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So better late than never, but here is my West coast late-night #FridayNightNavyKnowledge /A thread...
“We need to find CAG.” Never really words you want to hear, especially when it comes from the CVN OPSO and doubly so when you are a CAG staffer at sea. Triply so when you are serving under the CAG I was.
But first, some background, because even though we are all acronym adept, there are different levels of acronyms. CAG is actually an anachronistic acronym that means Carrier Air Group, but now means Carrier Air Wing Commander.
I was on CAG staff as a 2nd tour LT, along with a bunch of other 2nd tour LTs. We represented the various aircraft of the Air Wing and did the staff work for CAG, mainly writing and running the air plan (flight schedule) for the carrier. 4/x
It was a great job and I got to stay in the cockpit with VFA-154 @farvaprice and VAQ-142. There was one small heartburn associated with the job that leads to my story: CAG would not carry a brick. For those unaware, the brick is the Hydra system for intra-ship comms. 5/x
CAG loved to fly, loved to talk, and would not be tied down. So, when the OPSO told me, the lucky “football” watch who WAS carrying the brick, that we needed to find CAG, I knew I was in for a busy evening. 6/x
Our staff (Speed and Violence!) had a system: one guy would start calling Ready 1, another would call Ready 8, and they would work toward center. A third would check his stateroom, CATCC, and Zulu station. Like I said, he liked to talk and wander. 7/x
Usually this would lead to breadcrumbs “He was just here!” and we could triangulate, but not tonight. After a half hour, the OPSO confronted me again and told me it was REALLY important that we find CAG. The magical steam generators needed maintenance and that meant no flying. 8/
We were, of course, flying. It is an aircraft carrier, after all. But the magic steam generators made me nervous, so we sat down with the airplan. I made the call to CNX an event to do maintenance. TT4R were set, yo-yos were launched. Decisions were made. 9/x
There I go using acronyms again. TT4R is turning tanker for recovery. A good tanker to be sure there is gas for anyone who needs it. Gotta make sure there is gas, especially when 800nm from land. A yo-yo is a launch and recovery in the same cycle, in this case also a tanker. 10/x
OPSO called the CO, I called Ready Rooms. Crisis managed. I walked to Ready 3 to have a well-deserved cup of coffee. As I hit Hollywood and Vine (P-way intersection at frame 185 on starboard side, very busy), there was CAG!
I began my data dump of everything. He stopped me and said simply, “I know. I was standing next to the Captain the whole time.” When my jaw dropped, he added, “I wasn’t going to let you fuck it up, but I wasn’t going to make the decision for you.” 12/x
That moment has always stuck with me. Support your people and empower them. He knew the answer but wanted to make sure I knew the answer and felt the authority to make it happen. It kept the silly stuff off his plate and taught us how to lead and not just “staff”. 13/x
The other main point I’ve kept is that he was there as an unseen safety net. When I let my people spread their wings, I’m below with a net, but I don’t tell them that. I want to give a safe space to practice leadership and decision making without permanent damage. 14/x
We all need practice, and we need to ensure that our people can practice important decisions before they have to get it right or kill people. Plus, empowered subordinates with well-taught decision skills make the job easier and allow big thinking like #FridayNightNavyKnowledge
It& #39;s not a clean follow to @ruminantswo and @datrnq but it& #39;s a life lesson I keep going back to. Extra points to @FarvaPrice or anyone else who can name that CAG, but not @Brett_327 because I think I told him this story already. /fin
