A Sailor loses his way, finds God, and leads with purpose

A senior chief once looked a captain in the eye and saved a young sailor’s career. That moment—anchored in truth and courage—sits at the heart of this conversation with Tony Cook, a Chicago kid turned Navy chief whose life was forged by failure, faith, and the fire of real work.

We walk through the knucklehead years, the undesignated grind, and a near-disastrous DUI with an unregistered firearm at the gate—then the comeback fueled by one leader’s advocacy and Tony’s decision to earn ESWS and own his path. From Sasebo storms on a rescue salvage ship to the relentless reality of “fixed systems” on a carrier, Tony lays out how damage control truly works: Halon, AFFF, HPLF stations, dailies that never end, and the 3M math that too often doesn’t add up. We dig into emergency management in Djibouti, the odd little miracle when the “rain stopped,” and how quiet faith steadies a crew when the sea gets mean.

You’ll hear how the chiefs’ mess at SWOS pushed him to the edge until it finally clicked—why community matters if you want to protect sailors for real. We get honest about a destroyer tour with thin support, the perfect storm of grief and divorce, and the hard choice to retire without a ceremony because the tank was empty. Then we switch to transition tactics: pay down debt, build a three-month runway, expect pay hiccups, and find mentors who’ve already crossed the bridge. Tony shares how he parents a teenager with time, questions, and stories he wishes he’d heard sooner—and why guarding against “the other guy” requires consistent faith and better habits.

If you care about leadership, shipboard readiness, or the messy, meaningful work of becoming a better man, this one will hit. It’s deckplate truth, told with humility: don’t stop, keep digging, and when someone saves you, pay it forward with action.

If this moved you, tap follow, share it with a shipmate or friend, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Your voice helps others find the show.

https://www.wordsfromthewise.net/

Transcript

Welcome, Sponsors, and Mission

Gary Wise 0:28

Hello everyone. Good afternoon. Good morning. Hafa Adai. Aloha. Whatever in your community they say when they say hi. Thanks for coming to spend some time with us here, Wise Leadership Solutions. Another word from the Wise Opportunity. Uh, today we've got a very important guest. Before I get to introducing the guest for the day and bringing him on board, I want to talk about a few things. Number one, we are sponsored by Wise Leadership Solutions, located in Ocala, Florida, North Central Florida. So if you're interested in leadership development, organizational leadership, improvement for your teams, and just talking to somebody that's really into leadership, let us know. Hit us up. We're local here. We work with everybody, but because of the schedule, it's it's actually a lot more fun where we can get with people in real world. Uh, next up, Church of Hope, South South Ocala. That's my home base. A couple of big things there. Number one, uh, this Sunday is 3G Sunday, so don't go to the church. Hopefully, you've connected with the church to get a school because they're coordinating with Mount Tabor Church as well. And they're going to be sending out people all across the county to minister and to pray on all the schools as we get ready to go back to school. And so please recognize that opportunity and hopefully you plug in. Also, August 17th, they're going to three services on Sundays, right? And what's dope is the 10 o'clock service where I'm helping them stand up a middle school ministry or a middle school group called Primetime. And we're doing that for the kids that are sixth to eighth grade, going into sixth to eighth grade. And it's going to be real exciting. Looking forward to giving those kids a special place to go to get to know Jesus and hopefully get to know friends as they get ready to go back to school. So that's going to be a lot of fun. And then last but not least, my Vanguard High School Navy Junior R O T C Ocala, Florida. Y'all know what time it is. It's almost time for us to get that ship underway, shift colors, deploy, and we're going to have a great school year. Uh, if you want to know more about the Vanguard High School nights, uh, please check out all of our socials, man, because we're outside. I appreciate y'all. And now, uh, next up, I'm gonna introduce my guy. This is my brother in Christ. This is my brother in damage control. He was my brother in the Navy Chiefs mess. And what's special for me is this dude, this guy is genuine. And I don't just say that because I got to initiate him, I don't just say this, I got to accept him into the mess. I just I've known the guy for a long time, and he's about as solid as you can be. And so I just really hope y'all are excited to hear and meet from meet this man. His he goes by the name of Tony. So, Mr. Tony Cook, welcome to the stage, bro. Hey, hey, how's it going? What's going good, man? It's going good, it's good to see your face, bro.

Introducing Tony Cook

Tony Cook 3:14

Yeah, it's been a minute, it's been a minute. Thank you having on having me on.

Opening Prayer and Intent

Gary Wise 3:19

Yeah, I I remember uh before we get started, bro, because I want to get into all that, but I just really feel I felt this morning I got up, did my thing, hit the gym, and as I'm getting ready to go, I'm like, I felt God say, Gary, you need to start praying at the beginning of these conversations because I'm praying with myself, but I'm not really praying typically with the people that I'm on the on the podcast with. So if you don't mind, I'd like to say take a moment, take a quick say a quick prayer, yeah, and then we'll get this going, okay? All right, Lord, amen. It's me and Tony, man. We appreciate you, God. We appreciate all the blessings you've given us, the air in our lungs, the opportunity to have another day on this earth, the chance to hopefully have a meaningful conversation that maybe will touch someone's life that's out there looking for us, right? And we're not sure why, but we just hope that whatever we say, however we say it, comes across the right way, communicates to the right people, and really does a good job of what I hope, what I know is sharing one of the most valuable stories in this world. And this is the story of a of a man walking in Christ and doing his best every day. Uh, and so Lord, we we thank you once again for this opportunity and for all the blessing that you give to us. And again, we just ask that you just cover down on us, watch our back, and we say these things in the name of your son and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. My God, my man. So, Tony, you and I first met, uh, Swass, Norfolk, Surface Warfare Officer School Learning Site. Uh, I was at the DK School, which is the senior enlisted damage control school. You were at the fire school, and as a matter of fact, I I actually really really remember the first time I met you, met you was when you made chief, right? Because you might have been a DC one over there at the time, but I was like this master chief over the other of the other place, right? Right. I mean that's how it was. But then when you made chief, okay, now now we're gonna see each other a lot more. And I was given the opportunity to be in charge of the initiation season because the other Master Chiefs were older, right? They didn't want to deal with it, they didn't want to deal with all the drama, they wanted to come and go as they as they saw it, and they knew I was going to CMC, so they're like, Gary, you got it, right? Um, and we're gonna get into all that, but but I will tell you where I really, really, really got a chance to know you really well was the day y'all came over to my house and y'all spent some time with my family. Yeah, uh, you remember that day?

Tony Cook 5:51

I do, I do, yeah.

Origins: Chicago, Family Roots

Gary Wise 5:53

That was real. Yep, it was great. Y'all did some yard work, whatever it was, and man, we had some good conversation on that day. And from that moment, we've just been connected, right? I mean, period. Uh and so I know I know the value you're about to bring to this to the people, bro. Because again, a lot of the people that watch this podcast are my my students, uh, their families, and of course, a lot of our military community has been dialing in as well. Plus other people, right? It's not just vets, it's not just military, but I think that your story is about to be so powerful because of the climate of the world that we're in today. Uh, you are you you're a testament to what you can do and what you can get done. So let's start from the beginning, and and I and I say that because Tony is gonna say he's from a bunch of different places, but what I remember he's from Chicago, right? So, Tony, tell me about that, bro. What was life like for you coming up and and why Chicago, out of all the places you live, do you reflect on that as being home base?

Tony Cook 6:57

So that that's that's a wild one. Um, so dad was a uh government contract who worked for the government as a contractor, so he moved around a lot, right? Um, so my childhood uh was based a little bit of everywhere. However, the family and the background of the family um comes from the south. You know, my dad is black, my mom is Mexican, and uh how they met um was they met in Joliet, Illinois. But the roots, my family migrated north up into Chicago. So aunts, uncles, cousins, uh they're all from the Chicago area, from the south side of Chicago. So that's always been home base for me. Um so growing up as a kid, um, we'd always go into Chicago, visit the family. I ultimately ended up living there, um, joined the Navy. Uh just just life ended up back home. My grandma took me in um in Chicago and I built, started building myself um there. Yeah, so that's my home foundation.

Gary Wise 8:12

So uh hold up real quick before we move past that. Uh what was it as a high school kid? Did you did you graduate? I did graduate, thank God. So what was it as a high school kid that made you possibly think the Navy was going to be an option? Or did did you even did you even think you had any other options besides joining the service?

Tony Cook 8:36

No. So let me like you said, let me back up. So I was on my own at 16. So so uh parents divorced when I was about 12. Um, Papa put me out when I was about 16. So uh fortunate to live with a friend at the time, didn't end up on the streets. Um, his family took me in. Um and uh had a girlfriend at the time, uh, my high school sweetheart, um, who is now my wife now. Um she had a a baby who was one year old, and I ended up um getting her pregnant again. Come to find out, Jasmine, the oldest, was was not mine. However, we didn't know. Um, but I know she got pregnant. Um at the time I was doing no good. Um, couldn't couldn't get a job.

Gary Wise 9:30

I was saying it ain't so, bro. Say it ain't so.

Teenage Trials and Choosing the Navy

Tony Cook 9:37

I'm definitely that guy, you know. So I was I was selling drugs and um and and just wasn't doing good. So having two kids and reflecting on life, I was like, well, you know, I ain't got no other choice, you know. I I wanted to do do better than than uh my pops, you know, and I wanted to give my kids an opportunity. So I was like, well, you know, it it's hit the fan, there's no other option. Let me go join join the military. So true story, I went to the Marines first, and uh went into the Marine recruiter. Yeah I walked in the office, he stood up from his desk, he looked me up and down, and he said, Nope. So for me, having the attitude I did back then, I was like, you know, I'm out, you know, you don't want me, I don't want to be part of you. So I walked out, army recruiter, walked into the army recruiter, army recruiter set me down, and I was gonna join the army on the way out of there. The Navy recruiter was standing there, and he was like, You gonna join the army? And I was like, Yep. And he was like, Come on, man, let me talk to you for a minute. So I said, Okay, you know, I'm open. So I walk in there, he brings out his cruise book. And look at this. So he started showing me the cruise book, all the different ports he had been to, all the you know, different things that he's done. And he was like, Why do you want to join the army? Learn how to dig a hole and live in it for six months when you could travel the world and do this. So I'm so I was like, Yeah, that's me. So that's how I ended up joining the Navy.

Gary Wise 11:26

That's great. You know what's funny, man, about that story. Of course, there's a lot of things that I relate to, you know. I remember, bro, there's like no pictures of me as a teenager, right? And that's I think it was on purpose. But number one, we didn't have cameras like we have today, easy access, true. And number two, all the pictures I took, I wasn't taking them. It was people in the neighborhood taking them. I was always in the group photo, you know, deep up, right? Being Mr. Cool. Um, but I just I think back on how I looked at that stage of my life, and I think what would I say to me at that age? And probably I'd say nope. Like, nah, doc. You you know, and I and so the fact that those people took the time to have the conversation with you and the Marine turned you away immediately, just for people understanding that when you make a choice off of a first impression, you might be missing a very important conversation, right? And and I love when people stereotype me now. Don't don't don't judge me. Good, good. You're not ready for what I'm about to bring, dog. So don't don't think I'm about to bring the heat because when I come with it, you're gonna be caught off guard. And then so I I can I I felt that. And then when it comes to uh the cruise book sharing, when I was a recruiter, I used to go do uh I'd do things with the army recruiter, right? We would go together. Her and I were about the same age. This is when I first got to recruiting, even before I met my wife, Erica, right? So I was I was talking to her, whatever it was. We was talking, and she would do this thing. She did it, she caught me slipping one time. She threw a pen out in the ocean and the carpet. She said, This is you in the navy. That's the ocean. Any questions? And I was like, Man, it's like that, like we doing each other like that. So then it was my turn to go next. She's again, you should never do that. You got you let me go first. Don't give me, don't give me the the material you're gonna use on me because I'm gonna flip it. So when I got up there, I said, Hey, real quick before I say anything else, this is you in the army, that's Missouri, bro. Everywhere the United States Navy goes on the beach, baby. Just so you know, let's just put that out there. And so I I see I can relate to the recruiter showing you, and back in the day, man, those cruises was freaking great, right? And the cruise books. I mean, how many adults I can say they have had those adventures in their adult life, and unfortunately, it's not many. They may get like one good vacation or like one good carnival cruise or whatever it is, but sailors, we get uh we we get some time to chill. Bless, yeah, we get some time to parlay, especially uh when we're younger and a little bit more crazy. Uh, so when you join the Navy and you get to the recruiter, he gets you the maps, whatever it is. Are you able to get a job right away, or do you got or do you come in undesignated?

Boot Camp Shock, Breakdown, and Scripture

Tony Cook 14:24

So I came undesignated. So true story. I was a little bitter when I first came in. So I was bitter because I told the recruiter I wanted to be a firefighter. Correct. Right? I wanted to be a firefighter. I knew that I was going through the different rates, and I chose you know to be a firefighter. Recruiter said, Yeah, I can make you a fireman. I had no idea. No idea. So being a fireman in the Navy, obviously, as you know, is undesignated. Yeah, so I go in undesignated and I end up with the GSMs, right? Right, I'm but I'm bitter because I find out that GSM is not a firefighter, it's not, it's not, you know. So I'll I'll listen to it.

Gary Wise 15:09

So everyone's listening, GSMs are gas turbine mechanics on the gas turbines for like the destroyers and the cruisers. Before we get to that, real quick, bro, and and I'm sorry I didn't ask this first, but coming from Chicago, going right into basic training, you ain't got to go far because it's right there. How was that for you from going from knucklehead, serving on the streets, out there, you know, doing your thing, independently running things. Now you're part of a team, and you got these grown men in your face letting you know that they think that you're not ready. Hated it.

Tony Cook 15:44

Did you hate it? Hated it. I hated boot camp. Actually, um, true story, I got in a fight and boot camp was supposed to be asthmoled back. Um, however, because of the team, by the end of the day, it was towards the end of boot camp, everybody kept quiet. Um, but boot camp for me, um, it was a love-hate relationship. I take it back. Um, I loved it because of the structure, yeah, which I didn't have. I loved it because of the challenge. Um, but the the part that I didn't like about it was the whole point of someone in my face telling me what to do, you know, because that was hard for me, you know. Who are you, you know, to tell me.

