Leadership Lessons from the USS George Washington (CVN-73)

When Gary Wise and Matt Klipfel served together aboard the USS George Washington forward-deployed in Japan, they faced what both describe as the most challenging tour of their military careers. Now, years later, they reconnect to share sea stories, leadership lessons, and the remarkable journey from military service to civilian success.

Matt's story begins with joining the Navy at 17, seeking direction after high school. What follows is a compelling narrative of growth, from boot camp through his assignment to the aircraft carrier's damage control division. Working with critical firefighting systems under intense pressure, Matt and his shipmates managed complex inspections, emergency drills, and maintenance challenges with limited manpower. Through their conversation, we witness how these experiences forged resilience and technical expertise that would serve Matt long after his military service ended.

The discussion reveals how military relationships evolve into lifelong connections. Matt met his future wife Melissa aboard the George Washington, and together they navigated the transition to civilian life. His path after the Navy led to an unexpected career in water quality monitoring near Lake Tahoe, where he applies the same work ethic and attention to detail that defined his military service. As Matt reflects, "The amount of work we were doing in the Navy is nothing compared to any civilian job ever."

For veterans and civilians alike, this conversation offers powerful insights into leadership, resilience, and finding purpose after military service. Gary and Matt discuss the importance of knowing your team, leveraging individual strengths, and maintaining clear communication when stakes are high. Their shared experiences demonstrate how military service creates adaptable professionals capable of thriving in any environment.

Ready to hear more sea stories and leadership lessons from veterans who've successfully navigated the military-to-civilian transition? Subscribe now and join our community dedicated to sharing these valuable perspectives.

https://www.wordsfromthewise.net/

Transcript

Meeting Matt Cliffell, Former Shipmate

Gary Wise 0:28

Hello everyone, half a day, good afternoon, good morning. Whatever time you're listening to this podcast, it is Gary, Gary Wise, Wise Leadership Solutions, and I am so excited for today's podcast because we've got a shipmate of mine from definitely, definitely the most challenging tour of my 25-year career. Uh, it was my time on board the USS George Washington. We were forward deployed out of Yokosuka, Japan, 2010 to 2013. This young man worked for me, served with me there, and his name is Mr. Matt Cliffell. Matt, what is up, dude?

Matt Klipfel 1:03

How are you doing, Gary?

Gary Wise 1:05

I'm doing good, bro. Holy cow, I never thought I would get this opportunity to get in a room with you again and to talk, bro. Like, it's so cool that you took the time to be here.

Matt Klipfel 1:16

Of course. Yeah, it's yeah, I was uh kind of mind-blown. I was like, yeah, I just got off the phone with Kyle Passion, actually. I was like, just got off the phone with him. Um, we're we're hoping to meet up here uh in Tahoe. I live next to Lake Tahoe, and so he does an annual trip over to Tahoe every year, and we we meet up, say hello, and chat. And he's like, You're doing a podcast with Gary, that's awesome! And so he was asking about your podcast and what what you're doing on here.

Gary Wise 1:40

And yeah, I'd love to get him on. Didn't he want to be a paramedic or a nurse or something like that?

Matt Klipfel 1:45

Yes, he is a he's a full-blown paramedic with uh San Francisco Fire right now.

Gary Wise 1:52

I remember that. I remember that was what he wanted to do. Good for him, bro. Like he did that.

Matt Klipfel 1:58

I know awesome.

Gary Wise 2:00

So you're in Lake Lake Tahoe. Were you from the Lake Taho originally?

Matt Klipfel 2:04

No, I was uh came from Southern California, grew up my whole life in Southern California, moved to a couple couple different places there, and then uh yeah, I kind of realized at the age of 17, um I thought the military was kind of the way to go for you know how my life was tracking and things like that. So I shipped off when I was 17 to boot camp.

Gary Wise 2:24

Wow. So what made you decide to join the Navy, bro? Like out of all the options. I mean, I for me, my dad was in the Navy, my grandpa was in the Navy, so I had this connection to the Navy. Was that similar for you?

Matt Klipfel 2:37

No, but I kind of felt uh found out a couple more deep. I didn't know my dad's side of the family very well. And when I finally was like, hey, dad, I'm joining the military, I think it's gonna be the Navy. At first, I was not set on the Navy. I was a young kid, I kind of knew college, I was gonna go on a bunch of data, I didn't have any money, things like that. I was working at Walgreens, I was like, I'm joining the military. And I went to the Marines right away. I was like, I'm gonna go be a Marine, 17 years old. And uh the guy called me, the recruiter called me every single day. I was like, dude, I'm still in high school. I'm signing papers, let me, and I went and uh just talked to the Navy, the coolest recruiter ever. He's like, Hey man, here my uh who did he remind me of? Oh, are not the Chang, but the uh it's it's it's when the chief goes into uh it's not a full-blown officer position. Um like an LDO or a yeah, like an older guy though. Uh what was his name? Bigger guy, about 6'3, after Fire Marshal, yes. And so he was like him, the recruiter. Uh, so cool. It was so easy. Um, and that's where it kind of went from there. I was I was fully set on joining the Marines, and then uh I went to the Navy, anyways. Backstory my grandpa had been in the Navy, and my dad told me after I switched from Marines and Navy. I didn't have don't have a lot of background about that family, but he's like, Oh, grandpa was in the navy, that's cool.

Gary Wise 4:06

So yeah, yeah, that is cool. That is cool, and I think it's funny that you remember the fire marshal. Remember, we had that real tall fire marshal, oh yeah, and we had fire marshal McBride. Okay, we'll talk about those guys in a minute. We'll we'll get to there. All right, so you decide you want to join the navy, you you go talk to the recruiters. Did you have any idea what you wanted to do in the service, or you just didn't really care?

Early Navy Career and Boot Camp

Matt Klipfel 4:29

Nope, didn't care. I didn't know. I you know, I didn't really have anybody guiding me along. It was kind of on my own time. I went, you know, rode my bicycle over to the recruiting office. I was like, hey, I'm not going to college, what are we doing here? Yeah, and so I wish I would have been, you know, if my kids or someone I was close to was joining the military. I'd be like, listen, we need to, you know, lock down your ASVABs, like study, do all these. I didn't do any of that. I just went in, I was like, Hey, I want to take tests, let's do this thing, you know. So I was a little bit, yeah.

Gary Wise 4:58

I get man when I joined the Navy, I was just thankful to have a job. I was thankful to have an opportunity, and I really didn't know what I didn't know. And I was undesignated. I mean, so at least you came in with an A school and came in with the job, and so let's go and back it up real quick, real fast. How was your boot camp experience? Did you mind it? Did you think it was that big of a deal? Did you think it sucked?

Matt Klipfel 5:21

I liked it. Um, I liked it, and obviously they want to make it hard, right? But I, you know, I I kind of needed to get out of the situation I was in as a kid. I was like, I'm going to do something, I'm going to be shipped off for some part of the country. I thought it was fun, exciting. I needed to change this scenery. And, you know, there were definitely points where it absolutely sucks, right? No, I don't think anybody could deny that. Remaking your bed 60 times in a night. So there's definitely points where it sucked, but it was the food was actually pretty decent. The cooks were really nice. Although, if you took the ice cream, we all kind of know what happens there and you get in big trouble. We did that a few times as a division. We all decided at night, we're like, ah, we're doing it. So we got into trouble. You know, everybody gets in a little bit of trouble at uh at boot camp, you know, whether you're on watch and you're you're not saying your correct commands and things like that. So it's frustrating, you're tired, but I was excited to be there.

