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Words from the Wise
Join Words from the Wise with Gary Wise, a retired Navy Command Master Chief, for authentic leadership insights forged in real-world experience. Through engaging discussions and actionable strategies, Gary empowers you to master emotional intelligence, build resilient teams, and unlock your full potential. Tune in for practical advice on delegation, conflict management, and inspiring others, drawn from his over 28 years of service and ongoing leader mentorship headquartered now in Ocala, Florida.
Words from the Wise
From Small-Town Alabama To Master Chief
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What does it take to turn a “dirty ship” into the crew everyone else calls when things get tough? We sit down with Master Chief Jeffrey “JB” Brooks—raised in Fort Payne, Alabama by his grandparents, recruited by accident, forged on deckplates after 9/11—to unpack the real mechanics of culture change, readiness, and trust.
JB planned on law school. Instead, he learned craft at the Naval Academy, qualifying as a craftmaster under low‑viz radar drills and teaching midshipmen the art of navigation. Forward deployed on USS ESSEX in Sasebo, he shouldered relentless ops, clashing personalities, and the grief of losing a sailor. The hinge of his story is USS ASHLAND: he arrived to a toxic climate and a failing readiness picture, reset leadership roles based on performance, and rebuilt standards from the ground up. When manning cratered, he and the mess engineered a shipwide solution—cross‑qualified watchstanders and clear, honest expectations. The results were undeniable: improvement at MCA and a green INSURV without a stand‑down, because readiness became a daily habit, not an event.
We also follow JB to Millington, where he learned the system behind billets, hot‑fills, and the human realities of detailing, then to Yokosuka, where he serves as Brig OIC and even stepped in as acting base XO. New domain, same principles: read the book, run the what‑ifs, and decide with character. Along the way, JB shares practical leadership tools—“yes if” framing, steady strain over whipsaw, standards before optics—and how to parent teenagers without treating them like sailors. If you care about deckplate leadership, amphib ops, FDNF tempo, inspections that matter, and culture that sticks, this conversation delivers both playbook and proof.
If this resonated, share it with a shipmate, subscribe for more real leadership stories, and leave a review with the lesson you’ll apply this week. Your feedback helps more listeners find conversations that make teams better.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, how are you doing today? My name is Gary Wise. This is Words from the Wise, Wise Leadership Solutions, and thank you very much for joining us. Uh, you know, I appreciate everybody that supports us. We we've it's been a big day for us here at Wise Leadership Solutions. Just found out today we just crossed 500,000 views, which is huge. Uh, we've now got 200 subscribers, I believe, on the YouTube channel. We started with zero. Matter of fact, I think we were like negative five when we started this thing. We do not know what we're doing. We're figuring out it as we go, but it's fun, it's a creative outlet. We really appreciate y'all. A couple of things. Number one, this this podcast is sponsored by Wise Leadership Solutions. So if you're in North Central Florida, if you're interested in leadership, if you want to talk organizational leadership, we can help you out with that. Please hit me up offline. We'll see what we can do for you. Also, Ocala South Church of Hope, or out in Southern Ocala Church of Hope. Uh, that's where I lay my head. That's the congregation that I'm blessed to be a part of. Uh, please check us out. We're going to three services there on Sundays, and we're standing up the primetime service for middle school age children. I'm blessed to be a part of that. So super excited to work with your kids there. Uh, please let me know if you want any more information about that. And then last but not least, the Vanguard High School Navy Junior ROTC, the Knights Battalion. Thank y'all for watching. Thank y'all for representing. I really appreciate y'all paying attention to our podcast and the support. Now, today. Today, I have a shipmate of mine who served with me on board the USS Ashland LSD 48 out of Sasebo, Japan, uh, from 2016 until 2018. Uh, this brother he stood tall with me on the deck plates. He he ran the deck department on board the ship, and I watched him go from senior chief to master chief petty officer. He is none other than Mr. Jeffrey Book Brooks. So, JB, what's up, man?
Jeffrey Brooks :Hey brother, how's things going?
Gary Wise :Oh man, you know, I'm it's going pretty freaking good. I'd be lying if I said it would, man. It's blessed.
Jeffrey Brooks :That's good, that's good. Good to see you again.
Gary Wise :It's good to see you too, man. I am looking forward to this conversation just because 24 months on board the ship went super fast for me. I think you did the full three years on board the ship, and so you might have some other perspectives as well, which I'm I'm I'm excited to hear. But I also want to share your story with with the crew, with with my with my cadets and with the listeners, because your story's awesome, man. From your grandma, your grandpa, from just everything you've gone through in your life, right? I I remember talking to you in the Chiefs Mess. You were always a solid listener, a solid advice giver. And uh one of my favorite C stories, and we'll tell it later. I don't want I don't want to tell it quite yet, but it includes you. Um so, JB, if you don't mind, before we get started, I'd like to say a quick word of prayer. Sure. Yeah, God. Hey, it's me and Jeff. We really appreciate you, Lord. Appreciate the blessings you've given us, our our families, our wives, our kids. Uh you know, appreciate the the chance we've got to travel to see the world, appreciate the people that's been in our lives that made sure that we got to where we needed to be and that we learned the things that we need to learn to to grow into the man that we become today. Uh Lord, I'd like I'd ask that you just bless us in this conversation, that you know, our tongues can be guided, our words can be solid, we can stand, we can stand true. And hopefully everybody knows that listens to the sound of our voice, that it's just meant to be a good conversation between a couple of people that are trying their best in this world. Thank you, Lord, the name of thy son Jesus Christ. Amen. And I say that, brother, because you know, I just God, I just I appreciate you and I appreciate the opportunity for you to be here, and I know how crazy life can be. And so I just thank you for that. And I'm um it's a blessing to see you.
Jeffrey Brooks :Okay, yeah, absolutely.
Gary Wise :Yeah, if y'all can't tell this man is wearing an Alabama hat, he may be top three of the biggest Alabama fans in my life that I've ever met. All three, as a matter of fact, were on the crew of the USS Ashland at the same time. It was the bosun, it was Jeff, and it was Mac, who is now currently a master chief in Bahrain, but these guys are freaking Bama fans and roll tied all day long.
Jeffrey Brooks :I'm talking like losing sleep over this team, and yeah, we actually got to catch the games together with uh all three of us.
Gary Wise :Yeah, I I I you guys have been in person to see the games. That's amazing. That's shipmates, bro. That's real shipmates, right? That actually get together off the deck plates and make things happen in life. That's awesome. Uh Jeff, what part of Alabama did you grow up in?
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh, small town, Fort Payne, Alabama. Uh, it's uh up in the northeast corner, uh, best known for the band Alabama. And uh once upon a time it was the sock capital of the world. If you wore socks, odds are they they were from my hometown at one point.
Gary Wise :That's very cool. And so when you say small town, like what do you mean? You mean like one school, like all three elementary, middle school, and high school are in the same building?
Jeffrey Brooks :Or is it yeah, we weren't that small. We had uh everything was split. We had uh you know three different separate schools, right? It was a decent size, but compared to what I've grown accustomed to over the last 20 plus years, it's definitely a small town.
Gary Wise :Yeah. So growing up as a kid in Alabama, in that small town in Alabama, what was that like? Was it like was it, I mean, barefoot chasing you know, stuff through the swamp? Is it swampy there like it is in Florida?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, no, not at all. Uh, you know, it it was wooded, right? Like a lot of a lot of wood, wooded areas. Um, you know, uh, you know, it's all I knew at the time, right? Riding four-wheelers, dirt bikes, go-karts, stuff like that growing up. Uh, but uh, you know, it wasn't it wasn't back country roads, you know what I mean. It we had more than one or two red lights at least, you know what I mean. We had several. Uh, you know, we made it big time when we got a super center Walmart, right? But uh, but you know, I couldn't have asked for a better growing up, right? I enjoyed it. Um raised by my grandparents there, so I was able to uh learn a lot and uh really experienced a lot growing up there.
Gary Wise :So growing up with your grandma and grandpa, were you like an only child in the house, or did you have like brothers and sisters in the house too?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, it was only me. Uh I had uh I had a half-brother that was with my mom. Uh, you know, my aunt, uh she was you know a few years older than me, but we grew up like brother and sister for there for a while. And uh, but yeah, if for as long as I can remember, it was just me and them.
Gary Wise :Okay. What was it like as a high school teenager, as a person getting ready to graduate? Because you know, as a dad, now we're both parents of teenage boys in particular. Both of both of our older sons are very similar in age, 17, 18 time frames, and they're getting ready to do things after high school, um, which is a weird space to be in as a as a dad, right? Like it's it's be kind of it's it's weird, right? Our kids are getting to be older. I've always asked parents of adults, like, what's it like to be a dad of an adult, right? Because I've never we've never been there. Um, but what were you thinking about, like, you know, 10, 11th, 12th grade, when you were looking at life, did you, did you know that you were gonna up and join the service, or did you have other ideas to think like were you a big athlete in high school? I mean, what did you think you wanted to do?
Jeffrey Brooks :So earlier on, I played sports, but then I got a job and I enjoyed making money, so I didn't play sports so much. I I worked uh 40 hours a week, my last two years in high school. So I had a full-time job. Um, the plan was college. Uh, there the military was nowhere in the stratosphere of anything I was planning on doing. You know, for as long as I could remember, um it was college and then law school, right? I wanted to be a lawyer. I remember and uh, you know, uh my uh my grandmother was learning how to play around on the internet at the time, and she saw something that said forty thousand dollars for school, and she didn't pay attention to what it said, it just said forty thousand dollars for school. Well, she clicked on it and put all my information, and lo and behold, it was it was the navy. So uh that's kind of how I ended up, you know, getting contacted, and I told them no for a long time, like there was no way.
Gary Wise :So, so did you end up graduating high school and start college, or did they catch up to you before you graduated?
Jeffrey Brooks :They didn't catch up to me until after I graduated. Um, you know, I had graduated, I went to spring break, but I'd kind of I took I'd take taken my uh foot off the gas and I didn't do the things I needed to do to make sure I was ready to go to school, right? So um when they were uh when they kept calling, finally I was like, all right, I'll listen. I'll see what I'll I'll see what you have to offer. And then, you know, they were talking money for school, they were talking college credits, they were talking all this stuff. And I came in the Navy to be a legal man, right? I had a guaranteed A school to be a legal man, and uh I was like, well, I'll go do that and I'll learn some stuff and I'll figure some things out and then I'll and and then I'll go to school. And uh that's just not how it turned out.
Gary Wise :Okay, so interesting. We're gonna get to that part. I do remember the the lawyer conversation, and and I love when you said, Hey, I'll listen to you, because definitely that is a hundred percent your methodology, right? You are God bless you. You don't I think you forget how big you are because you're a tall human being, right? Okay, and you don't come, you don't mean to come across as like imposing or like whatever it is, but you mean all right, I'll listen to you, but you get that you get that little lit thing in your eye, and you get that little cock in your head, and and I can see you, yeah. I'll listen to it, but you do listen, you always listen, and I appreciate that about you. You're a great listener, and so you you hear them. You I can appreciate the legal man idea because I get that makes sense. I would agree with it. Why not, Jeff? Go do legal men, become paralegal, get some money for college, and come back, go to see if you like it. So, do you go to boot camp? First off, how was boot camp? Did you mind it? Did you hate it? Did you like it?
Jeffrey Brooks :Boot camp was fine. Uh, you know, I didn't uh I you know I went to boot camp one week to the day after 9-11, right? So it was it it was an experience, right? Uh and uh but boot camp was boot camp. I kept my head down as long as nobody knew my name. I thought I was doing a good job. Um and uh, you know, I think I did what a lot of people do is I made my way through it. You know what I mean?
Gary Wise :And uh, when you got through boot camp, wishing like just keeping your head down and getting through it?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, not really, because I'll be honest with you, that that that's kind of who I am, right? I'd rather just put my head down and and and you know, do things that I need to do. Uh and I had to grow out of that quite a bit, obviously, as as my career progressed. But uh to my core, that's that's what I would who I would rather be is just somebody that can bust it out and and move on, right?
Gary Wise :I just asked that because I had the exact same plan. I was go through boot camp, I don't even want to know my name. Then at the end of it, I'm seeing these guys have these relationships with the drill commanders, and I'm like, I don't have that relationship because they didn't know me. And there was a part of me that wished I was like, and and like you said, I had to grow out of that eventually because I'd miss opportunities because I wasn't trying to to raise my hand, you know, I wasn't trying to step out and say, hey guys, pick me, pick me. I just either you either you either I was for you or I wasn't, and there you go, right? Yeah, um, so I'm curious that so you go to boot camp, you get through boot camp, and you have a legalman a school still, or did that Yeah, so I had to go to the fleet first.
Jeffrey Brooks :It was called uh GTEP program, right? Where you had to do 12 to 18 months, whatever, right? They kind of sold me on that, right? So whatever I went and uh my first ship was the Ponce, it was an LPD out of out of Virginia. And uh, you know, um, but no, what nobody told me was I had to know how to type 40 words a minute when it came to the the prerequisite to to go to school. So I'm doing what I need to do, right? Uh working, doing whatever deck seamen do. And uh it comes time to start doing all my prerequisites for school, and they're like, hey, you got to take this typing test. What? Uh so I have not practiced, you know. I took a typing class in school that we used to have to take when you were in high school, but that's all that was it. Yeah, I got close, uh, but you know, I I started liking Bosumate stuff. I was qualified, I had all this stuff, third class exam was coming up quick, and I was like, uh, I'm gonna take third class tests, I'm gonna see what happens.
Gary Wise :What what did you like? Did you like did you like the ponse? I mean, it sounds like you were doing good.
Jeffrey Brooks :I did. I was on that ship for five years. I mean, you know, look, your best command is always your next command, your last command, right? So you you're never happy where you're at. Um, but uh looking back on it now, uh I obviously I had the most growth at that command, right? It was uh uh probably the best experience I've ever had because you know, first time away from home for that long, right? And uh, you know, a couple of deployments on there, a couple of inserts, a couple of this, a couple of that, right? And I learned a lot, right? I had some good uh uh leaders. I uh one of them, he's still my mentor to this day, and he's been retired for I think he retired in 2014, something like that, right? And I still reach out to him uh from time to time. And um, you know, that's just the relationships you build.
Gary Wise :Very cool. And I think that the other thing is look back at the day and time of the age, right? It's right after 9-11. Technology is starting to boom, same same with uh our operational schedule, and so like, and you just said a powerful thing. What you said, I grew so much in that five years. Because if you think about it, I mean you go, did you leave that ship a second class?