Gary Wise 16:31

And plus, bro, I can only imagine, right? You talk about Pop switched you out at 16, uh, you a young man. Look, I had a lot of strong role models in my life coming up, but they weren't good, right? And they was hard, right? They were hard to deal with. So I can handle the structure, I can be a militant, right? But once you get done dirty a few times, now you start to question authority. And certain people, what makes us even more wild than the other people is I could fall and step on me, but guess what? I'm not doing that, and now I'm not afraid to buck up on you. And so I can see where you coming from this position of having possibly some could some concerns listening to people, right? And then there you are, right? But what was but you said the team gave you some support, so you got you got into something and they had your back. How much did that matter to you at that point in time?

Tony Cook 17:26

Oh, it it was everything because at that point in time, um, I had realized that the Navy was all I had. So a little story, a little story while I was in there. Um I went in there because of the family, but while I was in there, uh we had a miscarriage, so you know the baby wasn't gonna be born, and at the same time found out that Jasmine wasn't mine. So my wife at the time said she needed some time, and we broke up. So I was in there because of her, right? But now I got nothing. And be and that's the actually the first time that I broke, right? You know, it was night, nobody's around. I put the covers over my head and I just let it all out. Yeah, but in that moment, I remember my mom telling me, if you didn't read the Bible, you're going to hell. So I was like, okay, well, this is all I got. It was the first time I I cracked the Bible, and first time I started reading a little bit, and I was like, it blew my mind because I was like, this is happening today, right? I'm going through these things right now, and it was relatable to me in that moment. So that was the beginning of the little seed that was planted and changed in my life and my direct my path. But anyway, so I finished boot camp.

Gary Wise 19:03

Hey, hey, real quick, I don't want to skip on that real fast. A lot of people going through basic training do have pivotal things happen in their life, it feels like, for whatever the reason. I don't know if it's because of the pressure, I don't know if the life change. I don't know if it's other people can't bet on us anymore because they feel like we're gone. So they're going to make a decision that's going to impact us or whatever it was. And so I know a lot of people will relate to the fact that you turn to scripture and turn to faith in that time because that's a lot of people going to church in boot camp. Very true. Every Sunday, right? And it's gonna be the same thing on the ship, I guarantee. When you get to the ship, if you go through hard times, you're gonna make your way to that Sunday service on the boat and find connection, find community, right? And so I just want everyone to understand that he's being he's being just keeping 100 with y'all. Here he is out there on a limb, trying to change his life and the stressful pressure cooker of people that are making him feel every day like he's not good enough and he's not gonna make it. And then, oh, by the way, the people he was doing it for, unfortunately, I mean, and nothing against them but their choices and their decisions because life is life for everybody, right? So, no judgment, no, no judgment, right? No judgment. I've been there now. I can tell we I got a very similar story. So, um having the ability to not put the blame on that person, but to go to God like, God, how can I figure this out? Huge, right? And so I just for everyone listening, that's a cheat code, right? Just saying, when in doubt, pray it out, right? Give the Lord an opportunity to step in and fill you up with that strength, and then uh shoot, move, and communicate, baby, right? Right, right. After you get that prayer in, after you get aligned with God, strap up, shoot, move, communicate, and step out. So now here you go, you're leaving basic, you're leaving basic training. You go to that little rink-a-dink fireman at d training course, which is like three days that I went to it as well. What year was this, by the way, for you?

Tony Cook 21:12

I graduated in April 96.

Gary Wise 21:18

So you graduated high school in 96? Boot camp. Boot camp. Because I so I came in in 97 right behind you on March of 97th. So you're coming in '96. How long was that fire? It's like three days, right? The school.

Tony Cook 21:32

Yeah, I believe so. I don't remember three days, bro.

Gary Wise 21:36

That's nothing. Like, I remember it's like this is a valve, right? This is about it goes out. Any questions? Okay, you're out of here. Like, I spent more time waiting for class to start and walking around the base trying not to get in trouble than I actually spent in class, right? Like, to learn how to be uh essentially a for everyone listening to a story, a fireman, in particular an undesignated fireman, essentially is essentially a Navy engineering apprentice, right? You have no specific job, which means they can put you anywhere they need you. And the idea is they're gonna check to see what you learn the best, and then eventually you can maybe get into that position, right? So, but you wanted to be a firefighter, and you went to the GSMs down in the engineering, the propulsion plant, correct, right? And and you said you didn't like you didn't enjoy that time with the GSMs.

Tony Cook 22:37

No, no, not at all.

Undesignated Life and First Ships

Gary Wise 22:39

I said, no, no, no.

Tony Cook 22:42

No, but to be honest with you, that's when I first met JJ. Okay, because he was a GSE.

Gary Wise 22:47

JJ's a good friend of yours, okay. He was a G a G assignment as well.

Tony Cook 22:52

He was a GSE three, he was a third class, right? So that's gas tournament electrician. Yeah, so um I didn't. Um again, I came in there with a little chip on my shoulder. Uh, what I did respect though, uh I had to respect it, is because back then in those days, you know, they were able to go hands-on, right? So, you know, me coming in thinking I was this guy, you know, that guy with a little chip on my shoulder, um, I got handled. You know, they took me down to the bottom, bottom of the ship, and I got handled. So, yeah, you know, but it was respect, you know, because that's that's that's the way it was.

Gary Wise 23:35

Nowadays they call that a friendly fade. And the vernacular to do with the kids, and look, coming up, bro. Let's be honest, it was the same way back home, right? So we call whether it was flat boxing or they escalated into being a wrestling match, escalated to be something a little bit more serious, and hopefully the people that care about y'all pull y'all apart, but y'all need to calm down, it's getting too far. But the real ones want to see, okay, bro. You said you're real, there's a quick way to figure this out, right? Correct, and and that's it. And and back in the day, engineering plant, bro. 100% we used to have a pit snipe wrestling federation belt, bro, on my first trip. A belt, it was a weightlifting belt, and trust you me, guys would walk down our watch, taking the watch with the belt over their shoulder, bro. Like, you want the belt? And it wasn't wrestling, bro. It was straight, it felt like UFC fighting, bro. It was like we didn't know what jiu-jitsu was, but you would sound like you choked out.

Tony Cook 24:38

Yes, you guys have birthing wars. We used to have the birthing wars, bruh, engineering birthing versus ops birthing, you know, like this in the navy.

Gary Wise 24:48

Everyone listen to our voice. He's talking about birthing. Birthing is where we all sleep, right? In the navy, if you don't sleep in that birthing, don't go up in that birthing alone. Don't go up in that birthing like you know what you're doing, because we do not like fevery, right? And something that comes up missing, we blaming you. Matter of fact, sailors are so salty, they'll remember something that was stolen like a year ago. And see you and think you might be the one that took my stuff a year ago. And I I remember my boots got stolen, my first ship, and I went down. I had been on the ship like two months, and I went down to the pit all watching tennis shoes. And my second class is like, Wise, where's your boots? I said, I don't know. I woke up and they was gone. He was like, Is your name in your boots? I was like, Well, yeah, I'm I'm new. I was like, Yeah, I written my my name and my boots up on the attack. He's like, Bro, go back and find your boots. Sure enough, I found my boots in air department birthing, bro. One one birthing down. Went back down to the birthing. He was like, I went back down to the pit, and this is not the best advice, but here's what he told me. He said, You you took your booty put your boots on? I said, Yeah, I'm wearing them. I found my boots. He's like, Who took them? I said, I don't know, everyone asleep. He said, Nah, go back, put the boots back, wait till the guy come get them, and then do what you gotta do. Sure enough, that's what I did, bro. Went back, put them down, laid the trap, handle my business because he was like, Look, you're gonna teach them Airedales, they're not gonna come and engineer and birthing and still know the boots. And I don't know to this day why, how, what, and it wasn't like it was some major cage match, but there was an altercation had right, and it was like, bro, you're not gonna take my, you know, and I stood, I had to settle my business, and it was what it was. And to this guy's credit, after we got to know each other the long, he was a young dude too. He lost his boots somewhere in the game, and he he didn't think twice about it. Was my boots, he just snuck into another birther and grabbed someone's boots that looked about the right size, right? Right, and there you go, and so we're very protective over our birthing spaces, and so you got that part, and then the other part is you've got competition, right? We're we're competitive. So, what was your birthing wars about on your ship?

Tony Cook 27:09

So you name it, you know, we we did it for fun, you know, just cuz, but yeah, there was there was some thieves, and you know, people got handled that way as well. But it just became a birthing competition. It was beat us against the airedales, you know. So we'd be chilling, watching TV, you know, when we had downtime off a watch. Next thing you know, there'd be five or six of the airedales coming through the birth, you know, coming to wreck house. So then it would it'd be the call, you know, get on the J Dal real quick. Hey, officers down here in the burden, and then we back up. Yeah, but that was on the kid, the USS Kid. So a kid was an all-male ship, you know, at the time before you know the integration of the other females. So that was my first experience, you know, with the Navy.

Gary Wise 27:57

And so when you got there, you're working as a GSM or you're working with the GSMs, were you just like messenger of the watch, rover, baseline? And so bilge cleaner. Yeah, yeah. I hey bro, you know, I remember my first year in the navy, I was so proud because I didn't qualify nothing, right? Like, I was like, bro, you I used to, I was good at skating, right? I used to throw some gloves on and grab a clipboard and just walk around real fast. Like I was always tasked with something, and it wasn't until after about I was in the navy like a year because there was number one, there wasn't the level of of urgency put on qualifications like there was later in my career. I don't feel like, and I was on a LHA, there was a lot of people, right?

Tony Cook 28:44

So back then it was it was about becoming a master of whatever your trade was, yeah. You know, so if you if you were a DC man, for example, you were the best D seaman that you could be, you know. It was it was prior to you know getting a college education and and all of that. It was it was about being a master of your job, but yeah, but if you're undesignated, you don't give a damn about none of their jobs. You know, I was a master in stripping and waxing. That's what uh that's what uh that's what I was. You know, I stayed stripping and waxing some decks, bro.

Gary Wise 29:15

You know, I don't know when did when when did the navy stop stripping a waxing decks? It feels like we my first years, I was stripping and waxing a lot of P Ways too. I think it came when they started laying down that other new decking that they got, yeah, right? Because we used to strip wax a lot of decks, and they started laying down like that freaking polyurethane stuff that just supposed to stay shiny, it looks like crap. I mean, but but that's remember when they wore the NWU's, the blueberries, they laid down the deck and they blend it right in with the deck, yeah. When those first came out. My guy, so you're on the USS Kid. Where's the kid look out of?

Gate Incident: DUI, Firearm, and a Second Chance

Tony Cook 29:50

So the kid was out of Norfolk, however, I met it in Panama, so they were down there doing drug ops. So that was so my first day. On the ship, my chief and my first class took me out. They welcome aboard. You know, this is where you're gonna be sleeping. Drop your bag, we're all headed out. So we all went out. They they got me blasted, not gonna lie. My first class, Woody, I remember his name, GSM1 Woody, picked me up and took me across the brow because I was done, right? Day one. Day one. How old are you? 18, 19, 18. Okay. Um took me down, put me in my rack. Said, don't worry about getting up tomorrow. We got you. Because they already knew. But that was my introduction. I never forgot it. You know, to me, um, you know, as far as leadership goes, that's that was the type of, in my opinion, leadership that I always wanted to be like, right? So they used that opportunity to get to know me day one, right? So we're gonna got get him out here, get him a little, you know, tipsy, but get to know who he really is as a person, you know, as a young man. And um, you know, I know we can't do that nowadays, but back then, I, you know, that was that was my introduction, and that's how I started to open up and get to know those guys a little bit more.

Gary Wise 31:22

Correct. But so as you're going through your time, how long does it take for you to get to where you're gonna actually select a rate? And how did you land on or a job, like a career, like a a tribe, if you will, in the Navy? Because in the Navy, we're very much we're very committed to our ratings. Like other people have their MOSs, we could we have ratings in the Navy, and I'll tell y'all, don't play with them. Like, they took the rate a rating away not too long, like a couple years ago, and it was damn near a revolt. Like, and and and if you didn't know this, the United States Navy was founded, really was pirates that decided to be good, and and they can be pirates real quick, mess around and find out. That's why mutiny is the word you gotta worry about. And I was talking to a buddy of mine. If you didn't know this, when the Marines first started, their role on the ships was twofold. Number one, to swing across to the other ships to fight and be sharpshooters out of the yard arms, but number two, protect the officers from the crew because you mess around and the crew will remember very quickly they don't need you to drive the boat. They may not know where they're going, but they don't need you to drive, they'll figure it out, right? And so the Marines would sleep in between the sailors and and the leadership, and so and I and I say that because in the Navy we've got a very proud sense of independence, right? We have no problem being independently minded, and then we choose our teams and we choose to lock in. And a big part of that is your your rate, right? Because that's your shop, that's your people. You guys got that mission, and like you said, when you're when you're undesignated, you kind of feel like you an orphan in a sense because ain't no one ain't no one picked you, right? I chose damage control because I was a DCPO already, right? As a collateral duty, which is a guy working on the portable firefighting extinguishing gear, and number two, it's because they had a shop, we didn't have no shops in the pit, right? We didn't have no shops, we had the pit and we had the birthy. There was no in-between, not for the junior sailors. So I'd go see the D seamen and they'd be in there watching dang national lampu Christmas adventure, freaking drinking sodas. I'm trying to get my little pars signed off, and they talk a smack, like oh, we're the flying squad, you know, pair five ain't nothing. We're a pair four, bro. Y'all dying first anyway. We're the pros. We're gonna like I was just like, bro, y'all killing me. That's why I went DC members. I thought they had good. Why did you choose to go damage control?

Tony Cook 33:53

So, you know, again, I wanted to be a fireman, right? But then when I got to the kid, the DC men, they were that guy, you know. Being a DC man on a ship, and I still feel that way about DC, you know, you are you are that man, you know, you are that guy that everybody goes to for the training, everybody goes to for for everything that has to do with the ship, you know, uh survival-wise. So I've always wanted to be, you know, that that guy when it comes to, you know, being a D seaman or being a firefighter. Um, that was just something, you know, saving lives is just something that was, you know, my life for somebody for a bigger purpose, I guess, uh is just something that was always in me. Um, so I always wanted to be a D seaman. Now, mind you, I had a bad attitude, so I got tossed around. I went from being a GSM to my next ship was the enterprise because a kid decommed in two years. And then I went to the enterprise, right? Went to a carrier.

Gary Wise 34:59

Were you still undesignated at that point?

Tony Cook 35:01

I was because I was a Reddit.

Gary Wise 35:03

Okay, so you were an undesignated fireman for three and a half years. Okay.

Tony Cook 35:10

Almost for three and a half years, yeah.

