Sea Stories: The Supply System, or Larceny As A Way Of Life

[Gunboat1]

Sea Stories: The Supply System, or Larceny As A Way Of Life

 

One of the aspects of my naval service which I never understood was the pervasive acceptance of the notion that if you needed something, it was okay to steal it from someone else rather than getting the Navy supply system to do its job and get it for you.  Many senior leaders actively encouraged subordinates to do whatever they had to do, and to steal whatever they needed to steal for short-term gain, apparently mindless of the negative effect this had on both the system and the victims of theft.  This was closely associated with the under-reporting of broken or inoperable equipment, based on the theory that if your ship’s capability was degraded by a broken system, you were somehow at fault and less successful in your command.  This supposedly made you less competitive for promotion than your peers.

The Navy had a system of Casualty Reports (CASREPs) which was intended to let the Chain of Command know the exact status of material readiness of your ship at any time.  It is impossible for any ship to be 100% perfect at any time; there will always be some system degraded or inoperative at any given moment.  Ships are incredibly complex machines.  So when a major system was degraded or inoperable, you were supposed to send a CASREP to let the chain of command know.  They could then make good decisions based upon your ACTUAL combat readiness, vice your cosmetic or apparent state of readiness.  Perhaps they could apply pressure to get you the part or assistance you needed to fix the issue.  But many CO’s were hesitant to send CASREPS, as they also had another effect; they invited senior leadership’s attention to your ship’s problem.  Leadership required that you actually take action to fix it, while keeping them informed.  And apparently, “the part is on order” wasn’t a good enough answer to deflect this unwanted higher command attention.  Rather than making the Supply System respond in a rapid, responsive manner, they allowed it to drag its feet and to practice mediocrity in function, by circumventing it.  To my way of thinking, this was counterproductive.  Better by far would be to have the Chain of Command know your ACTUAL state of readiness, and apply whatever pressure was needed to make the Supply System do its job.

A few examples of the “Larceny As A Way Of Life” culture I experienced:

I.                  When I reported to my ballistic missile submarine for my 3^rd Class Midshipman cruise, the boat was at sea for sea trials prior to departing on patrol.  The only crew’s officer ashore was the junior Supply Officer, a Supply Corps ensign.  I was assigned to accompany him as he did the last-minute things needed to get the boat underway on schedule, with all needed supplies aboard.  He took me with him as he visited a large supply warehouse to retrieve ordered parts and supplies which had been recently delivered.  The warehouse supported several different submarines, and each boat had a large fenced-off cage with a locked gate, to segregate items ordered by and belonging to them.  The Baby Chop (Supply Officers were affectionately called “Pork Chops”, shortened to “Chop” as a nickname, as their collar insignia identifying them as a Supply Corps officer vaguely resembled a pork chop)  had a clipboard with him, listing all the things which were on order but not yet delivered.  He went through our mostly empty cage, looking for the items which he had dutifully color coded by priority.  Lots of things were still missing.  He then walked over to the cage belonging to another boat, which was at sea on patrol at the time.  Their cage was full of boxes of parts and supplies which had been delivered while they were away.  He whipped out a pair of bolt cutters, cut the padlock off, and went through the cage, selecting items which he determined our boat needed.  I’m sure my eyes bugged out, watching him commit grand larceny.  By the time he was done, many thousands of dollars of government material ordered by, delivered to, and presumably needed by another fleet unit had found a new home in our cage, and ultimately, aboard our boat.  The rightful owners would just have to reorder and wait for delayed delivery when they discovered the loss.  And the Supply System was not held accountable for not getting the stuff we needed delivered to us on time to support a ballistic missile deterrent patrol.  I don’t think this was the most desirable outcome.