Gary Wise 6:21

So no, no, and I will tell you it's part of the journey, right? It's part of the journey strategically. They're going to start to give you uh the ability to recognize you can recover, right? Because life is hard and it's never gonna always go the way you think it's gonna go. And the goal, at least as a war fighter, as a sailor, is you never know when it's gonna go sideways on you, right? I mean, and we're gonna talk about this when you get in your career, but you and I both know that it can go from Tuesday to freaking problem day any second, and then we're doing what we got to do. And I that starts in boot camp, right? That starts with can you embrace the suck? And like, I have no, I'm not surprised to hear you say you liked it because you were always that dude. You were always, from my perspective, anyway, super resilient, super quick to reframe, even when you would be frustrated, you would still all right, what's the real problem? And then get after it. So I'm not surprised to hear you say that you enjoyed it, right? Because again, guys like you thrive in those environments, right? Yeah, guys like me, we thrive in those environments. I understand that I can relate. Um, how was it once you graduated? Did your parents come to boot camp graduation?

Matt Klipfel 7:32

No, nobody there. Yeah, I get it.

Gary Wise 7:35

My parents, my parents didn't either, couldn't afford to. So, how was it when you went from basic training RTC across the street to A school in Great Lakes? How long were you there for?

Matt Klipfel 7:46

Two months, uh just around two months, I think is what it was. Yeah, pretty much at boot camp, we actually got caught in a huge, it was a massive snowstorm in Chicago. So I was there for an extra week and a half. There was only 22 guys there, and the rest of our division didn't show up because of all these snowstorms. It was frigid temperatures. Um, so I spent about two months at boot camp, and then I spent, I think about two months in uh A school as well. And that was fun.

Gary Wise 8:15

Was it fun? Did you enjoy going like to the Gurney Mills mall, going to Chicago, or did you just kind of hang out around the barracks in the base?

Matt Klipfel 8:23

Um, we definitely went out exploring in Chicago a few nights and had some fun when when we got, you know, I think there was multiple levels of leave that not leave, but uh forgot what I forgot. I'm I'm I'm forgetting the terminology, but yeah, essentially you get your A card, B card, C card, and that gives you more liberty card, yeah. Yeah, more freedom. And so, you know, once we got kind of the full access of like, hey, yeah, you're in school, but after you're done with your stuff, go out. We we definitely had some weekends out and about, but I spent a lot of time on base just playing football, doing things like that with you know, all the guys on base.

Gary Wise 8:59

Well, and being young, right? You know, you got some money, but not a whole bunch of money. And how soon did you find out you were gonna go to overseas duty your first time, your first ship? How soon did you find that out?

Matt Klipfel 9:12

That that was a week before I left. So we didn't, I didn't, I don't know how fast people usually get orders, but I think A school was about done. And I was like, we're all waiting on getting orders. We finally, it felt like last second we got them. And I was super excited, super scared. The other problem was I had a long-term girlfriend, you know, uh high school, you know, thing going. And so I was like three and a half years, and I was like, I'm going to Japan. There's no way this is gonna work in the back of my head. Um so yeah, scared, a little uneasy, but I was I was definitely excited. I was like, dude, I'm going to Japan. I'm gonna live there. That's awesome.

Gary Wise 9:52

So did you did you have any buddies that went to A school with you that also went to the GW? Not a single one. No, okay. So you were gonna go to the George Washington. And do you remember what time of year, what did you what time of year, what year did you come to Japan?

Matt Klipfel 10:07

Uh 2011, middle of summer. Got there right in the middle of summer. I started boot camp, went to boot camp February 2nd. So about four months later, puts me around August time for my thing, February, March, April, May. Maybe it was June, July. Okay, that I got to the show.

Gary Wise 10:23

Was that after the earthquake had happened already?

Matt Klipfel 10:26

Yes, right after, like two weeks after.

Gary Wise 10:29

Okay, because there was like for me, my existence on that ship. There was before the earthquake and after the earthquake, and it was such a because we had so much work to do, just freaking remember when Quiddick would have to go around like searching the whole ship for like I'm trying to get Quiddick on the show. Quiddick, if you hear me, I want to get you on this show. He's a freaking lawyer now.

Matt Klipfel 10:52

That's not surprising.

Gary Wise 10:54

No, not at all. He's on my LinkedIn, and I can see what he's doing. I've messaged him already. I would love I I would love to get Quiddick on here. He was a freaking beast, too. Uh okay, so you get there after the earthquake, and so we've gone through this whole thing where we were under wage at sea, doing a yard period. We're coming back in to get everything put away. And do you get there before we go on that next patrol?

Matt Klipfel 11:21

So um, you'll probably remember this because we missed Thailand a few times, but that was the one and only time I hit Thailand. We flew in. Uh we I landed on the ship when you guys reported in Thailand. So actually, one of the first interactions we ever had, um, got there and you're like, who's your liberty buddy? I was like, uh it's a girl named Melissa, I think. So and uh yeah, we had one day of one day in Thailand there.

Arriving on USS George Washington

Gary Wise 11:50

Girl named Melissa, who was the Melissa? Was she a DC man?

Matt Klipfel 11:53

Uh no, she was an ABE, if you recall.

Gary Wise 11:57

Is that is that your wife? Is that her?

Matt Klipfel 11:59

Yeah, it's my wife.

Gary Wise 12:00

You knew her that fast?

Matt Klipfel 12:02

So we so it's funny that you ask if I came over to Japan anyone. I, you know, after A school landed, um, you know, came back home, did all the leave thing. Um, and then I flew up to Washington to fly out to the ship, and there was a whole bunch of sailors there. And Melissa was in a giant group of ABEs, all going to the George Washington. So I kind of got into their friend group and they kind of so I was hanging out with uh all of the ABEs who were flying to the ship because I was like the lone D seaman there. Right. So when we got the Patriots landing, that's who I was like going out, hanging out with and things like that, and that's how I met Melissa.

Gary Wise 12:40

That we hey man, that thing has dope, bro. Like the fact that hold on, had you already cut off the previous relationship? Yes, yes, okay, yeah, that was a quick turn, bro. Okay, and moving on.

Matt Klipfel 12:51

Well, that was a quick turn because in boot camp, she went to prom with another guy, and so when I got older, we kind of got, you know, I was a dumb kid, you know. We talked when I got to A school, just like you know, whatever happened. Yeah, so I kind of knew it wasn't gonna happen.

Gary Wise 13:09

I think that look, I think it's freaking amazing that you met this person that fast at Patriots Landing or whatever it was, and then you guys not only had a long-term friendship, connection, whatever it is, you're still together, and you now have created a family together. So I would put that in God's plan, my personal opinion, right? I and and just so you know, I don't I didn't want to care about all of the rules that I had to manage as a senior chief, as a mass chief. Trust me, it was it's exhausting, right? But that's you do what you do, right? It is what it is, and you just try your best. So when you get to the ship, uh, what was your first impression? I mean, coming in Thailand, of course, we're all over the place, everyone's scattered. I'm probably there because I never left the boat, but I mean, everybody else is on Liberty. So when we finally get back to getting underway, what are you thinking? Your first get to the BC division.

