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Words from the Wise
Join Words from the Wise with Gary Wise, a retired Navy Command Master Chief, for authentic leadership insights forged in real-world experience. Through engaging discussions and actionable strategies, Gary empowers you to master emotional intelligence, build resilient teams, and unlock your full potential. Tune in for practical advice on delegation, conflict management, and inspiring others, drawn from his over 28 years of service and ongoing leader mentorship headquartered now in Ocala, Florida.
Words from the Wise
From Detroit to Leadership: A Navy Master Chief's Journey
Leadership isn't just a skill—it's a lifelong journey that transforms who you are and how you impact others. In this powerful conversation, Gary welcomes retired Master Chief Petty Officer Rory Bacon who shares his remarkable path from Detroit's inner city through 26 years of distinguished Naval service and beyond.
Bacon reveals how his high school Army JROTC experience laid the foundation for military success, allowing him to enter the Navy at an advanced rank and develop crucial leadership abilities early. As we follow his career progression from Culinary Specialist to Master Chief, Bacon offers candid insights about the challenges of recruiting duty, the intensity of carrier operations aboard USS George Washington, and the lifesaving importance of damage control training that would later prove invaluable in his civilian maritime career.
The most compelling moments come when these two seasoned veterans discuss their shared time on the forward-deployed carrier during Operation Tomodachi following the 2011 Japanese tsunami and nuclear crisis. Their firsthand account of maintaining operational readiness while families evacuated Japan provides a rare glimpse into military leadership under extraordinary pressure.
Bacon's transition to Military Sealift Command highlights how military expertise translates to civilian careers, especially during a harrowing experience when his merchant vessel suffered hull damage in treacherous waters around Cape Horn. His leadership philosophy—"Pay now, play later"—emerges as a guiding principle applicable far beyond military contexts.
Whether you're a veteran, active duty, considering military service, or simply interested in authentic leadership development, this conversation delivers practical wisdom and inspiration. What leadership lessons will you take from Rory Bacon's remarkable journey?
And I know I was born for this. I know I was born for this. Don't care for the critics my words and my physics are for us, that they can't stop. They just don't get it. I think they forget. I'm not done till I'm on top. I know I was born for this. I know I was born for this.
Gary Wise :I believe. I believe we can write a story. Okay, everybody, it is Gary. I am back with Wise Leadership Solutions. Words from the Wise. Tonight is a behind-the-anchor episode, which means I am happy to have a shipmate, a teammate, somebody that I served with in the military on tonight. This gentleman is a retired United States Navy Master Chief Petty Officer. He served with me on board the USS George Washington 2010 to 2012 timeframe. He is none other than Mr Rory Bacon. Rory, welcome to the stage, brother.
Rory Bacon :Hey, how you doing, Gary. I'm happy to be here, man, and to be honest with you, I'm happy to be here, man, and I'll be honest with you. I'm proud that you even had an opportunity to even have me on this podcast, so I'm very proud of that and happy that you even invited me on here. I've been watching your podcast, so I like the content so far.
Gary Wise :Oh man, it is an honor, you know what. So the thing about Rory before we even get into it too much, Rory was back in the day. Well, when I first met Rory, he was a senior chief, I was a chief and he was my section leader. I think we were duty. Section three or six.
Rory Bacon :The best duty section, the best duty section we were the best duty section.
Gary Wise :We held it down. And, rory, he would put me up on a lot of game as to how to survive on that ship, because it was a monster, right how to not lose our mind. And then, of course, how to make rank right, how to progress in that organization that we call the united states navy, and so I hope we get to all that, because we only got an hour of time tonight. Uh. So, rory, I want to get right into it, if that's okay with you, bro yes, yes, it is so.
Rory Bacon :did you just want to talk about the ship life, or you just want me to kind of tell my story a little bit?
Gary Wise :So you said you wanted to start off with JROTC. Right, and I wanted to hear about that.
Gary Wise :Because Rory's from Detroit right, so I feel like you don't know Rory's from the D right Detroit.
Rory Bacon :Detroit.
Gary Wise :City and Rory joined right detroit, at detroit city and roy joined the navy up. What a late 80s, early 90s, yes, so I mean you was going growing up in detroit when it was. It was, it was something and so. But then you was in the njrtc program you were telling me, which, for me is, is something I care about because now I'm part of that program. So can you tell me what was that like for you as a high school kid?
Rory Bacon :Okay, so let's start from there. So I'm going to take it back to 1984, when I was a freshman. I was in high school and my counselor gave me a choice to take either gym as an elective or I could take a ROTC class. And my counselor kind of gave me that hint. He said, hey, you might want to take this ROTC class because there's a lot of benefits with it and actually in that class it's a first hour class. So I listened to him and I said, okay, I'll go ahead and take JROTC. Now I didn't know I was going to take that class for four years, for ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th grade. But I started out as a freshman and the first thing I found out about that class is that I really enjoyed it. Now we're talking about the eighties, so most of my ROTC instructors now take it. I was an army ROTC. Even though I joined the Navy, I was an army ROTC.
Gary Wise :You army JROTC.
Rory Bacon :Yeah, I was an army junior, rotc, and I just remember my instructors. I would always hear them talking about Vietnam, because you got to think about it. If these guys were already retired, they had 20, 30 years in most of them had already served in the Korean and Vietnam war and they had stories I mean talking about real life stories and leadership stories and the things they experienced and they didn't hold back. They talked about real life, they talked about death, they talked about uh situations they were in during the fifties and sixties, uh during the Korean and Vietnam war. So it was very interesting. But at the same time, that class taught leadership, it taught drill, it taught uh um, you know discipline and you know we wore uniforms once a week. We had to volunteer and get involved with being security at games and different events in the school. So we had to do service. So I quickly found out it was a niche for me and I just remember, you know, being in ROTC that they saw something in me because they were giving me responsibility, they were promoting me.
Rory Bacon :I just remember between my ninth and twelfth grade I started out as a private and I moved all the way up to I believe they gave me a rank of I think I made it all the way up to what they call captain. I think I was a captain on the ROTC and then I just kind of moving forward. I just remember my senior year and a recruiter came to me and he was talking to me about the Navy and he was like, hey, you know you got ROTC behind you. Did you know if you come into the Navy would happen four years ROTC, you come straight in as an E3. Right, so I was like, ok, that sounds good. So I ended up joining the Navy.
Rory Bacon :And I just remember, when I joined the Navy I came in as an E3. Now I'm in bootcamp and the RDCs they're looking for guys that already know how to do left face, right face. You know military drill, military protocol, military bearing. I had it. So they were like, hey, man, we're going to make you what you call a squad leader right from the rip because you already know how to march. So they put me in marching staff.
Rory Bacon :Now I wasn't an ARPAC, I wasn't a lead guy, but they put me in marching staff. So that right there kind of showed me that, hey, this time I had an ROTC in high school. It paid off. So now I'm an E3, coming out of boot camp, I report to A school and back then I joined as an MS, ms specialist they're called CSs. Now, within my first year in the Navy I was already an E4. Because back then I think time and rate for E3 to E4 was like six months and I picked up E4. And then about a year later I I'm taking the E5 exam. I'm an E5 in the Navy with only having a year and a half in. And this was all because of that jump start of junior ROTC and you know what?
Gary Wise :that's the exact same thing still to this day, and I love the fact that you're talking about that, because a lot of my students watch this content right, a lot of my students either will listen to the podcast or they'll watch the clips that I'll put on like Instagram or TikTok, and we have the exact same conversation, right, like it's whether you join the military or don't join the military.