Jeffrey Brooks :I did, yeah. I left the second class. I was uh almost I was I was up for first um the very next cycle after leaving.
Gary Wise :So exactly. So you went five pay grades in that period, that five years, right? You will never be able to do that again in the service because for enlisted, there's only four more pay grades, period, right? Like they're just so so there's a and that's for young people. I watch these little kids come into the high school, freshmen. This is little baby, and then three or four years later, they're like, Dang, you're a grown man. And then I remember when I was in the fleet, I'd get this grown man like a little baby, and I you know, because in high school, they're like, Oh, they look like grown men against the other little kids, but they don't know how to make adult decisions yet.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, no, I got you.
Gary Wise :No, they're kids, right? They're immature, but they grow so fast in those four years. Like, I think from 14 to 24, just that eight years is like holy crap, the amount of stuff they can learn and do. And if you do it right, you might get set up for the rest of your life. You do it wrong, you might really be set back, you know. And that was just super powerful. And I'm saying that because a lot of my students will listen to this, and I think that was very powerful. That first four or five years, you doing anything, whether it's college, whether it's a job, could be the most important growth years of your life. Everything after that's supposed to fight, right? It's almost a fight. Yeah, okay. So you're on the Ponce, you blow you having a good tour, it sounds like. Do you deploy?
Jeffrey Brooks :I did deploy twice, uh, 03 and 05. Um good deployments, right? Uh, you know, nothing, nothing crazy, right? We had some there's some stories to tell, but it was, you know, uh, I don't think it was anything extraordinary, right? We were out there doing what we needed to do. Uh, I think we did mine countermeasure operations on the first one, and on the second one, uh, we we did the uh we stood guard on those oil platforms out there in the Gulf, right? In 05. So um I know it well.
Gary Wise :KO and Avot. Yep. Meals on kills. I did that in 06 when they blew up and on the oning.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, I was I was the idiot out there on the rope swing, not realizing there was fish bigger than me that I probably need to stay out of that water, but I was out there swinging off that thing like an idiot.
Gary Wise :Yeah, yeah, I remember thinking just like you, like we're out there doing meals on kills for the the navy defense teams or whatever it was was on those things. And I'm thinking to myself, like, this is it, huh? This is what we're doing. And it wasn't the worst place to be, you know. Then we had like Iraqi Navy dudes, and I was like, these guys are kind of strange, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, you know, I remember like my my first deployment, oh three, I was still a seaman, and I'm standing 12 hours of gun mount watch a day. I'm a mount captain on a 25 millimeter uh and you know, I I got I'm 12 hours of watch a day, right? Six on, six off, and then one of the six hours you're working, right? Yeah, and the chaplain would go around and he would take pictures of people and send them to their families, right? And I stood all this time on this big gun, and his picture of me was me sweeping the deck. I was I was so mad. I was like, come on, you could have got so much other stuff out of me than this.
Gary Wise :That's horrible, that's horrible. Yeah, yeah. It's those are tough, those are tough times for sure. So, where was this ship out of? Were you out of Norfolk?
Jeffrey Brooks :It was, yeah, out of Norfolk.
Gary Wise :Well, how did you like going from Alabama? I mean, Chicago, you barely got liberty there, then you were probably on your way somewhere else. How did you like Virginia as a young sailor?
Jeffrey Brooks :I thought it was fine. You know, I did I didn't know what I didn't know, so I sold my truck. I was like, man, I'm I'm in the navy, I'm gonna be in a ship, we're gonna be gone, we're at war. So I sold everything. I didn't have a truck. Uh I sold it all, right? And I show up and to the ship, and they just got back off deployment. They're going in the yards. I'm like, well, crap, now I've got no transportation, I'm walking everywhere. But I had I had people that I was in boot camp with from my sister division and from my division on the same ship. So we we got together, we're we were close, we're still close, we still share sea stories and you know, getting lost in Virginia Beach and all that stuff, and trying to figure our way back. Uh I checked in on January 2nd, and it's like they forgot I was there when I first got there. You know, everybody's on leave, right? They just got back off deployment and then they go on leave. They forgot I was there. It was a month uh before I knew anything, right? And uh I'm sitting at breakfast one day and I, you know, I'm I'm watching, I see uh boot camp. I see people with beards and stuff. I didn't know anything about a no-shaped shit. So I'm like, man, maybe that's a boot camp thing. So I didn't shave right for a month. I'm sitting on the best ex with a full with a beard, and my LPO walks up to me and he's like, What is your problem? Right, and I'm like, What are you talking about? That guy's got a beard, he's got one. What do you mean? Right, and yeah, I didn't know. Nobody uh nobody said anything, right?
Gary Wise :And uh yeah, I I you know, I don't feel so bad now for the times that I that either I've been forgotten or I might have found somebody who slipped through the cracks and just been like, you know, all right, everybody deserves some grace once in a while, you know. At least you didn't go out there and do something crazy and cause you know trouble.
Jeffrey Brooks :You know, thank you. Thank God I had a good head on my shoulders.
Gary Wise :Yeah, were you were you living on the boat? I was, yeah. Okay, so at least you had a place to stay, you're on the ship. Uh you had some buddies from from boot camp to hang out with, if you will. Probably had some technology. Did you have a cell phone already at that time?
Jeffrey Brooks :I did, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gary Wise :I mean, because you know, I didn't get my first cell phone until well, I guess it was about that time because I was a recruiter. I'd got my first cell phone. But when I when I first joined the Navy 90, there was no cell phones, right? Yeah, so that right about that time was when cell phones were a big deal, right? You can go out and get an XL and get a black blueberry or whatever it was.
Jeffrey Brooks :Oh, yeah, yeah.
Gary Wise :Okay. Um, and you're in Little Creek, Virginia Beach.
Jeffrey Brooks :No, no, we were in Norfolk. We were out of Norfolk. We were one of those few amphibs that weren't in out of Little Creek. Oh, okay.
Gary Wise :So you're on that side of the Hampton Roads area, right? Okay. Um, did you did you live on the ship the entire time you were on that crew?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, uh, we got back off the deployment in 03, and some buddies, me and a couple of buddies, we kind of you know, we put our money together and we we went and got a a uh townhouse in Hampton, Virginia. Um so just so we could spend some time off the ship, right? Get away.
Gary Wise :I get it. It's very, very important. Uh did you meet Sam during your first five years? Is that where you met your life?
Jeffrey Brooks :I did. She was in college down in North Carolina and uh met her through a guy that worked for me. And uh yeah, here we are 20 21 years later. So was it love at first sight? I don't know. I don't know. We talked for a while. She's sitting over there laughing right now.
Gary Wise :I don't know if it was or not, but uh I bet I love your wife. She is a hardcore, she's a go-getter. You guys are I can relate because I also have a wife who's a motivator, so I can I can relate. Yeah, and so okay, so you guys meet your she's a college student, you're a sailor, you guys talked a whole bunch, and at the end of the five years, are you thinking, well, I didn't become a legal man, I'm gonna get out and go to college and become a freaking lawyer, or what?
Jeffrey Brooks :So um we had gotten engaged before right before the 05 deployment, right? And I was gonna get out, right? And then I was like, you know, I was I I didn't have anything figured out. It was kind of the same story from when I left high school. Uh, you know, I I I did good in high school, I had good grades, but I didn't do the things I needed to do to prepare myself to go to college, right? So as the 05 deployment is coming and I'm engaged, and I'm like, well, here I haven't done the things I needed to do to prepare myself for the next for the next thing. So I'm I'm gonna go to I made E5, right? I got capped at the time, right, to E5. Um and I I was like, well, I mean, here I am. I made I made E5. Um, you know, I'm about to have a wife, right? We we got to start a life together. So uh let me see what shore duty has, right? So I called the I called the the detailer and I was like, hey, I want instructor duty, I want to be able to get my MTS, right? Um, I don't care where it is, I don't care what it is. And he's like, Well, I got the Naval Academy. I was like, I'll take it. I'm good. Uh and that's that was next.
Gary Wise :That's I remember that because you were driving those boats up there with all the midshipment, and that was where you got your uh your craft. I remember that. Yep, I remember you telling me that story. Uh huge. And the freaking naval academy.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yep.
Gary Wise :Like that is for a regular, I've never even been to the naval academy as a you know, as a regular old sailor, I've been to the SEA, I've been to Newport for that little school, but I've never gone to somewhere like Annapolis. So did you and Sam get married before you went there, or did you guys yeah, we got married after that 05 deployment.
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh, we got on New Year's Eve, and then I didn't transfer until the the Jan January of 07 is when I transferred from the Ponce and we took off to the Naval Academy.
Gary Wise :Okay, so here you are, young couple coming out of Virginia, out of Hampton, going to Annapolis, first like big move, first change in scenery. That's gotta be an exciting time.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, it was. Uh, I didn't know how to look for an apartment up there, right? So uh I I think I picked the absolute worst place I could possibly pick. Um, but uh I remember when I got there and I'm checking in, and my chief is sitting down with me, and he's from the the area, and he's like, You want us to get you out of that lease? Are you sure you want to live there? And I was like, I I've signed it now. I'm we're here for at least a year. Um we're in this apartment for at least a year. So we we stuck it out and it was okay, but yeah, it was not it it was not anything I was used to for sure, as far as uh from a safety standpoint.
Gary Wise :Okay. And then uh what was that job like going to going to the Naval Academy every day? Being, I mean, you've been in the Navy now five and a half, six years, so you're probably about 24, 25 years old. These midshipmen are about the same age as you, uh, maybe a little younger, and you're out there working with them on the boats every day, teaching them rules of the road, teaching them, teaching them ship handling, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, so uh the the qual process. So when I reported, uh yet again, they're looking at me like, why are you here? Right? It was kind of the same story as like you're you're supposed to be a first class, these are first class orders, you're you're an E5. I was like, I was like, I don't know. They get this, this is what I wanted, this is what they gave me. And they're like, Well, you're gonna be a craft master, you're gonna have to do all these things. Can you handle it? I was like, Yeah, I can drive anything you put me, you put me on, right? I'll be fine. And uh so they put me through the pipeline, and I that pipeline was no joke, right? Um you know, you had you had, I think it was 12 weeks at the time to qualify. And um, you know, it's not just driving, like you had to know charts, you had to know how to do navigation, you had to know how to do all those things. And part of the qual ride uh was they they throw a blanket over your head and you have to navigate the channel using radar, right? And you have to do a precision anchorage, they simulate low viz with that blanket, and you're not seeing anything else. And they'll send other other craft masters on their YPs to to drive towards you, and you have to use the radar to arrange passing situations and all that stuff. So it was uh it was something else. It was definitely uh uh it was it was definitely a fun qual. Um and it they it was not easy for a second class to get it for sure. Yeah, uh, I remember uh yeah, I yeah, I went through some uh I went through some uh hard times to get that qual on time.
Gary Wise :There was a lot of pressure, right? Like you said, they're they're already giving you grief because you're not a first class, even though you can't control that, right? You got the orders, you got the orders. Are they all boastmates as well, or are they also QMs and and stuff?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, there's some there's some quartermasters up there. We had one GM, uh, but it was all but the right he, yeah, it was a different story, but it was all the rest of us were boastmates and quartermasters, right? Um so uh but yeah, I can see that.
Gary Wise :Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure because not only do you understand what the J the officers go through, at least in the Naval Academy, when it comes to preparing them for leadership at sea, especially up in the in the commanding office, in the command.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, yeah.
Gary Wise :I never got to see the pilot house till I was a CMC. Like, let's be honest. I'd go up there, jump out the draft report, and I'd leave, right? I never hung around. And so, yes, you stood watch on the bridge, you're coming up as a sailor, yes, you are boastman of the watch, yes, you are all those things, but driving the ship's a little bit different, being like the con and doing all that other stuff, vice just I don't know, being aft. I don't know how to explain it, but I know there's a different perspective for the drivers of the ship versus the operators of the ship, right? And just a thought process. And then for you to go quickly into that pipeline and have a number one, feel like the odds are against you, feel like you're once again, they're not prepared for you or you're not the guy, and then you've got to prove that you deserve this opportunity or what they're going to send you to the fleet or whatever they're whatever they're threatening you with.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, so they had they had a uh they had a uh pretty much a sailboat division where you go over there and you you get on these little sailboats with the Marines, and I didn't want to do that, or with the with the midshipmen, and I didn't want to do that. And you know, for me it was just an opportunity to show them I can do it, right? It didn't really matter to me. I don't really care uh uh you know about about those things, right? Um, you know, that's positive pressure as far as I'm concerned, right? Um because I put more pressure on myself than what they're gonna put on me anyway, right? I mean, I gotta at this time I'm I'm 23 years old, I got a wife to take care of, right? I don't know uh driving a boat and teaching some midshipmen how to how to how to navigate, that's okay. I can do that.
Gary Wise :You're very competitive, right? As much as you're stoic and as much as you're calm, you're very competitive. And I know that about you, right? You're very competitive. And I mean, your first ship, the ponse, you you go there, you change directions because they've they didn't give you all the information. Because if you'd have known that, you probably would have smoked the test because you didn't prepare. But then you want to you get capped at BM2, you're up for P01, so you have a good first tour, yeah. And and you found success there, probably through consistent performance, sustained period performance is what we tend to. Call the Navy, right? And that's what you're that's probably what you're giving up, right? I just got a feeling. And now here you are. And not only are you competitive, but you said it's positive pressure, and you you don't mind operating against the grind, right? Like give me that pressure, yeah, and you'll show them, right? So I I I love that part about you. I love that part about anybody because I relate, right? That's that's I I feel like if you could connect somebody with an opponent that they can recognize they want to try to compete with or even beat, then you might find them even performing a higher level than they ever thought they could perform at.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, right. Well, I mean, for me, for me, how easy how easy is it to go somewhere that's already squared away, or how easy is it to go somewhere that's um where there's no that that's easy, right? But uh for me, I've been successful by being at places that that need work, right? I'd prefer go somewhere and my the person I'm relieving not even be there anymore, right? Uh because I don't I don't one, I don't I don't need them feeling some type of way if I do it differently, right? Yep, um and I to I'd prefer not be there when they show up either when my relief shows up either, right? I mean, at least for a long period of time, yeah.
Gary Wise :Um so I I get it, and you know what's funny about that statement is it feels like this just everywhere. I don't know about you. Did you hear what Elon Musk said when he was at Doge? And he was like, Well, I just gotta aim at any wall, aim at the ceiling, anywhere I throw the dart, I'm hitting, I'm hitting stuff. I felt like after my entire career, I don't think I ever went to one place where I felt like this place is good, yeah.
