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.