What Happens When “If The Gear’s Up, The Brow’s Down” Becomes A Life Philosophy

What does it take to go from a San Diego kid sleeping on potential to a Master Chief ET shaping ship readiness across Seventh Fleet? Dom Taylor joins us to unpack a career built on grit, clear standards, and the kind of leadership that keeps gear up and teams together. From a Subway job behind bulletproof glass to freezing mornings in Great Lakes, Dom learned to troubleshoot deeper than the checklist and to carry that discipline onto a small frigate through 9/11 and into the carrier world where he became an LPO who lifted his division by giving sailors the wrench.

Japan changed the game. At SRF Yokosuka, Dom saw how ships truly improve: precise job writing, strong relationships, and technical honesty. He lived through the 2011 earthquake and watched a community choose calm and care. On Mustin he corrected a “counseling sheet culture,” rebuilt trust with an LDO, and prepared for INSURV with a simple rule—if the gear is up, the brow is down. When an EMO hoarded troubleshooting, Dom pushed repairs back to the level that makes future experts. Then came Blue Ridge: a long yard period, a sprint to sea, heavy comms, and watchstander training just after two crushing collisions. Dom helped turn a ship back into a ship, and he never forgot that industrial spaces don’t forgive complacency.

Today, as a civilian leader at SRF, he runs interior comms, radar, nav, and TSCE teams, green-lighting assistance only when ships truly try. He still teaches antenna standards, insists on clean spaces, and draws a hard line between subject matter knowledge and real troubleshooting. The takeaway is clear: platform depth beats thin familiarity, chiefs must protect time to think, and nothing stops you except you. If you lead sailors, manage maintenance, or just want a sharper leadership edge, this one will sharpen your standards and your story.

Enjoy the episode? Subscribe, share with a shipmate, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.

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Transcript

Sponsors And Guest Introduction

Gary Wise 0:28

All right, everybody, half a day. How are you doing? It's once again, it's Gary Wise, Wise Leadership Solutions, coming today with another Words from the Wise podcast. Uh, hey, before we get into today's guest and we introduce him to the crowd, I want to do a couple of things. Number one, I want to let y'all know that this podcast is sponsored by yours truly and wise leadership solutions. We are here in Ocala, Florida, and we love talking with you about leadership. So if you're interested in talking about organizational leadership, personal leadership, professional, whatever, we're into it. Hit us up, we'll figure something out. Next up, Ocala's Church of Hope, down there off Merrickamp Road, here in Ocala. If you're interested in going to a great church, come check it out. And then last but not least, we are uh sponsored, we are supported, we are, I would say kept up going, inspired, and our compass full because of the Vanguard High School Navy Junior R O T C the Knights Battalion. I love those cadets, those cadets love us back, and they like listening to these shows and then like giving me feedback on other things we talk about. So thank y'all for supporting them and supporting us as we get into these conversations. Today, I got a shipmate today, man. Today I got a shipmate that I serve with on board the USS Blue Ridge. Uh, I was at the Seventh Fleet Staff, he was a part of the Blue Ridge Chiefs mess, the Blue Ridge ship company. He was an electronics technician by trade. He is currently retired, living in Yokosuka, Japan, working on the waterfront, helping keeping all the ships there ready to go. His name is Master Chief Petty Officer, Retired Dom Taylor. What's up, Dom?

Dom Taylor 2:04

What's up, Gary? How you doing, bro?

Gary Wise 2:06

Man, I'm doing good, brother. I'm trying to stay busy. We got school starting on Monday, bro.

Dom Taylor 2:11

Yeah, that's right. It's about that time again.

Why Tell The Story And Early Purpose

Gary Wise 2:14

It is, man. I'm actually ready for it. I'm excited. You know, this video probably won't come out for a couple weeks after school starts, but you know, it's so much fun, man. I'm telling I told the guys that I work with, it's like being on fast cruise every day. You know, because it's like they bring all the kids to school, they close all the doors and all the gates, lock it down. You only got one way in, one way out. That's a quarter deck. I told myself a quarter deck, and we got a masdex, we got a medical, like it's just like being on the ship.

Dom Taylor 2:44

Absolutely, absolutely is man.

Gary Wise 2:48

So what's up, Dom? Hey, I'm curious, bro. What made you decide, or what makes you interested in sharing your story with the world, brother?

Dom Taylor 2:56

I don't know. You know, I gotta I've been around for a day or two, and as I've you know lived on this earth for you know a little while, I feel like I got a lot to give back, you know. Um, I did the coaching thing uh while I was in Japan. I grew up, I was coached by a lot of people. I feel like you know, I still got a lot to give. That's why I decided to do what I'm doing right now, and you know, I still want to continue to do that. So if I can help out some young cadets that you got there, and anybody else who wants to watch the video, you know, I still want to do that. So I figured this is a great uh honor being invited on here by you. And I hope a lot of people get out here and you know watch the video.

San Diego Roots And Family Grit

Gary Wise 3:36

I think they will, maybe. Believe it or not, it's uh people really appreciate authentic stories. People like hearing about regular people just like them that make it work and and how you got to wherever you started, to where you're at today. Like that's the main thing I get from all the cadets and from all the people that watch the shows, is they just love how everyone is so just regular, like not like none of us are like trying to be extra, we're all just being 100%. But here's the thing you made it all the way to Master Chief Petty Officer, which means you, my friend, did a lot of very uh things very good well throughout your career, throughout your life. And so I'm very excited to share your story with them because I know that it's going to be an impressive journey because it's not easy to become to make it to the ranks of master chief, right? Let's be honest. It's I mean, people call it the one percent thing, but it's less than that, right? Because first you had to be a person who joined and then went all the way up to where you made it. I bet you that percentage is even lower than one percent based on how many people get out, right? Um so as we get into this, I am sure there's going to be uh some some good turns to your story. So just so I know, where did you come from before you joined the service? Like, where's home?

Dom Taylor 4:54

So I'm actually from uh San Diego, California. Grew up in Lemon Grove, you know, out there. Um start out, yeah, yeah, yeah. So on uh I actually started out living in uh Lemon Grove, and that's where I started out growing up doing some things out there, not the greatest things, live my life, you know, with moms and five kids. Mom was on the grind doing her things. That's where I probably got my work ethic from from her. She was just out there doing her thing, you know, working hard, going to college and trying to raise five crazy kids in a mad world, you know.

Gary Wise 5:31

Yeah, that's me. Five kids is not a little bit, right? Like that's especially for what sounds like a single mother. Uh was she was she from Southern California herself?

Dom Taylor 5:41

No, she was actually actually from North Carolina, a small town called Pollacksville. So, yeah, a little itty bitty place that you wouldn't even know it was there. I know when we went out to visit uh grandma and grandpa's, you couldn't walk anywhere. I mean, we had a couple neighbors that you could walk to, but everywhere else, bruh, you tried to walk, you're getting attacked by wild dogs. I remember we got chased by a wild hog once, and grandma walked out there with a with a broom like it was nothing and shoot him away. And here we are trying to run from these things. But yeah, you're not walking anywhere out in Pollocksville. You you're taking a vehicle, you're driving somewhere, but out there you're not walking. Then she moves down to the big city of California, and that's where that's where we were raised at.

Gary Wise 6:20

Now, what when I hear Lemon Grove, is that Southeast San Diego?

Dom Taylor 6:25

No, no, that's that's that's uh just just in San Diego, man. It's not southeast, but it's where we lived. It wasn't like I said, uh, the greatest part, but yeah, mom made it work. She raised us up. We weren't we weren't dumb, but we were knuckleheads.

Gary Wise 6:40

Okay, which high school did you go to in San Diego?

Dom Taylor 6:43

Helix.

Gary Wise 6:44

Helix, okay. So I lived in Chula Vista for a while. Well, set like seven years. I lived there. We call it the Chula Hoya because I lived on the on the east side of 805, you know. Yeah, yeah. So when you were going growing up, going through high school, okay, you got four brothers and sisters. Are you the oldest, youngest?

Dom Taylor 7:04

No, I'm number two. I'm the second oldest.

Gary Wise 7:07

Second oldest. So when you're coming up and you're in high school, what are you thinking about for life after high school? I mean, are you do you have anything you're interested in, or do are you do you have any ideas what you want to do when you kind of when you grow up?

Dom Taylor 7:21

So initially I was thinking about teaching, right? Um, so I was going to, you know, during the summers, my mom tried to keep keep us off the streets as much as possible, but you know, kids are going to be kids and boys are going to be boys. We got outside influence as well. And so by the time I was in my senior year, obviously I had taken the ASVAB. I wasn't thinking about the military at that point in time. We had gone to a lot of uh a lot of, like I said, um summer school. So by the time I was in my senior year, I realistically only needed two classes to graduate. But here I am taking seven classes. So I felt like I I overwhelmed myself. I overwhelmed myself, and I was my brother had joined the army, and I really had no no, you know, there was no real mentorship. There wasn't really nothing. You know, I was I was doing pretty good in sports, but that was I was just that was just something to pass the time, you know. So I wasn't really doing anything, and it was just like, you know, I was taking these seven classes by the and I got that senior it is hard, man. So here we graduate in June, bro. In May, my voice is pretty deep. I would call in for myself, you know, like hey, Dom Taylor's uh not feeling well today or whatever, and they would answer the phone and they would not know it wasn't me. Next thing I after that, I'm calling my friends up like yo, let's go to wherever, and we're going out and have having living our best life. Eventually I just stopped calling, I stopped going to school, right? So I didn't graduate where I was supposed to graduate, and I only needed two classes, and you know, obviously hindsight being 2020, and that was obviously dumb, but obviously, like I said, I just felt like I overloaded myself at that time.

Gary Wise 8:57

Yeah.

Senior Year Detour And Subway Lessons

Dom Taylor 8:58

So obviously, I'm I'm I'm thinking I'm I'm having a living my best life, hanging out with my friends, no, no, no high school degree at the time. And eventually my mom's like, yo, you got to do something with yourself. So she takes me down to Helix and gets me finishing up the two classes that I need to finish up, adult school. I knock these classes out, and then she's like, yo, you gotta get a job. So, you know, I'm going out there, putting these applications in, and she's like, yo, what are you putting applications in? I'm like, yo, mom, I'm walking around putting these applications in. Ain't nobody hiring. She's like, you gotta go down there. So I'm going to hitting these spots up and you know, letting them know, like, yo, I put application in, I'm talking to all these people, and still, you know, no calls, no nothing.

Gary Wise 9:41

Right.

Dom Taylor 9:42

And so my mom's, she's works at the naval base, and she, you know, she's got connections. So she's talking to all these people, and eventually she sets me up with an interview. So I get my first job interview over at the subway. And I'm not no dummy, you know. I dress up in a nice little shirt and tie or whatever, get on my bike. I ride down to the subway, I do my little interview, and of course, boom, I get my first legit job. And I'm working at the subway, doing my thing, and eventually I get promoted to assistant manager at another subway. Meet up with my my girl, who's now my wife, have a kid, subway doing, you know, doing some crazy things that I ought not to have been doing. Subway ain't paying the bills and living where I ain't supposed to be living. Things are worse off than when I was living with moms, and it was like, yo, I can't be doing this. About to have my son, and then the lady who my mom knew who hired me, her husband was in the navy, and she was like, Why don't you think about the navy? And I'm like, All right, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was simple like that, bro. Like, you know, think about that.

Gary Wise 10:46

You you you made that sound real simple, bro. But I mean, you got yourself a little job, you got to make started making some money, got a little relationship that's felt real grown, real grown real quick. Yeah, y'all got real serious, messing around. Y'all had a baby, yeah, yeah. All of that stuff, and how many years was that all in a year? You think two years?

Dom Taylor 11:07

It was all in it was all in a couple years, like life moved really quick, and it was like I had to grow, I didn't have a choice but to grow up real quick. So, and I knew Subway wasn't paying the bills. My situation wasn't where it should be. Like, yo, how am I gonna be providing for my son, this woman who you know who I'm with, you know, I'm living in a situation that isn't help, help, healthy for them. And this this ain't this ain't this ain't the business, you know.

Gary Wise 11:32

I hear that, man. And I think for a lot of guys that grew up in SoCal, the military is a realistic option because you could get stationed back home. Yeah, and so they look at like whether it's Virginia, whether it's Florida, whether it's I was a recruiter, right? It was like the people that wanted to join the military where I was recruiting, they wanted to come back for the Air Force base that was in town, or the Coast Guard base that was in town. Because the thought of like leaving where you're home forever is what it feels like, right? Because you don't know. I mean, and that's the thing. So if you are from San Diego, I could see that being a relatively good option. Like you said, your mom worked on the base, you're there on subway for serving up food for the sailors that are coming to get the food there, whatever it is. You can see all them. Um, now you're an assistant manager, so you got leadership potential, but you recognizing that it's not going the way that you want it to go. Uh, so when you go you go to the recruiter, was that an easy con? Did you have a degree you got your degree already, right?

Dom Taylor 12:30

You said you got the yeah, I finally I finally got my degree, but the thing is, you know, the subway I worked at wasn't on the base, it was it was like, yeah, bruh, it was like so. She the I'm gonna tell you about this subway job. No, no, no. So the lady that she knew, her kids were on the base, she worked at the CDC, and like everybody knew moms, everybody knew her, right? So she knew this lady who worked there, and the lady worked at the subway, so that's how she hooked me in. And okay, the subway that I ended up transferred to the assistant manager spot, it had bulletproof glass, like two feet from the ceiling. And I don't know if you know about the the check caching place, but at the check caching place, you know you had to slide the money under the little deal. Yeah, it had that joint, and you put the sandwich in there, like this little turnstile joint to turn the sandwich around after they, yeah. Oh bruh, it was that part, yeah. It was like that. There was one way in, one way out.

Gary Wise 13:26

I'm not dying for no sandwich, bro.

Dom Taylor 13:29

It was like it was like that, like you couldn't, and the employees who I work with like will always leave the back door open. So it was like, what are you guys doing? And you were there.

Gary Wise 13:39

That's a yeah, that's a that's just that's a setup waiting to happen, bro.

Dom Taylor 13:43

Yeah, and I was always the closer, so I was always there late at night by myself, you know, crackheads coming in, you know, real poor people coming in.

Gary Wise 13:50

What what year was this?

Dom Taylor 13:52

This was uh the the 90 had to be like 95, 96 when I was working in Subway, right? You know, I had gone, you know, every time I'm back in San Diego, I swing by. It's there's no bulletproof glass there anymore, you know. But you know, I remember those times, and when the people when this these elder older lady would always come in, obviously she didn't have a lot of money. She would want like a she would always order like a veggie sandwich or something super cheap. And Subway back in the day, I'm sure they still have it now. They had a recipe for their sandwiches and everything else. So you would have to put like a X amount of lettuce for a foot long, it's like five tomatoes, six pickles, eight olives, and you had to put that specific amount on there. And what people would like be I'd be putting that on there, right? And people would look at you crazy. You can't taste no eight olives on a footlung, and then bro.

Gary Wise 14:46

She's like, bro, give me my olives.

Choosing The Navy And AECF Track

Dom Taylor 14:48

Yeah, and so after they after they tell you, like, can I get some more? You could pile as much, you could put the whole dang thing on there if you wanted to after that, but they have to ask you for more. Otherwise, because you have secret shoppers who would come in who would check to see if you're doing the right thing, and then they would get the report in and say, you know, uh Dominique was doing a great job. He was, you know, he did upsell me on whatever, whatever. Otherwise, if you put the extra on right away because he was trying to hook up a brother or whatever, nah, you got hit on it, so you had to be by the letter of the law on the stuff until they said, Can I get some more whatever, please? And then you could just throw on whatever.

