When The Goalposts Move: Choosing Family Over The Uniform

Navy Senior Chief (Ret.) Mike Savant spent 23 years turning weather into warfare — from forecasting off Iraqi oil platforms to keeping a three-star calm while the flagship’s comms melted down on the flight deck. He made Chief at 11 years, Senior Chief at 14, consistently ranked #1 EP, and helped stand up new commands… only to watch the advancement goalposts move — twice.

In this episode Mike pulls no punches:

• How tactical meteorology decides what aircraft fly and how far sonar can actually “see”
• The surreal months living on a barge tied to Iraq’s burning oil terminals
• The night the USS Blue Ridge went dark and the only comms was an Iridium phone and an angry captain
• Why he finally walked away from a sure shot at Master Chief when his autistic son needed him more than the Navy did
• The civilian market that happily pays for calm-in-chaos leadership (spoiler: Amazon paid better than Fleet Master Chief)
• Hard-earned lessons on talent management, gentle pressure parenting, and knowing when to take the uniform off for good

If you’ve ever felt the promotion ladder get yanked out from under you, or you’re trying to decide where family actually ranks against another set of orders, this one’s for you.

Subscribe, drop a review, and tell us: where would YOU draw the line?

https://www.wordsfromthewise.net/

Transcript

Introductions & School Year Catch-Up

Gary Wise 0:28

All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome, welcome back one more time. Here we go again. Words from the Wise. I'm still Gary Wise. We are out of Ocala, Florida. We are still sponsored by Wise Leadership Solutions. And of course, the Vanguard High School Navy Junior R O T C, the Vanguard Knights Battalion. Hopefully, y'all are enjoying this these shows, these shipmates that I bring out to y'all so you can hear their journeys, their stories, and they can explain to you kind of what they've gone through throughout their career. Today's special guest, this brother and I served together at Seven Fleet Staff. We were shipmates, uh I believe it was 2018 into 2019. Without further ado, Mr. Mike Savant, what's up, bro?

Mike Savant 1:11

Good, Gary. How you doing today?

Gary Wise 1:13

I'm doing good, man. My voice is almost gone because I taught all day.

Mike Savant 1:18

Yeah, school's starting down there for y'all, huh?

Gary Wise 1:20

It did, man. It did. It's great, man. It's we got a lot of kids in the program now. Very nice. It's getting big, man, for sure. How about you? How's everything going up north?

Mike Savant 1:30

Oh, everything's going great. We uh we start school in two weeks. We start after Labor Day. Um, you know, we're already doing soccer practice and coaching soccer, and then we start coaching wrestling here September 9th, and that's nine months. That's we do all year round. So it's a long program.

Gary Wise 1:48

I can relate. I I'm telling you, it feels like a deployment. Whenever we go into the school year, and I have all these commitments from like the beginning until the end, so I lock everything else up. Like I can't, it's it's I can do it, but it takes a lot of maneuvering, right?

Mike Savant 2:02

Oh, yeah, for sure. Definitely. It takes up a lot of time, but it's man, working with the kids is it's a lot of fun.

Gary Wise 2:08

And you got so you got two younger boys and an older daughter. Is that correct? Do I remember that right?

Mike Savant 2:14

Yep, I got a 21-year-old daughter who uh she's doing great. She's in college now, she's working on being uh radiology tech and going into MRIs or CAT scans, okay, which is really cool. And then my son Gunner's 10-year-old, 10-year-old son Gunner, and I have a seven-year-old son Riker.

Small-Town Roots And Wrestling

Gary Wise 2:29

So yeah, doing really good. Nice. All right, well, let's get into it, bro. Because as we go through the story, well, I'm sure we'll lay everything out. If I remember correctly, you were wrestling in a high school, and I feel like you were from like the center of the United States of America. Am I right?

Mike Savant 2:48

Yep. So originally from Oklahoma.

Gary Wise 2:50

Oklahoma, there we go. Boom.

Mike Savant 2:52

Yep, originally from Oklahoma. Uh moved actually out of Oklahoma when I was six, up to Washington State. Okay, and that's where I was kind of raised up there. But yeah, originally from Oklahoma.

Gary Wise 3:02

So Oklahoma moved to Washington State. How was it growing up in Washington? And in particular, I guess I'm interested in high school. Like when you were in high school, were you like a big-time like wrestling athlete guy? Were you in ROTC? Were you in any programs like that in high school?

Mike Savant 3:17

So our school didn't have programs like ROTC. My uh high school had 150 kids for 9 through 12 grade, 9 through 12. So my graduating class was a whole 36, I think it was. So we didn't have a lot of programs. I was a pretty standard small town kind of guy. I did wrestling all four years, and then baseball and football, and you know, I just did all the sports, and then all summer long you worked in the hayfields, just you know, working on farms, and and during the school year, you just you did sports all year round. So it was a pretty, pretty standard, normal, kind of like small town growing up. But I wouldn't, I loved it. I I miss small towns.

Gary Wise 3:53

And I you said a minute ago you're wrestling, you're coaching wrestling. So would you say wrestling held a more of a special place in your heart than like football?

Mike Savant 4:01

Oh, yes, wrestling was always like my passion. I you know, I played football during football season, but then I wrestled um during the wrestling season and then would even go to like club practices all the way until almost June. I was wrestling up until almost I joined the Navy even a little bit. I I loved wrestling. I still do to this day. I coached when I was in Iceland on the DOD team uh for the DoD high school. I coached wrestling up there. So I've I've wrestling has always been a passion of mine.

Gary Wise 4:27

You know, my dad was a wrestler, he was a he was very close being a state champion, but I'll tell you a wrestler, especially I would say an amateur, a college wrestler, like the guys that are really into like that traditional wrestling, it's a lot of freaking hard work. It is a lifestyle, bro. Like the conditioning, the weight management, preparation, the and then of course the training. It it is that what drew you to it? Was this that level of commitment?

Mike Savant 4:56

You know, honestly, probably not when I was young. You know, when I was young, I had a uh uncle who was a state champion in Oklahoma. I had a cousin who was a three-time state champion at Oklahoma. And so like wrestling was kind of just what we did in the family. Everyone talked about it. Um and then I honestly in high school, I probably did. I mean, as much as I loved it, it was such a small program that you don't take it as serious. Like looking back, could have taken it more serious. Yeah. I just loved the sport, I loved the one-on-one competition. Like team sports are great, but in no team sport do they raise your hand. And I like that one-on-one competition where, like, okay, I beat them one-on-one. At the end of the day I can't blame anybody else. The quarterback didn't throw an interception, the goalie didn't let it kick by. It's just I got beaten if I lost, or I won. So there was some elements of that that I enjoyed. Um, and so that's what probably drew me to wrestling the most was I kind of as much as I love team sports, I like that one-on-one, like either I'm better than you or you're better than me. And I enjoyed that.

Why The Navy And Choosing Weather

Gary Wise 5:56

I respect that, man, for sure. Okay, so you're then you're coming up through high school, you're you're like you said, you're working in the summer, you're working at farms, you're kind of in this small town, but you're involved in a bunch of things. At what point do you decide you're gonna up and join the United States Navy, brother?

Mike Savant 6:13

You know, it's a funny story. So I when I was in Oklahoma, I'm always fascinated by weather. Like I actually wrote like my college, uh, not my college, but my high school stories, like my English class, I would write a like my paper would be on weather. Or I just love weather. And so coming from a really small town, I didn't really understand options to get to being a meteorologist. Like, I didn't see a way there. And I had a cousin who was in the Navy, and he would roll into town every year for the Portland Rose Festival on a small boy, he's either cruiser or destroy, that's one it was, and he was a chief, and he would show up in town, have a really good time, and then roll out of town. And one time he took us onto the ship, and he's like, took us to the chief's mess, and I had no concept of what this was, right? But I remember hey, life on the ship ain't that bad. He shows up, has a real good time for like four days, and he rolls out. Yeah, and so I was like, I kind of like the Navy. So I at one point was living in a house, it probably wasn't the people there weren't making the best choices. Yeah, and I was like, Man, I gotta get out of here. I can't just do this. So I didn't have so I just went down to the recruiting office, and because my cousin or my dad's cousin was in the Navy, I was like, went to the Navy office, I was like, Hey, I want to do weather. And he had told me about the AG rating, like I didn't know, but he told me about it. So I went in there and I said, Hey, either I want to be an AG or I'm not gonna join. And fortunately, I you know scored high enough on the ads, I haven't had all the the prerequisites needed to be an AG, and they're like, Okay, we got you. And then I was out.

Gary Wise 7:54

So I want to come back to that for sure, but I kind of remembered something as you were telling me that story. If I remember correctly, you grew up in a household that was open to like having like foster children or having giving opportunities to kids that maybe didn't have opportunities other places, right?

Mike Savant 8:10

100%.

Gary Wise 8:12

What was that like for you as a young person growing up? Because I will tell you now that I'm a high school teacher in the world in the civilian sector, it's incredible, bro. The amount of kids that are going through all kinds of things in their teenage years, like I it's heartbreaking, it's super heartbreaking, right? And I hear a lot about that because I I talk to them, right? And I just I have no control, I have nothing I can do, I can just listen and tell them that I'm there for them. But you you growing up in that space, uh, what do you remember kind of about that? And how do you think that shaped you as you grew up into the man that you are now?

Foster Care At Home And Compassion

Mike Savant 8:50

Uh definitely huge impact. So my mom started taking in foster children when I was 16 years old. So I was definitely in high school, I was already like older, so it wasn't so it was definitely towards the end of my time at the house. Um the first two foster kids we took in were Romeo and Natasha. They ended up being adopted and become my brother and sister, and then after that, my mom kept taking the kids. My mom is a saint for every every meaning of that word. She took teenage boys, that is the only kid she took because teenage boys are very hard to place a lot of times in foster care. So she took teenage boys that were end-of-the-road kids, and she took kids that were it was her house or group home or Juvie. Those were the steps. Like after her, there was not a lot of places in the system that the kids could go. She graduated 85% of those teenage boys.

Gary Wise 9:46

That's awesome, man.

Mike Savant 9:47

She did foster care for like 20 years, 22 years. At one point, I think she won the foster parent of the year award. Like, she is a saint. And so she was a professional mom. That's what her job was. So seeing her impact on kids, like it was something that that's definitely like helping people out, it was ingrained in me very early on. Just be helpful. And so it was amazing what she did with those kids. Because she had just come to the house that I mean, as someone who's probably a leader of young men and women in high school, you hear horror stories, you hear how bad it can be. And she heard the worst of the worst. That's something that I heard because, as the you know, the old the oldest brother in the house, people would share things with me. And so I at a very young age, I was dealing with some pretty heavy situations that actually really helped develop me into the young man and then older man that I've become over time, because you just learn how to navigate hard times for people in a way that's like compassionate and honest, and you can just kind of like, hey, you know, I can't help you right now, but I can maybe get you some resources that can because you also learn when you can't fix it. There are times when you can't fix it, but you can help them get to somebody that can. So that really I learned that very young. Um, it definitely resonated with me a lot. That's kind of why I work with kids now because I just enjoy helping people.

Boot Camp And AG A-School Realities

Gary Wise 11:16

I get it, man. I and I and it's it is amazing the resources that are available for the kids and what we can do, especially when we know, or a lot of them are already getting the help. And I'm thankful for that. I just remember it was such a breath of fresh air when I got out of the service because I kind of went from babysitting a bunch of supposed to be adults that were like complaining about cleaning their barracks room and stuff like that. And then I get out to the civilian world, and these kids are so fired up, so motivated, so inspired, and they're going home to some tough times, right? Like they want to stay at school because it's there's there. I don't want to, I'm not the whole safe space guy, but it's kind of their place to be and to feel like it's a home for them. And they really have good friends, they have good memories, and they just enjoy it there. And it was a uh it was definitely it was great, it was good to find that it was there, and then it was a reminder though how big the world is and how challenging it can really be, especially I guess when I was overseas so much, and like how you lived overseas. We really got we were kind of protected from some of that stuff that's out here in the world when you're over when you're abroad, right? Which is why a lot of people like it. Let's be honest. They like that quiet small town, everything's pretty safe. We're all screened to live there. So there you go. So you know, some we're not, right? Yeah. So, okay, so AG, so for everyone listening to our conversation, an AG is a rating in the Navy, and that's an airographer's mate. Is that correct?

Mike Savant 12:46

Yep.

Gary Wise 12:47

And airographers are essentially the people that are responsible uh for working with the weather. And I'll tell you, as we get into this conversation, I had no real awareness to what AGs did, except for my time on the aircraft carrier and like talking to the AG senior chiefs of the Rama ship, right? And like I knew they were both really good dudes, they're both real solid, very competitive guys, but they had a very small shop, very small rate. So they were like, I've got a one guy was like getting an OOD letter underway for driving an aircraft carrier. He's like, I gotta get that to McCrake. And I was like, what, bro? Like, that's crazy. And so then when I got to Seventh Fleet, is when I really got dialed, and I did my IW call, was then I really got dialed into how involved that the weather is, not just when it comes to operational planning, but just operations in general, right? And all kinds of different intelligence and all kinds of other stuff. So that's I'm sure we'll get into that too. So when you joined the Navy, what year was that, Mike?

Mike Savant 13:49

2000.

Gary Wise 13:50

2000. So before 9-11.

Mike Savant 13:52

Yes, I joined February of 2000, so before 9-11.

Gary Wise 13:56

Okay, before 9-11, you go to basic training. Do you remember any big takeaways for you from boot camp? Was it was it what did you get your money's worth?

Mike Savant 14:04

I you know, honestly, like I had gone to like coming from the wrestling background, right? Yeah, I mean so like they're not like and I had been wrestling all up quite a bit. So I didn't really there wasn't like a physical aspect of it. Yeah, and I coming from doing sports teams where I was doing football and not the team aspect I liked. I didn't take a lot away from boot camp, other than I enjoyed it. I actually enjoyed boot camp. I enjoyed physical challenges, and you know, I had a I had a pretty cake gig. I was the laundry petty officer, which seems ridiculous until you realize that all you have. I I was milking the system. I I definitely was playing the system early on because all you had to do was like, oh, I gotta take someone's laundry because they got asthmo, which means rolled back to the next division. Yeah, so I'm gonna move their clothes over. Well, it could take you know three to four hours to fill out that paperwork if the whole if the whole division is getting worked out. I gotta get that paperwork done. So I definitely took advantage of that very odd position. Um, but honestly, boot camp, I I remember like, of course, culmination with you know the battle stations and whatnot, the emotional moment at the end. I that all resonated with me and stuck with me to this day. I still remember it. Um boot camp was just a unique and fun experience for me.

Gary Wise 15:22

No, no, I always think it's interesting when I hear people's takeaways from it because people that kind of grew up with I would say levels of perseverance already ingrained in them, resiliency, and especially coming from an athletic background, especially wrestling, you're gonna be you're gonna have that so deeply ingrained in you because of the training aspect. Matter of fact, I was talking to the to my cadets today about perseverance and resilience. We were given a training, and I told him I said one of the best ways you can work on that is by getting on a team of something and playing a part. Because through that commitment, you're gonna build up those strengths, and hopefully you learn to not quit, right? And you learn to push through and see it all the way to the end and get out of your comfort zone. And then when you go to somewhere like college or basic training, it's not as challenging as you think it might be. You might be in your head, like it's oh my gosh, it's gonna be so crazy. And then you get there and you're like, ah, it's not that bad. Could have been worse, right? Could have been worse. So then after you graduated basic training, was your A school like your school was that in Pensacola?

