From Tampa To The Chief’s Mess

The heart of this conversation is simple and fierce: people matter more than the machine. We sit down with Dave Robinson, a Navy cook turned Command Master Chief who led on carriers, a cruiser, a minesweeper, and at Great Lakes before launching a church and home care agency in Tampa. He tells the candid story of a life built on presence—showing up in the galley at 0400, standing on a pier with a seabag and a new name for courage, and guiding crews through their hardest moments.

You’ll hear how the Big E taught scale, Key West taught family, and the troubled years on JFK taught what happens when trust collapses. On the Philippine Sea, two CMCs modeled the power of relationships and deckplate time; that example propelled Dave into the CMC program. A GSA tour to Iraq, chosen to keep his daughter in school, exposed the real price families pay for service. At Great Lakes, he started over as an RDC, turning standards into muscle memory and humility into influence. Then came Sasebo: leading the overlooked minesweeper community on USS Chief and later stepping into USS Green Bay, where an Osprey mishap sent 26 into the sea and left three. The response—“All In”—became a shipwide covenant to bring whatever you have and carry each other the rest of the way.

We also talk hard truths about the CMC path: politics, investigations, and the lonely weight of being the one who must care and decide. Dave’s insights cut clear: invest in your kids, not their devices; translate messages for every level of your team; and treat your military years as preparation, not peak. Today, he and his wife serve Tampa with job fairs, food programs, and everyday acts of hope—proof that the best leadership is stewardship.

If you value real leadership stories, lessons forged at sea, and practical wisdom you can use tomorrow, this conversation delivers. Subscribe, share with a teammate who needs it, and tell us: what “All In” looks like for you right now.

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Transcript

Welcome, Brotherhood, And Sasebo Memories

Gary Wise 0:28

All right, everybody, hafa adai. How you doing? Hello, good morning, good evening, good night, whatever. Right? Hey, it's Gary here once again, Wise Leadership Solutions, words from the Wise. Today I'm coming with another behind the anchor episode. I got a brother, man, that I serve with Sasebo Japan. He was another command senior enlisted leader, another CMC out there on the waterfront. This guy's a special, he got a special place in my heart because he took care of me and my family. I don't know if he remembers this. We're going to talk about this today. So let me introduce to the stage none other than Mr. Dave Robinson. What's up, Dave? How are you doing, brother? Thank you for having me. Oh man, thank you for coming on the show, bro. Thank you for talking. Like, I will tell you, this has become like my men's group. You know, like this is how I get the chance to fellowship with people and reminisce on the things we went through. And it's weird unpacking it all after retirement, you know what I'm saying? And like, and being on this side of it. So it's been very therapeutic. And real quick, I want to give you your flowers for me because you know, when I was leaving the Ashland, we you got together all the CMCs on the waterfront to do a goodbye for me. And you got me that black katana sword, you know what I'm saying? And you had like the CMC logo on it. And it it's it's in my little in my chief's messing my house to this day, bro. And I will tell you, I don't think I've ever had a better send-off from another group of CMCs than what I got in Sasebo. And at that time period, Sasebo was a special place to be, man. 2016 to 2018, we had a special group of people on that waterfront there, bro. And so I really thank you for that because my family that we were going through a lot of turmoil. That was a quick turn for us to leave, and that was a very nice send-off. So thank you, Dave.

Dave Robinson 2:20

Yeah, you've done so much, man. That's the least we could do.

Gary Wise 2:25

Hey, I appreciate that, man. And we're gonna talk about that. But I tell you what, you and me together on that waterfront, we helped each other out a lot, you know what I'm saying? Like, people didn't know me, you and the Green Bay. First, it was you on the chief, but then you on the Green Bay. Like, it was like the base wouldn't help us. It was like CTF 76 wouldn't help us, so we was like bumping, we'll help each other. You know, can I send my people to you? You would send your people to me, right? Because there was like no support from the waterfront on the waterfront. Remember that?

Dave Robinson 2:58

Yeah, we was we was a team, man.

Tampa Roots And Why The Navy

Gary Wise 3:01

For sure. For sure, and and it helped that our COs got along too, you know, at the time. We had CEOs that really respected each other. So as long as you would say, Oh, so and so, they'd be like, Oh, no doubt, whatever they need, yeah, they got whatever they needed, yeah. Um, all right. So I don't know if you've watched any of my other shows or not, but we're gonna we're gonna start this thing off with where'd you come from before you joined the service, right? So where where where did you grow up, Dave? In Tampa. No kidding. You from Tampa originally, yeah, yeah.

Dave Robinson 3:31

But now I it before Tampa, uh Winnah and Lakeland. Uh all my family is in uh Lakeland. Uh, but Winnah, I went to element, elementary school, uh Lakeland, and then uh Tampa.

Gary Wise 3:48

Wow, that's awesome, man. Because you know, it's funny. I recruited in Clearwater, and my recruiting the head recruiting station was in northwest Tampa. So yeah. What year did you so when you're going up through high school? What high school did you go to in Tampa? King. King, baby, yeah, yeah. They got a navy jrotc there, huh? I I hadn't looked into it. They do, do they got a navy jrotc? So I was gonna ask you uh, when you were in high school, what made you consider joining the service? Were you in a program like that in high school, or did you have family connections, or what?

Dave Robinson 4:24

Yeah, unfortunately, my mind was immature, so I had no connections with the military, except my uh older cousin uh was Navy, and then my other cousin, we was about the same age, he was Navy. So those two really what lured me into the uh considering the Navy. Uh, I was a knucklehead in high school.

Gary Wise 4:50

Weren't we all, man? Weren't we all? You know, but but look, let's be honest, a lot, a lot of people that come to the service was kind of rough around the edges in high school. You know, it really isn't for people, like people don't typically, I'll tell you now, even as a high school teacher, the majority of my students that are looking at enlistment are not the ones that are typically looking at going into college under an ROTC scholarship or under a full ride, right? They're not getting SAT scores of like 13, 1400. You know, they're trying to pass the ASVAB. Yeah, yeah. They trying to pass the ass. And look, it's a heartbreaking thing nowadays, bro. When you know, I I dropped out of high school at a young age, and I thank God every day that I was able to pass that ASVAB off of what I had learned in school up to like 10th, 11th grade before I had quit, right? Because I see these kids now graduating, bro, and they can't pass the ASVAP after they get a diploma, dog. Like it's that's that's that's and and I tell them, like, look, and at the end of the day, that's your fault. Like, you let them give you that weak education because you never asked for anything harder than what they gave you, you know. But life is going to not certain not be kind to you. You're gonna have to be an adult trying to get more education because you're gonna find out you can't pass that test.

Dave Robinson 6:12

Yeah, yeah. And it doesn't be.

Gary Wise 6:15

Yeah. So when you when you got it, did you graduate King High?

Dave Robinson 6:19

I did, and and just like you, I had stopped going to school, I think my senior year, uh, got with my wife, who was my girlfriend, and uh helped me helped it clicked in my mind that I need to go back to school. And I went to summer night school, summer day school, and got back on track and uh end up graduating at King.

Gary Wise 6:40

So Felicia's from she's from Tampa as well.

Dave Robinson 6:43

Yep, yep.

Gary Wise 6:44

Damn, bro. So y'all been together since before the Navy.

Dave Robinson 6:48

Oh, yeah, yeah. High school, yeah.

Gary Wise 6:50

Man, you are you might be one of the only people that I know that can say that out loud, bro. That did a whole career in the United States Navy and is still with a high school sweetheart, you know. Like, that's that's cool, that's a beautiful thing, man. That's a beautiful thing. So when you first graduated high school, and what made you decide to start talking navy? You said your cousins was involved. Did you just wake up one day and like I want to go do something?

Dave Robinson 7:19

No, man, immature. One of my cousins had uh rims on his car, and I didn't have anything going. Uh, worked at Busch Gardens, uh, did other stuff that he shouldn't have been doing, but he would come in off from leave, had rims on his car, music in his car, and I wanted that. Yeah, I didn't I didn't see that any other way, uh, where I was the way I was living. So I said, Man, I need to go into the military. And I followed his lead and my other older cousins' lead.

Gary Wise 7:54

And what did Felicia say when you told her you were thinking about joining the military?

Dave Robinson 7:58

She was all for it, she was supportive, she's always been supportive from whatever uh I brought to her, whatever thing was positive. She was all she was supportive. Yep. So she helped push me to get back into school and to enlist.

Gary Wise 8:16

And it was just Navy from the jump.

Dave Robinson 8:18

You just knew I was gonna go, you're gonna go to the Navy. Yeah, no, no other branch. No, no.

Gary Wise 8:23

Okay. So when you went to the Navy, you got to the recruiter. Did you have an idea what you wanted to do in the Navy, or you were open to whatever jobs they gave you?

Dave Robinson 8:32

No, I I talked to the recruiter about the hotel restaurant management. So I was into I wanted to own my own hotel duplex, and my mind was going towards that. So I brought that to him, and he said, Well, we have something like the MS.

Gary Wise 8:51

Uh oh, I I I can see them saying that too, bro. I can see, you know what I'm saying? Because in a way, they're not wrong, right?

Dave Robinson 9:05

Right, yeah.

Boot Camp, A School, And The Big E

Gary Wise 9:06

Look, and in a way that the MS is the ones that do it well, that really, really embrace the craft and are proud to do it, bro. They could change the culture of a whole ship. Because I tell people the Mestex is like the heartbeat, right? Like a way to a man's heart is through his stomach, right? Like, and and when I was a CMC, my my I would talk to my CSCS, my MSCS, like, bro, if the Mestex ain't good, we're gonna struggle. So, what do you need from us to make it make it look great, make it feel good? So, in a way, he's not wrong, right? In a way, and they do get all that training for like etiquette and like flag cs's and ms and all that stuff. So you came in the door and they was like they they talked about MS, and that's you you got an A school for that when you came in?

Dave Robinson 9:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Went to MS MSA School in San Diego.

Gary Wise 9:59

Okay, so when you went what what what month did you go to basic training? Do you remember June? Okay, so it was warm. It was warm up there than when you went.

Dave Robinson 10:09

Well, I went to boot camp in Orlando.

Gary Wise 10:11

Oh, okay, so right down the street, yeah, yeah.

Dave Robinson 10:14

In June, the hot summer, yeah.

Gary Wise 10:17

When you went to boot camp in Orlando, was y'all walking around with rifles and stuff back then, or no?

Dave Robinson 10:22

No, no, uh-uh.

Gary Wise 10:22

No rifles, no. So you went to boot camp in Orlando right down the street. How was boot camp for you?

Dave Robinson 10:28

It was it was easy, it was easy. Uh, I was a wrestler in in high school, so I was in shape, uh, top shape. Uh, my my wrestling coach and king, he was a seal, so he kept us, he had us discipline. So uh boot camp was really easy for us, right? Or for me.

Gary Wise 10:50

So when you went to basic training, you'd already been conditioned mentally, and I was always the same way, right? Like I had already grown up with a chain of command, even though I didn't really know what it was. I had had older guys I looked up to that would hand they were you didn't just talk back to them, but you but you could still speak your mind, you could still conversate, but ultimately you had to know to say yes, sir, and and and move move move along, right? Move along, and uh okay. So, and then MSA School was in San Diego. How long was that? I think six, eight, six weeks, I think. Yeah, were you married when you joined the navy or just dating at that point?

Dave Robinson 11:28

No, we was dating. Uh, I think I got married like a year in.

Gary Wise 11:32

Okay, yeah, so when you got to San Diego, here you are, a young man straight out of Tampa, right? Straight out of Hillsborough County. Now you in San Diego, California. What was that like, bro? Because the energy, actually, I'll tell you what, I think Tampa and Cali have a have a very similar energy, yeah. Right. I I think I think San Diego and Tampa, they when I was a recruiter there, I would tell the kids, like, y'all remind me of San Diego so much because it's just a very diverse area that everyone really have a lot, they really get along good, and it feels like it's it's the beach vibe, but it's also a city, right? So, but the humidity is different. Did you like San Diego at first?

Dave Robinson 12:15

I did, I enjoyed it. It's just yeah, it had that same vibe as Tampa. The the climate was relaxed, cool. Uh, everybody welcoming it. Yeah, it was a good environment.

Gary Wise 12:27

What year did you join? Uh 94. 1994. Bruh, the things I was doing in 1994, that's crazy. You was already in the navy, bro. Like, whoa, the the mute, just the music alone at that point. I can only imagine what Southern California was like in 1994. Yeah, right. Yeah, you said your your cousin had rams, bro. They got lowriders out there. Oh, yeah.

Dave Robinson 12:54

Yeah, that's when Daytons and all that other stuff, man. Yeah.

Gary Wise 13:00

So how was like Liberty and all that? Did you make some good friends at that time? Go through that A school, man.

Dave Robinson 13:06

MSs, man, they they they are family in itself, so you're gonna meet and jail with those MSs. So we I jail with the MS crew right away. You know, we had that weekend liberty and and uh go pretty hard, hit end up in Tijuana, you know, make some bad decisions and come back.

Gary Wise 13:27

Yep. No, no, it's I tell people young young sailors going through the like A schools, like they first level schools, man, they will have some of the best times because typically they're not married yet, typically they're single, and they've they're with a bunch of other young people that's just like them, and they all got a little bit of change, so they can afford to pay their own way, and they get into stuff, man. And it's just yeah, those are some good, those are special times, man.

Dave Robinson 13:53

They are great memory. It's like uh uh the officers get they go through their learning curve in college. The enlisted, we learn ours in the first few years or so at uh hard knocks, yeah. Yeah, we we had some great times at A school. How how long was that A school?

Gary Wise 14:12

About six weeks. Okay, so six weeks. At the end of that six weeks, how how soon did you find out until you found out where you were gonna go next?

