Hmm, I just realized I never "rated" my fleet experience, so here goes.
I reported to the USS Miami, SSN-755 out of Groton, Ct, right after she returned from a deployment on which she shot missiles in two different theaters. On the way home, they earned an Excellent on orse... life was good on the boat.
I didn't realize just how highly regarded the Miami was at that time until I was walking around subase doing my check ins, and I was being stopped in the street by Chiefs and officers saying things like "You are on the Miami? That must be amazing!!!" etc etc etc. So, I was getting excited about being on such an awesome boat.
I quickly learned why this boat was so awesome... the Skipper was awesome. So was the XO, the Eng, the Nav, the Cob and the EDMC. The stars aligned for the Miami during this period, and a terrific cadre of senior leadership was on board. The best of them all, though, was the CO.
This guy simply new how to lead men. For example, in port field day was scheduled from 8-12 every Friday. However, never once, under this CO, did we actually complete a 4 hour field day. The crew knew, that about an hour into field day, the Skipper was going to walk around the boat to check on cleanliness and how hard everyone was working. If he was satisfied, they knew he was going to put liberty down for everyone, so the entire crew, including officers and chiefs, busted their A$$ES during that hour or so. And sure enough, the skipper would walk through and then get on the 1MC and say something like, "Well I just got done walking around the boat, the ship is clean, everyone is working hard, and A gang threatened to do unnatural things to me if I didn't put liberty down, so liberty is down by the CO." It was pretty sweet working what was effectively a 4 day week.
Another anecdote, is when I was only in my third or fourth week of being on board, it was the middle of a beautiful summer, and I passed the Skipper in the middle level passage way when he stopped me and asked; "Petty Officer Crocker, have you taken leave since you've been here?" I replied "No sir, I've only been here a few weeks, and I am not qualified anything, so I didn't think I should take leave just yet." He ordered "I want to see a 2 week leave chit by the end of the day." "Wow," I thought.
I could go on and on and on about how fantastic he was as a Skipper. He simply knew human nature and how to get the most out of his men. The crew was happy, I was happy and the boat was happy as it raked in accolade after accolade. I thought, "wow, if this is what life is going to be like on a boat, I could do this forever." I reenlisted.
Then my next CO showed up. He doesn't even get the honor of being called skipper by me. He was the complete opposite, a tyrant. In fact, to this day, the most uncomfortable event I ever witnessed in the Navy was the dressing down of my XO, who was awesome, by this CO in front of the entire crew. He often yelled and stomped his feet. The boat went from earning exellents in Orse, TRE and everything else to below average on every inspection under this guy. The crew was miserable, reenlistment's nearly ceased, I regretted my decision. He was basically a ship yard CO, as much as his tour was spent taking the boat through DMP. He drove us hard because he wanted the fasted DMP ever, in the hopes that "they" would let him take this boat on a deployment. He got his wish, we performed the fasted DMP ever at that time, but "they" didn't let him take this boat on the deployment that was scheduled soon after. This further added to his frustration, which was then directed at the crew.
I just happened to be the maneuvering watch bridge phone talker for most of my time on the boat, and one of the things that stood out to me near the end of his tour, is that when we returned from our last underway under his command, I extended my hand to shake his as he departed the bridge and say, "It was good serving with you, Sir." Sure, it wasn't true, but still the right thing to do I thought. He looked at my hand, refused to take it and said, "I wish I could say the same."
So to make a long story short, my fleet experience started at a 5+ and ended on a 1-. Besides that bad CO, we also had a string of bad COBs and EDMCs that didn't help things. I went from the biggest diggit in the Navy to one of the most bitter.
Fortunately now thought, as time from EAOS gets bigger, only happy memories remain. I have once again, become a post-EAOS diggit and tell sea stories with the best of them.
For that, I am happy.
YMMV.
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