Gary Wise 15:26

You know what, though? I love I I appreciate that though, because I tell my kids all the time at school, like, close mouths, don't get fed. Yeah, you think you want more, you gotta communicate, bro. Oh, you gotta say, okay, and then, like you said, then once you ask for more, you can have as much as you want.

Dom Taylor 15:42

Oh, yeah.

Gary Wise 15:43

But if you don't ask, you can you finna get eight dollars and they go get you. Yeah, okay. So here you go to the recruiter, you got yourself a chance to go to the military. Did you know coming into the service that you wanted to get involved with electronics?

Dom Taylor 15:58

Nope. Never. So, only thing I knew about electronics, bro, was that they were cool. You plug it in, it turns on. Electronics is awesome. So, you know, I scored I started pretty good on the ASVAB, and they're like, What do you want to do? I said, I want to work with computers, they're a wave of the future, and I remember specifically saying that. And so they're like, Okay, I got this great program for you, AECF, Advanced Electronic Computer Fields. They they threw me into that, and then you know, I went to I ended up going to uh Great Lakes, Illinois, and that was so awesome. Not really, you know, because I'm from California, bro.

Gary Wise 16:32

Yeah, what month boot camp? What month, huh? What month did you get in November?

Dom Taylor 16:38

Oh November, yeah, yeah, never seen no snow. Coldest I ever got was when it rained. Man, bruh.

Gary Wise 16:48

Yeah, Chicago is not nice when it's the cold, when it's the weather.

Dom Taylor 16:52

Oh, hey, they got you a boot camp.

Gary Wise 16:54

You out there shoveling snow.

Dom Taylor 16:55

You out there, yes, yes, I was. I absolutely was out there, you know. I ain't know no better, so you know we're out there shoveling the snow, and so my hands are freezing. So, what's a California boy to do when his hands get cold? Run them under some hot water, yeah.

Gary Wise 17:11

Your steak, your steak hurts like about the icicles in your blood.

Dom Taylor 17:17

Oh, yeah, I was I was dying. I was like, I'm never doing that again. So yeah, learned my lesson.

Gary Wise 17:24

Well, so when you get to boot camp, was it what you thought it was gonna be though? For real.

Dom Taylor 17:29

I mean, I didn't really, I really didn't know what to expect. It was just you know, I've I had watched movies and seen movies, and you know, hey, it is what it is, do what they tell you to do, and that's pretty much it.

Gary Wise 17:42

You know, I went to boot camp in '97, and the movie I was watching before I went to boot camp was in the army now. I like Polly Shore, right? Like, I didn't have no real understanding what the right I didn't so I get to boot camp and it wasn't like that. It wasn't like that, but it was good, man. So you graduate basic training because it's over, it actually goes pretty quick, right? When you look back at it, yeah, it does, it does. Then do you go to uh naval training center Great Lakes afterwards?

Great Lakes Reality And Electronics School

Dom Taylor 18:13

Yep, yep, pretty much just walk right across the street and go right. So basically, yeah, go right over there and you're on hold forever. So you're on hold, you're cleaning the barracks, maintaining the barracks until you class up for your base electronics course. And that course is uh like at this point in time, they're doing it different than they are now. This point, you're you're going like um electronic engineering level classes, and that's for like six months.

Gary Wise 18:38

Yeah. So, and your wife and your baby are still in San Diego.

Dom Taylor 18:43

They're still in San Diego at the time. I'm not married yet. Oh, really? Okay, yeah, I'm not married yet. So I'm doing this class thing, and then over a long weekend during basic electronics, I have to submit a request yet to get married. So I submit a request shit. They're like, okay, approved. I fly back over the weekend, and of course, I have a test when I come back. And of course, we get married, I come back, I rock the test. Rock meaning fail it. I fail this test hard. Of course, and now I have to go to extra study, you know, because you know, rock as in your dumb as a dumb rock.

Gary Wise 19:14

Getting married, bro.

Dom Taylor 19:15

Like, you know, as in your dumb as a rock. So, you know, I rock that test, I come back, I go to remediation, I and then I study and I pass the test, no problem. And eventually I pass the course. I end up flying my wife and them all out here, my wife and my son get a place out in Joaquin, and then everything is gravy, and I keep on going through the the class.

Gary Wise 19:39

Yeah, I was gonna ask you like what was it like being a young cellular run out of boot camp? Yeah, you got a family in San Diego, but you also get some liberty on the in the afternoons. Are you walking around the base? Are you going out in town with some friends while you're killing time? Are you just kind of laying low waiting for her to get out there, or what?

Dom Taylor 19:57

I'm laying low, actually studying. I still have my my books and my binder of of my uh my study material. Matter of fact, I have it at work of all my study material that I have. Nice. So I still have that at work. I was studying pretty hard uh to pass that course because I had a purpose, I knew I was there.

Gary Wise 20:16

So you had that first six-month course, you bring her out there. What's next after that?

Dom Taylor 20:21

So next I'm on hold again, and then I actually go to a school. So again, then we're you either going to calm side or you're going to radar side, and then it's not you don't get to pick, it's like a flip of the coin or whatever. So I ended up going to the calm side.

Gary Wise 20:35

Okay, and when you calm side, that means you're the one working. What are you working on? Are you working on antennas? Are you working with the ITs to keep their gear up?

Dom Taylor 20:45

Pretty much. Yeah, I'm on the communication side of the house, and then once again, inside there, you know, because I'm really reading into this electronic engineering portion of the course, it's like down to the component level, resistors, capacitors, that type of stuff. I'm like going deep, and you're not supposed to go deep in this, in this, uh, in one of these specific courses. Funny as it is, it's uh one of the radio's transmitters called the T827, and I'm troubleshooting this thing down to the component level. And I get to the fault, and I'm like, yo, here's what it is. And they're like, You're not supposed to troubleshoot that far. So, of course, what do I do? I go to ARB, Academic Review Board, and then yeah.

Gary Wise 21:22

And of course, I'm getting yeah, yeah, I'm getting yelled at by the RB because you did too much.

Dom Taylor 21:28

Yeah, they won't they want us to troubleshoot down to the module, but I'm troubleshooting down to the thing, and of course, you know, I'm like, yo, based on this, that, and the other, this is what it is, and they're like, You're not supposed to troubleshoot that far. And I'm getting yelled at by the chief or whatever, and I'm um it's making sense for you, though, right?

Gary Wise 21:46

Like, you're putting it together, you're taking all the I you know, I whatever, bro. Like, that's crazy to me. So, how long is that? How long are you in school totality before you get the chance to go to the fleet?

First Ship: Frigate Life And 9/11

Dom Taylor 21:59

Almost let's see, I didn't go to the fleet, so I I grabbed I didn't go to the fleet until like May of '98. Damn. So I started in November '96. I got to my first ship in May of '98.

Gary Wise 22:12

What was boot camp like at Christmas?

Dom Taylor 22:15

Um cold.

Gary Wise 22:19

You gotta give you nothing fun.

Dom Taylor 22:22

No, no, I think we got to go to Ricky Heaven maybe once or twice. It was, I think maybe once. It was like it was like, hey, who wants to go shovel snow? And I raised my hand, like, yeah, I'll go shovel snow. Why not? You know, I went out there before, it's not that big a deal. Let me go do something. I'm not just gonna sit here. So I volunteered to go shovel snow, but it wasn't shoveling snow. It was like, yeah, go to Ricky Heaven for 30 minutes or something like that. So I was like, okay. That's awesome.

Gary Wise 22:46

That's awesome. Okay. All right. So now you when you're coming out of your schooling, after being because do you come out of school a third-class petty officer?

Dom Taylor 22:55

No. So again, you had to you had to wait until your time and rate. So I came out of uh, I think I out of out of uh boot camp, I got automatic E3. Then I got push button once my time and rate was up. So after uh basic electronics, once again you're on hold until you class up for A school. After A school or during basic electronics, it was you pick either FC or ET. I chose ET, I got ET, lucky for me. And then um you're on hold again, and then you figure out where you're going to go. And I got good old Norfolk, Virginia. Um, and my first ship uh frigate FFG 52 USS car out of Norfolk, Virginia.

Gary Wise 23:35

Okay, so you get one of the little bitty buddies, you get oh yeah, right off the bat, which was awesome, which was actually pretty awesome. I but I well, the good thing about the small boats is you get the chance to network like crazy, you get the chance to work on a lot of gear because part of Virginia are you living at? Do you remember Norfolk? You're living in Norfolk? Yep. I mean, I'm thinking like, okay, you're from San Diego, y'all didn't spend about 18 months in Chicago, Waukegan area, if that, and now you're in Virginia, so which is a whole nother place of in its own, right? Yeah, that right there's got to be an experience because I never had a house that young, plus a family. Is your wife enjoying the travel? Is she enjoying the different locations, or is she missing California?

Dom Taylor 24:22

Um, so she missed it a little bit, but you know, her family, she wasn't real close with with moms. It was always kind of in a strange relationship, so it was really just it was really just us.

Gary Wise 24:33

Okay, so now you get to the ship, work there is a whole lot different than you being in class up in Great Lakes, right? Uh, what was that like when you got to your first ship? Was it what was that? What was that first day like? Do you remember that first day on board?

Dom Taylor 24:47

Oh, I absolutely do remember. I will never forget the first day. So my very, very first day, you know, I walk on board brand new, not knowing nothing. I'm just nervous as all get out. Yeah, and I walk on board, and the very first person who I meet is the OD. It's MA1 Greener at the time. And I got my seabag on, I got my orders in my hand. He's a shipmate. You're not gonna salute my flag, and I'll never forget that, you know. So, of course, I salute the flag and I come on board and he introduces himself as MA1 Greener and he takes me down to the shop or whatever to meet the rest of the ETs. And that was my very first introduction to my very first ship.

Gary Wise 25:27

Nice. Uh, were you in your dress uniform and all that?

Dom Taylor 25:30

Like it's like I was in my dress uniform and all that. Yep. Nice.

Gary Wise 25:34

I mean, what was that like? So, how did you get to the pier that day? Did you drive your own car to the pier? Like, oh no, no, no, no.

Dom Taylor 25:40

No, I think they came and got me if I recall, but that's yeah, yeah, I think they came and got me, but yeah, I remember that.

Gary Wise 25:46

Okay. Uh on that ship, how big is your shop?

Dom Taylor 25:52

Um, people-wise, yeah. Let's see. Obviously, we had the chief, uh, the uh the the warrant officer. We only saw him very rarely. We saw a chief every now and again. We had uh two first classes, so then we had DSs at the time. We had three of those. One, two, two ICTs.

Gary Wise 26:13

Is that what's that data specialist?

Dom Taylor 26:15

So yeah, data system technicians. So those guys shifted over. Some of them went to FC, some of them went to ET. Um, and then we had a handful of the ETs, so maybe about 10, 10, 12 people, maybe.

Gary Wise 26:29

Okay, that's not bad. So these are six section duties.

Dom Taylor 26:34

Um I think so, yeah. Five or six. It wasn't crazy bad.

Gary Wise 26:40

Yeah, that's not too bad. So when you get there, what what do you when you look at your first ship, right? Because how do you how long do you do how long do you spend on that ship? Do you do three years, two years, five years?

Dom Taylor 26:51

Three and a half years. So I should have done, but back then, you know, your uh your your C duty time was based on your pay grade. So because I was so when I went to my first my first C schools, I would have I put on third at my C school. They're like, oh no, we're gonna we're gonna put your third on before you go to go to the ship, so you can be a third class when you get to the ship. So at school, they put on my third. Then when I got to the ship, I was a third class. So got to the ship as a third class. I should have done years, but then they got I got capped command advanced on the ship. So then as soon as that happened, I put in a 1306 and changed my seashore from 42 to 36 or whatever from for from 48 to 42. Nice. So chopped off that extra six months.

Shore Duty At Fallon And Iraq IA

Gary Wise 27:33

When you got to the ship, did you feel like your schools prepared you well for the job? Because I remember on my ship, especially when I was CMC, I would get a lot of these kids for like the ET shop. They would get the like third class and they would look like they had no idea what they were getting into because but we were an older ship. We were on us on Ashland, right? So you got these kids go to school for all this other equipment, they come to an old ship and they would not have the equipment they thought they were gonna be working on, you know. And so the chief would be having to teach them a lot of stuff on the job uh for that frigate. How because that's an older that was an older class of ship. Yeah, how was that with your training at the school?

Dom Taylor 28:11

So I would say with just like any of these schoolers, it's it's a familiarization with with the stuff. They don't really, I'm not gonna say they don't really prepare you as well as I believe that they should. I'm gonna I don't I'm gonna say there's a lot of times where you go to these schools, and bruh, they're letting you out at 11:30 lunchtime, and you're not really putting in that work that you need to to to uh to get out to the fleet and be the technician you need to. They I don't think the I get it, liberty. I got it, and this is the shortage for these trusts, yeah. Yeah, I get it, bro. But I get it. But what I'm saying is what needs to be understood is like, yo, when you go out there and it's time to do the thing, this is where your money's gonna be made. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And I don't I think that's lost.

Gary Wise 28:55

I agree, I agree. I think that's spot on, bro, because yes, at a college, you're not spending eight hours a day in class, right? Uh so my son is looking at going to the fire school, the fire college, right? Right here in Ocala. The fire college is like 190 whatever hours, but you're going Monday through Friday, eight in the morning to three in the afternoon, and they're gonna bust your butt in that school, bro. It ain't no joke, yeah. Whereas, like you said, a lot of my my military schools, it was literally like how fast can we get? Can we get can we blow through all this real quick and get out by lunch? And then you get to the fleet and you don't really have any good information, but it's because they're like we we're built off this culture of on-the-job training, right? Yeah, and I feel like that's a disservice because you're paid to be a maintenance man like very quickly. You shouldn't need six months of OJT for you to get a three or one wall and start doing PMS, right? And I hate when I was on the ship and I was a DC before I went to CMC, that was a lot of PMS. Oh, yeah, like. You're not gonna get qualified because you're worried about a dang spot check. We got problems. What we talk about, yeah. So I feel you, man. And I think that's definitely one area that the Navy needs to look at. I think another thing is I think they should look at aligning enlisted people to platform specific, right?

Dom Taylor 30:23

Oh man, man, you are on the same page, bro. Because I think of it like this. So if your platform specific specific, you are going to be a specialist on that platform, right? So when you go to short duty, guess what you're gonna do? You're gonna support that same platform. You're gonna get some additional schools on top of the ones that you already have for guess what? That same platform. So when you go back again, you're already gonna be schooled up on what you already know for the platform, plus extra stuff on that platform. So you're gonna be two times the asset. The amount of qualifications that you got to do are gonna be a little bit less. So I see it as a win-win. Is it gonna be is it gonna be a little bit harder for some because you're gonna get a whole lot more underway? Yeah, but what I say to that is you need to for those people, I think that you should um increase a little bit maybe for the advancement piece. Maybe you get some minis in some other way, shape, or form. But I think that you're gonna it's gonna pay dividends in the end on the training side and the efficiency side when it comes to you being a more knowledgeable technician or whatever you are in your pay grade for that class of ship.

Gary Wise 31:25

You know what they should do, bro, to your point, is make C duty ribbons count more for promotion, yeah, right, than like NAMS.