Gary Wise :We're going to give you leadership discipline. We're going to give you leadership experience. We're going to expose you to conversation in addition to all the other high school stuff you're fit to get. But we're not going to come at it from the way of a typical educator. We're going to give you life experience from because you got me, you got an OSC who's been retired, been doing this ROTC thing for like 12 years. You got a retired LDL Lieutenant Commander, so you're getting a lot of experience from us. And then, of course, if you do go to the service, you'll start off with that jump start. And if you don't go to the service but you do that four years, putting that on your college application, they dang near going to give you military experience Because they know you did not have to do that program for four years and by you being successful in that program you're going to have discipline, you're going to know how to be on time, you're going to know how to have bearing and so all of that stuff that you're talking about from way back then, a hundred percent still applicable to this day and it really is such a great program. And but here's what I would tell you as a retiree or as an instructor if you go to that program for the money, you're making a bad move because you can't do that program for the money, bro. Like I tell people all the time like I do this program as my ministry, it's like my give back, you know, because thankfully, I've made enough correct decisions through my adult life that I can afford to do what I want to do now as a retiree. I don't have to just go sacrifice my time for a J-O-B to work for somebody being unhappy right. Instead, I got to work with these kids, I get to invest in them and spend my time there. But I feel bad for the guys that go there thinking they're going to make a bunch of money because you're not. And I tell them that at the gate because anybody that gets into anything with public service if you're doing it for the money.
Gary Wise :It's the same thing with the military, right? If you were in the military for the money, you were tripping. It was not that good, it really was not. So you join the military, you come in. As for those of you that don't know math specialist, not you join the military, you come in.
Gary Wise :As for those of you that don't know math specialists not culinary specialists, because that sounds good Math specialists, right, the guys that raise me black shoe sailors right, they're the ones that prepare all the food for everyone on the crew. And oh, by the way, they're not just preparing the food, they prepare the morale. They're the ones that make the crew feel like coming to work. They're the ones that inspire the people. They're the ones that take care of I'll be honest, they are that. They are the heartbeat of the ship, right? And as a, when I became a cmc, I had such good rapport of my with my, with my ms's and my cs's because I would tell them the mastectomy is our heartbeat. It's the stomach, right? How do you get to a man Through their stomach, right? How do you get to a sailor and the Marines Through their bellies?
Gary Wise :And so when you got to the Navy and you got involved with the cooking crew and you was down there or whatever it was, was that the energy that they were putting into you as a mentorship out the back?
Rory Bacon :Absolutely. Well, the thing I can say is this is that when I let me take it back, when I originally joined, I really didn't want to be an MS, what we call a cook. Okay, right Back then I wanted to be an MA. Now, if you go back in time, before the storm it may was not a rating that you could jump straight in. You had to make E5 first, right, right. So my whole goal was OK, let me go into a rating that I have a good chance of advancement. Ms rate was advancing so I can make E5 and then transfer over.
Rory Bacon :But what happened during that time? I started to see I had a true passion for cooking. I loved being in the supply department. I enjoyed cooking and then a master chief pulled me to the side. He says hey, why are you running this request to switch over to MA when you're a good MS? You need to stick with this rate because as long as you make first and that's really the hump you're probably going to make chief, senior chief pretty much first, the second time, third time, up, because our rate is wide open. And he was right, I stayed with it. Uh, maybe five, I made it six and petty off the first class and probably six, seven years. I picked up chief in uh nine years and I picked up senior chief nine years and I picked up senior chief in 12.
Gary Wise :Right Cooking. When I say cooking, I don't mean like cooking food, I mean bro was in the grill cooking that rinser.
Rory Bacon :But keep this in mind Me and you both know, once we become chiefs, senior chiefs, you're expected to be an expert in your rate. Okay by that time. Okay, but you start getting involved with the bigger picture of leadership on a ship, especially when you're on a small boys. And whether you knew this or not, gary, when me and you served on the GW together, the CVN 73 forward deploy Yokosuka, Japan. Baby, that was my first carrier.
Gary Wise :Yeah.
Rory Bacon :Okay. So that was a learning curve for me. I had been on a small boys medium and some man fits, but that carrier was a whole different level. So yeah, I may rank fast as a senior chief but it took me almost 10, 11 years to pick up master chief on the way and I had been on different ships. I had been in different duty sections I mean stations, East Coast, West Coast, overseas, and as a chief in supply department.
Rory Bacon :I had that experience of being a supply department, LCPO, as a senior chief leading the whole supply department where I had the CSs, I had the LSs up under me, I had the what they call. They used to be called SHs but now we call them RSs, retail specialists. That was my department under on a destroyer or on a what they call a frigate ship. So I had that whole picture. But by the time I got to George Washington, as you know, I was not only working in the CS rating but I also was working as the equal opportunity advisor on board also. So I was working for the CMCC on XO and that that standpoint also. But the GW was my first large deck where, as a senior chief now I'm seeing the big picture of a whole ship carrier and, as you know, like you said, we work together running a section. As a section leader, you're basically the cmc of the ship. When the cmc is not there, yeah you know.
Rory Bacon :So you have a lot of responsibility and the memories that I have with you and I and I gotta I talk about this. I had a lot of damage control experience coming up on small decks wearing a red hat. But when I got to the GW and worked with you, it was like it was damage control at a whole different level. I mean, that was the first time I was on a ship and we had what we call the senior D-set that we were responsible for training D-set and evaluating D-set.
Rory Bacon :You had us all over the ship. We were your eyes and ears because, let's face it, you can't do it all that by yourself. That's 6,000 people on board right, numerous repair lockers, numerous damage control eyes and ears on the ship. That took me to a whole different level and that's why I also, when we go a little bit forward, I'm going to talk about how that related to my federal position after the Navy, becoming a damage control man and officer outside the Navy working for military see the command. All that experience I got off GW. I didn't understand how valuable it was with coming with firefighting, damage control, repair locker training man. That training came right back to me and it was very, very valuable.
Gary Wise :I'm glad to hear it. And I'll tell you, gw for me was a pinnacle. It was my pinnacle as a damage control man. And then I went from there to doing the teaching at the schoolhouse and then going to the CMC program. But I will tell you because if I couldn't have done it again, I might not have made it Right, because you put that much heart and effort into something that's that hard. It was, it was a beast. But before we get to that, so you come to the Navy, you're learning how to be a CS or MS. Take care everybody. You're on the small boys. Do you go right to San Diego?
Rory Bacon :Okay, so my first ship after I finished a school was the USS Essex. I commissioned that ship, I was the first crew, we were the first plant, we were plank owners. I'm taking this is back 1990, 91. Okay, actually, my first duty station. I was fortunate to get shore duty at Miramar Naval Air Station Now it's Marine Corps Station Miramar, but it was called Miramar Naval Air Station. I worked on board the supply department there, on board, excuse me, at that duty station, the supply department. But by the time I got to my first ship, the USS Essex, and I was a pre-commissioning crew, plank owner. Um, I had already had four years in. So I got to this ship as an E-5 and, uh, right off the bat so you were from.
Gary Wise :So, just so I understand, you were from Detroit to Oceanside, california, on shore duty.
Rory Bacon :I went to uh, miramar, miramar, I went to boot camp in San Diego. Right when boot camp back those days we had boot camp in Orlando, san Diego or Great Lakes, but I went to San Diego. And when I graduated from boot camp in San Diego I went to MSA school in San Diego and got stationed in San Diego. Then I was lucky enough, or fortunate enough, to get orders to my first ship that was going to be home, ported in San Diego. That was the USS Essex LSD to the matter.