Gary Wise 35:12

Yeah, that part.

Tony Cook 35:14

Yes. So I went from GSM to the HTS, from the HTS up to uh training department. And I was working, they put me underneath the chain in the engineering department. You know, maybe the chang will get them right. But that's where I learned my yeoman skills. That's how I learned how to type, you know. And um after the engineering log room is where I was at, they were like, okay, we got to get them up out of here. And they sent me the training department. So in training department is where I got in trouble, and I went to Captain's Mass for the first time. Um, and I got in trouble for uh uh unregistered firearm and a DUI. Uh because what happened what happened was I joined the military to not only take care of my family, but to get away from the lifestyle that I was living. Yeah, unfortunately, I got with the wrong crowd in the military. Um, of course, you got everybody from all around the world coming together. So I found my little tribe of bad boys and we did bad boy things. Yeah, right. So here I am doing the same thing.

Gary Wise 36:35

In Virginia, are you still in Norfolk?

Tony Cook 36:37

Still in Norfolk.

Gary Wise 36:39

Hey, people that don't know, after Rhodes gets busy, if you're looking for it, it's there. You know, after Rhodes gets busy, that's it.

Earning ESWS, Leaving Active Duty

Tony Cook 36:49

So uh yeah, so went out clubbing, was toasted, decided I didn't want to pay for a hotel. I'm gonna try to make it back to the ship. Came through the gate. They happened to do a random inspection. Told the guy, uh, he's going through his little spiel, and he was like, if you don't comply, this is what we're gonna do as the MA. And I was like, What happens if I don't comply? You know, because I already knew I had my gun in the glove department. And he was like, This guy doesn't want to comply. He turned around to tell, you know, the guard check. And when he turned his back to me, I went to grab the gun and I was gonna put it on me because I knew they was gonna search the car. I didn't see his partner behind the car. And when I went to grab the gun, it fell on the floor. He saw the gun and he was like, He's got a gun, he's got a gun. Yeah, bro.

Gary Wise 37:44

You lucky drew out of that one alive, dog. Yeah, let's be honest, man.

Tony Cook 37:48

That's all God.

Gary Wise 37:50

Them dudes is not they they're they're already nervous, right? Yes, these are the base security, these are they don't get a lot of action like that, right? No, I mean you are you you reaching, bro. You lucky, bro. Hold it.

Tony Cook 38:03

Very, very so they drag me out, hog tie me, you know, put me no the whole nine, just like you see on TV, you know.

Gary Wise 38:10

Oh, yeah, for sure. Oh man, you lucky. I'm telling you, bro, you lucky, and that guy was slipping because they should have never turned their back on you like that. I mean, but of course he had his homie watching you, but they should like drive her hands on the steering wheel, bah, like the whole nine, but you have to remember at that point you just coming through the gate, it's a random stop. They're not thinking it's nothing serious. And this is where if you in law enforcement, you don't ever know, right? You might think it's a regular stop, and that might be the guy with the zipper in there, he's about to just everything, and exactly, and that's a that's that's one of the scariest parts of law enforcement, and I I support law enforcement wholeheartedly, but I also understand there's people out there that are playing for a different team. I'm not even gonna say it's the other team, right? I don't know, I don't know about you, but when I was a kid, I didn't I didn't mind police, I didn't mind I I I felt about them like I felt eventually about the Sailors as a chief. It's their job to mess up, it's my job to catch them, right? If I don't catch them, they're doing my job. I was gonna do what I was gonna do with the police's job to catch me. If they caught me, good for you, you win, right? We'll go again later. Here you are, you thinking about I gotta hide this gun on my body because they might search the car, yeah. Right? I mean, you're not thinking about all right, well, here we go. We no, no, you're fighting all the way to the end in your hand, like I'm gonna make a move, bruh. And so, oh my god, so you want an aircraft carrier new to the ship, Hampton Roads, still an undesignated sailor, and you get busted with a DUI and now an unregistered firearm coming through the gate. Well, how are you still in the Navy, bro? Like, seriously, because if you was on my ship, my command, I might have just been like, homie, you better tell me. No, no, I'll probably let you talk, right? Because secretly I'd probably have some love for it, right? I like, oh, I get it. Right, but what are we doing here? Like, why are what happened? How did you come through that?

Tony Cook 40:14

Uh so go to captain's mess, my lieutenant, my commander, my first class, standing before the captain. Captain says, Lieutenant, tell me about your sailor, commander, tell me about your sailor. First class, tell me about your sailor.

Gary Wise 40:33

They all said training department, correct. Training department, these are people not not in rates, not in their they are all in another department made of all temporarily assigned people.

Tony Cook 40:45

Correct. But they usually none of them backed me. They were all like, you know, he did what he did. Yep, let him go. The last one the captain said was senior chief. Tell me about fireman cook. Senior chief looked down, he looked at the first class, he looked up, he looked at the commander, he said, I don't know about them. He said, But fireman cook is the hardest worker that I have. And he said, I can't get anybody else to work as hard as he has. His uniform is always squared away. You know, I said, he said, Captain, if it was me, I'd keep him in the navy, I'd give him another shot. And the captain said, straight up, if it wasn't for your senior chief, I'd kick you out of my navy. Right?

Grandma’s House: Humility and Manhood

Gary Wise 41:38

So I'm not even gonna lie, bro. Like, I would have to see you before mass as the CMC chief. I'd be like, bro, you need to tell me now what are we doing here? Because then I'll go, I'll go to warfare, you know what I throw down. But if you would have said, MC, this ain't for me, the uh the streets are calling, I would have respected that too. I just gotta go, bro. You're a different breed though. Well, we've always been a great leader, right? We both don't, but did you want to stay in the navy at that point when you got in trouble? When I got it, why would you want to stay? I mean, you out there running doing what you're doing. Why would you want to stay in the navy? You're not making rank, it's not working for you in training, correct? You should be until the end of your first four-year commitment. Why would you want to stay in anyway?

Tony Cook 42:27

That was the only I wanted out to be honest with you. I wanted out, but I I knew in the things that I was doing, I was supposed I was supposed to have been out. But when I had that downtime when I got locked down to the ship, you know, I realized at that time that I had nothing else.

Gary Wise 42:48

I didn't have nothing else. You know, I did that. Thank God for unanswered prayers, right? Because you might have thought you wanted out. Because well, my first three years in the Navy, thank God for not having cameras in the late 90s. Thank God for not having all this technology. Because over in Sasebo, Japan, we were banging, bro. Bang. You had people from all across the world: LA, New York, Chicago, Florida, Miami, Texas, right? New Orleans, late 90s, make them say right back then days, and we're all in Sasebo, and we're getting wild, and we have nothing to do besides drink, pretend like we're living a life of a music video. And I mean, bro, we used to pick, we used to throw barbecues on the weekends. You thought I'm telling you, you watch Dr. What's like the Chronic, that music video of the chronic, and that's what it looked like in Sasebo, except with a bunch of Japanese girls.

Tony Cook 43:44

Nice, right?

Gary Wise 43:45

And no cars because none of us had cars. We was all walking, carrying bottles and bricks and bags from the from the from the corner store from the minute from the mini mart package store. And we would be out at the park all day playing spades, domino. That was the navy back then. That that was the that was America back then, bro. Like that was the culture, we'll talk about the Navy because we was all from somewhere else, so we was all connecting with each other, right? And so I feel and overseas is even a little bit more so because we got nowhere to go, right? You had a car, you had a place to go, we were stuck, but I feel all that, right? And so I also had to go through a period where I had to realize that I had not gotten better by joining the Navy, and if I was to get out of the Navy, I I'm back to square one, minus 10, because now I'm an alcoholic and now I'm older, and now I've I didn't save all that stuff. So you're on restriction, and you just and something about that restriction, you decide that I want to stay in the name. Is it just because you almost got kicked out? And so now you're like, I want to stay in, or was it like you really recognize that you had to grow up?

Tony Cook 45:01

So I still want it out. So what did it though is because of what senior chief had done for me, my goal was I needed to pay him back, you know, because he put his neck on the line for me, right? So it was when the e swaps pen first came out. So my way of showing my senior chief that I appreciate what he did for me, you know, because I could have got out with a dishonorable, you know. I still was gonna get out, but I wanted to get out with an honorable, you know. I didn't want to be a failure. So I studied, I studied harder than I've ever studied for anything in my life. Never studied like I studied for that. Go up for the board, I fail. Crushed me, right? I had another young, another young guy who um came to me and he was like, Cook, don't give up. He's like, Don't give up, don't let him win. You know, he was like, Look at me, I got my e swaps and my air pin. He was like, Don't give up. Yeah, and and I was like, all right, you know, boom, let's do this. So I studied even harder, right? Went back for the second time and I I got my e swaps pen. Right. So that was my way of showing, you know, my senior chief, you know, thank you, you know, to make make him look, you know, good, you know, because back then, if you if you got it got a pen, you know, a whole ship knows, you know, that you got your pen. So yeah, for sure. After that, um, I ended up getting out, got out of the navy, and I got it, made it out with an honorable. So my goals, my goals back then, you know, I didn't really have any. So my goal was to buy a house. This is what my goals was to buy a house and meet a girl in every port. Yeah. And I didn't buy a house. So I get out.

Gary Wise 46:56

Real talk. I get out. I've been there. I was I was raised in the Western Pacific theater, right? I get it. Yeah.

Falling, Firing, and Hard Lessons

Tony Cook 47:04

So I get out. Well, it's time for me to get out, and I'm trying to contemplate, you know, I'm looking at my life and where I can go. And if I went anywhere, I knew I was gonna get in more trouble. I was gonna continue down that path. But there was one place where I could go where I know I wouldn't get in trouble, and that was with my grandma. So um I called up grandma, was like, hey, you know, I'm getting out of the military, you know, can I come stay with you? Yeah, and uh she said, Yeah. So I moved in my with my grandma, and boy, that's when my life changed. Dad's side or mom's side?

Gary Wise 47:40

Dad's side, dad's side of the family. All right, cool.

Tony Cook 47:43

Yeah, everything is dad's side.

Gary Wise 47:45

Okay, where and where's grandma living at?

Tony Cook 47:47

She was in Chicago.

Gary Wise 47:49

Okay, and so you get to Chicago living with grandma. What causes life to change by living with grandma? And I live with my grandmother for ninth grade, so I know what it's like to live with your grandmother, bro. Trust me, I was that was a you I never watched one little house on the prairie my whole life.

Tony Cook 48:08

Yes, so grandma, she was not having none of that. That sailor that came home, she wasn't having it. And because I had that love and respect for her, uh, she was the only one to show me unconditional love throughout my entire life. So when I moved in with her, she she just wasn't having it. She was like, and I'll give you an example. I had a young girl come pick me up at the house, right? She was like, Where are you going? I said, I'm going out. She was like, Who's outside? And I said, you know, my friend. And she was like, Your friend. And she was like, Is it a girl? And I was like, Yes, ma'am. And she was like, No, tell her to leave. Tell her to leave right now. I was like, What? I was like, Why? She's like, No woman comes pick up a man, you're a man, you need to go pick her up, and you ain't got no car, so you ain't going out.

Gary Wise 49:09

I was like, Really? She said, You're not qualified to go out, bruh. Exactly.

Tony Cook 49:14

Exactly. She she was the woman really you you ain't no man, you ain't got no car. You supposed to go pick her up. Yeah. So yeah, she she taught me what it was and what a real man is supposed to be like. Not the streets, not the streets, but what a man is supposed to be like. And and man, she just changed my life. You know, I I appreciated I appreciate her. She was my everything, man. She she she taught me what I was supposed to be like, you know, what a man is is is supposed to be, you know, a real man. You know, you ain't supposed to be out here running the streets, you know, getting them numbers under your belt and and doing all that other stuff. So yeah. Uh she gave me an opportunity. She gave me my first uh job, you know, outside in the civilian world. She called in a favor because I was trying to get a job, you know. I was out there with a resume, walking the streets, you know. She told me to go out here, put on a little suit. And she was like, go to every little place and give them your resume and tell them you want a job. I did, I tried. But, you know, what really did it for me, I went to the unemployment office and uh the veterans rep there. And uh said, Hey, um, I need a job, you know, because they tell you going through the taps, you go to the unemployment office, there's a vet rep to help you get a job. And I'm in Chicago now, so you know, there's a lot of people. Vet rep was like, look at that line out the door. He was like, What makes you better than any other person in there? He was like, Here's a job working in a factory, and I was too prideful, didn't want to do the factory job. And he was like, Who makes you better? You know, what makes you better than any of those perk people? And it was a reality check, you know, for me. Okay, so I'm a little all over the place, but I don't know.

Gary Wise 51:04

I hear, bro. Like, I can only imagine having got out of the service and and thank God you went to grandma's house and didn't slip back into the into the streets because you might not have. I mean, it's one thing to be bucked wild as a teenager, right? It's another thing to be bucked wild as a as an over 18 young man that once you catch those, you're lucky that when they caught that gun charge, it was on base. Yes, right? If that had been out in town and you caught the felony pop, you'd be done, bro.

Tony Cook 51:33

And five years, five years mandatory it was at that time.

Gary Wise 51:37

It would have been a whole new, whole new world, right? And so I I can only imagine um the the risk, and and so and to truth be told, I give you props for standing on your business and getting out because I remember what I thought about getting out, and I I thought I was getting out, but in my heart, I was scared as hell to get out because I knew I hadn't done no better, and I knew there was nothing back home from every time I went home on leave, I'd come home, drop my bags, hit the block, come back two weeks later, see mom and dad for a little bit, and then go back to the navy again, right? So I wasn't no better, and none of my friends thought I was, right? My family thought I was. My family was like, Oh, Gary, you're out there serving this country, give you a book. I got back home with my friends, oh do. But I got money, right? Right now, next level, I got gas money, bro. I got gas. I was so proud for when I get home only, right? Bro, my tank never goes under half tank, bro. I stay full, you know what I'm saying? If I get gas, I don't get gas. Even if I don't need gas, because I remember being broke and being like, we can't who got gas money? We put together $34 to see how far that will get us, and we hustling just to make a meal work. And so I was flossy a little bit when I come home from the service, and and because you know, I and I'd have stories to tell, right? Here's how we live in overseas, here's how these countries are, blah blah blah. But I was like, if I get out of the navy and go back home, I'm gonna throw it all away. So I give you props for for still standing on your business because I'm getting out, I'm not staying in the navy, and then deep and you know, moving back to grandma. So, at what point is it that you're with grandma where you decide what power what brings you back into the into the navy, bro?