Dave Robinson 14:22

Uh, I think the last week or so. Uh it's based, it was based on your your class grades. Uh, so that's how you was able to uh pick, and I was able, I was at at the top, and uh, picked uh the Enterprise, USS Enterprise, the Big E. The Big E.

Gary Wise 14:42

Was she in Virginia at the time? Yes, yep. So then you went from San Diego to Hampton Roads. Yep. Yeah, on a nuclear aircraft carrier, one of one, right? That yeah, was she operational at that time or was she in the yards or something when you got she was in and out, she was in and out.

Dave Robinson 15:05

Okay, yeah. Uh we ended up doing a cruise, I think the first year I got there.

Gary Wise 15:11

Yeah, so do you remember the first day you got to the big E, or the when you got to the pier and you saw that big old aircraft carrier?

Dave Robinson 15:17

Oh man, you're talking about intimidating. You seeing all it was massive. You yeah, it was it was huge. Walking down that pier and thinking this is my life. Yeah, it was huge.

Gary Wise 15:33

Huge, man. People have no idea how big an aircraft carrier really is till you get up on it, you're just like, oh my god. Where where'd you work at? Which galley were you in? Do you remember?

Dave Robinson 15:42

Aft uh aft galley.

Gary Wise 15:45

So the aft crew galley, yeah, yeah.

Dave Robinson 15:47

And then I end up taking over the record, so uh I end up doing that the majority of my time, too. So when you say records, like the jack of the dust type stuff, no, handling the finances, uh, tracking the budgets, uh, yep, receiving all the information from the jack of the dust or the numbers from the Gali food to provide the a budget for us to operate on.

Gary Wise 16:15

So when you got to the ship, biggie 1994, 1995, were you just were you living on board the ship full time?

Dave Robinson 16:22

No, my wife was there. I broke, I brought her up with me. Uh uh, so she was there uh with me.

Gary Wise 16:31

All right, so y'all was able to get a place. And was that was that aircraft carrier? It was over at Norfolk, right? Norfolk operating base, like NLB Norfolk. All right, so where'd y'all live at? Did y'all live like Virginia Beach, or did y'all live over in Norfolk itself?

Dave Robinson 16:46

We lived in Virginia Beach.

Gary Wise 16:48

Okay, yeah, that's where I lived at too.

Dave Robinson 16:50

Yeah, it was a good little ride in the morning, but that's where we live.

Gary Wise 16:54

That's why I was gonna ask you, right? I was gonna ask you, but but with the MS is typically they're coming in like what time, like four in the morning?

Dave Robinson 17:02

Yeah, yeah. It's dark when you get in there, like four in the morning, getting ready for breakfast on the carrier, and then uh leaving uh when it's late, getting home.

Life In The Galley And Early Leadership

Gary Wise 17:14

Yeah. Well, and it people don't understand that like the cooks on the ships or the cooks everywhere in the Navy, in the world in general, period. I mean, baker is ours, right? Like they are coming in, they're coming in early, and they're not typically leaving till the last meal is done and everything's cleaned up, right? Yeah, and and the leadership piece of this is matters because you're not just leaving cooks. What you get is that you it's like me in my DCPO shop, right? You get a bunch of TAD bodies that you gotta take care of and treat like they're your own, but they can be wild.

Dave Robinson 17:46

Yes, yeah, yeah. You're not getting every the everybody best, new, and then you and I have the utmost respect for the MSs, uh CS because they're serving the people, so they have to, regardless of how they're how they come to work feeling tired or sluggish, whatever, but they're coming in, have to put on the best foot forward and serve the best five-star meal they possibly can with what they have, hoping everybody enjoy.

Gary Wise 18:16

That's it, man. And making that amount of food every day is is it's almost painful, yeah. Right? Like it's not like you can make put your heart into it, it's like a lot of food. It's a lot really, it's not like you're making a little bit that you can really make it nice. No, no, you're making a lot of food, a lot of food, a lot.

Dave Robinson 18:36

I don't eat baked fish to this day because it's cooking it as a junior person, whereas it's all uh, and we used to have to wear cook wipes, tropical whites. We used to have to cook in that stuff, man.

Gary Wise 18:50

And if I was disgusting, so when you look back on your first ship, how was the leadership there for you? Like the FSO, the Chiefs, how was that?

Dave Robinson 19:02

I always had good leadership, stern leadership, uh with visible, present leadership, and that's I picked up a lot of their traits, whether the FSO was normally a warrant officer or the chief or senior chief or the first classes. It was always stern because they had deadlines to meet, they had to make sure the food was out on time, so they had to be present, and it made a tremendous difference in my life because I picked up a lot of good habits from them and and it carried me through the years in the military.

Gary Wise 19:38

Bro, I'm gonna tell you something. Like, I have uh I I rarely have I ever seen a bad leader in the galley. Typically, when it when it's like a chief or an officer, typically they're pretty dang good, especially the FSOs, those warranters, right? Because again, you leading a diverse group of people, you gotta inspire people to do a thankless job. You've got to inspire people to want to be happy to do like they are typically very good leaders, and I love them because they're also black shoe sailors, right? Like they are deck plate sailors, they're not afraid to be in a repair locker, they're gonna be in the duty section when they gotta be. Typically, they're in their own rotation, but we get underway, they're gonna have a GQ station and they're gonna care about damage control, they're gonna care about these fundamental things that are regular Navy, and that's why I love about that because I'm a regular old sailor, right? I tell people that all the time like I Gary Wise, I'm I'm a USS surface guy, like I'm amphibi guy. I'm not some I'm not blessed to have done some of those other things. So I really feel like SHs, MSs, you know, boatswain mates, like those are my people, yeah, right? For sure. And and I'll tell you, there's just strong leaders in that culinary community. Um, and I and I think it's because everything we already said, right? The number of people, the the hard the difficulty of the job, and then leading the diverse groups of people that are there. Um so how long are you on board the big E? Do you remember? Uh, four years, four years on board the biggie. And you said you went on deployment?

Dave Robinson 21:12

Yeah, I did two uh on the uh two there. Yeah, on the biggie. How were those deployments for you? Do you remember? We uh the first one we didn't have females. Uh so it was a it's a different dynamic in the and on ships, especially on the carrier without females. We started getting them when they brought the uh the air wings, and there'll be like two or something, but it brought a different dynamic uh to the ship. Yeah, but the the the uh cruises uh uh it was good, they were good, yeah.

Gary Wise 21:49

Uh so ships company, so ship's company was 100% male, minus like some officers, probably that were females, no, no, right? Oh, the officers' females, too.

Dave Robinson 22:00

No, no, no, so the air wing dropped females. The air wing, yeah. When the air wing came on, they would bring a cup level.

Gary Wise 22:08

You know what's funny? So my first two ships were also all male, right? I was on uh the Bellow and the Ogden, those are both 100% male crews. I did have female officers on board the Ogden, but no female enlisted. And it wasn't until I got to the GW that I had actual female sailors working for me. And so, what was that like with the integration of the females during the second part of your like that that four-year period? How was that?

Dave Robinson 22:35

Not too well, just the ego thing when when females come around, but it it not not too much of change, yeah.

Gary Wise 22:44

Yeah, I was gonna say this is human dynamic, right? Just human interpersonal things, yep, for sure. And and part of that, I kind of liked it. I'm not gonna lie to you, man. When I got to the GW, and I remember I was taking over as a leading damage control man, and half my division was women, and I'm thinking, like, okay, we do a lot of hard things in the in the repair division, we carry these heavy halon cylinders. Like, how am I gonna do this when I got 45 of my sailors are females? They was real good at leaders, they were telling them three guys, hey y'all grab that thing and let's go. And and I to this day, bro, I value their input and their feedback and that that perspective game changer, right?

Dave Robinson 23:26

Absolutely. Some of my strongest and and more aggressive than than uh, so it's it's it's the dynamic crossing the line is it's about the same. You get some of the sharpest sailors out of the females.

Gary Wise 23:41

So yes, I don't and just it's the same way my ROTC program, bro. Like, I'm not even gonna lie to you. Out of my top 10, I would so out of my top 10 cadets, seven of them are females, right? Yeah, their uniforms look better, they're more consistent, they already think the long range, all those same things that make our wife so damn great, right? Hello, hello, yeah. It really is, right? Like, it really is. Like, I was never blessed by the Lord to have daughters, and now I got a whole bunch of bonus daughters at school, right? And my sailors that I had in the past, and I just it but it was but it was an adjustment, like you were saying, to go from being in this space where it was maybe acceptable to operate one way, and then you had to adjust that because yeah, it's not the way you were raised to act, especially around women, right?

Dave Robinson 24:33

And and that's crossing the mess deck with no shirt on, crossing the mess deck with no shirt on, with a towel. So, all that stuff had to change.

Gary Wise 24:42

All that stuff, yeah, yeah. So when you're leaving the enterprise, well, looking back on those first two deployments, how were the Liberty ports?

Dave Robinson 24:50

We did that mid-tour. So France, Spain, excellent, Greece, uh, Italy, uh, you places that I I dreamed about. I've been there, I've been to so many places, even like when I go to church, uh, people try to tell me about, you know, they'll ask me about different countries, and they'll end up saying, Man, I know you've been to about every country uh there is, and and I have countries probably don't forgot about we've been there.

Gary Wise 25:21

Yeah, but no, I think that's amazing, yeah. And here you are, you know, 18, 19, 20 years old, hitting those ports. And why that matters to me is because this boat for you was before 9-11, right? Yeah, and you and I both joined before 9-11, and we both got to see the Navy before 9-11, yes, and then after 9-11. And there was and there was also a change with technology, right? That also changed things as well, but just not feeling safe to pull into certain areas any longer really limited our abilities to go to certain places or even to feel safe out in town because you never knew if there was someone looking to hurt somebody or do something bad, you know what I'm saying? So but we'll get to that. So at when did you leave Enterprise?

Dave Robinson 26:09

Uh 98.

Gary Wise 26:11

Yeah, so where'd you go after Enterprise?

Dave Robinson 26:14

Uh Key West, Florida.

Gary Wise 26:17

South, like way west is like way south, right? Way south, way south. Key West. And were you down there like as a part of the base, like working on the base galley?

Dave Robinson 26:28

Well, at the barracks in Key West. Yeah, I did uh a little time at the bar, a little time at the base, but the majority of the time at the barracks.

Gary Wise 26:37

Hospital hotel management, baby.

Dave Robinson 26:40

Yeah, that's awesome.

Gary Wise 26:43

You got to do it.

Dave Robinson 26:44

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 26:46

I mean, that's it, right? Hotel management. That's what the MS is doing sure.

Dave Robinson 26:51

Yeah, yeah, front desk. I worked at the barracks, front desk, and then not just that, we uh was responsible for uh outfitting houses at the uh in how in the housing unit because the the geographical bachelors they live in regular housing, so we would outfit the housing with everything a sailor would need to go into the housing.

Gary Wise 27:15

And when you left Enterprise, were you already a second class petty officer?

Dave Robinson 27:20

I was uh no, yes, I'm third, third class. Third class in Key West.

Gary Wise 27:26

Did you get any warfare pins on board the big E, or was that later in your career?

Dave Robinson 27:31

Uh I got my E swaps on uh Big E.

Gary Wise 27:35

Because I mean back in those days, it was just starting to be a thing for those of us that were junior to get. I mean, I got mine as a third class too, and I remember the the uh it was an uphill battle, man, because not everyone thought I should be working on that, right?

Dave Robinson 27:48

Uh yeah, a lot of the older ones didn't believe the younger ones deserved it.

Gary Wise 27:54

They didn't want it either, right? I remember having old second classes that were like, I ain't getting no dang Eastwas pin, I don't need that crap. Yeah, what I ain't no submarine guy, like that was what their energy was, right?

Dave Robinson 28:05

And then they was yeah, and you talk about it said they was probably about to retire too, because there was a lot of second classes that retired during that era, too. So they didn't believe in a lot of that forward-leaning stuff.

Gary Wise 28:19

I remember that. I remember that time second classes were going to 20 and they were letting first classes retire at 16 years in the Navy. Yeah, yeah. But guys were punching out left and right, getting early retirements and just walking away because they just didn't feel it, they weren't feeling it no more. They I'm not making chief, I'm out gone. Right? Yeah, how was Key West for you and Felicia?

Dave Robinson 28:43

Key West was good, a tourist place, uh good uh had a lot of family time uh in Key West, but it was good. We loved it. The kids, we had a couple more kids down there. Uh but we the kids liked it, we liked it. It was beautiful.

Gary Wise 29:02

So you had had your first child at in Hampton Roads in Virginia? Yes, and then a couple more kids you said down at Key West. How many children do you have total, you and Felicia?

Dave Robinson 29:14

We have five. Five, that's right.

Gary Wise 29:16

Yeah, and you got girls and boys, or just boys?

Dave Robinson 29:19

Uh, four boys and one girl.

Gary Wise 29:22

Okay, and last I remember your oldest son, I remember he went to the Marine Corps, right?

Dave Robinson 29:28

Yes, yeah. I have one Marine Corps, one Navy, and uh one Air Force.

Gary Wise 29:35

Wow, yeah, that's awesome, man. Hey, you that means selfishly that they don't hate you for what you did, right?

Dave Robinson 29:42

They yeah, yeah, and I tried to talk them out of it. I tried to send them to school. I said, hey, don't go. I said, go to school, man. Go to college, let me pay for it, go to college. They all did a year and say no, they punched out and went into the military.