Gary Wise :When you were looking at the galley where you were living on base, like in barracks.
Rory Bacon :Oh yeah, I was living in barracks. I was living in barracks. I hadn't met my wife yet. I wasn't married. I was living in barracks and by the time I went to my first ship, I was already married with a young daughter.
Gary Wise :I got married with a baby in my first four years in OK, hey, yeah, that's that typical Navy life right there, socal. Well, how was Southern California for you coming from Detroit? So Cal, how was Southern California?
Rory Bacon :for you coming from Detroit. For me it was a great experience because here I am, I grew up in the inner city of Detroit. You know I've seen some rough areas, you know, and rough environments, and I got to San Diego and the first thing I loved about San Diego it was a very diverse environment, People from everywhere. San Diego is a major military town. You got six, seven bases right in San Diego, not including Marine Corps.
Gary Wise :Yeah, San Diego is definitely on its own.
Rory Bacon :And it's a melting pot of a lot of military and people from all over the world. So the experience was good, plus the weather was great, people from all over the world. So the experience was good, plus the weather was great. Um, the cost of living I didn't really feel it back then because, you know, I was a young sailor living on base and, uh, eating at the galley every day. So I didn't really get hit with that cost of living until I got married. But by the time I got married I was already need five. My wife had a job. So we were doing okay, you know okay.
Gary Wise :But uh, after thex, is that when he went to recruiting duty?
Rory Bacon :Exactly. And I think we have that in common right.
Gary Wise :We do, we do, we did and and recruiting duty for me. It gave me some flair, it gave me some swag, right, because I mean I already had it because of what I came through, but recruiting just put that polish on it. Right, because you got around those ncs, those crfers, yeah, and they were slick with it, man hey, gary, let me.
Rory Bacon :Let me tell you this something, and I don't know if anybody ever told you this I also had a chance to work at great lakes as a, as an instructor, not an rdc okay and I used to run into rdcs that were wearing recruiting ribbons and I had to pull them to the side and ask them this question. I said, hey, I want you to be straight up with me. You're an RDC now You've done recruiting. Which one was tougher? What do you think they told me?
Gary Wise :Recruiting.
Rory Bacon :Eight out of the 10, I would ask that question. They would say recruiting and they say this is reason why. They said because, being an RDC, they're in a set regiment, they're following orders, they're in a controlled environment. When you're recruiting, you're leading civilians. It's a different ballgame. They're not under the same control as someone in boot camp. Recruiters understand recruiters.
Gary Wise :Recruiting is just like being an entrepreneur You've got to go out and find your client. You got to go out and market yourself. You got to market your product. You got to market what you're trying to get across to somebody. And then you got to find someone to convince them that what you got they're looking for, even if they didn't know they were looking for right. You got to open their eyes to the opportunity and then you got to connect those dots. But I will tell you, if you could do that well, you will be a phenomenal leader of will you get the job done, but you'll get a bunch of positive benefit on the backside and it's no lie. But you got to put that work in right. It doesn't just happen for nothing.
Rory Bacon :Yeah, the longest hours I worked in any I'm going to say short duty, I'm going to say shore duty recruiting by far. Recruiting by far, it takes total, total commitment. And when you recruit somebody and they swear in, that's just half the battle. You, you have to stay committed to that person shipped out to bootcamp.
Gary Wise :You know what I'm saying.
Rory Bacon :Oh, they got a ship and it takes commitment and you deal with a lot of adversity because along the way that person might be in delayed entry for six months. Yeah, ok, and you have to keep that person trained up and ready to report to boot camp on time and it's not easy.
Gary Wise :And watch out for them to get distracted by some other life changing event that's going to cause them to want to no longer continue down the path they've already committed to. Right, and you know, I tell this, I tell the cadets like, look, let me tell you something, being married is nothing but choosing to be in a long-term commitment with somebody that you're going to communicate with every day. That's marriage. And once you stop choosing to communicate, the marriage is probably going to struggle. But don't, don't, don't get confused. And that's the same thing with anything else in life. You commit to something. You've got to be communicating as to why I might want to change my mind or my plan.
Gary Wise :And when I learned that in recruiting I got these deppers and if a life thing would come to change their mind, I'd have to get in there real quick and be like no, no, no, no, no, no. We've got to make sure that we stick. We got to keep focused on the end goal. Where are we going? I might have had one or two that I said you know what? You can get the curve, bro we out. You got to go. But for the most part I was able to keep them focused. And then, when I got back to the fleet. That made me almost lethal as a leader, Because not only did I have all this core, just rugged potential, but now I knew how to listen to people, I knew how to focus on, I knew how to get in their mind, you know, get in their mind a little bit and help make sure they knew what they were doing and why they were doing it.
Rory Bacon :Right, right. So. So when I went to recruiting and I and I and I'll tell you this humbly, I was good at what I did On recruiting duty. Three years I was on recruiting duty in Detroit. My first year, I may have recruited a year. Runner-up. Second year, I may have recruited a year. Then the next thing, you know, they're putting me in charge of six recruiting stations as a zone suit and I wasn't a CRF, a career recruiting force.
Rory Bacon :I was just a regular boat. What do you call it? Bag token recruiter with some skills. They put me in charge of six recruiting stations. I didn't like that too much because I felt I had more control just being a regular recruiter and a recruiter in charge of a station but once I became a recruiter of a whole zone.
Rory Bacon :I had six recruiting stations and, of course, the station that was failing was almost three hours away from my house and I had to spend time there. Once I finished recruiting duty, they were trying to offer me to become a career recruiter and I respectfully turned it down and said no, I'm good, I'm going back to the fleet, I'm going back to the fleet.
Gary Wise :And kudos to you for going home to be a recruiter, bro. They offered me hometown recruiting and I was like hell, no, I'll throw it all away. You sent me back home, put me somewhere I don't know nobody.
Rory Bacon :Yeah, yeah. The only reason that I asked for Detroit, michigan, where I grew up, is because I saw it as an opportunity for my wife and my daughter to kind of understand where I was from and spend time with my side of the family, Cause my mother, my father was still there, my brothers, so they had a chance to really understand where I was from.
Rory Bacon :But once I finished recruiting duty we left and went down to Mayport, Jacksonville, Florida, where I went back to see two tours back to back. I went to a frigate called the USS DeWarp as a chief made senior chief and then I went to the USS Spruance. I did six years straight C down in Mayport to stay in that area. Then after that. That's when I came to Japan and met you.
Gary Wise :Later on, you got to go six years in the Mayport Mafia. It sounds like C6 City, right, right, I'm not even gonna lie to you, bro. I uh, I've been on everything that floats in our navy. When I was at atg, right, I did them all. But if I had to ever pick a crew, I always wanted to be on an lsd, lhd or carrier yeah because, look, I struggle with with the seasickness.
Gary Wise :My whole career I've been taking the medicaid. It's just not a game right, it's horrible. And I've been taking the medication. It's just not a game right, it's horrible. And I've been on those frigates and those destroyers. Bro, when they get in some rough weather, better batten down them hatches and hang on to something bro.
Rory Bacon :Yeah, that's one thing I look back at. I had a pretty much diverse career between I served on frigates, I served on destroyers, I served on frigates, I served on destroyers, I served on amphibs, the LHDs, and I had the carrier experience. So, um, when I look back at my career, I was kind of fortunate to be able to serve in a lot of different types of you know size, platforms and crews, you know. So I I look at that experience being a good experience and very valuable and for me it made me a a good experience and very valuable and for me it made me a good leader. You know, I learned a lot from him 100%.
