Welp, I'm all done with that.

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by Camaero

I don't know how it normally is, but NAVOPS was easily the best department on my boat. Fewest problems and best of guys.

Any department or division can become a septic tank but I was really lucky.

My first LPO was a bit of a Richard, he got short-timer's syndrome when he still had 7 months to go. That was back when we were tied with the YN's for the boat's Most Lonely division at three but we had a cool RMC watching our backs. After that, I got to work for some first rate ET1s and ETCs. The kind of guys you just shut up and watch (and take notes). Both the ET1's were frocked for ETC and both wound up with the same love/hate relationship with their khakis (no more getting their hands in the gear).

I got out in '93 after a six year hitch. Actually, six years and one month (C.O.G.) because the Bremerton and SQDN 7 were trying to force the Navy into letting me stick around.
I kinda knew the jig was up when I scored pretty high on my ET1 exam and had spare bullets in my service jacket but still got a memo saying "passed, not advanced".

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Any department or division can become a septic tank but I was really lucky.

My first LPO was a bit of a Richard, he got short-timer's syndrome when he still had 7 months to go. That was back when we were tied with the YN's for the boat's Most Lonely division at three but we had a cool RMC watching our backs. After that, I got to work for some first rate ET1s and ETCs. The kind of guys you just shut up and watch (and take notes). Both the ET1's were frocked for ETC and both wound up with the same love/hate relationship with their khakis (no more getting their hands in the gear).

I got out in '93 after a six year hitch. Actually, six years and one month (C.O.G.) because the Bremerton and SQDN 7 were trying to force the Navy into letting me stick around.
I kinda knew the jig was up when I scored pretty high on my ET1 exam and had spare bullets in my service jacket but still got a memo saying "passed, not advanced".

Did they give you the "what if you get out and get a job you don't like?" spiel to try to get you to re-up?

I got that speech and my "I have that job right now" response shut that conversation down quick.

My detailer was ,"you can go to A school and teach. Or Power School and teach. Or prototype and teach."

I said "when we pulled into Brisbane, there was an EM2 on the pier who said 'here's your shore power. If you have issues here's my number or this other number for ET2 xxx, who'll be on call later this week.' I want that job." No shore duty in Australia? No re-enlistment.

If you were on the Bremelo in 93, we were probably in the same squadron. I can't recall if she was in SUBRON 1 or 7 at the time.

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by 3catcircus

Did they give you the "what if you get out and get a job you don't like?" spiel to try to get you to re-up?

Noooo. The last thing they wanted me to do was re-up.

The boat and Squadron were really cool about it and it meant a lot that they were trying, but talking with my detailer painted a different picture. They had guys still in the training pipeline with no where to go.

By '92 the diesel boats were long gone, the 594s were history, and the 637s were all on the way to decom. The cold war was over (mostly) the same as Desert Storm. Attack boats don't do well when peace breaks out.

Its like hanging around a party late at night when the keg starts to pump foam. Sometimes its just better to split and hear about all of the horror shows that went down, later.

After I got out, I heard from some of the guys who had re-enlisted early and things went down about the way I imagined. How you did your job was no where near as important as how good you looked while you did it. A guy in his 30's could get rung up based on body fat % and kicked out. If they had re-enlisted with a bonus ($$$) and got the heave ho, the Navy wanted that bonus money back- RIGHT NOW.

I'm pretty sure some of the guys in the training pipeline were offered an early out after they finished A school, but don't quote me on that.

There was no where to go and nothing to do- besides getting written up over petty BS, and it stayed that way until 9/11.

Almost missed it, I did all of my sea time in "7". I was homeported in Sasebo, Japan and Pearl.

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Noooo. The last thing they wanted me to do was re-up.

The boat and Squadron were really cool about it and it meant a lot that they were trying, but talking with my detailer painted a different picture. They had guys still in the training pipeline with no where to go.

By '92 the diesel boats were long gone, the 594s were history, and the 637s were all on the way to decom. The cold war was over (mostly) the same as Desert Storm. Attack boats don't do well when peace breaks out.

Its like hanging around a party late at night when the keg starts to pump foam. Sometimes its just better to split and hear about all of the horror shows that went down, later.

After I got out, I heard from some of the guys who had re-enlisted early and things went down about the way I imagined. How you did your job was no where near as important as how good you looked while you did it. A guy in his 30's could get rung up based on body fat % and kicked out. If they had re-enlisted with a bonus ($$$) and got the heave ho, the Navy wanted that bonus money back- RIGHT NOW.

I'm pretty sure some of the guys in the training pipeline were offered an early out after they finished A school, but don't quote me on that.