Jeffrey Brooks :Right? I I you know I shouldn't say this because I never leave anywhere perfect. You always want to leave it better than where you found found it. But I I've told people before, I wish one day I could just relieve myself, right? Uh that because that would make things easier.
Gary Wise :Man, but you know, I you're not wrong. I can relate again, I can relate to that as well. And yeah, so okay, so you do your time at Annapolis. Is that a three-year tour?
Jeffrey Brooks :It was, yeah. Uh, got my craft master, did some college, got MTS, uh, made first. I was up for chief just as as I was leaving. So, so why'd you do college? Well, at the time, right? That was the thing, right? You better have an associate's degree if you want to make chief, you better have a bachelor's if you want to make senior chief. All right, that was the thing. Uh, that was they wanted to they wanted us all to feel like division officers at the time. At least that's the way I feel about it, right?
Gary Wise :Um so yeah, agreed, brother. The whole reason I got my associate's degree is because exactly that. It was not because I gave a dang about going to get a college degree, you know. I got my bachelor's, everyone else on liberty. I'm saying well, I stayed on the ship because number one, it gave me a reason to stay on the boat and not be out with people on liberty. And I just for me, that was a protection because I just didn't trust anybody, right? I'd much rather just be by myself on the ship and and and be secure and know that I'm good. And so I did school work, but once I retired from the service, I will tell you, I've had so many, so many good, so many thankful moments that I got that college done. That is one thing I will say to that piece, right? Even though I begrudgingly did it because I didn't care about any of it. I love being a sailor, I didn't care about college. Yeah, but that was definitely a unique perspective. So you come out of there, you got your college, you got your master training specialty, you did everything you're supposed to do. You're are you a BM1 at this point?
Jeffrey Brooks :I am, yeah, I'm BM1, uh about to be up for chief.
Gary Wise :Are you thinking chief or are you thinking LDO? Are you thinking Warren? What are you thinking?
Jeffrey Brooks :So I never thought LDO, right? Um, you know, my mentor, my my first senior chief on the Ponse was my mentor from the get-go. So senior chief, I thought was that's what I need to be. That's what I'm supposed to be, that's what he was. Um, so that's that's what I had my eyes on. And I never even had my eyes on Master Chief, right? I was like senior chief, right? I that's what he was. He was an awesome senior chief, and uh that that's what I've got my eye on. And you know, when I left the naval academy, I left early, I left uh six months early so I could uh so I could transfer with a ranked eval, right? And then um and give me a full run at my next spot, right?
Gary Wise :And uh sounds like you were getting good mentorship for sure, because that's strategy right there.
Jeffrey Brooks :Well, yeah, and and and the way I looked at it, because I went to the Essex out of Sasovo, right? And I was like, well, the Naval Academy, I feel like set me up for chief, right? So I now I need to go somewhere that's gonna set me up for senior chief, right? Yeah, um, because you know, I didn't I didn't want to seem cocky, I never want to seem cocky, but I thought I had done enough to be competitive for chief out on that shore duty, right? Um, so now I need to go somewhere where I can be a senior chief.
Gary Wise :100% hundred man. I I I hope people listening to the your listening to your words hear that part, and it's also like what you're doing right now should be what's going to get you the next goal. I prefer to be playing two, three goals ahead because that way you're never resting on your laurels, right? Yep, for sure. Okay, so now you're gonna go forward deployed, Sassa Vegas, Sasebo, Japan.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, we uh so I talked, I talked to the wife, right? I saw that it was on there, and I was like, hey, they got Japan, right? We can go to Japan, and she was about it, but as it got closer, I was like, man, do I really want to do this? Do I really want to go to Japan? Right. And we we had had one young young son, uh, my oldest, he was uh he was gonna be one by the time we transferred over there. Right. And you know, Samantha's younger than me, right? She's uh almost four years younger than me. So at the time I'm 25, so she's you know, barely old enough to to buy a beer, and she's about to take her first first airplane flight to Japan and uh with a one-year-old, right? And uh, I'm gonna be gone 200 plus days a year for the next three years, right? Did so did you know that op tempo before you took the order? Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah, I'd talk to people, I'd ask questions, but you know, ultimately, you know, the stressics was was where I where I was needed to go, right?
Gary Wise :So I get it, I understand. So and I also understand the apprehension of going to Japan for the first time, especially with a family, especially with you know, I was I was blessed my first ship was in Japan. So when I went back with Erica years later, I at least had a I knew what a Georgia coffee was, right? Like I had a little I had a little bit more experience because she was she was very nervous, and we had Hayden, of course, who was about two. So I could relate, and we went and we also we went to Yoko, but flight making that flight for the first time is something else. When you got off the bus in in Fukuoka, was anyone there to pick you up, or did you have to drive ride the bus?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, my sponsor was there. That's because I said, Hey man, you're gonna come up here and pick me up, right? You're gonna come up here, you're gonna ride the bus. Uh, and because he's like, No, man, it's easy. I said, Yeah, it's gonna be easier because you're gonna be there. Very good. So, so he showed up, he was there, he got us, he got us down there. Uh, and yeah, that I'll tell you, man, the two-hour flight from Tokyo to Fuch, and then the two-hour bus ride from Fuch to Sasbo, that's no joke, right? After an 18-hour flight to Japan to begin with, right?
Gary Wise :Yeah, and you wake up, you get there to that Navy Lodge and you're down there at the bottom of the horseshoe, you know, and you're just like, why are the cars parked out there? And you get chicken, and the the sun comes up at 4 30 in the morning. What the heck?
Jeffrey Brooks :Well, yeah, we we had gotten there uh December 15th. Uh what was it, 2009? Yeah, 2009, December 15th, 2009. So, I mean, we're we're right up against Christmas, right? And uh yeah, it was it was something else.
Gary Wise :It was cold, it was you know, it was it's a somber time to go overseas, too, because yeah, your kids watching Disney Jr. or whatever it is, you're missing you're missing the family already, and the time zone difference is crazy. And is the and the ship is there, I would imagine, right? They ship us over.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, it was there, it was going through uh uh mini a veil like they always do, right? And uh yeah, it was there. Um got on board uh and uh yeah, met the senior chief, found out they were gonna put me as work center supervisor as a first class. I was like, hold on, I came here to be an LPO, like I told them. I was like, uh, you're kind of you're kind of wasting wasting me if I if I'm a work center supervisor. I said, I'll do it. I've done it before because that's what they had done. They had read my evals. Uh they saw that we had a 3M uh uh 3M assessment coming up. So they're like, well, you're gonna be the 3MA and you're gonna be the work center suit. So I said, okay, but you know, I'm gonna make chief. My goal is to be the LPO, right? So I got we got through uh the 3M cert and uh you know I was I by the time 3M cert was over with, I was the LPO for maybe a month or so, and then chief results came out and I was I was a chief and off and running.
Gary Wise :Okay, so yeah, you get there in December, and so August, chief results come out, so about six months on board, and you pick up your anchors. Uh, real quick, how long did it take you guys to get into Navy housing when you got there? Do you remember?
Jeffrey Brooks :We were it we were lucky that time. We we were we moved into housing on Christmas Eve. They got us all of our stuff because we we shipped it out very early from uh from Maryland, and uh they got us into housing December 24th. And Samantha got the Christmas tree set up because this was Jesse's second Christmas, right? This is one where he's old enough where we can actually remember doing any or doing anything with him where he can be excited, so she got everything set up because my plan was to buy some Christmas lights and make the make a design of a Christmas tree on the wall or something, right? You know, but no, she she got it squared away.
Gary Wise :That's a big Christmas gift, right? There, to get all your stuff delivered to the house, Christmas Eve, get it all unpacked to the best. That's huge. And that's that's always were you in a tower or were you in a townhouse?
Jeffrey Brooks :We were in those two bedroom townhouses, um, right there on main base housing.
Gary Wise :Okay, yeah, that's not bad.
Jeffrey Brooks :No, I was happy with it.
Gary Wise :Walk to work. Yep, that's good. Okay, so you're there six months later, you pick up Chief. Uh did any of the other BM1s pick up Chief that time, or were you the only one?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, I was the only one. Uh, you know, a buddy of mine, we were real close as BM1s. He uh he was up as well. He didn't made he made it the next year. Um but uh you know he uh yeah, but I was the only one that year.
Gary Wise :I'd like to ask that because an LHD, LHA, Bozemas are just such a force to be reckoned with that it's not uncommon for one, at least that big of a ship from one or two. Then it's also I know what it's like to come in kind of the the the new arrival and then pick up rank, and everyone that's been there longer than you is like, what the hell?
Jeffrey Brooks :But yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gary Wise :You know, the thing about life, people don't always know the work you put in to get to that point, right? Yeah, they just they think you're the new guy. Yeah, no, no, you put a lot of work in to get to that point in your career, and then you pick up rank, and everyone's like, How'd that happen? Well, get to know him better, bro. Like, get to know more about the guy, and maybe you figure that part out. So when you go through initiation, uh, how many how many selectees was there on board the Essex?
Jeffrey Brooks :There were 16 of us. That's good, it's not bad.
Gary Wise :Did you enjoy the process?
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh I mean, I don't know if anybody back then enjoyed the process, right? Because I'm not one that had fun with it, right? You know, like I I wasn't one that was gonna have fun with it, uh at least early on and poke back. And remember, uh, you know, 2010, that's that's when the flood hit Millington. So our results came out late, right? So our whole season, we were gonna get pinned on time, right? So our whole season was shortened, and uh, you know, they had to cram everything in to you know, instead of six, seven weeks, you know, four and a half, five weeks, right?
Gary Wise :Yeah, and they blame it all on you, like it's like you're gonna be less than because you had a shorter season.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, that's okay. That's how it goes, right? You know, uh, but you know, no nobody wants to be the lead select, right? You know, that that's not the goal, right? So and I knew that I didn't it what I didn't care. Uh, you know, I'd already been through things, you know, being at the Naval Academy. Look, at the Naval Academy, we did we did we steamed up and down the east coast, right? And I had 30-something midshipmen that would be underway with me for weeks at a time that I was responsible for. Uh, you know, you know, doing an egg division was not a problem.
Gary Wise :Yeah. And and again, you kind of show your uh I can't even remember the last time I did an egg division, to be honest with you. Uh so when I went through initiation, we I had a tampon division.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah.
Gary Wise :Because I mean, I never even saw an egg division until I went to ATG San Diego, and I was like, Oh, y'all can do eggs? Like, what is that?
Jeffrey Brooks :But we just employed our spouses. Samantha, she was the one responsible for making sure all those eggs were emptied out.
Gary Wise :Yeah, I Erica helped me make decorate all my tampons with all the correct uniforms so they can have all the stuff they need to have, you know.
Jeffrey Brooks :And we got smart as a group, and we said we're just gonna make one division for all 16 of us. We're not gonna do 16 individual, we're just gonna do one. Yeah, we don't have time for all that.
Gary Wise :Yep, nope, I've seen the people that did that, and it is it's an intelligent move, and uh it just goes to show that they get it, right? They're getting the idea that this is just a process of exact exaggerating opportunities for conversations, right? So you get through this initiation, which is four or five weeks, and all of a sudden, congratulations, said uh, you're a chief, right? Uh, what's next? These are guys that were just telling you not too long ago, you couldn't be the LPO. Now you're a chief. What are they gonna do with you?
Jeffrey Brooks :So I had some good relationships after we got in there. You know, after you after you first get in the mess, right? You're a new chief. So you all the new chiefs sit together, you're like, ah, screw them, man. They were just mean to us for five weeks, right? But it it would it didn't take long to build good relationships. And because me, I I I watch before I talk to people, I watch how they do things, right? Um, and uh, you know, I built some good relationships. That was a good mess, it was a strong mess. Um, I did not get along with the BMCS that was on board, right? So I did everything I could to keep him in his office, and I ran the divisions, right? And I, you know, I was just like, hey, I got it. If you have questions, ask me. I got it, right? Yeah, um, and uh that but I'll tell you, you know, the I I think anybody will tell you that ship, that ship took a toll on you, right? Because I mean it was gone all the time.
Gary Wise :I understand.
Jeffrey Brooks :And uh, you know, it was uh I understand went through a couple of inserves on there as well, right? So, you know, it wasn't uh, but again, I would rather go through it go through an inserve than sit there and not do anything. I I don't mind inserves, right? I I you know I agree.
Gary Wise :I agree. I love NSERV. I hate I hate Tycom inspections, and I yeah, I mean they're the people that make it hard, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yep, um yep, I agree. I couldn't I could not get to the Ashland, but I I worked towards NSERV for a long time, right?
Gary Wise :Well, unfortunately, that's one of the wick that's just the life of a surface sailor, yeah, right? A surface sailor, a black shoe sailor, especially one that goes to sea like you're supposed to do, right? And you're gonna get there and have an NSERV on this side of five years almost everywhere you go at some point, right? Or they're either, yeah, or now you're now you're doing it twice.
Jeffrey Brooks :Now you're doing it twice because they got the mid-cycle assessment.
Gary Wise :So yeah, which is just God, you know. I I wrote a paper when I went through SCA. So before I even got to Ash, I wrote a paper because again, as a DC man, I I also worked a lot towards inspections and 3M, and I hate 3M, I hate the Navy's 3M program, I don't like 3MCs, like I just don't like it here, right? And I'm I've got no problem saying that out loud, nothing against those people, but it's just it's their program, it's just jacked up, right? And I I wrote the premise of the paper was if a ship can satisfy a 3MA, a 3M assessment at two and a half years mark, they should require no mid-cycle assessment because if that PMS is going good, then they're gonna be just fine at Nserved.
Jeffrey Brooks :If they fail I wrote a similar, I wrote a similar paper at SEA for redundant inspections, right? And they failed me on it. It's like you don't have enough to back it up. I'm like, I'm living it right now.
Gary Wise :That's that you know what that's incredible, but you know, my paper went nowhere too, right? Everyone just thinks, yeah, let's talk about feelings.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gary Wise :I I get it, bro. And I it's it's just one of those things, right? And people that are not actually deck engineering, though those communities, especially on amphibians, because if if you're a deck guy on a on a carrier or maybe even on a small boy, nothing against them, but it's different, yeah. And especially at a Sasebo where they are freaking you are chugging away. They they are not playing because they got guys coming from Cali, they got guys coming from from Okinawa. You are with different standards, all with different standards. Yeah, so um, I want to ask you before I go any further. Now you've done Ponce and you've done Essex, right? Um Ponse, it's an LPD, it's an Austin class, or is it a new class? Okay, so because I was on Ogden, so very similar, exact same platform. Yeah, so no LCACs, but you could do LCUs and you could we could do one, we could do one LCAC. One LCAC. Okay, so by that point, had you gotten a favorite amphibious well deck evolution that you like the most?
