If you read my last post, you know that I was destined to go to Captain's Mast for bringing a cell phone down onto the boat. Well today was the day that everything went down for me. I was expecting most of what actually happened. Here is my tale.
I showed up to work early like I always do because I believe that being early is a sign of competency and responsibility. Plus, I learned early on in my career that being late sucks. I was wearing my dress blues and ready to face what I knew was going to happen to me. It was all pretty cut and dry. I messed up and made some mistakes. No need to blame this on anyone but me. I was in the wrong and I knew it. I spent the morning standing since I didn't want to ruin the nice creases I had in my uniform. It was still in the dry cleaning bag from when I dropped it off months ago. Everyone that needed to be there started showing up around 0630. Now when someone goes to mast, their entire chain of command is there. The Leading Petty Officer (LPO), the Chief, the Department Chief, the Division Officer (mine apparently didn't know I was going to mast), the Department Head, the Chief of the Boat (COB), the Executive Officer (XO), and obviously the Captain. The Captain does all of the talking via a script. Yes, there are certain things that he has to go over and he can't be expected to remember all of it. Everything is prepared and the room is emptied. The cooks set up the green felt on the table and make sure that everything is ready to go. I come in and do some facing movements, tell him who I am and why I am there, and the proceedings begin. Quick backstory: I knew that I was going to lose some money and I even told a few people that I was probably going to lose about $1200. Keep this in mind.
We go through everything and the Captain tells me what I am being charged with and gives me the opportunity to speak. I tell him I have nothing really to say because I have the right to remain silent. Everything is all formal. Yes sir, No sir, things of that nature. He then gives everyone that is there a chance to speak on my behalf. Everyone there starts with how well I do at my job and how well they know me. What they think of my work ethic and everything like that. They also tell the Captain how they feel and what they think about the reason that I am there. I mean everyone gets to talk about me. All the way up to the XO. He does his spiel and recommends that I get one last chance to provide information as to why I made poor choices during the past couple weeks. The Captain asked me the question again if I had anything else to say to help lessen the severity of my punishment. So I told him my story about what is going on with me in my personal life. He already knew it since he got briefed by the XO and the COB. I think he just wanted to hear me say it. It definitely helps when you tell him what is going on. After I was done and so stated that fact, he doled out the punishment. I was awarded (funny isn't it?) an oral reprimand, reduction in rank to the next inferior paygrade, which was suspended, and I lost $600 for two months. Basically, he yelled at me and told me how I did wrong and what I needed to do to fix it. The reduction in rank to the next inferior paygrade is kind of self explanatory. I won't lose rank as long I can keep myself on the straight and narrow for the next 6 months. That is what the suspended part means. For the next two paychecks, I will not be getting $600 of it. Remember when I said that I would lose about $1200 for this. I called it and wasn't even trying to. I was dismissed after everything was said and done. I'm now able to breathe a sigh of relief and get one with my life now that things are over with.
I got pulled in to talk to everyone afterwards just so they could see how I was doing. I'm doing fine and this will all pass. I know what I did wrong and I know how to fix it. Things will get better and I will be back to my old self. Kicking ass and taking names like I know how to do.
There you have it. I know you were all waiting with bated breath just like I was. Just know that I won't be doing anything to put myself in this situation again. I have no more silver bullets. No way to save myself again.
I'm OUT!!!
Wickid
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