Matt Klipfel 14:07

Well, so the first thing we get there, most people are on Liberty, and there's someone on duty, and so the first person I had a lot besides you, I met you right away, and you're like, okay, go get your stuff unpacked. Yeah, we'll get you all settled in, things like that. I went up to the SIS, uh, the front, I think the front of the ship was the system shop at the time. Yeah, or that's where DC2 French was hanging out, and so I talked to French like three or four hours that night.

Gary Wise 14:36

Yeah.

Matt Klipfel 14:37

Um, and so yeah.

Gary Wise 14:39

He's another one I want to get on the podcast, bro. Like French, when French was on the GW, he got his degree from the same college I got my degree from. He was doing something very similar to me, and I've we've we've stayed connected over like the Book of Faces, and I seen him go on to have a career in occupational safety and health and do good things, so I'd love to get in. And he was another shaker and mover, man. Uh yeah, I don't know if you remember or not, but there was not a lot of senior people in our division in that ship. There wasn't no no. I was I there on an aircraft carrier, you're supposed to have a DC master chief, a DC chief senior chief, two chiefs, like seven first classes, and like 12 e5s. We had me, we had eight that way. He was new, right? He was new. He my first nine months, I didn't have him, and he came right about that same time, and then he left not too long after that, right? And then very few from Doug Douglas was my first class, and then eventually I got Fuqua, yeah, and then I had a bunch, and eventually like Falcon would make DC one, but I had a bunch of junior sailors that I grew up to being DC twos, but it's also that's kind of how the Navy is in Japan, right? You don't a lot of the senior people they know how to fail like screenings. So, like if they don't want to go to Japan, they'll they won't they won't pass overseas screening. It's just how it is, right? And so even when I went back as a command master chief for my ship, we had the same problems, but I use the same strategy I used on board the GW, right? Here's the deal, guys. We gotta grow out of these junior people the leaders we need, and they will rise to the occasion. And that's exactly what we did, and that's it still works, but it's tough because of maturity levels and perspectives, and of course, it's a lot of responsibility, right? It takes a lot of stress, it's a lot of stress. People don't understand. I mean, GW almost, I mean, looking back on my life, GW broke me a few times. I just was stupid enough to not recognize it, right? I just I just kept on going like there's no there's no stopping, you know. There you go. Um what was the first shop you went into? Did you go to system shop right away? Yeah, that yes, so I mean you're pretty much system shop all the all the time. So for people listening on board the ship and in the damage control community, and particular on aircraft carriers, you have installed firefighting systems and suppression systems, you have uh portable firefighting gear and of course damage control systems, you have repair locker gear, which is designed to help us fight the ship and defend the ship, and then you've got like chemical biological response gear or whatnot. And then, of course, there's a training part of this because damage control men, which is what Matt did, which is what I did for the majority of my career, we're not just the emergency responders, but we're also the primary trainers of the entire crew because odds are we're not gonna make it very long and the ship's gonna have to continue to go forward. And so the guy, the idea is this small group of people is gonna train the entire ship, uh, and that was that that's our job. And one of my biggest frustrations with the Navy to this day, and I'm sure you would understand this, is the amount of maintenance and they expected us to do pound for pound, right? It was a lot, dude. It was it was unreal, unreal. I remember just thinking to myself, like, do the math, bro. Do the math. The math doesn't math when you only have 50 people and you've got to do X amount of man hours of PMS by the book with the book open to coin a phrase, right? In the words of the great late of the great commanding officer we had, right? And then and then to try to do it all the way right was just and then of course, all of the we used to run two GQs a week. Remember that?

Matt Klipfel 18:45

That was gnarly.

Gary Wise 18:49

Okay, so you I don't know how you where you want to go. What do you remember about that shit? What do you what do you think?

NSERVE Inspection Challenges

Matt Klipfel 18:56

Uh, it was we were in the middle of well, the deployments were one thing, but then also the work up to the deployment. So when we're back at home in Japan, it wasn't any less stressful almost. It it possibly made it more stressful because you're like, I can go outside, I can leave the boat, but you really couldn't most of the time. No, um we I think we went through a lot, whether it was deployments, all the humanit humanitarian aid we were providing to folks while we were out there, as well as that huge um I you're gonna have to help me recall the names here. I'm getting too far out of it, but we did that. It was when we were in Japan when they came and inspected all of our stuff.

Gary Wise 19:40

Oh, and serve was yes, and serve was tough, and you know, uh, I remember I used to have that picture of that frog going down the snake's throat, right? And I was like, the world of frog. We there there's just the odds are against because I again I don't know if you knew this because you're uh kind of your perspective, but the TW had this big fire, yes, right? And that was where I first got exposed to the George Washington was in the fire because I was the carrier lead in San Diego, and so they asked me to come there. Well, after the fire, really nothing got put back the way that it was supposed to go, and then they handed the ship over from one crew to a whole nother crew, right? And then you had all this animosity between crews, and so our generation of sailor was the ones coming out of that whole era, right? The kitty hawk guys were kind of all leaving, the east coast GW guys were kind of all leaving, and the GW was becoming this new thing. And I remember, I remember getting ready for NSERV with Senior Chief Shaw, who so senior chief shaw was a friend of mine, right? We had worked together at a float training group San Diego, and he had come to me offline and he was like, Gary, I'm I'm already gonna go warrant officer, I'm already selected, bro. You need help. Would you let me and he knew I wouldn't just let anybody in my space? Like, I was very protective of my people, my my team, all that. And he was just like, You need help, dude. Can I come help you? And I was just like, Thank God, come help me. And I remember we had to draw H Full F system for the whole ship.

Matt Klipfel 21:22

Yes, yes, we had to redo all the drawings, and Tyler Tyler Combs played a major, you know. Yeah, he was very good with those systems as well.

Gary Wise 21:30

He wasn't combs would be another great guy to have on here, yeah, because again, we should have had that. Yeah, like this is not something we should have to recreate. And when we would get the drawings from other aircraft carriers, we would find out it wasn't the same as our aircraft carrier, and so we went that was one of the most arc that was tough. I remember being underway and just switching a lens, like, okay, underway, the clock is nothing but a round thing with numbers on it, and I'm gonna work until I can't work anymore because oh my god, and uh I don't know if you knew this or not, but I was actually applying for the command senior chief program. Okay, and sometime in between the earthquake and NSERV, my life just went upside down, right? And I was just like, you know what? I need to not worry about career advancement and promotion, I need to let my family know that they're my number one priority, and I need to let my division know I'm not going anywhere, and like I'm focusing on NSERV. And that's so I pulled that package. Okay, and I did, I pulled it, and the captain got so angry at me for doing that because they had wasted some of their their capital on my progression, and that they they essentially were trying to harpoon my career, but I ended up making mass chief anyway, so it worked out, right?

Matt Klipfel 22:50

Oh, I watched oh, I watched you go from chief to master chief while I was there.

Gary Wise 22:53

That was it was that ship was gonna be, but it was it was a tough boat, man. It was a tough ship. Um so thinking back on the insurve preps, looking looking back, so we had a training period every year. People don't do that in regular ships. Every year we did a training cycle, right? Yeah, when you look at Inserve, do you feel like that went well or do you feel like it did not go well?

Matt Klipfel 23:17

Hmm. I thought we did pretty well. I mean, I remember I think during Inserve, we ran all the AFF systems. I mean, we had all of our equipment laid out. I thought everything went actually better than we thought it might, is what my initial reaction was. Oh, we worked so hard for that. And I hope I hope it went well.

