In The Navy (Boot Camp), Part 5.

The Company was broken into several smaller “Squads” with Squad Leaders. A Company Commander was appointed, but not through any democratic process, he was chosen by the Chief. The guy we were stuck with was about the tallest of us all (I believe that is all it takes in the Military) and he annoyed the hell out of me. He had curly, near red, hair and was lanky. His voice, when he yelled, broke, like someone was grinding two bricks together. The power trip went straight to his head too.

This jerk had a few cronies who sucked up to him immediately, whom I also despised. They would go around and check the bunks after breakfast (proactively?) and rip the sheets off for no good reason. It became payback for not jumping too when they barked at us the day before. These idiots made life really hard on everyone and seemingly, just for fun.

Listening to him harp on us while we marched made everyone’s ears hurt. He would lead the chant and it drove everyone mad, except him. He would lecture us after the Chief had left for the day about doing better; even though we were doing fine. I began plotting with a few other disgruntled guys on how to best unseat this jerk.

We decided the best move would be to catch him off guard, when he was flustered and get him to totally lose it. We were practice marching one cold Saturday and myself and 3 others kept missing the command to turn left or right or about. It caused the whole squad to jam up and stop because we were running into each other. We were yelled at and everyone had to line up again and start over every time we disrupted things. We said we weren’t getting the instructions straight and asked the Company Commander to speak clearer (his voice was breaking like a kid going through puberty). At first he must have thought we really couldn’t hear him clearly, because he went back to it and actually did speak clearer, but we botched the moves again and again.

It worked. After the 5th or 6th time we had blown the moves, he lost it and punched a guy, which laid him out. It bloodied his nose, but the academy goes to you my friend! What an acting job. He stood up, which let the blood from his nose get all over the front of his uniform (a few purposeful smears helped it look worse than it was) and he started yelling back. Some MPs (Military Police) showed up and took the “injured” man to the infirmary. MPs were always milling around the base. They got the story (different versions with one thing in common, someone got punched) from a few of us.

This was the only time we ever saw the Chief over a weekend. He showed up at the barracks after we got back from dinner and took the Company Commander into his office. We just heard the muffled yelling. He came out with the Chief and went to the back of the room, nearly in tears. The Chief announced that there would be no Company Commander and for us to get the hell to bed. The job seemed to fall on the Squad Leaders, but it was reduced to just mustering the group and getting us to and from the mess hall in one piece when the Chief was not around. I served as Squad Leader for a while and that went fine. It served to foster some mild competition within the company.

Up next, how I lost the Squad Leader designation, mandatory movies and standing watches in the barracks.