Another nail in the coffin of Old-School Naval Avaition..

[Pugs]

Meh, not with mine, but whateves. As long as I can wear my bag out in town, it's great! Wait... Oh, we still can't wear our bags in town?

Well, shit.

You're on a USAF base. Do what we did at Andrews and simply ignore it. In ten years no one ever said anything to us going out to lunch or whatever. Of course we were Reserves and our motto "we quit once we'll quit again" may have given us a bit of a shield.

 

[jollygreen07]

You're on a USAF base. Do what we did at Andrews and simply ignore it. In ten years no one ever said anything to us going out to lunch or whatever. Of course we were Reserves and our motto "we quit once we'll quit again" may have given us a bit of a shield.

I may have heard some reports about a few ne'er-do-wells going to JOPA lunches and whatnot in their bags, but I can neither confirm nor deny that.

 

[MasterBates]

The question is: Where DON'T I go in a bag.

 

[bobbybrock]

Nah, I'll stick with "Sergeant Majors" because I know it gets under their skins.

If you really want to piss them off call them "Top" or Fiirst Sergeant. When I was in Bosnia back in the mid ninties we had a Segeant Major who hated to salute W-1, CW2's and Lt's. Thought that was below him. So we all started to greet him as " first sergeant" or top. He would then reply with " I'm a sergeant major", we then would reply with "aren't Sergeant majors supposed to be professional and salute officers? "
Little bit of a thread jack there but some cannon fodder for you guys serving with Army units.

 

[Jim123]

If you really want to piss them off

I met a (Navy) Master Chief who had a small problem with a (Army) SGM calling him "Chief." The problem stopped soon after the Master Chief said said, "OK, have it your way Sarge."

 

[helolumpy]

I met a (Navy) Master Chief who had a small problem with a (Army) SGM calling him "Chief." The problem stopped soon after the Master Chief said said, "OK, have it your way Sarge."

I was in Qatar when a 2 star Army General ( I think he was NG, but I'm not positive) called a Navy Warrant, "Chief". The Warrant was very professional and mentioned that in the Navy he is normally called a Warrant, since a Chief is a different rank.
The Army two star says that in the Army he'd be called a Chief, so that's what he was going to call him. The Warrant, without missing a beat, says, "thank you Admiral".

 

[eas7888]

"thank you Admiral".

Hopefully the General had a sense of humor, because I find that freaking hilarious.

There was an incident when I was taking part in "Operation Golden Cargo" (moving ammo around the country), and we ended up at Bangor Sub Base (which I just read is called "Kitsap" now) in Washington state. A few of my soldiers 'needed' items from the exchange, so I ran them over in the van. I was nice enough to drop them off near the front door, and proceeded to park the van. In the less than 60 seconds it took me to park, my soldiers managed to salute a couple of Senior Chiefs, and the afore mentioned Seniors were chewing their ass. I just stood back and laughed as the situation unfolded. After they finished their ass chewing, I proceed to to put on a push up spectacle with my soldiers. They had a Naval rank study session later that night, with a quiz from me. They didn't make the same mistake twice.

 

[KBayDog]

A few of my soldiers 'needed' items from the exchange...

Let me get this straight:

1. You went to a Navy base.
2. Your soldiers saluted a couple of Senior Chiefs.
3. Your soldiers got their asses chewed by said Senior Chiefs.
4. You stood by and laughed.
5. You made your soldiers do pushups.
6. You taught them Navy rank that night.

Not questioning your methods (okay, I am), but am I the only one who sees a problem with the order in which this night unfolded? In other words, don't you think that if you started with Step 6, Steps 2-5 never would have happened?

(Ages ago, I was a young Marine, in a Navy command, on a Navy base, and it still took a while for me to differentiate between Chiefs and officers. Shiny stuff on collars, with khaki uniforms, equaled 'officer' back then. I can see how soldiers might have a few problems on a Navy base.)

 

[C420sailor]

My eyesight kinda sucks and I've saluted chiefs at a distance before. The device can look like a silver/gold oak leaf at a distance. It happens.

