are firmly committed to their stupidity.
Sooper serious!!!!
https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2021/08/could-nj-follow-nyc-with-covid-vaccines-requirements-indoor-activities-like-restaurants-gyms.html
The state has also launched Docket, a mobile app that allows people to digitally upload their COVID-19 vaccination cards. Murphy has insisted this is not a vaccine passport, though it seems possible it could be used for that purpose. Some Republicans have warned New Jersey’s app is the first step toward vaccine passports, which they view as an invasion of privacy and an overstep of government.
We’ll show those pikers in NY the right way to go full authoritarianism!
“I’m not robbing you, I’m just borrowing your money for the rest of your life.”
Is it really theft when you steal a loaf of bread to deny your undeserving neighbor’s family a bite to eat?
Just give me the fucking red badge of shame, already! I’m sick of dancing around this.
Yeah. I’m pretty sure assuming NJ is fucked is a safe bet.
It will be coming here soon but millimeter by millimeter. Still means that we all get fucked in the ass.
I’m ready to be more French.
She’d have to be a ravishingly beautiful Quebecois girl and even then I’m not into that. French chicks be crazy, Yo!
With well over 99% of people that tested positive and NOT dying, this whole theater isnt about public health or safety. Its the gov’t forcing compliance by making the process the punishment.
I heard some blowhard elected thing the other day say that “no vaccine is 100% and we anticipate “breakthrough” cases”.
Oh really, asshole ? When’s the last time a vaccinated person got polio ? Or mumps ?
He’s correct that no vaccine is 100%, just like natural immunity is not 100%.
The problem is that these vaccines are well below 100% and the virus is airborne, circulating in the populace, and mutating. They were able to eliminate polio because it is not an airborne disease. Mumps and measles are airborne and therefore will probably never be wholly gone.
Life is not 100%.
Meh. Prolly would. She sounds like a lot of fun.
Daytona Beach Shores woman exposed herself on flight, assaulted officer, police say
Pic
She looks like one of my Wife’s sad friends that can never find love. Would Not!
“ Drunken-driver detectors part of package of safety measures in infrastructure bill”
https://www.autonews.com/regulation-safety/drunken-driver-detectors-part-package-safety-measures-infrastructure-bill
1976 Chevy Caprice, here I come.
Id be happy with my 84′ Volvo 240 turbo. I miss that car.
I liked my Jettas. Reliable, fun to drive and not too terrible to wrench on.
I had an 81′ Jetta GTI with that shitty bosch mechanical injection. When it ran properly, which was rarely, it was a lot of fun.
Jettas are not GTIs. GLI?
w/e