Dom Taylor 31:34

Oh, yeah, big time.

Gary Wise 31:36

Like, right, C duty. I mean, I remember my my Os Bellawood, my first ship overseas duty in Sasbo, and we would get a C duty ribbon and an overseas ribbon for every year overseas, right? And so if they made C duty ribbons count more, because in the States, you only get ribbons for your underway time, that underway counter, yeah, for you to qualify for the sea ribbon. I think that would matter. But I've seen people like they do frigates and they do DDGs their whole career, then they go to an aircraft carrier and they'd be like, Oh Lord, like I don't know why they're not ready, they're overwhelmed. Or if you're a guy who grew up on aircraft carriers, you used to have this whole group of people to always rely upon. You go to that small boy where there ain't that group of people, you both be a such matter expert, you might get found out real quick.

Dom Taylor 32:19

Oh, yeah, big time. Yeah, you ain't lying, bro.

Gary Wise 32:23

And the other thing is pre-com ships, like new builds, right? You get all this training for a PC group, like an LPD 17 class or like an LCS, and then after you make chief or whatever, now you get out of there and go to another kind of a ship, and all that training goes with you. But I also understand it's like you can't be competitive with your peer group for like making rank because it's hard to make senior chief or master chief on an LCS when you're competing with guys on aircraft carriers or on steamships or whatever it is. Okay, so remove that from the equation and do like they do for the nukes, right? Or do like they do for those subcategories and break them down because man, I feel like the Navy really needs to drill, at least for the surface navy, yeah. Uh into spec into platform specific and do like the submariners do a little bit, and maybe even do like the aviators do, right? When you got an aircraft, that's your aircraft you work on. That's it. You don't go to other places. Um, what was your first ship like y'all deployed?

Dom Taylor 33:22

Oh, yeah, all the time. All the time. Not like Seven Fleet. We uh you know, unfortunately, we did a whole lot of go this op box, stay in your op box. And that was uh to me that you know, being now that I went to Seven Fleet, it was like this is kind of boring. Go, you know, get in your op box, go op box, hit a lot of ports and stuff, but it was you know, op box, go to the op box, do this, that, and the other. So, yeah, we went underway a whole lot, and but we went we stayed in the op box a whole lot. We didn't do a whole lot of stuff like we did over in Seven Fleet, but that was also pre-9-11, right? Yes, well, it was uh so on my first ship. We experienced I was getting ready to transfer shortly after 9-11. Okay, so I was on the ship. Matter of fact, I had duty the day before 9-11. I was just coming off duty, and we had just got back from a deployment, and I had left all my stuff on board, and then 9-11 happened, and we're we just did duty section turnover, and they're like, Hey, somebody a plane crashed into the twin towers like man, whatever. None no, they didn't. Yeah, sure enough, they turn on TV and boom, there it was. Everybody got recalled, and boom, there we were.

Gary Wise 34:24

Yeah, waiting to figure out what happens next, yeah. And then, of course, that changes the operational schedule because before 9-11, it was just like a bunch of operational practice, yes, right. And then after 9-11, it got to be a little bit different or a lot different. So, where'd you go after the car?

Dom Taylor 34:42

So I went to Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center in Fallon, Nevada.

Gary Wise 34:47

Oh, I have heard a lot of things about Fallon, Nevada, and not much good, bro. What do you have to say about Fallon? Did you like it though? Did you hate it?

Carrier Tour, LPO Trials, And Making Chief

Dom Taylor 34:56

So when I went there, I went there and we were we were I worked at the basically it was like an IT spot. So I went there, I went to I was there for three years. My job ended up being I was there to fix fix printers. So I was like, okay, I'm here to fix printers and work on the network. All right, cool, that's what I'm gonna do. So I went there for that time, and then I ended up going to Iraq for six months. This was like when it happened early. So we're in the office doing our thing, and they're like, Hey, et one, chief of staff wants to see you. I'm like, why does chief of staff want to see me? What did I do? I'm just a I'm just a dude who go walks around, fix people's printer, fix their computer. That's all I do. Why does chief of staff want to see me? So I'm sitting here stewing, trying to figure out like what I did wrong. Why does chief of staff want to see me? You know, I'm just a regular old dude. So I go into the office and nobody wants to look at me. My my chief is there, my Devo's there, the other first class is there, and chief of staff is there, and nobody's looking at me. So chief of staff is like, ET1, you're the last person I want to piss off. I'm like, what is this all about? I have no idea what's going on, bro. Yeah, like I've never met, I may have said hi to chief of staff in passing, but I have never talked to chief of staff ever. So I don't know, I've never been angry at anybody, never yelled at anybody because this command is like super chill. So I don't know where this is coming from. So she hands me these orders, and it's basically like, you know, that being that we have not been able to find anybody with your set of skills, you know, we even selected you and you're going to Iraq. And it's like I forget, it was like um, I want to say it was like October or something. It was like very short fuse.

Gary Wise 36:36

Yeah, yeah.

Dom Taylor 36:36

You're going to be. Um, let's see. I want to say it was. I'm trying to remember. I know it was early on. I have to get back to you on that date.

Gary Wise 36:51

It'll have to be like oh two, right?

Dom Taylor 36:53

Um, I want to say it was I want it was before that. Wait, no, because I transferred there in 2001. Yeah, it might have been around the 02 time because yeah, it was because I transferred off the car in 01, and it had to be around the yeah, because they did like Dylan for just a little bit, then they went to Iraq.

Gary Wise 37:13

And I was so pissed off when they started doing the individual augmentation, bro. Like I was so mad because for a few reasons. Number one, uh, because because after 9-11 kicked off, nothing against I look, I got to the fleet in 03 and I was ready to go to sea, bro. I was ready to go out and do my job. I was a DC man, more than happy to go out and serve my country, right? But then uh they start pulling sailors to go from shore duty or from other duty stations to go drive trucks, to go do some crazy stuff for the army. And it's like, hold on, all I'm hearing is the navy is not as important as we think we are, because what will you need me to do? I'm a hot body, right? I'm a hot body to go carry a gun. And from I remember I made DC one, and the guy that was supposed to be the LPO got IA'd to get mode because he had been a brick security guard before, you know, and he got a 12-month IA, came back, and had the one deployment with the ship, like he got double jacked, right? And so, what's the skill set that you had? Were you like Jason Bourne, bro? Like they needed.

Dom Taylor 38:21

No, it wasn't even that, it was it was like crypto repair. So I was like, Okay, so I'm gonna go out there and repair crypto, easy day. So in this the crypto repair class, though, it was like you couldn't take anything out of the class, you couldn't bring anything to the class. So I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go out there and repair crypto, no problem. So, of course, they're like, Yeah, you need to go home and tell your wife. So, of course, I go home and tell my wife, and she's like, Why do you gotta go? And it was the big deal or whatever. And it was like, Well, it's the Navy, it's the military. They tell me where I gotta go, and I kind of gotta go. So I go out there, I go to Fort Bliss, Texas, I get my training on, and then I go out to uh uh Iraq and I'm there with some other some other Navy folks, an Air Force person, and I'm in charge of ITs who know crypto stuff, and an Air Force person who's also a crypto person. There is no crypto repair for me to do. Um, my job is to basically issue crypto to people. They're like, yo, so here's what's gonna happen. People are gonna come in. I'm running, I'm in charge of the night shift. People are gonna come in, they're gonna want crypto. You check their credentials, if they have it, you give them crypto. If not, they don't get it. So, like, that's it. Like, yep, that's it. Okay, no problem. And everybody's worried, like, oh, I'm gonna go to jail over crypto. I'm like, if that's it, that's not a problem. If they don't have the credentials, they don't get it. Yeah, so we're sitting, and it's like in one of them expando vans, you know, where the the sides come out and the room gets bigger kind of thing. That's all it is. It's surrounded by Constantino wire. So we're sitting in there, and there's always this 0700 brief every morning. And so this dude rolls up, a civilian, and they're checking his credentials, and he doesn't have his stuff, and they're like, Um, ET1, he doesn't have the credentials. I'm like, Okay, he doesn't get crypto. So he makes this big old fuss, like, I'm gonna go get the colonel. I'm like, okay, go get the colonel. So he leaves and and everything's cool. People to come in and out and getting their crypto, and then this banging on the door comes, and sure enough, some colonel rolls up and he's yelling and screaming. And I let him know straight up, like, sir, if you don't have the credentials, I cannot issue you crypto. I'm not breaking any rules for anybody. And after that I said that, he backed down and he chills and he's like, Well, go get the chief. So in the army, the warrant officers hate being called warrant, they want to be called chief. So I go grab the warrant officer who's in charge, and he says, I'll take the crypto and I'll take it over. I said, Roger that. So I grabbed, so he comes up and he gets the crypto and he takes it out. It's just simple as that. So it wasn't like a crazy hard job. You just follow the rules, it's as simple as that. I just think that's all I did.

Gary Wise 40:38

You know, it was just it was the first time that I think I realized how fast we can go from being just the Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps to being the Department of Defense, and we all gotta get you you just fit where you get put, and you got to figure it out, right? And I think the other part was we recognized how much planning they did not do for that invasion. Yeah, because what I learned throughout my career was part of deciding if you're gonna take action is do we have the logistics, do we have the resources, do we have the people? And when you gotta start pulling hot bodies from other places to plug them in, you didn't put a lot of thought to that, bro.

Dom Taylor 41:15

Nope.

Gary Wise 41:17

And and I think that we as a society, technology was like keeping up with the war on terror, right? Like it was like we went from having barely having cell phones to like the towers get hit, and all of a sudden everyone got blackberries, blueberries, messages, yeah, like the internet was just flying, right? Yeah, um, I don't know if it would have gone that fast if it wasn't for the war on terror because they were just making advances left and right and then leveraging it to just continue to improve things. Um yeah, craziness. So you made ET2 on the ship, capped. Yeah, did you make ET1 off the test?

Dom Taylor 41:57

So I made ET one while I was on um shorter the inn and uh at InStalk. Like I said, then I went to Iraq, I did the crypto thing. I even went and picked up crypto and while I was in Iraq because nobody else wanted to do it. I was like, Yeah, sure not. Well, I'll go because somebody had to go do it. So you know, I figured you know, if it was my time, it was gonna be my time. So let me, you know, somebody's gotta do it, nobody else is gonna go. I'll go ahead and do it. So I went ahead and did that. Obviously, I'm still here, so everything went good.

Gary Wise 42:23

What were they worried about? They were just worried about being targeted because you were carrying crypto.

Dom Taylor 42:27

Yeah, because we had, you know, there was a lot of there was there was always mortar on the base, and you know, I grew I grew up around gunfire, gunshots, and what's crazy was, bro, bro, what's crazy was is when there was gunshots and gunfire, as crazy as I am, I kind of just like rolled over like it was no big deal. It's like, oh yeah, it's gunfire. I'm gonna just go back to sleep. Or I just rolled over. But there was some some close, some close uh mortar attacks, but yeah, there was some attacks. We even had some civilians who they were like telling, they were telling everybody like on the base, like, yo, don't go outside the gate because what they're doing, what they're doing is they're shooting out the tires, and the what you what people would do is you get your tire shot out. What are you gonna do? You're gonna get out and investigate, see what happened. What what are you normal person to do? Then they would obviously shoot you. So sure enough, they shot out the one dude who wasn't enlisted, a civilian, got out, investigated. He got shot. Luckily, it was in the foot, but he got in and dropped, was lucky enough to get away.

Orders To Japan And SRF Culture

Gary Wise 43:20

Yeah, but yeah, I just I look back on those years, you know, oh oh one to about 2008-09. It was just crazy out there, man. All the people that I've spoken to, all my friends that were out there, it was just and well, they would come then when they come back to the regular Navy, then it's hard for them to get back into the regular Navy swing of things because they like they've been out there doing this stuff with the army, even for the Marines, right? I remember when they brought the Marines back to the ships. The Marines were like, screw this, we'd rather be in Iraq kicking indoors and like doing stuff. We stuck on these ships doing training again. This this is not it, right? But they had to bring them back because they're not supposed to be doing uh you know trench warfare, urban combat, they're supposed to be doing you know amphibious assaults. That's what we're supposed to be doing, right? We're not supposed to be doing what we're doing in Iraq. That was crazy. So when you come back from Iraq, how much more time do you have left before you transfer?

Dom Taylor 44:20

So I have about six months. So here's here's another, here's another. So while I was there, one last thing while I was there. So this is where, so you know, as I was in the navy, I wasn't during this time, there wasn't all this information about the chief this and chief that. I knew I had a chief, I know you don't mess with the chief. What chief says goes. That's what you knew about chief. I knew there was a chief, chief initiation, all that stuff. Because one of my friends, my LPO at the time, had made Chief, and he's like, I was like, Why are you running around with this chair with this brick in it? You'll figure it out one day.

Gary Wise 44:53

Yeah, okay, cool. I was the same way, bro. Like, I never paid it. No, because I was getting off. We're going home. I wasn't like chasing out some dudes to be a part of a club. I was busy, you know. So yeah, I also didn't give it a lot of attention. But did you find out you made chief in Iraq?

Dom Taylor 45:10

No, no, it was it's on the next ship I went on. So, um, so anyway, so I get back to uh the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center, and I'm getting ready to transfer. And the ESO's like, hey man, you're getting ready to transfer. We're gonna submit this. Uh, you can take the the chief's exam early. Yeah, you just get this waiver, take it down to the mass chief down in school where you're going to, he'll sign it. You can take his exam early. I'm like, all right, cool. So I go down to San Diego while in the school, and I got my waiver, my request shit, and I take it to the mass chief, and he's like, He, hey, mass chief from ET1 Taylor, give him the whole spiel. And he takes my paperwork and he looks at it and he kind of just throws it back. No. This time I've been there for eight years, and I'm like, and I can't, what am I supposed to do? Like, argue with I don't know this dude, this dude don't know me. So I pick up my paperwork and I roll out, all pissed off. Yeah, you know. So then I obviously I finished my school, I go to my next ship, which is uh a carrier, right? Carrier, and uh the USS Abraham Lincoln, CBN 72 out of Ever Washington, yeah, right? So I go to there and I will never forget this to my first when I first go to the carrier, the ship is uh pulling in, and this red corvette is coming off the the ship. And I'm like, what is that? And they're like, that's the big bucks bingo prize. Like, what the they do it big, bro?

Gary Wise 46:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That part, the aircraft carries a whole nother world, man.

Dom Taylor 46:41

Oh, yeah, it's it's a it was a different animal.

Gary Wise 46:43

Was that the first time you ever saw a carrier in real life? Was when you got to your ship.

Dom Taylor 46:48

I might have saw one out in the water when we were floating around, but beyond that, that was probably the the first time that I saw one and was on board. That was the first time I was on board one.

Gary Wise 46:56

For sure, it's a big ship, bro. First time I saw an aircraft carrier, I was like, Oh my god, that's huge.

Dom Taylor 47:02

Yeah, it is massive, especially compared to the frigate. It was massive, bro.

Gary Wise 47:06

We put a let's put a frigate in hangar bay one.

Dom Taylor 47:09

Oh, yeah, no doubt, no doubt.

Gary Wise 47:11

People have no idea, right?

Dom Taylor 47:13

No, yeah.