Gary Wise :So let's get into you going to Japan. So you're in Mayport for six years, you do the frigates back to back, you're up for shore duty again, or you just say no shore duty and go to Japan. How does that work?
Rory Bacon :Okay, okay. So I'm trying to kind of make this short and simple. Every rating has its path Right. When you're talking about going past chief, senior chief to master chief, you're competing against a lot of great sailors out there, great chiefs. You know. You got great leaders out there in different diverse billets all over the world.
Rory Bacon :But I started doing some research on my rating, the CS rating, ok, and I started looking at who's picked. I was a senior chief already, so who's picking up master chief? What kind of billets have they been in? I kept seeing carriers, senior chiefs going to a carrier picking up CS master chief. So that right there told me OK, that's where they're picking up master chief, and I want to become a master chief, I need to go to a carrier. So then I started talking to the detail and he said hey, if you really want the biggest bang for the buck, you need to go forward deployed. And I said tell me why? He says because forward deployed ships and it still ain't changed they do 200 something days of sea every year. I don't care what type of ship it is, they deploy every year. And you think about it. When we were on G-Dub, did we not deploy every year?
Gary Wise :Six months. I mean we did six months straight, that one year we deploy every year, not including emergency deploying for tsunamis and earthquakes.
Rory Bacon :We're going to talk about that, but the tempo is no joke. We know that. Okay, um, and we also saw while we were out there on gw, some of the the hard experiences were sending family members home while we still had to get underway because they felt that it was best that families leave japan during that time, and we know what that was about. It was a lot of sacrifices out there. But when you look at the picture of our chief's mess okay, the senior chief that was on there that were taking care of business right, how many of them retired as master chief? All of them, I'm pretty sure. Gary, I pulled a list that you had and I still keep it.
Rory Bacon :Oh yeah, I remember that I kept that list of all your senior decade. They're all Master Chiefs now.
Gary Wise :Yeah.
Rory Bacon :And that's not by mistake. That's not by mistake, it is what it is. They're all Master Chiefs now. And guess what? About three weeks from now, I'm going to master chief giles retirement ceremony. He's one of them. Okay, he was a return of the cmc. Well, bravo we were we were on your team for a reason bro yeah we were on your team for a reason we were taking care of business out there. You see, I'm saying yeah, those are good memories.
Gary Wise :Those are good memories it was it good memories it was. It was the George Washington when I first got there. I'll never forget, man. I got there and it was like the weekend before I got there there was a Master Chief DC man, a Senior Chief DC man and two DC Chiefs and like they all left the weekend before I got there. So Hill came and picked me up from the airport and he was like bro, you want to talk to any of us? You got to come to this hail and bail tonight because we're all out. And they left Doherty holding the bag. You know what I'm saying, joe, doherty holding the bag, and I don't blame them because you know their time was up. They'd come through the whole swap. They'd come through the fire, they'd come through all the hell that had been because we were the crew that came after the fire and we had to build them into the crew. That became the back-to-back battle. He went.
Gary Wise :It's yeah, yeah right, but but we had that captain man who was. He was a menace bro. That dude was a yeah and as a. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite stories was the day of the earthquake that Tomodachi happened. I had an alcohol-related incident that day and I got the phone call at home like 5 o'clock in the morning hey, senior Wise, one of your sailors got caught up by base security and so you guys got an ARI. You know, back in them days you had an ARI. Everybody had to come in in the evening and do DAPA training with Pekka Desso, remember that.
Gary Wise :By the way, he's a master chief too now I know. Yeah, and he was senior D set and he became D-cat, right, he was all that. And I remember I worked till midnight that night on the day of the earthquake because we had ATg coming in on monday and remember we were doing a gq the day. The alarms went off because the radiation was popping. Right, we were because remember we used to run t2 gqs a week on board that ship, no matter what yeah, yeah, and you know I can say this too.
Rory Bacon :When I found out as a section leader, you were in my section and we had the section together. Man, I was so happy because I knew I was comfortable that if we had a fire on our section we were going to be ready, because you made sure we ran two drills every duty section and we had duty section training. I could count on that. I said I ain't got to worry, gary's got that piece. You understand what I'm saying. I wasn't worried about it, yeah.
Gary Wise :That was a hell of a time. I love that crew, you know I got to that ship of chief petty officer. I left that ship of master chief petty officer three years later.
Rory Bacon :Yeah, and I'm going to fast forward on this, and I'm going to tell you something I was really proud of, and I'm going to fast forward a little bit. When I retired, I had to come out to Norfolk because I had joined military seal of command and I got a call from Tundi Clark. I remember. And she says Matt, she's baking. I know you're retired, but I want you to come pin me, so I said, no problem, I'll come in. And who's there? I think you were. You were part of her chain of command.
Gary Wise :I was and we were in the same building and I was an instructor at the Surface Warfare Officer School Right. She had been a CS1 on board George Washington Right, chief school right.
Rory Bacon :She had been a cs1 on board george washington right picked up chief and then she was teaching just down the hall from me, right and may senior chief is. By the way, she's a master chief now and she absolutely she picked up mastery about three years ago. Nice, oh yeah. But the point that I'm making is that here I come in and I'm looking at you you're a command master chief, I'm a retired master chief, toonies picking up senior chiefs. And the point that I'm making these things don't happen by mistake. You see the potential of people along the way in your career and then when you see them in that place, you're happy because you know the work they put in.
Rory Bacon :Gary, I'm going to tell you something about you. We used to joke about you, bro. Oh yeah, because when you came on board and you put together this plan for DC, we were talking man, he's going to burn out, bro, he's going to burn out. He ain't going to be able to keep this pace up, bro. You kept that pace up the whole time you were there. I was like man, he ain't slowing down. We used to be chillers. Here he goes. Gary's going to run another drill, he's going to push another drill. You didn't slow down, bro, but guess what? You made us DC ready. We were ready bro.
Gary Wise :We were, and you know what else I remember y'all be on the front porch of the Chiefs match, right? I'd be leaving. I'd go down there and get my grandpa Because you've got to remember, I had no other chiefs in my division.
Rory Bacon :I had Greg Hightower for a little bit, but I was, and bless his soul, right. Bless his soul.
Gary Wise :Bless his soul, man. Yeah, no, no, I love Greg for who. Greg was right, but I was up against it right. But looking back on it, that put me through it and I, looking back on it, and it was that was that was that put me through it. And I remember one of my favorite memories was we were going through a training cycle and I just I don't remember what it had gone bad and I had the c and d set in the room and I was like help me, I need y'all to help me. And y'all was like gary, we got you. Y'all rallied the whole damn crew and we went through and we started kicking ass, taking, taking names on them drills.
Gary Wise :Yeah.
Rory Bacon :But you remember also something that made us better leaders because DC is everybody's responsibility. Yeah, I'm putting that out there for anybody that's joining the Navy right now DC is everybody's responsibility, dc is going to save your life.
Gary Wise :Damage control is going to save your life. I don't care what your rate is.
Rory Bacon :Cook, rs, os, it, dc is everybody's responsibility. Let's make that straight right there. But the point that I'm making is that, whether I was a CS, whether the person was an LS, you taught us how to write packages, real packages. You delegated that out. You made us learn how to write packages, bro.
Gary Wise :Yeah.
