Just as we cannot see that a seed has taken root until it breaks through
the surface of the soil, we cannot always see our Sailors' growth happening until it
does the same. Give your Sailors a chance to grow. And never forget that their excellence may be just below the surface, ready to break through and shine at any moment.
That's what mentoring is all about, and that's why our zero-defect mentality is defective.
ReplyDeleteI offer the following: http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2012-05/deckplates-kid-dream
Thanks Jim. Always appreciate your articles in Proceedings. Thank you for the link.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that Captain.
ReplyDeleteOne of my former Sailors recently told me the story about he how he had been working on some software code for a complex project to "sniff out" outside hackers on the .mil network. He was really getting into it and stayed at work for 14 hours that day. When he was 10 minutes late for command PT the next morning, his COC chewed him out and threatened to put him on report. No one wanted to hear about his successful code writing the night before. When a Sailor does something you think is wrong, it might be worth it to ask the Sailor about it. Their reason may blow you away.
ReplyDeleteCaptain Lambert,
ReplyDeleteA lot of folks do not understand that the typical young Sailor today is probably less than a year out of high school and is probably still yearning to be able to get back to his Facebook account and his favorite video games, but his life has changed now and he has to assume the responsibility of many other things such as standing watches and observing the generals orders of a watch stander, wearing the uniform properly, and obeying orders from his superiors. All Sailors had to go through this phase of learning, and most Sailors merged into the stream of harmony that was required to become a Sailor.
There are many pitfalls awaiting that young Sailor and those pitfalls will grasp on to any number of those young Sailors, it will be up to each individual to recover from that even though they had overstepped the traces that were there to constrain them. Being that young Sailor once I am still fully aware that these young Sailors will make mistakes that will cause them to be subject to Captains Mast, what Sailor has a magical resistance to wine, women and song? Not too many as far as I can recall, including myself. I stood with my hat in my hand on a couple of occasions when I was a young Bluejacket, but at one time the Navy did not talk about zero-defects and those Commanding Officers that I stood before seemed to think that I might have some redeeming value for the Navy, they never said that directly to me, but when my Division Officer and Division Chief both said I was a reliable and conscientious worker I was given a second and third chance if you will. Over twenty years later I was still in the Navy and now I was COB and Master Chief of the Command and still thankful for the opportunities given me by thoughtful Officers, Chiefs and especially Commanding Officers that had to judge my worth to the Navy.
Thank you Senior Chief Murphy for providing some insight to problems faced by those 17 to 22 year olds who are the majority of the Navy and who will no doubt make mistakes, if zero – defects concerning these Sailors conduct is the standard it is indeed wrong.
Very Respectfully,
Navyman834