Jeffrey Brooks :I mean LCAC is the easiest, but LCUs are my favorite, right? Because it's the most chaotic, those things come alive in the well, and if it's choppy, they're all over the place. Uh, my least favorite is AAVs. I can't stand them, right? Anytime you got to get a marine to try to turn a direction, it's a nightmare.
Gary Wise :And you're up there trying to wave them and move them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree. I also like the LCUs. I loved watching the deck department do well deck operations on all my I did Ogden, I did Bellowwood, and I did Ashland, and all three of my gators. Something special about the well deck operations, and I was a part of the ballast detail, so I'd be back there either cranking on the high power stations or freaking I would be around, and that was very inspiring stuff, at least for me. I think for that's if you were to find a tattoo on my heart of what the Navy looks like, it's a gator, right? For sure. And I love my carrier time too, but nothing like being on an amphib. Um, which I tell people we're the Ford trucks of the United States Navy. You know, we're not we're not sexy like the Corvettes or nothing like that, but boy, we where we're going, you know. So you you're getting to your Essex time, okay. The senior chief that you're not getting along with, what was it about that guy that was just rubbing me the wrong way? If you don't, if you don't mind my ask.
Jeffrey Brooks :No, it's fine. So when I was going through season, um, so when I first got there, right, uh, he knew I had amphibi experience. He was on his first amphib experience. And yeah, I don't know what it is about me and my career. I always get like I look, I'll I don't say nothing, right? I'm I'm not gonna like, but he would we I remember my first well deck evolution, we got an argument and uh because he tried to say we were calling the what the the depth of the water at the seal wrong, and I was like, no, no, the you know you call it based off the the you know the bottom of the number is the foot mark, just like calling a draft on the side of the ship. Yes, he's like, no, no, no, and you know, then he started tried to start calling me out in front of everybody at quarters, right? I'm a BM1, so I'm not gonna argue with him in front of the whole department, right? And uh and so he he said, Go get a ruler. I said, Okay. I said, Yeah, I was like, I knew he didn't want me to, but I only got one, and you know, we I brought the whole department down there with me and uh measured it right in front of him. And I said, Here you go, right? Uh so it that wasn't that wasn't the greatest first evolution with the senior chief on board the onboard the ship, right? And then uh, you know, as I'm going through the season making chief, because there was a BMC Brooks on there while I'm a BM1, right? We both got there at the same time within a month of each other, and the BMC wasn't having a good good experience with him either. And um, so then when I made chief, I was like, okay, well, let's we'll tag team this. And then they got the other BMC Brooks out of there as quick as they could, right? They got him out of there. So now it's just me and him. But as I'm going through the season, he would sit me down and he would tell me, Hey, you know, don't trust anybody in the mess, right? You sit here, you talk with me, you talk. What he did, he didn't want anybody knowing Dex business because you know how you sit in the mess and you talk shop, right? Hey, I got this going on, you know. I did, you know, whatever. He did not want that to happen whatsoever, right? Uh so whatever, you know, we we would go back and forth, and uh come we were getting close to the end of his time, and um he and I were turning over, right? So LHD is a BMCM billet, right? But at the time no BMCM was coming to Japan, right? They're not coming to Japan. Uh they're homesteaded, right? You don't get very many that just want to come out there. Yep. So I'm a first year BMC and I'm turning over with him to take over DLCPO, right? And then we had a suicide, right? And I'm I'm it's like 5 30 in the morning, and me and the department head are sitting up in the deck office, and we're talking about because the department doesn't know yet. Right, it happened on the ship. Um, we've kind of kept everybody away, and we're up there talking about it, uh, how we're gonna get the department together to have a conversation. And he calls from the Chief's mess, right? Because he and I for essentially we've turned over. He's got like a month left, right? And uh he's like, hey, what's going on? I was like, well, come up to the come up to the office, we'll we'll talk about it. I'll kind of tell you what's going on. So he gets up there and I tell him, and he's like, Oh, I knew that was gonna happen. And like, yeah, I was just done, right? And you know, it it was not it was not a friendly conversation, it was not a pleasant conversation. Uh and and you know, on uh LHDs, they've got the elevator that comes down from medical. Um, and so I had I had Dex Seaman lined up, his friends, the sailors' friends lined up in their dress blues. I'm in my blues, the CMC's in his blues, and the senior chief is in his coveralls over there asking me, Hey, when are we gonna do? Have you heard when they were doing my Hale and Bell? Have you heard uh, you know, when they're gonna ring me off the ship, when we're gonna do this? And I was like, look, I and I was like, dude, I'm not talking to you about this, right? Go away. So he started bugging the CMC, right? And so him and the CMC started yelling at each other, and I got him to go over there in the wind tunnel, and the CMC had Secko escort him off the ship, like get him off here, yeah. You're done now. Yep, right. And that that was that was just um about a year plus experience I had with that guy, right? And I could tell a whole lot more stories um that are similar, right? Where he just he was just not a good dude, right? Was he single?
Gary Wise :Was he married?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, he was married, he was married. Uh, you know, look, I I've ran across boastmates that are that are loud, that are uh, you know, the loudest person in the room is not always the person in charge, and they're definitely not always the one that knows the that understands what's going on, right? And he was just that guy, right? Um, he he would he would kind of hide behind being loud.
Gary Wise :I was just curious if like he was doing a geobash tour or something, because sometimes those guys that are doing G V tours.
Jeffrey Brooks :Okay, yeah, he was he was there, he uh he had uh he had his family there. I mean, just totally crap, right?
Gary Wise :Wow, that's a lot, man. And that's a lot for you to handle, take on your shoulders as a young DLCPO, because there is no such, like you said, especially overseas. I've seen the same thing where you're supposed to have a nine or an eight or whatever, and the guy that gets the job is the guy that's there, and then that and if you that's a great opportunity to make it, and it's a great opportunity to fail. But you've got a whole department of sailors that are dependent upon you to hopefully find success, and then you deal with one of the most challenging things ever, which is the loss of a person, right? After you know, I mean, just a hit. So, how did you lead your sailors out of that out of that space?
Jeffrey Brooks :You know, I had some awesome BM1s, I'll be honest with you, right? Um, I didn't uh I didn't do it by myself, right? There was there was a lot of things that uh for all of us, this was the first time we've had to deal with something like this, right? And and I'm the type like look, when I have a khaki meeting, BM1s are there, right? Because they're about their their their next step is being a khaki. So you might as well learn how to start having these conversations now, right? And uh, you know, uh I leaned on them, you know. Uh we got to get these guys, you know, because I I felt like at the time the worst thing you could do is just send people home, right? Um, so we uh on the LHD we have uh a sell-off, right? It's a big space, right? Solar machines and all that. So we just got everybody down there and we kind of talked about it. Um uh obviously brought chaplains down and all that stuff, allowed people to have their conversations and stuff like that. And uh yeah, I mean, we just kind of got through it together.
Gary Wise :Man, what is it about the Bosa Mate community where the majority of you guys are so freaking close? Because I I mean, DC men, we all want to cut each other's heads off, right? We all think we're the best one, and there can only be we're like the Highlander, right? There can only be one, and everybody else gotta go. But the Bosa mates, God, they're just the level of of I would say trust, respect, hey boats. Hey, once you get called boats, it's almost like a marine being called Marine, man. Like I give it almost that level of respect, and I tell you that because one of my mentors is retired BMCM named Ian Omira, and he was he was so Ian was a BMCS on on Ogden with me, and I was his DC one, and he was BMC, then BMCS, and we went to ATG together, and I would just that guy was just so great, you know. But I I saw it at every ship I went to with every gator really I ever yeah, I saw it everywhere to be called a boat was almost like damn near being called marine. Like, how come what is it about your guys' community that has that level of just trust and respect in it?
Jeffrey Brooks :Well, I mean, uh for me, I think look, the evolutions we do, you got to be in sync with each other, right? Uh you you got to know what the other side is supposed to do, and you got to know that they're gonna do it, right? When you're handling boats that are you know eight feet up up above your head in the air, right? You got to know. Um, so I I think just during the evolutions, you you build a lot of faith and trust. And I I uh I push my the those guys to go on liberty together, right? I uh hey BM3s and BM2s go on liberty together, BM2s and BM1s go on liberty together, right? I don't want BM1s out with BM3s, but one up, one down, hey, go on liberty together and learn from each other, take care of each other, right? Yeah, and um, you know, I push for that. And um, you know, but I I think they'll look, especially amphibs and fdnf, all we do is operate, right? Because the the 31st mu is a training mute, right? So when we get underway with them, all we're doing is going out there and doing evolution after evolution after evolution. So yeah, you know, all you got to do is spend time together.
Gary Wise :Very interesting, but I think it is. I do believe the most made community, while being one of the most uh I would say challenging communities, it's also probably one of the most well-respected communities, and I think everybody knows that. And I will tell you, as a going, I remember going into my CMC tour, I knew without a shadow of a doubt, I was gonna need my deck department chief to be aligned with me. Same with my top snipe, same thing with my top chop, all that stuff. Okay, so when you're wrapping up Essex, forward deployed three years, tour that's we did the whole swap, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :We did the whole swap with the BHR, right? That's where I met Ian, right? So here I am. Here I am a BMC, and I got Ian O'Mira, who who's a BMC M at like 15 years, right? And I'm And I'm like, I'm trying to manage a whole swap with him who that has been cut in half, right? Because they took us down from having two months to a month to like three weeks, right? Yeah. Um, so I had to hold my ground, right? I, you know, I had to learn there to have a conversation with a BMCM. Um, but Ian was great, right? He uh, you know, it was it was while there was bad blood between the crews, right? At least from the deck department standpoint, and I'm sure I did not turn him over everything in tip top shape. How could I, right? But there was never a negative word said.
Gary Wise :No, I and I'm sure he he was very open, I'm sure he he knew what he was what he was getting, what he was given. He's dude has so much sea time, it's ridiculous. I've tried to get him on this podcast, as a matter of fact. We've been talking back and forth uh because we were shipmates on Ogden together, and then, like you said, he made BMCM so so not look, he made it quick, and then he walked away from the navy at 20 years, and I love him for that, right? And now he's a preacher up in Pac Northwest, and he's running a congregation doing great things. So Ian is a hero. At least I would not be a chief petty officer if it wasn't for Ian O'Mear. I'll say that right now in front of everybody because he's the first person that taught me how to ride an eval. No one ever taught me how to do that as a first class until I and he was a boastmate. And I I tell people that I was raised by BMs, I was raised by LDOs, Mustangs. Like I was in the duty section, that's who you got, right? You're your section leader. He was my section leader, I was his fire marshal, right? That was that relationship that we had. Um, so you're turning over ship, or so you walk off Bonhammer Shark.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah.
Gary Wise :Okay, so you turn over the boat, you finally get relieved. Do you get a relief of a senior chief? Do you get nope?
Jeffrey Brooks :So they extended me uh for three months, still couldn't get anybody to come out, right? Uh, because every time they would uh they would tell a BMCS you're coming, they would drop their retirement paperwork until they finally got one that that had less than 20 years that couldn't just drop retirement paperwork. But he was so far out from getting out there. Um, they had already extended me for 90 days. I turned over an LHD to an NCCS, Chris Klein. You remember him, right? You know him, right? I turned over deck department to him, and uh that that had it was crazy, but I had I had awesome BM1s. I can't say it enough. Those BM1s on that ship. Um yeah.
Gary Wise :So when you were so you did a good tour, did two and a half years as a chief on board that ship, DLC PO and an LHD. What were you thinking when you were negotiating where your family was going to go next?
Jeffrey Brooks :So I can't we kept saying Virginia, right? Because that was, you know, go back to Virginia, that's where we were there. First, we were there, we know it. Uh, and then and I I had been selected to be an LCU craft master. I was like, I've been a craft master before, I'll go be an LCU. It was another C duty, but I I'd never felt like it was anything because I was up for senior chief as I was leaving BHR, right? And I never felt like going to be going to and be an LCU craft master was going to be anything that was gonna help me get to that next level, right? And I'm looking and I'm looking, I really didn't know what I should do. So I called I got a hold of the the detailer because there was a hot fill for uh MESG Ron out of San Diego, right? Which is uh it it and it just turned over to our Coastal Riverine Group 1, the TEU, right? And so I I was like, I'll go there, right? I'll do something different, I'll get more calls, I'll be able to do other things, right? So I did that, right? And I did her, did the um did that riverine tour.
Gary Wise :And was that a deployable tour or was that a training tour?
Jeffrey Brooks :Oh, I was the TEU. So I was the training, I was kind of their version of ATG, which was difficult, right? Because I was getting looked at like, you know, you don't have I didn't have a EXW pen. They're like, you don't have any experience, right, and on these crafts, but I knew navigation, right? I knew how to navigate so I taught navigation until I got my calls up. I had to go get qualified just like everybody else.
Gary Wise :Well, and like you like you said, and for people that don't know, Force uh the expeditionary forces were going through a weird change around that time. Yeah, because we were all putting away our toys and going home after the war on terror, really. I mean, the Obama years, right? Where it's wrapping up, and everyone's kind of trying to figure out what life looks like in the Navy after the war. And expeditionary forces, in particular MESG or the maritime expeditionary security groups, they were getting pushed in with the harbor security bubbas or the people that do the regular security, and there was a lot of animosity there.
Jeffrey Brooks :Well, there was NECC was just trying to gobble up anything they could just to keep funding, right? Let's be honest, right? They were trying to take anything they could just to make sure they didn't they didn't go away.
Gary Wise :That's it, 100%. And I remember when everybody was so excited about standing up the riverine force, everybody that was like the hottest thing moving for a couple of years. I remember sailors just throwing their whole career away because they were gonna be riverines like in Vietnam, right? They're gonna remember I never went for that.
Jeffrey Brooks :They spent 12-15 years riverines and never got past BM1.
Gary Wise :Yeah, no, I know that's it, and then they get stuffed in the CRG, MESG, and now all of a sudden they're like, This isn't what I trained for. I went to Marine Corps infantry school or whatever, and it's like and then and I can so I could see where here you come with even though you're a chief petty officer, tons of experience. I could see where they kind of got their their chest out and they're they're peacocking a little bit, you know.
Jeffrey Brooks :Well, most riverines thought they were swig, right?
Gary Wise :And that's a true statement. That's a true statement.
Jeffrey Brooks :And uh bought into that.
Gary Wise :No, no, I told I told a few of my sailors when I was on Ogden that was going to Rivereen about 0304, right? They were all excited about. I told them, I said, you know, if they don't make it a rate, like all the other things that are turning into rates, you're making a bad decision. So I hope they make it a rate. Because if they don't, you're just a glorified freaking Ma on a boat that thinks they can drive fast.
Jeffrey Brooks :Look, those were fun tours, right? And they were great deployments, right, for those guys. Because I mean, shoot, you're you're deploying to UAE making $180 something dollars a day per diem, and you're living in four and five-star hotels, right? Who wouldn't want to do that for a deployment?
Gary Wise :Um well, and I think that the Navy never truthfully understood what they were gonna do with them because there was this whole idea like they're gonna be going up and down the rivers into Iraq.
Jeffrey Brooks :The coastal guys, they always had a mission. Yeah, the coastal guys always had a mission. It was the riverine stuff, they never got sorted out.
Gary Wise :Yeah, they just yeah, it kind of flopped. But I remember that time period where they all got kind of gobbled up, and so I can only imagine what it was like to be a non-expeditionary person who's on the staff of the training unit, having to go on more of their platforms and give them an assessment. And and oh, they were not happy, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :They were not happy because I I was I was the I made senior chief there, so I was the TU SEL, and so I was the lead evaluator, right? So I was there and I was the one having to brief these squadrons, right? Um fast or fail or whatever, right? They were not they were not happy, right, at all.
Gary Wise :So when you were a senior enlisted leader there for that group, who like was your boss like a commander at the time? Was it like a tenant commander?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, so I had a uh so I was the TU SEL and then I was also the N7 because it was very it we had a bifurcated chain of command, right? Uh so I was N7 for for group, and then I was the TU SEL, right? So I had a civilian who was the N7, and then I had a commander who was the TU OIC.
Gary Wise :So it was what was your command like? Was it like a senior command in like a lot of the senior enlisted, or did you have junior sailor?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah. No, I had uh the junior most junior sailor I had was a second class, right? And there was only two of them. The rest were chiefs and first classes. Uh I had another senior chief who was an MACS ground guy.
Gary Wise :So okay, and that was San Diego. So were you over in Coronado?
Jeffrey Brooks :I was down in Imperial Beach. IB. Okay. Uh where'd you guys live at? Uh we lived up in uh Murphy Canyon. Oh, in in housing.
Gary Wise :Was your second son born during Essex?
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh he was, yeah. Yeah, he was born uh while I was on the Essex.
Gary Wise :When'd you put what'd you pack that in, bro? Because that ain't easy to have a baby in Sasebo.
Jeffrey Brooks :No, it wasn't it wasn't easy to play. We it was not planned. None none of them, I don't think, were really planned, but uh yeah, it was uh okay, it was not easy.
Gary Wise :I remember a conversation we had one time where you were like, I think we're done, we're done. And then you know, a couple kids later, you still now you got now you got a quartet.
Jeffrey Brooks :No, the last two were vacation babies, right? I just don't recommend going on vacations, right?
Gary Wise :Hey man, God did that, bro. I I I give that to God and Sam, bro, 100%. I think she knew what she wanted and she was gonna get it. Yeah, it's definitely her. But I will tell you, like, having that baby in Sasebo, people don't understand, like it's not you get a choice. Do you want to have a baby in Sasebo and go out in town on the economy in Japan, Japanese hospital, or do you want to trip it up to Yokuska and go to the freaking hospital? Did y'all go to Yoko or did y'all stay in Sasebo?
Jeffrey Brooks :We did it in Sasebo. We did it uh there. There's called the Higashajima Clinic, right? And we did it there, we had two there. How was that? Was that a good experience? Yeah, it was great. I mean, Samantha's eating steak and lobster after giving birth, right? She's she was happy.
Gary Wise :Yeah, they're gonna pack it full of red meat, man. They know what's up. Yeah, they know what's up. Okay, so you're now you're in San Diego, you got two boys. Uh, where are you? Where are you living at again? Are you living in Iowa?
Jeffrey Brooks :Murphy Canyon in base housing, right?
Gary Wise :I know where that's at. Okay. Um, did you like San Diego?
Jeffrey Brooks :We did. It was just too expensive, right? Uh, you know, uh, you know, at the the chief, you know, with two kids, yeah, it it was not cheap, right? It was not easy to uh, but we found we found free stuff to do. We did a lot of hikes, we did uh uh we enjoyed it. Um but uh I think we we figured out we were ready to leave Japan after the after the BHR, but after about a month of being gone from Japan, we were ready to go back. We were ready to go right back to Japan.
Gary Wise :We under me and my wife understood, and I think it was because we recognized how much money we could have saved if we really could have paid attention to it, right? Yeah, yep, yeah. And so so you're there for a month, you already think you want to go back to Japan. Do you do the whole three years of that training unit or do you no?
Jeffrey Brooks :I left uh I did the same thing that I did at the Naval Academy. I left, uh cut my tour short uh to leave it at eval cycle. So I saw that the Ashland was uh for a couple of cycles was on there for a BMCS. And I I called the detailer, I'm like, hey, what's going on? Right? I see the Ashland has been on here. Uh and he goes, Yeah, I don't have any rollers going to it. I said, Well, I'll drop my 1306 to Cartel short short duty uh as long as you transfer me on September 16th, right? So I can get a ranked eval, right? Because I had I had built the the MTS program there at TEU. They didn't have one, so I I I had built one. Uh I was running the EXW program. I was doing a lot of things. I was like, I'm not leaving, I'm not leaving before evals, right? So he um uh he he didn't even allow me to get the 1306 in and approved. The the next because the back then you you know you got uh uh you got you didn't get the orders yet, you got the uh I forget what it was called, uh the letter of intent, right? Uh so that like the next day I had a letter of intent and my Commodore is like, what is going on? You're supposed to have another year left here. And I was like, uh, by the way, I'm going back in advance.
Gary Wise :Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So when you saw the Ashland, what was it just did you want to go to an LSD next?
Jeffrey Brooks :So that's the only amphibian platform I hadn't been on, right? So um uh and uh to be honest, like I'd I'd seen the Ashland. I seen the Ashland because we loaded some riverine gear on it on its trip uh to um Sassabo when it left Norfolk, it stopped in San Diego. So I went on there what to you know as the gear was getting loaded on, and I was like, man, this ship needs some work, right? So I was like, you know, that's what I can go there and I can do something, right? So um, but yeah, I knew it was gonna be a good opportunity.
Gary Wise :So when you when your family got to Sasmo the next time, how was that how was that? Because did you have the same sort of pickup at the airport?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, no, but we knew our way, right? And I'll be honest with you. So uh the uh my sponsor was great, right? Uh I'd had a hard time in the process of getting to the ship because uh my granddad had had some health issues, and I had been trying to get a hold of people on the ship, be like, hey, I think I need to extend leave because he was in the hospital for almost the entire time I was on my 30 days of leave for transfer, right? Yeah, and uh he was not doing well.
Gary Wise :He's like your daddy, he's like your he is like he raised me.
Jeffrey Brooks :Like everything I am, he he that it's him, right? And um, so I was like, hey, I need uh I think I'm gonna need to extend because the hospital is telling us to make to make plans, right? And organ failure, all that stuff. Yeah, and nobody would return my call. Like this the sponsors be like, hey, I you know, I I've I I've told the CMC, I've told the your department head and all these things, and the department head, you know, I it he was doing his part, but nothing was getting done, if if that makes sense, right? And nobody was giving me an answer. And for whatever, like my granddad turned the corner, right? And he even got sent home a couple of days after we got on the flight to go to Japan, right? So he was fine. So I was like, all right, well, I we're getting on this flight. And then we had a layover in Houston, and uh the it was the CMC call. He said, Hey, I need you to call me. So I called him, right? And he's like, uh, hey, I was this was I was flying in on a Saturday night. Uh I was gonna get to the hotel like one o'clock in the morning on a Sunday, and that shit was getting underway on a Monday to come up to Yokosuka for Trav. He's like, Hey, I need you underway on Monday. I was like, Well, I'm not supposed to report till midweek. I said, I need to get my family settled. I at least need to get on the housing list and all that stuff. I said, Can you just fly me up? He goes, I need you underway. We got some issues. I said, Well, I said, let me tell you, I've been trying to reach out to you for almost a month and nobody would call me. I'm not gonna be there Monday. I said, uh, you can you can send a port call and I'll meet the ship in Yokosuka, right? And that's what they did. They flew me up that next Friday. Uh it wasn't a pleasant, pleasant meeting, right?
Gary Wise :But uh in my my in my family, we call that an audacity, right? Like the audacity, right? A Navy family is coming abroad. Yes, it's a senior chief, yes, he's a DLCPO, but give the man time to get this family squared away. And I've done the same thing, bro. I got to GW and the the there, I I was going to George Washington, the mass chief, the senior chief, and the two the chief all left the day I got there because none of them wanted to be there when I got there, and the ship got underway like the following week, and I had to get underway, and I got no time. My wife was just home, and I I will tell you, and I know you probably feel the same way, like hell hath no I would not let that happen to one of my sailors. I would fight tooth and nail on that shit. Like, no way are we doing that to a family? And so to hear them do that to you guys, it makes me you're my guy like you're I always have protective feelings over my people, and that for me, I get frustrated when I hear that, and I just and I know it's not that big of a deal for you to be go there, right? We all know that, yeah.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, uh, yeah. I mean, look, Samantha knew what she was doing. She she I appreciate that. She was well trained, and we had a lot of friends still in Saspo, and you know, and but I was like, hey, give me, give me, give me to the end of the week, right? Let me get power of attorneys done and all this stuff so she can sign for stuff. Let me get these things done. And uh, so I just I was like, I'm not gonna be there on Monday, right? Um I don't have to report until this day when I'm reporting.
Gary Wise :So then they fly you up there on Friday to Yoko because they're doing a training availability up in Yokosuka for like fire schools and crap. Yeah, right.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, I mean the problem was the reason they wanted me up there is because the ship was going through Ready 7 to get ready for MCA, right? And uh it was not going well, right? Uh specifically deck department was not going well. The BMC that was on board, he had just gotten there as well, and he was geobatch, and you know, he was trying to get things squared away. And uh there was a lot of that that it was not a healthy department, right? There was a lot of animosity between officers and chiefs, and you know who who needs to make and influence decisions and things like that, right?
Gary Wise :And uh was the BMC Mike.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yep, speedy.
Gary Wise :I gotta get him on here. I'm gonna reach out to him next. I gotta get Mike on here, bro.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah he he met me. He met me at the he met me on the pier, and I knew they were getting ready to go through ready seven, and I was like, hey man, like is everything good? He goes, No. He goes, No. And they were more concerned with painting the sides of the ship than laying out gear. And I was like, I was like, I it's too late to paint, right? We got to show gear, right? Yeah, and uh like I'm still in civilian clothes and I go up to meet the department head, and day one, me and the department head are yelling at each other in his in his stateroom, right? And I remember that guy. It was just not it was just not it was not a healthy department, right? And that was day one, yeah, and that laid the groundwork for my three years on the on the ashland.
Gary Wise :So, but look, here's what I'll say before we I want to talk more about Ashland, but I do want to give you your flowers right quick, bro. You get there, imagine JB, what you're walking into that day, and look at how successful that ship was when you walked off there. Yeah, when you walked off there, bro. You guys were the best ship on the freaking waterfront and the Pacific Fleet, and there is freaking receipts for that, bro. Like freaking receipt, and I will tell you that because I got them all in my scrapbook somewhere because I'm always happy to freaking fly for the world to see, because it's not every day in LSD gets that level of attention, gets that level of recognition. What was it? The Marjorie, whatever awards y'all got, y'all, besides going, y'all didn't y'all just remember that. So, as much as it was probably a hard tour, I I have a feeling you might have a hard time ever beating that tour for the rest of your career.
Jeffrey Brooks :Oh no, no, I I would never like so uh uh one of the department heads that was there later on. Uh he was he's a CEO now on an AMFI. I know, and he uh he reached out to me and I went and met him while we've been here in Hawaii. Very cool, and uh I told him, I said, I'll never be able to do that again. Like I could not replicate that again. 100%. Do you know that's why I don't know if mentally I I would be able to do it, but I just it was a perfect I will tell you so he reached out to me too.
Gary Wise :He's but he's that's just his class, right? Yeah, he's got so much class, yeah, such a great guy. But uh after my my carrier tour where I went to Master Chief, right? I was done with that rate. I could never beat that tour. We did everything I set out to do and more hit all the records, broke all the things, and I literally had to change my rate, bro, because otherwise I would have just got out. Because I told Erica, I was like, I it's I I I never want to mess that up by trying to do it again and not meeting my expectations, so I can relate to that. Okay, so let's go back to Ashland. So here you are now, a young senior chief just came overseas, second tour, so you kind of know what you're doing a little bit. The ship is going through a a TICOM readiness assessment to get ready for upcoming materiel readiness assessment. Your department head and you are not getting along.
Jeffrey Brooks :Um, the chief that you're with I wouldn't get along with the divos either. Like the divos were openly trying to say they hope deck department fails. Wow, that it's just who they were, like it was toxic, Gary. I mean I'm telling you, man, it was toxic. What month did you get there? I got there in October of 2015.
Gary Wise :Okay, because I get there in January. Yeah, so you got there about three months ahead of me. Okay, so uh you get through that first inspection, right? You get through that first period.
Jeffrey Brooks :So luckily, I knew the inspector, right? The lead inspector. Uh, he didn't know I was on the ship, and I saw that he had posted that he was in Yokosuka, right? And I said, Hey man, I'm in Yokosuka too. Let's meet at the Chiefs Club, right? So me and Mike taking, we go meet him at the Chiefs club, and uh he's like, Where are you at? I was like, I'm on the ashland, you're coming to see me tomorrow, right? And he goes, Oh, okay. And uh he goes, uh um you guys are gonna be all right. I said, I just got there three days ago. I said, we're gonna fail. I said, but do me a favor, don't bury me so bad that my guys can't recover from it, right? Don't kill us to the I said, fail us. Give us an honest assessment, but don't kill us to the point where I can't get them to see the light six weeks from now when we go through MCA.
Gary Wise :So I I hear the part about the friction with the first with the first lieutenant and the divos. What was it like with the BM1s and BM2s and the junior sailors?
Jeffrey Brooks :I had some motivated BM1s, right? I had to make some changes uh on who my LPOs were, right? Because before I hadn't got I had gotten there, the department head was deciding who the LPOs were. And he was just picking whoever the senior first first class was. And I was like, no, I don't I don't believe in that. I don't live by that. Uh I I run my department, I make personnel decisions in my department. Yeah, and um so I made changes and I, you know, thankfully they're ones that worked, right? Uh, because I could tell I had some motivated guys uh that wanted they knew what needed to be done, but nobody was empowering them to be able to do it.