Mike Savant 16:27

No, my A school was at Caseware Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. That is where the Navy Marines both go for their basic AG or weather forecasting or their weather observing qualification.

Gary Wise 16:41

Weather observing. So for Mississippi, right? How long is that school?

Mike Savant 16:47

It's about it was about three months of that time. Three, three and a half months.

Gary Wise 16:52

So, what was it like? I mean, did did you work? Did you have a job before you joined the Navy?

Mike Savant 16:58

So I had a few different jobs. Honestly, I mainly grew up working like throwing a lot of hay bales. Okay, you know, I worked on farms doing fencing and whatnot. I spent a summer working in Alaska doing salmon fishing. I had worked at a wood, wood cabinet shop building cabinets. I I had done a lot of like just just blue-collar small town work, you know. So I done a little bit of everything, but nothing like kind of consistent.

Gary Wise 17:21

Okay. So now when you get to Mississippi, right? So not only are you coming from Washington State, now you're in Mississippi, right? I mean, and you got a J-O-B, right? Your job is to go to school every day, right? But then you got free time in the evening, and you're now you're a sailor. Did you meet? Was there other how many other kids were in your class?

First Command Lessons In Texas

Mike Savant 17:41

How many other we only had about 12 in my class? So my class was a little unique. And so you mentioned like you had free time in the evening. So when I got there, there was a real bottleneck on students. So they had a a brilliant idea, which I I questioned the thought process on this one. Like, here's what we're gonna do we're gonna take a class of 12 and we're gonna put them on a night school program. So they go to school from 3 to 11. That way it for because the classrooms we had the classrooms were all full, so this gives a chance to kind of get the students through. But what happened is if you put students on a three to eleven program, their schedule no longer aligns with the galley. Now you have to give them per diem. So we were so I want to picture this. We were led by an AG1 as our instructor, and as someone who was probably taught before, generally speaking, if you tell an instructor you can go home when the class is over, and it's three to eleven, you don't we weren't there till 11 very often. So we were there from like three to six thirty-seven.

Gary Wise 18:44

Yeah.

Mike Savant 18:45

And we were 18, 19 years old, and they were giving us $660 a month in per diem on top of our base pay, and we didn't have to check in in the morning because we were night school night check, so we got to sleep in. That is a and you're in Belichick, Mississippi, where the bars don't close until 6 a.m. Because there's casinos. That was one of the wilder times of my life because it was just I I had gone from helping raise foster kids, being involved in sports, helping my mom to actually less responsibilities because now I'm just go to school learn about weather. Love it, and that's what I've always wanted to do. So I go to school for about four hours a day, and they're paying me at that point about $1,500 a month, and I have no bills. It was go time, it was it was pretty crazy in Belxi.

Gary Wise 19:42

I believe it, man. And that story, honestly, it's not it's not that foreign to me because I've heard it before, right? Military schools, especially Navy schools, and I even taught. I taught at the say at a senior enlisted school, and trust me, we got earlier, we were done more earlier than than usual because people let's push, let's push, give me the information, I'll study it on my own, bro. I'll be ready for the test. Yeah, the instructor is tapping the foot. Remember this part.

Mike Savant 20:13

As someone who's instructor certified, I can agree that I've tapped a foot in my past.

Gary Wise 20:18

And you know, I just and now, even as a teacher today, you know, I there I'll get to the point where I'll recognize the students are glazed over and they're cooked. I'm like, all right, I'm done teaching, bro. You're done, I'm done. Let's go look at the animals. Like, so I get it, but then on the reverse, like we're getting paid to go to school, so we're supposed to be getting our money's worth, but then, like you said, three to eleven is a that's a bad plan, bro. Like, that's who wants to be there till 11 o'clock at night ever? Nobody, nope, nobody, and then I I asked that question because a lot of us our time at school is like our first taste of freedom with like a steady paycheck and buddies, right? We got buddies that also have steady paychecks, and so our we're young sailors, you get some good liberty because we've all got money and nowhere to go but the bar. We're gonna check it out. So I and then how was Mississippi coming from Washington? Was it like in the 2000s? Um music was great, yeah, right? Music was great, the club scenes were great. I was a Navy recruiter about that time in Clearwater, Florida, and and it was a great time to be an American, right? It was just a lot of fun things happening, yeah. Do you remember Mississippi fondly?

Mike Savant 21:36

Oh, I do. I I love Mississippi. Um, I used to go back and visit my grandparents in Oklahoma every summer, a lot of times. Like, I I loved the South, the slower pace of life. People are generally nicer, my experience, even though they may not always mean it, but they at least appear nicer. Um, I I just enjoyed this. I enjoyed Mississippi. I had a great time there. Um, lots of memories, lots of fun. I don't have any a little hot and human, but I don't have any negatives really about Mississippi.

Gary Wise 22:04

Good to hear. It's just I what I like about our country is there is little different cultural pockets as you go different parts of the country, or whether it's whether you go to Pac Norwest, whether you go up to the northeast, whether you go down south. Even in the south, there's differences, right? Mississippi is not the same as like, I'll tell you where I live at in Ocala. Uh, but there's so there's nuance to it. Okay, so at the end of your school, three months, as you said, do you get any sort of a saying where you go next, or you just get told you're gonna get orders, you're going here?

Iceland Tour: Isolation And Growth

Mike Savant 22:34

Well, they everybody in class that got asked, where do you want to go? I said, I want to travel and see the world. You know, I moved away from Washington, I want to travel. So, my first duty station, they sent me to Fort Worth, Texas, which is the opposite of traveling. I literally can drive to my grandparents' house. It was about five hours away. Okay. Um, but Fort Worth, Texas was the reason I stayed 23 years. That was probably my most influential chain of command I'd ever had. Now, I was not a great sailor. Like I had some, I'd gone to Captain's Mass a couple times at Fort Worth, had to learn I had a seal that held a seal that held the line. I had a senior chief that stood up for me. Like I had all these things that you know, as I progressed in my career, I appreciated more and more. Um, I had all the pieces were in place to make me appreciate what the Navy can be. And so, and I had a couple AG2s that like I got a little too comfortable, I'll never forget AG2 Rasmussen. We we were all such good friends. That was because we're we're there's only nine people to debt, it was a C C P O I C, so it was a chief petty officer in charge. There was no officer there, and one civilian, and everybody gets real comfortable. And I remember I came in one day and I messed up on observation, and the AG2 was telling me about it, and I got real flippant with him and definitely kind of snapped back. And he literally put me in attention in the office, like it was old. He got some and then called me that night and was like, Hey, let's go fishing. I was like, I don't know who you think you are, but the way you just yelled at me, like, we're not good anymore. And he was like, Man, there is a job, and there is a professional job and there's a personal relationship. He's like, if you can't understand the difference, okay, then we'll just end we'll end the personal and talk professional. And that really spoke to me. Like, there are times when you have to put on the correct hat for the moment. And he, I that resonated with me my entire life. So I that that command was was amazing. You know, I follow on after that with a command that was not as stellar, in my opinion. But it really, because my first command mattered so much and meant so much to me, like it, I never I never planned on getting out of the navy until I was told to get out. That changed at the end because I just my priority shifted, but I just enjoyed, I always loved the navy. There was never there were days that were hard, but there wasn't a lot of bad days. Yeah, so I enjoyed it.

Gary Wise 25:04

Nice. So there, like you said, small group, nine people, chief petty officer is the guy. I could see the I could see the enjoyment, right? Especially if you guys are taking care of business, no one's in your weedy, everybody's squared away. When I was a recruiter, I I was taking we were all we were a small shop. It was a first-class petty officer, was the lead guy in charge. All of us were second classes, and yeah, we would have personal, professional lives. And at that rate, at that stage, you could do that, right? And it wasn't, we didn't have some of the politics that I would say we get exposed to as we get more senior in the in our careers. Uh, that's a challenge for I think all of us, right? And even as I see it, even as a high school ROTC teacher, I see it because I'll I have all these leaders in all these positions, and if they spend too much time with a certain group, then people start putting, oh, they're all the buddies, so that's when they're gonna be on this team or that team. And you gotta be like, well, no, that's that's not how it is. But then yeah, I remind my leaders like, hey, be aware, there's perception, people are always watching, they're always talking. And unfortunately, humans love to talk, right? They just love to talk, and sometimes it comes back to haunt us. So when you were, did you leave your first tour as a second class?

Mike Savant 26:17

No, so that Cap is mask thing I mentioned. I got busted down from E4 back to E3. Um, when I was in Texas, and then I went and then I put E4 back on, and then I went to Keflebik, Iceland as a second tour duty.

Gary Wise 26:34

Okay, and that was after 9-11 was Iceland. Yes. So when 9-11 happened, you were in Texas. I was okay. How does how did 9-11 affect your community? Do you remember being an effect to the AG community as far as life after 9-11 from the nate from your perspective?

Becoming A Forecaster And San Diego

Mike Savant 26:56

So at the time I like I was a young sailor, so I didn't know enough about my community per se to really know the impact. I know there were um two AGs that were killed at the Pentagon from and during on 9-11. Um, but for for my like me being aware of what how it impacted the community, I don't really know that. I just remember I was, you know, during 9-11, it was kind of unique because we had MCPO Terry Scott would you routinely fly in and out of uh Fort Worth because he lived down there and whatnot. And the Secretary of the Navy would fly in. So when 9-11 happened, we actually had the Secretary of the Navy, his staff was in the our office, in the Meetalk office or the weather office. We were all watching the news live. And so we actually had people that were like like they they could see where the planes had hit the Pentagon, and they were like talking about names of people they knew that were in those places. So it was much more like it wasn't just a news story, you actually watched people's lives like kind of crumbling because they were seeing things and like people they knew and spaces they worked in, and they had walked the halls that were now collapsed. Yeah, and so it was kind of unique in that aspect that we'd that they were there, and I remember they were like, Okay, nationwide, all planes are grounded. They were like, Nope, not ours, and sure enough, SecNav was out the door. But that was probably I'll never forget when like this I can't remember her name, but she was like, You could she you see her getting emotional because she's like rattling names of people that are there, it was it was really something.

Gary Wise 28:39

Yeah, I I always ask people that, especially though. I mean, for those of us that served that generation, because it just the United States Navy went up to like 11 after that, right? We just opt tempo went up, all kinds of things happened that people don't really understand that because the Navy always was operational because I mean it's kind of our role, and in order to keep the training for the Marines going and for the air wing to go and all that we gotta be operational, but then after 9-11, everything just kind of turned up, and it's interesting to hear the perspectives, and then Iceland, right? Which is Iceland still a is this still a base for us right now, or did they shut that down?

Mike Savant 29:18

My understanding was they closed down the naval air station. There's still some like assets up there, yeah. Um, like ASW submarine warfare stuff. Yeah, there's uh from a naval air station, they closed it down.

Gary Wise 29:31

I remember there was a billet there for a D seaman to be like the base fire marshal or something like that. They were like depaws, like disaster preparedness and whatever it was. So when you got the opportunity to go to Iceland, I mean again you wanted to travel. Uh so were you happy to take orders to Iceland?

Mike Savant 29:49

I was. Um, what's funny is AG2 House, who I worked in with in Texas six months prior to me, had moved to Iceland. Okay, so somebody. That who I was already close with. And he it was funny because you know his name was Daryl. He was like a cowboy cowboy, like roping and riding. So he went to he went to Iceland and I got so I knew somebody up there, which was very nice. Um, and I was just excited to go see something new because I I had joined to go travel and see things, so I was excited.

Gary Wise 30:20

Yeah, and at that point in time, so it's what 2003, 2002 time frame?

Mike Savant 30:26

2002. It was like the uh fall of 2002.

Gary Wise 30:29

So internet is actually kind of a thing at this point. So maybe you can communicate a little bit better, you can get some intelligence about Iceland. Uh, so when you first landed in Iceland, you know, being an over your first overseas tour, what was that experience like walking off the plane, bro?

Mike Savant 30:47

Well, initially we had to wait on the plane because the winds were blowing so hard they couldn't they couldn't roll the uh the basically the walkway off the plane up to so like please stand by when the weather dies down, we'll get off this. And I was like, oh my god, what what have I done? Like this is um and I I I enjoyed it. Iceland was unique because in the end of the day, it's a small island, it's not that big. Um, I had my truck shipped up there, so I drove a lot around Iceland. But the problem is that it's an 18-month tour, and you can see all of Iceland in a couple months, and so I saw all sites, I I loved it, but then after that, like you kind of settle in, and once winter hits, it's like 23 and a half hours of dark. The sun doesn't come up. Um, so you just every day you go to work, it's dark and windy and rainy. And every day you get off work, it's dark and windy and rainy. So it gets very groundhog day during the winter. But then in the summer, like we had a softball tournament, which one of our games was at uh midnight. Yeah, we played softball. They had like they have a 24-hour tournament. You play softball for 24 hours, so it was uh it was a lot of fun. Iceland was I I definitely party too much up there because you're on an island and you kind of stuck, and I was young, but but Iceland was it was a good good tour duty.

Gary Wise 32:14

Yeah, I was gonna ask you like what's the culture of like because if it's dark a lot, are people inside a lot awake though, lights are on, lots of activity and energy on the island, or is it uh like what was that part like?

Mike Savant 32:30

It was there wasn't a lot of energy. So I was as a young sailor, I probably wasn't seeking out the energy that I could have seeked out, maybe enjoyed the island in a more like mature and like profess, like not professional, but just like personal way, like learn more about Iceland, you know. Yeah, I just had some pitch sales I hung out with. We'd go out drinking at the bars, we'd come back drinking on the base. The barracks were nice, so we would they had like lounges in the barracks, we'd shoot pool and watch shows. Like it was it was a good time. Yeah, but I do I think if I had gone back like when I was like over 30, you know, a little more mature, I would have appreciated a lot more and probably taken the the culture in a lot more.

Boxer Deployment And Oil Platform Ops

Gary Wise 33:12

Yeah, and I get it, man. I mean, my last tour in the Navy was on Guam, and Guam's not a very big island. And you would like the beaches are great, but I know sailors that are like, I don't want to go to the beach. Like they just want to sit in their barracks room all day. And then I would say one of the differences they've got this internet Wi-Fi, they've got access to so much information in their barracks room that they don't really, you know. Whereas when we were younger, um there wasn't that much specific. So you still were hanging out with buddies and doing things, but it's just in indoors a lot, and then just working your, like you said, working around the clock. Okay, so uh in leaving Iceland, and you kind of alluded to that this earlier, that it wasn't as much fun as your previous command, right? Right, and it's probably just again multiple factors, and an 18-month tour is a quick turnaround, right? Like you get there and you're already planning on leaving, it feels like. Uh, what did you want to do after Iceland? Did you ever want to wanted to go where?

