# Ask the Buffer



## Marlin Spike (17 Dec 2012)

:yellow: :yellow: Ever had a question for the CBM? Feel free to ask.


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## Journeyman (17 Dec 2012)

Marlin Spike said:
			
		

> :yellow: :yellow: Ever had a question for the CBM? Feel free to ask.





			
				Marlin Spike said:
			
		

> Everything you've wanted to ask the Buffer, but are scared to ask.
> CBM





			
				Marlin Spike said:
			
		

> The Buffer is Back,  Any questions?



You're clearly on a roll. I have no questions.


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## Good2Golf (17 Dec 2012)

What is the Buffer's relation to the Cox'n?


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## Edward Campbell (17 Dec 2012)

Why is (s)he called "buffer?"


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## navymich (17 Dec 2012)

E.R. Campbell said:
			
		

> Why is (s)he called "buffer?"



The one that I was always told....


Big Ugly Fat F***er Easily Replaced


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## Stoker (17 Dec 2012)

Its a hold over from the RN 
We still use the term but its really a nickname now.

From the RN

BUFFER
THE (CHIEF) BUFFER
Naval nickname for the Chief Bo'sun's Mate. As he is the First Lieutenant's
right-hand man and the one by whom he passes orders to the Captain of Tops,
he is considered to be the buffer between officer and ratings.


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## Good2Golf (17 Dec 2012)

So they're like the Ops WO?


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## Occam (17 Dec 2012)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> So they're like the Ops WO?



Not really, I believe the equivalent of that would be the Combat CPO (coordinates all the administrative needs of the Combat dept) or possibly the Ops Room Supervisor (ORS) (manages the on-watch NCI Ops/NES Ops/Sonar Ops).  

The Buffer nowadays is simply the Chief in charge of the Deck Department, which is comprised of all the Boatswains.  The Boatswains pretty much run all the seamanship evolutions, such as Replenishment At Sea (RAS), coming alongside/slipping, coming to anchor, ship's husbandry, etc.  They would also be the ceremonial experts together with the Nav Comms.


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## Good2Golf (17 Dec 2012)

Ah, like a cross between the RQ and NCO IC Tpt?


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## Occam (17 Dec 2012)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> Ah, like a cross between the RQ and NCO IC Tpt?



Quick!  Someone pass me the Army to Navy translator!


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## cupper (17 Dec 2012)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> Ah, like a cross between the RQ and NCO IC Tpt?





			
				Occam said:
			
		

> Quick!  Someone pass me the Army to Navy translator!



Regimental Quartermaster (head supply guy) and NCO In Charge of Transportation (head trucker guy)


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## Sigs Pig (17 Dec 2012)

cupper said:
			
		

> Regimental Quartermaster (head supply guy) and NCO In Charge of Transportation (head trucker guy)


Just a short year ago, those two positions were held by a female Private in our Unit.  :

ME


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## Pat in Halifax (18 Dec 2012)

cupper said:
			
		

> Regimental Quartermaster (head supply guy) and NCO In Charge of Transportation (head trucker guy)


No, that's not quite it either.


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## Fishbone Jones (18 Dec 2012)

Pat in Halifax said:
			
		

> No, that's not quite it either.



TQMS or DSM (RSM's understudy and stand in)?

All I know is the title sounds like something you'd hear on a porn set. ;D


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## Pat in Halifax (18 Dec 2012)

I think Occam pretty much answered the question as to what the Buffer does. All five departmental Chiefs (MS, CS, Cbt, Log, Deck-am not including an Air Chief (if embarked) as that individual would never become a ship's Cox'n) are understudies of the Cox'n (RSM) and his/her stand in (when he/she is unavail or on leave) is not always the same person. It's a term of endearment similar to say Tiffy, Old Man, Number One, and now Chief ERA.

Pat


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## Stoker (18 Dec 2012)

Pat in Halifax said:
			
		

> I think Occam pretty much answered the question as to what the Buffer does. All five departmental Chiefs (MS, CS, Cbt, Log, Deck-am not including an Air Chief (if embarked) as that individual would never become a ship's Cox'n) are understudies of the Cox'n (RSM) and his/her stand in (when he/she is unavail or on leave) is not always the same person. It's a term of endearment similar to say Tiffy, Old Man, Number One, and now Chief ERA.
> 
> Pat



I believe that's Chief Engineer now Pat


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## Pat in Halifax (18 Dec 2012)

Hey, personally, I am grandfathered! Laughed when I saw in the sig block of one of the CERAs (who shall remain nameless):
_Formally known as the Chief Engine Room Artificer (CERA) | Artificier en chef de la salle des machines_

That said, I am curious if the term buffer has been clarified for our brethern in green? And yes, now that you say it, it sounds like it belongs on a porn set, along with head, gland and auto-lubricator!


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## kratz (18 Dec 2012)

Pat in Halifax said:
			
		

> That said, I am curious if the term buffer has been clarified for our brethern in green?



I think they are only green because they do not have their sea legs yet.  ;D


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## jollyjacktar (18 Dec 2012)

kratz said:
			
		

> I think they are only green because they do not have their sea legs yet.  ;D


That's why we called the VanDoos who were on the USS Gunston Hall, "Van Spews".  Watching them during a RAS they seemed to be as green as their CADPATS.  

Mind you the Army Ossifers we had on PRE were puking all over the O's heads and elsewhere too boot.  Red wine and steak everywhere, plus clogged shitters!  What a mess...  My LCO's head kept exploding whenever he would hear about the latest event.   ;D  Rough seas, very entertaining.