 

II.                As we were conducting an annual inventory of controlled equipage one day aboard my Guided Missile Frigate, my leading signalman came to me with an admission.  We were missing a spyglass.  Yes, an optical spyglass, used only for quarterdeck ceremonies these days, but very much a required inventory item.  And as Operations Officer, I was responsible for it.  The SM explained that one of his junior signalmen had lent the spyglass to another ship’s signal gang, when they came aboard and asked to borrow one, as they were being inspected and didn’t have theirs to show.  This young SM had at least had the sense to get a hand receipt for the spyglass signed, and the borrower took the spyglass back for inspection.  The problem was, after the inspection was over, they didn’t return it.  They DEPLOYED TO THE WESTERN PACIFIC WITH IT.  I was not amused.  One day a couple of months later, we made port in Pearl Harbor, and there across the harbor was the offending ship.  I made my leading signalman call over on flashing light to that ship, asking to speak to the Operations Officer by flashing light. (This is unusual.).  A few minutes later, intrigued, he was standing by at their light.  I then explained by Morse message that I wanted my spyglass back immediately, and that I had a signed hand receipt with the serial number and name of the borrower shown on it.  A brief flurry of activity later, a profuse apology replied, and my spyglass was returned by the shamefaced SM who had “borrowed” it later that afternoon.  I had only had to travel 4200 miles one-way from San Diego to get it back.

 

III.              My first CO, the legendary screamer, loved to tell junior officers that he expected them to be resourceful and to do whatever they had to do to achieve his desired degree of perfection.  He regaled us repeatedly with the tale of one of his greatest triumphs as an object lesson.  He had been Gunnery Officer aboard an ancient Destroyer Escort.  His class of ship had a twin 3”x50 caliber gun mount on the forecastle.  This type of gun had a large counter-recoil spring around the breech area of each gun barrel.  One of his springs was cracked, making that gun inoperable, as it was unsafe to fire.  No replacement was immediately available in the local supply center.  The ship was moored in a nest of ships of the same class, with identical armament.  So the Captain had his Gunners Mates sneak over the lifelines on the midwatch, quietly disassemble the gun on the outboard sister ship, and swap their sound spring with his broken one.  Problem solved.  It’s fortunate that no one got shot as an intruder.

 

IV.              My Operations Officer on that first ship was a disciple of the Screamer CO.  He agreed with the abusive leadership style, and practiced it himself.  He loved to tell his own tale of supply system derring-do.  As First Lieutenant (Deck Division Officer) of a destroyer home-ported in Pearl Harbor, HI, he had run out of haze gray paint (which is the color of paint that the entire hull and superstructure is painted with.  It is a daily use item.  This is an unpardonable sin, on most ships.)  It would take some time to order a new stock, and he would have to admit that he had neglected to keep the proper inventory.  His solution?  He wandered over to the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard late one night, stole a forklift, and used it to steal an entire pallet of haze gray paint which was staged to paint a newly-sandblasted ship in drydock the following day.   Somehow, the phrase “conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman” comes to mind.

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Gunboat1

[tadbart]

I really enjoy reading about your experiences, and look forward to each installment of these stories! Thanks for sharing, Sir.

[syntaxerrorsix]

Gear adrift is a gift.

When resources are harder to come by, such as on a ship or otherwise deployed, you best learn to keep what you own secure.  It all belongs to the government regardless, no matter who's currently in possession of it  Right, wrong it's a thing and it won't likely ever change.

[Gunboat1]

Supplies locked in a cage aren't "adrift".  Neither is a mounted part, or a staged pallet of paint.  A few hangings would change attitudes!  LOL

[Gunboat1]

32 minutes ago, tadbart said:

I really enjoy reading about your experiences, and look forward to each installment of these stories! Thanks for sharing, Sir.

Thanks for the kind words.  I have a few more to share if people are interested.

[tadbart]

Please do! I didn't really consider military service until it was a bit too late, but I have family members in every branch except the Space Force. People say "Thank you for you for your service" and for the most part, I imagine they're not even considering the daily sacrifice of privacy, space, belongings, and personal carte blanche.

You write well. Please keep it up!

[Gunboat1]

Thank you very kindly.

[TXUSMC]

Continue to dish the scuttlebutt, sailor, !

[Mrs.Cicero]

So enjoying these!  

[Gunboat1]

7 minutes ago, Mrs.Cicero said:

So enjoying these!  

Glad to hear it, ma'am.   Thank you. 

[railfancwb]

7 hours ago, Gunboat1 said:

Thanks for the kind words.  I have a few more to share if people are interested.

Interested? Indeed!

[Gunboat1]

Thank you very much. 

[Gunboat1]

6 hours ago, TXUSMC said:

Continue to dish the scuttlebutt, sailor, !