Gary Wise 47:14

That's like when I was on the bellow, and we'll put a frigate in our well deck, bro. These chips are big, and it's a lot of real estate. It's a lot of real estate, and so when you get now, you a first class petty officer coming off of an eye. It was an IA, right? When you were you got eight, nine years in the navy, but you got you're having a pretty good career by this point, and you're a petief. Um, what are your thoughts when you get to the carrier? Oh, and you're what did you think about Washington, bro?

Dom Taylor 47:46

Um, Washington was my wife. It was Washington was good, it was green. I just got there. It was uh my wife liked it. I was never there because I was on the ship. We we were always gone.

Gary Wise 47:57

Ain't that something I used to tell people? Don't understand when I tell them that, right? I'll be like, My wife lived in San Diego. My wife lived in Japan. Yeah, I would visit once in a while.

Dom Taylor 48:07

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's pretty much what it was.

Gary Wise 48:11

Yeah, I used to be like, yo, I gotta go to this port more often, bro. There's a kid that looks like me, there's a lady with the same last name, thinks I'm cute. Like, I gotta go to the more, bro.

Dom Taylor 48:20

Pretty much, yeah.

Gary Wise 48:22

Because they always have us haze grain underway, man.

Dom Taylor 48:25

Yeah, that's it.

Gary Wise 48:26

So when you get there as an ET one, how many ET ones are in your are in your division? Like, do you remember?

Dom Taylor 48:32

There are there are, I think I was number five. I'm the and I'm the most junior one. Okay, so my sponsor, the first question, not no the first question they asked me was Nala, hey bro, how you doing? Where are you staying at? None of that. It was how long you been in. I'm like, What? Yeah, that was his first question to me.

Gary Wise 48:52

It's like prison, bro. I want to see your paperwork, dog.

Dom Taylor 48:55

Yeah, what you do, how long you've been in, what's your court date?

Gary Wise 49:00

Yeah, he didn't want to know if you're gonna make cheaper for them or not. That's what they want to know.

Dom Taylor 49:04

He wanted to know, he wanted to check out the competition, right? That's really what it was. I found you know, because I come in, you know, uniform pressed, boots polished, looking good, and that's what he wanted to know. How long you've been in? He was he was a little heavy set dude, so he was the LPO, okay. Right, he was the LPO. The other first class, he didn't want nothing to do with it. He was trying to get do his time to get out, so he was to departmental three in May. The other one was in safety. She she liked to uh people would always talk bad about her. So, what she would do is she would walk into a space with her coat, her jacket on, right? And she would have a recording device on there. She would leave her jacket on there, and then she would walk out the space.

Earthquake, Community, And Staying Overseas

Gary Wise 49:44

Yeah, oh man, you know what's so crazy, is I'm not even surprised, yeah. Bro, you know, but I've seen that at least two other times in my career where people are trying to get dirt on people so they can use it on them. Like, if I get rid of, I got I got stuff on you. Oh, yeah, I remember I had a first class petty officer at DRB trying to throw back some stuff on my chief's message, like, well, I got this, I got that. And I was like, You think just because you got that man in trouble, it's gonna stop you from being in trouble? He can stand next to you, bro. I don't really care. You know, you're still in trouble, bro.

Dom Taylor 50:19

Oh yeah, yeah. Like, come on. I was like, Are you serious? Yeah, that's yeah, that's that's so I was the most junior dude, so I'm like, I'm not even I'm not even worried about it, you know. I'm here to do a job, let me do my job. So, what they had me doing was basically I'll move from work center to work center to work center to work center, fixing the work center. It's like, all right, that's my job, cool. Let me do my job. So I did that for for a little bit, and as I'm doing the three reports, I'm in the office with the chief and the divo, I'm not even paying attention to them. They're doing what they're talking about, whatever. And next thing you know, I'm hearing them yelling to each back and forth. And the chief shuts up for a minute, and then divo's just going in on chief. I'm like, what the heck is going on? Next thing you I know, I'm hearing et one men in the hall is fired. Et1, you're the LPO, and that's from the Divo. I'm like, Roger that, sir. And that's how I became the LPO.

Gary Wise 51:12

Was your E was your Divo?

Dom Taylor 51:14

Was it an LDO or was yeah, he was the first first first class LDO? Oh yeah. Yeah.

Gary Wise 51:26

Hey, how was it with the junior sailors there, bro? Because you probably had a pretty significant amount of junior ETs, yeah.

Dom Taylor 51:33

We did. We had we had a good amount. So what had happened was ET1, the other ET1 had failed a PRT. So at this point in time, he had to pass a PRT every six months. So what he was doing was he was standing watch and doing PT, standing watch and doing PT. And me, I was like, I can't just let the division stuff fall off. So let me go ahead and pick up this ball and I'm gonna go ahead and take care of this stuff. Let me just make sure this stuff is getting done because I'm not trying to have him chief get jacked up and division the sailors fail stuff. So let me make sure this stuff's getting done. That's all I was doing, and then all of a sudden, I don't know, they knew something was going on, they knew what was happening, so that's how I ended up getting the job. But yeah, we had a significant amount of sailors. Um, yeah, we had a bunch of sailors.

Gary Wise 52:13

Well, and I think that, you know, first of all, yeah, it's not the first time I heard that for a person, especially an E6 or senior, that fails a BCA or fails the PFA, they now get the luxury of all they gotta do is work out and and do bare minimum, right? Um, which to me is a completely wrong message to send to the agreed, right? Like that's just don't go wrong, I'm not I'm not the tallest guy in the room, but guess what? I worked my ass off enough to make to make it right. Yeah, and I can see you being AJ squared away, I can see you coming with this experience in this background, and here you are playing your position. And they got look at these other first class, you got this one guy who's like, I'm I'm getting out, so I'm on the road program. What's that even mean, bro? Like, stop. I don't want to hear that. You got this female who's telling everyone she's recording everybody with her trickery, yeah. So they got her in training because they know she ain't like so. These young sailors, I know they gotta be looking for someone to look up to, yeah, because you want everyone wants to be proud of their shop, their rate, their community, right? It's just one of those points of pride, and and learning how to troubleshoot, learning how to repair things, learning how to do things. I'm I'm I have no doubt that you were probably filling that gap for them. And it was I wanna wonder what the chief's problem was. Like, why was he yelling with the demo when it sounds like it's an easy it was an easy answer, right?

Dom Taylor 53:41

I have no idea. I would say, you know, I would say pride. I would say pride. I would say, you know, kind of like even now, like when you talk to people and you call out their guy, their guy might be wrong, but you know, this is kind of like your kid, right? You your kid might be wrong, but initially, off the off rip, that's my kid, so I'm gonna protect my kid. Yeah, your kid might be wrong right now. At the jump, you want to protect your kid.

Mustin: Fixing Division Culture And Inserve

Gary Wise 54:05

Yeah, I hear that. But you know, at the end of it all, chief got to recognize he ain't doing a good job leaving his kid, right? Yeah, and nobody knows. You gotta get past that on the reverse. You know, I also had a tour where I had a hardcore DCA who was at first tour, he was a chief who went LDO, but he was only a chief for like a day, right? He went LDO, and then I had a chief who didn't get selected for LDO, so there's a little animosity there, and the chief was just always super negative all the time. I was like, nope, we can't do it. No, whereas the LDO was yes, we're gonna figure out a way to get there, and and yeah, I found a lot more success with that guy, which is why I thought I was gonna go LDO, truth be told, until I went through initiation. Initiation changed it for me uh big time, right? But when I took the Chiefs test, I thought I was going LDO because I really liked his get down, right? I liked how he was carrying himself, and I like the idea of now having to deal with all the problems of the people all the time and focus more on the job. You know, what were you thinking at that point in your career? I mean, I know you're fixing the shops, I know you now you're on a carrier, you're the LPO, but have you thought yet about going what your next career step might be?

Dom Taylor 55:21

No, honestly, no. Whatever, I was just like, you know, whatever happens, happens. I'm just here doing the thing. Honestly, you know, hindsight being 2020, I was like, man, it's crazy that I didn't even I wasn't even thinking about none of that stuff. I was like, Yeah, whatever happens, happens. Wherever the Navy sends me, I'll go. That's really where my head was at. And I saw I take the Chiefs exam for the first time, actually, and I miss it by like a couple points. And all of a sudden, all these chiefs are like digging into me. Like, what the heck is wrong with you? Why are you missing it? You would have made it. And that's what it was like. These dudes who I don't even know, like one of them knew me, and she was like my mentor, like one who really knew me, and the rest of them somehow knew me, right? Because I guess they knew what I was doing, but the rest of them knew me, and they're all like getting at me, like, why what is wrong with you? Why aren't you making it? Why didn't you make it? Why didn't you study harder? And then the next time I do make it, and then of course, you know, I go through the season, and that's some that's some craziness on the carrier.

Gary Wise 56:21

Oh, it is, it is. People don't know. Like, I did three initiation cycles on George Washington, and I was a player in the mess, man. It was that's a hard mess to go through initiation on because you got a div wide diversity of chief petty officers.

Dom Taylor 56:34

Yeah, oh, yes, you do.

Gary Wise 56:36

Yeah, it ain't like just like a small surface, like a DDG, you got a small surface mess. No, no, no. On a carry, you got the Airedales, you got the nukes, you got you got everybody, bro. They and if you got underway, you got the air wing, like yeah, it could be a lot.

Dom Taylor 56:53

Yeah, we did everything, everything was done underway. Everything, so it was it was you, there was no escape, there was no breaks, there was no escape, bro. A little bit of time we did spend in port, it was there was still no escape, so it was it was brutal. But what was crazy was you know, I didn't get messed with a whole lot, and I asked about that. They're like, Well, they know what you do. There's a lot of whole other people who need attention, yeah. So, and this kind of brings me back. Like, so remember what I said remember, so I was at eight years and I asked for that waiver thing. Yeah, so going through there was a a CT who made it at eight years, and I was like, that could have been me because I didn't really know nothing, I hadn't done no real, I did a little bit of leadership stuff, but I hadn't really cut my teeth on leadership stuff and LPO stuff, and you know, I hadn't had a lot of time in the leadership seat. And I bet you that CT was in that same spot, however, he made it. And I bet you I'd have been in that same seat had I not gone to the carrier and got all that leadership stuff done before that. I got in that seat, I got all the stuff. So by the time that I actually made it, I think at that point in time, I think I was a whole lot more prepared than that dude was, and he wasn't. So when he got there, he was just like overwhelmed, and he just wasn't really ready for that spot.

Gary Wise 58:05

Hey, do you know? So, the one thing about my season was they made me never be in charge, they would never let me leave nothing.

Dom Taylor 58:12

Yeah, I was never in charge.

Gary Wise 58:14

And I asked him about that too at the end, right? Because I'm like, there was nine of us on LPD, and they was and I'm the youngest one, and they was like, get wise. We all we all know you got you can leave no problem, you gotta learn how to follow, bro. Like, you gotta learn how to follow online, and I was like, Okay, fine. But that was it, they was just like, you know, I was turning open mouth, shut up, we don't care what you gotta say, you know. Yeah, and looking back on it, that's they would they want to bring those guys up that are a little bit more timid or a little quieter and give them that opportunity because once you put the makers on, bro, it ain't no chief coming to save you, right? If you jack it up, that's a wrap. Yep, it's sad. So you make chief your first time, your second time on board the ship, you make it, yeah. So you're you're there for two more years as a chief.

Dom Taylor 59:05

No, it's time for it's time for me to go. It's actually time for me to go.

Gary Wise 59:09

Oh, really? So it's not an early pathway when I take it, yeah.

Dom Taylor 59:13

I don't it's time for me to go. Like, I spent like uh I think another six or eight months there, and then it was like time for me to go. So it was almost perfect that I made it and then I I bounced.

Gary Wise 59:21

So when you were on board the Lincoln, did you go on any deployments like to the person goal for anything?

Dom Taylor 59:26

Yeah, we did like two deployments.

Gary Wise 59:28

Two deployments, okay. How was deploying on the carrier versus deploying on the frigate?

Dom Taylor 59:34

It was like you said, a whole lot more people. It was still routine because we were gone for a long time, but it was a whole lot more people. Um, it was a whole lot more people, I would say that I got to like me and uh me and a very good friend of mine who we still talk to this day, we're on the combat system side, and we owned we owned um we were alternate seesaw. So our mission was to be the best that we were in that spot. So, and we, in my opinion, we We were the best, so good that they had to come up with nonsense to beat us. So, yeah. So, you know, everybody likes to pre-stage during GQ, and of course, we weren't no different. So, we had basically what we were doing is we have basically got under Terror, they had these large printers. So, we printed out a large. I don't know if you ever you ever familiar with uh T Sims.

Gary Wise 1:00:20

Uh-huh.

Dom Taylor 1:00:21

So we printed out the space layout of T Sims, and we printed out like all the combat system stuff for our space, everything on there, so we could do a ready reference to be real quick with our casualty stuff, real quick. Right. So we would obviously pre-stage and we sat in there and they're like, nope, you guys gotta get out. So we got out, we left, we walked around, or whatever. Then they called away the casualty, and we ran there, we ran into the space. They're like, Yep, you guys are all dead. Like, what are you talking about? Basically, what had happened, Gary, was there's uh some allegedly there was some random hole in the deck in the space, and we all fell through and died.

Gary Wise 1:00:52

Oh, hell no. Yeah, I thought you were gonna tell me they flooded the space and you got electricity or something.

Dom Taylor 1:00:58

Nope, there was a hole in the space. There's a hole, there's a hole in the space, we all fell through and died. That's how we we died.

Gary Wise 1:01:06

But you know, do you know how hard it is to come up with good drill ideas though to keep people like enjoying the training? It's like yeah, especially. I hate when you see people run the same drills over and over and over again. Like, come on, chief, have a little creativity. Like one time I was on the I was on the aircraft carrier, and I took the whole second deck and we turned like into a haunted house, bro. We had like smoke machines, it was like Michael Jackson thriller, people were walking around. Uh you gotta be creative with the training, especially on deployment, right? When it's like we're either working, staying a watch, yeah, training, or or hitting the gym or whatever. Because on a carrier, every can really be a nice quality of life, right? As long as you're especially at the senior levels, yeah. Uh, because the junior guys take care of a lot of the of the major work, right? There's uh where you're on the smaller ships that there ain't no space there's there's not enough people, everybody gotta go help them, all the things, but I carry you got a lot of space. Okay, so you're leaving the aircraft carrier, you're a chief petty officer now, probably been in the navy, what like 13 years at this point.

Dom Taylor 1:02:13

So at this point in time, I'm in about um 12 years.

Gary Wise 1:02:17

12 years, okay. And what are you looking at next?

Dom Taylor 1:02:20

So this is where, like, I was supposed to go to uh Korea as a first class, but then it was like yo, Japan or Japan. I was like, that's pretty cool. So I get to go to Japan or Japan.

Gary Wise 1:02:29

I'll flip this for Japan or Japan.

Dom Taylor 1:02:31

Yeah, so so it was either so, of course, um, I asked her which one it was either gonna be Sasebo or Yokosuka, right? And it was uh SRF, either one of the two. So basically, there was a retired master chief on board, and there was a retired master chief at SRF, and they called and talked to each other, and that's how I got the SRF orders. My wife wanted to go to Yokosuka, but that's it was an interview billet, so you had to interview to get the job, and they and that's how I ended up getting the orders that I got to SRF for the first time. They knew each other and they said, Yeah, you want this guy. So that's how I ended up getting Yokosuka at SRF the first time.