Reserves, Kuwait, and Return to Active Duty

Tony Cook 53:24

Life. So grandma gets me a job. I'm doing leasing as a leasing agent, and I end up long, you know. She called she worked for Draper and Kramer, which is a big real estate company in Chicago. So she retired from from there. So she called in a favor, got me a job as a leasing agent. And how that's when I made big money, you know. I was making real good money, bought a new vehicle, whole nine, doing, you know, thinking I'm doing my thing, but I was still partying, I was still still doing the stuff and hiding it from grandma, right? I get fired for the first time. So I get fired from that job because I'd go in and I'd I was drunk, I ain't gonna lie. Yeah, get fired. Um now I'm struggling to find a job. You know, now I embarrass grandma. So I go out and I'm drinking, and I hit my first accident with my vehicle. And I did it, I did a hit and run. Um crashed crashed my vehicle.

Gary Wise 54:38

I was that was my second one. So you crashed your vehicle and then you got out and then you physically ran? No, no. So you put it in reverse and and then I crashed my vehicle.

Tony Cook 54:50

It was a younger guy. Uh we get out the car, and first thing I said is, You hit me. Yeah, he was like, No, no, you hit me. Yeah, and I started coming through because I, you know, I was partying all night and I wasn't, I wasn't there, I was drinking and driving. Yeah, and uh I look at and I'm like, Yeah, you're right. I hit him. And I was like, hey man, you know, I tried, hey, can you let me go? You know, I ain't got no insurance, I ain't got no, you know, and he was like, No, I already called the police. So my wheels start spinning, you know, how am I gonna get out of this one? How am I gonna explain this to grandma? You know, you know, I what am I gonna do? I was like, hey, let's get back in our vehicles and move out of the street so we can let the traffic go. And he was like, okay. So I got in my cars, gone. So I went went and hit the vehicle. Then I had my boys later on down the line tow my vehicle to the house and brought the vehicle, and that's how I started learning how to work on cars, you know, because I couldn't afford, you know, to fix it, but I slowly put it back together and got some wheels. But I would say life at that time was was dark, you know, couldn't get no did they catch up with you on the hit and run charge? No, never got I'm telling you, Lord's been with me my entire time, you know. Lord, Lord has been with me. You know, I even did a hit and run while I was in the Navy. That's a whole nother story, you know. So um, so did that, got away with that, thank God. Um about a year and a half out, I joined the reserves.

Gary Wise 56:34

I don't know if God did that for you, bro.

Tony Cook 56:36

I'm not well save me from save me from that. Yeah, it could be got some luck.

Gary Wise 56:44

You might have got some luck on that one, homeboy.

Tony Cook 56:46

My grandma was praying for me, somebody was praying for me.

Gary Wise 56:49

Um someone was praying for you, and I'm gonna go ahead and say a prayer for that young man who got his car hit because I'm sure he had to answer to some people as well for what happened and whatever. And look, having lived the life that I lived and having my regrets in this world for the people that I did wrong, who I never saw again, didn't even know who they were, just did them dirty. And truth be told, bro, I'm glad I was just glad you didn't wreck the kid, right? Because in my thought, that's what I mean. But I was I was violent when I was younger, you know what I'm saying? And I'm if you already intoxicated, you get out, or you hit my car, and he don't and he's younger than you, you the the the strong will prey on the weak, right? And so I was glad to hear that you didn't that part didn't happen, right? Because I was waiting to hear that part, and then I get it, I get you see a seam to dip out, you dip, right? You make a move, and and I'm I'm never mad at somebody when they get away with that at the end of the day because ultimately karma cut karma is karma, right? Catch up to you, it will, but it's just it's just an interesting part of the story. I wanted to double check because for me, the hearing the the tone of your vote, your voice, it's like you got caught for that hit and run because you're holding yourself accountable, yeah, right? You're holding yourself accountable for that moment, even if society didn't hold you accountable, you own it, and you're like, Dang, gotta, you know, that was a tough one. Okay, so now you got this broke down car at your grandma's house. Yeah, my grandma's house. What's she saying? She's like, bro, how'd the car developed?

Tony Cook 58:24

She, you know, she really didn't say much, to be honest with you. You know, and then like praying, praying, praying. My grandfather had a little geo storm, right? Because her thing was, how you gonna get to work? And I was like, I'll do whatever I gotta do. You know, I'll take the bus, I'll walk, you know. Yeah, and my grandfather came outside and he was like, Tony, I want you to have my car. And I was like, No, heck no.

Gary Wise 58:54

And was granddaddy in the scene the whole time?

Tony Cook 58:57

He was, but my granddaddy was quiet. He didn't he wasn't a man of words, you know. If he says something to you, it was either, you know, good job or you ain't doing a good job, and I need to correct you to protect you.

Gary Wise 59:11

And I'm like, grandma and grandpa were they were both your your dad's parents.

Tony Cook 59:17

Yeah.

Gary Wise 59:17

Okay. I mean, I just that's a very interesting point for me because I I'm from a maternal family as well. My grandma ran the show, my aunts ran the show. Uh, the men were the men were there, they were strong, but the women were the ones that were the most vocal, right? But but I think that's an interesting thing to catch that there was a person in the house that can give you that perspective. But he he he he just it sounds like he's stepping in at this point, right? He's gonna give you an opportunity to help out to make a move and and giving you some wheels to get to and from work. And where are you working at now? Are you still working for the leasing agent thing, or you already been fired there working some more leasing agent?

Sasebo and Finding Peace at Sea

Tony Cook 59:59

Yeah, absolutely. Still there at the leasing agent. It was before I got fired. So yeah. And uh, you know, I couldn't accept it. So apparently I I had hurt his feelings. I didn't know. You know, apparently he went back in and told my grandmother, you know, that he didn't want the car. So here's was it here's my blessing. Was it you were too good to drive a Geo? No, wasn't too good. It's just nobody had never done anything like that for me in my life. You know, so it was hard for me to accept such a big gift. You know, you giving me a car, you know? So it was pride, it was all pride because grandma checked me, you know, when I went in. She checked me on that, and it was my first lesson on pride. She was like, Tony, she was like, Your grandfather tried to do something nice for you because you don't have a car. And I was like, I don't care. You know, I'll walk, you know, I'll do whatever's necessary. And then she was like, Listen to me. She was like, You hurt your grandfather's feelings because he was trying to do something nice for you because he knows you don't have a car. You know, she was like, There's a time to be prideful and a time not to be prideful. And right now is one of those times where you're not supposed to be prideful because you need a car. You know, and that's how my grandma would talk to me. She she'd school me, you know, yeah, and that's why I love her to this day, because I never had that. I never had someone that come alongside me and say, Hey, you know, knucklehead, this is what you're supposed to be doing.

Gary Wise 1:01:36

Coaching you up, man. She's coaching you up. Sure. Okay, so what then takes you to the navy back to the recruiter again? Is it recruiter you go to? I did.

Tony Cook 1:01:50

So I used to mess with this young girl on the on the on the uh on the enterprise.

Gary Wise 1:01:56

Yeah.

Tony Cook 1:01:57

And she followed me, right? So I get out, I go home to Chicago, she gets a job as a recruiter in Chicago, right? So at this time, life hits, is rough. Um I'm messing around with another girl, and I move out of grandma's house because I'm a big boy now. You know, I get my own apartment, but the girl that I was with messing around with on the ship, she becomes a recruiter. In between that time, I'm like, hey, I need medical benefits, I need dental benefits. You know, I didn't realize everything the Navy had to offer me at the time, my first enlistment. Yeah. So now I'm looking at life and I'm like, man, I had a good, you know, in the Navy. I had a place to sleep, I had food to eat, you know, I had medical, I had dental. And so I'm like, I want to get back in, you know, I want to go back in. Yeah. Because I can appreciate it now going back home, you know. So I hit up old girl who's recruiting, and I was like, hey, you know, can you get me back in the Navy? She was like, no. She's like, Navy's really not looking for what year was that had to be about 2000, about 2000.

Gary Wise 1:03:28

Okay.

Tony Cook 1:03:30

99. 99, 2000.

Gary Wise 1:03:33

And Navets were not a thing, right? We were not bringing back in Navy veterans, yeah.

Tony Cook 1:03:38

Yeah. So I ended up joining the reserves. Okay. So I joined the reserves, and um, I'm with a CB unit at this time. So still knucklehead, still not studying to make rank or do anything like that, right? It's all about survival for me. The military has always been about survival uh for me. And um, so join the reserves, four and a half years of reserves, 9-11 happens. Um, we get activated. I go to Kuwait in support of the war, right? So while I'm in Kuwait, I'm taking taking care of my mom at the same time, and I use that opportunity to go back active duty. So 2005, I come back active duty. While I was in the reserves, the CMC sent me to DCA school, and that's where I got my DCA school because I was a DC three on the way out of the door when I returned when I got out the Navy the first time.

Gary Wise 1:04:44

I made DC C you you had made DC men before you got out. Correct. When you came in the reserves, you were a DC men attached to a CD unit.

Tony Cook 1:04:53

So I was, but the way that happened, I came in under the rescore program, so I was an SM. So my recruiter told me, you know, if you don't take the test, you could you keep your rate as a DC. My contract came up and they were about to kick me out of the reserves because I didn't take the test for SM. They were saying you didn't fulfill your contract. I was like, Well, my recruiter told me if I didn't take the test, I would continue on as a DC. So they worked it, they put me out and brought me back in on the same day, but they brought me back as a DC. Cool.

Gary Wise 1:05:30

You know, and I know you understand that because of all that well, it just it's another story that goes to show you that they can make amazing things happen when they want to.

Tony Cook 1:05:38

Correct.

Djibouti, IAs, and Emergency Management

Gary Wise 1:05:40

Right? When you know the right people at the right place at the right time in this world today, they can make miracles happen, right? It's just getting to know who those people are and then giving them a reason to want to work with you, right? And want to help you out and want to do those little things, and and and it's really not that hard. But then like that one girl told you, but you can't you can't do it. I guarantee if you had had the right person, they would have got you back in the navy that fast, right? But she didn't know, and you didn't know who else to call, so you went reserves and you did what you could do. Okay, and then now you're coming back in the navy, you're a DC man, and you got an A school now, which is dope. I never got A school, right? I never got no A school. I never went to an NEC school, like a school for our rate, damage control, until I was chief, bro. Wow, you didn't ever know. I never went to C B R and D school until I was a chief, DK's. I had to go to C B R D to go to DK's. Oh, yeah, people would always say that, bro. I remember I was an ATG San Diego leading a working group of all the ATGs, and all these people are like, you gotta have all these NECs to do all these things, and my senior started laughing at him. His name was DeWan. The one started laughing at them all. Like, what you laughing at? They're like, because Yes up there, he ain't got none of them schools that I put him down for pound against any of your chiefs. But I was I was from the school of the deck plates, you know what I'm saying? Like, I was I was from I was from I'm from engineer department, bro. Like, um, but I wasn't, you know, as a damage patrolman, you don't get it just being engineered, you gotta be for the whole command, right? Otherwise, like you're gonna be short-sighted because we run multiple command programs. Okay, so when you come back in the Navy now as a DC3 active duty that now has done time in Kuwait, time with the CBs, time as a civilian veteran, plus your original time. How much different is this next tour about to go?

Tony Cook 1:07:38

I ended up in Sassabo.

Gary Wise 1:07:40

Sassa Vegas. Did you go though? You went to a sweep?

Tony Cook 1:07:44

I did end up going to the sweep. I took another one.

Gary Wise 1:07:47

You what so you went to Sassabo on a Mind Sweeper?

Tony Cook 1:07:50

No, no, I went to the Safeguard, a rescue salvage ARS 50. Okay. So true story, mean JJ's still friends, right? I hit him up, was like, hey, I'm coming back in. He's a career counselor at the time. And um I was like, hey, I need to go overseas because I know that's where the money's at. You know, I was like, can you get me overseas? So he got me the billet to Sasebo, Japan, um on a safeguard. So that's how I ended up in Sasebo.

Gary Wise 1:08:24

And I I remember the safeguard because it was a little ship. Um, but it near the mine sweepers is why in my mind I compartmentalized it as a minesweeper because I was I was on Bellow with my first ship. When year did you go to Sasebo?

Tony Cook 1:08:37

That was that was 05, 05, 06.

Gary Wise 1:08:45

And you go there as a DC3? Yeah, back in those days, are you living on the ship?

Tony Cook 1:08:52

Yeah, well, actually, no, they got barracks. We got barracks.

Gary Wise 1:08:56

I'm about to say that's a little boat to live on full time, yeah. Yeah, right. It's one thing to live on it when you're going underway, but to live on it full time is hard. So you got barracks, you're single, right? But you're older, right? Right. So how is that tour like for you? Because I know Sasebo could be could be real wild, real quick, or you could be real good at grinding and focus on work.

Tony Cook 1:09:20

So here's here's what let me back up a little bit, right? So I'm in the reserves. Okay, I'm in Kuwait, right? Doing my thing in Kuwait, CVs, you know, you got all the equipment from the war, you know, we ships will come in, we'd onload them, offload them, right? So all the stuff that got blown up, we took out all the new tanks and stuff that's coming in, country, we took off. I'm sitting on a forklift and I'm complaining, right? Because it's raining and it's cold, and I'm complaining about the weather. And then we had a guy walk by and he was like, You know, you could tell the rain to stop. And this is where God comes back into my life.

Gary Wise 1:09:59

He said, You know, you can tell the rain to stop, right?

Tony Cook 1:10:03

You know, because God, you know, dominion over the earth and every creepyest thing, you know, scripture, right? So he he walks by, he's like, You know, you can tell the rain to stop. And I'm like, Man, it's like I read the Bible, I already know I don't want to hear that stuff.

Gary Wise 1:10:18

Yeah, right.

Tony Cook 1:10:18

So don't know the guy, you know, I just part of the unit. Yeah, and uh he keeps he walks by, and I'm you know, we're talking, chopping it up. He comes by again, and I'm still not paying attention, I'm still complaining about, you know, and he's like, I told you, you can tell it to stop. Yeah, I'm like, whatever, man, you know, blow them off again. So they finally like, you know, take a break because the rain started to pour down pretty heavy, and then we go in the container. Everybody goes in the container to get out of the rain, and I'm sitting in there and I'm talking about how cold it is this time, right? He comes in there and he looks at me, and he was like, Hey man, you know, you sitting up here complaining, being all negative and stuff. I told you you could tell the rain to stop. And I'm like, all right. So I get up, being me, I get up smart aleck. I get up, I go outside and I look up and I'm like, rain, stop, rain, stop, right? Rain didn't stop. So I go back in there and I'm laughing and cracking on him, you know, because the rain didn't stop. I told you, you know. So conversation continues on. Two seconds later, he taps me on my knee and he's like, Cook, like what? So look outside. Rain stop. Rain stop. Blew my mind, right? How how right? So it just blew my mind. I was just perfect timing, I guess, you know, for me, you know, God's time, bro. Man, it changed my life.