Mike Savant 34:12

C school. I want to be a weather forecaster. So when you're an aeriographer, your first schooling is just to be a weather observer, it's just to go outside, do basic observations, identify weather features, and then you tell the forecaster the current conditions so they can develop the forecast for the future conditions. Um, I wanted to be a weather forecaster. That to me was being a meteorologist, which is something I always wanted to be. So I went to C school to be a meet to be a full meteorologist after Iceland. And was that back in Mississippi again? It was back at Keysler Air Force Base in Mississippi, yeah.

Gary Wise 34:49

And how long is that school?

Mike Savant 34:51

It's about nine months.

Gary Wise 34:53

Okay, and you're still single at that time, yes. So nine months back in Mississippi.

Mike Savant 34:58

I was dating, but I was single. I was I was dating, but I they weren't with me. It was like a long distance thing.

Gary Wise 35:03

Okay. Um, but back to Mississippi. Was it a lot different returning now as a more seasoned senior person that had had what five years of fleet experience at that point? Well, how was that?

Mike Savant 35:16

Oh, it was different. I um at that point, you know, you I got involved with the Yong Bay softball team, and you know, and school's pretty demanding. You know, the C school can be pretty tough. So, like a lot of us just study groups together. Uh, I I just enjoy I enjoyed, I've always enjoyed Belux, Mississippi. It's always been a nice place to go and spend time there. So I and I lived out in town with a friend of mine. Um kind of interesting story there. Make sure you know uh more about people you move in with before you just move in. You can get some surprises. But uh well, you got to see school. We're like, I don't want to live in the barracks. Let's just get some B. Let's just let's we're both E5s, returning from the fleet. We can get BA8 out in town. We'll we'll split an apartment. Make sure you know who you're moving in with for you. Um, but it was uh it was it was another good tour. I enjoyed I enjoyed the school, I enjoyed learning, and that that to me was the building blocks and the fundamentals behind being a weather forecaster and a meteorologist. Like that is what I joined the Navy to do.

Gary Wise 36:17

Nice. I'm glad you're able to get that school, and it sounds like you got it like right on time. Like you get you're E5 now, it's time to go to the school. Nine months back to Biloxi, which again, you've been there before, so it's kind of like returning back to a to a safe spot, like you know thing where you know where restaurants are at, you know, the location. Um, what are you thinking about? And by this point, you know, I mean, you already said earlier, hey, I'm staying in the Navy until they kick me out. At what point did you though change that lens where you're like, I am freaking, I'm not just staying in the Navy, like I want to progress in the Navy, or did you ever have that mindset, even at that stage of your career?

Mike Savant 36:54

You know, honestly, I don't think I developed that mindset much early on. So I'm 85 at about four years roughly. Um, and then my rate like closed down. They were making one to four AG1s for like three years. And at one point I forget my chief, Steve Newsome. I had taken the test, I had scored like a 74 on the test. Like I I'm a fairly good, decent taste test taker, and I I love what I do, so I actually felt like I felt like the knowledge was there because I really paid attention in school. He pulled me aside and he looked at my looked at my test scores and he goes, Yeah, you can't change, you can't do anything else. Yeah. Um, because at that point I was just coming in as a new forecaster, so your your evals are not going to be great because you're the new forecaster. And although I'm the eval system, I would love to think it's merit-based, a lot of times it's seniority-based, so it takes time. Yeah, and I could not, and there were good, there were good E5s there. Like it's not knocking them, it's just the system that was that exists, and so it just takes time to get in there and move up. So I didn't really have a big drive to move up until I couldn't. That's the kind that's when it kind of got me. I was like, man, I'm stuck. So um it was like 2007 or 8. I actually went to BUDS because I was doing anything I could to get away from the AG rating because I was tired of being an AG2.

Gary Wise 38:25

No kidding. Yeah, I don't think I remember that part of the story. So hold on. So you you leave meet weather forecaster school, and where do you go next?

Standing Up A New Command In Coronado

Mike Savant 38:35

I go to San Diego. This is where my my career could have probably derailed here pretty easily. They sent me to San Diego to basically go to a job that was no longer gonna be there because they moved it's called OTSR, which is the people that write the weather for the ships. Yeah, they sent me to San Diego, but then moved that mission to Hawaii. They're like, hey, we need somebody to monitor chat for the ships in the so the Southern California op area. So we're gonna put you on this watch and you're gonna just basically sit on the watch floor and monitor chat for three years. That was my job. You don't you don't write weather forecasts because the ships are getting their own forecasters. So that was somewhere where I was just like, man, this kind of this sucks. Yeah, good evals and then had good evals, smoking the test, doing all the things that I you know felt like I'm actually I can't advance. And then so that's why I was like, screw it, I'll go to Buds. I gotta do something, get out of here. They take AGs, I enjoy challenges, let's give it a shot. And so I did all the stuff, got to buds, and I did it. You if you go to Buds, you have to want to be a SEAL. I went to Buds because I didn't want to be an AG, and that's a very different perspective going into that kind of environment. Yeah, also, if you go there as an E5, you're in charge of people. And there was a huge push in that time to increase the special warbreak community. So some of your buzz classes were like 268 people. And as an E5 in that group, you're gonna be held to the SEAL standard to keep all those young kids going. So you're already getting it's just it's a rough show. So I was actually only in and then I talked to the SO1 and I was like, explain the situation. And he's like, Oh, by the way, I was there because I was like, I'm gonna take the test for AG1, and then they're like, No, no, no. As soon as you get here, you're don't take any more exams, and you lose your time and rate because it's a new rate, and you can't, so you have to start over. So in SO2, I would have tried to go to SO1, I would have had to wait two to three years to even take the first class exam again. So that's what I walked up to the SO1 and I'll never forget this. I'm like, hey man, I don't I don't know if this is for me. I hadn't even started training yet. I literally was still on like a med hole because you have to get medically cleared to get started. I never even did a push-up in butt. I was like, I got to the hey man, this is not for me. I was like, I was I came here for the wrong reason, yeah, and I just don't think it's gonna work. And he's like, Well, you know, and he started explaining to me the fleet. Now, at this point, I had two warfare pants, I had done an appointment, so I went TAD while I was on the watch floor so I could go do something. I was like, I pointed at the the second-class curl, I was like, I'm familiar with what this is, like I know what the fleet's like. So I came here for the wrong reasons, and I'm not gonna waste your time or my time. And I just dropped out, and then they got me back to an AG command with them with one week to spare to take the first class test, and I made first class.

Gary Wise 41:41

So you had so when you left Bud, you got new orders to go to a whole different command.

Mike Savant 41:47

Yeah, I got new orders to go stand up in aviation command in San Diego. Okay, new command they were standing up, so they were like, we got to fill these billets, and when can you be there? I was like, I can be there tomorrow. So I checked in immediately because I had to be checked in by like Friday in order to get them to order me an exam, and that exam is when I made first class. Wow, that's that's that's fortuitous. It was crazy, it was a crazy like five-month situation.

Gary Wise 42:18

That's an interesting one, bro. So I'm gonna go back real quick. So you're on that watch floor. What do you stand at watch rotation? Is it like eight hours on? How what's that rotation like?

Mike Savant 42:27

It's the the same thing I with my guys kind of stood in Japan. We were it was a two days on, two days off, three days on, three days off, 12 hour shifts.

Gary Wise 42:35

Okay, got it. So you're doing like a three, two, two, three rotation, yeah, and then what was it like when you got the chance to go to the fleet and go like on you got embarked on an aircraft carrier, you said, for like a TAD?

Mike Savant 42:48

No, so uh Commander Claude Gehard, he was the Meatalk officer from the boxer, and he was basically coming on the watch floor and working because he was a workaholic. So he'd come in there because he had access to a zipper terminal, and we would just be talking. And I and I would just talk about how miserable this job was. Yeah, he's like, I can get you out of here. His chief was Chief Newsom, who was my instructor in C school, who I had a lot of respect for. Um, one of the bigger influences on my career. And so he was like, Hey, come on out here if you want to come out. And I talked to my exo, and they were like, if you want to go, I was like, Yep, time yep, get me going. And so we deployed on the USS Boxer in 2006. 2006. And that was great tour as a forecaster at C. I was, I mean, I worked the night shift the whole time because I was the new guy, and we had a two AG1s that were really good. So we had the LPO during the day and the AG1 running the day shift, and I had to learn how to like manage my techs, and we had we had four techs that our techs were you know, junior staff did the observations, we call them weather technicians back in the day. It was the only thing challenging was is they would do their job, but they would have a contest every day to convince each other who hates the Navy the most. Because they had had a real they had all been on the previous deployment with a different chief, and it was rough. Like they had to log in and out of the office to use the restroom. Rough. Yeah. So by the time I get there, man, it was like every day they're like, who could talk the most trash today? It was a rough, you know. Finally, I was like, listen, guys, you're all getting out. I won't make you do anything more than your job. Do your job, do it well. I I'll give you opportunities, you don't have to take them. I'll give you pee value. I'll break, I'll recommend your peas, you know. Just do your thing, just do your job and do it quietly because I don't need you negative every day. We're gonna be out here for six to nine months. Yeah, you can vent some, but you just can't this can't be a competition to clean it at the most.

Gary Wise 44:55

Wait, so you you were coming in TBY, but you got to be like the work center suit, like the LPO, is that how that was?

Mike Savant 45:01

Or no, so we don't have work center suits, but in the AG community, you're basically you're the LPO, the forecaster, the observer, the the weather technician. Um, so that's what you and I was a forecaster, so I had two technicians that worked underneath me that did their job.

Gary Wise 45:19

Who could have the who could I think we were on the same deployment, bro? Because I was on USS Ogden in 2006. We deployed, and we're usually an ARG, we're usually an amphibious readiness group or ESG. Uh, do you remember if that was a deployment when you on were you on Boxer when the KO oil terminal blew up?

Mike Savant 45:40

No, I actually was on Boxer after that because three months of my tour on Boxer, I actually worked on K bot. I was actually I was on the barge tied up next to the oil terminal after it had blown up. So I was the next needle after that. Um but I worked on that oil platform for three months.

Gary Wise 45:58

So we were there doing meals on keels when it blew up. I rescued an assistant to that oil fire. They literally, so one night I get woke up, DC one, DC one, wake up. What's going on? I need you to go to DC Central. You go to DC Central, my chief is down there, and I'm like, what's going on? He's like, stupid, don't ask. And I'm like, what? They threw us on a rib, they take us over to these oil terminals. First time I ever meet a Navy 06, he's over there, right? I'm I'm I'm I'm a DC one, bro. I've never even my captain's an 05, I've never been in the I don't remember ever meeting an 06. And this guy's, I remember he's like, his name's like Bravo Echo or Echo Bravo or some crap. Like, that's that's your name. Like the hell, right? Right, and he's like, Um, these are oil terminals, but there's nothing installed to prevent fires. What do you guys think we should do about that? And I'm like, yeah, and so I'm all excited. I'm like drawing up all these plans and we put on pumps, we'll pump up water. My chief is like, it's never gonna happen, dude. Don't even worry about it. I'm like, well, whatever. And then like three weeks later, it blows the hell up. Oh yeah. And I was like, Well, what are we gonna do? We talked about this before, you know. There you go. So, and I think it's it what were then? What were you doing on that barge next to it? What were you what were you doing then? Living on the barge?

Making Chief And The Season’s Lessons

Mike Savant 47:24

Yep, I saw living on the barge because they needed someone to do the weather forecast for the the the ships. A lot of times it was like the Coast Guard cutters that were doing sector security around the oil platforms. So I was providing weather forecasts to the that's crazy. So on the oil platform, there was like 30 people. One of them happened to be a three-star general. So I was briefing the three-star every morning about weather forecasts for the ribs and the boats around the boat ops around those oil platforms.

Gary Wise 47:55

That's how high level those oil platforms were, though, right? Oh, yes. That was the primary source of money for the Iraqi government at that time. Yep. And we had American embarked security teams, right? I remember watching them hilo off the off the oil platform because there were people jumping off that joker when it was blown, bro. They were jumping. Yes, it was crazy, and we were fishing them out of the water, it was nuts. And I just remember seeing the hilo extracting them and just thinking to myself, like, what in the world is this? Is but that's a major place of income revenue for Iraq, and then it had like all the holes in the terminals where like Iran and Iraq have been at war and shooting them. Oh, it was it was rough. Hey, dudes are walking around barefoot smoking cigarettes, and I'm like, Y'all know there's no firefighting gear. We gave a bunch of portable like PKP extinguishers and stuff. Here you guys go.

Mike Savant 48:50

Nothing surprised me. I remember we had an Iraqi small boat come alongside, and we're like, okay, let's get them. Because you know, at that point, a small crew like that, everybody's bosun's made, everybody's in everything. So I was doing lines, like you know, helping them get them tied up alongside. They weren't even tied up yet, and they started jumping off their small boat onto the platform, they're dropping gear in the water. I was like, Oh my gosh, this is this chaos. Like I remember people just popping stuff. It was nuts, it was crazy.

Gary Wise 49:17

It was an interesting time to be in the Navy for sure, right? I remember training the Iraqi Navy, and it's like they were more worried about playing soccer, like they wanted to play soccer, and we were out there trying to teach them how to do like firefighting and stuff like that. It just it really didn't take, right? And they weren't really getting, but then we were we were out there because our job was we were bringing the guys back from the oil terminal so they get like showers and they can get it cleaned up because there wasn't the best facilities for them on the terminal. They had a CS up there, a mess specialist, who was making them damn good food on like a little griddle.

Mike Savant 49:54

We had the best suit I've ever had in the Navy on those oil platforms because the three-star travels with his aid. So his aide worked in the kitchen on that oil on that uh barge, and we all ate in the same mess.

Gary Wise 50:08

I think it's smart they brought a barge alongside. I think I was there before the barge because I don't remember there being a barge there. But that's smart, that's a lot better than the accommodations they had beforehand. Yeah, it was it was pretty good in the honest. Yeah, good. So now you're you're where's that AG commander going to after BUD?

Mike Savant 50:27

San Diego. So I actually got to San Diego in 2005, and I didn't leave San Diego until 2017. Same building. Same building.

Gary Wise 50:37

So you were there for before the bubble burst, and then after the bubble burst, right? And because I was, I mean, I left San Diego in 2010. I got there in 03, so I was also there for a little bit. Uh, and so I watched that whole that whole roller coaster happen. A lot of navy guys got hit hard with that because they overextended, you know. I knew this one guy I made cheap of the guy that he had he owned a house free and clear, like in LA, and he owned like five houses in Vegas off that one house in LA, and he lost all those damn things during that bubble burst, you know. Um, so when you're at that next job after BUDS, there's that new AG commander, they're just standing up, right? It's a whole new thing. You just make AG one off the test. Right, how is that?