 

[twobecrazy]

I typically looked at the cover. It is usually easier to pick it out on the cover than on the collar.

 

[eas7888]

Let me get this straight:

1. You went to a Navy base.
2. Your soldiers saluted a couple of Senior Chiefs.
3. Your soldiers got their asses chewed by said Senior Chiefs.
4. You stood by and laughed.
5. You made your soldiers do pushups.
6. You taught them Navy rank that night.

Not questioning your methods (okay, I am), but am I the only one who sees a problem with the order in which this night unfolded? In other words, don't you think that if you started with Step 6, Steps 2-5 never would have happened?

(Ages ago, I was a young Marine, in a Navy command, on a Navy base, and it still took a while for me to differentiate between Chiefs and officers. Shiny stuff on collars, with khaki uniforms, equaled 'officer' back then. I can see how soldiers might have a few problems on a Navy base.)

Our being on the base was really not something we had planned on. We were originally staying at Indian Island Naval Magazine, and had to make a run to Bangor to set up a fuel point. If we had time, I probably would have made sure they knew what the hell they were doing. Military rank structure is something that we are all taught in basic training. Though the names of the ranks may be different, the ranks you salute all look the same. If we were full time soldiers (Army Reserve), the training for the exercise may have been very different, and the differences in ranks may have been covered. As it was, I was assigned a fueling detail when we got to Indian Island, and they were mine for the next two weeks.

Anyway, They fucked up, plain and simple. The fact that it was a hilarious fuck up was even better. They came away from the experience with a better understanding of their Navy counterparts' ranks, and I came away with the fact that I should never assume soldiers know anything. As a young NCO (I had just made Sergeant), I could have done better, and it was a learning experience for me as well. Three years later, my unit had a fueling 'mission' at Camp Pendleton over the summer. I made sure that my soldiers were familiar with the Marine Corps rank structure, and the proper way to address their Non-Commissioned Officers. Long story short: Humorous fuck up that I learned from.

 

[H60Gunner]

I met a (Navy) Master Chief who had a small problem with a (Army) SGM calling him "Chief." The problem stopped soon after the Master Chief said said, "OK, have it your way Sarge."

I never met a MC who disliked being called Chief. Maybe it was an inter-service penis envy contest.

 

[H60Gunner]

What's the big deal about saluting? I fucked up and saluted a PO3 Sea Bee reservist once because he had ironed the crow on his collar so flat it looked like an eagle. No harm no foul. I about saluted my arm off one day walking to the BX onboard MCB Coronado, passing a bunch of young Devil Dogs who had just graduated some training. Should I have stopped and corrected each one of them? Maybe, but I didn't and no one was offended or died. I'm not a "cross the street to avoid a friggin salute" kind of dude.

 

[Jim123]

I never met a MC who disliked being called Chief. Maybe it was an inter-service penis envy contest.

It might have had a bit to do with that, but there was also a middle part of the story, when the MC politely corrected the SGM and got an indifferent, "OK Chief" in reply. I've called plenty a Senior Chief, "Chief [double take, squint, oops there's a star on there]... er, make that Senior Chief" and so far none of them minded an honest mistake- or Master Chiefs.

For dealing with mistaken salutes, I remember being taught the "Don't embarrass the other guy" rule.

I like your Coronado story. As a soon-to-be-commissioned young officer candidate in Pensacola, I remember my friends and I making an NEX run while sporting our miniature candidate butter bars and miniature candidate gold chin straps on our combination covers... and being saluted(!). Surprised and tickled pink, we dutifully returned those well intended courtesies with crisp salutes of our own and carried on smartly, all the while in fear that the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent drill instructors would have witnessed the entire thing. Oh my!

 

[The Chief]

I never met a MC who disliked being called Chief. Maybe it was an inter-service penis envy contest.

From the Goat Locker: I worked for Admiral Sam Gravely, only one that I remember calling me MC, but then only when I was being called on the carpet, which was often!!! Otherwise it was simply "Chief" or by first name in off-duty situations. Any MC who has a problem with being called "Chief" "has a problem".