Gary Wise 23:44

It did go well, I will tell you that. And I will there were a few areas that were tough, but it wasn't our fault, it was just sometimes things happen like an SOPB would break or whatever, right? We can't control that, right? I mean, the biggest problems we had was we had a tag out violation for Halon tags when a couple of our DC1s made bad choices. I and I remember going down to the to the chief engineer's office and putting my anchors on the ground, like, bro, I'm the guy to yell at put me in trouble for that because evidently I'm a I'm failing them. But can you yell at me later? Because we're in the middle of this big inspection, yeah, and I'll later I promise to get yelled at, and they were both fortunately taken care of, and we came through it all, but that was a big faux paw on our behalf, and it was we just had some material issues, but but I will I will tell you, we went from that in so when I first got to GW, it was the shit that I caught on fire, and they didn't know where their stuff was at. Not two and a half years later, we we went through NSERV under our own power, like we we did the plan, we executed the plan, and we did we did it, and then we smoked that next training cycle. Yeah, we got the best carrier results ever. Every all y'all got nams, all y'all got awards, right? It was just like freaking everybody gets stuff, right? It was so great. That was that was the end of my tour, and and I will tell you, I've never been prouder. I mean, my my Ashland tour was good too, but the difference was I had a lot of profess like upper level leaders. You guys were my freaking Lord of the Flies, young, crazy D seamen, and oh by the way, half the division was girls. Yeah, I know. I know half the division was females, yeah, and they were freaking yeah, they were they were they were throwing down, dude. It was freaking I loved it, man.

Matt Klipfel 25:38

Oh, yeah. Throw Delgado and Davilos on a freaking hose and they'll they'll run it. So 100%.

Gary Wise 25:44

And and I will tell you, like, whenever I talked to anybody from that time on board the George Washington, especially like the damage control training team, all of them went on to like make master chief, warrant officer, off like they all went on to do great things, so it was a very good time, but it was hard to feel like we were doing good because there was no time to breathe, right? As soon as soon as it was over, we're the next problem had already arisen and we were trying to figure it out, you know. So as you're now would you were you on the ship even after I left?

Matt Klipfel 26:16

Yes, yeah. So I I stayed um oh gosh, the next Master Chief that took over for you. Um Gabbard.

Gary Wise 26:25

Gabbard, yeah.

Matt Klipfel 26:26

I was on there for about a year and a half with Master Chief Gabbard, yeah. And Daly, uh did he make chief by then?

Gary Wise 26:36

No, Daly made chief with me.

Matt Klipfel 26:38

Yeah, yes, yeah.

Gary Wise 26:39

So so Daly left the GW and went through DC school where I was an instructor, cool, and he made chief. And so I got to initiate Walter there. So that was that was very special, man. Yes, because he had had a rough tour on board the GW with family, with work, oh yeah, and and and he had survived, right? He had survived. Fukua too, Fuqua just retired. I saw it, yeah. But Fuka Daily are both are both chiefs, and they're both getting. I mean, Fuke just retired. I think Daly's about to retire. So, how how much different was it for you guys having a different master chief than me on board? Was there a lot of different in in our leadership styles?

Matt Klipfel 27:20

I would say so, yes. Um, I would say there was definitely a difference. I would, you know, there was a difference in leadership, but there was also just a difference in like preparation, I would say. And that's not to call out anybody at the sunny's a friend of mine, right?

Gary Wise 27:36

Like we're boys. I love Sunny to death, but but we have, but we're just different, right? And I know I know that uh my style is a lot, right? And I it's I was I was curious for the feedback, what your perspective was having that different year or two years or whatnot.

Matt Klipfel 27:54

It was, you know, we we were still doing our thing with PMS, maintenance, GQt. Um, all those were, you know, all that was kind of the same flow. We were still working our butts off. I would say I think we lost a little bit of, you know, teamwork when it came to like Q1s and Q2s, doing those major maintenance things. It was not as organized, it was a little more stressful. It didn't feel as yeah, just dialed in. And I think that's probably the most important maintenance maintenance we're doing with those massive 70 tag tag outs and things like that. So that was, you know, I think there was some difference there, and a little bit of maybe not frustration, but worry worriness. You know, it's like okay, or you know, do we got this right? So, because those were intimidating.

Transitioning to Civilian Life

Gary Wise 28:42

Well, and I think that would also be you guys probably had more responsibility because when he got there, most of you were already second classes or first classes, and in his mind, he's probably like, Oh, they've got this, you know, Gary's trained them all up. Whereas what for me, I was always very heavily involved in it. But you know what's funny is I learned all that there. Like, I knew I had never even done any of that stuff before I got to the carrier. Yeah, my first ships were old gators, bro. Like, I didn't even have SCBAs, I never I never touched the SOPV, like actually when I got to the George Washington. Like, I was either stuck in the my first ship, I was undesignated in the main space stand at watch. My second ship, I was D I ran the DCPO, like what Quiddick was doing. I ran the DCPO shop, and then when I tried to get in the systems or tried to get in repair lockers, they make me the chief, so now I'm just in charge of things, right? And and so it's just a different perspective. Yes, and so when I got to George Washington, there was things I just didn't know, and so like I would be a hundred percent like behind French and be like, all right, what do you think, bro? Yeah, yeah, I didn't I'd have to trust the but the difference would be like, but I would have to keep pushing until we got it done. I couldn't just accept well we can't do it because that's not always gonna work right do you remember the time the list control pumps sucked up those plastic uh those plastic like uh i don't even know what they're called like tarps remember that night the list control pumps there was plastic tarps on our list control system and senior chief shaw and i broke the list control pumps apart and i forget i don't know if it was you or if it was combs you guys were helping us with tag outs and with tools and material okay and we were down there working on the pumps and like as soon as we fixed one pump the the other pump racked up in a in a in a the same night that was a crazy night yeah was that was that underway yeah underway I think I do remember and I think it was me and Tyler running tags I think it was too it was underway it was right down right below the DC training classroom in that little freaking list control area and in one night we rebuilt two list control pumps and then we didn't have all the right tools we had to get the Chang to come down there and give us permission yeah and it was a little it was a little shady lady like we're gonna do what we could but it was like if we didn't fix those pumps we couldn't fly aircraft right no no no when you look back okay so after or towards the end of your time in the Navy what was your thought process as to when you were gonna get out or stay in I mean did you know that you and Melissa were going to get married and were you like look the Navy is not going to be conducive to what we want to do so you both were like we're just gonna get out um I think so uh I initially 17 years old I was like I'm gonna be retired by 40 to be out in the Navy I want to retire I'll I'll do this long term if I had not met Melissa I think I would still be in right now. So yes we ended up getting engaged after two and a half years we went home on leave together met the fams we got engaged and that was kind of you know she was you know she was like I don't think I'm gonna do this long term I'm like I understand and I was still um skeptical up to about a year left and I was like okay let's you know we just start talking about building life and things like that I was like okay we'll get out we're gonna go to school we'd already been going to school a ton underway and things like that I mean me Monroe Tyler and Melissa were just out down there doing homework every night for calling Monroy there's a blast in the past she was another solid one for sure she was me me Tyler and Monroy you know so like I think before you kind of had French uh Luke True and some of those guys that kind of really made like the solid like I guess systems team and then uh I I you know in in my mind me Monroy and Tyler were running tags doing uh we're just up every night it felt like so we that was kind of our little little team right there of course with the rest of the group too but no no I would I would agree to that just you of course you guys just worked well together and you understood you understood the strategy behind it right because you had to strategically approach certain parts of what we would do because there took preparation you had to do the procedural thing otherwise you couldn't defend your maintenance and that's what it's all about right it wasn't which is why insert was so awesome it's not about all the crap admin it's about does it work or not yes or no yes I I agree with you insurp was my favorite inspection um so when it came to the end of your career were you just were you excited to get out of the Navy or were you just like dang I kind of wish did it not meet your expectations were you a little bit disappointed by what your time had been like because some people will look like I've got buddies that were D seamen and they didn't fight a nearly enough fire to help themselves feel validated right or they they didn't they didn't do enough things to help them to feel like they'd really done what they felt like they were going to do does that make sense yes and you know I I do wish we had actually I don't I don't want this ship on fire but I think you know going in you're like this is awesome let's go fight some fires most of the fires we we encountered were electrical fires monitoring it before electricity got turned off and small tiny little things like that we did you know I did do some uh one of the waste discharge pumps one of those exploded in port and had to go down there like halfway under sewage and turn that off got a NAM for that and we fought a few uh bigger uh leaks on the ship so got to do some things that I thought were a little exciting do you remember the time we almost flooded out the shaft alley from the list control system because we were we were remember how much time we used to transfer water with the with tanks and voids and then we accidentally almost flooded the freaking shaft alley yeah that was pretty good yes like it was the shafts were underwater yeah yeah it was yeah yeah yeah it's so things could happen fast yep you know I would I would say luckily nothing too major happened during us I don't think it was a discipline I think it was a lot of work really stressful it is hard being away from your family you know when you're that young gone for four years and then you meet this nice young lady who you know I guess got engaged in things like that and so that was really ultimately what you know why we got out of the military. Awesome so when you got out of the service or you were planning to get out of the service what was your plan? Did you like you were getting college done while you're in the military but did you already kind of have an idea like what you wanted to do like did you want to go get more of an education did you just want to go get a job in a certain field did you want to keep working firefighting like what what was what were you thinking?