Mike Savant 51:28

So that's probably when my my career really took off. Uh, I loved leading. Prior to that, I was a I was a worker, loved being an AG. But after that, I made first class, and then we had four duties, so basically four sections, right? Because you got the two on, two off, two on three off. And every section took 12 hour ship, and and we stood up and we had to get all trained, you had to get certified, because we forecasted from Mississippi River to the West Coast. And every Navy plane that flew in that area, we wrote a forecast for them, you know. And so it wasn't I couldn't write those myself, so I had a whole team of forecasters and text that was like, okay, how are we going to run a duty section to where we can meet the operational need of all those aircraft? And that's when I I really like started coming out of my my shell, like, hey, this is what a leader does, this is how you motivate a team. Like, we had a great day. I we would literally all work out together. Like, we would cycle through at night. Um, it it was a that was a lot of fun. I mean, we had some crazy, we used to barbecue um until we set the dumpster on fire out behind the building one day. So we we were barbecuing and my AG A N at the time. We had a can of ashes, and he's like, It's cold to the touch. I'm gonna go dump it into the fire, into the trash. They had just finished taking out all the ceiling tiles from the building. So he had all these little ceiling tiles in there. Yeah, he dumped those ashes on there, and I will never forget when he calmly tapped me on the shoulder and goes, Hey, you want dumpster's on fire. What? I look outside, the lid to the dumpster has melted inside, and it is a roaring inferno. So I call the base fire department, like, hey, I have a dumpster fire. They think I say structure fire. So they rolled every accident. They think everything. And then I get to call, I get to call the uh OIC lieutenant and be like, first off, everyone's okay. Little problem. And I told her the story, and it was just it was just crazy. But that was that was another one of those commands where I kind of enjoyed so much, like it made me want to to continue to be a leader in the movie. And so I it was great. What base was that on? San Diego, uh Coronado.

Gary Wise 53:58

Coronado, you know, having done an installation or having been a part of an installation now, I can see them throwing everything at it because they're not very busy.

Mike Savant 54:06

Police, like there was like five police cars, four fire trucks, two inches. They set everything.

Seventh Fleet: Watch Floors And Moves Aboard

Gary Wise 54:17

It was oh man. All right, so you're there, you're being you're essentially an LPO, it sounds like of your own duty section, if you will, your own little command of a four-section watch bill, and you guys are in your own, you guys are doing COVID bubbles before it's COVID, right? You guys are just we never see anybody, yeah. Yeah, this is our you and I saw that a lot when I was dealing with the security folks, how because they do a very similar rotation, yeah. And I'm very I was very thankful for having had my time at Seventh Fleet. So when I got down to Guam, I was like, Oh, okay, I've heard about this 322 three before. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but okay, yeah. And the but the people that do it live by it and die by it because it's and it's really is the easiest way to manage the problem, right? Let's be honest. It just it's the only way to kind of do it. I mean, every other place in the world that does it wouldn't be wrong. I mean, that's a lot of places do that rotation. It's just if you never lived it, then it's unique, right? Especially if you're on nights. Ooh, when you're that guy on that night 12 hour shift, that's a tough ride.

Mike Savant 55:22

Usually the biggest debate is do we stay on nights for two weeks or do we stay on for a month at a time? That's how and so I mean, I I like the month because I do a little bit of a schedule, but honestly, like once you're in that rotation, you love your three-day weekends. Yeah, you love when you go from day shift to night shift on a three-day weekend because it's really like a four-day weekend. Like, you there's some perks there, but yeah, it can be a bit of a grind.

Gary Wise 55:45

I I can only imagine. And similar to the watchboard rotations, when I was on the ships, especially as a young sailor, and you're six on, six off, or whatever it is, and they dog to watch, that would really jack up your schedule, man. I'd rather I would rather stick with the same rotation for a while and let my body be in rhythm. But I think when you're on a ship, it's kind of hard because stuff during the day, they don't give a dang if you got night sleepers, right? They don't care. Like, we got GQ, bro. We're gonna do, we're gonna set zebra in your birthing, we're gonna do whatever. Hanging that little paper on your curtain will not protect you, right?

Mike Savant 56:21

Constant struggle for night check. I had a lot of things.

Gary Wise 56:25

It really is. Yeah, it really is. I they almost should create the birthing space just for night crew people that's like just a hundred percent separated, but then that's hard because birthing is so sacred because everyone's in the same team, right? So you have trust there by everyone being combined, anyway. I digress, but sleep rotations are a thing, yes, and they are a problematic challenge for leaders, especially in these kinds of jobs. Um, I appreciate that you really felt like this was the time that you started getting the chance to step into the leadership role and you figured out that you liked leading. When you look back on that, what was it you liked the most about it? Was it like seeing guys like turn on, like recognize, like helping them unlock things that they didn't know about? What was it about? Did you just like controlling your own destiny and like, hey, I've kind of got a vote now, what the heck's going on? Um, and I can protect my guys, which I always like. I love having like being able to take care of my guys, right? For me, that ownership piece.

Mike Savant 57:27

Um when I was the LPO in the watch section, I enjoyed watching people learn and do be good at their job because of things I had done to set them up for success. Um I was doing that for about two years, and then that that OTSR thing they sent to Hawaii, they decided to bring it back because you know the Navy can't make up its mind. So now we were like, okay, here's this new command, and we're gonna bring all these sailors together. Operations department's gonna have like 65 sailors all by itself. And that's the first time they were like, even though I wasn't the most senior guy, I had had a pretty good run. So they made me the department LPO. I was in charge of all operations, and what that's where I learned I enjoy solving dynamic, complex problems. It became less about actually it became less about the people because the people were gonna have success. But if you could put something in place to enable success across a larger group, I actually got to where I felt that was almost more rewarding than the one-off success of just working with somebody. I liked developing large solutions to large problems. So that's where that's where I kind of had a run because at that point I I took the first classic exam or the chiefs test for the first time and then made chief off that off that uh the first look. Because I had a good run. Because I really I I feel like I finally kind of learned what my niche was, and I really enjoyed it and had success at it.

Gary Wise 58:57

And so you went through initiation at that command where they combined those two commands together.

Mike Savant 59:02

Yeah, so I was at that command, but the initiation was with all of uh North Island, so we had about six. I didn't ask you that next 75 selects or 72 selects, there was a lot. Oh, it was chaos, bro.

Gary Wise 59:13

I bet I bet North Island gets it in, bro, and it's aviation maybe.

Mike Savant 59:17

Oh, it was crazy. And I made the mistake, you know, because I always been fairly physically fit, and I was like, hey, we're doing the run. There was a guy who was struggling, so I'm gonna help him. I'll jog with him. I don't care. Not even thinking about the consequences of failing the PRT at the beginning of the season. So I helped this guy, he gets across the finish line and he passed. Yeah, he was old. I failed, they put me on FEP. I was on FEP the entire season. I'm gonna go be at FEP at 5 a.m. for the whole season. And he didn't. I will never forget that. So I'm going to like these FEP classes. It was a nightmare. It was it was fun though. But the the nice thing was is some of the genuines had recognized that. Maybe I shouldn't be on FEP. So there were some other things that had to be done. Because it was like we got 70 selects and you're trying to raise money and this and that. We would do like a steak fry. It's like every Thursday morning, go PT. They'd be like, hey, I'm gonna go get all this food for this steak fry. So I missed a couple PTs because they I think they kind of understood that maybe I didn't need FEP.

Gary Wise 1:00:21

Yeah.

Mike Savant 1:00:21

Yeah, it was it was an exciting adventure.

Gary Wise 1:00:24

So what year was that?

Mike Savant 1:00:26

I've got 2010. 2010. I looked over at my wife, but she made it the same year. So I was looking at it like am I right? 2011.

Gary Wise 1:00:36

Nice. So 2010, an initiation group of 70-something people, North Island with a really great Chiefs club, right? They've got a really great Chiefs club over there. Uh what was your biggest takeaways from that initiation process? Do you remember? Do you have anything big that came out of that for you?

Blue Ridge Chaos, Culture, And Fixes

Mike Savant 1:00:55

You know, it's hard to say something profound came out because I you're so busy doing stuff that I don't think was tied to being a great leader. Now for somebody like me who likes solving complex dynamic problems, I I I loved the season, had a great time. Yeah, um, the one thing I did learn that I think I did take away, and I use this on Selects further on, was uh identify what matters and put your energy into that. We had a senior chief, John Gentry, who he taught me this probably the lesson I took away. He would literally tell Selects the most garbage assignment. He'd be like, Hey, I want to know the history of Coca-Cola and every subcompany you've ever bought, and what was the stock price when they bought it? And I mean, it he would list out like 40 things, and you're just dutifully writing down okay, okay, okay. I see your chief, and it's you know, taking it's really serious. The other chief is like, hey, who's the Mekpon? I don't got time for that. I gotta get these notes on Cook Cola, right? That's that's literally what it was. And we had a unique group of selects, so there were six AGs going through, and me and Iris were like, she was a 10-year chief, I was 11-year chief. The other four were like 18-year plus. So it's a very different mindset coming in because if you've been in 18 years, just make it chief, you are so conditioned to listen to the chief that it's hard to stop, it's hard to learn to be the chief because you've just listened to the chief for 18 years. Yeah, at one point I'm like, we are not looking this up, we are not doing this. They're like, No, no, no. Senior Chief Gentry wants to know about Coca-Cola, and we would go to training and we would tell them about Coca-Cola.

Gary Wise 1:02:42

So just so I understand, six AGs are going through it from your command. Yes, but they're part of a group of 75 or so people selects. Yes, and then Iris, is she was she AG? I thought she was IT.

Mike Savant 1:02:55

It's IT, so my command had an IT shop, and she was the IT shop.

Gary Wise 1:03:01

Got it. So you guys were in the same command, so you would go back to your command and they would do stuff there next turn, and then oh, by the way, you're included in this bigger group as well.

Mike Savant 1:03:11

Yes, absolutely. All fun.

Gary Wise 1:03:15

It is hey, you know, I I did the insulation, like I said, did the installation thing, and it was an interesting perspective, much different than being like on a ship. Um, but every tribe, if you will, in the navy has their own pluses and minuses, right? Like you had that 75 people, but you got to meet a lot of people, you got to network with a lot of people, right? And see a bunch of diversity in the navy and their perspectives. That's that's a great part of it. And my I mean, I don't did you ever go to old nav lead school once upon a time?

Mike Savant 1:03:45

I did not.

Gary Wise 1:03:46

So that for me, I went to nav lead over on Coronado once upon a time. Might even have been and Navy amphibious space little creek, not little creek, but uh Coronado, NAB Coronado. And I it was the first time I was in a room with like aviation guys talking about leadership, and we were all like second classes, first classes, and Chiefs initiation became that first time for a lot of people because we lost that we were teaching all that leadership within our own shops, right? Right in whatever that was gonna be, and so you that's a big part of it. But then to your other point, it's always I always ask guys that were initiated, you know, hey, what'd you get from all your takeaways? And truthfully, that's one of the main ones. It's prioritization, right? Recognizing what's the real priority, what's the chafe, what's the chaff, what's the what's the crap they're using to distract you? And are you willing to step up and say, um, that's not the priority right now. We're not gonna deliver you information on Coca-Cola. What we're gonna do is move forward, and then whatever, right? So I get that. That's a that definitely a big part. Um, after initiation, so you're done. Are you still gonna be that same command following as a chief? Because it sounds like you were there for two years prior.

Mike Savant 1:04:59

Oh, yeah. So I stayed in the same command. Um, I was the LPO before I made chief, I was the LPO um on the Lincoln working up to go to on deployment. We were like in the almost in the Com2X. And then made chief, as we were pulling back in. Uh I found out on the ship that I had made chief. They my command took me off that team, right? Let me go through the season, and then flew me back out in the middle of COM2X. I took over as chief of my division in the middle of Com2X. Get ready to go.

Gary Wise 1:05:33

Like embarked on board the Lincoln, though. Like you guys were sent out, embarked for the deployment. How was that going from being this super AJ squared away ops LPO guy to becoming a now a chief petty officer at the command? Was there any was that was that an easy transition for you to make there?

Mike Savant 1:05:53

Uh yes and no. So I had a really good team, which helps a lot. If you've got a bunch of struggle, like you're struggling, it's gonna be hard. But I had um, but here's where being a small like community, my LPO was a great friend of mine. So we had to have that conversation, like, hey dude, and he and he never slipped up. Like he was always and he never like called me Mike or slipped in the office, and it was never an issue. I had a phenomenal officer, I had great sailors, so I I never I was never slipping. The thing I struggled with was probably integrate in the chief's mess more because I was just learning how to be a chief and go into the mess and just you know, like I remember I got actually I was on the Lincoln when the next set of selects made it, and one of the other chiefs in the mess actually rang me and was like almost honorable because I hadn't been paid yet. Yeah. You know, that like it was like I was you know still learning like all these things about being a chief. Just takes time, you know. So I I really I I I probably struggled there a little bit initially. Like I'm not a shy person, but it just didn't I was I didn't feel like I was in I'd been so busy during the season. I was one of those people during the season that got so much done, I didn't always stop and get like charter book signatures. You know, I made the mistake that uh most selects make, to be honest, yeah, of doing tasks by recognizing the purpose behind the season. Yep. So I I I had missed out on that. And so when I went to the ship, I knew a couple folks, it grew out, it just takes time. Um, but I had never been like actually Seventh Fleet was the first time I had worked with like a lot of different rates across platforms as a chief. I had always been like AG working in the ops people and making ops stuff happen. I hadn't worked with you know your CSs and your IF, your IS as much or your IT. Like they that wasn't really what I'd been doing for most of my career.

Gary Wise 1:07:56

I can relate to that, man, because when when I left uh when I was at DC Master Chief, before I went CMC, I was at an all-engineering schoolhouse, and that was one of my most difficult times because there was not a lot of diversity, right? When I say diversity, it's rating diversity, so diversity of thought. We were all engineers, and so it was not it was not as much fun as it was being like on the ship and having the CSs and the boats and mates and the combat systems guys and the whatever. And so being in a community that's as small as yours, and you guys are all kind of seeing each other at the different places, you're all going to Mississippi, you've all got different things in common, similar to the nukes, right? In my mind, it's very similar to the nukes because you only have so many places to go, you only have so many things you can do. And oh, by the way, there's only so many master chiefs, senior chiefs, chiefs, and first classes in the community, so it's pretty small. I can see that being being uh a plus or a minus, right? For sure. And then I've also seen when guys come out to the like the carriers and you're in BART, they do tend to focus a lot more on their mission because they're really only enough of them there to do the job. They don't have a lot of excess people, right? You're on the watch floor, you're doing the watch briefs, you're doing all these things that the average person's not gonna have no clue what you're doing, and nor are we quality. I mean, if you go do IW, you might learn. Otherwise, you might never know. And so I could see that. I could see that for sure. How did you end up being on the Lincoln for the next Chiefs initiation? Was that a very long deployment?

Mike Savant 1:09:37

Uh no, we was like we were underway because I they got back and I went underway for something. Okay, it was like a short, it was a short underway for something before I transferred to my next station.

Gary Wise 1:09:49

Yeah, and you so you leave that next station, so you deployed as a chief, or you got underway as a chief. And then are you and Iris? Did you guys get married during that tour, or was that later?

Mike Savant 1:10:01

No, that was a little bit later. That was 2000. No, I'm gonna get this right. It's been about 11 years now. I looked over, like I'm looking down at them. It's like it's 2014.

Gary Wise 1:10:14

Just get the month and year right, and you'll be okay, bro. Everything else.