Gary Wise 1:03:07

Okay, so when you came to Yokusuka, when you get off the airplane and you're up there in Tokyo, do you have a sponsor meeting you at the airport? Are you just finding are you going to the kiosk and getting directions to the bus and getting on the bus and just riding the bus on your own?

Dom Taylor 1:03:23

Oh no, they they met me up in made me up in the airport with a van and everything like that. Came up and picked me up, so it was good stuff.

Platform-Specific Training And Leadership Philosophy

Gary Wise 1:03:30

That is very cool, man. I've done a I've seen it done multiple ways, but it's always nice to hear when a person gets met with somebody with a van because that's a long ride, bro. Yeah, it is being on a long flight to Japan for the first time.

Dom Taylor 1:03:42

Yeah, for the first time, yeah. It is it is very nice.

Gary Wise 1:03:45

Now, for you and your wife, is it just the two of you guys at that point still?

Dom Taylor 1:03:50

So me, the wife, my son, and my daughter.

Gary Wise 1:03:52

Okay, so you got four people coming. How old are your kids at this point?

Dom Taylor 1:03:56

So let's see, my son. So they're all both uh, let's see, my son was 96. So that was 2000. So my son, geez, he is bad, he's about he's about 13. My daughter is then about 11 then. So they're both fairly young.

Gary Wise 1:04:13

So they handle the time change and all that, probably not too bad, right? Because you know, you get to the navy lodge, just people walking around at three o'clock in the morning look like zombies, their babies are all backed up. Yeah, nothing like being in the Navy Lodge in Japan, and everyone's just like, what time is it? It's like brightest day outside at 4 30 in the morning.

Dom Taylor 1:04:33

Yep, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:04:35

I remember my first time in Yoko, uh, when we were going, I went to George Washington. I got up like at four in the morning. I was just I went around the I ran around the whole base because I was super excited to be in Japan. It was just beautiful base, beautiful location, the waterfront, all that. Do you where'd you get housing at the first time? You remember you remember?

Dom Taylor 1:04:52

So I lived in Uraga down south.

Gary Wise 1:04:56

Okay, so you lived off base.

Dom Taylor 1:04:59

Yeah, I lived off base the whole time. I had never moved. I only lived one, I live only lived on one base on base once in my career, and that was only for a short time.

Gary Wise 1:05:07

Okay, so you got in Uraga. Well, because I remember back when they wouldn't let people move off base, but you came in before they made that happen, right?

Dom Taylor 1:05:15

Yeah, it was it was they've been it's been like uh coming and going that they've been letting people live on and off base, and just recently they've let they've been uh they've moved families out of on-based housing to increase the number of on-based for um for uh the junior sailors.

Gary Wise 1:05:31

That's crazy. That's the world we live in now, right? Yeah, where they're they're doing that. And I get it, it's like subsidization of the government and all that. But look, if you're I my only thing is as long as the family wants to live off base, I'm fine with that. Uh yeah, I I see both both and right. I think they're they're both good things. I love living on base, but I wouldn't have been opposed to living off base either. Uh, just gotta figure it out. But for the first time, people are typically a little bit nervous. So, how come you wanted to live off base? Were you did you want to or did they make you?

Dom Taylor 1:06:03

Uh, we wanted to. We've never, like I said, we've never lived on base. It was more because, like, when my wife, when I very first ship, my wife's experience with um with uh the people with the wives, the navy wives on the ship, it wasn't a pleasant experience, and she didn't want to deal with the whole you know, all the people on base, so she was like, Yeah, we're all base.

Gary Wise 1:06:21

I get it, man. I get it, and it is a challenge, especially living overseas. It could be like a fishbowl on top of a fishboat, yeah. Because the chip is already a fishboat, and then it's like they see you at the store and they see you at the exchange, and the uh and the higher you go, the more eyes are on you, right? Which is fine, but it's just you gotta know that, right? People would always tell me that oh Gary, you gotta still when I'm off work, it's that's I'm a different person. It's like, bro, I didn't like that. You don't get that off that that's a luxury you don't get, bro. Like, you gotta go where cover where no one knows you. That's the only way that works. Um SRF and what are you doing? Are you doing ship repair? Are you doing like troubleshooting, or what are you doing? What years is this again?

Dom Taylor 1:07:09

So this is uh 2008.

Gary Wise 1:07:12

Eight to win.

Dom Taylor 1:07:14

So eight to eleven. Have you been there since eight? Between eight and eleven, huh?

Gary Wise 1:07:19

Okay, so eight to eleven, you're SRF.

Dom Taylor 1:07:22

Yep, eight to eleven SRF.

Gary Wise 1:07:24

And what kind of ships are you doing the most? Are you mainly doing like the DDGs or are you mainly going to DDGs?

Dom Taylor 1:07:30

DDGs, mostly DDGs, the the cruisers, obviously going on the carriers, sometimes flying back to the states to do uh assessments back there.

Gary Wise 1:07:40

Okay, nice. Uh, were you there? So you were you at SRF when we had the earthquake?

Dom Taylor 1:07:46

Yes.

Gary Wise 1:07:48

How was that for your family?

Dom Taylor 1:07:50

Uh my wife wasn't going anywhere. She was like, I'm staying here. Like, all right, you sure you don't want to go? She's like, nope. She just stayed here. She's like, I'm staying here. Like, all right.

Gary Wise 1:07:59

I love the Japanese people after that casualty, bro, because you really saw how people can be really come together, yeah. And we see that in America too at certain locations, but not always. But yeah, there wasn't no riding, there wasn't no loot, it wasn't like that. They just they just they supported each other through that whole thing, and that was a tough time, man. It was a tough time, it was shouts out to the Japanese people, bro, because they they come together when it matters for sure. And you know what else I love about Japan? The freeways. I love how well the freeways are taken care of in Japan.

Dom Taylor 1:08:31

Like, oh, yeah, the the freeways, everything, man.

Gary Wise 1:08:33

It's just yeah, they do a good job, man. So at the end of your time at SRF, did you pretty much were you able? Did you want to stay in Japan then and go to a ship, or what was that looking like?

Dom Taylor 1:08:45

Oh, yeah. My wife won my wife wanted to stay, so that one was easy. It was like, oh, there's a hot fill on Muslin. You know how they do with hot fills, you're in the same area, hot feel, easy day. You got it. Yeah, I go to USS Must and Destroyer.

Gary Wise 1:08:59

Well, and you're coming from SRF, so you know how to shore duty, you know how to write the jobs, you know how to get them screened, you know how to work with the tech reps, all that. That's a win-win-win, right?

Dom Taylor 1:09:09

Yeah, I got contacts, everything. It's easy day.

Gary Wise 1:09:12

Easy that that's a huge bonus, bro. I can 100% say that. So you get to Mustang, it's probably what 2012, 11, 12 at that time.

Blue Ridge Yard-To-Sea Turn And Waterfront After Collisions

Dom Taylor 1:09:22

Yeah, so I'm on there from uh end of 11 through 14. All right, and and I mean, probably not a lot to say about that ship, except for you a lot of underway days, a lot of underway days, a lot of underway days, and again, once again, on to my third ship, third different class of ship. I could do another in-serve on that ship. I get to be the in-serve coordinator on that ship. Um, so I get to be with uh a captain who pretty much wants to uh go to war with China on that ship. Yeah, that was uh the first captain. He just wanted to go to that was his thing, man. He wanted to go to war with China, yeah. So we were like always ready.

Gary Wise 1:10:05

I get it, man. I had a captain like that too, bro. It was like you he would get angry, he would just start saying China, Russia, Russia, China. And you know what's funny about that? You being the NSERP coordinator when I was on Ashland. I also had my ET C B be the N-Serve coordinator because you guys understand maintenance and you understand jobs and you understand PMS, like in my mind, insert preparation that's a huge thing. You guys are like the engineers of the combat systems world, right? There's a lot of that that goes into it, and so my ET was like my topside coordinator, and then I had an engine engine who was like my below decks guy, but they did very and they did very well. Now, did you pick up senior chief during that tour?

Dom Taylor 1:10:51

Yeah, so just as I was getting ready to leave there, so yeah, so what happened there was so it was I was the the CE division L CPO, and then I had two first classes, one of them made chief, and then our departmental guy left. So I ended up taking departmental. The chief ended up taking the division, and then a master chief came, and of course, they took the departmental, so then I was like, okay, Dom, you're gonna be the uh the N-Serve guy. All right, cool, let me do that, no problem. So I jumped in and did that. Then just as I was leaving Muston, I made senior chief. Then it was like, okay, where do I go now? So here's what here's the here's the funny one. So the guys at SRF, of course, they wanted me back because I did a good job while I was there the first time, however, there was no senior chief billets, but they knew the the uh the placement and coordinator guy or whatever, they're like, Yo, we want this guy back. Can you make that happen? They was like, Yeah, so I ended up filling a first class billet as a senior chief.

Gary Wise 1:11:46

I believe it.

Dom Taylor 1:11:47

Yeah, so I ended up going back there.

Gary Wise 1:11:50

Look, they have such a hard time getting people in those billets, they'll make miracles happen. Now, was it were you getting assignment incentive pay back in those days to go to your no?

Dom Taylor 1:12:00

No, I absolutely was not. Yeah, I was not.

Gary Wise 1:12:03

Yeah, I remember seeing those guys at ATG Westpac getting like two thousand dollars a month. Yeah, I was I was like, what a racket. They were lying duty, short duty, brat. Oh my god, that was I was you were not lying, man. I was sick. So look before we get off of the musting, bro. How was the mustin being the chief from like day one, right? Because when you're on the carrier, you had to go there first class, you make change. When you get to must, you're immediately part of the mess. How was that mess experience? Was it what you were hoping it was gonna be?

Dom Taylor 1:12:37

So okay, okay, here's a good one, too. So the ship is underway when I'm when I'm when I'm checking into mustard and the ship is gone. So I have to check into TPU, right? So what I didn't know until now was I guess there's two TPUs. So I go over to uh the base admin, PSD, and do my little check-in, but I actually get check into the actual TPU. So I check in the TPU on a mustard every day, like I'm supposed to, because I guess somebody screwed it up, and you got a muster every day. Khaki's got a muster every day. So, okay, cool. I got a muster every day, no problem. Actually, physically show up face muster. All right, no problem. So I'm doing that, and then all of a sudden I get this 619 number show up on my phone. I'm like, and of course, I answer my phone, and I hear the first words I hear is chipmate. I'm like, what the who the who the heck is this? It's the commander master chief, and basically, commander master chief um must end is asking me, Why have not been checking in the TPU? And I'm like, I've been checking in every day, right? Apparently, Commander Master Chief, who was an old you know, admin type, called PSD and asked about me, and they're like, Yeah, we haven't seen that guy, right? So she thinks I'm you know, obviously gaming the system, not checking in and just living my best life until I set her straight and let her know, like, yo, I've been checking in over at PSD over at TPU every single day, and now the the waves are clear. So that was my very first experience. Right? Not even knowing, like asking the questions, like, how's everything going? What's going on? I've been here, you know. I called over here and found out this is what's going on, you know. Not even asking questions, find find out, just straight up assuming already that you know I've been trying to game the system or whatever. So that yeah, that was my very first experience with her on that. But you know, after second stepping on the deck plates day one, you know, I'm kind of there was also again. Here we go again. So before I so I had like six months prior to six or eight months before I check in on board muston, and the chief who's there is geobatching. So he wants me to come there early. Yeah, he's trying to go. He's trying to go. Yeah, he was trying to go. So, bro, he has called me basically like every day like, hey man, are you gonna come early? You coming early? And I and the first time he called me is like, you know what? I said, Let me think about it, let me talk to the wife, and I'm I'm actually considering it. Let me think about it or whatever, you know. And after about the third call, I'm like, you know what? No, I'm not coming. I'm gonna send my time here and say, When I get to the ship, I'm gonna give him three leaders of my life to that ship, three hard years of my life to that ship. I'm not coming out there early. There also an ICC there, he made rank while he was there, so I'm like, no, I'm not coming. But he ends, they end up letting him go because at this time they're you know, seven fleet, they're like, you're not leaving without a relief. But I guess somehow they like, hey, we got an ICC here, we're all gonna be okay with him being gone, yada. And they let, you know, they end up letting him go, you know. So in the anyway, I show up to the ship and I'm kind of like, you know, checking out the checking out the situation, seeing how everything's going. And the first thing I do, I start looking at the Devo records, and I'm noticing that one Sailor has his Devo record is fat with counseling cheese. I'm like, what the heck is this? And as I'm looking at him, all I see is, you know, Sailor has doesn't have a good uniform appearance on a just a bunch of different things. But what I don't see is like no follow-up. Right, what the hell is going on? I say, you guys, you know, if you take these up to the CEO, he's gonna crucify you guys. You guys cannot do this. You guys at least have to follow up, make sure we're doing some corrective action, trying to get the sailor right. We can't just write council chests for nothing, right? This is not good. So that's the first thing that I'm noticing. There's like a lot of little A B D problems that I'm noticing that aren't being done to help the division get right. So we have to get that straight and got to get the division right. Um, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:16:18

So there's so when you get there and there's an ICC there, yeah. Are are you guys in the same division?

Dom Taylor 1:16:24

We are. We are in the same division. Okay, there's normally not an ICC on the destroyer.

Gary Wise 1:16:29

Yeah. How was that dynamic when you get there? Uh, was it was there an issue, or was that cheap did he understand that you were the senior guy and you were gonna be the LCPO, and it was just gonna it was just like that? Because I've seen that before where people try to do those kinds of things, and I would squash that as the master before it even happened. Like, no, no, no. That person's coming to fill the billet to be the LCPO. I appreciate Chief. You've been here for two years or whatever it is, but again, you gotta learn how to be a follower, bro. Like, you gotta play your position. And did you or were any issues like that, or not really?

Dom Taylor 1:17:06

No, there was an issue. Me and him sat down. We talked about like he was gonna he was gonna be transferring, I was gonna be taking over. It wasn't gonna be an it wasn't gonna be an issue. So that's I'm glad that we didn't have that issue.

Gary Wise 1:17:17

How was the like FC? How was like, did you have like a Fakakum or maintenance mask chief?

Dom Taylor 1:17:22

Yeah, we did. We had a uh uh uh CSMM up in there, he was a senior chief. Yeah, me and him, me and him worked out well. The person who I didn't work well with was the uh the emo. And that was the that was the issue. So our divos, unlike many others, he was uh obviously an LDO type. Yeah now the problem was was that the previous ETC and him, what they like to do is instead of letting the sales who went to the school work on the stuff like they're supposed to, when the casualty arose, they would push the sales out the way, they would get in there and they work on it. Well, me, I'm not that guy. I was like, hey, these guys went to school for a reason, they're the ones that need to work on it. Now, if people are calling out asking every five minutes what's going on, that's what I'm gonna jump in and be like, no, stop calling them up, let them work on it. They give you an ETR, and if they don't answer you by within five minutes of that ETR on the plus side, then you can call them up, but you don't call them up before that, let them work on it, they need time. So that's what was going on. So, because of that, me and him got into it, and I found out later on down the road that he had called the captain up and told the captain that hey, uh Chief Taylor is not a small boy sailor, he's only been on carriers, yada yada yada. Oh, yeah, I found that out. So me and him had gotten into it over that one time.