Gary Wise :So for the people that got moved out of the leadership position, how did they handle it?
Jeffrey Brooks :I just uh I had conversations with them, right? I put them in leadership positions, right? I and look, for me, if you're a BM1, not everybody can be the LPO, right? Not everybody and but if you're a BM1 and you're busting your tail for me and I can and and I can trust you, your eval is gonna say LPO, right? Uh uh your write-up is gonna be to the point where you're showing leadership, let's be honest, right? Uh, because the board knows that not everybody can be an LPO, but as long as you're showing leadership, as long as you're showing uh the things that you need to show, and for me, both mates make their money in evolutions and and inspections, right? So I'm gonna speak to that.
Gary Wise :Did they know, did they know the BM1s, the BM2s, the BM3s, did they know the level of uh where they were at?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, uh they were they were fairly poorly trained, right? Uh a lot of them. Uh some of them were good, some of them were very motivated, some of them um started out real high, and then as you know, they kind of crashed and burned a little bit, right? Um, but uh they uh they they were taught how to make things look like they were done instead of being done.
Gary Wise :Okay. So now you get through that first, you get through the trav, you get through all that availability. You guys, anything else significant happened during that first part of your time there?
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh no, not really. We got through we got through MCA. So we went red at ready seven and at MCA we went yellow, right? So we pulled it up enough to be able to uh um show a lot of improvement, right? Um, but I mean as you know, the ashland was not a fan of anybody, like nobody thought anything of of the Ashland on the waterfront, right? I know. Um and uh so going through that process of getting ready for that uh MCA, we were going through it. I mean, there were people coming over there just ready to take their shots.
Gary Wise :Yeah, I know. I when I I remember when I got to Japan, I before I even got to Ashland, I went over to the E CTF 76 building, and a buddy of mine was there from the from the George Washington. I walked in the door and he was like, Thank god you're going to the Ashland. And I was like, Oh yeah, why? And he was like, They are a dirty ship. And I was like, they're a dirty ship. He's like, Yeah, they're a dirty, and I was like, All right, well, because when I picked Ashland, I literally called my detailer when I was like, Look, man, I want an LSD out of Saspo Pan. That's what I want. And he gave me two choices, and I just picked Ashland out of a I didn't have no real reason to pick it.
Jeffrey Brooks :Well, I mean, if you remember the the there, the whole the mind frame on there was, hey, we're we're we're we're FDNF, we don't have time for that, right? And I'm like, we had to shift it, right? No, we're F D and F. We have to make time for it.
Gary Wise :We did, and that mindset was actually bigger than Ashland, right? It was across the unfortunately across the Seventh Fleet. And and I will tell you, when I got when I went up to Yakuska after leaving Ashland, we had a whole movie theater full of sailors for Seventh Fleet. Like we had a whole all call, all the sailors for 7th Fleet, and they took all of us there and they asked all the Master Chiefs if if we wanted to say a few words, and these guys, these guys get up on the stage and they're saying freaking, I don't know, political things. Hey Gary, you got something to say. I lit that damn place on fire, bro. Because I was like, This is not the Seventh Fleet I grew up in. We have got to be better than everybody else, right? We have got to be, and of course, I'm coming off of Ashland where we walk that walk and talk that talk, and while we were underway the same time that all those other ships were having bad days, and every day we were like, Is today gonna be the day we're gonna have a bad day? No, it's not. No, today is not, we're not gonna have a bad day, and nothing against the other crews, nothing against other ships. God bless them and their crews. I'm sorry for whatever happens, but we did a lot of underway days too, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, and and I mean there was one ship that shall not be named, couldn't get underway for two years, right? So we took all their underways, right? The German town, we'll call it, yeah, yeah.
Gary Wise :I got no problem saying that out loud. They knew who they were, right? Hey, but you know what? We needed those reps and sets, right? Because truth be told, bro, when I look back on that time, I got exactly what I asked for, right? I got I got exactly what I asked for. God gave me exactly what in my heart what I wanted, right? I got all of it plus a bag of snacks, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, yeah. Um, I'll be honest with you, I don't think we would have had the success we had had we not had the perfect storm of people come in, right? Um you know, I I'll tell I tell everybody, and I tell you know, my CO now who for a little bit of my time on the Ashland was the Fibron deputy. If it wasn't for the Chiefs mess on the Ashland, the Ashland would not have done what the Ashland did, right? Because um we didn't all get along, we didn't all like each other in that mess, but I'm telling you right now, there wasn't a single time that we were going through something that everybody wasn't standing right there ready to support and do whatever needed to be done. 100%.
Gary Wise :And it took some getting there, it took some getting there, you know. And uh but yes, I agree with you, Jason, Jeff. It was I agree with you, JB. I'm gonna keep calling you JB. That's all I can think about calling you. But yes, Jeff. I that mess was magical, bro. It was special, and it but it was hard, bro. It was but it but I tell people if you're on C duty and you're not exhausted, you're not doing it right, man. Like you're but I I think about Game of Thrones, I think about Sons of Anarchy, I think about we did all of that, and we worked hard and played hard and all the above things, you know. Um, and I really I remember uh so when I first found out Ty was gonna go to uh Ashland, I was still in Norfolk before I got to Ashland. I even reached out to him ahead of time, and I was like, hey man, are Me my top snipe. I want to make sure that we're on the same page. I want to be aligned. And you're and you're right. I think the DLCPOs. And the other thing was, I remember when I got there, we needed some people to leave. Yeah. Right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah.
Gary Wise :They had to go. Nothing against them, but their time was done. And those of us that were there for the next three years were looking forward to the future. And they didn't have the energy we were about to have. Because what do you think was the turning point for Ashland? Do you do you remember what you think was the turning point? Because I know what it was, at least in my opinion. But what do you think was the turning point?
Jeffrey Brooks :I I think it was coming out of that first SRA for me. Because that SRA for me was a nightmare, right? Because my manning had dropped down to I think 26 total, including khakis as chiefs and officers. And I remember coming to you and be like, Gary, I don't have enough to launch an LCU and stand and stand a bridge watch team.
Gary Wise :Right.
Jeffrey Brooks :We've got to be able to do that.
Gary Wise :Oh, we pulled other people back, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah. Because that's when I had almost a mutiny in deck department uh with the hashtag free herd shirts, right? Uh because his wifi up in Fukuoka got messed up and whatever, right? Whatever the stories were. And uh you know, it it that coming out of that and be and being able to finally get operational and get away from just the nonsense of what an SRA brings. For me, it it never got easy, right? I'm gonna tell you right now, there was not a single thing on that ship that ever got easy.
Gary Wise :Not supposed to, it's not supposed to. Um, but I want to tell that story real quick from my perspective. So for those of you listening to the sound of our voice, on a ship, you only have so many people. Let's start there, period. Human beings on a ship, right? And the ship has to do certain things operationally and safety, period. We have to, and so we only get say like we get 300, we get 300 people to do the things, whatever the things are. And Jeff is the LCPO, the leading chief petty officer for one of the most operationally important departments on the ship, and the manning is not there because the bodies are not coming for some reason, and we haven't been underway to train people anyway, because we were in the yards doing ship repairs, so either way, he's got problems. And I remember Jeff coming to me, and I appreciate you reminding me because honestly, I until you reminded me, I kind of forgot about this, but now I remember the whole thing. I remember you coming to me and telling me that problem. And I was undesignated when I joined the Navy, so I know what it's like to come up undesignated and strike a rate and then move on to the next thing in my life. But I they also kept me in the pit for a year because it was what was most advantageous for the ship and for the command. And so when Jeff came to me and he says, Gary, I don't have the people, we had to get creative. And I think Jeff already knew what we needed to do, but he knew it wasn't going to be popular, and we were gonna have to sell it to the mess, we were gonna have to sell it to the wardroom, sell it to the sailors, yeah, right, which was identify all the sailors on the ship that had already qualified the things we needed qualified, whether they were OSs now, whether so whether they were operational specialists, whether they were gunners' mates, whether they wouldn't matter. And then we had to identify other people that could get training to supplement the team in specific instances. And that's exactly what we did. And then we took it to the mess, we took it to the CEO, the EXO, everyone blessed us on it, and we did it, right? And that was the be, I think you're I think you're right. That that was the beginning of the crew synthesizing to being a crew that was going to work together to accomplish the mission, not a bunch of siloed organizations that don't care how everyone else is doing, right? And we leveraged that kind of a thought problem, mean everything, whether it was getting ready for the NAWs and everybody supporting supply or getting ready for LOA and everybody supporting engineering or whatever it was, right? I remember the analogy of everybody was gonna be on the line polling and we were gonna line up behind each other and just kind of peel off. And I and I still live my life to that with my cadets to this day, swear to God. Like they had we have an operations calendar that we run, and when I do my my meetings with them, that's how we stack it. So we're best supporting everybody before we leave the meeting. Um, for me, the turning point of Ashland and I I remember uh two couple things. Number one, I remember we lost a chief petty officer in Thailand, right? And I'd only been on board like two weeks, three weeks, and that was a big turning point because I then had the ability to go up to the captain and say, see, culture's a problem. We got a problem on this ship, and you got people that are out doing things, and now this is a smoking gun. And so he gave me a little bit more ability to start gutting things and breaking hearts, right? So I was pissed. I was furious for the sailors, I was furious for the mess, I was furious for that chief's family, I was furious. Like it was sad, that was a sad case. Um, but the other thing was I remember when they threatened um the XO at the time with not getting command if we didn't pass the 3M inspection.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, I remember that.
Gary Wise :Yeah, and for me, that was where I really felt like the mess had my back because the XO and C were kind of my guys. I got that, those those are the people that I gotta take care of. Everyone's got their you got your department head, you got your challenges, right? We all got our people, but 3M was Chiefs business, in my opinion. And if we didn't pass that 3M inspection, it shouldn't be that guy's fault if we failed 3MI. I was so pissed off that they made that just that flagrant of a of a of a I don't even know what you call it, right? Just to to say something like that, just to threaten them on that way. And I remember coming in the mess and just being like, we we we gotta we gotta route and we did, we we did good. We did good, you know.
Jeffrey Brooks :Our goal of if you if you remember, if you remember, I got asked to leave the out brief because I was arguing because I wanted to know where my uh uh eight one hundredth of a point was, right? Because yeah, I mean for deck we had score, I think it was uh a 99.91 or whatever the score was. It was it was ridiculous. And look, let's be honest, I had a BM1 that was an inspector, and I did not let that dude go anywhere unless I was in his hip pocket, and you know, I worked him, right? Let's be like you, I had to do what I had to do to get us through it.
Gary Wise :And but we worked in remember, we we set up our own internal assessment team, we did our own practice run through, yeah, bro. We did we god, I missed that mess. That mess, we had a fireplace.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, we had a fireplace. Well, I mean, to be honest, right? Fibron, Fibron and ESG, they just didn't know our names yet, right? They just didn't know yet, and uh to be able to make that kind of threat.
Gary Wise :Yeah, they did not know, but that for me was like, and I remember having that conversation with Steve, Steve Watson, who I I did I did one of these with him recently. He's actually gonna come work with me in my high school. Uh he's retiring this year, and he's coming down to work with me and my senior naval science instructor. I recruited him, bro, because I was I was like, it's just like being on a ship underway, bro. Every day is like a pass cruise, it's great, it's awesome. We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna sit out there in lawn chairs and watch this, watch the cadets do things. It's awesome, man. It's fun. And so he's coming down to be my guy, and I remember telling him, like, don't worry, man, we got you. And I once we did that, I knew we were gonna, we he was never gonna ever he trusted us all the way, anyway. Right, because I would tell him things and then it would walk in the door because remember how aligned we were, we would talk and then we like all right, go get the department. Had to go tell him now, go tell him. Yeah, it was great. So uh when you got to the end of that tour, uh how was that leave in Ashland for you?
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh it was leaving was fine. Well, so it was unfortunate, right? Um, because it had gotten to the point uh where I could feel things start to shift again in the opposite direction, right? More more people had came in. I had been there so long and I had fought me, not just me, but you know, like the department, everybody that I had had with me had fought so hard to get to this point, which was NSERV, right? Because when we when we barely got past MCA two and a half years earlier, I used every inspection, I used everything to as a as a to get ready for NSERV. Every that's what it was, right? That was our strategy. And when we went green, and I remember the last day of NSERV, I'm still arguing with the inspector over the ACOM ladder, and he's like, hey man, you're gonna go green. Like, why are you arguing with me? I was like, it doesn't matter, right? My guy spent too much time to take a to take a silly hit that's not a that's not a real thing, and that's the way I looked at it, and that's the way I looked at every inspection on there, you know, because you know you're not supposed to argue, you're not supposed to do the now bull. I'm arguing because we worked too hard, right? We spent these guys spent too many countless hours to try to do it the right way for you to have a different standard, right? And that's the way I felt about it.
Gary Wise :And then as I was leaving, hold on real quick, Jeff. Ladies and gentlemen, if you did not hear what he said, the USS Asum went green at NSERF without even stopping operational schedule in order to complete the NSERF. There was no stand down for three months to get ready for the inspection. I looked because again, I'm watching y'all from up north and I'm asking the are they going to get some time? Are they going to get some time?
Jeffrey Brooks :Because if you remember, I don't know if you heard that like they pulled my AMW cert, they pulled the 3M cert to before NSERV before I left. That way we could go through it before I left. So I'm like, gee, here we go again, right? Uh, so they they pulled all that early. Yeah, and we went through we went through 3M cert like two or three weeks before NSER, and you know when you're going through NSERV, you're putting job in left and right. Yeah, I'm like, you guys are you you guys are killing us because we got all these jobs in that are for NSERV, and now you're all they're all they're all what was that feeling like?
Gary Wise :Because look, I had one time when I was on George Washington where ATG we finished up a whole big major conflagration drill, right? And ATG literally we're on an aircraft carrier, and they told me, Hey, we're not gonna go to the debrief, just tell us what you guys got later because we'd gotten so good, they were sick and tired of us telling them what it was, right? And I went into the wardroom and had a full 150 D set team, and I took my mic off, I took my and I said, Hey, we did it, they tapped out, we won. And everyone was like, Yeah, right. Did you have that moment with your deck guys when y'all went green to insert?