Mike Savant 1:10:17

It was 2014. Um, but no, we actually um you know, what we went through the season together as just colleagues and friends, because she was the LPO in her IT shop. I was the LPO in the AT shop. Um, and then it wasn't until about two or three years later when situations kind of changed. We're like, let's let's let's date and see what happens. We kind of like each other, and it's been great.

Family First: Autism Diagnosis And Orders

Gary Wise 1:10:42

I remember you telling me that story, actually. Yeah, I remember that. And I remember trying to put my head around like two senior chiefs, man. I guess not that's E18, paying or whatever. That's pretty that's E16, that's pretty good, man. That's not bad. I remember that. So, okay, so you leave that command now, and where do you go to next?

Mike Savant 1:11:00

Next, I go to instructor duty. I I become the uh the chief over at the schoolhouse, which basically is a very small command. But the thing with the AG community is we're all in the same building, like we're literally in the same building. So in that same building, I went from C duty, shore duty, instructor duty, see like I just rotated around for 12 years. I never left the buildings.

Gary Wise 1:11:20

So that chief mess that was raising you or initiating you, is that a mixture of all those chiefs? Yes.

Mike Savant 1:11:26

I came up with all the people, like I knew every chief from like E5 up.

Gary Wise 1:11:33

Like that's that's interesting. Yeah, so that's like a mess of like three different commands, but they're all AGs in that one building. Yes.

Mike Savant 1:11:41

Okay. I became the chief of the schoolhouse. It was basically a lieutenant commander, me, and four first classes, and we just teach. Probably one of the more enjoyed, probably more laid back. I'd come off C duty, I was very busy. Instructor duty, at four, I think at this point, all four of the first classes that were there are either master chiefs or senior chiefs. Like they're they like I had a great great instructor. Give them some guidance, they would go.

Gary Wise 1:12:08

What were you teaching there? Were you teaching that weather forecasting? Was it like refresher school?

Mike Savant 1:12:14

So you teach the tactical side of weather, which is more like how far your radar is going to see in the environment, how far is your underwater sonar centers gonna see in the environment? Um, okay, how about the currents for special warfare, stuff like that? So it becomes the tactical side of weather, not the like stuff you see on TV.

Gary Wise 1:12:31

Okay, got it. Makes sense. And that's where you got your MTS, and that's where you eventually so you come out of that tour. Now you guys are in a committed relationship and thinking about life as a family and all that other stuff. All right, go ahead. When did you decide to leave San Diego? And when you decided to leave San Diego, was that for Japan?

Mike Savant 1:12:54

So initially I had orders to uh Sixth Fleet staff, but they decided they hey, we got a guy that made chief there, so we're just gonna leave him there, and they cancel my orders. And at this point, Iris was on the TR, uh Theodore Roosevelt. I was like, You just I told the detailers like you tell me where I gotta go, I'll go. I was like, you just put me and uh me and Iris together. I I'm just I'm along for the ride.

Gary Wise 1:13:17

He's like a senior chief by that point.

Mike Savant 1:13:19

I'm a senior chief. I made senior chief at 14. So I was I made senior chief at the uh at the schoolhouse. Okay, and so they were like, Well, we need someone to go to Japan. I said, Okay, I said IT detailer, AG D tailor, you figure out the rotation, sure, I'll go wherever. Um, and so we went to Japan in 2017. It was like September, I think.

Gary Wise 1:13:42

How was that when Iris was on the TR? Did you guys already have your first son yet?

Mike Savant 1:13:48

We did. We had uh had Gunner, and so I was stay-at-home dad in it, figuring it out because you know she had the year where she stayed, and she was at Spaywar. Um, and then when the year was up, she went to the TR and I did the luckily being at a schoolhouse with great first classes and great leadership, I had the flexibility I needed to where if something happened, I could leave work, go take care, excuse me, take care of the family. And so I basically took care of Gunner while she was underway, but she never did a deployment because because of the timing, I had been an instructor for three and a half years. I was just sitting there, but they wouldn't rotate me because they're like, well, Iris needs to finish her time and the other command. So it was our PRDs were not aligned yet. Right. And so there was some back and forth between detailers, and then when they canceled my sixth fleet orders, that means they were like, Oh, well, we're just gonna put her on the it was just it never quite worked out, and so then when it kind of came together, like, hey, we can go to Japan, I was like, sure, this is whatever. Talk to Iris. She was like, Yeah, it'll be a fun adventure. And so at that point, you know, I was I we went headed to Japan. We were in the Navy Lodge when we found out she was pregnant with Riker. So I haven't done the housing brief and requested like the two-bedroom or three-bedroom, and I was like, Oh, we're gonna have another baby. So they upped our house so we have the other room for the baby. Um, but we found out she was pregnant while we were in the Navy lodge when we got to Japan.

Gary Wise 1:15:13

Very cool. I mean, so I guess when you guys got to Japan, got off the airplane, how exciting was that?

Mike Savant 1:15:20

I we're pretty excited. We I mean, we we were very we were looking forward to it. Honestly, Japan was an adventure. It was a win-win all around. We there was never any hesitation to go do that. So we we were very excited.

Gary Wise 1:15:33

How much different was Japan from your Iceland time as far as getting off the airport? Like your first, your first right, like because when I got off the plane the first time in Japan, I was like, holy crap, this is like a lot, this is not Kansas anymore. Yeah, this is how was Iceland versus because I never had a European adventure, right? I can't I don't have that for comparison, right?

Mike Savant 1:15:55

Um Iceland was small. So Japan, you get off Iceland's very small, like Kehlovik is so small. You land on base, you know, it's as a word. You fly into, you know, so you're on base, you get taken straight to the and I'm by my I'm a E4 at the time. Basically, you catch a ride with your sponsor who takes you to the and you actually in Japan in Iceland, you land at the air terminal, which is where the AGs work. So I got off the plane, walked into my job office, met everyone, and went to my birthing and was like, cool, this is great. Okay, so Japan is a little more adventure because I had the dog and you know, and had to do all the stuff, and the the logistics is harder, but more excited for Japan because you know, with the family, we were just we were excited to do something that was most people will never get to live overseas. Yeah, and so we just we were we kind of embraced that, we really enjoyed it.

Gary Wise 1:16:44

So when you guys got off the plane in Narita, how'd you get down to Yakusuka? Did you guys ride the big that blue bus?

Mike Savant 1:16:50

No, because we had the dog, somebody came and got us, and I think it was Dave Beagle, for uh someone Iris' sponsor had rented a big like command van to come get us, and so we had like this 22-passenger van, almost like a mini bus. And they came up there and it got us and brought us down.

Gary Wise 1:17:08

Nice, very cool. And then you said you got housing. Were you guys on main base, or were you guys over there in a cago?

Mike Savant 1:17:14

We were in a cago, okay. Yeah, we loved it out there.

Second Fleet Startup And COVID Command

Gary Wise 1:17:18

Good. Hey, you know what? I remember back in the days when there was that other spot. Uh they closed it down. I forget the name of it. It was haunted. Be glad you didn't go out there. It was haunted, bro. There was a I can tell you stories. Well, on it off the thing, it was haunted, right? But I think it was it was called not Nagishi. It's called Nagi. Okay, haunted.

Mike Savant 1:17:40

Haunted.

Gary Wise 1:17:42

Okay, so okay, so you get there, and Iris is she goes to SRF, right?

Mike Savant 1:17:48

She did, she was SRF.

Gary Wise 1:17:50

All right, so she goes to SRF. I actually just did a podcast with another brother who's at Dom Taylor. Remember Dom?

Mike Savant 1:17:56

I remember Dom.

Gary Wise 1:17:57

Yeah, so me and Dom just did one of these, man. So he's he's coming up. Yeah. Dom, you did a good one. Yeah, that was good. So when you get to Seven Fleet staff, here you are. You've been in this building now as an AG from AG2 to AG senior chief, it sounds like AG2 today. Now you're walking into this world where it's uh you got a three-star boss, your boss is an 06, there's a bunch of different people. What did you think when you first got there?

Mike Savant 1:18:27

Honestly, it was just so I had been in the operational world on deployments and on watch floors, and it felt very familiar to me, to be honest. Uh, the uniqueness was doing it with all the different races. The chief the chief stuff with the other race was a little more unique. But I I a watch floor is a watch floor, it really doesn't matter where you put it at, who the who the customers are. Like, I know everyone's like, oh, it's the three-star. As a meat talk person, my first brief as an AGAR or AGAA was an 06. Like my very first part of the brief was an 06. Like you are briefing senior people from the get-go. So I never felt like I always a watch floor is a watch floor. Maybe a few more watch stations, but at the end of the day, it's a watch floor. So I felt very comfortable with that aspect of the job. Um, there were some unique challenges, like as being as the deputy meat talk, because then you're doing like writing messages for ships for stuff that's you know, they're doing unique things over there that you can't go into on the podcast because it's just unique. But that's something that I had not had experience with was writing these like naval messages to task force commanders who execute blah blah blah. Had to learn how to do that. Um, but honestly, like I had AGs that had to stand a watch. We were in a similar rotation. The biggest challenge I had is I got there, and the the AGs I had had had some development stuff we had to get through. Uh they were pretty far behind on some IW stuff to the point that they should have had like SPE valves, like you follow the instruction.

Gary Wise 1:20:01

Yeah.

Mike Savant 1:20:01

And so that was kind of a challenge getting there is that uh that they weren't developed the way they should have, should have been. And so that was a that was a challenge I had to work through, you know. And it took time because then some of them were getting out soon. They're like, Well, I don't care, I'm getting out. Like, that's cool. You can just uh stay late and work on your IW till you get out. Like I got you till then, so either get your pen or you'll just work late every day, like forever. And so it was challenging, and then I I rolled into the department LCPO pretty quick, and so then we had some challenges with uh a couple chiefs that didn't have the right W pin. And I remember that writing that SPE valve and then routing it up chaining command. I think this might have been before you were there, or actually.

Gary Wise 1:20:54

I think it was right before I got there.

Mike Savant 1:20:55

Yeah, I I wrote I just routed it up, Commander 10 and Commander 10. I was like, here you go. He's like, What's this? I'm like, let me tell you a story. And I told here and I routed it up, and I it got to up to the chief of staff, and we had a big sit-down meeting, and I'll never forget when Commodore Rexro was just our Captain Rex Road was just like, Hey, if you don't do this, I'm just gonna go ahead and take your security clearance and down the road you go. Like he's like, I'm holding the line on this.

Gary Wise 1:21:19

Was that Rex Road or was that uh the other guy before Rex Road?

Mike Savant 1:21:24

No, it was Rex Road.

Gary Wise 1:21:25

Then I was there because I was there before Rex Road was okay.

Mike Savant 1:21:28

I couldn't remember what so you wasn't MA? Was it the Ma? No, it wasn't the MA, it was the CTR. Because it was a core, that's why it was a core rate.

Gary Wise 1:21:37

MA didn't have to get it, but the core rate did, which is why I was like I'm pretty sure I I remember the conversation, and and and with if that was Rex Road, that makes a hundred percent sense because he's a submarine dude, right? Oh he's gonna be like, Oh, you're not qualified, you're out. Yep, you're dead to me, you're a god, right?

Mike Savant 1:21:55

So that that was it was interesting to start.

Gary Wise 1:21:58

Okay, so that was when you first when did you get there?

Mike Savant 1:22:01

I got them in September of 2017.

Gary Wise 1:22:05

Oh, you got up there, and I didn't get there until so man, I wasn't there yet, maybe because I got there in January of 18.

Mike Savant 1:22:12

I remember you got there because you arrived while I was on emergency leave because my dad had passed away. So, like you had met everybody, and I will never forget like that command, they came through like I'd had no idea that they'd like paid for your plane ticket back and get you home. I didn't know that stuff. So Aaron Manning, who was the senior chief run of the shop before I took over, yeah. I go up to the office, I'm like, hey, I'm a mess, and I'm explaining the situation. He's like, just go home, I'll take care of it. The because my wife was active duty, initially SRF was like, well, she's not on his orders, so they don't need to fly her home. And Toby Powell reached out to SRF and was like, We're we're gonna do this, like we're gonna figure this out. And so he backed me up. I'd never met him, so he backed me up, and we he they got us all tickets and flew us back to be with my mom after my dad passed. So that was uh another one of the situations where I saw the mess do its thing, right? Like Aaron got me what I need. He had like look by the end of the day, I think by the end of the day or the next morning, I had plane tickets. Yeah, and Toby reached out to IRC command, and they've all fell in line, and it worked out really it was really impressive how they supported me through that.

Hitting The Ceiling: Promotions And Politics

Gary Wise 1:23:22

Yeah, I remember. So when I first got there, Aaron Manning was still there, and to your point, I would say that 100% when it comes to commands, they they at that level they can make miracles happen. Oh, yes, and the YNs can make miracles happen because they'll put the whole package together, just get one guy to sign it, and it's like gone. And I remember just sitting in meetings here in the budget, and I was just like, Oh my god, there's a lot of money passing through this place. Oh, yeah, it's crazy. They had money, but I think that's um that was part of the problem, though, was they had to get put back in the box eventually because I think the money was also being spent a little buck wild, but uh they took care of good care of people for sure, man. Yep. Um, I unfortunately lost a parent as well when I was attached to them, and they sent me home real quick, you know, and took real good care of it all. And yeah. So you're there, you get there. Yep. Um, you were in the how long you were in the building for a while before you guys got on board the ship, right? What did you think about being in the building with the watch floor? Remember that? Because I remember it was a whole thing about Gary, they gotta have mid rats because we're moving on the ship and they gotta have food to eat. I was like, okay, I mean, I how do we work that out? Do you remember how remember that transition?

Mike Savant 1:24:41

Yeah, so I I remember I got pretty heavily involved in all that operation world because moving the watch floor, getting the watches. Um, we stood up new watches because we were trying to get mock compliant, mock certification. I remember being because I was kind of moving in that department LCPO thing, like I got real smart on mock certification. The mock is maritime operation center, right? So I got real, real into that and standing up the watches and getting everything going and making sure the right people were where they needed to be and whatnot. So when we started moving over there, like it was just it was an IT and logistics nightmare. It really was. You know, when you're supposed to be in charge of command and control of the fleet, but you can't do communications on the ship, it becomes a battle. Yeah, um, but you know, like like everything else, you just you ply it up, you apply steady, consistent pressure in the right places, and things just slowly move towards success. It just takes time. Yeah, people want it now, but it's not gonna happen now, it just takes time.

Gary Wise 1:25:40

I I heard recently that they're back off the ship again and they're back in the building. I did you hear that?

Mike Savant 1:25:46

I have not heard that. So it's crazy. When I walked away from the Navy, like I walked away, walked away.

Gary Wise 1:25:51

Oh, okay. So well, I think it was Dom I was talking to actually about that because we were talking about what it was like to be Blue Ridge crew and have us coming back on board. And I don't know if you knew this or not, but when I first got to Seventh Fleet staff, and it was still it was the chief of staff, it it was Vice Admiral Sawyer. He had just got there, and and like with one of the very first meetings I ever had in that room, he was like, Master Chief, I want you to get my staff back on board that ship as fast as possible. That was like my number one task. And it was like like it was just all the things I was being told like Gary, it's gonna be bloody, just start ripping, ripping band-aids off and making people be uncomfortable. And I was like, all right, I can do that, you know, let's go. And it was quite the transition, but we got it. I mean, remember that time we got underway on the Blue Ridge and everything died, like all the air conditioning went out in the ship.