Making Master Chief And Heavy Comms Maintenance

Gary Wise 1:18:33

That's shady because it's not like okay, you've been at SRF working on these boats all across the waterfront, dog. Yeah, who cares? You know, at the end of it all, yes, you did a carrier, yes, you did a frigate, but that was like what that time at SRF almost changes a bunch of that because you now have the ability to go on a multiple platforms, you know. I went to when I went to ATG San Diego, I had only done amphibs. My next ship was an aircraft carrier. I should not have been as successful as I was, but when I was at ATG, I I became the carrier guy, so I rode a bunch of aircraft carriers. So I there were some things I didn't know, but I knew a lot, and I was able to fake it till I made it on everything else. And so for that emo to do that, bro, that's just shitty, bro. Oh, yeah. But what was that? What I see for people that do that is they're the ones that want that time with the sailors, they're the ones that want that check, they want that technician feel, and I get it's fun to troubleshoot and fix it, like the personal satisfaction, but like you said, they gotta learn how to be that guy, yeah, because that's how you grow the future of the of the community, right? Not always by the chief or the you ever heard that one storyline where the reason why the chief got a coffee cup in their hand is because you know they got one hand is occupied and the other hand is like pointing where it gotta go, right? And then they want the officer to have his hands in the damn pockets because you don't need to be nowhere around, bro. Like you need to be out of that situation. I'm sorry to hear that. Was he there the whole time?

Dom Taylor 1:20:12

No, he wasn't. He ended up transferring, he ended up transferring, and I learned you know, I learned that because when I went down there one time to see what was going on, the thing was broken, and the sailor was just sitting there. I was like, What are you doing? He's like, I'm waiting for you to come down here. I'm like, for what to fix it? I'm like, what are you talking about? And then he told me what was going on, and I was like, Oh no, right? So that's how that all came about. And me and him got it. The Devo had got into it, but no, he had transferred, and then I got a new divo. And the very first thing I did with that divo is I sat down with him. I sat down with him and we had a conversation. Like, yo, what are your what are your visions for the division? What are you know what here are my goals for the division? Me, him, and the LPO sat down, and I kind of we kind of laid down the law and see saw what was up. But we had an adult conversation about it to make sure that there wasn't no no gray air in, there wasn't going to be no issues. And me and him worked very well together.

Gary Wise 1:21:00

So, with that emo that tried to throw you under the bus, was he a former chief?

Dom Taylor 1:21:06

Um, I wasn't 100% sure. I know he was an LDO, but yeah, I'm not sure. I know him and the chief both were those kind of guys that just push the sails out the way, and those sailors did not benefit because of that. The ship might have benefited, and the the the CO loved the guys for that, but I'm like, You you're not doing you're not doing these sales any any any good by doing that. You're actually hurting the sales and you're hurting the ship when you guys leave.

Gary Wise 1:21:27

Well, and oh, by the way, like you're uh especially as an LDO, you're push button all the way to damn Lieutenant Commander, bro. What are you worried?

Dom Taylor 1:21:35

Yeah, I don't know what you're tripping for.

Gary Wise 1:21:37

Yeah, okay. So after the must, so when you're looking at the Mustang, uh you're coming out there as senior chief, you got three full years of FDNF, but you had a division, eventually you turn the division over to somebody else, and now you're the inserted guy, but you're making a command impact, right? Yeah, are you thinking at any point in time about putt leaving your rate behind and going into the command program?

Dom Taylor 1:21:58

No, so nope, never thought, never ever thought about it. So even LDO. So when I first made chief, I even thought, like, when I'm in that leader, you know that leadership class you have to go to like immediately following. Yeah, so at that point in time, I even said, like, I'm not gonna go LDO, I'm not gonna go CMC. I'm like, there's too many, there's too many chiefs that are going that route. I think we need some chiefs to stay in the in the mess and in their rate, right? So that's when I had made that decision to stay there, right? And I said the other thing I said, I don't think it would make me happy.

Gary Wise 1:22:29

No, that's that was more what I said. Uh yeah, and I think if you're a person who loves your loves your rate, loves what you're doing, loves your craft, loves all those things, you just gotta stand on that though. Like you can't. I used to tell that to people like, don't come getting mad at me when you got to do the job, bro, because that's it, it's a lot, you know, to have to keep going back to sea again and keep going back at it, yeah, and keep doing it because it's always gonna be there. So where so you went went back to SRF as a senior chief, yep, which is good because you know the you know the waterfront, you know the job, you're essentially doing what you did before you went to Mustang, right?

Transition To Civilian Lead At SRF

Dom Taylor 1:23:05

Yeah, and I'm got an additional responsibility added on. So okay, but so now I'm on top of that. Now I'm also doing antenna inspections, and now I'm holding a class to teach sailors how to work on their stuff so they don't have to come over here. And then the uh Michael Bryan, mass chief, asked me, like Dom, it wasn't asked, it was basically an ask. I need you to be the CEMO, and it was an easy answer, yes, no problem. I got you, right? So then I'm the then I'm the simeo. So I'm not only the cimeo of the the the navy, the military folks, I'm also the symio for the Japanese and the USCS, right? So that was a whole different dynamic. I bet, yeah, it was totally different. Yeah, I learned so much about Japanese culture.

Gary Wise 1:23:52

Yeah, I bet, man, they've got a whole bunch of different rules, and that's an interesting command to be a part of, right? Because yeah, you do got all the military, all the civilians, and these are not just civilians that are like administrators. Oh no, they're workers, yeah, right. They're they're working, they're out there getting it done, they're trying to wrench us, and SRF's amazing, bro. Like, people would tell me that I whenever I hear somebody say that Seventh Fleet runs those ships down, I'll say, No, no, no, no, no. We make ships better, right? Now, and I say that from experience because I've been on ships like George Washington got to Japan. All everyone stuffed out was she was a ship caught on fire. By the time I left the ship, she was a back-to-back battle E winner, bro. She was doing good. Kitty Hawk was doing good. I mean, the thing is, you gotta learn how to work with SRF to get the jobs done. But if you can learn how to make that work, they'll make magic happen on your ship.

Dom Taylor 1:24:45

Oh, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:24:46

If you don't do that, then your ship's gonna get neglected. But that's not one else's fault, but your crew, because you got to do your part, bro. Like, that's how it goes. Uh and when I was talking, I was talking to a buddy of mine the other day who's a CMC out there right now, and he was kind of moaning a little bit about the waterfront out there. I'm just like, dog, like the crew, the ship has got to take ownership of the ship, and you can't expect no one else to do it for you, right? And ownership for me includes making sure you write the report to where that the 3M guys can screen it off the ship and it can get picked up and that the people can do the work and they can train your people while they're there so you can get multiple bang for your buck, right? Like whenever I would get guys to come over to work on my carrier, I'd have two, three junior sailors with them, and I would tell y'all job is to learn all that they're gonna teach you. And I would ask the contractors, I would say, bro, just don't throw me under the bus, dog. I can't be there with you. I'm gonna trust you with my guys, take care of them, but that's it, right? And there you go. So, did you see as so during that second time at SRF, were you doing more Simeo stuff or were you doing more technical stuff?

Dom Taylor 1:26:01

I was doing both. I was still doing technical stuff, and I was doing similar. So, Simeo, obviously, the survey comes around both those times, but so the civilians have their own kind of deal. So if they made reports and I would direct them to the right spot, and the Japanese have their own thing too, but we also had to conduct a separate survey. We had to build a survey for the Japanese because they didn't have one, and the CO wanted one. And what I learned about the Japanese is because at the time, like the um the civilians are only staying there for a maximum of five years because of the five-year rule. Whatever punishment that the civilians would would uh dole out, or whatever issues they would have with the civilians, the Japanese would be just like, eh, I'll just wait it out in five years, I'll get a new I'll get a new civilian. I'll be like, What? That's ludicrous to me, because I'm not waiting out five years, I'm not waiting out for somebody who's you know treating me wrong or what I believe is not good. I'm not waiting five years to get a new person. I'm gonna say something.

Gary Wise 1:26:55

Yeah, that's uh I've heard that before though, with the civilian sector, bro, where they feel like you know, because the military we're always rotating in and out, yeah. And the civilians that are working there for me, I guess in the grand scheme of things, if you work somewhere for 20, 30 years, five years ain't that bad. Like you said, we've always got this sense of urgency. I don't got forever, I gotta make this change. And oh, by the way, I mean, I can't live somewhere just deeply unhappy. I'm gonna say something, I've got to get it off my chest, man. Yeah, absolutely. And then whatever happens next, happens next. Yeah, uh, that's one of my favorite parts of being a chief, right? That was one of my favorite parts. I really like that part the best. I can go in the mess and I can say what I had to say, and it was supposed to be okay. Now we know it doesn't always work out like that, but that was supposed to be, yeah. Right. Um, so now after your second time at a SRF, you've now done so SRF, you did the Mustang, SRF again, three, six, nine years. What's next?

State Of The Waterfront And Standards

Dom Taylor 1:27:56

So here's so I'm almost I'm I'm so I'm getting ready. I want to get out. So I got like about eight months left. So I'm like, okay, so I'll just do, I'll just add on, you know, I'll do this extend for a year, I'll get out. I got this job waiting for me at SRF, doing the same thing I'm doing. I'm ready to go. So I submit another OTEP. The details, like, yeah, no problem, dude. No problem. I got you. OTEP sits there forever, they can't seem to find it. Nobody can know where it's at. And all of a sudden, I get this letter back from somebody else, some civilian dude, basically saying, super overmanned on shore duty, way undermanned on sea duty. Either get out right now or go to sea. And I'm like, what the hell? Right now, it's in five months. I'm like, needs a navy, bro. Yeah, are you serious? So I called the detailer up and he's working with me or whatever. So he's like, you know what, bro? The uh the uh CMS ID comes out this this Friday or whatever, this weekend. Look on there, see if there's something you like. And if there's not, we'll look off the books. I'm like, all right, cool, man. So I look, and of course, Blue Ridge is on there. I'm like, all right, put me in for Blue Ridge. Next thing you know, boom, I'm on Blue Ridge.

Gary Wise 1:29:07

When you went to Blue Ridge, did you go there as a senior chief or did you make mash chief?

Dom Taylor 1:29:10

I go there as a senior chief.

Gary Wise 1:29:12

Go there as a senior chief, and when you get to what year did you get to Blue Ridge?

Dom Taylor 1:29:17

Um, let's see, 17.

Gary Wise 1:29:20

17, because I got there 18. So you were there a little bit ahead of me, but you got there when they were in the yards.

Dom Taylor 1:29:27

Yeah, I got there just they had that's they were just so I re-enlisted under the ship while they were in the dry dock. I got there just as they were coming out of the dry dock, so I got to experience all the fun of all the workups, and nobody had done anything prior to, which was yeah, very yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:29:45

That was a tough time to be on that ship. Oh, it was absolutely every part of it, right? Yeah, because it had become a ship that had a culture of sustained yard improvability, right? Like they were in the yard like two years, yes. And nobody was rushing them out until Admiral Sawyer got there. And then he was like, get the hell out of the yard, right? Yeah.

Dom Taylor 1:30:06

They were living their best life, bro. They were at SRF. Yeah, I was at SRF, and I was I was working sometimes till 1800 on shore duty going to ships, doing inspections, doing you know, helping sailors doing maintenance and troubleshoot. And every day, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock, I'm seeing droves of sailors walk off. I'm like, what where are they? Where are these guys coming from? They're like, That's Blue Ridge. I'm like, what are you talking about? They had or like doing PT and then they would be going home or whatever, except for duty section or whatever, like on regular.

Gary Wise 1:30:34

They had the worst reputation, man. I remember uh I was in Sassboa in Ashland, I was there for 16 to 18, but they're all part of the same CTF 76 umbrella, right? And even in Sassable, they'd be talking so much smack about the Blue Ridge, bro, because everyone knew that they were just there was people betting they weren't gonna make it out because they were old steamship, right? They were old, they were steam, there was there were not these upgrades, and people were like, Oh, the command at sea ship is out played out, like it ain't gonna be a thing no more, all that stuff, right? And then when I got called up there, one of the first things I got told by my boss was, Master Chief, your job is to get my staff back on board that ship. That's like your main job. And I was just like, What? Like, what does that even mean, bro? What does that even mean? And when I went to the ship is when I learned, like, the ship didn't even ought to be a ship, they were learning because you had to teach you had a whole new crew of people coming in. Oh, yeah, you did not do the three years of yard period, right? And you guys had to fix everything, yeah, get through the training cycle. Yeah, and oh, by the way, deal with having people being embarked on your ship that were not like an air wing and not like marines because there's a bunch of senior, senior, senior freaking people that had a bunch of petty things going on, yeah. That was the craziest thing, bro. I would send the talking to Jim Grant, I would just be like, bro, I'm sorry. Because I was a gator guy, I would embark Marines, I knew what that was like. I was on G Dub, I would embark air wing, I knew what that was like, so it was weird being, you know, I liked it because I was being embarked per se, yeah. But it ain't the same thing when your boss is like four four pay grades higher than the CO, yeah, right? And then again to the ship's company, what was that like for you going there as a chief to with a shop of sailors who were not prepared for what was gonna happen next?

Dom Taylor 1:32:34

So I would tell you that it was for me, I would tell you it was definitely scary because like the thing was like, man, none of these sailors had been underway for like the longest time. Like, and obviously, so I was at SRF for those collisions. I had been on board both of those ships when they collided. I actually, like, before I left SRF, they flew me down to Singapore for the John S. McCain. I got to actually go on board, and that it was like the pictures that everybody saw versus what I saw when I walked on board were totally different, right? Like those pictures that do not do uh what I saw in person any justice. Um, so that I was was like I was worried about that. I I knew I met a lot of uh senior people who were like, I'm not getting on another ship. Like that changed them. I was like, wow, man.

Quick-Fire: Navy Moments, Movies, And Mindset

Gary Wise 1:33:21

I was like, I mean, wow, but I think yeah, I think it's a reminder of how much trust you have to put in those watchstanders and those different duty stations, right? Because yeah, it's one thing, bro. If it's missiles inbound, it's one thing, bro. If it's like we uh something inside the ship blows up and we weren't prepared for that, it's a whole nother thing to get to get T-bone, bro, yeah in the middle of the damn ocean. Like that's crazy. And like I was so Ashland, we were underway on the exact same time period as those things happened. We were underway, we did a six-month deployment the exact same time. We had you had the the two ships, you we lost an osprey off the back of the green bay that we responded to that, and then we had the cod go down off of the Ronald Reagan. But I remember um, you know what? So when the first ship collided, and I was we were again, we were underway. The first ship collided, and everyone unfortunately that ship didn't have a good reputation on the waterfront, right? Uh, a lot of us had already kind of known like that ship was kind of in a rough spot, that particular ship. So, you know, everyone is like, Oh, well, no surprise, no surprise. That ship had a bad culture, whatever, blah blah blah, right? Which all that's still crap because the watchstanders got to do the job, right? Absolutely, absolutely, but that was kind of the scuttle but that was happening, but then JSM was like the shining star of the seventh fleet, right? They were freaking just went green to insurve. My boy Dedrick was on there as a CMC, they would do the McCain on me, one, two, three, McKay, and they had it going on, bro. And then when they had their casualty, everybody was like, like, okay, you've now got two indicators from two different sides of the of the line. We got problems, right? There is a problem here, and then I don't know about you, but I'm very proud of being a part of the Seven Fleet community.

