My pictured memory of Chief Cross was a cigarette hanging from his lips, with ashes flying everywhere when he would constantly repeat the word “Prick” to whoever he was speaking or yelling at. I wish every chief in the Navy could have been like him. Great guy. Do anything in the world for you.
John, I believe that story. That system was awful when I
got there in ‘70 😅 I remember people playing rock music over the speaker system, some of it reflective of the times.; Vietnam, etc. Van would go into a rage and the music stopped fast :)
STG1 Robert VanAlstine was my first watch supervisor when I reported to NAVFACKEF in Ausust 1969, and there definitely was never any music played over the sound system! There was always time for contact training whenever grams were not busy. I am so glad that Van got me off to a great start in the System, and following KEF, I had the privilege to serve at COSL with Chiefs Werner Miller and Frank Harwood.
56 years ago. Wow! Seems like yesterday. February 1970 I was decked out in blues and pea coat leaving Chicago heading for Key West (from -40 to 80) Got the unclassified briefing about this strange system training behind the green doors. I had to wait for a class so got assigned to the galley for a couple months working the speed line. Lunch and dinner only and easy food. Sandwiches and chips or salads mostly. Just had to prep, serve and clean up. Monday through Friday. Now weekends and no barracks watches. Boy did I get lucky. Anyway, it appears that we were sucking up the Key West sun about the same time frame. After getting beyond the green doors and completing the class I headed to my first duty station on a remote island named Bermuda. I was a dumb old country boy and have no idea where this was or what to expect. After a month of indoctrination (scrubbing, waxing, buffing, burning, making coffee, etc.) I was assigned to a watch section under the supervision of SG2 Bill Sharon. Some of the folks in the section were Marc Reed, Tony Orzek, Joe Volpi, Buck Buchanan, Lyman Mcnutt, Gary Hunter, Hal Cook, Tom Wakefield and many more I can't recall. The department chief was a hardliner by the name of George Widenor. Annotation, beam rolling, Stylus maintenance,TARFs, contact logs and reporting. I was overwhelmed but somehow got faster and better and things started making more sense. After Bermuda I spent the next 20 years moving from one Navfac to another, making rate and taking on greater responsibilities, finally completing my journey as a Master Chief in August 1990. My time was spent working a great system, meeting numerous people and making many new friends along the way. I wouldn't trade one day of it for anything.
I had a similar coffee experience when I got to Barbers Point. My supervisor (Chuck Cable) told me to make coffee to which I told him I don't drink coffee. He soon set me straight as to where I stood in the CoC :grinning:
