So I had all of my gear on the ship and made my way up to radio to grab my Ipod out of my backpack. When I walked into the shop, I was told by one of the first classes, who was on duty, that I was able to keep my barracks room. My response, “I just finished moving all my stuff out of the barracks.” Obviously not everyone first impression of good news, but I was still confused on the whole situation.
The person simply known as Mike left a comment on my previous post, Moving To The Ship, telling me that I should talk to the CMC about it, which I did. He is the head honcho in charge of the Homeport Ashore program, and is the one who gave the order to move the E-5s out of the barracks. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who talked to him. Usually after the frocking ceremony, he sends out his email telling all divisions to have there E-5s who live in the barracks move out, but this time he looked at who had rooms and how much space was available. He saw that he had plenty of room available even if those who advanced remained, and made the decision to keep us there. He did an all E-5 call today to explain his decision in doing this, and obviously those who advanced last cycle weren’t as lucky as this cycle.
At the all E -5 call today, the CMC made a good point. There is the right thing to do, and follow the Homeport Ashore instruction that says E-5s are to leave the barracks after being frocked, and there is the leadership thing to do, which was to see if leaving the newly E-5s in the barracks would affect those who were eligible for a barracks room and an E-4 and below.
Same sh*t, different branch…..It sounds like good ol’ Army running around business. But it’s not
I always like the CMC’s explanation of the difference between leaders and managers. “Managers do things right. Leaders do the right things.”
Shipmate (no you’re not in trouble),
Glad you got to stay in your room. I spent 30 years in the Navy (E1-O6) and was raised by some good Chiefs (there used to be more of them). You have a CMC who you can count on. 99.999999% of the Chiefs want to help you. I always meant it when I said “Ask the Chief”. When I was an enlisted Sailor, I NEVER had to go beyond MY Chief to find an answer. Your Chief can help you with your orders to San Diego.
BTW, I did the Yokosuka tour, afloat and ashore.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE IN THE NAVY.
All the best
Captain Mike Lambert
What needs to happen is the Homeport Ashore Instuction needs to be re-written so CMC’s aren’t put in this position. Hopefully there’s a bunch of pissed off CMC’s pulling for a re-write…might be something to bring up next time the Fleet Master Chief visits for an all hands call…
I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, I think in the minds of CMCs is that E-5s aren’t really a high priority. To them, they need to look out for the E-4 and below because they still are junior and are still in that nurturing state of mind to get them ready to be E-5s and a master technician. Putting them in barracks gives them the freedom to not be restricted to the ship and build their self esteem so they have the desire to make E-5 and want to stay in the Navy. But when they realize they’ve made E-5 and are then kicked out of their room, now all of a sudden it’s, you are an E-5 now, deal with it. That is indeed bs. If anything, you would want to do everything to keep the E-5s in because we are the master technicians and having that feeling like the upper chain of command doesn’t really care about your quality of life doesn’t really make want to stay in the Navy. How is the Navy supposed to get Chiefs when the E-5s want to hurry up and get out?
For E-6, well, they are in the process of making Chief, so a lot of emphasis is on them to make it to that rank. Then again, an E-6 doesn’t have to worry about housing anyways.