Letter of Introduction to new command still required?

[a2b2c3]

Ah, yes...the Midstore Mafia. Fun times. If only the Feds would start looking into that deal, the RICO charges would come fast and furious. Kickbacks, forced purchases, and half the crap they sell you before graduation borders on a scam. They present calling cards, etc, as a "you need to get this" thing, and yet not once do the company officers or Dant Staff ever pipe up with a "What? You don't need that BS!"

Bought their silence, I tell ya!

Not to mention the dead dogs in King Hall and the silencing of The Log.

Reminds me of something they "issued" to us 2nd class year. They decided our clothing needed a formal touch to it so we had to buy "midshipman formal," aka a blazer, pants and naval academy tie. How many times did I wear that thing while at the academy... Zero. I did see some people wearing it. There was a group out on one of the 44's acting like a yachting club one day with it on, drinks and all. Other than that I never saw the "uniform" worn. Waste of money...

 

[Uncle Fester]

Yes, that was a shame about The Log. Not familiar with the "dead dogs", though.

My 2/c year, there was a pic making the rounds of NADN-mail, taken from one of the 5th Wing rooms overlooking the King Hall loading docks. It was of an open-top panel truck loaded with, I shit you not, a bunch of dead dogs, backed up to the food-loading dock. One of those things you joke about, but never expect to actually fucking see.

For most of us, it was our first experience with Orwellian Navy "you did NOT see that!" lectures, and scoldings for forwarding around the picture.

The "official" explanation was that it was from an organic-waste company that just happened to be picking up King Hall's grease-trap grease after a stop by a pound (or maybe Pimlico). Even if that's the case, should they really be bringing the same truck to the dock where they handle food?

 

[exhelodrvr]

It was of an open-top panel truck loaded with, I shit you not, a bunch of dead dogs, backed up to the food-loading dock. One of those things you joke about, but never expect to actually fucking see.

For most of us, it was our first experience with Orwellian Navy "you did NOT see that!" lectures, and scoldings for forwarding around the picture.

I guess the real question is what was on the menu that night. Hopefully it wasn't "Mexican Meal" (BTW, being a California native, eating that was a horrifying experience.)

 

[Uncle Fester]

I guess the real question is what was on the menu that night. Hopefully it wasn't "Mexican Meal" (BTW, being a California native, eating that was a horrifying experience.)

Jamaican Beef Patties, probably. They still have those?

 

[stalk]

An awesome thread morph!

 

[insanebikerboy]

Don't even get me started on the cobbler shop charges. I can't remember the exact amount, but roughly $3 per month per mid, even during the summer months. For approximately 4500 mids, that's 13,500 a month, at 12 months that's $162,000.

I tried to take in my leathers I wore everyday to get resoled before I graduated, figured I'd get at least one pair done to get my money's worth. Nope, wouldn't even consider putting new soles on them, even though I had worn them almost daily for 4 years. Went straight to LT in charge of Mid services and he said there wasn't anything he could do. Unbelievable.

The only retribution me and pretty much everyone I knew did was send in every piece of clothing and dry cleaning we had each week. Out of all of the uniforms we had to buy, I only had two in my closet during the week, a set of working blues and the appropriate dress uniform for the season. The rest were being cleaned, regardless of needing it or not, and we had a TON of uniforms. I even sent in my white works as a firstie, just because it pissed me off so much.

 

[cfam]

the silencing of The Log.

The Log's back, by the way. They just started it up again this semester. I'll be interested to see how close it is to the old ones I've seen.

 

[Uncle Fester]

The Log's back, by the way. They just started it up again this semester. I'll be interested to see how close it is to the old ones I've seen.

Meh. :sleep_125

They restarted it when I was a middie, too. Pretty tame and watered down compared to Back in the Day (aka "The Playmid Years"), but they axed it anyway.

 

[brownshoe]

Brownshoe looks pretty spiffy in his dress blues there....