Mike Savant 1:26:45

I will never forget. I will never forget Captain Rex Road on the Iridium phone on the flight deck, screaming because it's the only way we can communicate because every computer overheated, and the only comms off the ship is that iridium satellite phone. And we pulled and he was so mad, he was screaming, and I'm pretty sure CTF 74 on the I mean it was or 76. Sorry. Yeah, I remember that. I'll never forget that. I remember sleeping in the in the mock because I had I got I'm sleeping in there because there's nowhere to sleep. Me and uh Zo were yeah, that was that was crazy.

Gary Wise 1:27:25

It was hot, man. It was hot, it was uncomfortable. Yeah, that was an interesting underway for sure. Out of all my underways throughout my career, that one was in that was because if we if I mean if you would have said a worst case scenario, that was probably about it, short of a major fire.

Mike Savant 1:27:43

Yeah, well, I remember like the the Blue Ridge folks were so excited the engineering didn't fail, they're like, This is a success, and we're like, no, we're command and control, and we have nothing.

Gary Wise 1:27:53

Yeah, but to them, they were like, We told y'all not to come. Oh, I know that you know, they were just like they were so validated, bro. Like, I remember me and Jim Grant would be talking, he was like, He would just give me that. I told you so. Look, and I was like, brother, I just work here too, dude. I'm just trying to help them. We're all trying to play our positions, bro. Yeah, I really but and if you remember, I thought we actually had a pretty unified mess for a period of time, especially like coming through initiation and all that. I thought it was pretty good.

Mike Savant 1:28:23

Uh well, I think once me and uh who was the senior chief HT on the Blue Ridge who ran the season with us. I cannot remember his name right now. But remember, he did not like staff and me and I think me and him at one point, he had taken a shot at the Blue Ridge the Seven Fleet mess. And me and him went down to his office because we got into it. I was I met him at Peeway. I'm like, I said, Hey man, why are you running your mouth? He's like, You want to talk about it? I was like, Let's go. I I I love me some confrontation, so I was like, let's go down to your space. So we went down there, we hashed it out, and I explained our point of view, their point, and I mean we had a and after that we worked great. I mean, we had no issues. I thought the season went really well. We had Mario with Mis though, Mario and the other guy came over his name. But uh it was a I mean, I had no issues with them after that. Once me and him, because he was the he was the mess president, and I was the mess president, and there was an issue with like the partnership day or the friendship day with the Blue Ridge kind of like undercutting us on coins or something like that. There were just some shady business practices I thought I thought they were shady, not even saying they were, but from my perspective perspective, they were. And so me and him had it out about that.

Walking Away: Amazon And Perspective

Gary Wise 1:29:38

And I was like, And that's why we put the mess with the associations up. Remember that? Separated, and that broke a long standing tradition of that. But truth be told, having I'd quite a bit of Seventh Fleet time under my belt, I will tell you, everyone knew that that mess was toxic. Like the combined mess never worked, even on an aircraft carrier with an embroidery. Mark airwing, you don't combine the CPOA, right? You just they're different things. And so it needed to be done. And we were just the ones courageous enough to do it and didn't care, didn't care. Like we don't, again, we didn't mind the confrontation. And I looking back, I remember when I left that ship when you know I walked through a row of Chiefs, it was all Blue Ridge and all Seven Fleet staff, right? It was not just Seven Fleet staff. Everybody came out to show me love. And they've all been super cool throughout life. As I've gone on in life, we've all been connected because I remember we being in the mess having those conversations. And again, my background being a DC man, black shoot guy, like a lot of them. We all come from similar backgrounds, paths, give advice, mentorship, whatever it was. So, but it's an interesting place to be a crew member because you're embarking and you're essentially an echelon or two away, right? And it's like you said, Cos is on the phone yelling at CTF 76 when the captain's downstairs, bro. And as a matter of fact, the captain was one of the best naval aviators in like Navy history. Captain Crozier's a freaking hero, bro. I don't care. I will fight for that dude. Like I remember when he walked off the Theater Roosevelt in Guam, right? I took him a bottle of scotch that night. He had COVID, right? He had COVID. I was an out I was running the COVID response on the installation. The CMC, Gary, he just wants a bottle of a booze. I'm like, I got you, bro. When he got at the booze, that because I had just been drinking with him downtown Guam, like weeks before that, reminiscing on Seventh Fleet staff and like Captain Rexrode losing his shit on the time. Oh, yeah. We were laughing about it. And then what's funny? I'm eventually sitting in Guam on calls with Seventh Fleet. Rexroad's on the other end of the phone, losing his shit.

Mike Savant 1:31:54

Oh yeah. Oh, I'm sure he was.

Gary Wise 1:31:57

You know what you got to learn about the guy? He he just was again, he he just very deliberate, very deliberate. So uh as we wrap up your Seventh Fleet staff time, uh, because you ended up leaving there right about what I left there, I feel like, right?

Mike Savant 1:32:15

Yes, so Seventh Fleet was unique for me because you know, I'll go back a little bit. When I got there, Dave Vest was the uh SEL, the command, and he was looking to turn it over, and he had said they had he'd already kind of like, hey, you're gonna be the guy. And so then I left and came back, and you you would showed up. So obviously you're the guy now because you're CMC. Um, and so that's good. That the story ties into the next command. That's why I'm bringing it up. So it was gonna be SEL, being DLCPO, love my love my life, whatever, it's good. And then we were actually finishing up um our first deployment. I think we're in Singapore, and we had noticed Gunner had been just a little slow in development while we had him evaluated, and he was he got diagnosed as like autistic. And so that is where, again, the command came through because Gunner was Iris' dependent, not mine, because the Navy cannot figure out for some reason how to list a dependent under a mom and dad if they're both active duty. They're they're they're incompetent. I don't get it. Yeah, so they're like, oh, we're gonna send Iris home, but we don't know if we're gonna send you back because you're operational here. That's when Chris Sherman was like, hey, I got you. And that's where I'll never forget. When I got my end of tour award, Cosmo X Road, I said, you know, so I want to I want to thank you for getting me out of here, you with my family. He's like, hell never, I will never forget this. He's like, if we can't help out somebody who's like the number one EP, then what are we doing? Like if we can't help out the guy that gave so much, then what are we doing here? And that was like that resonated with me. So I was like, I put a lot in, you know, between CPOA and run and seasons and options, L CPO. I just I felt like I had really invested myself in that command because I loved that command. I really enjoyed my time there. And then when he when it like my time got cut short about a year early, he was like, No, we'll take care of you. And within a few months, I had orders back to um, where did I go next? I had orders, I had orders to second fleet staff because the detailer was like, listen, you're too senior, you're one of the more senior senior chiefs. I gotta keep you somewhere that keeps you in a senior position. So you're not gonna go to like the weather center because you're you're basically like that's a downstep.

Gary Wise 1:34:30

I said, Okay.

Mike Savant 1:34:30

I said, buddy, send me wherever you got. I don't, I whatever you think is gonna be best for me, career, the navy, I'm good. So they sent me a second fleet, which was just standing up. They they were very new. So I went to second fleet next.

Gary Wise 1:34:45

How much different was that from going from 7th fleet to 2nd fleet?

Mike Savant 1:34:49

Oh, it was a mess. I have never seen, I have never seen so many 04s convinced they know the right answer. Oh staggering women. Um, and then we had our three-star was he was like he wanted if he he wanted to be like the most expeditionary guy ever. So he's like, Second fleet is going to be an X mock. We're gonna basically go live in tents and move our watch floor there and support command and control, like in Sweden. I'm like, Okay, and then you're in the zone. It was kind of similar to Seventh Fleet and Blue Ridge. So we were second fleet standing up. We shared a watch floor with Fleet Forces, right? Who was Admiral Grady, who was our daddy, yeah, and so we would have these big ideas, and then we we'd literally be like, okay, we're gonna go get permission from you know the four-star. We'd like walk next door. Hey, can we do this? And then they I mean, it was it was crazy, and then they wanted to get mock certified. I'm like, hey, I got some experience there, especially in the operation side, about these teams, and so that's where I I mean, I I think I was only there for a month, and I was the DLC PO of ops, like it was it was go time, and then I got battle watch captain. This is where it gets a little exciting. I got battle watch captain, got that all done because we we were so short, they needed people that could do that job. I'm like, I'm familiar with that world, I can do that. Yeah, so got battle watch captain done, got all that good to go. When I got there, we had a senior chief, SEL, who was in charge, and they were like, hey, we're gonna make you the SEL when she transfers. Sure, no problem. Yeah, um, and so then COVID hits. Now, because there's only like 12 qualified battle watch captains, they're like, Hey, you only come to work when it's time for your battle watch watch. So I was the DLC PO from home, Teams, because you know, the greatest invention Microsoft ever came up with.

Gary Wise 1:36:50

It's horrible.

Redefining Success: Coaching And Parenting

Mike Savant 1:36:53

So I'm at home on Teams every day doing all the stuff. I have all my work at home, and then I would go into work every like it was only like every 10 days to do Battle Watch. And I was staying the Battle Watch thing. And my very first watch is the Battle Watch captain, it qualified. I got qualified like a week before COVID. So they're like, hey, you're isolated, you can't go anywhere. So my very first watch was when the comfort pulled into New York, and we had opcon at the comfort. I I was it was a that was crazy, crazy first night. And then I have to call the three-star every time there's a COVID case on the ship. Comfort has one COVID, comfort has one death, comfort has I mean, you had all these like tripwire for when you call them. Yeah, it was it was a crazy. Then we started coming out of COVID and you know getting back in into the real world. Um, and that yeah, that was an exciting, that was a very exciting command.

Gary Wise 1:37:47

So, was it well, you were at that command that you decided you were gonna go ahead and retire from the service?

Mike Savant 1:37:53

No, so I'll I'll share that story a little with you. So when I was in Japan, this could this relates directly to like me and you out there. You remember when uh the CTNCS made Master Chief for ops? I can't remember his name now, but he made Master Chief and you said he's the new DL CPO, he's the Master Chief, he's in charge. Okay, and I was like, okay, you know, and I think Lebo. It was Lebo.

Gary Wise 1:38:18

Oh, yeah, anyway, Jim.

Mike Savant 1:38:20

Um, I was like, okay, so I'm I'm gonna describe the situation because it's similar to my next one, which is really what made me get out. Go to go to go to command. Now my community is like you have to be an SEL to make master chief. There's no other way. Okay, SEL, it'll work out. I'm gonna make a SEL in Japan. Didn't work out because you got there. All good things, no complaints. DLCPO. Then you were you said the master chief needs to be a DLC PO, so I got bumped down to the chief, and I end up kind of like moving backwards in my career. Less in like as much involved, you can only do so much when there's people in front of you that are do want to do it their way. Okay, support them, make it happen. I get to second fleet, and E8 is SEL, she's doing great things. She already liked starting a turnover with me. I want to and then the new fleet master chief shows up and says, I want a master chief. Okay, so I stayed as DLC Po and I I filled in for SEL all the time. I always wanted to go. I I enjoyed, I love doing it, had success. Uh and then I was like, I didn't make master chief, and I was I got the number one EP coming out of Japan. I got the number one EP in my first eval at Second Fleet. So I was number one, I was like, hey, I'm actually competitive. They had a couple great guys make Master Chiefs, no complaints, but then they made four of them. There's only 10 AGCMs in the Navy. They made four. At this point, I had been the number one EP for three years in large groups, still overseas. Yeah, didn't pick up. So I was like, man, so I they at this point they're like, okay, well, time for orders. Where do you want to go? I was like, honestly, I'm getting kind of tired of doing the same thing. And so I will never forget, I had a conversation. At this point, my community has moved all SEL jobs out of Norfolk and San Diego, or at least out of Norfolk, there's one in San Diego. I have an autistic son, I can't go to Mississippi and move unless I geo batch. So I'm I'm getting into the situation where I have to decide. Um, and at this point, the the fleet master chief was like, listen, I will try to set you up one more time to make Master Chief. I he sent me to the CMC school. I actually went to the CMC school, loved it.

Gary Wise 1:40:50

Did you enjoy that two-week little bumper course? Bro, what did you think of that, bro?

Rapid Fire: Lessons, Advice, And Favorites

Mike Savant 1:40:55

For real, man. Well, uh online courses always suck, but I I did that personality test. Yeah, and I will never they the instructor, I'll never forget the instructor. Literally looked at it. We were doing over the computer, of course. He goes, you know, I don't see a lot like this. I'm like, what's up? He's like, he's explaining my stories. He's like, you are somebody who can talk good people into bad ideas. And I was like, I'll be honest, I know that. He's like, you can be because I'm a very like I'm I can be very convincing, motivating, excited about things. If and I talked to you about this before when I was part of the mess stuff, like I can dominate a conversation and convince a room to do something, even if it's not the right thing. So I have to be very aware of that. Like, I don't want ever want to like lead people the wrong way. And I told him that's like I know this, like this is a personality trait of mine that I do know. Like, and he was like, Yeah, you you better be careful because you can definitely get a mess in a lot of trouble, which made me chuckle, right? And so the at that point I did everything, I almost see him. I did everything I could do to try to make nine. At this point, they're making three again. So they're like a seven, it's like seven turnover in two years. I don't make it again. So now they're like, okay, here's what we want you to do. We're gonna send you back to Escott, which is our C component, and we're gonna send you to C. And it looks like we're gonna send you on the God, what was it? The Ike, the Eisenhower, and you're gonna be the division chief of the Eisenhower. So my last two tours, I have been DLCPO as staff, doing complex mission sets, doing big things, like doing all this stuff. Yeah, and now they want me to do the same job I did as a first-year chief. I was like, I'm not doing it. So they wrote me orders. So they wrote me orders for C duty, and I I had a coming to Jesus moment. Like, I've I'm pretty free to speak my mind, but I generally don't cross any lines, and I'm pretty straight shooter on that. But Huben Phillips, he was our fleet master chief, and we had a great work relationship. And I I was in his office, and I he was I was again filling in for the SEL. I have six months till I transfer. I'm covering SEL a couple weeks out of the month. And I get in there and he's like, What's going on? I was like, honestly, Huban. So can I be honest with you? Kind of speak freely. I was like, what's up? I was like, you know, for somebody who talks about talent management, you sure suck at it. I was like, I tried so hard to do this, and at this point, we'd had we were like three master chiefs, had gone through the role of SEL because it hasn't quite worked out. I was like, I loved that job. I would have done that job for you, I would have been good at it, I would have supported you. I said I would have done, I had the respect to the mess. Like, I everything, I was like, but you just because you wanted the master chief, you've made things worse. And it's on you. And he was like, Okay, you want the job? I was like, no. I was like, quit making me fill in. I was like, I'm out of here in six months, dude. I don't care about this now. He goes, if I can make if I can get you extended for one year and make you the SEL, to this point, he was struggling to fill it. I was like, Yeah, I said, Human, if you can make this work, I'll be your SEL right now. You gotta make it work though, because I have orders to C duty. He's like, we can make this work, and this is where the rubber kind of met the road. Where I was like, okay, let's figure it out. So he got it approved. This is now this is where it gets unique. This is all hearsay because I was told this. I don't know if it's true, I don't know all the backstory, but I will relay what was told me because I think it's important people understand that there are times that people try to play games behind the scenes that just wreck people. Man, he went ahead and he was I he it was approved at PERS for me to be extended for one year to fill that job. But because my community I don't think wanted me to stay and fill the SEL role, it was taken to the three-star at the at I4 who said no. So the the two the one star at PERS said yes, but the three-star at IW who owned the billet was like, no, he's got orders of C duty. And the AGCMs were like, no, you gotta go. You gotta go do your C duty. And then maybe after that, if a job's open for SEL, you'll get a chance. Now, at this point, I've been a senior chief for 10 years. Yeah. Or eight years. And I'm like, I don't think I'm gonna do it. And so I came home to talk to Iris, and I mean I was sick, like I couldn't sleep. I I love the Navy, I really do. But I was so tired of doing the same job. Like, either move me if I don't have what you're looking for, fine, just let me go then. Like if I'm not Max Chief Material, I'm out the door, I'll move on. And so I submitted the paperwork. Now I it was slow rolled because Huben was convinced, as most people who are in the very senior positions are, that through their sheer force of will and influence, they can make this all work out. Yeah, it didn't work out, so I dropped my retirement paperwork. I only had four months till I was getting out, and I got out. And that's why, you know, when it when I walked away from the Navy, like I was done. I actually started my job. I went to Amazon as a human resource business partner. Um, I was still on terminal when I started that job. And a couple things made it real clear. If you're not appreciated where you're at, go somewhere else. There are people out there that will pay you for your experience. I was making more money in Amazon than I would have made if I was a fleet match team. I mean, there was the money, there's there's a market for people that want to lead and solve complex problems. Go find them. And I was like, man, so I why was I staying at that point? Love the job, but I needed a new job, and I couldn't get a new job, and that's why I was that's why I moved on. Iris was in school to be a physical therapist, physical therapy assistant. She was living her dream, and I was like, I'm just gonna go to Amazon and make make a bunch of money while she's in school and we'll figure it out from there. But it was two commands in a row where it was like, we're gonna make the SEL, which is the last check I need. Because I asked our community master chief, she's like, No SEL, you won't promote. So I told point, and there's no SEL jobs in Norfolk.