Jeffrey Brooks :We did we we did right after, right? Uh, you know, they did the all hands call and we did all that, and we, you know, we had the signs green and all that stuff printed out, and we, you know, it was great. And then we deployed the very next week, right? So it was short-lived, but it is what it is. Um, but me leaving, like I I went on that, I went on that patrol and I did about half of it. Um, and I like I said, I could feel things start to shift, right? New department head, she'd gotten there like two or three days before NSERV. Uh new bosun that got in there during NSERV, right? And so I things were starting to shift, right? And I, to be honest, and it wasn't quite fair to them, I did not have the energy anymore to go through that rebuilding of a new team, right? And I I just I told the department head after just struggling and struggling, struggling to make that connection with her. I'm like, look, I'm transferring. I need you to start communicating with your divos, with your chiefs, and with your bosun, right? That's who I need you to start communicating with because my my it was not known when my relief was gonna get there, right? Yeah, and uh so and for her, it felt like I was quitting, right? But I I I Gary, I didn't have I didn't have any more energy, I was done.
Gary Wise :Bro, it was I mean again, y'all we y'all came from we came from negative five, right? Like you said, underground, like no one thought about us to go in green and serve, plus a whole bunch more accolades were gonna keep coming to the ship because they don't all come right away. It takes time for it to come out, right? But we know what we did, and it was exhaust. Okay, so I'm I'm trying to remember one of my favorite sea stories for for JB before we move out of the Ashland age and move on to the next thing. There was a birth in barge that we had to get off of one day because the exo said we had to get all the stuff off the birth and barge, right? Remember that it was the first day of the nay inspection, the the the the Edward F. Nay supply inspection. The engine men were doing the light off assessment down at the engineering plant, and the next day when they were taking away the birth and barge, or we had to get off the barge. And I had a first class petty officer very annoyed with his e-val. And I remember Jeff comes up to my office and he like looks at hey mass chief. Uh, can we get you to come down to the boat deck? We need something, and I was like, I can't right now. I'm talking to this guy, and I never forget the look in your eyes. You're just like, uh, you need it. Like, I could tell like something was going on, and then eventually Ty came up there and said, Hey, I need you to come. It's way bad, way bad, way bad. And then, of course, it was they threw everything away on the in the trash cans, and I told that story somewhere else, but that was one of my favorite stories about you because I just remember you coming out there and being like, Hey Gary, uh, you need we need you to come down the boat deck, something's going on. Uh that was one, and then my other favorite story about you uh was the night you and Chris Sharon about took each other's heads off in the mess, uh and just the passion that goes into that, right? Because so unfortunately, we're operating off the coast of Australia. The USS Green Bay has an osprey go off the back of the fantail and go upside down into the water. We lose three Marines that night. And we had to put together a watch bill that night to support looking for men overboard all night long. And I'd assemble the chief's mess into the chief's mess. I'd called the mess there. That's what I always did, right? Whatever I needed, something like assemble the mess in the chief's mess, and we get it done. And I get down there, and as soon as I walk in the door, I got these two big burly senior chiefs coming at each other, and I got everyone else pulling them the other parts, and the selectees are like, What the hell is going on? And we figured it out, we figured it out, and nobody came through it, but those are you guys. What I loved about you guys is you guys cared enough to be willing to get to touch each other, right? You cared that much, and it wasn't like it wasn't you didn't even have to like each other, y'all just cared. And I I love that about you guys, man. And I couldn't, I I could I would never pick another another group of guys to have done that 24. I only got 24 months on Ashon, but it was a it was a great tour. Um, I yeah looking back on it, it was probably two of the best years of my navy career for sure. Um and I think you'll look back whenever your time is said and done. You've already said it a few times that you don't know that you'll ever be able to beat that level again. And so you're probably looking forward. I mean, think about that. You've been a DLCPO now on an LHD forward deployed, you've been a DLCPO now on an LSD that went green and nserve across the board, damn near, right? The whole ship, and you were a main player in that because you were also senior listed watchboat coordinator for a ser for a long period of time, right? You were damn near three years, 100%, right? But I mean, I also believe that the Mosa May should be that guy, right? I mean, because we're a deck driven ship, and the top snipe's gonna run his watches, but you got everybody else, and then you but that gave you the ability to be a little more stronger and picking people out and moving them where you want them, right? Which I think worked out really, really good. Um, so when you were getting ready to leave Ash, what were you looking at for orders?
Jeffrey Brooks :So the entire time on Ashland, uh, you know, if I made Master Chief, you know, CMC was the goal, right? Yeah, I mean, we had had conversations about it, that was the next thing. That was all that was always gonna be the next thing. But I was so exhausted, I knew if I went CMC after that, I was not gonna be able to put what I needed to into it, right? 100%. And um, so I went to Millington. I was like, Well, I'm gonna go to Millington because I feel like I can learn a lot there. I feel like if I learn that pro that part of the program, uh then when I do become a CMC, I can that's gonna make me even stronger and being able to do certain things and and all that.
Gary Wise :And I remember you speaking that into existence because you told me before you even got the orders. Because I remember thinking, like, all right, well, who do we email? Who do we talk to? How do we get that to work out? And then you did it, you got it. That's awesome.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, yeah. So I went and sat down with uh with Miss Jarita Kearns, right? She was a retired ITCM that she came over for one of their CNP road shows, and I told her, I said, I want Millington, I don't care where, I don't care what, I want Millington, uh, I'll do whatever. And she sat me right next to her. She gave me a job sitting right next to her, and it was awesome. She was awesome. What was that job? I was the boast mate and quartermaster rating evaluator, so I worked with the uh detailers. Uh so I would set MA every cycle uh for for the billet advertisements, and then uh in between cycles, I would work with the detailers for any uh any uh immediate avails for people coming off limdu, spouse colos, stuff like that.
Gary Wise :Okay, hold on, real quick. You made master chief on Ashland, right? Yeah, how was that feeling though, to make mastery with your with your people?
Jeffrey Brooks :What's that?
Gary Wise :How was it to make master chief with your sailors? Uh I mean, because you made senior chief after you left Essex, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, it was it was awesome to have all them be a part of it, right? Because I don't think uh with everything that we all went through on the Ashland on Ashland, uh I think I think it would have been I don't think it would have been as as meaningful had I uh put it on after I left there, right? Having all those guys there and being able to, you know, at least be a part of it, right? Um I think was great. Uh I never know what to say in those moments, and uh you know, I don't remember what I said, but just being there with them and having my family there, uh it was great.
Gary Wise :I watched the pending and the chiefs mess, right? I I watched either the videos and that that y'all put on Facebook and I looked at all the pictures online looking to see. I mean, I because I'm a fan, bro. I'm I'm over there jumping up and down, hooping a hollering for you. I mean, how did you who told you he made Mash Chi? How'd you find out?
Jeffrey Brooks :So uh T let it slip, right? Not in so many words, but he had already transferred, and uh he was messaging me at like three o'clock in the morning, and I knew he already knew something, right? So I was on my way in to a VTC for NSERV, and uh Commander Watson is the one that told me, right? They just started clapping as I walked in for the VTC. Uh and uh that's how and I walked out, I turned around, walked out, and called Samantha.
Gary Wise :So that's it, that's huge, man. That's look, one percent of the Navy can promote some master. I had a uh gentleman the other day, I was doing a meeting with him, and he said, Gary, what are the odds of a person making mass chief? I said, Look, they'll tell you one percent, but think about this the person has to join the navy, stay in the navy the whole way, and then make it to mass chief. I'll bet you that number is much lower than one percent. It's only one percent total failures at all times.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, I mean, there's only 23 or 24 some odd BMCMs in the Navy, right? And uh, you know, uh look, I I've been very fortunate. I've been in some situations that I probably wouldn't wish to be in again, but they you know, they they helped me along the way for sure. Um, but you know, I made BMCM in 16 years, right? Um, when senior chief was my goal, right?
Gary Wise :You're a freaking beef, bro. You are a bad man, and it's okay to say that, dude, because as that anyone listens to this story, there's no denying the work you put in. And I don't just say that about everybody, I really don't. I do not give everyone that level of props, and I will tell you, I respect it. You are the freaking man, bro. Okay, I'm gonna get off that soapbox now because you know you're great. Um, so you want to go to Millington, you get to go to Millington. How do you how much did you enjoy Tennessee? Like that's a great place to live.
Jeffrey Brooks :So we loved it there, right? Uh I enjoyed the job, right? And I didn't give it um, like I was not, you would not have recognized me in Millington, Tennessee, right? Um I didn't talk to people. I was not uh I yeah, my wife calls me antisocial, right? But uh I was not uh I was not my typical self, right? Um and you know I had I had to I had a lot I had a lot of recovery to do based from that time on the Ashland, right? I had to I had to I had to you know I had to heal a little bit myself and uh so I spent a lot of time uh you know learning the job and and and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed working with people to make sure, you know, you know, uh I could keep the rate as healthy as possible on where people needed to go. And you know, obviously people weren't always happy with what I had to say and you know and all that stuff, but I enjoyed the job and I thought it was important. Um personally, that was a great stop. It was a great place to go after Ashland to kind of you know take some time, right? Uh professionally, I mean I don't know what else I could have done, right? I mean, um, you know, it that for me that was that that's where I wanted to be. So I was happy being there. And then um, yeah, and then COVID hit, right? So I did uh you know, I didn't get to my last year and a half there. We're I'm teleworking four days a week.
Gary Wise :So that's interesting. I didn't even think about that. So so that changes the whole dynamic. Now the kids are at home from school, you're there with the kids. I mean, that's all great things, but then you're not getting that experience to do what you were enjoying doing in the office for your last year. Yeah. Yeah.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, because I I had became the uh I had become the 4013, and uh, I mean, there were people checking in and out of my department that dude, I I never I didn't meet them, and I was their LCPO because of telework, right? And yeah, I would go in and we would be on different schedules, and they would be there three or four months before I was able finally to sit down and have a conversation with them uh face to face.
Gary Wise :Yeah. And so as you're wrapping up that tour and you're probably getting about 19 years, right? Because you said you made Chief and Matt Master in 16 and a half. Uh, you're getting about 19. Um, you got some get well time. What were you thinking about doing after uh Millington?
Jeffrey Brooks :So I was uh I'd had it planned to go to the Kearsarge out of Virginia, right? That that lined up perfectly with my PRD. Uh and then during COVID, we lost six BMCM billets uh during COVID. Uh BHR was one of them when it when it burned. Uh then all the Mark Six Riverine billets went away.
Gary Wise :Yep, I got you. All right, so you were telling me about how you lost the billets throughout the Navy, the PHR, you lost some of the Mark 7 boats, yeah. And you were looking at Kearsarge, but and you're looking at billets.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, and as we lost those billets, um I had to send other BMCMs to other bill to and so Kearsarge got taken, right? And uh so I'm looking around and there's a BMCM billet in Yokosuka, Japan, right? For the brig. I was like, okay, I'll do that. Uh I love Japan. I'll go back over there. Um there because there's only for C duty, there's only LHDs, that's it for BMCM, right? Yeah, uh, or LCACs. I didn't care anything about doing LCAC, right? I don't I don't think I would pass the screening now. Um so uh I was like, I'll go do the brig, right? Yeah, and so now I'm I'm the brig OIC uh and have been for uh three and a half years. I got a year left. We extended for my oldest to be able to graduate high school before we transfer again.
Gary Wise :Very cool, man. I think uh when I look back on my career, when I made Master Chief, uh yeah, there's nothing wrong with marinating, bro, and enjoying the ride. There's really not and taking good jobs, right? You took a BMC on bill. I mean, leading the brig has got to be a tough duty station, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Because you gotta Yeah, it's it's not easy because I'm gonna tell you like, look, I don't I didn't know anything about running a brig, right? Yeah, I go like the school for for me was the same school as the guy that I have standing watch over the prisoners, right? I didn't get any kind of special school, so I had to sit down and look, a lot of it is about basic common sense when it comes to leadership, right? When you make decisions, right? Educated guesses, right? To be honest, right? Um, and uh you you like anything else, I sit down and I talk to people, I talk to my team, and uh this is what this is what's in black and white, and black and white doesn't always tell me what I'm supposed to do in this exact circumstance, right? But it gets me pretty close. Uh I'm in spitting distance, so I can talk to my guys. I and uh this is uh you know this is what's gonna get us there, right? And uh it's been great. I've had some I've had some characters, right? And uh I've had some that's it's sad cases, and it's just it is what it is.
Gary Wise :Yeah. How has it been back in Yocusco on the water for that's your first time in YCUSCO, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, it's first time stationed up here, yeah.
Gary Wise :Do you how much how much different is it being stationed up there than being stationed in Sasebo?
Jeffrey Brooks :It's um it's a lot different. I mean, obviously, uh Sasebo is smaller, smaller community. Uh, and uh it's been uh you know, up here in Yokosuka, just a lot more people. Uh a lot more people get offended up here than what they did down in Sasebo, a lot more uh complaining about this and that. Because don't forget, right? Uh the new CO got here about six months after I did. Uh and then about a year after that, he made me his base XO, right? So here I am as a BMCM and I'm the base XO. And uh he the XO we had transferred, they hadn't identified her relief. And you know, when you're an installation, most of your officers are chaplains and your senior officers of PWO. Your senior officers of PWO, so he's like, Master Chief, you're my XO.
Gary Wise :And I was like, Okay, all right. You know, I was a I was an installation master's chief for my last tour. Talk about a goat rope, bro. C and I see is a shit show. It's tough, it's tough, and I'll tell you people think you have all these people and you have nobody, yeah.
Jeffrey Brooks :And but I'll tell you with the with the CO, you know, he his process is to talk through things, and that's my process too, right? No matter how many times we talk about it, that's his process is to talk through it. So me and him got along really well, and we were able to sit there and have conversations about stuff. I mean, with the things that uh me and Samantha are going through now, he's got a power of attorney over my kids, you know what I mean? Um, so it's uh I couldn't ask for anything better. And uh, you know, I I I'm I may I don't know this for sure, right? But I may be the only BMCM who has an acting CO letter over a major installation, right?
Gary Wise :So I very highly believe you are. That's I'm pretty comfortable saying I agree.
Jeffrey Brooks :Oh, that's it's it's pretty it's not standard, right? But that's the way this guy leads, and he, you know, he it's great, right?
Gary Wise :And everybody's part of it, and it's not just any base, right? It's freaking Yacuska naval like it's only seventh fleet, yeah. Yeah, it's a big base. So, how's the CMC feel having an X L it's mashed team? How's that work?