Rory Bacon :Right, so that made us better at understanding DC, because once you start learning to write packages, you're learning the big picture of how to contain a file, right, yeah, the rest is history, bro. I'm just telling you, I ain't forgot none of this. You see what I'm saying.
Gary Wise :It was so I ain't forgot none of this. You know what I'm saying. It was so when you left the George Washington, you were a mass chief, right, right, and you went to Hawaii after that, right. So looking at your tenure as a chief petty officer, because did you retire in Hawaii?
Rory Bacon :Yes, I did. I retired and let me tell you a quick story about that. All right, so I'm in Hawaii, mass chief, uh, joint base Pearl Harbor, hickam. I'm supply department LCPO. So I had all the cooks, I had all the LSs, I had all the RSs, we, we had the galleys and we had all the living quarters. That was my responsibility. Okay, not alone. We had a couple other bases that we were responsible, satellite bases that were responsible under the command of a joint base, pearl Harbor, hickam and we had the Air Force side, by the way. So I had about 300 people in my department, from E8 all the way down to E2 or E3. So that was my last shore duty.
Rory Bacon :Now, by the time it was time for me to transfer. I had 26 years and seven months. I had already taken orders. They gave me a choice. They said Master Chief, you either take these orders to go back to Japan and do the turnover from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. If you don't accept these orders, you got to retire.
Rory Bacon :So I started looking at the sacrifice and I was like Family mission, family mission, 26 years, seven months. I already got high three. It's time for Rory Bacon to retire. And because I also already knew that I was going to roll in the federal service with military seal of command, ok. So I already had a plan. But not that I didn't love the Navy anymore, right. But I wanted to walk away from the Navy happy and still with energy. And I knew if I had went back out there, bro, and do that turnover with George Washington to Ronald Reagan after that experience goods and bads that would have, that would that would have burnt me, bro. That would have took some lot of sacrifices, deploying again for every year for the next three to four years to get to 30, I made a choice that it's time for me to kind of put family first this time. I made that choice and retired. Luckily, my rating at that time was manned enough that they honored my retirement request and I retired with 26 years and around about eight months right after Corral.
Gary Wise :When you got into the Merchant Marines, into the Maritime Civil Service support. What did that mean, bro? You used to tell me stories of like it sounded like it was the best job in the freaking world. You have to have a big old steel beaches. You have to cook enough filet mignon. Yeah bro.
Rory Bacon :Let me tell you how. First of all, how I kind of got into being a federal merchant Years ago. As a young sailor, I used to always see these ships pull up next to us, right, and I look across the water. They're giving us food, they're giving us ammo, they're giving us fuel oil. They were playing. I'm looking over there and I'm seeing these guys with long beards, long hair.
Rory Bacon :They look like federal pirates. You know I'm saying I'm like these guys, you know. So by the time I got to pearl harbor and I'm getting ready to retire, I used to go to the enlisted club on base because I was getting retired. My family was in jacksonville, florida, because they knew I was going to retire so it made no sense for me to move my family to Hawaii. So I had time. So at nighttime I would go by the enlisted club or the chief's club and these guys would come in with these beards, long hair and these federal ID cards and they would come in and say, hey, buy everybody around on me and I'm like these guys got money. Who are these guys? So I pulled a ready to retire. He said, bro, you're a shoo-in. If you put your package in, they're going to hire you. He said all you need is your passport. You got to get a merchant mariner's document from the Coast Guard and you got to get a TWIC security card and you're good. So I listened to him.
Rory Bacon :I, while I was in Pearl Harbor, I made sure I extended my passport. I got my Merchant Mariners document. It cost about $150. I got a TWIT card, security clearance. I already had security clearance from Navy. That was easy. So now I had the documents, so I put in a request to join MSC. They hired me right on the spot. They said you got a food service background. We're going to bring you straight in as a chief steward. You're in charge of food service on the ships MSC ships. You might have about four to six cooks. You're preparing the meals for all the merchant mariners on board. I took the position. The pros of it pays well. Great federal job, great federal benefits. You can retire from it again. Cons. You travel a lot. I was in Singapore, guam.
Gary Wise :Yeah.
Rory Bacon :Guam.
Gary Wise :Guam right.
Rory Bacon :I was in Emory S Land, frank Cable.
Gary Wise :Guam Guam got a lot of merchant marines.
Rory Bacon :Exactly Singapore, and I'll never forget. I'm in Guam, I'm getting ready to go into the exchange and I look up on the wall. I say there's Gary, I took a picture. And I look up on the wall I say there's Gary, I took a picture and I sent it to you.
Gary Wise :I said there's Gary, you sure did yeah, yeah.
Rory Bacon :And I was happy to see you there, man. I was like, look at my man, he's up here doing his thing.
Gary Wise :Yeah, I got Guam during the heyday of the freaking COVID bro. Right, I was out there when it was a mess.
Rory Bacon :Right Now. Let me tell you real quick how I became ATG of MSC. Just like in the Navy, we have a float training group. You know what? That is right. So MSC has an inflow training group team too. They're called ATT. They have two teams, west Coast and East Coast. So I'm on a ship one day. The team comes on board. They're running drills, they're running fire drills, they're running man overboard drills. They're running what else? Man overboard drills, abandoned ship drills, steering, casualty drills, fire drills. And I'm looking at these guys. I said I know how to do that. I learned all that. I learned that stuff on D-Set. So I go up to one of the guys. I said hey, how do I get to do what you guys are doing? I said I understand this stuff. He says what's your background? I said man, I, you know, I was a mass chief of the Navy and I was on deset on numerous ships. He said put your package in. I put the package in. About six weeks later I got a great endorsement from a guy named Gary Wise.
Rory Bacon :Yeah, I remember that email and I got hired. So my last three years with MSC was as a damage control trainer team, going on ships with a checklist evaluating repair lockers and how they respond to fires. Yeah, you can't write a book on this, bro.
Rory Bacon :You see what I'm saying All from the DSEP background and I really enjoyed that man. We would fly to different ships all over the world and do their assessments. Our main customer are ships that are coming out of the yards they're crewing back up, so they got to make sure the crew understands and gets ready to, you know, gets evaluated, and we facilitate drills with them to make sure there's safety compliance. Yeah Right, so I love that.
Gary Wise :The average American, the average person does not understand how much really goes into getting those big ships to go to sea.
Gary Wise :And then to imagine being on an MSC ship with only an eighth of the crew because you're relying upon automation or you're relying upon machinery and equipment and, like you said, I tell my cadets all the time I'm like, look, we're pirates, right, like at the end of the day, the United States Navy was built upon pirates because America didn't have no military, the damn sure didn't have no Navy. You had a bunch of people who used to be pirates down there in the harbor that knew how to go to war and they would take a ship to sea for the right price, right, that knew how to go to war and they would take a shit to see for the right price, yeah, right. And when you look at a lot of the msc bubba's, they're very similar mindset. Like they're, they're navy, they're independent, they're proud of what they do, but they're also they're gonna fight a fight to stay alive, but they're gonna fight it probably by the skin of their teeth and the sweat on their brow, because they don't got a billion people to support them in the fight.
Gary Wise :And so I I know they've got to have an independent streak a mile long inside of them to be able to handle that, because it's all good till it ain't right, it's all good till it ain't. And you got to be able to handle that and I've been through enough casualties on the ship to know, like the carrier. The one good thing about the carrier was we had just people. We could throw a problem Like what broke my heart when I watched the boxer burn to the waterline or the bottom of the shard, the bottom of the shard when the VHR burned up or like when these other ships would be spying.