Carrier Life: Fixed Systems and 3M Reality

Gary Wise 1:11:53

Change change, bro. Sometimes you gotta put yourself in the position to hear what God's saying, right? There it is. His time is gonna be his time, regardless. How many? Here's the crazy thing, right? How many times did he try to communicate to you that you missed it because you weren't coming into the frequency, right? Right? I mean, I digress, but it's just it's one of those things we look back on now as older gentlemen, right? And we look back, and hindsight's always 2020. And then one of the things that I do think about to that story is I think about how am I going to make sure that I am I'm aligned and I'm listening and I'm dialed in so that today when I'm given that that intuition to listen, I don't miss it. You know what I'm saying? Because, bro, it's almost always a launch pad into something else, or at least at a minimum, a refillment, a refueling of your faith so that you're prepared for whatever's gonna come next, because the journey's always gonna have ups and downs, yeah, right? And you got to stay ready, right? So you you you so you get back into your faith, that that reconnection for you there, you go active duty, so now you're insassable on the safeguard. It's only a 24-month tour, it sounds like. How does that tour go for you? Is that you're a DC man from day one, which is new for you because you never really did that, probably. When you struck DC on the carrier in the training department, probably teaching basic damage control up there in the training department, never having done the job. Now you want a safeguard doing PME, doing all the maintenance, doing all the drills, the training. Do you have a DC chief? I would imagine. I did Van Martyr. What was his name? Van Martyr. Dan Martyr, okay. So was it are you in a repair division or is this just like an engineering department?

Tony Cook 1:13:45

Repair division.

Gary Wise 1:13:47

How big's repair division?

Tony Cook 1:13:49

There was three of us in AHT.

Gary Wise 1:13:53

Okay, and so is this a lot of work? Do you remember there being was there a lot of underweights? This is after 9-11, right? So ships had going out like they used to.

Tony Cook 1:14:02

No, but safeguard, we we went out. We went out, it was it was it was good. They were navy divers, they were navy divers on there.

Gary Wise 1:14:10

Okay, how was the sea state on that ship compared to your first ships?

Tony Cook 1:14:14

Oh, night and day.

Gary Wise 1:14:16

I bet, bro.

Tony Cook 1:14:17

Yeah, we went through a storm too. So we did a three-point more, and at the end of that storm, there was only one anchor hole on left. So I mean, but I loved it, I loved it, I loved it. Something crazy about that. I just loved it because I had peace. Again, God was in my life, yeah. You know, so I had I had peace, you know, people freaking out, you know, running around, girls falling out on the floor, you know. I didn't sign up for this, you know. I was like, get up, girl, you know, don't go lock yourself in your rack, you know. But it it was I thrived in that moment, you know, and I just loved it. But anyway.

Gary Wise 1:14:58

So when you leave Safebird, are you a second class petty officer?

Tony Cook 1:15:01

I did. I did. So now I know the importance, right? Coming back in the Navy, now getting active again. It's everything that I wanted, right? So now that I know the importance of studying, now that I know the importance of, you know, following the chain of command, even though my chief didn't like me, you know, I still had a chip on my shoulder. Um I don't know why he didn't like me, to be honest with you. I think it's because I was messing around with some of the females uh on the ship.

Gary Wise 1:15:31

Um and he told me that you've got your hair, bro. You got nice hair.

Tony Cook 1:15:36

That could have been it. I've never been somebody's, you know, could be could have been. I've always been hated on, you know.

Gary Wise 1:15:46

I get it too, bro. I catch a lot of that energy, and I had to learn to take it as a compliment almost because they unfortunately it makes some people uncomfortable to see people that live in in their space comfortably, and and and that swagger you got that the kids call it Riz nowadays, right? The charisma, that ability to it will make people uncomfortable, right? So here you are, you're not a little boy, you a grown man. Yeah, you might be a DC three, DC two, which they theoretically think about being like an 18-year-old, 19-year-old, but you're not one, right? You've been around for a lot of things, right? You so y'all are probably close to the same age, right? And you got this beautiful hair, you know what I'm saying? And by the way, you can go do things that they can't do, which kind of makes them be uncomfortable because when they was younger, they wouldn't doing it like that anyway. Trust me, I get it, bro. I catch all the hate. I I I love that Cat Williams line where he says, My old haters are gonna like me. I gotta go find new ones, bro. I love that, and it's not because I want to have uh people not like me or whatever it is, but I know that in this world there's going to be opposition because we live in the devil's kingdom, right? We don't live in God's kingdom, bro. This is not the Lord's kingdom, this is the devil's playground that we live in, right? So the enemy in the world but not of the world, the enemy always gets a vote. I appreciate when you let me know you the opposition. Tag you're in, bro. Got it, right? We can put we can play that game, and so when I hear you say that, I just you know, that's it's I love that you recognize that something they didn't really care for you, but you didn't make it be no personal thing, like, well, I don't care for you back now. What? Right? Because and and of course it's hard, especially when they got upper level leadership responsibilities and roles, right? It feels like they're in a position of power over you, and so now you gotta. I'll tell you, man, when I was coming up in the service, and even even now, like I know where I can go real quick, and all of a sudden you're neutralized because there ain't nothing between you and I but distance and air, and nothing about what you think matters is gonna protect you if I decide to go sideways, right? And that's an empowering moment that I pray, God's help me not feel that way, but I have I find strength in that thought that I can go real real primal, or we can get spiritual, or we can get intellectual, either way, right? And and that's something you bring to the table, too. I know that, and that comes from your background, that comes from your history, that comes from your lineage, that comes from your DNA, bro. Like that's that's why I love that song by Kendrick Lamar, that DNA song, right? Because that is so our DNA is so powerful, you know. Oh, no problem. I got I got dogs, I'm Muchi, bro. So you finish up the time on board that ship, two years in the navy, or two years at that point, you're getting orders in a year and a half and a year. Where are you? Are you wanting to stay in Sassamo or are you trying to go back to the States or what you doing?

Tony Cook 1:19:03

So that's when I took a I think it was a GSA, took a GSA at that moment, and um, and then after that, I took an uh IA. So I went back to back volunteer tours. Um I went to the Lincoln ultimately.

Gary Wise 1:19:20

So hold on. So for the GSA tour, so just so everybody understands in the war on terror, they they started using the United States Navy to supplement the other branches, in particular the Army, right? And so a lot of sailors got opportunities to go serve in country, in Iraq, in wherever. They called it a GSA tour, so that you could actually schedule it out and plan it out, and then you volunteered again. And do you think that was because of your time with the CBS that you were like willing to go back and do it again?

Tony Cook 1:19:54

Um it was just part of me to be honest with you. I went to Kuwait. Kuwait? Actually, yeah, no, no, Kuwait was the uh the reserves went to Djibouti, Africa. Okay, so I was in Djibouti.

Gary Wise 1:20:11

So you went to the Horn of Africa where they were doing that. Was that the damage control billet or was that a general billet?

Tony Cook 1:20:18

I went as a damage control billet, ended up in emergency management.

Gary Wise 1:20:23

Okay, I got it. I know that billet well. Um you know my favorite memory about Djibouti? I watched them lift camels off the ground and swing them onto ships like cattle, right? And I was like, bro, where are we now? They're moving camels like cattle and and and those big those big flies, bro, that would sting you when they bite you. Painful, painful. So you go from Sasebo to Djibouti, working damage control, and just emergency management is also a piece of the damage control community, just so y'all understand that it's a hard-to-get NEC. Did you go to the school? No, I wish okay, because there's an NEC for it. Uh, they I think it's in Fort Leonardwood, the same place they do the CBR NEC, and it's really a shore-based part of the organization. But I will tell you, when I became a base master chief in the future, emergency management really came into play big time, and my damage control background really helped with that because it was like a shore-based casualty, but we're used to our ship casualty management and response. And so then you go back-to-back GSA and an IA, you said where was that one at?

Tony Cook 1:21:41

Byron. So we we took the USS Chief, which was the mine suite, out of uh California, San Diego. We brought it back to life and selled it over to Byron, and then uh I was in by ring for the tour, nine months.

Gary Wise 1:21:58

Okay, and so then you come out of Bahrain. Are you a DC one yet or still a DC two?

Tony Cook 1:22:03

I made DC one out of Djibouti. Okay, out of Djibouti. As soon as I got back, and I ended up at uh my timeline's all messed up.

SWOS, Initiation, and the Moment It Clicked

Gary Wise 1:22:17

Whoa, but uh you got a you've got an interesting career, bro. And so then you finish taking the chief, which is a unique ride, right? You deck plate sailor on the USS Chief, wood bottom ships, right? Right, the only ship of the Navy to be named for the Navy Chief Petty Officer, right? There's a lot of heritage to the chief, and then you end up going, you said, to the Lincoln, correct, an aircraft carrier, correct? And just so I'm understanding, your only damage control, real damage control experience so far is on a safeguard and the chief, no other ships. No, we can fit those ships into like Hangar Bay one. Am I lying?

Tony Cook 1:23:02

No, it's true. Talk.

Gary Wise 1:23:04

So, how was that then? Walking on and I say this from experience, how was that then reporting to an aircraft carrier as a first-class petty officer, damaged control men, and everything that's about to bring?

Tony Cook 1:23:19

I'm gonna be honest, I you know, every time I felt inadequate, yeah, you know, I felt in inadequate, but I knew that whatever position that I was gonna be in, I was gonna do the best that I could. Good for you, you know, good for you, bro.

Gary Wise 1:23:34

Just had that mindset. Good for you. I had that I had that exact same conversation, not in a in just a previous con with another previous brother and with my students yesterday, bro, at school. We were doing some pictures, and one of my students said, Master Chief, how does a senior enlisted deal with a junior officer that doesn't know anything about the Navy? And how can they support them? Don't you think they should have to be enlisted first before they become an officer, right? This is a high school student, she got to be a senior, right? And I was talking with some of the other kids about past commissioning. So this was her popping off because I'm like, she wants to go enlisted first. She she wants to be a chief, right? She wants to go to her, she wants to be a chief. And I was like, Look, counsel, her, that's her name, counsel. So if you if you watch this, counsel girl, I'm thinking about you. And so I said, Look, I hear this conversation all the time. And we have it with chief selectees, we have it with leaders anywhere you go. And the bottom line is I don't care how you got where you are, until you give me a reason to not respect you, I'm gonna respect you and convince to you the value I bring to the conversation. And if you leverage me, you'll be more successful. And I don't know your path, right? I said, because these that officer probably did four years in junior ROTC, probably did four years in college and in ROTC, like an actual ROTC program, like a collegiate program, and then whatever pipeline they had to go through as a naval officer to get to that position right there, and then I did none of that, so I can't. If you look at the total numbers, eight years of high school and college, where they were probably taken way more seriously than I did, right? And now here they are. We we were about very similar in life experiences, just different perspectives. And so I said, just don't worry about that. And then, oh, by the way, when I would counsel people that would be in these leadership positions that they felt inadequate for, right? They would come to me again, they would say, CMC now, mass chief. I just came off recruiting duty, or I've never really done things like this. What do I do? I'd say, number one, you take responsibility for your role. You took the job, you take the paycheck, you took the rank, right? Period. Number two, it's a whole bunch of sailors out there that have no problem you showing you how much they know and how great they are. Period. Right? Just make sure you make sure they get the love and the recognition for when they teach you and you hold them down, and then you cover down on them when it comes down the wrong way, because that's what you can do for them. And if you do that, they will take care of you all the way, right? Am I right?

Tony Cook 1:26:22

Yes, yep. I loved it. I loved it when they challenged me. I would call it a DC challenge, you know. You know, it forced me to get in the books, you know, to get back in the in the in the manuals, you know. And I'd I'd welcome that. Like when I would go on watch, it would be a DC challenge. Who's who's got the challenge, right? So we'd always I would that was one thing that I would do with my team, and I always quizzed them and questioned them because I was always in the books. That's the only way I could stay ahead.

Gary Wise 1:26:51

Yeah, when you go to the carrier, how is your carrier structured? Are you at like different shops?

Tony Cook 1:26:57

I went to fix systems. Ooh, ooh, yep.

Gary Wise 1:27:04

That's a bear, bro.

Tony Cook 1:27:07

And the squad that they gave me, boy, they gave me a run for my money. But uh, I love those guys to this day. We we got tight, but in the beginning, they were trying to get rid of me. You know, they were trying to get me fired from the position because they wanted the old uh LPO to come back in. Yeah. But uh, yeah, it was very shock.

Gary Wise 1:27:35

Let me break that. So for people that don't understand what he's talking about. So in the damage control community, especially on our Navy ships, you have to understand these are big ships of war that have installed capabilities that we can use those before we have to put human life on the line, right? So the idea here is I've got installed mechanical systems to extinguish a threat before I have to put a human being in that space. And so I'm going to use my Halon 1301 system. I'm going to use salt water in large amounts, I'm going to use salt water mixed with essentially aqueous film forming foam to smother the fire and cool the fire. Like I'm going to use all these installed things before I put humans on the in there to combat the casualty. But in order for me to have those systems ready to go 24 hours a day, seven, you know, seven days a week, 365, my damage control men got to do all the PMS of if y'all been watching my shows, you know I hate the Navy 3M program because it's boomed, it is a curse to the damage control community. We should have three times as many sailors as we have in damage control division to execute the amount of man hours we have on that ship, period. Right? Like we should be as big as the dang weapons department in damage control because of how much maintenance we have to do, whether it's installed systems, whether it's portable SCBAs, portable, I mean, just so much life-breeding, life-saving things, right? And we don't have that many people. Damage control men are looked at as an afterthought still into today's Navy. And it's as a DC man, I would fight tooth and nail over that conversation because these kids that work for me got to do that maintenance, and I'm telling them the man hours, and they do the math, and they're like, That don't math. That math don't math, bro. They're innocent to do all just the dailies alone on the H B station will keep to do it right.

Tony Cook 1:29:44

You got to believe the Navy knows this though.