Gary Wise 30:01

Yeah, no, I I tell you what, that that's I I support my son doing whatever he wants to do. He don't want to join the service, but there's a part of me that if he was to ever do it, I would just be like, Thank you for not being mad at me. Because like my wife would just do like a scrapbook for his elementary school years, and I mean my man went to like four elementary schools in six years, right? Like that was a lot of moving, bro. That's hard on kids, and he took it well, but I feel guilty for that as a parent, right? Putting them through that. And so that's great that your children decided to step up and serve our country, bro, and go out and do great things. That that's huge, man. And that just speaks to you and Felicia, because y'all are a freaking power couple. I remember when Felicia used to be hustling those Navy Exchange uh scratchers or whatever it was, right? Remember that, bro? She was a hustler, dog. She'd be in the Navy Exchange, just straight selling those things. She won awards for selling those things. She did, she did. She's so more than anybody. Yeah, she was, yeah, no, yeah, for sure. So you're in Key West, you got two, three kids now at this point. You do you make second class while you're at Key West?

Dave Robinson 31:10

I did, yeah.

The JFK Years And Morale Collapse

Gary Wise 31:11

Okay. By this point, how long had you known you're you're staying navy the whole time? Like, when did you make the choice that this was gonna be your career, bro?

Dave Robinson 31:20

I think towards the end of that tour. Key West? End of that tour, yeah. End of that tour, Key West. I started locking in and really paying attention, being focused on a career. Uh you know, it started clicking in that this is a career, yeah. Okay, not leading into key West, it wasn't like that. But towards the end, when I was preparing for what's next, then the light clicked on about a career.

Gary Wise 31:49

Yeah, well, that's a lot of us go through. We would go to that first short duty, not quite sure what we was gonna do. And that was me. I met my wife on short duty and recruiting duty, and I was like, you know what, this is what I'm this is the best thing I got going for me to have a family and to go out and do things, and so a lot and I and short duty is not something everybody gets to have in this world, yeah, right? Like a lot of civilians don't know that feeling of having short duty, yeah.

Dave Robinson 32:15

Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying?

Gary Wise 32:17

Like, because short duty is almost like permission. If you take it, if you really want to chill, you can. Now, you're probably like me, and you don't really chill too much, but you but it was it was better than it was on the ship, right? It was better than it was on the ship for sure. So, where did you end up going after Keith West?

Dave Robinson 32:35

Uh that uh John F. Kennedy in Mayport, Florida.

Gary Wise 32:40

Oh, those were rough years, huh?

Dave Robinson 32:42

Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 32:45

That was a tough time to be on the Kennedy. Oh I know that time period.

Dave Robinson 32:50

Yeah, we it was rough. We went through a lot of leadership challenges. We the our liberty, it was rough.

Gary Wise 32:59

That was horrible, bro. I was when did you get to Kennedy, like 2000, 2000? 2001.

Dave Robinson 33:06

So before 9-11 or after it, uh, before no, after, after no, after I was in Key West during 9-11.

Gary Wise 33:15

Okay, so you're key west 9-11. So, because I remember when Kennedy was a reserve aircraft carrier, and that was a bad plan, yeah, right. Let's turn into a reserve unit aircraft carrier, and then all of a sudden they need to get it spun up to go active, and it's just not ready, not ready at all. Remember, were you on there when they ordered everybody to come to work like on Christmas Day and everybody went UA or something like that?

Dave Robinson 33:40

Yes, they stopped throwing tickets and it was during send down, and yeah, everyone.

Gary Wise 33:46

Tell me that story, bro. What happened there?

Dave Robinson 33:48

First classes going to Captain's Mass. When they we had failed the insert, we had failed something, and it was uh the captain got fired, it was a mess, and and it was temper tantrums all on the hangar bay that day when they had when they told us we uh you know our our liberty was gone, our our Christmas leave was gone, and everybody was upset. They had people tearing up airplane uh airplane uh tickets, and it was it was bad. The morale was is a low place then, real bad. How did they come out of that? Morale wasn't a thing, yeah.

Gary Wise 34:27

Yeah, yeah. The beatings will continue until morale improves, right? That's that's how it was. But how did they come out of that, Dave? Do you remember how they were how did they reverse that course?

Dave Robinson 34:42

While I was on there, they uh they really didn't. It just continued. It was a continued, uh, they kept trying to find the right leader that can get it. And they while I was on there for four years, they never quite gotten it. We every year we was going through a commanding officer and uh uh senior listed, it was just changing. Uh uh, it was ongoing.

Gary Wise 35:08

With from uh it was it was I think that ship was bad all the way till it decombed, bro. I'm not gonna lie to you. I yeah, I nothing against the Jacksonville waterfront because I love Jacksonville and Mayport. I just don't know that they have the depth in that community to support that level of sailor that's needed to make that ship work. And when you make it be a reserve thing, that's a part-time mindset, that's not a full-time mindset. And then to get the people to want to come down there and to hear how bad it is, no one was gonna want to take orders there, yeah, right? And then it's like, oh, we're just gonna we're gonna go do a deployment or two in support of the war on terror, but then we're gonna decomp anyway. So nobody wants to commit to going to Jacksonville when they can't stay there, yeah, yeah, right? You if you uh it wasn't isn't that wasn't that was that a convention? That was was that a Kennedy was a nuke, right? No, uh uh it was conventional, it was conventional, yeah. So like Kitty Hawk. Yeah, yeah, it was a conventional again, right? Okay, you're losing that community because all the ships are going over to nuclear aircraft carriers, so you don't got enough BTs that want to go there to do the job or go live there. All the ships are gas turbines, yeah, right. So for a propulsion guy, for an engineer to go down to move your family, you're just you're guaranteeing you're gonna have to move again in two and a half years somewhere else, right? Yeah, yeah, at some point, maybe not everyone's like us and is willing to move every damn tour, right? Some people want to homestead a little bit. Um, I feel bad for you going through that, bro. But I'm sure as a as a person, as a father, as a husband, as a leader, how did those years shape you?

Dave Robinson 36:49

I was in in as bad as that environment was, I learned a lot and thrived still uh in that environment. That that MS community was still stronger than ever. I met some great people, the supply community. As bad as the ship might have been. We we found a group that we still are together now as friends and family. Uh, even in that bad environment, what can come out is some good relationships, and that's what came out.

Gary Wise 37:22

That's resilience, bro. That's resilience. That's when you see that little green tree growing out of the side of a rock, bro.

Dave Robinson 37:29

Yeah, man.

Gary Wise 37:31

Yes, that's it.

Dave Robinson 37:35

If we're gonna be if we're gonna work seven days a week, we work 18-hour days, we're still together enjoying each other's company.

Gary Wise 37:44

That's awesome, man. I I was a recruiter 2000, 2003, so down here in Clearwater, and boy, we was talking about the Kennedy. Everyone is talking about the Kennedy because thank god there wasn't no Facebook or whatever back then. Could you have imagined that? Oh gosh, yeah. So when your time comes out the Kennedy, are you have you made first class yet? Are you leaving there as an MS2?

Dave Robinson 38:11

Yeah, no, I was in first class. Yeah, first class.

Gary Wise 38:15

Okay, and had you learned yet how to what what people were talking about when it came to making chief, or was you looking at like LDO programs, or what was you thinking about? Because I'll be honest, bro, when I made Chief, I had no idea what I was doing. Like, I remember the NC1 had to help me put a Chiefs package together because I didn't know what a Chiefs package was. Ain't no one ever talked to me. Matter of fact, I didn't even like the Chiefs, I thought they was a bunch of weirdos. Like, I was like a bunch of old men, and I'm young. Like, I I because I made Chief Young. I was not, I didn't think I just figured well eventually I'd pick it up. Did you know? Did somebody school you on what was that all that was all about?

Rebuilding In Jacksonville And Making Chief

Dave Robinson 38:57

So I used to watch uh Pat Campbell, uh Pat Campbell and some other Chiefs that was older, and I used to listen to them. They were first class, excuse me, they were first class, getting ready for chief. And that's all they I was I was a second class ear hustling, just listening to them, you know, talking, hey man, you got your package together, you know. And they I see them what looking uh at what the board was looking at, and I started collecting that stuff as a second class, uh, just preparing men. Uh so I I started preparing as a second class, listening what calls they had to what they were doing, I started doing uh what what classes they need to take, I started requesting to go. So as a second class, I start you know positioning myself at what jobs I needed to take. Hey, can I be a uh LPO as a second class? Now, mind you, the uh MSs, man, they had those first class didn't put play.

Cruiser Lessons And CMC Aspirations

Gary Wise 40:00

So you had to be you had to get on their side to uh and I end up one winning over their favor and they pulled me alongside and uh at second class I began to prepare to make it yeah yeah well because you I know a lot of second class they just want to put that watch captain role and not give the chance to be that LPO because like you said look MS not ain't nothing like a good old salty MS1 right they just ain't made cheap forever trying to figure it out and that'd be that'd be salty man those young MS2s trying to come through and they'd be like no you watch captain for life that's it man that's it what you talking about you watch captain man what do you you gotta worry about that recipe card don't worry about what we're doing over here that's right that's right so after the after the JFK now you got two aircraft carriers under your belt you got a you got a base man barracks management job what do you want to do for your next short duty so I went to uh NAS Jacksonville okay so you got to stay in Mayport area Jacksonville area yeah and were you it was was did you go to the galley there I went to the galley for a little bit and then I went to the barracks so I was a mixture of both I did split the time because a lot of people from the Kennedy end up going to uh NES Jacksonville so that family went from from that ship to over there and it was just it was a family we grew up for mafia is right that's how it is man yeah that that that when I knew we passed it on to each other yeah yeah that community is very tight I would say out of all the fleet concentration areas right because every area has their own thing like I don't I would go to the board and I would talk so much smack to people because I'd be like y'all hate on us in Japan because you think we just want to be over in Japan doing our own thing but y'all do the same thing y'all stay in San Diego y'all stay in Jacksonville y'all stay in Norfolk you just mad because we get the dang overseas housing overseas allowances that's it yeah yeah that's it but then they got rid of that you know and they started giving us just a little bit of money because it used to be a lot more money to be overseas let's be honest they changed that game but I would just I would go after them because people just like being in certain locations but Maypour in particular it's a very strong community Mayport Jacksonville area in particular I say Maypour because that's where most of the ship people are at and then NAS Jacks is where a lot of the aviation folks were at but then in your community you could have gone to either or because again you you working in the galleys you working on the barracks and all that working with the installation side um did you make chief in Jacksonville I did at NES Jax I made chief yeah how was that what year did you make chief um I think oh six oh we made chief the same year then okay oh six yeah we were the transition chiefs remember that yeah yeah oh yeah we were the year after initiation but the year before uh we were called transition the transition yeah yeah okay so how was that initiation process for you being on the was it a big group because you were part of a base it was a huge group a huge it was a lot of us uh all the bases all the air wings they the hospital uh all merged together for a huge season so it was planned out real really thorough uh again that relationship building with amongst the selects and with the uh with the uh genuine chiefs it was great okay so when you look back on your initiation process sounds like you really enjoyed the opportunity and the experience but that makes sense bro again that Jacksonville community and the aviation navy does it good bro I think I I got the chance to be around them on the GW and their culture is phenomenal yes yes and they do things as a wing they don't really do things as they own individual squadrons which is a lot different than those of us on the ships because on the ships you don't want everyone else knowing your business no no no yeah isolate very but very different very different culture right very different culture um okay so going through initiation you just you remembered it and it was you was a good experience for you yes it was it was a good transitioning to me awesome where did you in so when you after you made cheap how long did you get to stay at NAS Shaxville I I then I pushed over to the uh galley and then I stayed there maybe a year and from that uh I transferred where'd you go uh USS Philippine C Mayport awesome so there you are you a made man broatlocker hall of fame jackets they got going bro you're part of that I went to Ty Giles retirement ceremony because you know he up there now he liked the mayor of Mayport now he is yeah yeah and it was just the same thing man all them dudes have been up there so you went but you went to a cruiser yeah in Mayport yeah may senior chief there uh war dogs uh great culture uh great captains great cmc's great mess uh that was a great experience different on that cruise there was fast uh a little fast pace on that that cruiser yeah well i mean again you you had an aircraft carrier experience right yeah so now you go to the cruiser and everybody's gotta pull their weight it ain't gonna be you know just yeah 500 man worker party no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no you gotta figure it out you gotta figure it out and everybody do you remember the cmc of that ship how he led was that a was that where you got the idea that you might want to be a cmc was it during that tour how do you how do you know that because man uh first the the first ship as a as a chief is very influential yeah number one i would say number two the first the part time to actually participate in the chiefs mess if you have a good cmc during that period of time they're gonna turn you on to the command leadership program and get you to want to elevate outside of your rate right and i i will tell you that's that's for me that i wouldn't be surprised right i wouldn't be surprised is that what happened for you yeah absolutely uh scott Kersher uh was one and then Roy Hooper uh was the other there was the two cmc's that was on there and that's what turned opened my eyes to the program and that whole position yeah what it they really opened me up to that whole position okay uh and looking at that time you were on that ship what was the what was the positive things about that chief's mess you remember Scott Kersher was about relationships all he talked about was about relationships and that's what he wanted to make sure the chief the mess was driven by relationships uh Roy Hooper he was about deck plate he was a prior engineer so between those two it it opened me up to about relationships and being present on the deck plate nice I mean because again on that ship you're not gonna have enough people you're not gonna have everything you need yeah you're gonna have to work with the other members of the mess and I'll very similar to like on an LSD or like a Minesweeper even when you got to the LPD uh it's just how it is on those kind of ship right and it what for the places that do it really really good it's a good it's a it's a great place to be and when I was on the aircraft carrier I loved it don't get me wrong but it wasn't the same when you as when you want to crew like 300 or you know that's just a different mindset right yeah so Philippine Sea did you guys go overseas for any action when you were on that boat like oh seven oh eight oh nine we did we did we had a couple uh a couple cruises we did uh piracy was uh was kind of heavy during that time so we dealt with a lot of piracy uh yeah on that cruise yeah yeah a lot of that bbss stuff yeah a lot of that yeah I just did a video with a guy because I don't think the real world knows the civilian world knows how much BBSS the United States Navy was doing from like 2001 to like 2009 bro and not like navy SEALs no no no because they was busy in Iraq and Afghanistan kicking down doors no it was C S M right yeah right like it was regular sailors I really yeah you're gonna be the engineer like what I don't know about all that I'm a firefighter bro like what are you trying to get me to do I was mad when they brought up IAs for the navy bro I was mad man I was like why do you want me to be a truck driver bro like what yeah like I'm a I'm a firefighter for the navy I didn't you you just want a hot body behind the wheel that's it's all that's it and you don't you don't know what month that when you you brought some up by the IAs they'll popping up left and right if you weren't guaranteed to stay at your command when those IAs start with coming up that's it they were pulling people left to right and then you come back and have to go on deployment right on the back heels of that yes I had a DC one that I made chief with he had to do a 12 month IA to uh Cuba for that prison down there they they bring him back from the IA new captain so now he got to go on the eight month Westpac you know back to back like come on bro they did him dirty bro yeah like and you know it's funny is after my career I would tell you what I would have been I would have gone down fighting if I was the CMC for that kid like you would have had to pull me off of somebody but I don't remember anybody fighting for him they just let it happen and you know they could have worked something out where he got left behind somewhere yeah you know what I'm saying but they just let it happen um so when you leave in the Philippines you said you made senior chief on the Philippines I did so where'd you go after you made senior chief i uh I did a Iraq a tour in Iraq in Al I Sad for 10 months okay so I had uh yeah I did some army training at uh Fort Jackson for combat training and then went over to Al Assad Iraq with embedded with a uh the base command group over there with Marines Army and all that and that was probably one of the GSA tours right where you got the chance to plan for it and like go do it. Why did you do that Dave?

