Department Head!!!

Newly refreshed from a week off the CURTIS WILBUR I reported back on board with the realization that the next few weeks were going to be tough. While I was having fun traveling around Japan, my shipmates were hard at work refurbishing the ship. Since there are only two Supply Officers serving on board destroyers, my department head took over for me while I was away. It was my turn to cover for him while he took leave. I went from being in charge of two divisions to running four and being the ultimate authority on every decision and action involving the supply department. I was now in charge of food service and logistics. These are two divisions you really don't want to screw up.

My daily schedule had some drastic changes. I went from spending most of my day in the disbursing office to traveling all over the ship. Something was going wrong on a daily basis; a part was not getting ordered or being lost in logistics or food service was running out of paper plates. The number of meetings I needed to attend doubled overnight. I was now responsible for briefing the Executive Officer (XO) and Commanding Officer or Captain (CO) every afternoon. That made me a little nervous to say the least.

I screwed up a ton of stuff at first but then started to get the hang of it. The chiefs and petty officers were a really big help. I would have fallen on my face without them. At first I tried to be everywhere at once but quickly realized I was killing myself and started to delegate. I turned sales over to my leading petty officer (LPO) and left food service with their chief (CSC). Logistics was a nightmare, with both their chief (LSC) and first class petty officer (LS1) gone, they were struggling as much as I was.

I got some good advice from the operations department head (OPS) about how to respond to the added pressure I was under and some suggestions on staying organized. The XO was probably my biggest help, he reviewed all my briefs before I presented them to the CO. He made suggestions on daily projects and kept me on track when I was about to lose it. Up until this point, I had not interacted much with him, mostly because I was trying to stay out of his way, but I have a much better understanding of what he expects now. The same goes for the rest of the senior Officers on the ship.

This was trail by fire, just like every other major step I have taken so far since joining the Navy. I have come to realize that these are tests meant to train me for the next progression. Just as OCS trained me on how to lead as an Officer and Supply School taught me the basics of a Supply Department. This gave me yet another look into what the future holds about four years from now. These experiences are extremely challenging and painful at times but at this point I am no stranger to a little blood, sweat and tears.

Exchange Ceremony

Right after returning from my leave period I needed to finish a project I had been working on for about a month. Every year American and Japanese commands meet and exchange gifts as a goodwill gesture. Since I serve on board a destroyer our Japanese counterpart is also a destroyer. My assigned task as the George Ensign (newest Ensign) was to order a large Christmas wreath for the exchange.

At first glance, this did not seem like a difficult proposition but it ended up being a real pain. The funding for this wreath needed to come from the wardroom. So I needed to talk with the wardroom treasurer. There is a certain set amount we are able to spend on gifts to foreign nations. I got both those issues resolved and went to order the wreath from the Navy Exchange. Once there a new problem arose. I was unable to provide an exact date for when I would need the wreath prepared. I ended up making a guess, luckily it turned out to be a fairly good guess.

It ended up being quite a large wreath, requiring two people to get it up the brow. It was windy and I wasn't risking it getting blown overboard. We put it in the wardroom and left a trail of needles and red berries along the way. The crew thought that was funny until they had to clean it up.

The day of the ceremony, I was asked to present the wreath to the Japanese Captain. As soon as my Captain was done with all the formalities of the occasion, the delegation stepped off the brow and I presented the wreath to them. Since I had been in the wardroom with the wreath for most of the event, this was the first time I noticed their gift to us. The Japanese Captain gave us two Kadomatsu. I would rather not describe the plants, I wouldn't do them justice. They are certainly unique and they have a deep rooted history.