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You had your second chance!

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Contributed by: Bob Rotruck on 10/9/2007

THE LANDLOCKED SAILOR
By Bob Rotruck, CWO3, USN (ret)
Castle Rock, Colorado

You had your Second Chance!
When I was a Chief Warrant Officer aboard the USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CVA-67), I was the Electronics Data Systems Division Officer. The young enlisted kids (Data System Technicians) that worked for me were extremely smart and probably should have been working in some "think tank" at Bell Labs or some place like that. As is the norm when checking aboard a new command, I took the time to review each man's service record. My primary interest was to see when each one should be ready to take the next advancement exam for promotion to the next higher grade of Petty Officer.

To be in the DS program, you had to enlist for a term of six years and most of them were already E-5s. There were a couple of kids with some minor infractions and one that was busted to E-3 for marijuana possession. He had regained the pay grade of E-4. I will use the name Doe. I brought Petty Officer Doe into my office for a chat. I wanted to let him know that as far as I was concerned, he was starting with a clean slate. If he worked hard and kept his nose clean, I would do everything I could for him to get him promoted to E-5. He was very intelligent and promised not to betray my trust.

The JFK went into the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a nine month overhaul period. One afternoon, I was contacted by the onboard DIS (Defense Investigative Service) agent. I met him in his stateroom. He asked me if PO Doe worked for me and how he was doing. I responded with a yes and stated that he was doing a very good job. An "on-time sailor" and respectful! He told me that he was under surveillance for selling narcotics and that he was the drug master mind on the ship. He told me to just keep an eye on him, but be careful not to alert him.

About a week later, PO Doe came to me and said that he had been arrested and that he was currently released to the ship's custody. I said okay, I will check into it. I contacted the DIS agent and he told me that they had set up a sting operation. One of my man's "Lieutenants" had made a plea bargain deal. He arranged to be conveniently sick when a large LSD transaction was supposed to happen in the parking lot of a large shopping mall in Norfolk. PO Doe elected to handle the transaction. He sold 250 LSD tablets to a DIS agent and 450 tablets to a different agent. They had him cold!

I called PO Doe into my office and told him I had discovered the nature of the charges. He began to cry and ask me to help him. I stood up and looked him eye-to-eye and said, "You had your second chance and you screwed up!" "You betrayed me, the ship, and the United States Navy and you want my help!" He was discharged with a Bad Conduct Discharge and spent eleven years in Leavenworth Kansas military prison. He had choices and he made bad ones!

Fair winds and smooth seas!

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Bob Rotruck

Castle Rock , CO

Bob Rotruck has posted 60 stories and 2 comments since joining on 7/26/2006. Bob Rotruck 's average story rating is 4.89.

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