Matt Klipfel 35:49

Absolutely so I immediately you know first day off leave we get to so Melissa's family had moved down from Sandpoint Idaho to Carson City Nevada while we were in the military and that's where we ended up visiting and I proposed up at Lake Tahoe. And so we loved the area we thought it was cool we knew you know we kind of wanted to be on the West Coast somewhere whether it was Southern California near my family or where her family was and I fell in love with Carson City so it was kind of an easier decision as far as financials getting out of the military and things like that.

Gary Wise 36:20

I forgot what was the what was the what was your did you have a plan?

Matt Klipfel 36:24

Like did you have a career in mind that you wanted to go for or were you just not sure yeah absolutely I want to be a firefighter um I thought that was I thought that would have been a great career I went to four or five how uh firehouses around here I was like hey I got you know all of my credentials that you can get in the Navy um so I got that certificate and things like that and I had started education I was like I'll get my education they essentially said yeah go get your paramedics license that's how you get that's how you get onto a firehouse right away and me and Melissa um we kind of moved quickly our kids are uh seven and nine now so we we moved rather quickly after the military with kids and things like that but I ended up I ended up going and volunteering you know just looking at different jobs talking to firehouses looking at starting schooling to go be a paramedic or to get in the fire field or like Tyler I actually thought about going and working on like commercial firefighting systems. That's what he does. He's a pipe layer for these big firefighting systems at these massive warehouses. And I went and volunteered with the US Geological survey and it was with my father-in-law he was working there and we were out there in the Sierra Mountains making a flow discharge measurement and I was like well this is cool I can do this so I volunteered for a week or two they actually hired me on as like a a temporary employee and I kind of fell in love with water doing water quality and flow discharge stuff and so I spent nine years with the US Geological survey and got my degrees you know got two bachelor degrees and associates in science and in water monitoring so that's kind of is is that what you're still doing to this day? Yes so I don't work for the US Geological Survey anymore. I work for a company that uh develops and trains on and sells the equipment that agencies like the US Geological survey or California Department of Water Resources all of the equipment they're using to do like water quality or look at how much water is in the river or bath and metric surveys where you're actually mapping out the bottom of reservoirs or oceanographic applications. So that's the company I'm working for now.

Gary Wise 38:43

That's awesome man I'm again I'm not surprised by any of what you just said bro because you were a grinder from beginning to end. Like I always knew you were number one you always took a personal right that means you cared that means you cared right that's what that means when a person takes they they care you you would never were afraid of hard work that was never the problem and you were relentless and so to hear that you did all of those things and then you managed to accumulate the the you know the trophies I got the I got the education I got the thing and now you've got this new opportunity that's great brother so what do you hope I mean real quick as we get ready to kind of land the plane where we're at what are your hopes for the future do you know yet have you thought that the three thought that far yet well yeah that's that's hard.

Matt Klipfel 39:34

I I think you know priorities have definitely shifted you know I have kind of a career going and I'm comfortable in that I'm doing okay and so now it's more about we're we're we're homeschooling both of our kids so Melissa's homeschooling both kids she's at home my my son's riding dirt bikes and racing and and golf and my daughter's doing golf and soccer and so we're really you know we're we're obviously managing our careers and things like that. And I don't know what Melissa's plan is I'm sure she'll she'll get a job when you know the kids are a little more self-reliant and things like that.

Gary Wise 40:12

Schooling is not easy dude COVID taught us all that it's hard.

Matt Klipfel 40:16

Yeah yeah okay so I think that's what you know we're we're definitely just looking we we have a home we purchase it so we're definitely happy where we're at and things like that.

Leadership Lessons and Career Insights

Gary Wise 40:27

I think moving forward it's you know keep building on my career obviously whether it's new opportunities or opportunities within this you know this this same the same company and they've treated me really well so that's cool man and and you know also you just your kids are super I mean my youngest son is 11 okay right my oldest son is 17 now but my youngest son's 11 and so when I look at life and I think that I if I start to let myself feel like I'm getting old yeah like nah brother ain't no time for all that you got an 11 year old yeah and then I want to I want to live to see that young man grow up and have a family and be busy so in order for that to happen you got to stay healthy happy and hopefully optimistic for the future so the only thing I would say to you brother is just take some time to think about your your future life's investments right so you can have the money so they did not have to work oh yeah right absolutely and enjoy the ride bro yeah enjoy the ride so hey we're gonna wrap this up I'm gonna go ahead and hit you some rapid fire questions okay feel free if it if it if it brings the memory up feel free to let me hear that C story okay okay because I not very often do I get to just talk GW with somebody it was I'm telling you what that was people don't understand the hardest tour of my 25 year career without it my career was threatened more in that three years than any other time yeah I mean I've never been yelled at worse than when I was a senior chief petty officer oh my god I used to get torn up okay so do you remember when I used to listen to Christmas music in my office I do yeah Walter to this day Walter would be like Walter was like Gary you don't understand what it's like getting chewed out to Christmas music yeah I was I was like bro you have to understand because it was it the whole thing throughout my career I was like I said on the GW my saying there's no if they heard holiday music we're leaving them alone today like I'm over there trying to freaking decompress you know who's oh my god come on Mariah Gary fix the problem oh yeah oh yeah that's funny I love that ship though man I I loved our classroom yeah the classroom's cool so I did do I actually did run the classroom for like two to three months I thought I was good so system shop for three and a half years and they're like Matthew go do the training classroom we know you're kind of stressed out and uh I love Tyler but two months later they gave it to Tyler and I almost I wanted to fight him I was like dude I was supposed to kind of you know not relax not but you're not in system shop and so they took that away from me uh it's a it was a very visible role right yeah it was a you would get a lot of people pumped through there and and you know what's funny is when I first got to GW none of that was happening like we stood all that up during my time right because yeah because I came I knew the power of the D seamen was not in our in our in our job it was in what we had to offer the whole crew remember I would tell y'all we got the hottest thing going we got this damage control training y'all got to get out there make friends and get those war third pins and leverage that and then that's all we had to offer right we didn't much else so okay looking back on your career or your time in the military in particular or now what do you think is one of the most valuable leadership lessons you might have picked up along the way I think uh probably especially in our role doing some of the maintenance we were doing and the equipment we were messing with with SOPVs and ACF systems even halon was intimidating was I I I would honestly say like attention to detail especially when you're doing like these huge massive tag outs which I had to do a bunch of different times it was oh you mess up one tag you don't you don't double up your main seawater line you're shooting seawater over a four point jet and you are so it was I I thought you know really ensuring you knew what you were doing and attention to detail and really teaching the younger guys about that too I became I remember standing in front of an A triple S it did not make sense to me Gary I was like dude okay so you got seawater valve here valve there we gotta double tag the valves we gotta we gotta get the A triple F coming in and one day I was standing and it popped and I knew the whole system it was really odd.