Dave Robinson 50:59

Did you do that because they said that's what you needed to promote or did you do that because you wanted the experience uh my daughter uh in order to stay for my daughter to graduate in high school in in uh in Jacksonville that was the only way I can keep them in the area my detail is that was for me to go uh do a tour in Iraq so I did that in order so she can stay and graduate with her her class our senior year.

Iraq GSA And Paying Family Costs

Gary Wise 51:30

So here you come off the tail end of a of a successful sea tour making senior chief and the only way that our good navy can find a way for your daughter to get the state where she can graduate is if you got to go play soldier of one for 10 months. Yeah you at least they fixed that finally right where now they got this thing where you can run some paperwork and you can stay there until your kid graduates but that's yeah because I will tell you the reason why I asked that question is because I remember uh being a chief and everyone was like oh you got to go to you got to go do a GSA tour to make senior chief or master chief if you don't do a GSA tour you're not gonna have it on the board blah blah blah and I was like bro I'm not doing I'm not I didn't join the army I don't want to I I am a sailor I'm proud to be a sailor like they don't want to come do what I do they don't want to come over here and they don't want to try to train the Iraqi navy dudes they don't want to try to do all this stuff that we doing I don't blame them but at the end of the day choose your right choose your fate bro hello right right I was I was I was angry bro I was upset for for my navy because I felt like we had always been deploying as a service right always always so everybody else is chilling shooting basketball whatever it is United States Navy haze grade underway going going then then we go sideways into the war and all of a sudden now sailors are more valuable you were just letting first classes retire 16 years in the Navy right you wouldn't PTS is about to come knocking on the door kicking people out left to right but meanwhile you want us all remember they were doing that blue to green thing right go from the navy to the army yeah you know my boy did that and I did I did one of these shows with him and he went over as an E6 they they blew to green him e6 e6 he never recovered bro they never accepted him in the army as an e6 he even had we even went through ranger school special forces school but he never got higher than e7 bro because they just never respected his career path right it's just because you got to put that time in at the lower levels to to get certain levels to open up for you right yeah yeah that truth be told that was one of the times when I've I I was I struggle with my belief in the armed forces in that point in time as an organization when I made chief they got me back in right because I bought into the mess yeah right with the MICPO and I'm like oh navy chief navy pride bro I'm in I'm a gangster bro I can ride for this yeah you know and and that's true bro when I was a teenager I was down from my neighborhood so when I got initiated to the chief's mess that just clicked for me right that just clicked like I'm I can I can push this line bro no problem yeah we're gonna take care of the youngsters yes we can do that um and our generation I think is what really took the mess to the next level let's be honest yeah that and technology yeah yeah technology helped because we can network a lot better right we can communicate a lot better we can rally up a lot easier yeah and start advertising emblem emblematics became a thing because they wouldn't let people wash cars no more right and we were a bunch of hustlers so we learned how to we learn how to help washing cars yeah yeah 100% because what we cheese messes used to get money during initiation bro i remember my first cheese mess it was a closed mess so we would eat our own food bro we would send the MSs to the store they'd make their own menu they had their own galley had everything separate and the CMC was the one that approved everything right we was like the last closed mess on the water front before I was on USS Ogden where I made cheap and so that was a unique experience to be a part of that mess that had that whole they eat whatever they eat on the mess decks we eat steak right we eat good and and that was a I'm not right wrong or indifferent it's just how it was but we also had our own money we would break them off we was we was giving the FSA's college money right we was breaking them off right and they was they was they wanted to work in the Chiefs mess yeah it wasn't just another mess pack right no they wanted to be up in that joker so when you come back from the GSA tour man where'd you go next uh RTC recruit training command yes didn't you go there be a red roper I did yeah as a senior chief yeah and that's starting all over when it doesn't matter you could be a master chief senior chief chief when you turn yourself into that schoolhouse as a red rope uh you start over yeah no no i i had actually had rdc orders to go there as a DC one and they turned me down because I had a tattoo on my arm you know nowadays you can have full sleeves no problem yeah and my captain my captain wanted to fight them so bad because I'm sailor of the year on the ship but I got a tattoo said my last name and they said no I wouldn't represent the navy well my captain was like how the hell he my sailor of the year but but that's how it was in like oh five oh four oh five when you went there as a senior chief what was the I what was the thought process behind that was that just oh because that's a hard short duty bro that's not a short duty let's be honest no no that totally wasn't and you coming off an old you coming off of a cruiser tour in Mayport where you go from chief to senior chief so you probably kick butt took names there yeah then you go to a GSA tour in freaking Iraq where you got to go be a soldier of one and now you go into Navy's quarter deck to Great Lakes to go be the boot camp a boot camp RDC as a senior chief and probably be in charge of a ship after you push a few divisions but still you got to push a few divisions and make it through RDC school yep if the fleet is getting through RDC school that's not guaranteed for any uh because all that fleet mentality have to be dumped out of you you have to be retrained to pay attention to your detail the how to wear the uniform properly how to be an example you know as we come in there man I'm a senior chief man what you talking about I have to obey the rules I it's not isn't it different we hit the the other chiefs that's in the school hey brother no no you're not their brother senior chief it's she it's not the brother the brother thing go out the window yeah and think about that because you going through RDCC school with like second classes first classes yeah and so you being a senior chief you got to be extra thorough you got to be extra good because who was the CMC of RTC when you went there was that Izzy no no uh I it was before him uh I can't remember uh it's okay I know Matt Lane Matt Lane was one and then uh I forgot the one before him but Matt Lane is one that was there the majority of the time I was look it's it's one of the hardest cmc feels yeah oh yeah yeah because you got to find a CMC that not only still looks like the poster child of the United States Navy quarterback but was a red roper right and wants to go back and be a part of that and you got to be responsible for all those sailors all those people all that so how long were you at RDC? Did you do the full three year tour?

Dave Robinson 59:23

Well I was at first I was a regular red rope then I went and took a ship and a ship LCPO and then I uh took over the schoolhouse and I trained uh the RDCs as a uh as a uh over the schoolhouse so I received them about a year and a half I was over the RDC schoolhouse uh so at three years I was up there is that where you applied for the command see and she program I did at the uh RDC C schoolhouse bruh let me tell you you're right about when you apply for the command C and Chief program

Great Lakes RDC: Standards And Strain

Gary Wise 1:00:00

Program was when it was hard to get into the command CNG program, right? I remember there was like one year, I think we'll call it 2015. What year did you get command CNG?

Dave Robinson 1:00:14

15. No, you did not. Yes, I did.

Gary Wise 1:00:17

I thought you got it before that. So, what year was it where like every package that got submitted, they accepted them all? Was that 15?

Dave Robinson 1:00:25

Was that I think so, and they had to redo it.

Gary Wise 1:00:30

No, there was there was such a lack of having enough people in the command master chief program. Yeah, but it was the year they made it their own rate. That was not 15, was it?

Dave Robinson 1:00:41

No, that wasn't. No, I can't remember that yet.

Gary Wise 1:00:44

But yeah, I think it was 17. I think it was 17 that this happened. Because when you guys did not have your own rate and you still had a source rate, that was such that was harder than making master chief, bro. Yeah, like because you were going against the cream of the crop senior chiefs from all across different rates applying for the program. And then the next, so all the packages that were getting submitted, they was only picking the tippy top, right? It was in 2017, bro. That first year when they made them all command senior chiefs, and they just took 100% of them, bro. Yeah, whoosh, and pulled them all in. And in my opinion, jacked up the program, dog. Because you let a lot of people in that would have never got in senior chiefs, yeah. They would have never got in as senior chiefs, and they never got the experience of being a master chief in their rank first. And there that that right there, and then it they kind of fixed it again later. But the problem is you once they did that, Master Chief stopped applying really for the program, right? When you look at the CMC program now, the E9 results, it's almost always like CB's, EOD, like it ain't gonna be surface dudes for the most part, right? Not like it used to be because they pulling all them over as senior chiefs now, right?

Dave Robinson 1:02:03

Yeah, they miss a lot of experience that they can they they can get.

Gary Wise 1:02:08

Yeah, well, I think that I think I like the Marine Corps method of doing it personally, right? In the Marine Corps, you can say whether or not you would like to be a first sergeant or a master sergeant, but then ultimately the marine corps is gonna pick what you're gonna be, right? You don't really get to be the one that picks, you get to say what you if because if you say I want to be a first sergeant and they say no, then you don't get nothing. Yeah, right. If you say you want to be a first sergeant or a master chief, then they'll give you one or the other. And if you say you want to be a mass sergeant, you either get mass sergeant or you get nothing, right? I think that's what the navy should do because the problem is you got people applying for the command sea chief program. I think that ain't technically proficient enough to make make it in their rate, right? And and they do it for the i don't know, it's just I'm over here waxing poetic.

Dave Robinson 1:03:01

I remember that a good mentor can make a uh a good eval writer, a good builder, they can make that person that's not ready, but because I like you, I can sell you 100%.

Gary Wise 1:03:16

I remember being a CMC on Ashland, looking at people's packages and thinking to myself, there's no way you're making it, and they all got selected for command senior chief. And I remember them having me look at this stuff, and I'm just like, Well, I think you need to work on this, this, and that. They all picked up, and I'm just like, bro, like what happened? What just happened? Yeah, I had to I had to work my butt off to make mass chief, and nothing. I mean, I'm sure these guys are doing great now, whatever. I'm not trying to be a hater, but I look at all the hard look at what you did, bro. You went freaking, you did that kick the cruiser, the 10 months on Iraq, RTC, Great Lakes, just to get into the command senior chief program. And if you didn't apply for command senior chief, you the challenge would have been, I think we're going RTC. That made you very, very competitive for command senior chief, but not as competitive for CSCM.

Dave Robinson 1:04:09

No, no, right. Yeah, it was the either or that was the risk.

Gary Wise 1:04:14

Yeah, yep, but that was a good strategic move for command senior chief because now your salarization was through the roof, yeah. Right, yeah, that's through the roof, and so then how'd you get the USS Chief, bro? Was you were you hand picked for that? Is that true?

Dave Robinson 1:04:31

I don't know if they hand picked, I don't know if they handpicked. I it was a uh duty I was selected.

Gary Wise 1:04:39

Okay, yeah, I had heard I had heard that on the deck plates that you were hand picked to go to the USS Chief, right? Because you came from Great Lakes, RTC Great Lakes. But what an honor though, right? Your first CMC tour and and your first overseas tour, yeah, it was a mind sweeper out of Sasebo, Japan, the USS Chief, right? That's huge, bro.

Dave Robinson 1:05:04

It was awesome.

Gary Wise 1:05:06

So why did you want to go to the command c and g program? What was it about that program for you that made you want to go into it by stay in the in the culinary world?

Dave Robinson 1:05:17

I will the the CMCs that that's I started watching how they led, and then looking at again the leaders that I that I was under, it it I needed more, and my capacity was more. It was ready, I was ready for more. I was a mess president at RTC, I was at the top of the mess. Uh, and I maxed out at my level, and in order to grow as another leader, I need to open myself up for more of the command, and that was the next thing.

Gary Wise 1:05:51

How many years did you have in the Navy when you got into the program?

Dave Robinson 1:05:55

Probably, I think 15.

Gary Wise 1:05:57

15. Okay, yeah. I I would tell you, similar to you, um, I made the choice to I so just uh similar but maybe a little bit different. I decided I want to become a CMC when I was going through initiation, right? Because once I bought into the Chiefs mess, like as a as a new initiate into this thing, I'm just like, okay, this is what I'm doing, then I want to be the leader of it because I I care that much. Like I want us to be successful, and I'm a team player, I'm great at being a chief, right? But then if you ask me, I'll tell you I think I want to be in charge because I think I might be the best one to do it. Right?

