George Duties

As soon as the ship returned to port, it was time to start planning a Hail and Fairwell for two of the newest Officers. I had been hailed during one such event and had attended one more since joining the CURTIS WILBUR. I would describe it as a kind of informal ceremony, except that I got ribbed for calling it a ceremony in the mass email I sent out to the Wardroom. I quote, "Does that mean we have to wear our dress blues?" Seriously some Officers have no life.

The only other major event I had handled as the George up to this point was the New Year's Gift Exchange with our sister Japanese Destroyer. At the outset I did not imagine how much trouble this was going to be. The trouble started when I asked the Wardroom for ideas on where they wanted the Hail and Fairwell to be held. At first no one gave me any suggestions. With a little pestering I did end up getting a couple of responses. Traditionally the event had been held at American restaurants either on or around the base. I wanted to try something a little different and go to a Japanese style restaurant.

After researching the suggestions, the Wardroom decided they did not like either one. Quite frankly their choices were a tad on the expensive side. For a special outing, paying for ambiance and quality did not seem so out of place though. So I ended up picking out a restaurant of my own choosing and made a reservation just to make sure I had something reserved in advance.

Upon meeting with the XO, he decided it would be in the Wardroom's best interest to just do something on base instead. I am not going to lie, that was disappointing and a little irritating. I had wanted to do something different to set this Hail and Fairwell apart from ones done in the past. I did learn some vital lessons from the experience so it was not a total waste of effort.

First off, Officers are very good at following a chain of command or making decisions on their own. They are after all, natural leaders. Trying to make decisions in a group setting without any acknowledged leader is absolutely agonizing. This brings to mind something one of my petty officers said, "N.A.V.Y stands for Never Again Volunteer Yourself." I thought that a particularly poignant comment and reflective of what occurred here. I would have been more successful in choosing a couple of restaurants from the outset and then letting the Wardroom decide which one they liked the best. That way the choice would have been made for them but they still would have had a voice.