Everyone on a warship wears many hats. You may have your primary job classification, but there are just too many tasks required to run some of the most complicated machines ever built by man to have specialists trained for all of them.
At my day and age, all the security patrols were performed
by the Weapon’s Department Advanced Electronics personnel. In theory we were considered the most
reliable of the enlisted crew as most of us were vetted for secret clearances
and possessed higher than normal education level.
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| Somewhere in the Atlantic, a Terrier Missile is launched by the USS King, DDG-41. As photographed by the author. |
So, even at sea, in the middle of the Atlantic, anyone that
wanted entry to the Missile House had to present an ID card that corresponded with
list of allowed entrants. They basically
were the GMM’s of the Missile Division, all the weapons officers, the XO, and
the CO. Period. All told, about 20 men. Anyone else was turned away, and even the passageway around the Missile House had restricted access.
We took our Guard Force duties very seriously, and had been
tested by for proficiency by Navy inspectors several times and always earned the
highest grades. The six weeks of
training leading up to those inspections were periods of high anxiety and
stress. Often the officers would come up
with unusual scenarios to see how we behaved, and we always shined. After the inspection, the silly games would
cease, but we continued to take pride in our actions and performed our roles
well, even under unusual circumstances. For
one such unusual circumstance, see my story The Road to Leavenworth.
This was about another strange situation, but not so potentially career shaking as in "The Road to Leavenworth", but worth reporting. To this day I have no explanation how it happened. I was standing watch on the Missile House, when
the XO asked for entry. As the second
senior officer afloat, he garners special attention. I can’t say I had ever had him request entry
into the Missile House before, but certainly it was within his rights to do so. Following the rules I asked him for his ID
card, which he presented.
I ran his card down the list of allowed entrants, and
stopped at his name.
“What,” I thought, “Was going on here?” His name was on the list, but the ID card in
my hand was not his ID card.
It was my Division Officers ID card.
Now in the weeks leading up to the security inspection, this
sort of thing happened as a test. And woe
betide you if you failed.
But the last security inspection was six months previously,
and the next one not for another year or more.
And our officers just don’t play silly buggers like this. They have too much to do.
Now the rules were very clear on this. I will have to deny him entry until a proper
ID was obtained. I was within my rights
to deny and was going to do so. But saying
no to the XO is never a good thing, right or not. I was working on the diplomatic phrase to tell
him leave the area.
By the time I worked through all this, enough time had
passed had already told the XO that something was off and I really don’t have a good poker
face, and was about to question what was wrong, when the answer to my dilemma happened walk
on by.
“Mr. Carmody,” I called to my Division Officer, “Your ID card sir!” I stretched out my hand past the XO, offering him the ID card.
Surprise ran across their faces, I could see this was not a
test.
The XO look totally baffled, as did Lieutenant Carmody. They both looked at the ID Card, then the XO
left the area. Lieutenant Carmody pulled
out his wallet, replacing the card. Other
then puzzlement, no explanation as offered.
The XO later returned with his ID and was granted entry, and nothing was
ever said afterwards.
For you in the corporate world, this would be tantamount to going to work with someone else's card on a lanyard and getting stopped by security at the door. By accident, just how do you get someone else's ID?