Gary Wise 1:29:47

They do, they do because I told it to them many times, bro. That was part of why I left the rate, bro. Part of why I left the rate, and I left that at Norfolk at the damage control assistant senior listen schoolhouse was because I Was telling the Navy this and they just kept being like, oh mass chief, you're just so you're kind of emotional. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I'm doing the maintenance, I'm with the people, and everybody starts becoming political instead of being pissed off. How about we just throw the cards out and stop using the man hour lie and just say get the work done? Cool, cool. I told that to them in a conference with him. I said, take the man hours off the card because it's a lie. It's a lie. We all know it's a lie. And the sailors are not stupid, they can do math. Right? They're not dumb. Well, mass, I I told I got in trouble for another one because I said I'm a mass chief. And I said, hey, I think the aviation department, the air department should do all of the dailies for all of their areas that are being covered. And the reactor department, that's what I said. I said everyone should, it should be a DCPO check to do the dailies because they're really the end users of the system.

Tony Cook 1:31:02

Because they're quick to say everybody's a firefighter.

Department LCPO on a Destroyer

Gary Wise 1:31:05

We're not the ones when I was in the main space pushing that button to smother to cover the fuel oil. Guess what? It wasn't D seemen doing that, bro. It was the GS's, it was the MMs, it was the whoever. So they have how remember you go into main space, right? And you'd find a valve shut to like a hose reel because it was leaking by and they didn't want it leaking. Okay, bro. Number one, the daily has been violated. Number two, if you push the button, the HPLF's not gonna come out of that hose because you shut the valve. Number three, no one told us, and yes, we should have caught that, but okay, I got problems, I got so many things. So, hey, Navy, the HPLF dailies should be being done by the people who will actually use that gear into combat a casualty, and then they should go back to the D semen and say, Hey, we got a problem with our system. Can y'all do something? We still do the quarterlies, but the daily is a lot of maintenance, bro. If you're gonna do it right, let me take that back.

Tony Cook 1:32:06

I said it everybody they're quick to say everybody is a D seman. In reality, everybody is a firefighter, but they're not DCmen's.

Gary Wise 1:32:14

Oh when I was a when I was a CMC, bro, even as a D seamen, I I rewrote the SORM and my shit with my I said, look, department heads are responsible for getting their spaces underway to the commanding officer. It doesn't say DCC, it doesn't say DC one, it says department heads, right? So we need to re-or and I think the navy needs to re-look how they're looking at things because here's what they do they hide it all under the carpet until some 3M inspection comes through or some freaking major whatever inserve, and then they fire. There was a time I remember a guy told me, Do you know Gary? I was at a CMC conference in the Impact Fleet, and they're like, You know, Gary, that the damage control chief petty officer is the number one fired chief petty officer on the waterfront. Bro, bro, they weren't ready for what I about to come back on them with. They said it because I was a DC man and they knew that and they thought they were being funny, bro. And they don't again, I'm gonna take it personal. I said, you know how that's happening? Because chiefs messes and wardrooms don't really care about ship readiness and damage control until it comes, until it comes out, and then everybody wants to point the finger at DC, whoever fire them in their career, kick them out, and then they're gonna give somebody else all the support in the world to fix it when they should have been doing that from the beginning. And then and so I got up as at the CMC symposium, and they were talking about this because the Surface Force Pack guy was talking. I said, I'm just telling y'all, if you as the command master chief are not supporting your damage control leadership and fixing this, you're the problem, bro. You're the reason why they're failing. Because if we right behind that, I'll be smacking the three MCs around too, though, because three MCs get on my damn nerves. You got a program that you know ain't fair, and you're not helping them to help figure out how to accurately how to adequately manage it, right? It's I hate the whole damn program, bro. Like my my thing is still redo get rid of all man hours to get rid of it because nobody cares, nobody follows it. Remove it from the card. That's number one. Number two, uh all those damn mandatory required checks. The are the are the the you know I'm saying because how many dailies you saw fail because it was a mandatory required check? You do the whole spot check great for whatever, but then you fail because the daily failed. Right, right. We did all this upper level maintenance, and then we failed because you want me to do a whole daily on an entire H PLF station on an aircraft carrier when all I did was touch the alignment on one H PLF station.

Tony Cook 1:35:08

Yep, it makes no sense.

Gary Wise 1:35:11

I would get so hot, but I'd be on the ship as the I was on GW, bro. I'd be in the three, I'd be I'd be yelling at three Ms. Like I remember I got in such a big cart yelling match with the three MCs on board the GW. They were three master chiefs and the chief. I was senior chief, and I told and a three mo I told myself I will never walk in this office again. I don't care if the chief engineer orders me to come down here, it's not happening because all y'all a bunch of punks. I was so hot. My DC2 is right outside the door because I kicked them out. I was like, Y'all get out. I gotta talk to these people real quick. And I from the moment I left the 3M office, went up to the log room because I was going to tell the chief engineer what I had just done, so he knew it was coming. And he tells me how to walk in the door, Master Chief or Senior Chief, you just can't be yelling at people like that. Like, no, sir, I'm never going in there again. I hate those guys, they don't care about the sailors, they're just down there playing on their keyboards, acting like we're none of us are we're we're not trying, bro. Tell me, it's like a rig deck, right? There's so much work. SOPVs, H B with solenoid operated pilot valves, HPLF station push buttons, the fire main system.

Grief, Divorce, and the Breaking Point

Tony Cook 1:36:29

You know, and I'm gonna tell you that's that's why I was really drawn to you as a leader. You know, that passion that you had for DC, right? Yeah, the passion that you have and and who you are as a leader. You know, that was one thing that always drew me to when I met you. I mean, I met you going through season, but you know, you put it on us, but I could tell, you know, there's there's a difference of people who love what they do, you know, and passionate about it, and they're passionate about the sailors. Um you were always real, you know.

Gary Wise 1:36:58

So I I accept that. So, how long are you on board the Lincoln for? I did two years there, too. Those two year hot, those two year hits are good, but it's hard to get to the top of the food chain in those two-year hits, huh? Because I mean, here you are going to aircraft carrier, it's gonna take you about a year to really learn what you're doing, right? Right, and then you're on the downward side of that, get ready to go somewhere else.

Tony Cook 1:37:24

From there, I ended up in Swass.

Gary Wise 1:37:26

That's when you went to firefighting instructor school, yeah. Okay, so it was the Lincoln that made you a cheat.

Tony Cook 1:37:33

Pretty much. Actually, it was SWAS. You think so? Yeah, it was Swass because that's why that's where I was I was submerged in the rape. Yeah, well, I and that's where I did, and to be honest with you, that's where I well, you might know you you probably know better than I do, but that's when I did all that studying again for Chief. Like I buckled down because in the Lincoln, I got married, you know. I met I met my ex-wife in Sasebo. She was on the ship. We left, we left the Lincoln, ended up in Washington in Bahrain, or that's where the Lincoln was. And um, she got pregnant. When she got pregnant, I found out she got pregnant when I went to Bahrain. So I came back. She had my son. We were having a rough time there. Um, she wanted to come back to Norfolk. I already come to Norfolk, I already knew what this place was about, Hampton Roads. I didn't want to go back, you know. So that caused some some riff there. But she her master chief, she was an LN. So hey, you need to come, you need to uh so so yeah, we we come here and you know that marriage didn't last long.

Retirement Decision and Civilian First Steps

Gary Wise 1:38:52

I already knew it's hard to hear that, but I'm not I wish I was saying I could say I was surprised, right? Yeah, LNs are a breed of their own, too. So here's what I would tell you, just from my perspective, yes, making board mattered, right? And so studying for the advancement exam, that gets you the ticket, right? But I promise you, uh, and look, surface warfare officer school is a great place to go show your strengths because you're surrounded by a bunch of people in the same community as you. And when I sat at the board and when I would mentor people, I'd be like, look, you just beat a bunch of your competition because y'all work together at the same location. So if your eval is higher than theirs, you just knock down a few people quickly, right? Like ding, ding, ding. And and several of you guys made it there and learn inside Norfolk. So it was a very good competitive field, right? And I guarantee they saw that at the board too. Like, wow, look at all those players in Norfolk at that fire school. It's not easy there because they're all doing great things. But I promise you, when they look back on the carrier, when they look back on the chief going to Bahrain, when they look back on you know, you doing the Djibouti hit, and then the safeguard forward deployed, those are all really strong bullet points and/or evaluations, but years of experience, right? And I'm telling you, that that capstone running a fixed system shop, and and I'm trying to think about the Lincoln because the Lincoln was it was it in the yards when you were in the Lincoln? It was under week. We did end up going into the yards because the Lincoln went to what isn't that a West Coast ship now?

Tony Cook 1:40:36

Yeah, so we went into the yards, and I was part of the um uh what they call that team, the tank of boy team, or were you like doing the tag outs and stuff? All the tag outs, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:40:51

That's a big deal too, though. That's a big job.

Tony Cook 1:40:54

I ran the I ran that for the DC department.

Gary Wise 1:40:56

That's a big deal. That's a big deal. Um, but I think that I guarantee I none of that all makes sense to me why you picked up chief and swast. And just so I understand, when you're in surf, when you make chief, what was it, 2017 or 16? That I made chief? Or was it 50? What hold on, was it 14? 14. Because I went to Ashland on 16. Okay, so 2014, I'd been at Swass now about a year at that point. Um, how many years did you have total service when you put on anchors?

Tony Cook 1:41:33

I don't even remember, to be honest with you. So when you went through initiation, so again, for me, you know, it was all about survival. It was never about, you know, master chief, senior chief. It was all about the sailor. You know, I if I didn't make rank, I didn't make rank. It was me taking care of my people, you know. Yeah, because I because I was that guy, right? Yeah, so being that guy, my whole mission was to make sure nobody got what I got.

Gary Wise 1:42:00

Well, and truth be told, a lot of people don't even understand the strategy behind the community of the Navy until they make chief, right? They don't, they're just working, right? I I was the same way, bro. I remember putting my chief's package together. I didn't even know what a chief's package was, right? I didn't even know. I remember I had to go to the NC1 on the ship, Jardine Jenkins. I need to find you, bro. I gotta get you on here. We made chief together. And uh he had to show me how a chief's package even was because I mean I wasn't even up for chief when I took the time. I took it for LDO purposes. Wow, they came and got me and said, You want to be a chief and gave me a and got me a waiver. I didn't even I didn't know how to do it, right? I didn't care to do it. I wasn't initiation. What I got initiated when I was 12 years old in my first organization, bro. Like, I've been about why would I want to go in there and play reindeer games with a bunch of adults, bro? Like, you're not gonna spank me with nothing on those, right? Like what? I mean, truth be told, that was how I felt. I remember when I was starting my initiation, I was like, what are we doing? Because I knew all them dudes, right? Like I knew them, like so it's at the fire school, it wasn't nothing to be having a real conversation with the chiefs in the first classes, like real conversations, and then all of a sudden we go from being real conversations to like when you look back on your initiation season. I I like to ask this question of guys who went through the process. It's just, you know, what was your biggest takeaway from that whole thing that I couldn't do it without the mess. Yeah.

Tony Cook 1:43:54

Couldn't do it without the mess. Yeah, you know, and I'll be honest with you, that was probably the only reason why I stuck it out. It's because I knew I realized I could not, I could up until that point, it was all about me taking care of my sailors. Yeah, but going through that process, I really realized that if I really wanted to take care of my sailors, like really truly wanted to make take care of them, I had to do it.

Transition Advice and Financial Readiness

Gary Wise 1:44:18

Man, I remember your final night, right? Oh wee. All right, you tell it. Let's hear you tell it, man.

Tony Cook 1:44:37

So final night. I didn't get it, it didn't click. It didn't click. I just didn't get it, and um, and it was obvious, you know. It was obvious, but coming from where I come from, you know, I just didn't understand what you wanted from me.

Gary Wise 1:44:58

Well, and just so everyone understands, real quick, our chief's mess at Norfolk is 100% engineering, damn near, right? So you're not going through a diverse mess of like a ship where you got a bunch of different flavors of raids and community. No, no, we are an engineering schoolhouse, we are an engineering command. So it is it. I love that mess for a lot of things, but it would mentally drain me because it was a bunch of snipes, right? It was like we were we were it was odd, and so you're coming into that group, it was tough, yes, right? It was tough, and like you said, you were exhausted, right? They had been building up for all that, and this is the process, right? This is a hundred percent the process, and you got to hit that wall and you gotta come through that wall, and so you said you weren't getting it, right? And you and and you it was hard for you. I remember you were struggling.

Tony Cook 1:45:52

Uh so I think it was the emotions that that they were looking for from me, I believe. You know, I you know, and and I wasn't one really you're not gonna do nothing.

Gary Wise 1:46:09

I knew that I knew that I did that for day one, obviously. Yeah, because you the one who got me, huh? You the one who got me. I know I am. I gotta I I was known as the selecty whisperer, right? I would go get, I would bring you through, you know what I'm saying? I was go get Gary, go get Gary, because Gary would get them through. I would be the one that get them to where they because again, you were going up against some hardcore dudes, right? Some freaking some Navy chiefs, they look the kind you ain't never gonna see, and on they don't they don't get publicity like a lot of people do, right? They're not gonna be out there being the poster child for the United States Navy, right? They're the dudes that really making these ships run, right?

Tony Cook 1:46:53

We ain't making weak chiefs here. You know, they let us know, you know, we don't make weak chiefs, we don't make weak chiefs.

Faith, Fatherhood, and Life After Uniform

Gary Wise 1:47:01

I've always I've never I've always been for that, and it's not because of anything we do, it's because of what we do for them, right? We bring the greatness out of them, right? It's not about anything we do, it's by telling them that I'm gonna put this bar in front of you. We don't make weak chiefs, and every time I'm able to get them over that damn bar, every time, even if I'm pushing them, ah right? And I I remember, yeah, you were because here's the thing you really I think you really had that breakthrough moment after it was all said and done. I did right, and a lot happens to a lot of people, bro, especially the ones that have been through a lot in their life, they're not gonna let their guard down until they can trust again, and then it all hits them at once, bro, and they can barely stand. And they're like, What you said, what like it's like that, and you had a great group, bro. You had you, Walter Daly. Uh, y'all had a bunch of people in your group, bro. That was a strong group to go through with. Um, yeah, very pivotal moment, man. I a very special place in my heart because I was still a DC man at the time, right? And and got to and got to be in the mix all the way, right? So as a CMC, you got to kind of play your back in the back, and just you know, when I was a young senior chief chief, mass chief over out that was fun. I got to be out there getting it, right? Yeah, uh, and that that day, those days were long because you hit the you hit the gas chamber, hit the fire. Oh, I love it. Yeah, those you were getting it. Um, so after Swast Norfolk, what is your career looking like at that point? Where do you go to next?

