210618 Sentinel, Bad Attitude

Bad Attitude

I enlisted in the navy long before most of the people on this planet were born. After boot camp I went into naval training for an entire year, some in Millington, Tn. Some in Glynco Ga. Some in Barber’s point Hawaii. Then I went to Guam all set to go to work with what I had been trained for. Well, that didn’t happen. Instead I, because of my not yet being a petty officer, I was sent to work in the galley there for 94 days before joining an air crew. Those were long 12-14 hour days scraping garbage off steel trays and then emptying garbage cans filled with uneaten food from those trays. By the time I was sent back to my squadron to do what I was trained for, I had a shitty attitude. That attitude was placed in my service record at my first evaluation on Guam.

I was totally wrong in that attitude I had brought into the squadron. The remarkable thing was the fact that that first terrible evaluation that I deserved changed my life from that time until present day. From that point on I have always done the best I could at every assignment during my naval career and every job I have had since then. I was better at some jobs than others, but always strove to do the best I could. The man who wrote that first evaluation was Jack Buck. I have never seen him since I left Guam, but if I could I would thank him. Last thought, that same man wrote my evaluations every quarter for another year on Guam and they were all good once I got myself squared away.