Gary Wise :That kills me, because I know how hard it is to want to go out there to fight and I can only imagine what it was like for you guys out there on those big decks. Those are big ships.
Rory Bacon :They're not small. Hey, gary, let me share this one with you Again importance of DC. The first ship that I was assigned to with MSC as a chief steward. Okay, is a brand-new construction out of Nazco Shipyard, san Diego, california. We were the first crew, so this ship was going to be of Chief Stewart. Okay, is a brand new construction out of Nazco Shipyard, san Diego, california. We were the first crew, so this ship was going to be home ported in Norfolk, virginia. So, once the ship was built, this is what they call. It's a new class of ship called an ESB. Okay, expeditionary Staging Base, the USS Puller. They're building them as we speak. They're basically expeditionary staging bases that do what they call amphibious ops. They have a helo deck and they have an amphibious assault deck and we take special mission crews all over the world on these things. They're huge and they also deploy a Navy detachment on board. But we're the first crew on this ship MSC employees.
Rory Bacon :So our job now is, once the ship is built, we got to take it all the way around the Horn of South America to Norfolk, its first duty station, out of San Diego. We couldn't go through the Panama Canal because it's too big. Okay, they're making the Panama Canal bigger now for large oilers and stuff to come through there. But at that time, 10 years ago, it was too small for us to go through this. We had to go all the way around the Horn of South America. Now any sailors watching this video right now, if you've ever been around the Horn of South America, that's some of the roughest waters because you've got three oceans connecting down there. The tides are crazy, the currents are crazy, so we get caught in these tides. They were so strong and this ship is huge that it cracked part of the forward hull. This is a brand new ship we're taking in water. Bro.
Rory Bacon :We had to go into emergency dewatering to keep that ship stable till we could pull into Brazil and get repairs. But we went into emergency dewatering, Okay, and it was a scary situation, bro. I've never seen a ship that big get thrown around by waves and current. My whole career I had never seen a ship that big get thrown around by waves and current. My whole career I had never seen seas that rough. I emailed my wife home I said hey, babe, pray for us. We're in some really rough seas. That's probably the roughest seas I've seen in my career, but we made it there safely and got the repairs done and got the ship to Norfolk, virginia. But that's a story that I experienced that I won't remember how, again, damage control came into play and we were able to keep the ship dewatered so we could keep our you know what do you call it? Our ship stable.
Gary Wise :We were locked in right, exactly, and I will tell you that again. The MSC team, the Merchant Marines, they are the truckers of the high seas. Right, the trucks don't roll, the food don't move. Look, logistics wins wars, right, right, and those Merchant Marine vessels are 100% logistics and force multipliers, right? Yeah, I think that was a very interesting way to spend your retirement years, because you retired from the Navy and then, right, it's almost like but that's almost the equivalent of like a special warfare operator going to be a contractor, right, like, you go into that space is where a lot of us will look to for a quick lateral conversion of using our skills into a space that that needs them. Right, and by the, they're having recruiting problems too, just like anybody else, because they don't get all the sunshine of the United States Navy. They just kind of are this unsung hero. But if you know someone and you got an in, you do know they make a lot of money, there's a lot of travel, you're going to be away from your home a lot.
Rory Bacon :If I could say this is that and I'm putting this out there for anybody that watches this video and that merchant marine thing is kind of ringing a bell. If you are interested in that, the way you can look at that, just go to MSC now hiring. Just Google MSC now hiring and it'll tell you the process. I recommend this type of work for someone that can live a life that wants to serve, because we are the supply net for the Navy, marine Corps and other branches of service. We do all logistical support. But it's a job that you have to sacrifice and travel a lot. If the military may not be your cup of tea but you kind of want to get into something that supports the military, it could be a good career for you. So again, take a look at it MSC now hiring and take a look at what the requirements are.
Gary Wise :And just something else to think about is if we go kinetic, especially in the Pacific, they don't give a damn if you're an MSC ship or not. You are a great boat hole with a USS flag on it and they are going to and away it goes. So just understand that you knew the job was dangerous when you took it.
Gary Wise :Exactly, and it can go from being a flooding situation, or it could be missiles inbound for shock baby, and then you go from there. You know, like I know, that unfortunately there is going to be a day where there will be surface-to-surface combat. Unfortunately it hasn't been one in years. It's coming.
Rory Bacon :I'm not trying to scare nobody but, my own perception, we're not building all these assets just to play with them. They're building a lot of Navy. They're building a lot of Navy. They spend a lot of money on Navy assets.
Gary Wise :Okay, I will tell you, I've never played one war game where there wasn't some really, really, really impressive Naval battles. That happened real quick. And then everyone said, all right, well, let's stop, because a lot of people just die Right Because. But but at first people go and go fired guns, a blazing right, and it takes. It takes a few rounds for everyone to realize like this is serious and we need to stop. And, like you, I hope and pray that it never happens.
Gary Wise :And I think that right now, believe it or not, leveraging the dollar and leveraging the stock markets and hurting people in the pocketbooks will go a long way towards preventing some bs to pop off out there. In the end of specific, especially the pacific right, because can't nobody see us outside of anywhere else, yeah, um, but in the pacific people start to think and they might want to try our job right, it ain't gonna work out well for them. You can, you can take a swing if you want. We'll crush you, but I think if, if anybody was going to take a shot, it might be somebody out there in the Pacific. That's all I'm going to say.
Gary Wise :I'll put it like that, right, so I got this thing that I do, bro, when I do these little podcasts with guys that are in the Navy, it's rapid fire, right, and this is going to be kind of the finale for today's podcast. So I'm going to be kind of the finale for today's podcast. So I'm going to ask you some questions and you just answer it and if you've got a story, you can tell me the story. All right, okay, all right, here we go. Pizza or wings Pizza Pizza. I'll tell you, I love the weekend on the ship pizza and wing night man. That was one of my favorites, yeah.
Rory Bacon :All right, so would you rather?
Gary Wise :have birthing cleaners or the working party Working party, I was about to say, because that's a thing that's not really fair. Though you ran the working party.
Rory Bacon :I don't want to be trapped down in the birthing. I'd rather be on working party where I can talk and have fun with people.
Gary Wise :You know, my favorite working party spot was to be in the freezers Right Be in the fridge, freezers Right, be in the freezers. Cold as hell. And I've been that joke.
Rory Bacon :You bring it back to memories.
Gary Wise :Oh Lord, he's so cool. Okay, the Nero or Pacino. Say that one more time. The Nero or Pacino actors.
Rory Bacon :Oh bro the Nero, really yeah, robert actors. Oh, bro De Niro, de Niro, really yeah, robert De Niro, bro, that's my boy, I love him. I love him in Heat, the movie Heat and I sure love him in Godfather too.
Gary Wise :Yeah, okay, the Godfather, I got that. Okay. So out of your entire career, did you have a favorite duty station?
Rory Bacon :Did you have a favorite duty station?
Gary Wise :It's got to be Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, bro. Yeah, that's tough on the beat, bro.
Rory Bacon :You know what we call that the Pineapple Navy.
Gary Wise :Yeah, hey, so you had Mayport and you had, but between you had.
Rory Bacon :Yoko hey man Yakuza was good, but, bro, I was on sea duty in Yokosuka. I was hardly there. But Pearl Harbor quality of life, bro. That Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was some great memories there.
Gary Wise :Hard to beat. Okay, what was your favorite Liberty port?
Rory Bacon :Oh man Got to be Thailand Got to be Thailand.