Hey, you’re right, I do look spiffy! (Now that gas is a bit cheaper, how about that trip to Virginia?)

Steve

 

[statesman]

For what it's worth, I believe it's still a fairly common practice (or at least acceptable) in the Surface community. Maybe BigRed or one of the other 'token' SWOs can confirm that.

If you're looking to go SWO, check out SailorBob.com. They have a thread on this topic.

For what it's worth our skipper (a SWO) mentioned that sending such a letter was still common practice in the Navy. He didn't specify that it was common practice for the SWO community, and thus it is my impression that this is such a common practice in the SWO community that he thought it was common practice throughout the Navy. It doesnt seem as though he had ever even wondered if other communities do it.

I have been told that in the Sub community some skippers expect it and some take the aviation approach and will use it as an exuse to have a good laugh at your expense.

Lesson to be learned: From the sound of it letters of introduction are very community specific. Probably best to get in touch with someone from the community you are going into and ask them.

 

[Gatordev]

For what it's worth our skipper (a SWO) mentioned that sending such a letter was still common practice in the Navy. He didn't specify that it was common practice for the SWO community, and thus it is my impression that this is such a common practice in the SWO community that he thought it was common practice throughout the Navy. It doesnt seem as though he had ever even wondered if other communities do it.

I have been told that in the Sub community some skippers expect it and some take the aviation approach and will use it as an exuse to have a good laugh at your expense.

Lesson to be learned: From the sound of it letters of introduction are very community specific. Probably best to get in touch with someone from the community you are going into and ask them.

Yup. Sounds like reality to me. The thing w/ aviation is that the pipeline is so long and you know so many people along the way that you already start building a reputation along the way. By the time it's finally time to report to your fleet squadron, the people there may already know who you are, either because you share the same seawall, your skipper has already talked to the RAG, and/or your buds are already there ahead of you.

 

[squeeze]

Man, y'all are going about this all wrong. Think about it, you're dissuading people from providing you laughter at their expense.

New guys, write letters to your command. Tell them what you bring to the table and how much you're looking forward to it. If you don't, someone else will - and who knows, that could be bad gouge people spread about you.

/asshole

 

[NTXRockr]

I like the reputational method...depending on what your "buddies" ahead of you indulge upon, your reputation could either become legendary or pitiful. I like the idea that your reputation preceeds you (I work in aviation as a civie so I'm used to it...people all over know me), so make the most of it and don't be THAT guy who gets to be the tool made example of.

My uncle, a backseater in the Super Hornet, has already told me some of the stories surrounding him including hs callsign. And my cousin, a F-16 driver, had to find out the hard way about the AF's tradition of "everytime someone tells a story about you (while in the bar) you take a shot"...he ended up passed out for 15 hours straight after 26 shots, but you better believe other pilots know about him (and his piloting).

Some things are better to remain rigid in structure, and some are outdated and points of interest (either good or bad). Aviation - both in and out of the armed forces - is heavily dependent on reputation, as it's a small field and you end up meeting and working with a lot of fellow pilots. Have fun with it, leave the serious attitudes and anal-retentiveness to the nukes and surface folk...

 

[Flying Low]

I know this thread is old but I was recently told I should send a letter to my next command. It is not an aviation command but the 2 star is an aviator. I would write the letter to the Chief of staff instead of the 2 star. BTW the person advising me is an O-5 aviator. When he was a CO he still received letters just not that often. Any thoughts?

 

[Pags]

I know this thread is old but I was recently told I should send a letter to my next command. It is not an aviation command but the 2 star is an aviator. I would write the letter to the Chief of staff instead of the 2 star. BTW the person advising me is an O-5 aviator. When he was a CO he still received letters just not that often. Any thoughts?

A few weeks before I checked in to my current command, the CO (a P-3 CAPT) emailed me an intro and asked for some background information.

I can't imagine it could be a bad thing when going to a staff, that's a different world from the squadron.