Tony Cook 1:48:46

To the James E. Williams DVG?

Gary Wise 1:48:51

Okay, you go in there as a chief.

Tony Cook 1:48:54

You went there as a chief. So I had I had orders. So I I had gotten orders to Japan again, right? And uh Chuck Williams was my detailer at the time. And I'm dropping, I'm dropping, but anyway, got orders to Japan. At the same time, I'm finishing up my divorce for my first wife and get custody of my son. My wife now was my high school sweetheart, way back then when I joined the Navy, right? So, in between that, we reconnect. Yeah, she moved, she moves down here. I end up getting custody of my son, she ends up getting legal custody of him as well. I go through season at the same time she moves down here. I remember and then they try Chuck wanted to send me to Japan. So I go through a whole screening process. She gets approved, I get approved. They won't approve my son because he's got asthma. So Chuck says, Anchor up, Chief. Oh hell no. I'm gonna send you Geo batch. That's exactly what's my that was my now all jokes aside. I was like, Chuck, I said, I tell you what. When he said that, I said, I'll tell you what. I said, when that plane touches down, I'm not gonna be on it. Yeah, I ain't going.

Gary Wise 1:50:27

Yeah, you know, you just got your phone, bro. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were single parent, essentially. And yeah, she got legal. Come on, bro. What are we talking about? Okay, so what happens next?

Tony Cook 1:50:38

So he charges in me to Japan. I go in and talk to uh Bert, Danny, Danny. I was like, hey Danny, I need a favor. You know, this is the situation, yeah, right? So Danny calls in a favor for me, you know. So from there I went to 3M school, uh, and then I went to SWAT uh DK's out of there. So uh during that time I had orders to it wasn't the Williams, it was the Dunham. I was headed to the Dunham. But when I went to 3M school, Chuck changed my orders last minute and sent me to the James E. Williams.

Gary Wise 1:51:14

How was he able to do that if you were a 3M? Like you were released from DC, it sounds like that's what Danny did to get you out of that, right? Right? He got you in a special program to go to 3M, and then Chuck got you back to from 3M to DC.

Tony Cook 1:51:26

Yep.

Gary Wise 1:51:28

Yep, okay, and then you got orders to the and then so you you go to 3M school for now, no reason, evidently. I mean, it makes you better DC man, I guess, because you understand the 3M program better.

Tony Cook 1:51:39

Um and then I, yep, and then I yeah, I hate Rio.

Gary Wise 1:51:46

I hate that whole program. So then you get to the ship as a DC chief going to R Division, correct?

Tony Cook 1:51:53

So and it looked like the lights had been turned off for two years because prior to that there was some stuff that took place on the ship, and then half the chief's mess was gone. The triad was gone, you know. So we got a brand new triad. You had engineering-wise, you had four chiefs, and two of them were getting ready to retire, so they ended up being two chiefs, uh, an emc and a DCC. EMC didn't want top. I had to take top. So now I'm running top, right? Until we started getting all the chiefs messed back together and stuff like that.

Gary Wise 1:52:28

So you're the department leading chief petty officer at that point in time.

Tony Cook 1:52:32

Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:52:33

And you're and you're you're a relatively new chief. Brand new, which really don't matter, but it's still a thing, right? I mean, I always get I I don't like to call people like new chiefs or baby chiefs, but I mean, you are you're you're you're new to the mess and new to the politics of what that may bring or what that may be. Okay, and so how did you like that tour on board that ship?

Tony Cook 1:52:58

So I didn't have a good mess on that ship. Okay, didn't have a good mess. So, you know, that was my my first exposure uh to the real deal, and I hadn't got a sour taste. So, you know, after that, it was like because I, you know, coming from Swabs and going through, you know, season and all that, I was I was ready. You know, I'm ready. So when I get there and I'm like, hold on, wait a minute. This ain't what it's about, you know, this ain't what we're supposed to be about.

Gary Wise 1:53:33

What were the okay? So, what were the things that come to mind where you're like they were not a good mess? Like, what what were the top two or three things that just were not there that you were looking for?

Tony Cook 1:53:44

The support, right? So I was looking for the support for one, for two, um, I was getting backdoored by three MC.

Gary Wise 1:53:59

I'm sorry, bro. They just hung you up on the wall of DCCs that went through hell, right? Yeah, I mean, and especially Norfolk is known for that. Let's be honest, right? I don't know what it is about the Norfolk waterfront. San Diego's tough too, but okay, so three MCs kept not happy with your guys' 3M performance, probably.

Rapid-Fire: Lessons, Ports, and Philosophy

Tony Cook 1:54:18

Right. So 3MCs trying to come through the back, and then you know, I'm talking to my CMC, you know, and we was close, and I'm like, hey, you know, this is everything that's going on, these are the challenges, you know. But I'm kind of salty because I believe that uh, you know, he allowed a lot of that stuff to take place. So that was it, man. After that, I was like, okay, I'm done, son.

Gary Wise 1:54:46

Now I think that were they just not so so just support. You had backstabbing, what you felt like was coming from the 3MC. Now there's three sides to every story. I get that part, but I also I've already said how I feel about how the 3M program is not properly freaking distributed, managed. The math don't math, right? You guys got way too much to do, just and then let me get parts, let me get materials, let me get resources and run all the damn drills and do all the DC training and do all that. People don't understand how much work it really takes for a D. I was a very successful. I I'm here to tell you the only way I found the success that I found was that I went outside of my whole chain of command and went directly to the XO and the CEO and the master and sold them on my what I needed as a DC2, as a DC one. Even my chief was like, You did what? Like, bro, I shot my shot. I'm a hustler, baby. Like, I'm not built to just wait for them to get me. No, no. If I got if I gotta make my family eat off this opportunity, and I'm not stopping for you, bro. Like, away we go. And then as a senior chief and as a chief, well, I did a I did a uh one of these with a guy named Rory Bacon. If you ever get a chance to watch that one, right? Go watch me and Rory talk. Rory was uh EOA on board the George Washington, and he said that he said he said, Gary, you know, we'd be in the mess, like waiting on you to quit. Waiting on you to waiting on you to like he there go Gary again ringing the bells. There go Gary again ringing the bells. Like, we would be in the he's like, and bro, you never quit. And uh I did uh I did one of these episodes that's coming up here pretty soon. One of my DC twos off the George Washington jumped on the podcast with me, right? He only did four years in the Navy, got out. Now he's a dad, got two kids, but he knew me back in the thick of it when I was a senior chief, and he was a DC FN, DC three, DC two, and he was like, We talked about that, bro. We were that frog going down the snake's throat, still fighting the damn frog. I had that picture up in my DC classroom. I was like, We are that frog, we are gonna fight, we are gonna scrap, we are gonna do whatever. And if anybody got a problem with us, they can expect a short bald head dude with a red hat to come through their course and it's over. But I've seen so many other of my peers, so many other parts of that community get left out to dry, bro, on ships that that acted like, oh, it was just that chief's fault. No, no, this whole thing is command safety, command responsibility. Instead of just making that person feel like they're gonna get fired, how about you all freaking rally and support that person and and get meet them where they gotta go, or chop it up in a way that makes sense for the whole ship to really do it because there's no way ER9, the DCPO shop, right? Who you gonna get? You gonna get the we're gonna get the people we get, right? Right, and I love them people because they always did good for me, right? But when they came to me, they almost always had a story, right? Right, right, and I just I'm sorry to hear that you had that rough time, but it's not good, it was like the perfect it was like the perfect storm, you know.

Tony Cook 1:58:07

So we had the ship stuff going on, and then my grandma died, you know, in that time. Yeah, so grandma passed away. My wife said she wanted a divorce, you know, she didn't recognize who I was, so it was the perfect storm, you know.

Gary Wise 1:58:23

Uh to be on sea duty, bro. Yeah, like that's the other thing, and you on sea duty now, right? C duty is hard because now you're working long hours, you got all these things you got to do, and you're getting underway, and you a single dad, essentially, because you got your wife saying she don't want to be with you, she was supposed to family care plan type stuff, right?

Tony Cook 1:58:42

Right, right.

Gary Wise 1:58:44

So, are you able to drop retirement papers?

Tony Cook 1:58:47

I did drop retirement papers, and to be honest, I was pegged out on a stress continuum, yeah. Because they they came aboard and it was like, look, this is this, this, this, this, and uh, I was like, You're high, orange. I was done done, and didn't even and didn't even know it.

Gary Wise 1:59:11

Bro, uh say less. I've been there. I I I yeah, so okay, so when you retired, did you do a ceremony? No, that's how done you were. Yeah, just let me go. Let me go. Okay. I mean, what if you okay? So after you got out of the navy, retired, did you have a plan?

Tony Cook 1:59:34

I went to work for Moody Marine. Um, it's a valve company, they do a lot of valves for the naval naval ships. Okay, more pack valves, and you know, all the big valves as a project manager for them.

Gary Wise 1:59:48

Okay, that's a good point. And so, I mean, thank you for sharing all of your story. Now, what has your transition been like into the world of being a veteran? And do you have any advice for people that are Looking at the at at entering that chapter of their life, that season of life.

Closing Thanks and Call to Support

Tony Cook 2:00:04

So I'll tell you right now, it's it's it's a ch it's an information overload, right? Because the Navy's has to give you or set you up for the transition process. But there's so much information coming at coming at you. So if you don't have a plan, you don't have um you know the what you want to be in life after the Navy uh figured out, you're gonna stumble, right? You're gonna stumble if you don't have that right mentorship or leadership next to you to say, hey, this is what's coming next. So my recommendation would be to anybody that's getting ready to transition, go through that process, is talk to somebody who's already gone through that process so they can help you so you have an idea of what to expect when you do come out. I have a few sailors that are are getting ready to transition right now, just was with one yesterday. Um he retired yesterday, actually. And you know, he's his pay is messed up. So now, you know, and I told him, I was like, man, I tried to tell you set up, set yourself up for at least three months, you know, pay as much debt off as you can prior to transitioning out, and then set yourself up at least three months, you know, because you don't know if your pay is gonna be messed up or not.

Gary Wise 2:01:23

So get yourself a Nasdaq, right? Get that ready to go. All right. How about when you first got out of the navy? Uh was it weird?

Tony Cook 2:01:34

Still is. I think yeah, still is, right?

Gary Wise 2:01:39

My son, my young, I used to tell people all the time, I can't wait to retire someday, and have my younger son tell me, like, hey dad, you used to be in the navy, huh? Right? And and literally, and I teach high school ROTC now, right? So I'm still involved in in a lot of the military-ish world, and my kids all call me CMC at school and all that stuff, right? But my younger son, Lincoln, we were we were out in the pool yesterday or a couple days ago, and he was like, Hey dad, you used to be in the navy, huh? And I was like, bro, you don't know what you just said to me, dog. Like, I love that for me, for us, because he we got out three years ago now. He's going into sixth grade, and he's already forgetting all of the stress, all the pressure, all of the times dad was on the phone. I used to be on the car and the car be on speaker having deliberate direct conversations with chief petty officers about business because we were working and my kids were in the back of the car listening, and I you know how I was a monster, bro. No sugar, no chicken, dude. I'm I'm coming at you, and and everything I said made sense, it had bars. I could have maybe whispered it, but I'm not a whisperer, never happened, right? I'm a I'm a DC man, but I say it from the chest, it's coming out, bro. We can either take our shirts off and tussle or we can figure it out. But this is my truth, and now your turn, your turn, go, and you know you don't want to say what you gotta say back. That ain't my fault, right? Right, homie or not, and and so now for my sons, so much has changed since those years. I mean, like I almost never I don't curse, like very rarely, right? And it's not like I made a conscious decision to no longer swear, I just stopped, right? Don't smoke anymore. I remember uh 2018, I just had a cigarette and I was like, I'm done, right? I never smoked again. And I smoked from 1995 till 2018, you know, and just one day stopped, right? Don't know why, don't know how. Now I don't drink anymore, right? Because for me, it's the devil, right? For me, it's the devil, right? For me, it's the devil, and so my wife has been on me for so many years to manage it because every time I let the devil in my house, it's my own fault, right? And then I just one day decided I'm not gonna drink anymore. But then the best thing I did is I told my wife, and so now whenever I try to slip, she's like, But I thought you said like oh you're accountable. You're right, yeah, for sure. And it's not even, but it's because the devil gets in my head, it's like, bro, you need to drink, you need to get that drink, and it's like, I'll go make me some coffee and call it a day, bro. It's it's about the next chapter, you know, and trying to recognize that it's it's the journey never stops. I I welcome the up, I welcome the opposition, bro. I hope today's a hard day. I don't want easy days because easy days make me nervous, bro. Like, I'm just easy. I love I love easy days, but while I while my people are all chilling, I'm I'm plotting for the next move because they're at there. I tell my sons, y'all, you think you got this on accident? No, bro. You don't gotta carry the weight of this on your shoulders yet, but trust me, someday you'll have that on you. And and and it's strategy. It's strategy, it's faith, it's work, and it's and it's humility, it's all of that, right? Everything and everything we teach during the Chiefs initiation. What I love about what Chiefs Initiation became for me, and what I leverage it for, even in my in my life now, is that was the beginning of me building my leadership development legacy, right? I was using Chiefs initiation to build leaders, right? And then I would run it all year long in different ways, right? And and I find that it works because people they they want to be a part of a community, they want to feel the same thing with church, right? Same thing with finding God, like we're none of us are meant to do this alone, right? Right, and so when you can get connected to a good church, to a good community, those things are gonna bring value in your life, and it's not for the good days, right? Right, it's not for the good days, right? It's it's going to go sideways. Hey man, Tony, bro, we're about to land this thing, dog. I think we're about there, bro. All right, so here we go. I got this thing that I do at the end of every one of these shows where I ask like some rapid fire questions, right? And you're gonna go ahead. And look, I don't need you to nuke the answers.

Tony Cook 2:06:31

Did you pause it?

Gary Wise 2:06:33

Huh?

Tony Cook 2:06:34

Did you pause it?

Gary Wise 2:06:36

No, I'm here. Can you see me?

Tony Cook 2:06:38

Yeah, I can see you. No, I'm I'm asking. Can I go? I need to go to the head real quick.

Gary Wise 2:06:42

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Here we go.

Tony Cook 2:06:44

Before you rapid fire on me. I appreciate you.

