Time for some more famous quotes from MARS...
"You are here to serve the Ship, the Ship is not here to serve you".
Can't remember exactly which CPO2 growled that at me way back when, but it is entirely true. In addition to being our ideal combat platform and preferred mode of transportation, the Ship is also our home - for extended periods of time. Despite advancements in technology, the Navy still requires us to "do "stuff". Nothing much happens without someone doing something. Cleaning Stations is one of the more important things.
I have been trying, unsuccessfully, for a while now to find some statistics that would go back to Nelson's time
seeing that it is the 21st of October after all that would compare deaths caused by hygiene and malnutrition to deaths caused by enemy action. I suspect strongly that the former outweighs the latter. So yes, the Ship
must be cleaned, regularly. No one enjoys it, but I think too few really understand it.
A couple of years ago when
mumps hit HMCS GLACE BAY her crew was quarantined for a couple of weeks. Think about the impact on the Fleet Commander's operational capability when that happens. Now imagine if that happened on a frigate right after leaving port and on her way into theatre. So yeah, the ship has to be cleaned - often. And yeah, junior NCMs do that. MS and Petty Officers supervise it - is that really so different from the rest of the CF? Heck, that was one of the reasons I really really wanted to move up the ranks - so I could be one of the guys supervising. Chiefs and officers are supposed to be spending that time administering to the wider needs of their subordinates.
I once had a LS ask me why, unlike the other ship that had just arrived alongside, our officers weren't helping to land and hook up the shore cable, like they were across the jetty. As I hung up the phone I explained to her that the other ship had just finished a 10 week deployment, and, having likely done cleaning stations and all other post-deployment administration prior to coming alongside, they were probably going to secure for post deployment leave as soon as that cable was across. Not 10 minutes later "secure" was piped and the entire Ship's Company literally flew off that ship and she went into Sunday Routine. I then explained that I had just been in conversation with her career manager trying to get her loaded on her next career course and would she rather I put that off to help land the cable? It being 1530, I suppose I could just call her CM another time, but with the course starting in a couple of days and all... Those facts appeared to make sense to her in terms of how I was spending my time, but I guess it is not always immediately so.
This leads into quote #2;
"As long as they are bitching, they still have hope. You really need to worry when they stop bitching"
Remember, despite the careful actions of senior members of the Ships in question (the CO using his cap to cover a list of demands) and the careful writing of
The Mainguy Report, yours is a Navy that had a very real mutiny, and somewhat recently. That is a big deal. There is no such thing as a "work stoppage" on a ship at sea. The hands in ATHABASKAN, CRESCENT and MAGNIFICENT refused to come out of their messes because they felt the system had completely failed and there was no further hope. In essence, they stopped bitching. Perhaps that quote is too often misinterpreted and more action should be taken sooner on things. I don't know for sure. I do know that the smoking area - likely like any smoking area in the army or air force - is where the rumours start and in a closed environment like a ship at sea, they spread quickly. I aslo know that a well placed comment, correction or clarification is often enough to turn things around. Communication is key in both directions and a lack of it is sometimes disastrous.
On a lighter note, and to turn things around, lets look at "Stand Easy". Alongside or when sailing in the 4th Degree of Readiness, you had better have a damned good reason for interfering with a sailor's God-given, Charter-enshrined, union enforced "right" to have a smoke and take a break at 1000 and 1415 everyday.
I suppose an enemy aircraft dropping a bomb on us
might qualify as a good reason. Or a sea monster attacking. The common joke among the two senior messes is that the Junior Ranks will down tools 5 minutes before stand-easy so as to make their way outside and be in all respects ready to light up as soon as the pipe is made. And then they won't move an inch until "Out Pipes" is made. Again, a good-natured and lighthearted bit of humour and an exaggeration, but I was taught as a junior officer that there are few things too important that they can't wait until after Stand Easy. At the same time my XO said to me: "I don't really care what time you show up for work or when you leave, so long as you get all of your work done...and "stand-easy" and "Hands to Dinner" (lunch)" don't apply to officers." Fair enough.
Petty Officers who are perceived to not care about their sailors is indeed distressing if it is perceived and/or experienced on a wide scale. The Chiefs and Petty Officers are known as, and take an immense amount of well-deserved pride in being the "backbone of the Navy". They come from the ranks. They are supposed to be that link that explains the reasons for whatever orders come down from Command. They form an integral part of the Divisional System. They can relate - directly - to the concerns held by the junior sailors. That is why they are the "backbone".
sigh...I just don't know...I have seen good Chiefs and bad Chiefs, good officers and bad, at all ranks. Occasionally - very occasionally - I have seen both groups come together in some sort of messed up, perfect storm of a posting plot that results in a particular ship having a bad go of things for a time. But the adults ashore got wind of it and made the necessary changes. Those experiences suck and likely stay with people for a long time. I maintain though, that I have yet to see anything approaching a scale that would lead me to believe we have a problem that affects retention in any measurable sense.
Cheers,
MARS
edited for grammar