Jeffrey Brooks :It's been it was great, right? Me and he would joke around. Like, look, it's I'll to be honest with you, you know, the wardroom was awesome about it too, right? Yeah, and because so the CMC and the XO billet were both gapped. So the MACM was a CMC and I was the XO, right? And then the new CMC got here, and I'm still the XO for a few months until the new one gets here. And it was just teamwork, man. It was never it's never about ego, right? It's all about it's all about how are we and I Dennis Hunt is this base CMC, and me and him have a great relationship, right? And we have conversations, and uh, you know, I I'm still in the triad chat, even though I'm not a member of the triad, right? I'm still in it, and we still have conversations and all these things. Uh, I mean, they even after I was my stint as the XO, they made me the installation N9 for a little while, right? So here I am running MWR and Fleet Fleet and Family and all these other programs. Yeah, that was harder than being the XO. Are you still running the bear the the brig too? I was, I was, I was still doing the brig stuff, right? And you know, it it was it it but it is what it is. That's that's that's the life of the of the military we live in now.
Gary Wise :It is, and I'm sure with you having another year and a half there, they're probably very thankful to have you available to be on the team because you bring a lot of corporate knowledge, you bring a lot of experience. What another thing, what I love about mass chiefs, and this is this is just this is what makes master chiefs different than the other people in the chiefs best. This is just a true statement. They really only the only dog they really have in the fight is the best of the command, at least in my opinion. None of them are trying to make you 10, but the ones that are they get that's not a thing, bro.
Jeffrey Brooks :Like we all know that, and it was it was difficult in Millington, right? Because uh and and I there look just with my code alone, I had nine master chiefs in my code alone, right? So a lot of egos there and a lot to deal with, right? But um for the most part, everybody comes together to do what's best.
Gary Wise :Yep. So when I left Ashland, I went to Seventh Fleet, every one of my DLCPOs was a master chief, yeah, right? So that and every one of my D of my department heads was the 06 post tour major commander, yeah, right? So that was something, right? Trust whoo, and then when I got to Naval Base Guam, of course, every tenant command is a command master chief, yeah, right? They're all cookied up, they're literally in the program, right? We're all we're all peers, and that's great because I I love that. You know how I get down, like it's we can all lock each other in the chief's mess and fight, like whatever. We can talk it out, we can find it out. Gary wise is down for whatever way you want to go. Yeah, but what I found is authenticity is almost always what works, right? Being authentic and helping them have the conversations will win. So, all right, JB, we're about to wrap this up, bro. Um, I'm not gonna put you on the spot and ask you what you're gonna do next. Yeah, you got an hour, a year left at Yocouscous. I'll let you enjoy that year as you plot and plan and figure out where you want to go next with your life. Uh because I mean, I I'm curious, but I'll I'll let that one stew for a little bit while you guys figure out life a little bit, right? Um, all right. So I have some rapid fire questions that I typically ask people at the end of these things. And the idea here is hopefully you don't have to think about it too hard, right? Ready? Yep, all right, all right. So, what do you believe is the most valuable leadership lesson you picked up on your time on this earth?
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh, I think I think being honest up front, right? Managing expectations.
Gary Wise :Yeah, good. Honesty up front, managing managing expectations, and that's for everybody, right? Both up and down.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, I think that's our job. I think that's our job as senior enlisted leaders, right? Everybody's got to hear the truth, no matter how ugly it is.
Gary Wise :I had another guy had a conversation with the other day, and he says, Gary, I don't got no problem saying yes to my boss as long as they understand the cost. We can do almost anything. Are you ready to pay the cost? This is what it's gonna cost to get there.
Jeffrey Brooks :Not a no but, it's a yes if.
Gary Wise :That's a good one. I like that. That's great. That's a yes if. Okay, next up. What is the biggest leadership challenge you see facing people today?
Jeffrey Brooks :I think I think just the unknown and and everything that's going on, right? Um people are people, right? Uh, I don't think these young sailors are any different than way what we were. I think it's just uh programs are always changing, things are always being added. Uh we don't know today what what's gonna change tomorrow. And it's it's just it's rapid, it's rapid pace.
Gary Wise :Yep, and that's the job, right? That's life. Um, I I even tell that to the students. Like I tell the students, if you're not exhausted going to high school, you're not doing it right. Like, high school is not supposed to be easy, too. It's supposed to be challenging. Yeah, and make and take because I feel like if you're not if you're living a life where you're just always like, oh my god, my life is so great, and you're not a little bit tired. I don't feel like you're trying hard enough to live your life and be enthusiastic.
Jeffrey Brooks :I tell my teenagers now, if you don't develop good habits now, when are you going to?
Gary Wise :Oh bar, that was good. You know, and the next question I was gonna ask you was how can parents use leadership skills to better connect with their teenagers, right?
Jeffrey Brooks :Because I struggle with that, Gary. I'm gonna tell you right now, and I've talked to my wife. Uh uh, you know, sometimes I feel like I'm easier on the seaman that works for me than I am on kids, right? That's the challenge.
Gary Wise :That's the challenge, Jeff. That that I'm with you. That's the challenge. We're so used to taking young Americans and turning them into war fighters, sailors, professional mariners that go to sea, right? And then our children are not that, yeah, and it's hard, man. My Erica's had to put me back in the box many times and be like, he's not a sailor, like he's not one of your people there. Um, but everything you just said, I think is for me is exactly what works. And and I will tell you, now that I'm in this position where I'm teaching high school kids, God, it's they they they are freaking motivators, bro. They get after it. And my son is the CMC this year of my battalion, and it's stiff competition, and that competition has made him better, right? It's made him better, but then high school's over, and what are you gonna do next, right? Here we go. We gotta figure that part out. Okay, um, if you had if you knew somebody struggling in an organization, like for example, with a department head they don't get along with, and they're yelling at each other on the first day, right? Um, and now you've been an XO of a major of a command, right? So you've got a few different perspectives of how to look at this now. Um, you've been a senior listed leader, you've been an XO, you've been a department L CPO. What advice would you give to a person struggling?
Jeffrey Brooks :I think you you mean how would I how would I get them to come together better as a team or just on an individual basis?
Gary Wise :On an individual basis. What would you tell that person individually to help them get through that time?
Jeffrey Brooks :I I think just remember their why, right? Because I think just remember your why. Remember everybody is is coming from a place of wanting it to be successful, right? Uh I've only ever met one person that just openly said they wanted it to fail, right? Um, I've never met anybody that didn't want it to be the best they could possibly make it, right? And I think if if if you can approach it that way with whoever you're having conflict with and have those conversations, um I think it'll help a lot, right? Um, and you'll you you may never like each other, you may never come to agree on on how things are gonna go, but I've had to learn that you know sometimes I gotta let other people uh influence it.
Gary Wise :Yeah, it isn't always gotta be you. I understand that. Okay, a little bit more fun questions now. It's the weekend, it's Saturday night, we're going to the Chief's Mess, we're gonna watch some Sons of Anarchy. Do you want are you looking forward to the pizza or the wings? Pizza, pizza, I like it. Okay, you got two choices. Which one do you want? You want the birthing cleaners or the working party?
Jeffrey Brooks :Working party.
Gary Wise :I love it. Um, if we're gonna watch a movie in the mess, would you rather watch a De Niro movie or a Pacino movie?
Jeffrey Brooks :De Niro.
Gary Wise :De Niro, okay. Looking back on your career, bro. What's been your favorite duty station?
Jeffrey Brooks :I think to be honest with you, I think the one I'm at right now, and you can very you can very uh seldom say that, right? But I think being at the brig has just been such a different beast. Where I look, I I I was not trained for it, right? I have to constantly be in the book and I have to constantly be thinking, what if, right? And I do that. And the senior chief that I have with me, he's like, he's like, he's like, man, it's like you see these things coming. I was like, dude, I just sit there and play in my head, what if, right? Because most of your days are very quiet, they're very calm, and then you're gonna have a day that's not, right? So I just run it through.
Gary Wise :It's just your experience chining through, man. That's what it is. It's the years of experience, and I will tell you the my favorite part about going CMC was the change of pace, the change of perspective, and that's what you're kind of getting on this brig tour because you're getting a whole different leadership opportunity, and that's great. That's good, and it's it's great, great, great experience for you, and no matter what you choose to do after this, right? Period. I mean, honestly, you could probably get out of the Navy, go get a nice high flying GS, whatever job at an installation now.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, yeah. Well, uh I there's there's been there's been offers.
Gary Wise :Ops, I can see it now. Port operations, calling your name. There's been offers. I brother, I I I can imagine it. I really could. And Naval Base Guam is always hiring.
Jeffrey Brooks :Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Gary Wise :Yeah, all right. Next up. Um, what was the most challenging qualification you've ever achieved in your career? Craft master. My craft master pen. Yeah, okay. I appreciate that. I think I know your answer to this question, but I'm gonna give it to you again. Would you rather be overseas or stateside? Overseas. What is it about overseas that you like so much?
Jeffrey Brooks :I know what I've right now is used to it was the money, it was better money, right? Uh, it was easier to save. Now it's just safer for my kids. They don't they can be kids over here, right? Uh they can grow up and not have to worry about everything that's going on in social media and and everything else, right? They they can just be kids.
Gary Wise :Yeah, I appreciate that. It's a small town vibe for sure. I get it, man. That was like one of the biggest fears we had when we left the when we left Guam, and we hung up the we hung it up and we retired, right? And yeah, definitely that's why I came to, I mean, thank God for Ocala, Florida. It's great. Uh moving on. What was your favorite movie series?
Jeffrey Brooks :Favorite movie series, yeah.
Gary Wise :I would say trilogy, but now they're like movie series.
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh, I don't know. Um, I watch more TV shows than I do movies, right? I watched all the Avengers stuff with my kids, right? They were huge into it, especially my oldest one. So I guess just for you know relationships with him, I'll say all the the whole Avengers okay all the way through. But uh yeah, I'm more of a I'd rather watch a TV show than a movie.
Gary Wise :I hey to this day, bro. I have this box that I got in my house where I has it plays like Sons of Anarchy games that throw on 24 hours a day, and I'll just put it on wherever it's at and just watch it and be like, Man, I miss those days of just walking in, laying on that little short blue couch, yeah, and just just being in the mess, right? And just God, I missed that. Anyway, uh, I always wonder what the Ashland mess looks like now. What if they ever changed it around?
Jeffrey Brooks :Oh, I'm sure they did.
Gary Wise :I don't know, man. We had it decorated pretty good up in there. Hey, uh, dude, would you rather be independent, Jeff, or on a team?
Jeffrey Brooks :Um on a team, right? Uh, because like you said it earlier, I'm very competitive, right? So when I'm by myself, I just get it done and move on. But when I'm on a team, I'll be competitive internally, right? I'll watch what other people are doing, and I was like, I can do that better. And I won't let it turn toxic, right? I won't talk trash, I won't do all those things, but it makes me better.
Gary Wise :It's your self-talk, bro. It's yourself. My younger son is just like that, and personally, I feel the same way, right? I just have the inner self-talk, and you believe my wife's toxic trait says she'll watch like I showed her a video of a little girl doing barrel racing on a horse, right? And my wife was like, My toxic trait is I think I can do that. And I think that you're you feel that way. You look at things, you're like, I could probably do that, I could probably do that better than that guy, too. I could probably that's okay, nothing wrong with that. Um, personal leadership philosophy. Do you have one?
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh for me, I th I you know, I think I think it's hard to see myself as a good leader, right? Because I just I'm always trying to um reflect on how I can get better. Yeah, you know, when you leave a command and you look back and you're like, man, how could I have done certain things better, right? And you focus and for me, I focus more on the on the relationships with the sailor that I didn't get along with or couldn't see, couldn't, you know, get you know, make him feel like he was on my team or whatever, right? Um, those are the ones I focus on. So for me, it's hard to you know ever feel like I've done enough, but uh, you know, I I just I'm gonna work harder than the other guy, right? And um I'm gonna do you know, do my best to to to find that happy middle ground of taking care of the sailor and making sure the command is successful, right? And sometimes one's a little heavier than the other.
Gary Wise :Okay. But you always manage to get your team to do good together as well, though. So even though you have that perspective, you also communicate in such a way that the guys come together. So I there's got to be a way that they buy in. You ever thought that what is it that you're saying that helps them to do that buy-in?
Jeffrey Brooks :I hope it's just that I'm honest. You know, I'll I'll tell them, I'll tell them this is about to be hard, right? We're about to go through it, right? Um and and even after I even after I left uh the Ashland, I would find some uh some comments on Facebook on a picture, right? And people would be saying things that I would be saying, right? They would be saying it, right? And to me, that's just manage expectations, man. Like they gotta know because one thing I hated when I was a junior sailor is I had a chief that always talked about the light at the end of the tunnel. I never saw that damn light because it was always the same thing. But yeah, you know, it's for me, it's not about look, the worst thing you can do is whipsaw people, right? It steady strain, right? And if you and if you allow them to expect to get off at 1300 every day, you're not gonna be successful, right? Right, steady strain. It ain't gotta be until dark every night, but it needs to be a solid effort.
Gary Wise :100%, man. Definitely. Okay, we got deck plate leadership, institutional technical expertise, professionalism, character, loyalty, active communication, and a sense of heritage. Those are the chief petty officers, mission, vision, guiding principles. Uh which one of those is your favorite?
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh character.
Gary Wise :Okay. Period, right? Character. I like it. All right. Would you rather lead or follow?
Jeffrey Brooks :Uh at work, I'd rather lead. At home, I'd rather Samantha make some decisions every once in a while. No, but I, you know, I I look, I'd rather make the decisions for myself. If something's got to be done, I want to be the one to make the decisions.
Gary Wise :Okay. Right.
Jeffrey Brooks :If I'm gonna own it, if I'm gonna own it, then let me own it.
Gary Wise :Yep, all day. All right, my guy, that is it. You have any save rounds, save round or alibis?
Jeffrey Brooks :No, I mean, I I I kind of dropped it already, right? But if you're if you're gonna have your students watch this, I would just tell them, right, whatever, whatever habits you get into now as an adult, you're only gonna build on those, right? So you if you develop good habits now, you're gonna develop good, you're gonna have good habits later on, right? It's harder to to build on bad habits.
Gary Wise :Yeah, huge man. I Jeff, I appreciate your time. I appreciate you joining us and talking to the people. Thank you very much for sharing your story and your perspectives. And I wish nothing but the best for you and Sam and all the boys. And just I hope y'all get back to Yoko safely and y'all just have a great freaking year, and that just God is good to y'all, man. That's what I hope.
Jeffrey Brooks :I appreciate it, Gary.
Gary Wise :You are welcome, bro. Thank you again for your time. Everybody, if you like this stuff, do me a favor, check us out, like it, subscribe, and that is it. I'll talk to you later, brother.
Jeffrey Brooks :All right, brother. We'll see you.
Gary Wise :Bye.
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