Dave Robinson 1:06:34

Hello, hello.

Gary Wise 1:06:35

Yeah, but then when you get in the mess, you also realize there's other people that are good, and y'all get to learn the network and communicate, right? But yeah, when you get into the CMC community, that's why that's why I wanted it, right? And so that and I would every ship I would go to as like a chief, I would sit down with this master chiefs and talk to them about do the I did the charge book three times for CMC, right? Like I was just that was what I wanted to do because I knew there was a different level of leadership besides just doing my rate. And once you did your ship tour, you could be like, Well, I did that already. I was a DLCPO already, I was running the galley. What's next? So when you got to the minesweeper, how but how different was that from the Philippine Sea?

Joining The CMC Program And USS Chief

Dave Robinson 1:07:22

It was uh slower again, but then you have to do everything on that minesweeper. You're pulling, you're the senior person, and it's you don't have really the other another source of wisdom, you know, at that level where you're at from that at that mind sweeper. It's not a lot of older people. You might have a senior mindman, but they might be young and junior, and on that ship, you got other senior people that you can run stuff by, you know, that help that can be helped in addition to your decisions. So it just it was different.

Gary Wise 1:08:03

Well, and let's talk about that though, right? Because that community is unfortunately like forgotten about in the Navy, right? Like the mind men community, that's a special community that's all their own, and they own that they're they're very much like the nukes, right? Because they all grow to the same schools, they all go to the same locations. Once once that Ingleside, Texas base was gone, they were either going to Sasebo or Bahrain or Guam or whatever it was, and they were everything on their boats, they were the most of mates, they was everything, they did all those things, and then after the Guardian incident where they had to saw that dang ship in half because a hit ran aground, they stopped letting them go to sea, yeah, right? So now you got to keep sailors inspired to be a crew that does not ever get to get underway, right? And if they do, it's not really on a long like I got buddies that were COs and XOs on a minesweeper, and they would take those ships to freaking all over the world, right? But after the Guardian, they started locking them down where they can only go short-range things, and because oh, everything's all about the LCS, everything's all about the LCS. They almost became an afterthought, right?

Dave Robinson 1:09:21

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:09:21

And I can only imagine leading those, especially first-term sailors. My first three years in the Navy was a Sassamo, so I know what it's like to be a first-term sailor in Japan, right? And that's a different mindset, right? I mean, you don't just get to be regular. No, no, you're navy 24 hours a day, seven days a week over there, yes, right.

Dave Robinson 1:09:44

Okay, that dynamic, that type of that's a lot of weight a young mind go to and uh being forward deployed. The risk liberty restrictions, the unfamiliarity of your family not being there, new culture. It's just a lot of the dynamics of that environment changes for that young sailor, new to the military, go in.

Gary Wise 1:10:07

Yeah, for sure, man. I uh again, I I was there. I was Cinderella Liberty, yeah, be on base before midnight, or it's a case, yeah, right? The Japanese American relationship, and thank God I was there in the late 90s before telephones and all that. But because these kids are getting in trouble with social media and all that, you know. Um, but but again, uh trying to keep a crew inspired to do all this maintenance to do all this work, but then the ship stays pure side and you're in three-section duty sections or whatever it is, that's tough, man. That's a tough ride. Uh now you did two years aboard the USS Chief, and then you wanted to go to the Green Bay next. Is that what you wanted to do?

Dave Robinson 1:10:50

I was hungry, just like you, brother. I could do it, I could do it. The uh a lot of uh, you know, the C the other senior CMCs, they wanted us to step up, you know, before you go to that major, they want you to do one more uh command, that 05 tour. But you know, hey, I'm right here. Put me in, coach. And they end up putting me in. Uh, it was an opportunity. They didn't have a CMC at the time, so they slipped me over there next door.

Gary Wise 1:11:21

I remember that actually. And I remember there was that conversation, and I remember saying, I thought you would do a good job there, right? I'll I one of the things that I don't like about the CMC program, and I'm pretty vocal about this, when especially when they changed the ways they was detailing like the flag leadership pieces, was I don't like the fact that other E9s, other Master Chiefs have such a say in my career, right? Like that really bothered me because not everyone's gonna like people, not every, not everyone, there's gonna be professional. Um, I would say uh people are jealous, or people are worried about their position, or worried about their reputation, or whatever it is. Not everyone gets it, you know what I'm saying?

Dave Robinson 1:12:09

Like not everyone gets it, bro.

Gary Wise 1:12:11

And I would see people in these positions just hating on people, just blocking, bro. And it's like, why are you doing that? Why you care if that man wants to go to that job? If that skipper wants him, because he knows the waterfront, yeah, and he thinks he's ready for that opportunity, and don't nobody else want the job, yeah.

Dave Robinson 1:12:32

Hello, yeah, let him get it.

Gary Wise 1:12:34

Yeah, what we talk about, yeah, you know, whatever. And I hated that because I would see people be given opportunities ahead of the curve that tell other people they gotta wait their turn, right?

Dave Robinson 1:12:47

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:12:48

And I I that that was one of the reasons why I retired. I'm not even gonna front, bro. Like, I got I got a few good one reasons why I retired when I did, and I popped smoke, and a lot of people were surprised when I popped smoke. They was like Gary, all right, 25 years when I left. And to be honest with you, when when I left Ashland, I thought I was gonna go all the way to the bank, right? I had visions of freaking going all the way to the bank.

Dave Robinson 1:13:18

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:13:18

But then what you see behind this curtain, you're like, oh no, I I don't like y'all, man. We not the same, like we not the same. This is weird, man. Y'all weird to me, like y'all haters, bro. Like, I just came off this ship where I would take you outside and cuss you out on my weather deck, you know what I'm saying?

Dave Robinson 1:13:35

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:13:37

Y'all, y'all, y'all funny to me, and so but you had when you went to the Green Bay, I will tell you, you had one of the best commanding officers on the waterfront, man. Moyer. Um I mean, when you got there, was he the XO at first?

Dave Robinson 1:13:52

No, he was the he was the captain there.

Gary Wise 1:13:55

He was the captain, yeah.

Dave Robinson 1:13:56

I love that Tom Schultz was the XO.

Gary Wise 1:13:59

He was good too. Uh, I remember I both of them were phenomenal human beings, man. But Moyer, man, I remember when he was the XO of the Green Bay, and you were on the Chief, I was on Ashland. We went over there for something or another, and him and I just had a conversation, and I was like, Man, you're so real, I love you for that. Like, oh yeah, he was just a real dude, man. To this day, he's one of the few people that's like another commanding officer that I'm connected to on like Facebook, yeah, right? Yeah, he was just solid, bro. He he was a good dude. So when you got to the Green Bay, how was that transition for you from the chief to the Green Bay?

Dave Robinson 1:14:37

I was ready. I um mentally I was ready for more. So I was a writer, organizer, so it wasn't a tough transition. It's what I wanted, and I was prepared for it mentally. My wife was ready for it because it's you're talking about more time away. Uh by then I'd missed quite a few graduations, high school graduations, a lot of uh stuff, but it was uh it was a uh uh it was a good time. It was a good time. I learned a lot at that uh location, and then it was a good time.

Gary Wise 1:15:15

Well, I mean, the chief's mess, you're gonna have a lot of, you're gonna have mass chiefs, you're gonna have seal chiefs, you're gonna have chiefs, right? Which is different than you had on the sweep, right? The sweep, I remember I came over to your minds. I came to the chief that one time for uh when that Mk Pond was coming over there to speak at this Chiefs pinning ceremonies, and I remember sitting in your Chief's mess, I'm like, yo, this is like a submarine mess. Like, this is a tiny little joker. This is this is tiny, right? Well, when you go under the LPD, it's a big mess, right? They've got a big space, big laydown area, um, all that. Uh when you I mean, I I think I remember we watching you do everything. That was when you was doing you had that line, you was doing them all in. Remember that? All in Green Bay, all in, or Green Bay, and and y'all went to Green Bay, uh represented and all that, right?

Dave Robinson 1:16:08

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:16:09

The cheese heads, all the jerseys, yeah.

The Undervalued Minesweeper Community

Dave Robinson 1:16:12

Y'all have all that, man. Oh, see, we I went in there, we had an issue with the morale and bringing them all together. So we had to find different ways to bring the team together, bring the leadership together, bring trust for the young sailors to trust the leadership. So, all the the emblematics, all the marking, the branding, we had to bring that up, and that's what I wanted to do was to bring that up, to bring ownership that hey, you're part of the team, you know, and then we took them. Um, again, Moria and Schultz, man. Every idea that we brought up, they was all for because they cared about people, and that's the difference between leading a machine and leading people. So, a lot of people lead people like a machine, they care about the people, they cared about them.

Gary Wise 1:17:08

Yep. I remember when I was on Ashland, I remember I wanted to paint the P-way outside of the cheese mess blue and gold, and like hang up all the Mk ponds on the wall and all that. And my CEO was all about it, bro. He let me have sailors paint murals on the ship, and because that's taking ownership, right? That shows that the people are proud of their ship and they want it to look like it represents like it's their home, right? And that they will fight to the death to keep that thing on top of the water, yes, right. Yeah, um, when you look back on Green Bay, uh what was the most challenging time for you during that tour? Because I'll tell you for me, was that time when we lost that Osprey off the back of the fantail, bro? That was a bad day, bro.

Dave Robinson 1:17:55

Yeah, that that uh you know, we go through the CMC charge book, the training get us ready for uh to take on that seat, that chair, and weigh that responsibility. The one thing I wasn't prepared for was that. Uh, how do you handle a uh a crew after 26 people go into water from Osprey, hit the ship, go into the water, and then how do you engage them to stay out to sea when you they saw standing at the back of that ship their best friends go into the sea? And we rescued 23 and on and left three in the sea. How do you get the mind of that young mind to stay out to sea when you know that no help is coming? Yeah, no help is coming, you got to finish the deployment, you can't quit.

Gary Wise 1:18:50

Yep, 100%. And that was the same summer as Fitzgerald and McCain. Yeah, and I tell people, like, oh, the cod went off of the Reagan that summer. I was like, I tell people, like, look, we were operational that same time, right? I remember every every brief, we would be like, Hey, we've already seen what's happened out there on the water. Is it gonna be us tomorrow? Yeah, and we'd be like, Hell no, it ain't gonna be. But then the enemy gets a vote, right? The opposition gets a vote. And when that happened, that hit the whole ESG, right? Everybody felt that we was all looking for those bodies trying to pull those Marines and sailors out of the water. And but it but we we kept on mission, right? It wasn't thankfully, it wasn't something that took the ship out. Like we didn't, you didn't get a hole punched in your hole or something like that. But you still had to get the hearts and minds to stay focused. And I remember when like that head Marine flew out on an osprey with his wife because he wanted to like show the Marines that it was still safe to go out on an osprey. Yeah, remember that?

Dave Robinson 1:19:55

Sure did, yep. Like that happened, bro.

Gary Wise 1:19:58

Yeah, like this general. Gets on an Osprey with his house. Yeah. Yep. Just to show them he still had faith in that Osprey aircraft because everyone was shook. Like what training mishaps always suck when you lose somebody. And we we had been doing that all day, every day for months by that point, right? We had already been on. That was a we were halfway through a six-month deployment at that time.

Dave Robinson 1:20:26

Yeah, down the waters.

Gary Wise 1:20:29

Yeah, right. Beautiful waters, too. I remember just being out there earlier that day, like, man, that's a beautiful place to be operating right now. And then it went sideways. And then it was an all-night affair. And then it was never the same, right? It was just sad. I saw actually the day Mr. Moyer posted about how he still drops tears every day on that time because he remembers the loss of those Marines, man.

Dave Robinson 1:20:51

Yeah. And we had got plaques for him. And uh during that time, uh that night, uh, we had sat into his cabin and uh he said, What are we gonna do, CMC? And it was me, him, and uh uh uh Tom Schultz, and we what are we gonna do? And uh man, let's give us, let's come back together. And I went back into my I walked down uh into my office. I said, let's get back later on. And I walked down to the uh looked peeked into admin, walked through the mess deck and went into my office and looked at my whiteboard. Now, mind you, we had just lost three Marines, 26 went into the sea, and he said, What are we gonna do to keep them focused? And we simply got to Sail Station, and I looked and sat in my whiteboard, and that thought came to my mind, uh, all in. Uh tell them that whatever they can bring, bring it. If you can bring 10%, bring whatever you got. If you got 40%, bring it. Regardless, we're gonna whatever you can do, we can bring it together. And from that, that's when that all in, we started using that as our bonding crowd together.

Commanding LPD-20 Green Bay Culture Shift

Gary Wise 1:22:07

Yeah, no, that was that was money, man. I remember for us on Ashland, we played the I remember that night on taps. I had the chaplain speak, and then we played the Navy hymn over the 1MC. You know, just to remind everybody, you got to be a special kind of human being to want to go out in the ocean, yeah. What we do is not safe. We are the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps, who was born on the crest of a wave, right? Rocked in the cradle that deep, dog. Like it ain't no game. This is not a game, and it's something to be proud of and to be feared, just the same way as I say fear God. I'm not saying he don't love me, but I'm fearful because I respect him, I respect the sea, right? And when things go sideways, and again, my my damage control my background, I'm always thinking worst case scenario, right? But I saw so many great things happen. I seen so many great things happen throughout my career in response to casualties, in response to hard times, that I get so inspired that I can't help. Like, those are the things that I would have served. Like, honestly, bro, if there was not a thing where I had to get out of 30 years, if they would have said I could have stayed in the Navy till I was 65, I might have. Right? But when they said you got to get out of 30, 32 years, whatever it was, then I'm like, oh, I'm looking at the door, bro. What are we talking about? Like, guess what? Like, I might go do something else now. Because you know, one thing, Dave, is I was like, I was early making cheap, I was early making scene cheap, I was early making CMC. Why am I gonna wait till the end, like everyone else to freaking retire? Yeah, yeah. Like, I'd rather get that hard part out the way. So if you don't mind my asking, man, what what why did you decide to retire? Because you retired right around the same time I retired, right? Is that something you want to talk about, or are you not willing to or do you not want to talk about that?