Matt Klipfel 45:01

You know it just it hit me and so you know I loved training the new guys that came to the system shop and things like that.

Gary Wise 45:08

So that really became like something I love doing have you ever had that moment where you were like once upon a time I was really good at something and I'm never gonna do that thing again. I know yeah I did think about weird like I when I walked off to George Washington I was like I will never do what I just did ever again and don't wrong I don't miss a lot about it but it was nice to know that I was really good at something right and that was that I've leveraged that experience in a lot of other things in my life you know so I can I definitely I can relate to what you just said and I agree attention to detail and I think also the other thing you said is gaining mastery of something to the point of where if you miss something you're like I gotta do the whole thing again now because someone could get hurt or it's just it's a problem right so I get it. All right so what do you think is one of the biggest leadership challenges that are facing people today in society in society um when it can be in your organization it can just be something you see commonly around the world yeah I think uh you know what one of the things I've loved about pretty much all of my jobs is I think I've had pretty good leaders to be honest. So I I have had that I think sometimes leadership um fails to really understand or um not not on a personal level get to know your worker like such a personal level but I do think it's important to understand like yeah you got kids maybe you're not gonna you know understand what's going on in their life to better guide them and be able to uh take advantage of what their strengths may be so some folks might be really really good at communicating other folks are behind the scenes working on systems or HS whatever it is I think understanding what someone's strengths and weaknesses can be I think that's well said brother a leader's job is to know their people right and to learn how to best manage it and and it's it's one of the most complicated pieces because humans are we are all individually wrapped right all right you know now you're a parent so my next question I have a lot of uh my students listen to this I'm a teacher now I it's awesome I see that I love it man it is freaking it is it's it's almost as much fun as being a sailor right just being honest it really is awesome um and then of course I have parents that also listen to the podcast of that are raising teenagers right and it's it's hard it's complicated so how do you think leadership skills can be leveraged or used by parents that are raising children especially children like like your your kids that are about to go into the adolescent years yeah so you know my experience with children I uh I think patience could be good sometimes uh yeah young young children uh running around homeschooled all day I think takes a lot of patience um yeah so so having patience finding grace yes yeah I I think so yeah that's that's I support that I support that man and you know the one thing that I always tried to do and I even still through this life if I ever crush somebody quickly I always try to go back around and have a conversation and be like hey man there wasn't time for the full on thing but here's the why because you know not everyone can handle a deliberate communication and you have to learn that and then I think that to your point and what I got better at in life was I learned to be quiet and kind of let it play out a little bit more because not everything has to get an immediate response does that make sense yeah like and I can during our years on the GW I was the direct guy or when you're a dad and your kid's right in front of you you got to get them safe quickly make sure they're okay but then as they get older I I see this with teenagers a lot I saw this a lot as a command master chief I don't have to always say something right away right I can almost be like huh and then they can sit on it and stew on it well tell me what you got to say later right oh no right yeah let them because you maybe there's more information that you got to find out right and I think that and that comes with being a little more seasoned a little more experienced and I I definitely I will tell you as a dad my older son my 17 year old definitely got different parts of me than my younger son got yeah right because it's just experience right you kind of learn as a dad you learn as a person uh good so what's what's a piece of advice you would give to somebody who's struggling like imagine you're a sailor your DC three on board those aircraft carriers anywhere in the world even the George Washington that's back in Japan now right yep that you got a DC three on there right now in the system shop figuring out tags and ESOMs for Q1s and Q2s right what would you say to that person that's probably struggling trying to understand like what in the heck right I would say I think I think the whole crew that's that's really hard on an individual level I think the entire leadership for that system shop whether you know it's a DC one or DC two running it depending on how big it is I think you really got to work be able to work with your leadership on something like that.

Matt Klipfel 50:37

And also you know have a plan be like hey here's what I see here's what I think next steps are forward and be able to collaborate those ideas and really work together because something like that is not a one person shop. That is that's a team effort that has to be coordinated. And so yeah being in the Navy can be frustrating and hard and but you know during those times of frustration even my good friends I remember arguing with Tyler about things uh you got to be able to work together which we would come together and do like okay Monroy let's go get this done I know it's two in the morning but you know really really you know leverage uh yeah not I wouldn't say the full chain of command but but but but at least your leadership within your small group and then you know leveraging out to chiefs and senior chiefs and I think most of the time you'll find that everybody wants to be up it's the same goal is to get this stuff done get it done right make sure things are working and so it has to be teamwork.

Gary Wise 51:38

So brother what what I'm hearing is don't isolate yourself and collaborate with people. Yeah right that's what I'm hearing and I agree you know because people will go through their thing where they feel like they're the only one that's going through it or they feel isolated or they start to feel depressed or sad or angry or whatever it is. And more often than not you just need to talk to people and maybe ask for some help or or whatever. And you know I I think that is always the most critical thing because for me in my career as soon as somebody as soon as I ask for help I that's a huge sign that like oh my God he's okay he needs help. Yeah and and when people rally for that it's super super inspiring because you're like oh dude people care that I'm okay even though you can't always tell when we're all just rowing right we're all just rowing everyone's just rowing and I think that's smart. So good job. How do you think veterans can leverage their experiences in the civilian world right so if you're a guy getting out of the military right what do you think they can do to best prepare for life after the service I think uh pretty easily keep the same work ethic the amount of work we were doing in the Navy is nothing compared to any civilian job ever.

Matt Klipfel 52:58

So you know leverage that work ethic and be thankful for where you're at I think and I was thankful be to be in the Navy I think sometimes you're extremely frustrated sitting down in a shaft alley having to go down there for you know it's yeah 15th time on that watch going and checking you know tanks to make sure they're empty or full or what their levels are at. And so you know take that same work ethic and I think you're gonna do just fine in the civilian world. And not not only do I think you're gonna do fine I think you're gonna knock it out of the park.

