Is Chop a Submariner?
We figured we were due for some more Chop related content.
A. Yes. Chops are valuable members of any wardroom and crew. I’m proud to call Chop a fellow submariner.
B. No. Fuck you Chop.
C. It depends. Just because my Chop did nothing except breathe my oxygen, fill up my SANS tanks, and take up a stateroom rack does not mean ALL Chops are a waste of space.
Have an idea for some Chop related content? Email us at thesubpargroup@gmail.com
When I reported to my SSBN as NAVOPS mid-overhaul my first assignemnt was a JAG Manual investigation on a missing air compressor. Not the ship's equipment, but a very nice one suitable for for workshop use. But an overhaul crew doesn't have a workshop, so why was it bought and (red meat for a procedural bulldog like a nuke) how was it bought?
The sordid tale shaped up and the report went in. (Here the story bifurcates into separate odd sea stories but we are after the CHOP side, not the NCIS one). And some stuff I missed in the first half of the overhaul bubbled up. The SUPPO was already in processing for release from the Navy (stress adversely impacted his performance and I had not helped) and the date was moved up. SUBSCOL was contacted about doing the same with the reporting date for his relief and the ask elicited laughter. 'Do you want him to ever qualify Dive?' was probably the most polite quip. And so the next question was "who knows anything about Supply to handle the next 3 months until the new CHOP arrives?" And the obvious answer was , the guy that wrote this detailed report about supply procedures!
As you might imagine, storekeeper division was not happy to have the author of their recent BAM equivalent put in charge. But up at Huntington Hall I was blindsided; trouble arrived as a 100 mph fastball.. A MSC(SS) sent from the SUBGRU had arrived bearing a letter from NAVFSSO - they had rejected the previous quarterly food service returns as (insert superlative adjective here) FUBAR and by copy to the ISIC asked for "help" with oversight. Who knew we were the ship running the galley in Huntington Hall? After learning a I had a second office - not on the overhaul barge - I needed a locksmith to get in, but the returns were easy to find on "my" desk once in. I read the letter and pondered karma, how I had survived COMSEC as a JO only to be hoisted upon CHOP crap as a DH.
Here the fates smiled upon me; the XO had recently recovered from a broken leg which had kept him from the waterfront and his 3 month exile at the Hall meant he was already a fixture there. So he agreed to take on this get-well project (well, maybe it was the 'right' level of attention to satisfy the SUBGRU) by serving as FSO. And so for 3 months I passed through weekly memos from the FSO to the CO via SUPPO and XO, knowing full well that my input was neither required or desired.
We survived until the new CHOP arrived.