Gary Wise 1:47:22

So you know what's funny about that is God, I I relate with it a lot. Because unfortunately, in our Navy, especially in the senior enlisted community, talent management is freaking not good.

Mike Savant 1:47:38

Not at all, right?

Closing Reflections & Sign-Off

Gary Wise 1:47:40

And it's just not right, and I'm sorry you went through that. And I as I as I go as I think back and I literally listen to you, right? I remember um so but whatever that SEL thing was gonna be for you as Seventh Fleet staff, I went from October thinking I'm gonna be on Ashland for the next year and a half to them moving me and my family up there in two months and me thinking it's a big career move to figuring out really quickly that this was a collateral duty senior enlisted leader job. Yeah, right. And I had just gone from running my own ship, right? My own ship, but how I was sold to me by some people, right? It was not what I was going into. And then, of course, I also saw, and I don't know what if you ever saw this, but I saw toxic levels of our Navy that people were just not following the rules that the regular Navy had to follow. And that really bothered me, right? Because I had just left the fleet where we were really holding the law down, and these people are not, right? And that was a problem for me. And I I'm not gonna get into all that, but then so I could see Dave Vest not knowing I was gonna get activated and Caz was getting pushed over to West ATG Westpac, or not Surface Group Westpac, right? Because I when I got there, Vest was the senior enlisted leader, he took over from Swift, right? And I could see how all of that possibly threw them for a wrench because they were also trying to figure everyone's trying to figure out who's gonna do it, and I could see also Master Chiefs not wanting to be the senior enlisted leader because you're just Toby's little freaking guy, right? Anyway, and then I could see you going to Second Fleet and it being a new organization, and I could see your community possibly not paying that position, the level of respect, or even if the AGCS billet on the Seventh Fleet staff, do you think they respected those billets enough? No, like the AGCS, exactly right. That's my other problem, right? Really big problem. So that's my problem. Yeah, because in their mind, you got to be a senior enlisted leader of an AG building, of an AG community. So even if you would have been the senior enlisted leader of those staffs, I don't think it would have mattered to those AGCMs that sat the board. And I will tell you, when I sat the board, um, we're on those panels, we always would look to the guy in the Ray at the end of the whole thing and be like, all right, bro, you're the guy. Like we could sit here and bicker back and forth, boom, boom, boom. But I used to always say, like, one of the things I said on my board is I'm not making three MCS, I'm making DCCS, I'm making EMCS. So if you as a chief that went into that collateral duty program, that special program, thinking that was gonna make you a senior chief, you better have a whole bunch of other things. Which is why I think those programs need to be their own rate. Like if you're gonna be a three MC, that needs to be a rating conversion of my community because you're out of your rate. Um, I think that those AG master chiefs, unfortunately, Mike, just hearing the story, I don't think it would have mattered even if you were the freaking senior listed leader, bro. I don't think them guys they were freaking, they had they wanted for whatever reason you weren't doing what they thought you should be doing as an AG CS.

Mike Savant 1:51:16

Which is I looking back now, I appreciate not making it because my life has been it's just been significantly better when I stepped away. Yeah, you know, I don't I've never once, you know, I've and that's something you know for me and Zo, right? I know Zoe would almost went to the CMC program, and me and him talking. Did he tell you about my conversation with him?

Gary Wise 1:51:43

No, I want to hear it, but hold on. So I okay, I want to hear it. Zoe got he get that picked up. Oh, I know. I never forget he contacted me and he told me what was going on, and he's like, What do you think, bro? I was like, bro, fuck it, you gotta retire, dog. Nope. I I said, I don't, I don't believe you should stay Navy any longer as an HMCM and fight to stay in longer because you could drop the package to go into the program, and now you say you don't want to do it. My that my instincts say you need to walk away, but I also believe you should walk away because we both know they can make this happen. They don't gotta make this so damn complicated, and you're getting jerked around by another master chief, bro. Like our detailer is a master chief, right? You're not some one-star admiral detailing all the CMCs, it's another master chief, right? That was my problem when I retired. I was getting sick of other master chiefs in my mess picking and choosing what I was gonna do with my life, yeah, right, when I don't have a say so. And so let me hear the other conversation you and Zoe, bro.

Mike Savant 1:52:49

So Zo had come at this point. I'm working at Amazon, loving the job, loved working there. Yeah, and Zoe had come down to do some kind of thing in Virginia from UMed. And he's like, Hey, let's get together. Said, sure, no problem. And so we get together. He's like, Hey, I apply for CMC. And I was like, You're a moron. I was like, Why would you do that? And so he was like, Well, you know, I have more to get because you know you know, Zo, Zoe is a giver and just a phenomenal human being. Yep, I have more to give, I want to support than any. This is what I want to do, I have goals. And I was like, bro, I was like, here's what's gonna happen. Because it just had the the OSCS who made OSCM at our command at Second Fleet had applied to go CMC. Same thing happened to her. She's like, she had a special need son, and they were like, Well, you can geo batch. Like, okay. So she she turned it back in and walked away. She's like, I'm gonna retire. Um, so I told Zoe, like, they're gonna jerk you around. I explained the situation to him that it happened to this other OSCM. They're gonna tell you you need to go to some recruiting district somewhere, or you're gonna have to go be on a small boy on the other side of the world, even though Jules, his wife, is doing phenomenal things at the hospital. And they're going to basically make you trash because everyone has to do it. All right, which that's not even true. Yeah, and I was like, and I was like, let me be honest with you, buddy. Like, your kids are never gonna carry you or a command master chief, they're gonna carry you missed soccer practice, but they're never gonna come here. Your kids are too young. Like, I've got young, I've got a seven-year-old. He's never gonna care I was in the Navy. It's cool, but it's never gonna be a thing. I was like, but they're gonna they're gonna remember where you weren't there because you were helping a sailor on the ship. Because though mean he needs to get into it a little bit about like he would put in 18-hour days. That's who he is. And I'd be like, You are going to kill yourself, you're gonna take time away from your family, you're doing all you're you don't have work-life balance. Yeah so the navy is and you go CMC, it's gonna be worse. It is like 100%.

Gary Wise 1:54:49

I was like, it's gonna be miserable, and so there's no compensation for it, right?

Mike Savant 1:54:54

None, yeah, none. So I was like, You're and I was like, Zo, and you're this at this point, I'm making so I'm making more money than he ever would have made in the Navy. I was like, Zo, let me tell you what my compensation package is. And I laid it out and he's like, Really? I was like, Yeah, bro, that's my first year, it goes up from there. And so I was like, There's there's opportunities. He's like, Well, if they jerk me around, I'll have to think about it. And he's he's he sent me some of the some of the conversations he was having, and I was like, Oh, it's almost like I told you you were gonna get treated like garbage because I just saw it. And at that point, it was funny. I I got a message from Jules that was like, Thank you so much for telling him to get out. Because you know, had he even said when he does retirement speech, he was like, probably would have stayed in if I hadn't had he could point it to me, like, this is what Bume. So all the Bumet leaderships there, appreciate Mike for convincing me to get out. You know, and I was like, I just pointed out you're hey 100%. You know, now he's gone with doing great things, and he you know, you can see he's living life with his kids, he's doing these fun things that I can get it if there is no shame or no dishonor. If you if the navy's working for you, then do it, live it to the fullest. Yeah, if it's not, you can get out and you can find their opportunities to do other things.

Gary Wise 1:56:10

100 man, 100. I remember thinking uh I was I was like, I thought one day I was always early in everything. I made chief early, I made CNG early, master early, CMC early. Why the hell am I gonna wait to retire like everybody else late? Like I would much rather have a little bit of and oh, by the way, I had seen behind one too many curtains. Oh, yeah, thought how bad it was. I mean, even up until I mean, I've got guys lined up on the on the show who what's funny is when they tell me what they want to talk about, but they all want to wait after they retire to talk. Oh, yeah, right, and I don't give a damn. They they all know I don't give a damn. I never have, and I've always said the truth, and not everyone wants to hear that, right? But it's not about protecting the brand, protecting the brand is by being honest about what the hell's really going on and not covering it up for people, right? And so when Zoe filled me in and what was going on with his detailing, I'm just like they're trying to give you a three-port home port shift for a ticket to an FD and F ship because you and your wife can't want to go back overseas. Meanwhile, they can't fill ships right now in Seventh Fleet because you had a guy like Zoe who would have stayed overseas consecutive tours, right? But you guys, but you let some master chief play God with his career and say, Well, you got to do this.

Mike Savant 1:57:41

Yep.

Gary Wise 1:57:42

What? No, I don't. I can retire instead. And what I really feel bad for is when the guys drop packages and they're not at 20. Oh, yeah. That's a tough one, right? I uh so before I went CMC, I was a DC mass chief in Norfolk, and I went to surf to Surfland, and I sat down with every CMC that was on staff that had been fired. There was like five of them that were on staff at Surfland that had been fired, detached for cause. And because as a CMC, you literally serve at the leisure of an officer. All Rex Road had to say was, I don't want that dude on the ship anymore. And I wasn't even allowed to walk on Blue Ridge, bro. Yep. That because he knew the sailors liked me and he did not want them to see me because he knew they valued me. And it was so powerful when I left the ship and they rung me off, and all those chiefs went down there and saw me up. That meant more to me than anything else, and the connections I've kept since then. But all it took was that one man, right? Yep, to decide he did not want me to come back, even though I remember when uh I don't know how much you knew about that whole situation. Um, but that was a sour taste of my mouth as a CMC, bro.

Mike Savant 1:59:05

A lot of it played out after I left, but at that point, I you know, I was still chatting with Zoe quite a bit, so I knew how you were getting room from it.

Gary Wise 1:59:13

It was tough, bro. And then uh and I try not to put too much on him because he was a very by the book guy, right? Even though I think they got the book wrong. It was more about clearing room for Hakka and for his guy, which is what it was really about. That's what it was, that's what it was really about, right? It was about Hakka didn't want me to be there because he thought I was too young and he didn't like my energy. That's what it really was about. Because I would tell him I didn't agree, I don't agree, we're both Master Chiefs, and where I come from, we can go down the mess, and I could say, No, I don't agree. This is crap, right? There you go. And then later on, I also got an officer in my career that was just you know, just not healthy. And I, but I already dropped papers by then, so I saw that as well. So I don't Blame you for any of the ways you're feeling. I think you're 100% valid. I think you're spot on. And like you, I tell people that ask me because I still talk to plenty of folks, is if it still works for you and your family because the choice of duty location, because you want to stay because that's where you want to live, that's great, right? I did not want to live any longer in any of those fleet concentration areas, nor did I want to play freaking reindeer games with any of these leaders that could just fire you one day. I don't know. So you are you still with Amazon or no?

Mike Savant 2:00:37

No, so I you know, I was at Amazon doing the thing. It was it was busy. Like, so as a human resource business partner, you're basically your job is to manage the managers. Um, but it you know, I remember one month fired a thousand people one month. Like that's how that's how busy you get, right? You're just you're going, going, going and doing the investigations. You know, when you're HR, like it is a significant amount of authority and influence to have. So I loved it. I mean, I love the job. But at one point I come home late. I they had me working like a two to eleven shift for a few months to try to help fix the night shift because it was pretty messed up.

Gary Wise 2:01:14

Yeah.

Mike Savant 2:01:15

Um, and I come home one night and Iris is sitting at the table, studying for school, half asleep. I mean, she's raising the boys. She's at this point, she is school all day, raising the boys in the evening, dinner, all that stuff, and studying until midnight, getting up at four to study because she got just killing herself. And I I get a little frustrated at work because you know, it doesn't matter where you're whether it's you know private or military, the staffing is never what it needs to be because the company wants to save money. It's the same thing in the military and the private sector. Right. So we were short staffed by about three people in my position, and the HR manager had left, so it was it was a grind. Didn't mind the grind, but I'm like looking at my wife who's just doing everything, and I was like, why am I doing it? I mean, so my 10-year-old son is autistic, right? So I have this overwhelming anxiety and fear of what happens when I'm gone. Yeah. So I'm like, how much money can I make to make sure he never has to work if he can't work? Think it's all gonna be okay, but you just don't know, right? Yeah. So I mean, I was in stocks and buying. I'm just all I'm doing is investing. So I want to make sure my son's okay. But then I'm like, okay, what I'm investing my time to make money, hoping it can be better. What about I invest my time into my family to get him more prepared to be independent in life? And so I came home that night and I looked online and a job posting that I had looked at before to be a weather forecaster for Naval Base Oceana. And it's one day a week. I work from Sunday, 6 p.m. to Monday, 6 a.m. That's it. I just do weather forecasting, which I've always loved, but I do it that one evening shift. I get home in the morning, I get the kids on the bus to school, and then they go to school, I take a nap, and that's it. And so I've been working part-time like that now for about a year and a half. And initially, you know, it was hard to slow down because I'd gone from the Navy to Amazon, go, go, go, go, go, to where I had some of my anxiety because I was like not getting enough stuff done. I should be going, I should be working, I should have my day filled with meetings and this and that.