Dom Taylor 1:35:23

Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

Gary Wise 1:35:24

I'm a writer, I'm a right, I'm a rider for Seven Fleet. I would I will get into arguments, I would debate, I will I would go to I went I went to San Diego one time and people were talking about underway days, and I was like, look, nothing against y'all, but y'all cannot go pound for pound with our guys over there all day long, all day, and that's why we operationally have more reps and sets than everybody else, yeah. And that's why we have to be better than everybody else, because the more you drive your vehicle, the higher the chance of you having an accident, but yeah, um, but then you've also got to be a better driver. I just think that complacency that at that period of time, I think it was just man, the Swiss cheese aligned if I guess if you will. It was a it was a tough time to be at sea, bro. And I remember we would we were underway. We every every brief, me and my exo would be like, All right, y'all, it's tomorrow the day we're gonna be the next one to make the news. And everyone would be like, Hell no, not us. And that you had to have that level of intensity every day, and so I get I feel it, man. And I think it was also a reminder. I used to tell sailors in the ship, if you think you're safe walking around this ship, you must not know where you're at. This is an industrial environment, bro. Yeah, like you know, a slip trip and a fall, you'll be upside down on that dang ladder well with a broken head because you weren't paying attention, and those ladder wells are not always got them, you know. They've been they ain't been changed ever. Those ladder trams, you know, you're supposed to change them and flip them around. DC do when they work, they're not doing that, they just so you get to the ship, you seen that you've seen what the waterfront is going through because y'all waterfront. I got brought up right after all that, but the waterfront there had been rocked, the community had gotten rocked, the the networks of the spouses for not only for the ship that was local when it had happened, but then also for the ship that was down in Singapore and just the community, and it was like back to back, just boom, yeah, boom.

Dom Taylor 1:37:31

It was exactly back to back.

Gary Wise 1:37:33

Yeah, and I think the other concern for Blue Ridge was that it was steam, right? And look, I'm always worried about a major fuel leak on a steam plant, right? It could go it can go bad real quick, you know. So when you look back on that blue ridge time, how was your did you do the full three years?

Dom Taylor 1:37:55

Yeah, I did I actually did four years because you know, so I did I did the three, I was already gonna do three, and then it was like, Oh, you know what, let me just go ahead and do this fourth to see what happens. Then as soon as I signed the OTEP, and the OTEP got approved, and all of a sudden it was like boom, Master Chief. And I was like, What? But it is what it is, you know. So yeah, I ended up doing that fourth year.

Gary Wise 1:38:20

Well, I mean, I mean, if you look at it though, your your crew had to be pretty dang large. That chip is very electronic.

Dom Taylor 1:38:27

Yeah, oh yeah, there's heavy calm.

Gary Wise 1:38:31

Oh, comms heavy, comms, bro. Yeah, calm's behemoth. So you were yeah, and were you like the maintenance manager on there or what?

Dom Taylor 1:38:40

Yeah, yeah, that was my job on there.

Gary Wise 1:38:43

Yeah, that's like yeah, I could see why you made mash to you for sure. And so after you leave the Blue Ridge, do you go back to SRF again?

Dom Taylor 1:38:51

So, no, so that's when so so I they actually wanted me that they wanted me to interview for the uh like the lead detailer job. Like I wasn't trying to do that. I wasn't trying to do that. So I you know, I submitted all my e vals up and all that stuff with another guy who uh they also wanted to interview, and then they called me up for the interview. I was like, Yeah, I'm not really trying to do this job, but you know what, if I get the job, I'll do it to the best of my ability. There has not been a job that that I have not done well. Doesn't matter what job I do, I'm gonna do it well, and I'll do it better than anybody else who can do the job. So some warrant also called me up. So I didn't get that job. So then after that, it was like com's dark. It was like I would call and it was like this number has been disconnected, type of level stuff. I would email and it was like my email was being blocked, and it was crazy. That's what it felt like anyway, because I was getting nothing, and it was like getting really close because this was like in 2020, end of 2020. And remember, like my time is 2021, whereas my actual my contract is up. So when this is all happening, I get a phone call from SRF, one of civilians who a good friend of mine who I was his uh retirement uh coordinator and everything like that. And he says, Hey man, what do you try? What are you uh planning on doing? I was like, Well, I plan on doing my last five and uh getting out. He's like, Well, let me know if your plans change. I was like, All right, bet. So I went over there, had a little conversation with him. He's like, Well, I got the perfect job for you. I was like, All right, say less. At that point in time, I dropped my papers, and then the rest is history. I got out like within that next year, and then boom, here I am at SRF again.

Gary Wise 1:40:26

Good for you, bro. I love that, man. I timing plus preparation equals destiny, bro. I I'm a fan, yeah. I'm a fan because I see people miss opportunities just because they want to stay comfortable, right? You and you saw, okay, this is exactly what I want, regardless of a higher retirement check or whatever it is.

Dom Taylor 1:40:47

Yeah, that's really what it was, too.

Gary Wise 1:40:49

That's what I hear people say all that, bro. Like, I drop a I drop papers at 25 a punch because I would much rather be happy knowing I took control of my life. Vice just always, and like you said, you would done you would have done the military job, right? You was trying to figure something out, but also as a master chief in your rate, there's probably only so many spaces you can go. Yeah, oh yeah, you've and you but you built yourself a very big reputation and a very you made yourself very important on that waterfront, especially. So, since you've been retired, uh, are you pretty much doing what you did on active duty for SRF?

Dom Taylor 1:41:26

So, yes and no. So, right now I'm I'm in charge of those same people. I'm in charge of the uh the inter interior communications, radar, navigations, to him and for military sales folks who go out and fix the ships when they have problems. So it is part of the ships write the jobs, and if the job is written well enough, and and I actually believe if they've actually tried and give it the old call a try, and they actually have gotten to a point where they really can't fix it and figure out themselves, then I'm like, yep, you guys can go out there and give them give them a hand. If it's not, if it's if they tried, right? If it's not like if they've uh oh, we've looked at it and there's a light on it and we can't fix it. I actually make the ships try, not just write a job where they can't, where they haven't actually tried to fix it. I get a lot of those jobs and I I do reject those rather quickly and kick it back to them.

Gary Wise 1:42:15

Yeah, and they should, you know, it should be a point of pride, right?

Dom Taylor 1:42:19

Absolutely.

Gary Wise 1:42:20

You know, I just I think that whenever a sailor or whenever a division is taught, we'll just write a job for it, let them come figure it out. You just teaching them exactly wrong, right? Yeah, when you're out in the middle of the ocean, ain't no one coming to save you, bro. You got to figure out a troubleshoot and that thing, man. So um real quick before we wrap up, bro. Uh and your and your kids are still in Japan, or they graduate of high school and come back to the states for college.

Dom Taylor 1:42:45

So my son is back in the states, and my daughter is still out here. She wanted to stay out here and now she's working on base, but she's getting ready to go. She's working on some things and she's trying to go back. Eventually, maybe she'll go. Who knows? Depends on how she'll do. But she's she's probably talking about going back. But we'll see how that works out. But my son's back in the states doing his thing, so he's trying to, he's trying to come back out here, though. He wants to come back out, so we'll see how that works out for him.

Gary Wise 1:43:15

Okay. Um, what's your opinion, just your own personal opinion of how the waterfront is doing right now? Are they holding their own or are they struggling?

Dom Taylor 1:43:25

Um, it all depends on what area. I would say that in my opinion, they could they could use some works at all levels. I would say, um, I would say I get a whole lot of uh, I'd say my biggest thing is I believe there's a difference between subject matter expertise and technical expertise. I would say subject matter expertise, we all got something that we are really good in. Like for me, my trade is HF, HF side of the house. That's my subject matter expertise. However, in the ET rating, I'm a technical expert. As in, like, as in troubleshooting electronics. I know how to do that. Now, all ETs should know how to do that. Now we're all technical experts in that field. I don't gotta have the NEC to work on navigation side or these other things, but troubleshooting all around stuff electronically, I'm a subject matter or technical expert in that. So I should know how to troubleshoot all that kind of stuff. I don't gotta have the NEC, but guess what? I know how to read a pub, which we should all know how to do, right? I was trained on how to do that stuff. So I should be able to help out a sailor who has the NEC and know how to do that, right? So that's where my technical expertise comes into play, even though I'm not a subject matter expert on that piece of equipment. And that's kind of where we're we've dropped the ball on the waterfront. Um, the waterfront kind of needs a help in that area. Liberty has become a huge mission versus what we know. Do we need liberty? Absolutely we do. But we kind of got to find that balance between the work and the liberty aspect. And right now, liberty is kind of overshadowing the work aspect, right? So I don't think that, yeah, I don't think the liberty, I don't think that the uh I know when we grew up, it was like uh, yeah, we got liberty, we're gonna do our liberty, but I think that the way that we grew up, it was like a term that I that I was used on must was like, hey, if the gear is up, the brow is down. If the gear is down, the brow is up, and that's kind of what it was, bro. And it wasn't a it wasn't a big deal. It's like all right, we gotta work on this. So we'd be up on the mass watching everybody leaving their civilian clothes, and that's kind of what it was. And it wasn't like a thing, that's just what it was.

Gary Wise 1:45:22

I used to tell my sailors, I'll be like, Hey, go get dinner, they'd be like, damn, senior. I'm like, Hey, I'm never gonna tell you we got to get something done before we get off. Go ahead and go eat, get yourself some chow, and when you come back, I'm gonna be ready to go. And the other thing was, I felt like leaders have the responsibility to prepare for the work day, yeah. Oh, yeah, because too often people will show up and they won't have the preparatory stuff ready, yeah, laid out, right? On how to guide them on what I need the workers to do the work, that's true. Yeah, but I gotta make sure they've got the tools, the parts, materials, the training, all the all that, right? And then and you got to and you got to make sure it's done right. You don't just assume it's done right as we can all get out of there. And if it takes time, you know, so be it. And the other thing I'd say is ownership of your spaces, I think it needs to work right 100. That's why NSERF is my favorite, and my favorite inspection is NSERF. But then, second after that, it needs to be clean. I don't really care if it's pretty, but it needs to be clean, right? I'm not that guy that's gonna paint over dirt, right? No, no, no. We need to clean it. If we I don't care if my I don't care if the HPF piping is perfectly painted red and green and blue and red and all that other crap. I'll pay, I'll paint hand wheels like it says to do in the 505, bro. Call it a day. I don't you know you wasting a bunch of time painting your HPF stations, right? My advice is does it work right in accordance with the tech manual? And is it clean? If those two things are good, everything else is gonna follow, you know. And I just think that, and it's not just Seventh Fleet, but it's the Navy wide. I just happen to know a lot of Seventh Fleet Bubas, and so I talked to a bunch of them. And and the other thing is, yes, they get a lot of reps and sets in, so you have got to be relentless, right? And and you just you gotta everyone's gotta remember those y'all would own those top size spaces, right? Those leather decks. I remember whenever there was a uh a freshwater wash down, all the ETs would be on the top of the ship cleaning their part too, doing their preservation too. Like everyone's gotta care how the ship looks. Yeah, when you're walking down the pier, if the ship looks like crap, it's hard to be proud of your ship.

Dom Taylor 1:47:38

Yeah, oh yeah.

Gary Wise 1:47:40

That's a piece of that's a sailor's pride, man. You back in the day, we would fight for our ship. We would we would seriously get offended if you said something bad about our ship. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's that's another thing, man. I think everyone is just so worried about AI that they forget that these big, beautiful ships are big mechanical beasts that you gotta take care of, man. And they can do amazing things, but if you don't take care of them, they're gonna let you down.

Dom Taylor 1:48:05

Yeah, absolutely, man.

Gary Wise 1:48:07

All right, bro. We're gonna go and wrap this up. I'm gonna take you into my uh my quick rounds, if you will.

Dom Taylor 1:48:13

Okay.

Gary Wise 1:48:14

Uh all right, so here we go. Let's start off with uh poop, boop, poop. What was your welcome to the navy moment, bro? Um, like when were you first like, oh damn, I'm really in the navy? Did you ever have like did you have that moment?

Closing Advice To Cadets

Dom Taylor 1:48:32

Oh man. All right. I guess I guess when uh when we arrived in Great Lakes and we got off the bus, the first thing the dude said to us was, What are you guys waiting for? A freaking invitation, get in here. It was like, dang, this is really happening.

Gary Wise 1:48:51

I'm not in San Diego anymore.

Dom Taylor 1:48:53

That was it, yeah. Man, that was it. It was like, man, this this is the business. This is it. Let's go. It's time to do it, man. Let's go.

Gary Wise 1:49:00

All right, real quick. Do you remember your first piece of big troubleshooting equipment that you ever got to work on on a ship?

Dom Taylor 1:49:07

Hmm, my first big piece of troubleshooting equipment.

Gary Wise 1:49:12

Yeah, like when you're on the car, was it like a big system was down and you got to be a part of getting it back up?

Dom Taylor 1:49:18

Um, yeah, it was actually the first system I actually went to school for. The ANSRQ4, the Hawk Link. It was actually the connection between the the Hilo when the Hilo went up. Um, it actually tracked the Hilo as it as it went up.

Gary Wise 1:49:31

Right. So that was a mission fail if it wasn't working.

Dom Taylor 1:49:36

Yeah, there was it was always complaints. So you always had a for so there was actually uh connection all the way up by the hangar base that you had to run this long freaking cable out to it to make sure it worked before it flew up. And sometimes the connection would work and sometimes it wouldn't. So in this instance, you went out there, you plugged it in, at least the airdales would, and it plugged in and it would work, then it would go up and it wouldn't work. So we had to go up to the EW equipment room where it was at and actually go up there and troubleshoot the system. And yeah, I remember that that instance particularly.

Gary Wise 1:50:06

Nice, nice. Okay, what do you see is one of the biggest leadership challenges? Uh, I would say organizations like SRF or the waterfront or really anybody, what's one of the biggest leadership challenges they're facing today?

Dom Taylor 1:50:22

Hmm. Biggest leadership challenge in any organization. I would say everybody knowing what everybody does because like the machine can't work well together if you don't know what everybody else needs and what everybody else does.

Gary Wise 1:50:43

Yeah, you know, that's a good point. You know, I again one of the biggest things I had to do as a CMC was make sure everybody respected everyone else's role because you'd have those people that thought their job was the only thing that mattered, and you're like, no, bro, if the SHs don't fill the vending machines, you're not gonna be happy, right? All that matters, and the Chiefs mess, when the mess is not doing it right, then they're gonna really have those problems when the mess is doing it right, everything else will fall in place. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. All right, you've been you're a dad, you've got some adult children now. How can parents best use leadership skills to raise their teenage children? You think I would say communication, big time communication. So, what is it about communication that you think makes it so complicated? Because I always hear communication.

Dom Taylor 1:51:37

I would say not enough of it, not the right kind of communication, sometimes listening in the communication, actually understanding and not assuming what you think that somebody said.

Gary Wise 1:51:49

Okay, hey, money, bro, that's bars. All right. Uh, what what what's a piece of advice you would give to somebody who is struggling within an organization, right? They feel like their boss don't like them, or they feel like they trying they're trying to frame them, or they feel like there's something someone's holding them back. What's a piece of advice you would give that person?

Dom Taylor 1:52:09

I said the first problem is I would think if that person is thinking that the boss don't like them, do is it a fact that the boss doesn't like them? I would at first I would ask them to talk to somebody, not the boss, or maybe get a mediator. If you really think that the boss don't like you, maybe you should talk to the boss and find out where the friction is. Yeah, because that's what I mean, personally, if I think that the boss don't like me, I'm the type of person that's gonna talk to the boss and find out, you know, hey, if there's been some tension between me and you, is there something that I should know about? Is there something going on? Is you know, what's is there some problem between with our relationship between me and you? And I'm gonna go talk to the boss and see what's going on. Hopefully, he or she is honest and they'll talk to me. If not, then hey, it is what it is, and they're gonna do what they're gonna do.