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## Journeyman (18 Dec 2012)

kratz said:
			
		

> I think they are only green because they do not have their sea legs yet.  ;D


Hey, I've got 35 _training days_ with the Navy, and I get along fine with the FDU folks. And having 'co-habitated' with sailors of that opposite gender, I'm OK with that part of the fleet too. But since humans have neither gills nor wings, land seems the logical place to be.  
:cheers: 

Now, as for this guy who crews the floor polisher (that's a buffer, right? [since I'd never recognize the porn variant of the term] ), it's a shame he's MIA on this discussion.  9 posts -- 3 of which say "I'm the man" -- then not being around for the work......is that a Navy Chief thing?    
:stirpot:





     op:


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## Marlin Spike (18 Dec 2012)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> What is the Buffer's relation to the Cox'n?


 The Buffer is the Chief of the Deck Dept and the Coxn is the Chief of the ship or Unit. The Buffer is the seamanship expert onboard and he is responsible to advise command on all aspects of seamanship.


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## Good2Golf (18 Dec 2012)

Marlin Spike said:
			
		

> The Buffer is the Chief of the Deck Dept and the Coxn is the Chief of the ship or Unit. The Buffer is the seamanship expert onboard and he is responsible to advise command on all aspects of seamanship.



Danke...this and Pat's earlier post helped.  Five Dept.s on board, the Buffer is the senior NCM of the Deck, be it for boats on and off, supplies, etc... maybe DSM (Deck Sergeant Major).

As a follow-on question from Pat's post, what is the difference between CS and Cbt?  I though CS was cbt sys?

Cheers
G2G


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## Occam (18 Dec 2012)

Good2Golf said:
			
		

> As a follow-on question from Pat's post, what is the difference between CS and Cbt?  I though CS was cbt sys?
> 
> Cheers
> G2G



Combat breaks it, Combat Systems Engineering fix it.   ;D


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## Marlin Spike (18 Dec 2012)

Marlin Spike said:
			
		

> :yellow: :yellow: Ever had a question for the CBM? Feel free to ask.


Boatswain
The term boatswain is the oldest title in the sea service.


It is derived from the Old English batswegen or batsuen (boat's swain or husband).

In Saxon times the boatswain was in command.  In medieval England, he was the officer who made the ship go, having charge of the masts, yards and sails, and was second only to the master.  Nathaniel Boteler in his Dialogues, in the reign of King Charles I, showed the wide responsibilities of the boatswain in the early seventeenth century.  He had charge of all ropes, anchors, sails, flags, colours, and care of the long-boat.  He called up the watches to their duty, kept the sailors "in peace, and order one with another," and he saw to it that all offenders were punctually punished (boatswain's mates had to weild the cat-o'-nine tails), "either at the Capstan, or by being put in the bilboes, or with ducking at the main yard arm."

It is readily seen that through the centuries the boatswain has had the duties not only of command, but those associated with the coxswain and the late master-at-arms.  But through it all the boatswain has remained to this day the seaman specialist, particularly in terms of equipment related to seamanship.

In HMC ships today, the boatswain is usually a master or chief warrant officer, looks after small arms, anchors and cables, hawsers and fenders, paints, life rafts and demolitions, as well as parade and small arms training.

Taken from the "Customs and Traditions of the Canadian Armed Forces (1980), Chapter 5: Words and Expressions"


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## CombatDoc (18 Dec 2012)

Pat in Halifax said:
			
		

> All five departmental Chiefs (MS, CS, Cbt, Log, Deck-am not including an Air Chief (if embarked) as that individual would never become a ship's Cox'n) are understudies of the Cox'n (RSM) and his/her stand in (when he/she is unavail or on leave) is not always the same person.


Just so that the non-RCN types are clear, putting this through the Navy-Army transmodulator yields something like:

MS = Marine Systems Engineering  i.e. machinery that makes the pointy part go forward - similar to EME in the Army with the maintainers, mat techs, etc.

CS = Combat Systems Engineering i.e all the gee-whiz machinery to fight the ship like guns, missiles, radar - similar to LCIS, weapons techs, etc

Cbt = Combat Dept i.e. they fight the ship from the ops room using CS' kit - a very different paradigm than the Army's, although the Cbt O is similar to the Ops O function

Log = Logistics Dept, similar to the Army function comprising cooks, stewards, supply techs, etc

Deck dept - in addition to the deck evolutions, also are the Small Arms experts (e.g. man the .50), run by a CPO2 buffer - has no real Army counterpart that I can think of 

Happy to be corrected by the hard navy types.


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## PuckChaser (18 Dec 2012)

CombatDoc said:
			
		

> Deck dept - in addition to the deck evolutions, also are the Small Arms experts (e.g. man the .50), run by a CPO2 buffer - has no real Army counterpart that I can think of



Sounds like a force protection platoon?


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## jollyjacktar (18 Dec 2012)

Deck Dept can be likened to the Combat Arms types for the ship,  have heard and used the term "Infantry of the Navy" to sort of make it easier for outsider's to understand.


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## Marlin Spike (18 Dec 2012)

CombatDoc said:
			
		

> Just so that the non-RCN types are clear, putting this through the Navy-Army transmodulator yields something like:
> 
> MS = Marine Systems Engineering  i.e. machinery that makes the pointy part go forward - similar to EME in the Army with the maintainers, mat techs, etc.
> 
> ...



Sounds like you got it to me Doc,


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## Marlin Spike (18 Dec 2012)

PuckChaser said:
			
		

> Sounds like a force protection platoon?



Not unlike the other Sailors onboard, Force Protection is a large part of our duties in todays Navy.


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