Gary Wise 2:06:48

Oh, too easy, bro. You know, we re this has been a good one, but sometimes we gotta go in, right? All right, here we go. Uh most valuable leadership lesson you learned in the service or in life so far. Can you sum it down to the one lesson?

Tony Cook 2:07:03

And to when? Sum it down to what one lesson lesson. Keep digging, keep digging, don't stop. Don't stop.

Gary Wise 2:07:17

Okay, I like it.

Tony Cook 2:07:18

Keep oh, dream dream big. Don't dream small. Dream big, dream as big as you can as you can dream because it the opportunity is there and the military will afford you that opportunity.

Gary Wise 2:07:30

Okay. Now, since you for your time in the service, and even your life after the service, what do you see as being one of the biggest leadership challenges that that teams are facing today?

Tony Cook 2:07:45

Society. Okay. Society. Society today, uh, I believe is is making weak men. You know, everything is is is too easy for us, you know, with the technology and everything like that. Um I would say society is is a complete different society. So I think society is our challenge.

Gary Wise 2:08:06

All right, and men need to meet men need to stand up for that, right? I'm with you. Okay, so how can parents, uh, you you have a son who's now a teenager, right? Both of our oldest sons are about the same age, about 17. Uh, how can you as a parent use leadership skills to best connect and guide with your teenage child?

Tony Cook 2:08:26

Communication. So the biggest thing that I learned uh with my son at least is I make time. Uh, I make it a point to make time with him to have these types of communicate, these type of sit-downs and communications. I try to get into his world, you know, to see where he's at mentally, to see uh what he's going through. And so he can feel comfortable uh communicating with me. Because that's one thing in the beginning, he didn't he didn't feel comfortable communicating. He feared me. Now I didn't want him to fear me.

Gary Wise 2:08:59

I'll tell you the other thing, man. Uh, I'm gonna just piggyback on that real quick. When my dad would share stories with me about what he went through as a teenager, uh it wasn't until I was older because as when I was a teenager, I was so wild, he didn't want to, we could barely even be in the same room, right? Uh, but when I was older, I was just like, I never knew that, bro. Like, I that's crazy. What if I would have known that when I was younger? So when I started doing crazy, I could have talked to him a little bit more because I would understand that he'd been there a little bit, you know what I'm saying? Uh, and I've always been very open with my sailors, my students, my people, my kids. Like, I hang my GED on the wall of my classroom, bro. Like, but above all, that's my master's degree and my SEA graduation and all that other stuff. Because it's not about where you start, it ain't even about how you finish, it's about how you run the race, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Uh, how can veterans best leverage their leadership skills in the civilian world? Do you think?

Tony Cook 2:09:59

I think that comes naturally because we've already been through it, you know. Um, it it uh and it, I guess it would depend on the vet. You know, some people get out and they want nothing to do with it. Um, but it for me again, it was my career was about survival, so it's part of who I am. You know, I can you I may be retired and be a retired vet, but I'm still a sailor. Yeah, I'm a diet sailor, you know. I hear you, and so for me, it it's it's what I do, you know, in my everyday life.

Gary Wise 2:10:34

That's part of who I'm with you, bro. Trust me, I tell us I tell my bro, I tell my students, y'all forget I'm a pirate, like I chose to be good on this. I'm a pirate, I'm an outlaw, and that's the way I think. So when we when I say I want to go do something, they say, Well, can we do it? I'm like, You who you talking to? Can we do it? What? Why would we not? Matter of fact, now we're gonna do it because I'm gonna teach you as long as it's not illegal, unethical, or immoral, you can do almost anything you want in this world, and I can do almost any of those things, and all my wife agrees. Yes, sir. Go, you better watch out. I'm gonna knock you out, bro.

Tony Cook 2:11:16

Yes, that's it. I'll tell you the only thing that keeps me on under wraps is my spiritual walk. Like I'm submerged right now in the Lord, man. Because if it wasn't, if it wasn't for for for my walk, it's too easy, it's too easy to be that other guy. I call it the other guy.

Gary Wise 2:11:34

Well, I remember when I was retiring from the Navy, and what I had that conversation with someone. I was like, how do I be a regular person, law-abiding citizen, and be not in the navy, right? Because that was how I stayed so good after I finally grew up, which was probably you know, two. I joined the Navy '97. Truth be told, I don't think I was actually solid until about 0304. Like, I was wild until then, bro. And Erica and I were both wild as young people, right? We was just, it wasn't until 0304 when we finally got locked in. And so I had to really think about like, how do I be a good person? It ain't that hard. It just keep living by the same values and the codes and the ethics or whatever it is. So I still lever leverage honor, courage, and commitment, right? I just added on a few other ones that are more about who I am, like like relentless, right? Perseverance. Like these are some other things that I use to identify who I am. And then I also really, really, really want to keep meeting people where they're at. And so I I'm not afraid to go into the jungle, I'm not afraid to go in where the lions are at and to show you a way to a better place to hunt, you know what I'm saying? And then we'll figure that out. And so, but I get it because there's always that fear, bro. And there's always that fear, and and and you that's the journey. That's the journey, and that's why you're still winning, bro. Okay, so you're on the ship, it's the weekend, you looking forward to the pizza or the wings? Wings, the wings, okay. Okay, on the boat, you got two choices. You can get the birthing cleaners or the working party. Which one do you want?

Tony Cook 2:13:20

Working party.

Gary Wise 2:13:22

Yeah, I like it. All right. Um, we're gonna watch a movie in the shop. You want to watch a De Niro movie or a Pacino movie?

Tony Cook 2:13:29

Pacino all day.

Gary Wise 2:13:31

Pacino all day, okay. Looking back on your career, man, what was your favorite duty station?

Tony Cook 2:13:41

I would say my first the the kid, the first ship, my first introduction.

Gary Wise 2:13:46

Yeah. And you know, oh, you talk about JJ, bro. You first gave me the insight into who he was, but I would tell you, uh, I leveraged him for mentorship many years, years after you and I first met, right? Because I didn't want to just get to know him and all of a sudden drop someone else's name real quick. I wanted to build my my thing for who I was, but I was going through a real tough time, man. And I never reached out to JJ when I was going to Guam because he had been the Guam CMC, but then I was going through a lot, and I told him the whole thing, and I dropped a lot on him in a message, right? I don't even know him like that, bro. I just talked to somebody, and he just gave me some of the he just basically said, Man, I don't even know what to tell you. I'm sorry you're going through that. And if all I could say is that somebody was ever putting me through something like that, I would just leave. I wouldn't even worry about it. I would just go do something else because what can you say? What can you do? Right, and he didn't have to do he didn't have to give me that information, but he he didn't have to take the time to write me back, and he did, and so I hope to get him on here someday because we've never met before in person, we've never had a conversation, but I will tell you, he seems like a stand-up guy, and I would love what I love about him, and I love him because he's like a big brother to me.

Tony Cook 2:15:05

Hey, he is my big brother, he never forgot where he came from, right? So if you want to hear a testimony, my man's got a testimony, he never forgot where he came from, and he's always loved the sailors, and more importantly, he's he's he's he he's another one of you. You know what I mean?

Gary Wise 2:15:27

You always said that, and uh yeah, I saw he's dropping time of papers. We messaged briefly, and after I saw his retirement announcement, I was like, bro, I gotta get you on. And he was he said, he said he's with it. I loved how he said he's like, Hey, I'm glad to help you out with your journey. I'm like, ah, I feel that, I feel that. So he's real, right? I thought about Tony on pretty soon. Maybe he'll see your episode and be like, Oh, I gotta get on there. Yeah, uh, we'll see. Because you know, nothing against the other shows or whatnot, but there ain't too many snipes out there talking that stuff, right? And that's that's my background. I wasn't an aviator, I'm not a freaking no, no, no. I was a deck plate sailor, black shoe, DC, engineer, all day, every day, gator navy, right? Love it. All right, moving on. Uh, what was the what was your favorite Liberty port?

Tony Cook 2:16:25

Again, it's gonna go back to Panama.

Gary Wise 2:16:28

Yeah, the first one, yeah.

Tony Cook 2:16:31

That was my first. I mean, that's the one that's that's stuck in my head. Panama, and yeah, because it was, it was, it was just it was just beautiful, man. I mean, the the the jungle, being in the jungle, you know, coming coming from the city, and then that's my first exposure, you know, to tropical environment or anything.

Gary Wise 2:16:51

So that was me in Japan, dog. I'm not gonna lie. When I got to Japan, I was like, yo, we living in the jungle for real, bro. Yes, yeah. Okay, yeah. What was the hardest qualification you ever earned through your life or through your military career?

Tony Cook 2:17:11

That would be my swaps fan. Okay, that's a good one, you know, big one, right? That's that's when I realized you know, I'm not as stupid as my dad said I was. You know what I mean?

Gary Wise 2:17:23

Man, I'm gonna say that one again, bro. That's powerful, bro. And you know, I'm sorry whenever I hear people have to deal with that because as parents, our words mean so much to these children. And and look, I'm a direct communicator. If my son does something knucklehead, I'm gonna tell him, boy, you're being a knucklehead right now.

Tony Cook 2:17:42

Yeah, you know, but but we gotta just that was my fire, you know. My that was my fire, that was my fuel to be better than that dude. You know, that's that's what I used.

Gary Wise 2:17:53

There you go. I mean, we all everybody gotta pick something to be, right? That's just how I know. Um, what was if you had somebody coming up through the ranks, young person, would you recommend they do an overseas tour or a stateside tour?

Tony Cook 2:18:06

Overseas.

Gary Wise 2:18:08

Okay, I get that. What about do you have a favorite movie series? No, no, okay, I get I um would you rather be independent or on a team?

Tony Cook 2:18:26

Well, I'm introverted at heart, but I love a team. Right? If that makes sense. Like I love a team because you can accomplish so much more with a team, right? But naturally, I'm just I can I'm introverted, so but I have that I have that switch. You know, I hit that switch, it's a whole nother level, it's a whole nother me. Um but I find I find peace in being by myself.

Gary Wise 2:18:58

So what I'm hearing is you would prefer to be independent than if you had if you had your way. Yeah, that's okay. Nothing wrong with that, bro. I think that the fact that you know yourself and you also know how you can sacrifice some of your personal choices to be a part of a team is that's what matters again. That's one of the things we worked on during Chiefs initiation, right? Was to teach you how to do that, but then what you required from the team was the things that make your sacrifice valid, right? And the minute a person like you realizes y'all playing my sacrifice, oh, it's over, bro. It's a rap, it's a rap. And I get that, right? I get that, and I've been there, so I can appreciate that. Um, do you have a personal leadership philosophy? Is it just keep digging? Is it just don't ever quit?

Tony Cook 2:19:56

No, I really don't. I never really gave thought to that one.

Gary Wise 2:19:59

I mean, I think that's what it is, bro. I think that your personal leadership philosophy is that it's not over, right? It's not over, it's not over. Don't never stop because it's not over, right? And and I I think that's your thing. And I just I I ask these questions in this order because I want to refine it down to the message so that people are listening and they can hear. And y'all, it really is that simple. The sun is gonna come up tomorrow, right? Gotta keep fire before you go to bed, say those prayers, get right with God, get that good sleep in you, wake up tomorrow, get some of that good water in you, and then shoot, move, and communicate, bro. Let's go. Chop, chop. Try to baby, let's go, make the work happen. Um, okay, we got deck plate leadership, institutional and technical expertise, professionalism, character, loyalty, active communication, and a sense of heritage. Out of those different subgroups, those little values that we had from the Navy Chiefs mess. Which one was your favorite?

Tony Cook 2:21:05

Deck plate leadership, baby.

Gary Wise 2:21:07

Baby, I love it. I used to tell you, I'm a deck plate stomper. I'm not a deck plate leader, I'm a deck plate stomp. Yeah, would you rather lead or follow?

Tony Cook 2:21:18

Lead.

Gary Wise 2:21:22

That's what's funny, right? You an introvert, but you like put me in charge, though, boss.

Tony Cook 2:21:28

Just comes, I'm gonna say it comes natural because you gotta be a good follower to be a good leader, you know, and um, but I do I don't mind standing out front, and I don't mind standing in the back. Because if I'm in the back, I'm I'm helping bringing everybody with me.

Gary Wise 2:21:43

I love it, man. All right, bro. That is it. You have any saved rounds or alibis?

Tony Cook 2:21:49

What do you mean?

Gary Wise 2:21:51

All right, you know, at the end of a meeting, uh, we typically ask if anybody has any last shots they want to shoot at the person leaving the meeting, leading the meeting. So that's a saved round. Have you been saving any gotcha questions you want to send my way so I can answer it? Or an alibi? Hey everyone, I know we're tired of being in the meeting, but I have an alibi. I would like to bring up one more time. And I was like, Oh bro, shut up already, dog. What we're doing. So at the end of meetings, we would say, All right, anybody got any save rounds or alibis? Otherwise, everyone hold your peace. We're moving out.

Tony Cook 2:22:22

Gotcha, gotcha. Well, in the end of this, I just want to say thank you, Gary, for this opportunity. Come on here and be part of your show. Um, thank you for who you are, man. You've always been a big part of my career and obviously my life at this moment now. So, you know, you're you're a blessing, and you always will be a blessing to many. You're still blessing people, you blessing the people in their kids now. So that's crazy. But it's just that's that's your nature, man. Those are some things that those those are your talents. That's what God has given you. So, you know, continue to to feed into that, and your world is gonna continue to be what you want it to be.

Gary Wise 2:23:02

Man, thank you for that, bro. I accept that. Uh, and I'll send the same back to you, bro. You a real one. I I know that God's got great things in store for you. You keep working with those men and those women that are going dealing with addiction challenges, that are working through faith challenges, sharing your story, helping them figure out life, and just you know, the the goal is to not be perfect, the goal is to, like you said, bro, just don't quit. Just don't quit and to be able to look back. My favorite thing to look back behind the ship is to see the wake, right? And you can see where we've been coming from. And then, but when you look all to the right and the left, it's a big ocean, those are all the places we ain't been yet. Like it's so much out there that don't just say fancy looking in the rear view mirror when the when the that front mirror window is such such such a better view, yeah. Right? So, bro, I appreciate your time, I appreciate your energy. Uh, I look forward to talking to you more in the future, homie. And you know that if you ever need anything, hit me up. I got you. We'll do it. All right, everyone listening to the sound of our voices if you like this stuff. Like, subscribe, share, hit the podcast, all that. All right, let's go. I'll see you later, bro.