There was no where to go and nothing to do- besides getting written up over petty BS, and it stayed that way until 9/11.

Almost missed it, I did all of my sea time in "7". I was homeported in Sasebo, Japan and Pearl.

As a nuke, they kept trying to throw money at me to stay but wouldn't give me what I wanted - shore duty in Australia or some type of staff position supporting people doing design/development work on new equipment. It was either teach in the pipeline, ride another boat, or a tour on a tender.

My first duty station was San Diego until we PCSed to Pearl to decomm. Then it was over to a 688 boat in 7 until we PCSed to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to decomm. Did a bunch of local ops and one full Westpac. I got the augment good deal during an Eastpac and spent the entire time in schools, so it could have been worse.

[ET2SN]

Yep, I didn't re-up early because I wanted to have max bargaining power once my hitch was almost up. Oops..

To be honest, I wanted to pull another sea tour if I could as an ET1 but would have also taken instructor duty in Pearl or back in Groton if I had to. By then I was also a QAI (masts and antennas) and a referee on the DC team so the only watches I had left to qual was COW or maybe ANAV*.
Like I said, I had some pretty nice bullets in the old personnel file.

BTW, if you were on the Pasadena we might know some of the same names. If you were there when we pulled the Bremerton in with an imploded
sonar dome, there's a great story behind it.

*- ANAV is one of those goofy quals that exist but usually no one goes for it. I knew a QMC on the Barbel who did it and as an ET1 I would have had plenty of time to qualify QMOW (I was already qualled Duty QM and Duty RM on my first boat as a back-up) before going for ANAV.

[Camaero]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Yep, I didn't re-up early because I wanted to have max bargaining power once my hitch was almost up. Oops..

To be honest, I wanted to pull another sea tour if I could as an ET1 but would have also taken instructor duty in Pearl or back in Groton if I had to. By then I was also a QAI (masts and antennas) and a referee on the DC team so the only watches I had left to qual was COW or maybe ANAV*.
Like I said, I had some pretty nice bullets in the old personnel file.

BTW, if you were on the Pasadena we might know some of the same names. If you were there when we pulled the Bremerton in with an imploded
sonar dome, there's a great story behind it.

*- ANAV is one of those goofy quals that exist but usually no one goes for it. I knew a QMC on the Barbel who did it and as an ET1 I would have had plenty of time to qualify QMOW (I was already qualled Duty QM and Duty RM on my first boat as a back-up) before going for ANAV.

I saw the Pasadena not long before I left Norfolk. One of my RM pals is on it. She is still kickin'.

[ET2SN]

Originally Posted by Camaero

I saw the Pasadena not long before I left Norfolk. One of my RM pals is on it. She is still kickin'.

I wonder if she still has the "tattoo" painted on her dome?

Pasadena in the LANT fleet is a trip to me. It just doesn't seem right.

My favorite player platform in DW is still the Scranton. Best ship's patch of the Flight IIIs.

[3catcircus]

Originally Posted by ET2SN

Yep, I didn't re-up early because I wanted to have max bargaining power once my hitch was almost up. Oops..

To be honest, I wanted to pull another sea tour if I could as an ET1 but would have also taken instructor duty in Pearl or back in Groton if I had to. By then I was also a QAI (masts and antennas) and a referee on the DC team so the only watches I had left to qual was COW or maybe ANAV*.
Like I said, I had some pretty nice bullets in the old personnel file.

BTW, if you were on the Pasadena we might know some of the same names. If you were there when we pulled the Bremerton in with an imploded
sonar dome, there's a great story behind it.

*- ANAV is one of those goofy quals that exist but usually no one goes for it. I knew a QMC on the Barbel who did it and as an ET1 I would have had plenty of time to qualify QMOW (I was already qualled Duty QM and Duty RM on my first boat as a back-up) before going for ANAV.

I was on the Omahell. At one point, I had to take a walk down the pier to visit Bremerton to beg for spare parts since we were getting underway the next day and things were broke that would have prevented it.

[ET2SN]

I knew a fair share of her Coners, we weren't parked that far apart.
I might have been there when you were, were we doing the weekend cook-outs at the high-rise on the weekends when you were there?

There was one cook-out I'll always remember. We were chowing down and drinking beers and an ET from another boat said, "I know we're not supposed to talk about it, but are any of you noticing anything odd when you head up north?". We all knew what he meant, but like I said, we didn't talk about it crew-to-crew. Finally, another guy says, "Yeah we're all alone up there".
That was when I knew we had won the cold war and a nagging little voice in my head said that it might not all be good news. Those boats on the pier cost a lot of money to operate.