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Recent navy story about a master chief and an ensign


MattS
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This was forwarded to me by a friend who has a son in the navy. Enjoy!

 

A new master chief arrived at the naval medical school that Jake attends and asked the young sailors to show him around. They were on their tour when a newly minted ensign walked by. All the young pups saluted while the master chief just nodded. The ensign stopped and confronted the chief. “Chief, aren't you forgetting something?” he asked. “No sir, I don't believe so.” was his reply. The ensign, growing impatient said, “I believe you forgot to salute me.” The master chief squinted and said, “When you've earned a rank or done something to deserve a salute, I'll salute you. Until then, buzz off, sir.” The ensign turned several shades of red and stormed off. The tour continued for another 10 minutes or so when a full O-6 captain approached the group with the ensign in tow. The group stopped and smartly saluted the captain who was resplendent in his dress whites. “Master chief, is there a problem?” the captain asked. “No sir, I don't believe so.” the chief responded. So the captain turns to the ensign and asks what the problem is. “That man refused to salute me!”, exclaimed the O-1. According to the sailors, the captain quickly shook his head to make sure he heard correctly and then slowly cocked his head while addressing the ensign. “You brought me out of my office for THIS? Out here in the heat? In my dress whites where I am now perspiring for THIS? This man has been in the navy longer than you've been alive! In fact, if he tells you to do something, you should probably do it. And maybe once you've EARNED a salute from him, he MIGHT salute you. Am I making myself clear, ensign?” The crowd stood by watching silently. The ensign saluted the captain and marched away. The captain, with a slight grin, turned back and saluted saying, “Carry on, master chief.”, who promptly returned his salute and said, “Yes, sir.”

I guess it caused quite an impression on the young sailors.

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But..........the Master Chief still should have saluted. As we always taught people: "You salute the rank, not the person." The Ensign earned the Master Chief's salute the moment he completed his swearing in at commissioning.

 

I was very humbled as a new Ensign one day when a crusty, old CWO4 saluted me. It was the right thing to do, even though he had been in the Navy for close to twice the time I had been alive!

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Garth Thompson

Dave is exactly correct. Any Master chief worth being one would have saluted and I've know a few. You simply do not get to be a Master Chief in the naval services without being an exemplary sailor. This story has been around for years with several different variations.

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