Gary Wise 1:52:48

You know what? If a person is unethical, there's only there's nothing you can do about that, right? No, there's not. And if you give them the opportunity to have that conversation and they turn you down, then then that's out of your control, right? Yes, I like what 50 Cent got this interview when he's like, he's like, Look, I don't want to have confrontation, but when it comes time for confrontation, I don't got a problem, let's have a confrontation, and then all of a sudden I'm the bad guy because I'm not afraid of confrontation. It's an adult can have a confrontational conversation and not make it be personal and not make it be even mean, right? But if I've got to confront somebody about something, let me know if I'm wrong. And I think if people could do that, but what does it take for them to have that conversation? Do you think?

Dom Taylor 1:53:35

Who who with me? Anybody just want them to come into my office and sit down and talk with me? Yeah, because I'm not otherwise, you know, otherwise, whoever it is is gonna be walking around on eggshells and wondering, like, is Dom got it out for me? Is Dom gonna do this to me? Is Dom, or you're gonna be walking around all day, every day, wondering what am I gonna do to influence negatively this person? Is Dom gonna do this to have it out for me? Is Dom doing this to get at me rather than to come in and sit down and talk with me and ask the questions? Hey, remember this incident about what A, B, or C, and get it off their chest. Now, hopefully they can believe that I'm a I'm being genuinely honest with them and tell them straight up the truth. Like, no, man, this is what this is what that was about, and that's the end of it. There was nothing you know intentional or malice about it, and that's what it was, man. I'm glad you came and sat and talked with me about it. That's all it was. Nothing to worry about. We good, all right, cool. Let's let's have a little business.

Gary Wise 1:54:28

That's it, right? The person has got to really trust and believe that the conversation is going to be honest, right? If they don't have that trust, and it don't matter what you say, they still gonna think that you you you're doing whatever. That's number one, and number two, the person has got to really care about getting the resolution done. Yeah, if they just want to have a chip on their shoulder or they want to talk bad about someone, then they'll never be appeased, right? They'll always find something to be pissy about, and I think those are the things. And for those people, they might want they might as well find a different occupation because this may not be the organization for you, you know. Period. All right, uh, all right, Saturday night. We're on the ship underway. Are you looking forward to the pizza or the wings, bro? Hot wings, I like it. All right, I got two choices. I got the birthing cleaners or the working party. Which one do you want?

Dom Taylor 1:55:23

Man, I'm all about the working party because then I get the you know, I get to chat shit with whoever's next to me. That's a good time, it's always a good time.

Gary Wise 1:55:30

It is a good time for sure. All right, we're gonna watch a movie in the mess. It's either gonna be De Niro or Pacino. Which one do you want?

Dom Taylor 1:55:36

Dang, that's you that's a hard question. You could ask me something, you could ask me some uh easier question. That's a hard one.

Gary Wise 1:55:43

I know that's a mid-watch question, bro. That's a midwatch, yeah.

Dom Taylor 1:55:48

I guess it depends on what kind of mood I'm in. I know. I guess I'll go with uh a Pacino.

Gary Wise 1:55:54

So which what's your favorite Pacino movie?

Dom Taylor 1:55:57

Geez, man. Now you just the hits keep on coming. Al Pacino. I don't know. I don't I don't really nail down any favorite movies, but I just like any movie, any any gangsterous kind of movie. I'm I'm in all in on. Any any gangsterous movie, I'm in on.

Gary Wise 1:56:15

I I really yeah, I like Pacino and those gangsters movies too. Or Warwin is a cop, those are good ones too. Okay, uh, what what was your favorite duty station?

Dom Taylor 1:56:24

Wow. Hmm. Uh probably have to be uh I would probably say the Musting would probably have been my favorite, despite all the craziness that happened earlier on. The aftermath of once we changed over COs, and once we change over that that emo, getting the new, getting the new uh CO who actually let the Chiefs be the Chiefs, and getting that new EMO who I had that great conversation with, and everything started turning around. Getting that new LPO who now works for me again. Um that that made everything the job became so super easy because everybody was on the same page. We all had the same goal. We were all driving driving the ship the same way, and everybody, you know, ate, if you will.

Gary Wise 1:57:09

Hey, I love it. What was the hardest or most challenging qualification of your career?

Dom Taylor 1:57:16

Hmm. I'll probably say the first time I got that that e-subs qualification on my first ship was probably the hardest because I was uh mess cranking at the time. At the same time, I was mess cranking, I was trying to do college at the same time, and I was still trying to do like some some of my qualifications so I can get that qualification to get the e-subs. So doing all that stuff in conjunction with you know losing sleep and all that was probably what made it so much more difficult.

Gary Wise 1:57:43

Okay, no, no, the e-sups was a big deal, bro. And especially if you got at your first ship, like E5 or under or E4 Junior, right? And having to learn about everyone else's rate and what they can do. That's hard, man. Okay, uh, I think I know the answer to this, but I'll ask it anyway. Would you rather do overseas or stateside tours? Overseas, what is it about overseas that you like so much?

Dom Taylor 1:58:10

I got to actually do stuff, I got to do more stuff on that one ship than I got to do on both the ships. I was on stateside.

Gary Wise 1:58:16

Yep, people don't understand. I tell them, so look, you I you get under one on your ship and I got it. You're at sea. We get under one our ship, we're operational.

Dom Taylor 1:58:25

Yes, yes, operating in, yeah, period.

Gary Wise 1:58:30

Yes, right in the enemy's backyard. I don't know how to stand the enemy right in the adversary's backyard because I'm no hater. I I respect the opposition, right? Y'all, yo, get your game up too, no problem. But yeah, we go out, we will go out there. We got the Chinese shadow on us, we have the Russians coming out, like yeah, we were out there making it happen for sure. All right, um how come Willie Walker and the Chocolate Factory is your favorite movie, bro?

Dom Taylor 1:58:57

Wow, so I don't know. I guess it's a uh a child, the actual the OG one, not you know the the what is it, 1960s or 70s movie, the original one?

Gary Wise 1:59:07

The gene, yeah, yeah.

Dom Taylor 1:59:08

Oh, you mean um what's his face? Gene Wilder, Gene Wilder, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:59:12

Gene Wilder, yeah, yeah.

Dom Taylor 1:59:13

The OG one. I don't know. I guess it's just a a childhood of of wonderment and candy. I don't know. That's just I don't know. That's why I like I just like that movie. It's just my favorite movie.

Gary Wise 1:59:24

Uh it was that I remember being a kid thinking it was I was I was excited to watch it because we didn't have cable, it was gonna be on regular TV, and it was like a big deal, you know, because it was gonna be on, and then it's the idea of you anyone can get the ticket, yeah. Right, yeah, anyone can get the ticket. It's just like when you made chief, right? You just gotta get your ticket punched. Anybody can get the ticket, and but then once you get there, you see people messing they tick messing their chances up because they're really taking advantage of it, not respecting it, and it was the kid that took it serious and appreciated it that really had the real the gain, right.

Dom Taylor 2:00:00

Okay, he almost messed it up too.

Gary Wise 2:00:08

Movie series, bro.

Dom Taylor 2:00:10

Jeez. Favorite movie. I don't know if I have a favorite. There's a lot that I like. The Godfathers, the Godfather's probably my one of my favorites. Yeah.

Gary Wise 2:00:24

Okay, we're going to Godfather. All right.

Dom Taylor 2:00:31

I definitely would like to be on the team.

Gary Wise 2:00:35

You said you would not?

Dom Taylor 2:00:37

Oh, I would love to be. I'd rather be on the team than to be independent. Because, like I tell a good friend of mine was was I was talking to him and I told him, I said, you know what? Um, I said, being independent, I said, you can paint the ship by yourself. I guarantee you can do it. But I said, you know what makes it better? You could all of us could paint the ship together, and it would get done much quicker.

Gary Wise 2:00:56

And you'd be laughing.

Dom Taylor 2:00:58

Yeah, we have a good time.

Gary Wise 2:01:00

Right. Yeah, it's one thing to look at the sunset by yourself, but it sure is another thing look at it with somebody else, you know.

Dom Taylor 2:01:06

Absolutely.

Gary Wise 2:01:06

That's like I miss going out looking at the ocean or underway and just sitting out there looking at the water and just talking, and just yeah, that that was a good time.

Dom Taylor 2:01:14

Oh, yeah.

Gary Wise 2:01:15

All right, Dom. Do you have a personal leadership philosophy?

Dom Taylor 2:01:19

Well, I would say something that you will see once you look at that coin. I would say one thing that I do believe in is uh nothing stops you except you. I think that we are the only roadblocks to to stop ourselves from doing anything or getting anything done. I would say some I believe in some, I call it the the paperclip theory. Sometimes we we say that we can't do something, it's sometimes it's for the smallest thing, and I believe that smallest thing is like a paperclip. And it sounds so silly, but that's the reality. Some of the things that, oh, we can't do that because of X, Y, or Z. And that little small thing is sometimes as small as a paperclip. Like it stops us from getting out of a space, a paperclip, something as simple as that. And that sounds so silly and so small, but that's the reality when you take a step back and look at that one thing that's you're saying that's stopping you from getting to whatever goal that you're trying to get to is a paperclip. Yeah, you haven't even looked into it or gone deep into what is it is you're trying to do. You're just saying that I can't do that because of this one thing.

Gary Wise 2:02:15

It's like a reflex for some people, bro. Yeah, it's like I can't do it. Like, what? Yeah, like no. You I I had another cut conversation with another brother of ours that I'm gonna have here pretty soon. And he tells, he says, you know, Gary, I'm not a yes man. He said, but I have no problem telling the commanding officer, yes, we can do it, but here's the cost, right? If you really want it done, it's gonna take this many people, take this many hours, take this much training, and that's what it's really all about for me. Like you said, don't let the paper clip make you say no. Think about it for a second. Actually consider can I do it? Can I do hard things? And then say, All right, well, here's what I gotta do to get it done. And guess what? You can start having a mentality like that, you can take over the world, man. Yeah, because a lot of people just saying no, can't do it.

Dom Taylor 2:03:05

I'm sorry, yeah. Um, and as a as a junior sailor, I used to be that guy who said no with no reason. Yeah, why can't we do this? I don't know, we can't do that. Why? I don't know. There was no reason, it was just an automatic no out of my mouth.

Gary Wise 2:03:19

Yeah, my cadets at the school, my students, even my own kids and my wife, they'd be like, We can't do that. Like, what have you met me? We can do whatever we want.

Dom Taylor 2:03:29

Yeah, facts.

Gary Wise 2:03:30

You can but you gotta give me a better reason than that. Like, you'd be surprised. Matter of fact, no, I really want to do it.

Dom Taylor 2:03:38

Yeah, all right.

Gary Wise 2:03:39

So in the Chiefs mess, we got deck plate leadership, institutional technical expertise, professionalism, character, loyalty, active communication, and a sense of heritage. Which one of those is your favorite?

Dom Taylor 2:03:55

I'll probably have to go with deck plate leadership. I've used that so many times. Matter of fact, I even used it not too long ago when I was talking to somebody about when something wasn't getting done, being out there on the deck plates, leading somebody, something wasn't getting done. They're like, Oh, yeah, it's getting done. And I started, we started walking around, and the thing that this person thought was getting done hadn't even gotten started, and they didn't know why. This is why I said as I was training him to be a leader, like, where are they at? You said it was getting done. I don't know where they're at. They were sitting in a space waiting for somebody to go get some paint at 12 o'clock, and it was like nine o'clock in the morning. Deck plate leadership.

Gary Wise 2:04:33

It's almost to that point where it's like I teach people be careful of making finite statements. Like, like, are you gonna bet your anchors on that one, boss? Like, are you gonna are you for sure? Because the opposition always gets a vote, man. And the opposition may be that sailor who wanted to take extra time the smoke pit and they didn't make it there on time. You can't control that. No, I get you, and and being visible on them deck plates, right? Letting them know that you're gonna be around there and you're gonna come see what's up. All right, would you rather lead or follow?

Dom Taylor 2:05:07

That's a great question. That's a great question. Because number one, I'd rather lead, but at the same time, so if I have depending upon who my leader is, like I have no problem being a follower, but number one, I'd rather lead. But if I have somebody who I know can lead, I can enhance their leadership by following because now I can influence everybody who's on that team too. But first and foremost, I'm leading.

Gary Wise 2:05:34

Yep, I love it, man. And I'm the same way. I I tell people, uh, I tell my my my say I tell people, I told my sailors or I told my students when I was a first class petty option, I was just snatching everything. Yeah, because I was hungry. When I made cheap, I learned like to have courtesy at the table, and I'd be like, Oh, do you do would you like one of those things, or can I have one of those? Yeah, but then every once in a while, if I really want, I would just take it anyway. Yeah, you know, and you had to sometimes, right? But sometimes it has to be like that, sometimes you gotta be like that. All right, brother. That's gonna wrap it up. You have any saved rounds or alibis?

Dom Taylor 2:06:12

Hmm, I could talk all day long if I wanted to, but I'm not going to. Um, I would like to say it's a it's a it's an honor for anybody who's listening. I would like to say, you know what? For you cadets that are out there, enjoy your time while you're doing this. Take some time to learn whatever you can, learn the life lessons, and listen to the people who are uh significantly older than you, like Mr. Gary Weiss here. He's a great man. And myself, I'm significantly significantly significantly older. Um, you'd be surprised what you can learn. Um, try a lot of things, learn a lot of things, and just you know, be smart in the decisions that you're making. Think about what you're doing before you do it. But again, like I'm gonna tell you, like I said earlier, nothing's gonna stop you except you. You are the only robot roadblock that's gonna stop you from getting what you want and what you want to do. Take a step back. If you're stressed, take a step back and um think about take a deep breath and then take things one step at a time, and you can get it done. That's what I got, Gary.

Gary Wise 2:07:14

That's it, bro. I think that's solid. I remember uh, I don't know if you remember this or not, but there was more than a few times, but there was one time in particular, we were in the Chiefs mess on the Blue Ridge, and I was just I used to love hanging out in the Chiefs mess. I would just go down there, be kicking it, drinking coffee, whatever it was, talking with my chiefs. And I remember you just came in there one day, you always had your hard hat on and stuff, and you came down there and you was just in the conversation, you just chill. And I just remember thinking like man Domas is just a he's a good dude, he's a good chief, bro. He just he wasn't giving us you weren't giving us no weird energy, nothing like that. You would you were just a solid guy, bro. And I really appreciate that. And I appreciate the support that you sent my way, man, and the support that you showed the show. And thank you again for the beautiful coins. I'm gonna take them to the school and show them to the kids, right? I'm gonna make sure they don't steal them though. I gotta bring them back home. I love my kids to death, but some of them got sticky fingers. Hey, you know, I just but it's okay. But I thank you very much for your time, bro. Thank you for sharing your story with the world. And uh, if you ever need anything, man, you let me know, okay?

Dom Taylor 2:08:17

Yep, same here. You know where I'm at.

Gary Wise 2:08:19

Yeah, for sure. All right, bro. I'll see you later.

Dom Taylor 2:08:22

All right, bro. Later, man.

Gary Wise 2:08:23

Later, man.