Gary Wise :Did you to Phuket or Pattaya?
Rory Bacon :I've been to both and recently me and my wife went on a trip to Pattaya, thailand, about four months ago it's a nice.
Gary Wise :Hey, it's a beautiful place and the money goes a long way. Bro, people are really nice there.
Rory Bacon :They know how to treat you man. They know how to take care of people.
Gary Wise :It's a beautiful place and the money goes a long way, bro, people are really nice there. They know how to treat you man. They know how to take care of people. Yeah, it goes a long way. Okay, what was your?
Rory Bacon :hardest watch qualification that you ever achieved in your naval career.
Gary Wise :Surface warfare.
Rory Bacon :Your East Wasp man, yeah, surface warfare. Your your east wasp in? Yeah, now, now I got east wasp qualified in 1993. Okay, this is during a time where cooks it was unheard of for a cook to get warfare qualified. I got warfare qualified as an e5 on board the uss essex. It took me almost five boards before they passed me. Yeah, okay, it wasn't okay, it wasn't okay, walk bro you had to go down to that same point, bro bro, I used to work 14 hours in the galley breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Rory Bacon :Go take a shower, put on a pair of cover-offs, go down to ccs and e I.
Rory Bacon :EI will say hey, you see that fireman, go start walking through the engine spaces and draw everything you see and come back and tell me what everything is, from the DRT to the atomizer to lighten off. Tell me what it all is. Okay, yeah, I get it. Man, the damage control senior chief, walk me through the ship and tell me where every station is at. What is this? What is that? I mean it, it, it was. It was crazy bro.
Gary Wise :I get it, man. So my first ship was USS Bellawood out of Sasbo and I was undesignated fireman, so I'm a steam snipe. I was a steam snipe before I started damage control, so I can 100% relate, right, 100%. My first two for steam even GW was steam, it was just nuclear. Okay, now I think I know the answer to this one, but I'm going to let you answer it. Would you rather be stationed overseas or stateside On sea duty?
Rory Bacon :Overseas.
Gary Wise :Hell yeah, me too. It's easier to focus Overseas.
Rory Bacon :People think I'm crazy when I say that as a leader, chief, senior chief overseas- it's because your hour work ain't nothing but a five minute walk away, exactly.
Gary Wise :And the amount of time you spend on the boat anyway is crazy, yeah. And the minute we get underway on the boat anyway is crazy, yeah. And the minute we get underway we're in the middle of the stuff. Yeah, right, remember we got Russian bears shadowing us, exactly. It was wild, yeah.
Gary Wise :Yeah.
Gary Wise :Yeah, for sure. Favorite movie trilogy Are you going to say the Godfather series? Favorite movie trilogy? Yeah, godfather, the godfather series. Favorite movie trilogy yeah godfather, godfather series okay, those are. That's one of my favorite, like mid-watch questions. Right, we just be down there arguing about movies. Yeah, okay, godfather. Okay, what about top five favorite music groups?
Rory Bacon :okay, I'm from detroit, uh-huh, so you know I grew up with the motown motown, yeah, yeah so top five. I gotta be temptations um oj's four tops, uh, the supremes. And there's another group they weren't out of Detroit but they were a really great group called Heat Wave.
Gary Wise :I never heard of.
Rory Bacon :Heat Wave R&B group Heat Wave.
Gary Wise :You know what I like about all of them. They're all full grown. You didn't say Jackson 5 or nothing like that. Those are all full grown musicians. I appreciate the Supremes too. Okay, roy, would you rather be independent or on a team?
Rory Bacon :On a team.
Gary Wise :So when you went through Chief's initiation, because you went through initiation on recruiting duty right.
Rory Bacon :Yeah, I made Chief in 1998. So when you got, back to the fleet.
Gary Wise :How different was that returning to a ship as a chief petty officer? Rough.
Rory Bacon :Was it Rough? Because the dynamics of making chief on shore duty, especially in recruiting when you're around a lot of CRFers, career recruiters, it's a little bit different in mindset than surface Navy. Okay, yeah, so when I walked on board my first ship as a leading chief petty officer, I had to really, really lean on my LPOs especially coming back from recruiting, where you've been out of race for three years I was out of race for three years. I had a lot of catching up to do.
Gary Wise :I've been there and I remember being a master I was a CMC on Ashland and this part, ian One comes to the ship, just come out recruiting duty and he's checking in with me, him and the top sniper in my office, my master chief engine man. And Ian One is like, well, you know, mass chief, uh, I just I'm coming back off recruit duty right now and shit, I'm gonna need some time to warm up. I was like, bro, what you were first class, right? Yeah, ain't no time to warm up. Dog, you better get to work. I need to get more right now. Yeah, like you're not turning down the paychecks. So, because you know people would think I need need six months to get back at the things. No, no, no, you better leverage those second classes. You better leverage those third classes. You better listen to Topps Knight, my guy, you're back in the thing. We're back to work.
Gary Wise :I don't know what they told you on recruiting duty, but you're back on the ship. I did that. I told myself look, I love you, I've been there. I got back to the fleet as a DC to haven't come off recruiting duty. All I was thinking about was positive selling skills and whatever else. But the only way to do it is to do it, period Right, there's just no, there's no. And you know, like I know, if you slow roll your first six months on the ship ship, you probably just wasted the most important year of your time on the ship. Right? Your first year is most definitely going to be your best time to make an, to make an impact. Your second year is where you really get to the top, and your third year you're typically hanging out for dear life because people are changing out around you and they all telling you you jacked up up. He's trying to hang on, because none of us are ever perfect. None of us are ever, ever perfect. Okay, do you have Rory Bacon? Do you have a personal leadership philosophy?
Rory Bacon :I have, uh, I have, I have two that has worked for me inside the navy and outside the navy, okay, okay, one of them is do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do, and the other one is pay now and play later. Let me say that again Pay now and play later, or you can play now but you're going to pay later. So which one would you rather do? I'd rather pay now so I can reap the benefits of all that hard work and enjoy the fruits of that labor later.
Gary Wise :You know what it is with that second one right Is people lack faith that the play later is going to be there, and so they worry about oh my God, if I don't play now, I might never get a play. And what? What they? What they don't. What they fail to realize is and I believe this from my own 47 years on this earth is I believe we're the happiest when we're actually doing things that are hard right, and some of my favorite times in my life have been some of the most challenging times. And even when I'm like got the opportunity to play later, I'm truthfully kind of bored. I'm like it sounds good to play later, but it's like I kind of want to start cooking something else up in the kitchen because I need something else to grind on, because I I'm afraid that the momentum is going to slow down and I don't ever want this thing to stop Right. Like I love looking for new opportunities and looking for new hills to climb and sharing that energy with people around me, because life is worth living, bro, until the day that I can't walk around on my own no more. Then, hopefully, I look, and so I think I tell my students. So I love that theory.
Gary Wise :I strategically chill, right, I will strategically take some time. Like today, I was in my pool in my backyard for like two, three hours just chilling and I was talking with my mom and we were like we were like just brainstorming on some stuff. We were just kind of just I was working and she's like you know, gary, you really need to decompress. I'm like that's what I'm doing right now. I'm in the pool but I'm also still grinding because, man, sometimes I feel like we all we got and the only way I can keep it going is that I have to have faith that the play later there are going to be opportunities and then you have to give yourself permission to play. Right, you have to give yourself that permission to play.