Will do, sir.  Thank you. 

[26isbest]

 

My understanding of the principle was we don't take anything from within our own command but another command was fine. VQ2 (my squadron) and VR24 were the only two squadrons permanently attached to Rota with a VP squadron detachment rotating in for 6 months. VR24 and my command frequently horse traded with each other or liberated from  each other from time to time but it never meant we wouldn't have a drink together at Benny's Bar or where ever we happened to meet.

[Redhookbklyn]

Please do keep the Sea Stories coming.  They are great reads.

 

Thanks for sharing them.

[Gunboat1]

17 minutes ago, Redhookbklyn said:

Please do keep the Sea Stories coming.  They are great reads.

 

Thanks for sharing them.

Thank you for your kind words.   

[aomagrat]

My filching was mostly limited to sneaking food from the galley to feed my hungry shipmates back in my division when I was on mess crank duty.  Mostly.

[26isbest]

4 hours ago, aomagrat said:

My filching was mostly limited to sneaking food from the galley to feed my hungry shipmates back in my division when I was on mess crank duty.  Mostly.

A buddy of mine had to do his 90 days in the Mess Hall. He was smart and got along well with most people, including one of the POICs. When his 1st Lt time was over that 1st class helped him get a bunch of meat, potatoes, eggs etc off base for his celebration BBQ. It was a damned good one!

[26isbest]

14 hours ago, Gunboat1 said:

Somehow, the phrase “conduct unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman” comes to mind.  

Don't forget Misappropriation Of Govt Property. That was leveled at myself and three friends who were living off base. Unfortunately the serial numbers on the personal chutes had been cut out, so while we could not clear ourselves by proving they had been obtained elsewhere, the Squadron was likewise unable to establish that the chutes had been unlawfully taken.

As for the two Navy drill motors and coffee pot, my buddy Armando had spent his 1st LT time working at the barracks for a Chief Burnett, AKA Smiley. Smiley was old, probably no more than 45 but military old, and about ready to retire. It turned out that he did like at least one person, that being Armando, so he arranged for Armando to get into the area containing the drill motors and coffee pot and dispose of them. 

Of course the CO was still able to nail all four of us for Article 134 but we all had suspicions that the Master Chief - who I had worked for as Coffee Mess attendant during 1st Lt - and CO had given Smiley a wink and a nod based on someone going way overboard to get the ball rolling on us.

[norcalAF]

I have been in medical supply for the Air Force for over a decade. It was routine to report every inventory as rosy, and then go back and fix discrepancies later at my first duty station. I did get a safe once by being in the right place and asking the right question. The Sgt said as long as it isn't here by shift change I don't care where it goes. It's a smaller AMSEC electronic keypad model that only cost me some sweat.

[RenoF250]

Bureaucracies are great aren't they?  3 seems like it could have gotten someone hurt if they went to fire that gun with the bad spring.  4 is going to end up in the ship rusting while they wait for paint and it has to be re sandblasted.  Jackasses.  Why can't people just do what they are supposed to do?

[Gunboat1]

Exactly my feelings.   Just do your dang job, and expect everyone else to do theirs.  All would be much better.

 

The more I know people,  the more I love my cat.

Edited August 6, 2020 by Gunboat1

[willie-pete]

Reminds me of my first introduction to " the system ".

Brand new butter bars reporting to my first base as the Fuels Officer. Soon after I got there, got a request from the base hospital to please come to the hospital to get a LONG list of shots. I was bemoaning that fact in the office and my QC Lab Sgt. heard me. He said, " No problem L T, give me your shot record card " and I did.

The next morning it was lying on my desk completely filled out with all the required shots plus a few more for good measure; all stamped and signed off by a doctor. All was good with the world and I profusely thanked Sgt. Snodgress.

After three years there, I volunteered to go to SEA and got orders to Thailand. By then I had heard about all the diseases in SEA and got concerned about not having any of the shots. So  took my shot record card to the hospital and told the corpsman, " I got orders to SEA and I need all the shots. " He looked at my card and said, " No Capt.,  it looks like you are all up to date. "

I said basically, " No, you don't understand, I need ALL the shots on this card ." I think he finally understood the situation then and said to come on in the back.

 

 

The gamma globulin shot was by far the worst.