Apparently satisfied, he sat down in the chair at the end of the green table, swinging it around toward David and stretching his legs out in front. "Now tell me a little about Ensign David Charles, other than your last four years at the barge factory."
That day, in the second ship of a four-ship nest, Joe Donovan learned a lot about the new ensign who was bunking with him and who would stand watches with him both in port and underway. And, David Charles learned about a new Navy that hadn't been included in the curriculum the past four years, one that seemed to have been forgotten by his landlocked instructors.
I'm going to make this as a side entry that I might tear out later, especially if I'm going to have to turn this journal in to a department head later on.
In a way, I was kind of scared when I reported aboard Bagley. I've been on other ships before, during middle cruises, but this is my first actual tour of duty. I'm finally an officer, but I don't know if I want to stay in forever. When I saw this ship, as I was coming down the pier, I just said to myself, "Oh, shit. It's really a rust bucket." I guess we all had dreams of guided missile cruisers or giant carriers, as far as being part of a spit-and-polish organization, but everybody kept telling us the real Navy was in tin cans. Well, if they're right, and I'm not saying they're not, it's sure a different Navy from the one we were taught about for four years.
joe Donovan, the CDO whose section I'm in, thinks Annapolis was some kind of prep1 school, and only people who wanted to give up working early went there. As a matter of fact, he's explained two or three times that when the Navy gets into a crisis they call up the reserves. And after the reserves win the war for the lifers, then they go home until the lifers get themselves in trouble again. Wow! On the other hand, deep down he really likes the Bagley. He knows the ship as well as the captain, and I guess Captain Carter has tried to talk him into shipping over, but Joe says there's too much to do in the real world. Maybe he's right.
Some of the other reservists are pretty good people, too. But, boy, do they ever party! After everything I was taught about Navy etiquette, I think maybe they're right. Going to sea on a Monday morning is a hell of a good way to dry out, and it also keeps you from getting too involved with the women. But some of the parties I've been to when the ship comes back are unbelievable. They work like hell when we're at sea and then they act like they've never seen the water when they get back. They rent an apartment every time they're in any port for more than a couple of weeks. Right now they've got one in Virginia Beach and they've asked me to come in with them. The hard core is Donovan, FitzGibbon, Hogan, Mezey, Werwaiss, Mundy, and Kerner. Whenever the Bagley's tied up, their place is overrun with women. I think I'm going to like it, and I think I'm going to like the Bagley a lot more than I expected that first weekend, if I can survive the pace they set.
Even the commanding officer, Captain Carter, never went to the Academy. But he doesn't say much bad about it because he's steamed with a lot of graduates over the years, and he said he's met some pretty good ones. Right after I reported aboard the Bagley, the Monday after, the ship started to look like it was part of the Navy again. Captain Carter came aboard at seven thirty that morning, had an officer's conference at breakfast, and right after quarters he had a meeting with all the chiefs, too. By the end of the day, every space was shiny. All the stanchions had been replaced and the ship was scraped and covered with red lead. By Tuesday, she looked like she was ready for an admiral's inspection. Donovan explained to me that Sam Carter likes to have the fleet see that even the old buckets like the Bagley can hold their own with any new frigate, and that's why she always comes into port showing where she's been. And he always lets the crew off as soon as the brow goes over, and gives the duty section the chance to take it easy for a few days.
There's something special about Captain Carter. I'm not sure what it is yet, but it's obvious not only from the way the officers respect him but the way the crew looks up to him. A lot of mornings will find him having coffee down in chiefs quarters instead of the wardroom, and he doesn't just wander in on his own. Apparently, they gave him a standing invitation, which is pretty rare for any officer. I wouldn't go down there unless I was invited or if I had business with one of the chiefs. And Carter sits down in the spaces and talks with the troops while they're working. He'll stop and shoot the shit with some deck apes chipping paint sometimes, and Donovan says he'll even stick his head into the firebox when the snipes are groveling around inside cleaning the boilers. Sailors don't take to any officer very easily, but I think they'd follow Carter into the middle of the Russian fleet.
One of the first things that made me more comfortable in this old wreck was the talk he had with me that Monday morning. Right after he'd finished with the chiefs, the XO told me to go up to the captain's cabin, Captain Carter told me right away that this was my formal visit with him, that he and his wife didn't need any ensigns making calls on them and leaving cards on their front table. He said I'd get to know them better at the first bash the bachelors threw at their place. Sam Carter said his first job, after the safety of the ship and crew, was training young officers so they'd find the Navy was a good job and stay in. He also wanted to sort out any that should leave. If I was serious about the Navy, I could learn more in my first year than I could learn in ten years at the Academy, He said all of his officers would have every opportunity to do everything possible with the Bagley, and he was just there for the ride and to train officers. He'd drive only when the ship was in danger or he felt the officers on the bridge didn't yet have enough experience.
Everything he said was exactly the way he operates. His officers get the ship underway, take it out of the harbor, con it in fleet exercises, take it alongside tankers or carriers to refuel, and just about any other possible ship's evolution. He's always there, hovering in the background, just in case of an emergency, but he never says a word of criticism until he's alone with whoever made a mistake. No wonder they love him.
And he sure was right about the parties. It's a tight wardroom in more ways than one, and Sam Carter never misses a party. Neither does his wife. After that first one, I realized why they didn't want any ensigns making social calls and leaving cards. If a war had ever started that first night, they would have had to warp Bagley out so the other ships could get underway, and the next day she would have caught up. His wife, Ann, is the belle of the wardroom. I imagine we all secretly love her cause she's everything a Navy officer's wife should be, lovely, charming, dances with everyone, organizes the wives, checks out everybody's date to make sure they're okay, and she loves Sam Carter.
Now that I've had time to sit down and write about the Bagley for a few minutes, I think I'm going to enjoy this tour after all. And I'm going to promise myself to make a lot more entries like this one. I'm finally in the real Navy, and this journal may teach me more about myself and how I want to be part of the Navy than any JO journal ever will.
CHAPTER THREE