Gary Wise 53:31

Keep the same work ethic so here's what I want to say to the people listening to the sound of our voice if you didn't hear what my man said get that work ethic first though right like don't be a halfway sailor halfway anything in life and then wonder why you're not finding success. This man put it down like daily always right I promise you that I'm telling y'all people know I don't just give anyone their flowers for no reason this guy is a freaking grinder and I agree if you can rise to the level of a sustained superior performer in the United States Navy or the United States Army or in the Marine Corps or in the Air Force or anywhere I promise you you can find success anywhere in this life secret it's the same thing in the civilian world if you're very successful in high school if you're very successful in college if you're very successful in anywhere fill in the blank whatever you did to get there don't stop but don't stop growing either always look for opportunities to mature to grow to develop because people will get tired and just quit or like throw a fit or whatever it is and unfortunately ladies and gentlemen that's a road to nowhere right this it's just not how it works. Now strategic pause I got it strategic recovery I got it ask for help I got it those are all tools to help you get back on the horse and go again but you gotta you gotta you gotta work hard to get to that point. It takes it it's not an easy road right would you agree?

Matt Klipfel 55:04

Oh yeah no so so you know going from firefighting systems in the Navy into like water quality monitoring it's completely different and you you have to relearn something and yeah absolutely be open to looking at the folks who have been doing something for a while whether that's Navy whether that's in water resources learn from them and I agree keep learning because there's there's really no point in a job where you you stop learning anything and or andor relearning something that you haven't done in a long time.

Reflections and Final Thoughts

Gary Wise 55:36

So be open and act you know always be open to hey I yeah I gotta keep learning well said well said all right man you're on the ship it's a weekend Saturday night are you looking forward to pizza or wings yeah uh wings wings okay it was a big do you remember when that guy turned the part of the Mestex into a restaurant that was uh that was the best uh what was his name but he was the food service officer I remember that he was great he was like the iron chef guy yeah he did some stuff for us which was really cool he did we had the Starbucks on board oh my god all those cups are everywhere though I know I know okay so question would you rather get birthing cleaners or the working party birthing cleaners oh no okay birthing cleaners I'm not mad at you I'm not mad at you if we're watching a movie would you rather watch a De Niro movie or a Pacino movie De Niro okay De Niro okay looking back on your career uh or looking back on your life in general do you have a favorite duty station or a favorite place that you've chosen that you that you spent time in the name in the military um it would it would have to be Japan I think there was a lot of great memory even yeah yeah yoko was awesome the food was absolutely stunning I want pepper lunch and cocos right now um yeah that was you know and it it was just it was just fun being there with a whole bunch of young folks where we all kind of grew together that was that was great so it's gotta be sure okay um what about favorite Liberty port ooh ah uh it's gonna went to Hong Kong four times Singapore and Satosa Island was a really good time yeah Singapore okay I like it respect okay what about what was the most challenging qualification you ever earned when you were in the military so I got air and surface warfare I think I mean DC two was obvious you know I ended up getting DC two as well so obviously I would throw in DC two just you know just going from an E1 I got to ship as an E1 finished as an E5 I think air warfare was a little bit tougher because we weren't working on those systems or with that verbiage very often it was all engineering and surface warfare stuff so I think air warfare was a little bit tougher than surface warfare. Okay I get that um looking back on your career you were of course an overseas sailor do you were do you wish you'd been stateside instead of overseas no okay I think that was a great experience it really is yeah all right uh do you have a favorite movie series oh uh people are gonna call me a nerd um yeah fell in love with all the Marvel movies up to uh endgame but we also love Lord of the Rings Harry Potter so we get it brother I'm I'm into it well you know Harry Potter first time I ever saw a Harry Potter movie I walk I I hadn't even known what it was I was on recruiting duty and me and my friend were just like there's this movie called Harry Potter we walked out of the movie theater and I was sold bro I was like wow that was a great freaking movie dude uh grew up on that so that's yeah yeah I I love it and you know it's it's I'm looking forward to the new series they're making on HBO or whatever it is it's gonna be good.

Matt Klipfel 59:11

Yeah okay um would you rather be independent or on a team on a team has to be do you have a personal or a favorite leadership philosophy I would say connecting with your team I I think I think that's I think that's a big thing connecting with your team and leveraging how your can team you know individuals can make a team better in different aspects. I haven't been in very many you know I was definitely in some leadership role by the end of the Navy with system shops and things like things like that. They definitely had a lot more responsibility on me but I haven't been like a supervisor or a manager or anything like that. Although at the US Geological survey I uh possibly training as well, you know, as as a more senior person somewhere doing training with the the the new folks.

Gary Wise 1:00:11

I agree. All those are perfect. Um, so in the navy and the chief petty officer community, we have these guiding principles. Uh, the first it was deck plate leadership, there's institutional or technical expertise, there's professionalism, character, loyalty, active communication, uh, sense of heritage. Out of those, what I just kind of listed off, do any of those kind of appeal to you as being more the most important one?

Matt Klipfel 1:00:45

One of them was active, uh, you said communication. Yep. I'd probably say that.

Gary Wise 1:00:52

Okay, good. I like it. And it's true. Up and down, up and down the chain of command is communication, right? Cool. Uh would you rather lead or follow?

Matt Klipfel 1:01:05

If I knew what I was doing, lead. If I was new to something, follow. That way I wasn't acting like I was leading.

Gary Wise 1:01:12

I appreciate that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I my heart always goes out to the people that get put in leadership positions and they're not quite sure what they're doing. And because I've been there, right? And I always tell them, uh, trust in your people, they'll help you. Because just don't forget to make sure they get the recognition for what you're doing because they're the ones that really know it. And that's that's it's it's tough pickle to be in, right? Tough pickle to be in. Okay, so uh, you know what? I actually got a friend request from Zooniga last night of all people. That was interesting.

Matt Klipfel 1:01:48

Did you? Yeah, super cool. Zuniga was one of my best friends, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:01:54

Yeah, I I uh I that came out of left field, you know. I hit up Salgado as well to see if she wanted to be on the show. I gotta hit up Dalva Lava. I got her, I think, on Facebook. I got Connored, aka uh what was Connor's name before she got married? Delian Artists, Delian Artist, yeah. So I got her as well. Um, yeah, I would love to get old shipmates on here, man, just to talk, just to talk shop and reminisce a little bit because what a freaking I mean, it's weird to think it was over. I mean, what it's 2025 now, it's about 10 years ago, or last more than 10 years ago now. So yeah, all right. Well, brother, I appreciate your time. Uh it's last up to you. Do you have any saved rounds or alibis?

Matt Klipfel 1:02:40

Any what? I'm sorry, safe grounds in the navy.

Gary Wise 1:02:43

In the navy, when we get to the end of a brief or a meeting, we'll ask if there's any is anybody been saving any rounds they want to send at the at the at the speaker, right? Because typically it's like you're getting shot, right? Yeah, so all right, did anybody save any rounds they want to send at me? Or did anybody have any alibis? Like before we wrap the meeting up, I got one more thing I want to say because you know everyone's usually tired of the meeting. There's always somebody that's got I got one more thing, I got one more thing, so that's why we usually say, Do you have any save rounds or alibis?

Matt Klipfel 1:03:11

Okay, cool. Um, did you two things? I wore a special shirt for you today. If you didn't notice, I don't know.

Gary Wise 1:03:21

What's tell me about the shirt?