Dave Robinson 1:24:07

Well, uh, 27 years. Uh it was just some difficulties towards the end, uh in my career that uh you hit 27 years before you retire. Yeah, yeah. I retired.

Gary Wise 1:24:22

I thought you got I thought you went in the CMC program 15 years.

Dave Robinson 1:24:25

I think three seven. Oh well, it might have been longer than that. Might have, yeah. But I retired at 27.

Gary Wise 1:24:32

Okay. Were you just cooked? Were you just done? Were you just toast? Like I'm tired or I'm ready to go home and do something else, Tampa.

Dave Robinson 1:24:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was too. That's that's calling, yeah. Greater calling. I've done more in my retired three years, I think now, three, four years in the community, uh, in the just you name it. I've been so busy. Uh, do I have no regrets? No regrets in retirement.

Gary Wise 1:25:01

So did you consider going to any other jobs after the Green Bay before you retired? Or was there something that happened where you're like, you know what? I'm not doing this no more, man. I'm out of here.

Dave Robinson 1:25:12

No, no, no. No, there was it was, yeah, it was uh it was time. Uh COVID. Uh my sons, uh, we were in Japan, uh, was preparing to come back to the States. COVID, my sons was in college. Uh, my wife wasn't feeling our access to them. They had to leave school, and uh, we had to send them to other houses doing that. So it was just a lot of stuff, and it was time, it was time. Yeah, and uh yeah, the the organization, it was just time.

Gary Wise 1:25:46

I get it, bro. Trust me, man. Like when I was when I left Seventh Fleet, right? Because so I don't I don't think I've ever told you this story before, but I don't do you get you got time to hear a story?

Dave Robinson 1:25:59

Oh, yeah, yeah.

The Osprey Tragedy And “All In”

Gary Wise 1:26:01

All right, so I'm at Seventh Fleet staff, mind you, they pulled me off Ashland a year early to go to Seventh Fleet staff, right? Remember, we were finishing up that six-month deployment. We were on to Australia. I pull into Yokuska and they come tell me, Gary, we need you to come to Seventh Fleet Staff. You are the right guy for the job. You are D seaman. Kaz Bausti is gonna go to Surface Group Western Pacific. You and him are gonna help us with the waterfront. Y'all gonna help re-energize after Fitzbekane, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I'm thinking, oh man, those are all good things. Like that's that's an opportunity, it's an honor, right? And I wanted to go to an aviation squadron, truthfully, after Ashland. That was my real plan, right? My real goal was to be the Ronald Reagan CMC. That was my real long-term goal, right? And so I was like, I'm gonna go. I asked to go to the Ashland so I can embark Marines. So I wanted to practice embarking people, right? Then I wanted to go to the air wing and be embarked, right? And they knew this was my plan. So they were like, oh, being a seventh fleet staff is like you're gonna be embarked, but you're gonna be embarked on board the Blue Ridge. Okay, but it's not the same thing, bro. My boss is like a three-star admiral, like it ain't the same thing as being an air wing guy, right? Yeah, totally. Okay, but but but I took the job because I thought it was an honor. And looking back on that, I don't, I'm not gonna say I regret the decision, but like I had just been away from my family for six months, right? And you want me to move my family in seven weeks from now, right? After just getting back home from a six-month deployment during the holidays again, like my son, I moved my family four times in five years, right? Truth be told. So, anyway, I go to Seven Fleet Staff, and I'm doing all right, I'm doing good, right? I I'm enjoying it. The problem is, well, not problem. Here's the laydown. So every department head's an 06, every DLCPO is a master chief for the most part. Cool, no problem, built for that. Not a problem for me. They had these interpersonal relationships, though, that I could tell was not professional, right? So that was that was weird for me because I'm like, Y'all, I come from the Navy, right? Well, we we manage personal relationships, and we had this E8, this E7, who had been Blue Ridge Ships Company, who they then pulled over to Seventh Fleet staff, right? As a career counselor. Now, mind you, he was Blue Ridge Ships Company at come to Seventh Fleet staff. Now, imagine there wasn't good synergy between the ship's crew and the embarked staff. Yeah, yeah, you know how that goes, yeah, right? You know how that go. The ship's crew always resents the ones that are getting embarrassed. Yeah, even though, like with the Marines, I would work it out, we would get along with them, but there was still this piece where they were just like, y'all in our mess, y'all in our space, yeah, like y'all in our birthens, blah, blah, blah. But then I had to remind my mess, like, yo, they're the mission, bro. Like, they're we're here because of them. They're the mission. Respect that, right? So when they bring this guy over from the ship by name, because he shouldn't have come over there like that. Now, of course, he's still double dipping, messing with the ship's crew and with the staff, whatever it is. Anyway, there's this weird relationship between him and the different people. One day he walks in my office and he's like, Hey, just so you know, um I'm in love with the Y and one on the on the Blue Ridge crew, and we're gonna get married. Now, mind you, there's an instruction by Captain Crozier off of USS Blue Ridge that says, No E6s will date any E7 or senior embarked or ships company, same as every other ship in the United States Navy, right? Yeah, and this dude was a Blue Ridge chief before he was a seventh fleet staff chief. So you know the rules, times too. And the only reason why you're telling me you're my command career counselor, only reason you're telling me now is your CMC is because you just got busted by junior sailors and it's coming out.

Dave Robinson 1:30:20

Yeah, it's clean up time.

Gary Wise 1:30:22

So check it out. So so the CMC for the Blue Ridge comes to my office and he's hot, bro. Hot, hot. He's like, I'm taking her to mass, Gary. I don't care what you say. He needs to go down too. I'm like, Look, bro, I get it 100%. They both wrong, right? I don't care that they're in love, I care that it didn't come out after they got caught.

Dave Robinson 1:30:44

Yeah, right.

Gary Wise 1:30:45

Yeah, that's my problem. You don't tell us nothing until you get caught. Cool. So I get a phone call that night. Hey Gary, why are you trying to get so-and-so in trouble? Like, first of all, this ain't your business. I'm the staff CMC. You go worry about your level of stuff. So the phone calls from above me, but you gotta remember they boys. They boys, yeah, yeah. And I've been having a problem with that relationship because I was like, bro, he can't be at your house babysitting your kids when you go to Washington, D.C. That's a bad look, homie. He's one of my senior chiefs. I don't want other senior chiefs thinking, oh, he gets a good eval because he boys with him, right? Yeah, now your senior chief just got caught damn near living with an E6 off the Blue Ridge Ships Company that he was a chief. She was his first class a year and a half ago. And now it's time for me to handle business because he's in trouble, and now you're calling me like I'm not trying to get him in trouble. You know what he tells? He said, But Gary, fraternization is an outdated policy. I said, I don't give a damn, it's the policy.

Dave Robinson 1:31:54

Yeah, yeah.

Hard Truths About CMC Life And Politics

Gary Wise 1:31:55

I said, brother, I just came from the ship. Well, on the ship, you'd be done, be cooked, right? That's a no-go, bro. You're not gonna be out there holding hands, kissing, smooching on living in a house, whatever it was. Just not, and it went. If it comes out, you're gonna get handled. So stop it. So then, um, we right, all this is coming out right as we're getting underway, right? Finally getting underway. We never got underway before. So this guy, this E8, goes on leave because this E6 is leaving the ship. It just comes out like literally two weeks before she's leaving the ship anyway. So they take her to DRB, right? But I get pulled into my leadership's office and they tell me CMC, we'll handle it. We got it, don't worry about it. What? What's business? Yeah, how you gonna pull me this chief's mess business? How you gonna pull me in, right? And I'm like, that's so shady, bro. So so then and the CMC from the Bluers comes to me and he's hot. What do you mean nothing's gonna happen to him? How does that make us look when we're supposed to be a unified mess? Yeah, and you got this E8 in your mess doing this with my E6 and blah blah blah. Like, bro, I get it, bro. We're all the way wrong, we're all the way wrong, we're jacked up, right? And so then um he goes on leave to take her to travel to her next duty station, right? And him and I are not cool, like he was my command creek counsel, and I was like, bro, don't even don't even look at my face. I don't like, I don't, I don't like you. We're not the same. I'm a chief, bro. You a buster, right? That's how I was, man. I was like that. I'm not gonna pull no punches with you. I don't care, I don't care who you got to be your buddy, who you think loves you, whatever it is. Yeah, they don't got me like that, right? I'm gonna call you a punk every day, right? And until you recognize that you was foul, right? You were doing wrong, and until you take until you pay your penalty, we're not gonna be good. Yeah, you're gonna start crying all the time. Like, why am I picking? I ain't picking on you. I'm just keeping it real with you, homie. Yeah, right. And so, anyway, uh we get underway and we get to somewhere, and old boy comes back, and now she's gone, right? And he comes to my office one day because he's playing his command, whatever role, career counselor role. I'm like, Look, go talk to old boy that's your friend. I got a staff career counselor, I'll use that person. I don't need you. You can go be the seventh fleet career counselor, whatever you want to be. You're a you're you're you're a pump. I don't need you. You go, I'll take care of this, I'll take the collateral duty career counselor all day. I don't like NCs anyway. That's why I told him I said, I don't like NCs anyway. Y'all suck at your rate. I was so busy. I was then I get called in by the chief of staff, and he's like, Master chief, you need to just leave this guy alone. I'm telling you right now, he's gonna try to put a case on you, and you need to leave him alone. I said, Sir, it's only like this because y'all didn't let me handle my business, yeah. Because y'all pull favors and his buddy's not underway with us, he don't go to see, I go to see, right? So now your boy who takes care of you not here, yeah. Everybody in the mess, we know you, and don't nobody get me down to the mess with you. I'm gonna light your ass up in the mess. I don't care. I'm a chief, bro. Yeah, and so anyway, they they tell me, Master Leblan. I was like, Sir, I I got no problem not working with that dude. I will use the staff career counselor, no problem. I said that being said, I'm not gonna have some officer tell me how to manage myself in my chief's mess. That's just not a thing because this guy's being a little punk, right? Yeah, probably anyway. As we're pulling into Korea, so we hit a Liberty port, first Liberty Port, whatever, going to the next Liberty Port. My wife gets sick, right? My wife Erica gets sick, and so uh she calls me and she says, Gary, I'm sick, and my white blood cells are like crazy, like not good. And they had sent her home from the Navy hospital and said, Oh, you're just really sick, you'll feel better soon. Well, my boy, his wife was a nurse. She looked at my wife's labs, she's like, No, Erica, you gotta go back. There's something really wrong with you, right? They they were thinking like leukemia, cancer, because of how bad her white blood cells were, right? So I I get I had that day where the chief of staff is like, Master Chief, just don't talk to this guy anymore, just stay away from him. You don't need these problems. So then that same afternoon, I come to him, like, sir, my wife is sick. I don't know what it is, her blood work is really bad. We're about to pull into South Korea. So I would like to go on leave. I would like to go home and see what's going on with my wife. And best case scenario, I'll meet y'all on Sasebo two weeks from now. Worst case scenario, if it's bad, at least I'm with my wife and we figure it out from there, right? He's like, That sounds like a good plan, Master Chief. I support that. You didn't take care of your family, okay. And you know what's funny is so I'm gonna fly to uh Yakusuka the next morning. My chief of staff comes to the ship that night, like 11 o'clock at night. He's been drinking. I'm in my office with a sailor, 11 o'clock at night, right? And he's like, CMC, ain't you leaving at five o'clock in the morning? I said, Yes, sir. What are you doing? I'm like, taking care of sailors, sir. Like I'm gonna take I'm taking care of sailors. I'm gonna be working in the office because we got offices back in Yoko. I got my cell phone getting all my email. Like, I'm not not working, right? But I gotta take care of my family. So then I fly back to Yoko and I start dealing with Navy medicine, right? And trying to get answers. Like literally, we're in the doctor's office, and the doctor's looking at my wife's x-rays, and he tells the x-ray technician over the phone in front of my wife and I. He says, Didn't you say there's nothing in the x-ray? And you hear the x-ray tech saying, No, I said there's a mass inside her body. We can hear that on the phone, right? And so I was like, you know what, sir? I don't know who you are, but you're not the guy no more. You're not the guy. My wife is right here listening to this x-ray tech. Say on the phone, she got a mass inside of her body, and you're over here trying to tell us there's no problem.

Dave Robinson 1:38:24

Yeah, right.

