Personal Narrative: A Career In The Military

martial. There was no snot on my Ensign nose that morning. After glaring at me for a couple of seconds, he backed off, apologized, and said it wouldn’t happen again. Then, at my no-compromise direction, he apologized to the young sailor in front of my entire division of enlisted men. But I had his number and he had mine. He was always an asshole, and while I watched my back, I couldn’t wait to get rid of him. But at least I never saw him step across that particular line again, and I was blessed by having two First Class Bos’n Mates between the troops and the Chief. One of them was a humungous, good natured native Hawaiian named Silva. (Nobody, including me, ever seemed to use his first name, which is what he clearly preferred.) The other was a wiry six foot five inch tall redneck-but-good-as-gold guy named Charlie Ferris. Both eventually became Chief Petty Officers …show more content…
But there was also a cadre of non-commissioned officers or “warrant officers.” On sailing ships, the senior non-commissioned navigator and quartermaster was the “Sailing Master,” the chief of rigging and discipline was the “Boatswain,” and finally there was the incredibly important “Carpenter.” Rarely would a ship carry a fully trained physician, but every ship had a practitioner of stitching wounds, dosing venereal disease, pulling rotten or shattered teeth, and, of course, the all too common removal of splintered or infected limbs. The individual who, for better or worse, possessed these skills – or at least carried them out as best they could – was “The Surgeon.” These positions translated into today’s rank of Chief Warrant Officer (CWO), although doctors are now commissioned officers and there’s not much need for a carpenter on a steel