Matt Klipfel 1:03:23

Navy Poland. It's all the ships in the Navy. I thought it was cool. That's awesome, bro. And then uh I wanted to ask you if you remembered one thing that me and Melissa talk about quite a bit. We told our family, things like I remember being probably an E2, E3 at this point, and you caught us, I think, talking on the aft deck or somewhere near the there in a hall in a in a hallway, and you you kind of you kind of busted my butt for it. It was pretty good. I don't remember. You don't? Oh, you got me. Yeah, yeah. You terror, you didn't terrify Melissa. I was just a young sailor, you were your chief, and we were running things, and I was like, dude, I was like, I don't know if I'm gonna be in trouble, Melissa. I was like, we gotta stop meeting up in this place, you know. Anyways, we were very good on the ship and not, you know, trying not to create any problems. But I always remember this one point, you you caught us like two months after we got on the ship, and it was during deployment, we were heading back to Japan. And first deployment, I was like, ah, he doesn't like me. I was like, Oh, he's he's got his eyes on, you know.

Gary Wise 1:04:25

I will tell you, I knew I remember that your relationship with her was solid, right? And I like the fact that y'all stayed consistent and that it was like a I felt like it was a real thing because I watched a lot of my sailors go through unhealthy relationships, right? Okay, and especially my young female sailors, I was very protective of my young ladies, right? Because I I never had daughters, and I I still don't have daughters, right? So a lot of my cadets are females, and I I really am I love my guys, don't get me wrong, but there's just a special place in my heart for my yep for my young ladies, and so I always had mad respect for you and her relationship, and that's why even if I asked the question or whatever it was, it was just checking in. Just I now I know okay, check, roger that. Um now I remember busting Delionardis kissing her boyfriend in the damn shop. That would have got you in trouble, right? You got Del kissing in the shop? Oh yeah, well, she was oh yeah, oh yeah, that was game. Oh yeah, and Quiddick, I think, was in the shop too. It was a rap, bro. I I told him, beat me to my office. Remember that? Remember those days? You better beat me to my office, right? And I love I love Dell too, right? I love Dell Leonardis, I respected her relationship, but don't don't just don't do that in our spaces. We're in the people to think yeah that we were just in violation, right? But I don't remember that moment, right? No, that's honestly I no, I I had nothing but love for you, man. And I remember Daily when I was putting Daily through Chiefs initiation, he was like, dude, Clipville, you might want to talk to Clipville someday because he thinks you really hate him, bro. And I was like, No, I love that dude.

Matt Klipfel 1:06:16

Oh, I didn't think you hated me. I thought uh no, we we I didn't think you hated me. I think, you know, listen, another thing, another tidbit I'll give you. I remember you guys were ranking all the sailors, and I knew you didn't hate me, mostly because you guys pretty much put me ranked, and this is not bragging or anything, like number one to like for you know, for promotion and things like that, pretty much every time. And so I kind of thought you were putting more not more pressure on me, but like holding me to a different standard or something like that. And then there was that thing that happened with Melissa. And listen, we're on a Navy military ship, a fighting ship that's no place for relationships and things like that. And listen, we know a couple of our sailors got kicked out of the navy and things like that. So you're you're looking out for sailors, like, dude, if I don't catch you, you're you're done. So yeah, stop.

Gary Wise 1:07:11

No, yeah. I don't even know. Yeah, that was probably when I look back on my 25-year career, fraternization was like the number one thing I hated having to worry about. Yeah, because I just wished I lived in a world that people can be professionals regardless of their personal relationships, right? Yeah, but the problem is once there's a rule in place, we don't get to pick and choose which rules we follow, right? Or or I have to always be doing my best to defend the rule or to support the rule, but I also got to be realistic, right? So trust me, there was there was a lot of times I just kind of look the other way, right? But I really went after uh senior people messing with junior people. Oh, yeah. I didn't I didn't play that crap, I wasn't a fan of that, right? Still, I still am not, right? And unfortunately, you'll see it even in the public school system. And it's weird and it's it's gross, right? And it's just weird. And it's people are unhealthy. Let's just be honest, right? They they need to figure out their life and maybe get Jesus in their world or something, you know. And then uh I didn't like people that were liars, right? I just I still don't, right? I think that I would tell my sailors the truth, even if they didn't want to hear it, and I didn't like when other leaders would lie because it's what people wanted to hear, right? Because then it would make people have false expectations, and then there you go, right? And so that and on an aircraft carrier, that's hard to manage when you got a lot of senior people out in the haunch or or whatever, right? Does that make sense? And so that that that was a tough piece, and that's that's never changed, it's still the same way to this day, right? And but I've also learned not everyone knew this about me, you guys did because you were around me, but a lot of people on the ship was scared of me. But they, if you knew me, you knew I'd go to war for you, but out, but you also knew that if you had a problem with a DC man, you could expect a short ball headed dude with two with what freaking anchors. I'm coming your way, bro. And it's we're gonna have a conversation, right? And so no, no, but I I I think that's funny that I appreciate you guys remember that though, and I'm glad I could be a part of your guys' stories to tell.

Matt Klipfel 1:09:23

Oh, it's yeah, it was it wasn't nothing negative, you know. It's my chief, you know. I'm a brand new sailor, I'm getting caught freaking talking to this girl on the ship. I'm like, ah, you're messing up already, Clipfell.

Gary Wise 1:09:34

Yeah, no, you man, I I thought it was great. You talk to any of those other guys, tell them I love to connect, we're all much older. I'm retired now. I just want to I'm interested to hear their sea stories as well. This is why I'm doing this, is because we all have interesting stories, yeah. And I I love reconnecting with people, and and I would still go to war for you guys to this day, right? At the end of it all, because I know you guys are freaking awesome, and that's just how it is, right? It's just like that.

Matt Klipfel 1:10:04

So yeah, and well, I'm glad you also you you you're in. I don't know why Walter's not getting on here, but he was a staunch supporter of you because he knew, you know, once you left, and you know, things like he's like, dude, senior wise kept this place going, like good. And so you should have him on. I really looked up to you. I was, you know, I think there's obviously some intimidation factor of a young sailor and his chief and that obviously, but for sure. No, you you did a great job. Honestly, a lot of the things that you guys taught us, hard work, and you know, so I carried that on with me.

Gary Wise 1:10:40

I I I definitely want to get Walter on here. Uh I'm trying to get Fuqua on here. I want to get Douglas on here. Those are all some guys I want to get. Um, yeah, I remember the time. Do you remember when you got there was something that happened where there's some Japanese went in repair five? Oh, yes. Okay, so I was in, he says, Oh, yes. So I was in Norfolk and they contacted me, right? And they wanted me to write a letter to say uh that that basically to cover for them. And I was like, look, bro, I'll write a letter saying nothing but great things about you, but y'all know better than that. Like, there's no way that should have never happened. And even they were like, damn, like he's even hitting us from there. I was like, look, you know, I'll write the I'll write a letter, but Matt, I can't save you from this one, it's just it is what it is. So yeah, yeah, I look forward to getting him on. Hopefully, he'll watch this when I release it. And I told him we were gonna be on too, so we'll see. Okay, so all right, man. Well, I appreciate your time. Tell the family I said hello, and uh, if y'all ever come out to Florida, let me know.

Matt Klipfel 1:11:44

I will let you know for sure. Thank you, uh, Gary. Yeah, dude, love what you're doing, keep it up.

Gary Wise 1:11:50

Thank you, brother. I appreciate y'all. Everybody listening to the sounds of our voice. If you like this kind of content, like, subscribe, share it with a friend. We appreciate y'all. All right, man. I'll see you later. Peace.

Matt Klipfel 1:12:02

Bye.