>  CS> very hard indeed) while the CPO's blend at that level to an extent.  It
 >  CS> depends on what the job is and the size of the ship.  An E5 may not be
 >  CS> aware of just what the CPO is doing ;-)
 > 
 > Very true in my day, and E5 was really a sweet spot.  Not high enough to
 > get a lot of this management bull, but high enough to avoid messcooking. :)

It's still a sweet spot .  Always has been.

Today, that O1 ensign is tasked pronably less overall than an E6 'with a
clue' and depending on job, less than the Chief.

To make sense of this, I'd have to describe years and years of my taskings. 
It might bore you so let me know if you (or another) are curious.  Dont get
the idea the officers dont work, they do.  They just generally are tasked in
ways now you may not expect. We even stand the same watches often on the
bridge or CIC or if engineering, same ones they do there.

CSOOW would be new to you and the first time I stood an 'Officer watch'.  I
was not the first enlisted to qualify for that watch, just the first DPC to
do it on a CVN.  (A male DPC did it almost a year later and tried to crow the
title but we laughed and told him he had to change it to male as a female
beat him).

 >  CS> Take the case of an E1 who's life tends to be about which passageway
 >  CS> he's gotta clean today.  He may think I dont work at all since I seem
 >  CS> to just sit at a computer.  He's probably not aware I just worked out
 >  CS> how to get him stateside for 2 months of school. (119$ a day plus
 >  CS> 2,000$ flights and quotas for the class as well as berthing while
 >  CS> there).  Meantime his buddy is bitching because he only got a 2 week
 >  CS> school....  They lack the perspective on the job I'd be doing to put it
 >  CS> together.  An E5 would come closer and an E6 probably (if a good one)
 >  CS> knows a good bit about what I'd be doing but may not grasp the finer
 >  CS> nuances of the difference in tasking on a Senior vice a Chief (which
 >  CS> can be dramatic at times, or can be the same job).
 > 
 > Of course the senior and master chief thing was after my days so have no
 > idea just what they did, but from what you state it looks like you're just
 > a cheap officer?   I may be wrong but I suspect those things you state
 > above were not done by a CPO of my day, but rather by officer types?

It blends now.  For another example, last 2 ships I was TRAINO or 'listed as
assistant traino as had an officer to help me' but only had one effective
officer assigned during that time.  On the one ship the officer was so overloa
ded, they taught me what they knew and left it all to me (fair, he was
overloaded and I was not) and on the other had a good officer but he had no
knowledge of the job.  He handled the few aspects I didnt have time or
inclination for and i did the bulk.  He was *not* a bad person at all.  I
liked him alot.  I suspect my work hours freed him to do other things just
like many a First Class has freed me up to do other things.

None of this is obvious to the average E5 and below layer.  No reason why it
should be either.  We each do as needed and accpt that our tasking is not the
same.

 >  > They made a buck or two on this. :)
 > 
 >  CS> Naw, probably not.  Was probably at cost or very near it.
 > 
 > Probably.  :)
 > 
 >  > As i understand it, even back in my day, there was supposed to be a duty
 >  > cook to fix something for the ongoing mid-watch.  I never once saw this g
 >  > on any base!  On Guam the mid-rat was always a inch slice of gooey Spam
 >  > between two dry slices of weevil infested bread.
 > 
 >  CS> We had mid-rats too but I was rferring to the 3am or so new sailor
 >  CS> arrival. We'd even have a stash of sheets and such for them incase the
 >  CS> depertment didnt provide.
 > 
 > My arrival on Guam was about 0200. I was in blues and a Peacoat when I left
 > Japan in the snow. 8 hours later I was on Guam and it was 80 degrees and it
 > took forever for some jeep to run me from (Anderson AFB?) down the road to
 > the NCS, and maybe another 45 minutes after that to find a bunk so I could
 > get out of those blues and Peacoat.
 > 
 > Meal wasn't a factor, believe me.  :)

Not a long enough flight!  Today, you can get a guy into Sasebo who'd been on
flights and train/bus rides for up to 23 hours and may not have eaten for the
last 17 of them.
                xxcarol
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