Gary Wise 2:03:28

Yeah.

Mike Savant 2:03:29

But I've just I kind of stopped doing that. And what I would do is I would get on my planner for the week, and instead of writing 10 things a day to do, I write one thing a day that I have to get done. And I invest my time into that one thing a day. Now, over time, I've added it now that I've taken over the head coach of wrestling program and coach in soccer. I have and I've taken over like all the stay-at-home parent stuff. Like I do the cooking and I do the cleaning, even though it's not great, my wife will tell you, but I do the best I can. I straighten, she cleansed it's a huge difference. I still know the difference, but um it's been very clear to me that I don't do it good enough. Uh-huh. But it's just, you know, I I became the the take kids do appointments and do all that stuff. So it's much more fulfilling. I still have to deal with the anxiety of like what happens when I'm gone financially. As a provider, you always wonder that.

Gary Wise 2:04:22

Yeah.

Mike Savant 2:04:22

Um, luckily, I've got my daughter Danae, who's a rock star, and you know, my son Riker, who's gonna be great and be independent. So then if Gunnar needs somebody to help him out, they're gonna be there. But it I just had to really shift like, where am I investing my energy and my time? And it was at Amazon making money, and it was great money. But it I don't think looking back, that probably wasn't the best investment of my time. Since then, Gunner's doing much better with school and everything because you know, we just I work with him a lot and coach him on things, and I spend all the time on that. And so I it was it was a it was a difficult transition initially, but honestly, it's been it's paid dividends in the future. So just identifying where to invest my time.

Gary Wise 2:05:10

Very cool, man. Happy for you, bro. I'm glad that you're through the other side. That transition is scary as hell for people. Oh, yeah. And I tell people now that I'm on the other side of it, like you are, it's like, brother, it wasn't that hard, like it really wasn't. And I remember when I was retiring, I was looking at different jobs and whatnot, and I was talking to USA, and it was it was a good paying job. And I remember Eric was like, Gary, but if you take that, they're gonna want you for good paying job time, and you're retiring, and and I started doing this high school job, and this is way better, man. Just so much better. So I really value, I think that's a smart move strategically for you. Investing in your family is never gonna be a bad idea, bro.

Mike Savant 2:05:54

Yeah, I it's it's been much better.

Gary Wise 2:05:57

Yeah, all right. Well, hey, we're about to land this sucker. So as we wrap this thing up, I'm gonna ask you some uh rapid fire questions, okay? Right? Just go ahead and give me your answers, and then we'll just kind of close it up, okay? Sounds good. All right, man. All right, here we go. Uh, what was your welcome to the navy moment? Do you ever have a moment where you're like, oh my god, I'm really in the navy now?

Mike Savant 2:06:22

Yeah, that was when yeah, AG2 Glenn Rasmussen put me in attention and screamed at me. Like, I'm telling you, man, that moment was a defining moment of my life.

Gary Wise 2:06:31

All right, hey, I appreciate that. All right, when you look at the stuff you've done in your career, what do you see as one of the biggest leadership challenges that organizations face today?

Mike Savant 2:06:43

Like, what do I see as challenges I dealt with, or just what organizations deal with?

Gary Wise 2:06:47

Yeah, just in general, or what you dealt with. I mean, I think one of the ones you highlighted was definitely talent management, right? Yeah, and I talked to my students about that a lot. And I that was one of my biggest things was always trying to do my best to manage a bunch of hard chargers, right? That's hard. Um, but what else? Did you is there any other leadership challenges that you've seen out there that you think organizations just consistently are facing across the board?

Mike Savant 2:07:11

Well, I mean, the easy one is manning and staffing and funding. But honestly, because we had the same problem at Amazon, you know, it doesn't change whether you're in the private sector, you're in the military. But really, I would say it's lack of education on how to manage those problems. Everyone says those are problems. Very few people invest the time and effort to understand how to address those within the system they're in. So lack of understanding on how to address issues, usually the issue can be fixed. The problem is nobody knows how to request the help the correct way with the right forms to the right people to get what you need. So I think lack of administrative and like programmatic education is probably that's something we dealt with at Amazon too, is the massive company to the point where you're getting like hundreds of thousands of dollars every Christmas to give out gifts to like the people that work there. And it's like, how do you ask people this stuff? Like, how do you get this going? So, lack of programmatic knowledge is probably one of the biggest challenges most leaders will face and not even know what's a problem.

Gary Wise 2:08:16

Okay, tracking. I agree. Institutional technical expertise, baby. You got to understand the bureaucracy you're a part of. Now you you've now raised a daughter to adulthood and you're raising two other children. How would you best advise parents to leverage leadership skills when raising teens?

Mike Savant 2:08:37

I so don't force it, honestly. So I have found that most people want to do good things if you just apply gentle pressure, slide shifts in direction, they'll get there when you start trying to force it. It's when it gets a little harder. So I think that's what honestly, like, don't just don't overdo it. People have been parenting, like, especially in today's society, where it's like you're scared all the time because you see everything on the news, something's gonna happen. People have been raising kids since the beginning of time. Yeah, just just if you just just let it happen, don't try to force it. Let it happen if something goes sideways, of course, correct a little bit, but honestly, just don't overdo it. Most most kids will be just fine if you just get out of their way.

Gary Wise 2:09:28

Yeah, don't overreact on everything, okay? Um, what piece of advice would you give to somebody who's in an organization and they're struggling, right? Like kind of how you were we were like, I feel like every time I feel like I'm getting lined up for position, either I'm getting blocked or it's getting removed, or someone's changing the goalpost, right? Someone's freaking changing the goalpost and it makes it unfair. And that's one of my things that I hate the most. I hate when it's not fair. I don't mind playing a fair game, but when I feel like it's rigged, then I got a problem, right? And that's one of my things. What would you give as advice to somebody who you who's going through stuff like that?

Mike Savant 2:10:07

Uh, two things. One, identify a goal you're gonna get and identify uh a finish line. Whether you're in the Navy or in a professional setting like working at Amazon or Circo or what like that, you can you can get out. Like you don't have to stay around. Don't feel trapped by a job, just leave. So that's something honestly, honestly, if you're working for the private sector, you shouldn't work for the same company for more than three to five years. Because if you work in the same company, they'll pay you as an internal hire and it's significantly less. Right. So for anybody that hears this, like switch jobs with companies because if you're an external hire, you make a lot more money. So if you're working, especially once you're retired, if you don't like what what's going on, apply somewhere else. Take your talent in the words of LeBron, take your talents to South Beach, you know, go somewhere else. You you're you're a talented individual, somebody who hired the hiring process for a lot of managers at Amazon and did the interviews. If you're military and you can articulate yourself well, I'll hire you.

Gary Wise 2:11:11

Yeah, you know what's funny is uh my first year doing this ROTC job, it was me and another instructor that got hired together. And I was going into work one morning, he texted me and he's like, Hey, my letter of resignation on my desk, I quit. I got a job teaching somewhere else. And I was like, What? We can do that, like what? Yeah, and I mean, I don't God bless good luck, you know. Good things to him, but that changed my whole thing because I'm all the way invested on these kids and this program, and I'm I'm a team guy. I like to I like to commit, but when he quit, I was like, but there's always the choice to just go do something else, and it's not like you're locked in forever. Yeah, all right. We're back on the ship. It's the weekend. Are you looking forward to pizza or the wings?

Mike Savant 2:11:56

Oh, the wings.

Gary Wise 2:11:58

Okay, the wings. All right. I either got you either got the birthday cleaners or the working party, bro. Which one do you want?

Mike Savant 2:12:04

Working party, yeah, baby.

Gary Wise 2:12:06

Go hump some of those boxes. Yeah, all right. We're gonna watch a movie in the shop. It's either gonna be a De Niro movie or a Pacino movie. You got which one would you like?

Mike Savant 2:12:15

Oh, probably gonna watch Heat so I can watch both of them.

Gary Wise 2:12:18

I've heard that one before. Heat, I can watch both of them. Okay, so looking back on your career, what was your favorite duty station?

Mike Savant 2:12:26

Oh, it's by far Texas. Texas. Actually, I would say Texas and Seventh Fleet. Texas really really informed who I was and how much I loved the Navy. Seventh Fleet because man, that's a hard job. That's big complex problems. I doing the commander Freitas, now Captain Freitas, working with her out there. Yeah, we did some some cool stuff, and I enjoyed that.

Gary Wise 2:12:50

And plus, you gotta go on Liberty in Japan, right?

Mike Savant 2:12:54

Bro, we that first appointment when we went to 11 ports in four months. I mean, that that was a that was a carnival cruise. That was not was it really? Oh, it was crazy.

Gary Wise 2:13:03

Uh brother, I hell I hit Korea, and that was all. I'm glad you made it all. Okay, so um, if you had the chance to talk to somebody that was going at bat again, would you recommend they do overseas tour or stateside tour?

Mike Savant 2:13:18

You know, honestly, it's it's what do you want? You know, it's not, I don't think I could con that whole convincing thing, right? There's there's great things to do and commands and experiences everywhere everywhere in the Navy. I loved my overseas tour. I like being I did some cool things in San Diego. My favorite place I've lived is Norfolk, Virginia. I love it here. I love our house, I love getting part of the community and coaching wrestling. And you know, I I so I I don't before you like make a decision, know what you want to get out of that decision, right? So if you if if your community recommends overseas duty and you go do this and that, and it always looks favorable if you're forward deployed, go do that. If you want to go who rod navy and do it, if you want to just do some cool stuff, then do some cool stuff. Just realize that you're maybe not promote as fast, right?

Gary Wise 2:14:10

Definitely. Hey, there you go. Do you have a favorite movie series?

Mike Savant 2:14:15

Oh, movie series. So here it's kind of a guilty favorite Final Destination. If you just want to watch some garbage movies, the first one was pretty interesting story, but after that, it's like, what unique way can we kill this character now? And there's like 10 of them, and they get pretty crazy. So I I actually that's a fun one to watch. Me and me and Iris just watched that recently, and we're like, man, this is this is crazy. Like, that's a good time.

Gary Wise 2:14:41

Nice. Okay, would you rather be independent or on a team?

Mike Savant 2:14:46

Uh that's a good one. You know, probably independent at this point. I I like coaching teams and this and that, but if it's like I said solving complex problems, I like solving in like independently solving complex problems for teams. Yeah. But I I I think I kind of prefer the independent at this point.

Gary Wise 2:15:09

I understand, definitely. Do you have a personal leadership like philosophy or like just position?

Mike Savant 2:15:18

You know, honestly, it's just be the calm and the chaos. So I I've taught that to a lot of a lot of selects. I'm like, listen, just be at the calm and the chaos. And if you can just not get worked up when everybody else is, people will naturally turn to you. People turn to stability. They always have, always will. That's just human nature. Just be the calm and the chaos. And then identify, and the other thing I tell them is like identify what part of the problem you're good at. So some people are really good at like 80% of the problem. Like that's the meat potatoes of it, right? That's the part in the middle. But the first 10% and the last 10% can be really hard. Getting started, getting across the finish line. I was more of a 20% guy. I can get something started and I can get to the finish line. But but what part of the problem do you want to be really good at? Sometimes you need people that can do both, right? You need to do both sometimes. So I think identify where you succeed and really focus on. Like when you came to Seventh Fleet, I remember I the first day I met you, like, hey, I want to do this uh Sailor 360, and we I want to get these E5s involved. I was like, okay. And probably one of the most successful programs I ever stood up was when we did that uh senior listed senior officer TED Talks. That was great. I mean, we had I could I had officers pounding at my door to be a part of that. We had at one point we had 130 people in the in the in the room trying to get into that meeting. Like it was great. But once it got going, the first 10%, then it kind of took over itself. And then the last 10% of the problem was just kind of turning it over. So I actually really that that I think that's a good thing for people to understand. It's like what part of the problem are you good at? And if you recognize that, it'll help you in your career.

Gary Wise 2:17:05

Good, good. All right. In the Chiefs mess, we had deck plate leadership, institutional technical expertise, professionalism, character, loyalty, active communication, and a sense of heritage, those were our guiding principles, right? Uh, out of those, which one was your favorite?

Mike Savant 2:17:25

Probably the professionalism, to be honest. I think just because that I think it they can kind of encompass most of it, to be honest. But if you're a professional and you just you bring you whether you if you carry yourself in a professional manner, you're probably gonna be the calm and the chaos. You know, you're not gonna be going off the handles, you're gonna approach your job in a professional manner so that other people around you will approach in a professional manner. So probably professionalism, I think, is number one because we have all seen enough people in the chief's mess that are not professional that we know what kind of cancer that can be.

Gary Wise 2:18:01

Okay. Um, I I I I agree, man. I think it's just understanding where people are coming from. Yeah. How about would you rather lead or follow?

Mike Savant 2:18:11

Probably lead. Which kind of goes against the independent thing, but I'm good at 10% of the problem, and most leaders have to get that first 10% started.

Gary Wise 2:18:22

Inspirational, yeah. All right, brother, that is it, man. Uh, do you have any save rounds or alibis?

Mike Savant 2:18:30

No, I just you kind of said it earlier getting out of the navy wasn't as hard or scary as it should have been. I think I would 100% agree. And then one thing I would tell everybody is don't let the Navy be the pinnacle of your life achievements. There is so many awesome things out there. Like I have known Chief the pinnacle of their existence with their retirement ceremony. Just don't let that be you. Love it, embrace it. I mean, live it to the fullest. But there's too many great things out there. That your retirement ceremony don't peak there. Like, there's so much more after that. Don't peak at your retirement ceremony.

Gary Wise 2:19:07

First, I I tell that to the students, man. I'm like, look, your high school graduation is not the end, it's only a beginning, man. Like, you got so much more things to do. So my old my younger son, Lincoln, he actually said to me the other day, he said, Dad, you used to be in the Navy, right? And I was like, bro, you just checked the block. You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that day. Like, I knew I knew that I wanted to teach high school JRTC when I retired. I remember. I wanted my younger son, or both of my sons, or anyone to say, Hey, Master, you used to be in the Navy, huh? Like, yeah, I used to really be in the Navy, man. And I'm also a school bus driver now, too. Like, I drive school buses. That's awesome. Yeah, it's my favorite, it's one of my favorite parts of the summer, right? Thank you, bus driver. Like, I worked my whole life to be a bus driver. It's great, man.

Mike Savant 2:19:55

Bro, invest your time in what makes you happy. I'm all about it.

Gary Wise 2:19:58

Yeah, man, for sure. All right, Mike, man. I appreciate you taking that time with us and sharing it. And uh, brother, it was good catching up with you, bro. I hope nothing but great things. Congrats to Iris for doing big things, and I hope nothing but good things come your guys' way, bro.

Mike Savant 2:20:14

I appreciate it. Gary's great chat with you, man. It's been a long time, and it's definitely good catching up.

Gary Wise 2:20:18

It was good catching up. All right, everybody. Thank you for listening to us, and we will talk to y'all soon. All right, bro. Peace.

Speaker 2:20:28

Um, you know, that's the same.