Thanks Dragoon. Didn't mean to stir up a hornets nest with the saluting at the brow thing. My opinions are my own and I'm not an eloquent enough speaker to get my point across in a forum. I don't really know why folks leave the fleet in droves but I have a theory. I think it's safe to say that it is not the money, we get paid very well these days so I don't think it's the money. I also don't think that parking is really that big a concern, well maybe an annoyance but not a deal breaker even the newest of OD's can see that if every civilian gave up their spot the wait time for a spot would only drop a small amount instead of 15 years in for a spot it would be 10 maybe less but OS Bloggins still ain't parking on the base. Duty watches and cleaning stations are definite dissatisfies but that isn't going away either, but these are duties that lessen and get better the longer you stay in.
All my previous rhetoric aside I still think the reason sailors leave is job satisfaction, pride. It just isn't there anymore. You go on deployment, you go on exercises or patrol and when it's over what do you get? A few days off, wow thanks. Don't get me wrong time off is a good thing. But what happened to the days of splicing the main brace after a stint at sea? Or what's wrong with the lads having a few beers on the uppers when their painting the ship? What's wrong with bringing a little music out while your at it? When was the last time anyone enjoyed a stokers open or a Banyan that didn't feel somehow forced? Or for that matter when was the last time a mess got a cake or flat of beer for having their mess well turned out for Co's rounds? The root of the problem as I see it is that we work hard and don't play hard, because we're not allowed to anymore.
For instance I recall and this was awhile back, I was in Protecteur and we where on deployment in the Gulf. We had a chance to play the Dubai Camels in a friendly game of hockey during our next port visit. The folks on board were pretty excited but alot had forgotten their gear at home. So the MFRC back in Victoria offered to help ship everyones gear out to the ship. We spent alittle over a month at sea on patrol and were about 2 days away from coming alongside Dubai, the gear had been shipped the game booked and ready the men were even training in preparation for the game. The XO cancelled the game just prior to our coming alongside! He defended his decision based on the fact that he didn't want anyone to get injured! Well needless to say their was alot of disappointed people onboard and ashore.
But this is what happens everyday to a lesser extent and not as obvious but slowly along the way we've lost our ability to adequately recognize the hard work sailors as groups and individuals put into making each sail happen. And part of the reason why this is, is because we are short money, people and our leaders are short in vision. What we as sailors do now to prepare for a sail was once considered extraordinary but because of budget cuts and being short manned the extraordinary has become ordinary. When I first joined it was unheard of except in unusual situations like Protecteurs 10 day notice to sail for East Timor, for members of the ships to work 24hrs a day right up until the ship sails. Take the old Tanker for example everytime we sail it takes a herculean effort by both the ships company and dockyard to get her to go. We've got techs and even operators working shifts over 24hrs to assist dockyard workers prepare the ship to sail. And when it's all done and we sail, what do we get? Nothing usually maybe an extra day off but no real sense that what you just did was special. I know that what happens on the Tanker isn't unique to that ship, that the same thing is happening countless times throughout the fleet. We are all fighting for the same parts, same techs from ashore and we are all trying to fill our remars to sail from the same group of people. On the topic of personnel the last TGEX I think was the icing on the cake as far as doing as much as we could with as few people as possible. That TGEX was a flat out "bag drive". We had ships issuing critical manning request during port visits, we had men and women transferring from one ship to another during port visits then back again in the next port just to fill different requirements at different stages of the EX.
Is there an easy answer? No. No one thing is going to make this better, but I think if we found a way to recognize the hard work of individuals and ships companies we'd be stepping in the right direction. I've seen ships try before but for some reason it never lasts. You know like sailor of the month prizes, gift certificates for doing something especially good. I don't know a plague or shiny sticker,
tickets to a movie, heck maybe even give the guy a rotation off in the duty watch, something anything would be better than nothing. The bottom line is job satisfaction we used to have now we don't. Even I don't have the gun ho bravado I used to have I know hard to believe eh? :
I used to be hard core, now I'm getting more bitter everyday, just a few years to go then I'm outta here. Anyway I've rambled off again.