Gary Wise 1:38:25

What are we talking about, dude? Yeah, right. And so fine, thankfully, my boss gets involved, the three-star, and he communicates over. It's like, yeah, y'all please take care of my CMC and his family. Let me know if there's anything I can do. The same day, they find the mass of my wife's body, that same day as that conversation, right? I get a phone call that night that my mom dies. Right. I just talked to my mom like two days before that, right? Because she's worried about my wife, she's worried about Erica, she's worried about everything that's going on, right? I'm on leave away from the ship right now. It's been about a week and a half. I've been fighting Navy medicine, and then they find a mass in my body, and they're telling me they gotta medevac us to Pearl Harbor because where the mass is at, they cannot do a biopsy. They got to medevac her to Hawaii, right? I'm like, okay, um, I'll figure it out. And then I get the phone call. My mom just dies, just out of nowhere. Out of nowhere, Dave. So I call the ship, call the ship. They're underway. I called a ship, and like, hey, my mom just died. Amcross is coming in. They're like, Master, what do you want to do? I was like, look, I am gonna fly out on Friday, get home, bury my mom, be back on Monday because my wife is not good, and she needs me to advocate for her to get this Medevac thing figured out because we got to get this mask figured out, and she's freaking out, right? Like, she's freaking out. And they were like, We Got it. And my boy, the YN's and all they took care of all the travel arrangements. Got me. So I fly to I fly to Utah. I bury my mom, help my dad bury his bride, right? His wife of all these years, like 50 years. And I'm going back to Japan to deal with my wife who might have cancer, right? And she got a mass inside of her body. The night I get back from Utah, I get a phone call from my chief of staff, and he says, Hey, Master Chief, can you give me a call? I call him. Boom. What's up, sir? He's like, Master Chief, um, I don't think it's a good idea you come back to Seven Fleet Staff. I said, What? What? What do you mean, sir? Like if my wife has cancer, yeah, I already talked to my D, I'd already talked to Izzy, right? Izzy had already said that if she had cancer, they were gonna move us to Mayport. I was gonna go to Surface Group Mayport on staff there to take care of my family while she got right. Yeah, I said, but if my wife doesn't have cancer, sir, I need to bring her home from this hospital visit and let her heal. My wife, who was an ombudsman on USS Ogden, who was a command support team spouse on USS Ashland, command support team spouse for US, she was an ombudsman of USS George Washington, she was FRG member USS George Washington. Like, here's this military spouse to love on her. Yeah, and I just got back in Japan from burying my mom, and the first thing you want me to do is call me to tell you that you don't think I should come back to Seventh Fleet staff. What are you talking about?

Dave Robinson 1:41:42

That couldn't wait.

Gary Wise 1:41:43

That couldn't so then I call up on the other guy, right? And I'm like, hey, because you know us at that staff job, there's two master chiefs, yeah, yeah. Right. I call the other guy. I'm like, hey, bro, ain't no way in hell they would have ever made this call without your okay, yeah, yeah, right? No way in God's green earth because I said, This is because of your boy, and y'all trying to get me up out of there because your boy is a punk, and y'all know that I'm not gonna let that lie. Y'all dirty. Well, I said, at what point is it a good idea for the United States Navy to bet on my wife having cancer, bro? Because if she don't have cancer, this this goes nowhere.

Dave Robinson 1:42:27

Yeah, this goes.

Gary Wise 1:42:28

I've only been here for 15 months of a 36-month tour. You just moved me here 15 months ago when you moved me from my last command at 24 months because I was by name picked by yada yada yada. Yeah, yeah, and now you're gonna tell you're gonna use my wife's medical condition as a way to move me because y'all are being dirty, right? Gary, you just need to you're being emotional. Your mom just died. You need to take care of Erica. Like, so what are you telling me? I'm not fit to be a CMC right now, yeah. Is that what you're saying? Um, me, bro, now mind you. Yeah, my mom just died.

Dave Robinson 1:43:10

Yeah, right.

Gary Wise 1:43:11

My wife didn't cry, bro, until that night. That was the first time Erica cried because she felt like her medical condition was affecting my military career, yeah, right? Oh gosh. And I was just like, I was I want it so bad, bro, to drive over to his house and just and just just go to work, right? Yeah, because how dare you do this to my family, right? Yes, so then check this out. So I'm like, look, we're gonna we're gonna go to this Medevac, we're going to Pearl Harbor, and if she got cancer, I'll go from there. But if she ain't got cancer, I don't know. I don't know how this works because I don't see how y'all can do what you're doing to me, right? And he just like, take care of your family, Gary, blah blah blah. Cool. So we get to Hawaii and I hit up Jim, right? Jim Honey at the time was my pack, was my issue. He was my issue. This is how God helps me, right? Because everybody like, how did Gary get Guam? How did Gary get Guam? Gary, I I worked it because I had to, yeah, right. Yeah. So I get to go, I get to Hawaii and I'm networking with Jim. And me and Jim, I've known Jim since he was BMCM honey. Right in San Diego. I knew him when he was CMC of the New Orleans. Like I we go back, right? So all you other dudes knew him when you came to CMC. He knew me when I was DCC.

Dave Robinson 1:44:31

Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:44:32

Right? So I'm talking with him and he knows what's going on because again, he's the next level up. Absolutely. So yeah, so if a CMC going through something, you know he knows.

Dave Robinson 1:44:42

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:44:42

Right. And so I'm like, bro, we just landed in Pearl Harbor. Erica's gonna get her biopsy done, blah, blah, blah. He's like, Gary, just keep me posted, man. Whatever you need, I got you. All right, cool. And I'll never forget, um, it's the night before we get the biopsy results, right? And I and I email the people on the ship again, and I say, Hey, sir, it's master chief. Mind you, I still been working by my cell phone the whole time, taking care of sailors for my cell phone the whole time, still running my chief's mess the whole time for my cell phone. Yeah, there's a master chief filling my seat, but him and I are talking about everything. Yeah, yeah, right. At least I think we're talking about everything, right? Well, I don't know what I don't know. Well, I hit that guy up and I say, sir, tomorrow's the day we get the biopsy results. Mind you, bro, my wife's surgery was so invasive, they had to remove parts of her body. I'm having to pick her up and put her on the bathroom. I'm having to carry my wife to the shower. I'm having to take care of my two sons. And luckily, my biological mother flew to Hawaii to help me care for my two sons while I'm caring for my wife.

Dave Robinson 1:45:49

Okay, right?

Seventh Fleet, Family Crisis, And Guam

Gary Wise 1:45:50

And I bring that up because this happens when I talked to the guy on the phone that night. I said, sir, we get the biopsy results tomorrow. If my wife is benign, if it's not cancer, I would just like to get my family back to Japan and then I'll fly out and meet the ship as soon as possible. Right? He's like, Nope, master chief, you're not coming back to Seven Fleet Staff. I've told you that before. Enjoy your vacation with your wife and your family. What? Yeah, that part. I was like, what? He's like, we know I know about your mother being there and you guys are out doing things, whatever it is. Because before my wife's surgery, oh yeah, we drove around and we took some pictures of Hawaii because she's about to have surgery, but she can't walk for like a week or two. She might have cancer. So, yes, we are blessed to be in Hawaii on a Medivac. So, yeah, we my mother-in-law, or we took my these women. My mom just died. My biological mother who put me up for adoption when she was a teenager. What are you just kidding? Bro, so he said that. I'm like, I'm telling you that if my wife doesn't have cancer, I'll get her back to Japan. And she's so hardcore, she'll get better on her own and send me back to sea. And you're telling me no matter what, I'm not coming back. And I Izzy had been telling me, the detailer had been telling me that Gary, I can't move you, I can't move you, I can't move you, right? So I contact Jim. Well, the next morning, we're sitting in the doctor's office about to get called back, right? And I check my email, and there's the weekly, the CMC weekly comes out, right? And a number one hot feel was Naval Base Guam. Because the CMC just got sick, and he was an emergency field. They needed somebody there immediately because he just got sick, right? And my I tell my wife, my wife had always wanted to go to Guam because my wife's originally she's Puerto Rican, right? So she always thought Guam would be like living in Puerto Rico, you know, because you got the Spanish influence, you got the island. And I was like, yo, I was like, babe, you would never believe what just is in this email. I said, but Guam is now like they need someone there like very soon. And she was just like, if if that was to work out, maybe I'll maybe this would be okay. And this is mind you, Dave, if she don't have cancer, because if this biopsy comes back with cancer, it's a whole new road. We're about to travel. Yeah. We had to wait a week after the surgery just to get the results on the biopsy, right? And that's a week of me carrying her around the hotel room and like her not being able to walk, all kind of stuff, right? And so I messaged Jim. I'm in the message. I'm like, Jim, we're getting the biopsy results back this morning. Brother, I just saw that Guam is on the books. If my wife does not have cancer, I want Guam, bro. He's like, Are you sure? And I was like, Yes. He's like, Guam's not an easy job. I was like, let me get it. And I messaged Lisa Tisdale, and she was at Joint Region Mariana's. And I was like, and I knew Lisa when she was embarked on the George Washington as an air wing CMC, and I was a DC Master Chief. Yeah, right? I was like, sis, this is what's going on, this is where I'm at. And she was like, Gary, I would love you and Erica to come to Guam. You guys are a power couple. I'd be happy to have you guys, right? What's she didn't even know what was going on. I just told her about the medical stuff, and she's like, let me know. So then I messaged Jim, I said, Lisa's all in, boom, boom, and message Izzy, like, bro, we're about to get the biopsy results. He says, If Jim says you can do it, bro, you can do it. But I'm gonna tell you, people was already at telling me to do an IG. They was like, Gary, you didn't file an IG on these dudes, right? Like, this is crazy. And I'm just like, Look, if God can make a way for my family to come through this situation and land on our feet, yeah, then maybe I can move forward, right? So then uh we go in the biopsy and it's benign. Thank God it's not cancer, right? It was just a big old mass they had to take out of her body that was causing her digestive problems and all that other stuff, right? So, and and literally half an hour later, I get the message you're going to Guam, right? Like you got Guam locked up. So then here's what's funny I get a phone call like three days later, right? From somebody in Yokosuka talking about how'd you get orders to Guam? Like, why you worried about me? Y'all said I can't come back. Yeah, y'all said I y'all said you wanted me to go somewhere else. You think you're the only people I know? Yeah, what yeah, y'all crazy, bro. Y'all not to be trusted no way. Y'all counterfeit, y'all, y'all are what y'all the people we tell people initiation to look out for. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Y'all those people. I was like, but don't worry about me. I'm gonna come back to Japan, I'm gonna pack my household goods up, and I'm going to Guam. Right, done. So then it was so funny, Dave. I get back to Japan and the ship pulls in, like literally two days before I got back. So I get back. Guess where I go? I go to the ship. Right? Where I'm supposed to go. My ship's here now. Yeah, I'm not $10. I go to the ship. That 06 sees me down the P Way and sends the other master to come tell me that I gotta leave the ship, that I can't be on board the ship.

Dave Robinson 1:51:33

What?

Gary Wise 1:51:35

Because the sailors love me, bro. This the mess love me, bro. Yeah, like they all love me. They just been hitting port after port after port after port. Everyone wondering where CMC is at. My wife, I'm taking care of my family. She's still not walking. I'm still wheelchairing her around everywhere, right? I just came to the ship that morning because where I'm supposed to go. Yeah, I just got back from my medavag. Y'all here now. They sent me TAV over to the surface western Pacific. Someone over there with Kaz Bowski, who's been my boy since forever. And I'm like, Caz, how does this freaking shit work, bro? But what I had found out was a new master chief had got the assignment. And here's where I got in. They hard ranked me on an eval, number one of five master chiefs, against even the fleet master chief. Right. Because he said he was retiring, right? I didn't ask for that.

Dave Robinson 1:52:31

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:52:32

They did that.

Dave Robinson 1:52:33

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:52:34

Right? I didn't ask for that. I was okay being number two, right? Right. And I'm number two, but he's my but he's my mentor, he's my friend. And so they made me number one. I'm sure he thought, well, making you number one of five, Gary, because you're gonna go here and do that, brother. When this new master comes in, he doesn't want to be right behind me. No, no, and the admiral, the three stars, a submariner, he's not dialed in like that. He's gonna be like, that doesn't make sense. Yeah, how it works. He's he's behind this master chief, right? Matter of fact, he should be my fleet master chief. He's been with me longer. He knows how things work, but this guy don't like me because I'm not as old as he is, or whatever it is, right? And he wants someone else. So, all of that is a part of the reason why, well, let's just offload Gary and his family somewhere else, and he won't hurt him. Bro, my wife can't right, and so then we went to Guamp. And I would tell you, Dave, when I got through all of that, first of all, I'm very thankful I never hurt anybody because I thought about it. Yeah, I'm very thankful I didn't hurt myself because I thought about it. Yeah, that was because I because again, when it's going so bad, like how do I tell people it's going so bad? Does anybody know? Here is a guy who's given everything to this organization, yeah, and now they dragging you. And I can I can tell you another whole story, bro, about about Guam, but by then I was already drop papers to retire. Yeah, but I would just tell you that. And so for me, when I look at certain things about our Navy and certain things, especially when it comes to the CMC community and how they get treated, I just it blows my mind, man. It blows my mind. And if they think they're gonna keep talent that is the best, yeah, you're gonna keep losing them, and you let too many other master chiefs get another master chiefs business. Yeah, that's one thing. Yeah, and then you you you let these selection boards look, we can't even hold our own damn senior chief master selection boards anymore. No trust, and then the flag selection process is like you making people take jobs they don't even want, yeah, right? And you got people that want them and they don't even get considered because somebody in Norfolk says they're not good for the job, but they don't even know that person, yeah, right. And then my last soapbox speech before I stop my diet tribe because we're not in no more, right? But it's the pay is horrible.

Dave Robinson 1:55:05

Oh, yeah, totally horrible for what you have to go through, the sacrifices.

Gary Wise 1:55:10

Look at what you've done as a civilian, right? Yeah, just since you've retired, plus your worth in the marketplace, right? And the United States Armed Forces is just getting over on the senior list of leaders, right? Army, navy, air force, marine, I don't care, right? At a minimum, we should get that damn hundred thousand dollar sign-on bonus. If you step into that leadership role, right, that I'm gonna be at the level where I'm advising my CO and how to handle department heads, yeah, right? Because that department don't think you're nobody when you don't get paid nothing.

Dave Robinson 1:55:46

No, yeah, because they they're looking at the value of money too.

