T. A. Gardner
Thread Killer
Here's one from my earlier Navy days. This was about 1983-ish... Aboard USS Enterprise CVN 65, E-Division, Shop EE 30, Electrical Distribution. We had a guy report aboard assigned to that shop. It was pretty damn obvious he was gay. The guy got qualified to stand watches and did his job. Nobody particularly cared one way or the other so long as he didn't push his gay stuff on anyone else. In fact, he had the rack (bunk) right under mine in E-Div berthing aft on the 3rd deck.
One day I came back to my rack and found him with a couple of Masters at Arms (the ship's cops) cleaning out his rack. He got busted for being gay and that's the last we saw of him. Good worker, good watchstander. His 'proclivities' didn't bother anyone so long as he kept them to himself. But rules are rules.
Then there was this one...
I got assigned as the clerk to the E-Div office where the three officers in E-Div worked. Seems being able to type around 40 wpm and spell word correctly gets you that sort of job in the military even if you aren't really a clerk. Anyway, a guy from EE 10 lighting shop was hauled in. Seems he was a ardent bigot / racist / White supremist. Now this was in the 80's...
They busted him and he got discharged for that too.
At the deckplate level nobody really cared if you were a whatever the fuck you problem was type of person so long as you did your job and stood your watches. Where you got in trouble was when you didn't do that shit.
As an example of that...
The guy that graduated 2nd in my nuke school class (class 8003) went to the 'Prize' like I did. He applied for and got an ROTC scholarship to go to college on the Navy's dime right after he came aboard. He then reenlisted for 4 years getting the then $70,000 bonus (this was in the 80's) for that in nuclear power along with a promotion to the next higher rank, etc. His plan was when commissioned the enlisted contract would be voided and he'd get the cash and have less time to serve in the service.
Anyway, he had like 3 or 4 months until he started the ROTC program. He slacked off in his shop (RE-01) and didn't try to qualify for watches. Then he radioed (lied about doing maintenance on equipment) his assigned PMS (Preventive Maintenance System). Normally, you'd get chewed out if caught doing that and made to do it over. But his shop was gunning for him for being a slacker.
He was checked on his PMS and found not doing it (the officers and chiefs check so many maintenance items a week to ensure its being done). He was written up, sent to mast, busted in rank and fined to the max. They pulled his ROTC scholarship and he was going to be stuck on the carrier for years to come. Upset, he deserted and later was caught and court martialed. He deserved all of that for being an asshole to his fellow sailors.
I don't think the gay guy deserved what he got. The bigot? Meh. The guy was an asshole but I don't know how he got along in his shop. If he did get along nobody'd particularly care. If he was an asshole to people in the shop then getting kicked out was a good thing.
Over the years, I had other situations like that. One gal I had as a shop worker later on was a lesbian. Everybody knew it. Great worker. No problems. Didn't give a shit about her proclivities. Another was, shall we say 'flamboyant' about her feminine qualities. She got a smackdown for that and some other shit she did. Straightened up after that and was a good worker.
One day I came back to my rack and found him with a couple of Masters at Arms (the ship's cops) cleaning out his rack. He got busted for being gay and that's the last we saw of him. Good worker, good watchstander. His 'proclivities' didn't bother anyone so long as he kept them to himself. But rules are rules.
Then there was this one...
I got assigned as the clerk to the E-Div office where the three officers in E-Div worked. Seems being able to type around 40 wpm and spell word correctly gets you that sort of job in the military even if you aren't really a clerk. Anyway, a guy from EE 10 lighting shop was hauled in. Seems he was a ardent bigot / racist / White supremist. Now this was in the 80's...
They busted him and he got discharged for that too.
At the deckplate level nobody really cared if you were a whatever the fuck you problem was type of person so long as you did your job and stood your watches. Where you got in trouble was when you didn't do that shit.
As an example of that...
The guy that graduated 2nd in my nuke school class (class 8003) went to the 'Prize' like I did. He applied for and got an ROTC scholarship to go to college on the Navy's dime right after he came aboard. He then reenlisted for 4 years getting the then $70,000 bonus (this was in the 80's) for that in nuclear power along with a promotion to the next higher rank, etc. His plan was when commissioned the enlisted contract would be voided and he'd get the cash and have less time to serve in the service.
Anyway, he had like 3 or 4 months until he started the ROTC program. He slacked off in his shop (RE-01) and didn't try to qualify for watches. Then he radioed (lied about doing maintenance on equipment) his assigned PMS (Preventive Maintenance System). Normally, you'd get chewed out if caught doing that and made to do it over. But his shop was gunning for him for being a slacker.
He was checked on his PMS and found not doing it (the officers and chiefs check so many maintenance items a week to ensure its being done). He was written up, sent to mast, busted in rank and fined to the max. They pulled his ROTC scholarship and he was going to be stuck on the carrier for years to come. Upset, he deserted and later was caught and court martialed. He deserved all of that for being an asshole to his fellow sailors.
I don't think the gay guy deserved what he got. The bigot? Meh. The guy was an asshole but I don't know how he got along in his shop. If he did get along nobody'd particularly care. If he was an asshole to people in the shop then getting kicked out was a good thing.
Over the years, I had other situations like that. One gal I had as a shop worker later on was a lesbian. Everybody knew it. Great worker. No problems. Didn't give a shit about her proclivities. Another was, shall we say 'flamboyant' about her feminine qualities. She got a smackdown for that and some other shit she did. Straightened up after that and was a good worker.