Gary Wise :Okay, those are both great. I know my students are going to love that. Okay, so in our Chiefs mess right, we had deck play, leadership, institutional technical expertise, professionalism, character, loyalty, active communication, sense of heritage. I'm big on the Navy chief stuff. I'm a surface sailor, I'm a Navy chief. I made chief in 06. I know some people say what they want to say, but I've been in messes that did phenomenal things Out of the dip class, which one's your favorite?
Rory Bacon :I would say you said the active communication Uh-huh. Active communication, active communication, and I learned that. I look back at GW and I got to speak on my brother, marty King. Yeah, speak on him. I got so much total respect for him. All right, and you know how you learn from all your leaders. One thing I learned from him is active communication, especially being a section leader, because I remember those days where something happened in my section that I didn't think was a big deal.
Gary Wise :Yeah.
Rory Bacon :And he would. We had me and you had. We were already at home chilling. Yeah, and I would get that phone call. Hey, you need to come in and see me, we need to talk, and I would come back in doing what he asked me to do. Yeah, why didn't you tell me about this? Yeah, why did you got a phone? You could have called me and told me this. I need to know these things.
Gary Wise :Yeah.
Rory Bacon :Because what I thought was small might have snowballed into something real big and all I had to do was just give him heads up.
Gary Wise :Active communication and Marty was managing a rough CO. As a CMC I've got so much more perspective now on managing a. Co and an XO as right and as a cmc. And I remember marty man. Marty used to just light me on fire for fun same with me, same with me.
Rory Bacon :And I and I mean me and ty giles talk about this all the time and I'm saying it's public. Yeah, one of the best cmcs I worked for. I hope he sees this. He sees it coming from me. We had our closed-door conversations, but one of the best CMCs I ever worked for. Would I work for him again? Absolutely, 100%, absolutely Work with him again Absolutely.
Gary Wise :I would tell people that would deal with me on the field, like y'all think I'm something. Y'all should have seen that CMC I worked for right, because I am a product of all those leaders and I and you saw me as a senior chief imagine me as the cmc, right, like I was the same guy. But you know, marty, what I loved about marty man was when I wanted to go cmc he would tell me, meet me in my office at 2200 at night and you can stay there till midnight and I would work on my stuff. And I was like bro, what? Like I'm on the watch bill, I'm working. But he was, he was dead serious. He was in his office every night and then when I uh, when I made master chief, he bought me a beer and we talked about and I remember I went, we were going through tomodachi and I was going through a real rough patch and I I had to pull my my&C package, my command C&C package, and I went to see Marty and I was really struggling and he was like Skittle, you need to lock that down, bro.
Gary Wise :You need to compartmentalize that stuff because there is a bunch of sailors out there that need you to be a leader and I get it. I'm sorry you're hurting, but we've all been there and it ain't going to go away. So you need to make it work, and that was what I needed to hear. I didn't need someone to like, like, let me just cry a river. I needed that tough chief love that was like, bro, I love you, but you got to anchor that, you got to anchor the F up and handle your business, because and that's what I needed and, and to this day, yeah, without a doubt, he is top tier for me. You know, I can only imagine what his life is like being in the CMC to that crazy. All right, okay.
Rory Bacon :Would you rather lead or follow? Gary? You already know. You already know Lead, yeah, you already know. And I want to add to this real quick Y'all got to understand anybody watching this.
Rory Bacon :I made Chief back before they had CPO 365. Way back, my whole thing was the leaders, they're going to rise to the top, they're going to show that attribute. They're going to show that attribute, they're going to show it. It's not always just taught, it's it's in some people that want to lead, that want to be leaders and and as a leader I capitalize on that, I can see it and this is, I believe, in cpo 365, but I, before they had cpo 365.
Rory Bacon :So the e, the e4s and the E5s petty officers, third class, second class, first class that's so early that they want that responsibility that they come in first. They want to lead, they want to be delegated responsibility. Those were the ones that got pushed into that pipeline to become that E4 to E5, e5 to E6, e6 to E7, chief senior. They naturally wanted to take on that responsibility and that's the way it was back then. But now you know, we've cultivated, we've learned how to do training and train petty officers into certain positions and give them the training of what the responsibility is, but I came up during the days where it wasn't no CPO-365. Petty officers into certain positions and and give them the training of what the responsibility is, but I came up during the days where it wasn't no cpo 365.
Rory Bacon :A chief came to me one day and said hey, you're it, you're in charge yeah he didn't look at my service record, didn't say you're the most senior guy, you're the most senior, first class, but none of that. You got it. Go go to work, you know? And uh, it was. It was sink or swim. You know what I'm saying?
Gary Wise :You know, like I know, bro, it's the same thing, different name, right? Someone's just always trying to put a different brand on it so they can try to get some energy behind it, so they can hopefully get it across the line. But leaders real leaders will develop future leaders. They don't develop followers, right? And real leaders like leaders will develop future leaders. They don't develop followers and real leaders.
Gary Wise :I tell my cadets I could smell a chief petty officer from a mile away. I could smell an E7 from a mile away. I hate E7s, e8s and E9s. I love chiefs, senior chiefs and mass chiefs and there is a sincere difference between those two. And it's the same thing with my.
Gary Wise :With my working in my current program, I can tell the student that wants to be a leader and I could tell the one that just wants to yap, yap, yap, yap. And I tell them I will call you out real quick on the BS, because time is valuable. It's the most important commodity that we have. So I'm not going to sit here and give you my time if you're just going to waste it, and I will ask you very quickly do you wish to become a leader or are you going to continue to play a game right now, because what I'm hearing is a game, but you're young enough, we can help you become a leader, and I love that same thing.
Gary Wise :It was the same way in the Navy man. I would meet people. I would meet people that were first classes and think their career was over, and I would completely revitalize their career and give them opportunity at greatness, you know, but leaders will always develop future leaders and we'll find ways to help them be successful. Yep, all right. Last thing, bro, is say we have any save rounds or anything else you'd like to talk about before we wrap up shop.
Rory Bacon :You know, I want to put this out to all the JROTC cadets that are out there that may see this. Jrotc cadets that are out there that may see this. First of all, hats off to you for taking that class and understanding that that class is important and it's one of the best classes that you could take in high school and it's going to carry you for the rest of your life, whether you go into military or not, because what you're learning in that class leadership, responsibility, those skill sets that you're picking up in junior ROTC is going to carry you a long way. It's going to make you a better person. So hats off to you all in junior ROTC and I hope you're enjoying it and talk to the rest of your buddies and your friends out there and invite them to take the class too, because it's a great class and it's going to carry you for the rest of your life.
Gary Wise :That's it All right, rory man. I appreciate you, bro. Anyone out there listening to the sound of our voice, anyone out there watching this video, do us a favor like, subscribe, share the video. Check out the YouTube channel, roy. This is going to be on all podcast areas. The podcast is titled Words from the Wise. The original title I have for tonight was some time with one of Detroit's finest. I don't want to stick with that title or not. That was just my first one, but we'll see. But, man, I really appreciate your time. I really appreciate you breaking down some knowledge for these people that are going to listen. And, brother, I love you and if you do anything you let me know, bro, okay.
Rory Bacon :Okay, I appreciate being on this podcast, man. You know I got love for you and, as we always say, once a chief, always a chief man. You're my brother for life, man.
Gary Wise :Hey Navy Chief, navy Pride bro. All right, all right. Later Peace out, peace out.
Gary Wise :Peace. Don't care for the critics. My words are like physics a force that they can't stop. They just don't get it. I think they forget I'm not done till I'm on top. I know I was born for this. I know I was born for this. I believe. I believe we can write a story.
