Week 2 - Day 4

Late Entry | SN Cleveland
BEQ#: 832 - R219

THU - 30MAR17

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The relentlessness of the routine brought us to ATT again, 0700 sharp. Each morning the Porter musters in the lounge and then sends us off to our various destinations. In the case of use from ATT that means arriving for the "bus" about 30 minutes before everyone else as they straggle in between 0610 and 0630 which is our actual departure time.

 

Thursday was test day, we handled some business, some review and then took the test. It was 50 questions, fairly simple, although the 3 questions I missed were fairly silly ones. I scored a 94%, the cut off for the exemplary performers was 95%+ so I was a question off. One of the two people who scored 100% happened to be one of the people who got an outstanding on the uniform inspection so under protest he became our class leader.

 

During the lunch break I straggled back to the Porter to attempt to get Chiefs signature as the final one on the sheet, as it turned out I wasn't the only one with this strategy and as much of the barracks was heading out to a retirement engagement for an old chief from the porter we were all turned down and told we shouldn't have waited to the last minute.

After lunch us fairly new ATT students were recalled for a quick briefing on who at the school house to go to for information, paperwork and requests as we fall under two commands TSC for the barracks and whatever command ATT belongs to which I'm still not sure about. After the briefing we were released early, however anyone who scored below an 85% had to stay and clean for the remainder of our duty time. This is a fate I hope to avoid as the cleaning isn't even practical cleaning and cleaning is only something I enjoy when I can actually see results and it's not just a punitive task.

To my knowledge only one person in our class failed the test, and I believe she only single rocked it. As soon as we were released I went back to the Porter and posted in front of Chiefs office to attempted one final time to get his signature before deadline. He wasn't in as he was currently conducting business in the yeoman office but I opted to hold tight in front of his officer until he returned. About 10 minutes later a yeoman came by and fairly sarcastically told me I should take the initiative instead of waiting. I reluctantly left my post and took the suggested active approach.

Almost immediately I regretted that course of action. All offices have an entry protocol, for the porter yeoman office it is as follows:

1. Knock 3 times and wait to be told to enter
2. Enter the office and stand at attention saying "Good [time of day] [highest ranking person in the room], SN Cleveland Reporting."
3. Wait to be told to report and then state your business.

I nervously stated my intention to get a signature and before I could finish the sentence Chief had already asked why I hadn't just waited at his office as I had been doing. We had made eye contact earlier when he was going in and out of the yeoman's office so he had been aware I was waiting. I uneasily informed him that the yoeman had informed me too and they outranked me (a statement that is technically false) and so I did as I was bid. I maintained the thousand yard stare as I'd grown accustom to at boot camp. I was immediately corrected on my perception of rank, disillusioned of my attempt at military baring and told that his job was to make soldiers not robots, my uniform was criticized and then just as he was about to lay into me he decided his own office was the appropriate venue so he had myself and GM1 head there to continue in privacy.

While I'm no stranger to just squeaking in on time I don't pride myself on not being early most of the time, it is however something I've come to accept about myself, in this case from my perspective I was even potentially early as the actual deadline was Friday however that was also part of the test and I knew it coming in to the request for a signature. All and all the dressing down went much better then I'd expected. I got a modified version of the lecture focused on responsibility to get things done on time or early as there would come a time soon that I'd manage people and it wouldn't just be my own reality I was messing up but potentially someone else plans or worse their career options if I took the same last minute approach. Much of the conversation focused on being held to a different standard and that he had no intention of punishing me in the same way he would a green 18 year old seaman who walked in under the same circumstances. He could also sense that I knew I was coming in late and was giving visual and verbal cues that I needed to eliminate in a military situation.

Considering the next 3 people who were seeking chiefs signature sheet were denied and they were promptly shredded and they were told to start the signature process over. The test results, focus on BoB's uniform and various other events of the day like the conversation with chief made me seriously look at the line from the sailors creed that I most resonate with... "I am committed to excellence and the fair treatment of all." I wonder though, if I'm really committed to excellence. I am committed to the idea of a slow build towards that but I don't know about the manifestation of it in the immediate present. I also took a long look at myself and realize that I don't really excel at anything measurable. I'm good at a lot of things, and pick a lot of things up quickly, and I seem to frequently be ahead of average but I never really excel at anything and for some things, I don't know that I need to personally. When I had that thought an old Star Trek TNG episode popped into my head about Picard seeing an alternate version of himself who never took risks, or a chance, and played it safe his whole career and didn't amount to who he was in "reality" because of it and I had a momentary concern that that was me... a large part of me joining the service was a real need to see what I was like in this reality and not have the regreat of "never having done so" and I'm finding that may continue to be a driving factor of my 30's both positively and potentially negatively as well.

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LATE ENTRY END