Gary Wise 1:55:51

Yeah, well, it's not they're still looking at the program because the Navy, we're still babies when it comes to this stuff, because the command master chief was not a rate, it was a position, right? The the sergeant major was is a position, right? It became a community, right? The first sergeant was the thing, right? The first because you the first sergeant. We never had the first chief, right? That was never a thing, but officers still think the command master chief is just a position you fill. No, no. If I cannot be a CMC anymore, I can't be nothing. Nothing, nothing, there's no take backs, right? I can't go be a DC man again because I've given up my community when I got into the program, yeah, right? So I remember I was under investigation one time when I was in Guam, right? This investigation went on 11 months, by the way. 11 months, Dave. I lived under an investigation. 11 months. The guy interviewed me at like month two, and he tells me after my interview, CMC, there's nothing here. I'm sorry I wasted your time. This whole thing is a mess. But the admiral and his staff wanted something to be there, so they kept coming after me for the next period of time. But I stayed in the seat the whole time. If I was so bad, you would have think I they would have removed me. No, no, yeah, I was in the seat the whole time because it was all it was a witch hunt, right? It was all crap. But I remember when the guy read me my rights, right? I thought to myself, okay, if I don't answer this man's questions, my days of being a CMC are done.

Dave Robinson 1:57:29

Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:57:30

Because that means I no longer have faith in this organization. And how can they have faith in me if I don't have faith in them? I trust in the process. So I'm gonna answer this man's questions honestly, honorably, and accurately. Yeah, whatever happens, happens because I believe in the organization. Yeah, that's what I did, right? My mentor, one of my mentors like, Gary, you should have lawyered up. You should have said I ain't saying nothing. Like, but then, bro, what am I doing? It's over. Yeah, and I didn't I didn't do nothing wrong. Yeah, this is all false accusation because some person trying to get me on something because they don't like my hair color or my eye color or the way my voice sounds. And I thought it was gonna be over quickly because the investigator tells me, Mash Chief, I'm so sorry for wasting your time. There's nothing here, this is all dumb. Because I asked him, I was like, sir, do I got something to worry about? He's like, No, you don't. That's what he says. Then I get the phone call later. Oh, they're they're broadening the scope of the investigation. Okay, they gave me an LOI. My captain gave me an LOI two weeks before I retired. Yeah, two weeks that said, uh, and this wasn't the captain I'd served with my entire time, by the way. The one I served with, the one that I bled with, the one that I fought COVID with, the one that I went to war with, he would have told them all to go to hell. They weren't never gonna do this to his CMC. Yeah, right. This other guy was a freaking, he was a tool, bro. Yeah, he was a punk. He was a punk, right? Because I would call that CMC up on the hill and tell him he was a punk. Like, I remember one of my boys landed in Guam. He was a fleet CMC at the time, right? And first thing he says in the car, Gary, what the hell's going on? How you know, bro? Because old boy been talking, yeah, right? Yeah, bro, they a bunch of punks, they ain't nothing. They ain't nothing, they don't got it's just what I'm retiring, dog. I'm out of here. But when y'all look around the room and you got nobody but a bunch of punks, that's how you get there. Because people like me, I'm I'm a real one, right? And and you know, I just I think back on all that because all the great things that I had throughout my 25 year Navy career, and I could tell you, I could go all night long on great stories.

Dave Robinson 1:59:44

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:59:45

Those two big ones are what I tell people if they're gonna go to the CMC program, because I want them to understand that you give up almost everything when you go in that program, yeah, and and you have no. You have if you don't have someone like you or me taking care of you, you're cooked.

Dave Robinson 2:00:05

Oh, yeah. Oh, totally. Yeah. You're cooked. You could trust the wrong person until your name is questioned. And when your name is questioned, they'll change. Man, they'll change, they'll jump ship and leave you all by yourself. You could have given up the whole your life, your family for the organization, but let one question come up. And that's all it could be. And they don't they don't care about the scope of the question or the or the motives on why who brought the question up. They don't care about that. It's just a question. And they'll they'll abandon you.

Gary Wise 2:00:42

100%. And the other thing is, I think Jags they can be so wicked.

Dave Robinson 2:00:47

Oh, totally. You don't know what based on the weather, man.

Gary Wise 2:00:52

They can be so wicked.

Dave Robinson 2:00:53

Yeah.

Gary Wise 2:00:54

I've seen them. I've seen them. And if like I'm thankful now, though, for what I hope is going on in the Navy right now, because I think they're reawakening the warrior spirit. Because we need to be less worried about believing all these complaints. Because you know, where when people came after me, was remember when they did that secretary of defense sent out that survey for like white supremacy or whatever it was. That was the report that they all went after me on. You look at my last command climate survey, nothing about CMC.

Dave Robinson 2:01:22

Yeah.

Gary Wise 2:01:23

But that one, they all thought it was a free pass to say whatever they wanted to say.

Dave Robinson 2:01:28

Yeah.

Gary Wise 2:01:28

Right? And everyone was pissed off because of COVID. And everyone was pissed off because of us trying to get out of COVID protocols and making them go to work again or whatever it was. And the CO was gone. So the new CO had come in. And it was just but 11 months, bro. Like, who went out in the same C, if you were investigating a chief, you better get that thing done quickly. Quick. Because if he's a problem, I don't want him near the sailors.

Dave Robinson 2:01:56

Yeah.

Gary Wise 2:01:56

And if he and if he's guilty, if he's innocent, I want him freaking to know that. And then we got his back, and then it's all over. Right. And we're going to support that man because or that woman because they put all the line for this organization for their whole career. And those two things for me, when I look, when I talk to my because I still talk to a lot of people in the Navy, you know, a lot of people still hit me up. And even this podcast, bro, it gets out there. Right. And I tell people, like, look, they're just when I went to this program, I went to Surf Land and sat down with every fire CMC on staff.

Dave Robinson 2:02:32

Yeah.

Investigations, Integrity, And Leaving Well

Gary Wise 2:02:32

And they all said very similar things. Now, some of them had made bad choices with like alcohol or whatever it was. But that wasn't my that was that wasn't me.

Dave Robinson 2:02:41

Yeah.

Gary Wise 2:02:42

And I I yeah, I just say that because again, I can only have that kind of conversation with so many people, right? Because not everybody gets it, right? What it's like to be in that position and to give up your rate that you did for your whole career, and then to only work at the luxury of some officer. That and that officer can, if they know you, they love you, they got your back. And if they don't, you're you're done. Yeah. Right. And if they don't want to, if and if somebody that's higher than them thinks they have an agenda to make an example of somebody, whatever it is, they'll just throw you one of the bus and next man up.

Dave Robinson 2:03:16

Yeah.

Gary Wise 2:03:17

Meanwhile, you got this whole military family that's gonna live under that pressure.

Dave Robinson 2:03:21

Yeah, your career, all that you've you've given, your family, all that stuff.

Gary Wise 2:03:25

All that bro, I'm telling you, I remember I caught it the master one time, and I was like, bro, what's stopping me from doing something drastic here on Guam? Imagine that news story, right? CMC Naval Based Guam. Yeah, does something drastic, right? What's the oh, just please don't do that. Like, man, what please don't do that?

Dave Robinson 2:03:44

Like, y'all need to crazy anyway.

Gary Wise 2:03:48

I appreciate you listening to that story, bro. Because again, I don't tell that one to I think people need to understand, and that one remember that career crowd so he a master chief now.

Dave Robinson 2:03:59

Are you serious?

Gary Wise 2:04:03

He back at a four-star staff, probably telling sailors how to be. Oh, yeah, probably yelling at some sailors, yelling at yelling at him, probably telling how to be at DRB, yeah, right? Like, still a punk, still a punk, yeah, right? Probably gonna stay in the navy till 30 years as an NCCM. Yeah, because whatever, but he knows I know he's dirty, and everyone who listens to my voice that knows the story knows he's dirty, right? Yeah, and you know what's what's foul is I don't want to care.

Dave Robinson 2:04:35

It's my job to care.

Gary Wise 2:04:36

Yeah, I don't want to know who you're kissing on. Yeah, I don't want to care what color your hair is, yeah. I don't want to care about your fingernails, yeah. I don't want to care if you're it's my that's what they pay me for.

Dave Robinson 2:04:48

That's that yeah, that few hundred dollars, that's what they paid you for.

Gary Wise 2:04:55

Yeah, so hey, so bro, when you left the navy, um, I know you started a church, right?

Dave Robinson 2:05:02

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 2:05:02

Are you still doing that now?

Dave Robinson 2:05:04

Oh, yeah, yeah. We we're coming up on our four-year anniversary uh here in Tampa. Yeah, man. Yeah, so we've been we've been tripping busy, we do a lot of community stuff. Uh we're uh planning a job fair. Uh you name it. We do health fairs, back to school, food festivals, food programs, giving clothes, jacket drives. You name it. We're serving. Yeah, so we've been busy. Were you already pastoring when you were in the service? Well, I was uh I was in a church in Jacksonville, part of one, all my life, uh about well, 20 years maybe. Uh, but not pastoring uh as a senior pastor. Uh no, this was a vision that I got and started in faith. Came down here in Tampa. So we started a home care agency also, uh down here in Tampa, where we uh uh we sit with uh different companions. So we have uh an agency, Icy Home Care. Uh I didn't see that coming, but it's it goes under that mindset to serve uh those that need help.

Gary Wise 2:06:23

Yeah. Yeah I hear that, man. Like when I got into the ROTC program, I'd known I was gonna do ROTC since I was a recruiter. And yeah, I actually met my wife when she was a college student as at an ROTC competition, you know. So like I'd known about the program and I love serving, I love working with kids, I love working with people, but then this leadership thing that I'm doing right now, my consulting thing, I didn't see that coming, bro. Like I I had no idea I had no desire to get pulled into the corporate sector, but it's so much like the Navy, it hurts, bro. Like it's so much like the Navy, and and they love authenticity, they love to hear they love when a real one can come in the room and tell you exactly what you need to hear, but say with a smile on my face and love in my heart, baby. Yeah, like I tell you, but but but they just like I can't believe you just said that. Like, yes, sir, a hundred percent. And that's that's where I think that a lot of people uh that are leaving the service don't understand that there are so many opportunities for them outside of the military, yes, you know. Like, I don't know about you, but like when I retire, bro, my pay doubled immediately.

Dave Robinson 2:07:34

Oh, yeah, I wait, I make way more than I ever made.

Gary Wise 2:07:38

Way more, bro.

Dave Robinson 2:07:40

It is double.

Gary Wise 2:07:42

People don't understand that. I was like, bro, I'm making my I got I got everything I ever asked for from God in the prayer, like everything I ever prayed for, which is why I gotta do so much because God, my cup is so full that I got to share it, you know. Same here.

Dave Robinson 2:07:56

Um we have eight employees, and uh we've doubled just like you said. I'm telling you, God has definitely blessed us tremendously. That's why we're able to give as much as we give.

Gary Wise 2:08:08

Yeah, I had no doubt. Man, I knew you were gonna land on your feet, though, bro. And I just all right, Dave, as we're getting ready to land this thing. I'm gonna ask you a few questions. You're just gonna do your best to try to don't overthink them, just give me your answers, okay? Okay, all right. Dave, did you ever have a moment that was like, oh my gosh, I'm really in the navy now? Like your welcome to the navy moment. Do you remember what that was for you?

Dave Robinson 2:08:33

Uh walking down that ship on the uh my first ship on the USS Uh Enterprise. That was my welcome to the Navy with my sea bag. That was it.

Gary Wise 2:08:46

All right, that's a good one. All right, when you look at leadership challenges for organizations today, what do you see as the biggest leadership challenge they have?

Dave Robinson 2:08:57

Relationships between the different levels, uh, communicating the communication lines between the senior to the middle to the juniors, identifying how the word or the message is conveyed to every level of leadership. I think that's the struggle that a lot of leaders uh struggle with.

Gary Wise 2:09:18

Right now, as a man who's raised adults, right? Because your children have now grown up and left the house. What's some advice? Because a lot of my listeners are like my students or their parents that that are raising teenagers, adolescents. What's advice you would give to parents to best connect and guide their adolescent kids?

Dave Robinson 2:09:42

Being sensitive to society, spending time, not afraid to say no, uh, being present, uh, not letting the devices and technology and the culture train them. Uh, but as a parent, the guardian, take ownership of and responsibility of what you're investing. Uh, if you invest in that child, you can expect a return on that investment. If you don't, you can't expect it. So, what you put, the good you put in them, then you can expect the good to come out.

Gary Wise 2:10:19

Awesome. That's good, man. Words to live by. Um, what's a piece of advice you would give to somebody struggling with organizational challenges? You know, a CMC that's going through it where their name is getting drunk through the mud, or a sailor who feels like they didn't get the eval they should have got. You know, is there any advice you would give to that person?

Dave Robinson 2:10:39

Yeah, you you to me it's God. I've been down that road. Uh, it's hard. Sometimes it's lonely because some you feel betrayed by the organization or a team or a leader, but staying faith, uh staying in faith and staying focused on what the end is. Don't let don't be consumed with the attack. Don't figure, don't try to uh figure out all the attack, but look at the focus, keep your focus towards the end, and eventually, before you know it, it'll you'll get through it. Uh you always we always do. It's just tough going through it. A man, it is.

Gary Wise 2:11:24

This too shall pass, you know.

Dave Robinson 2:11:27

Hello, hello, yeah.

Gary Wise 2:11:30

Hello. Hey, how can veterans best leverage their leadership skills in the civilian world, bro?

Post-Navy Purpose: Church And Service

Dave Robinson 2:11:37

Bringing it like I told the church, and I tell people now, everything I learned in the military has prepared me for now that I'm out. My life wasn't the military, my life is all the learning part, all of that was preparation for who I am now. All the lessons, all the schoolings, all the experiences, all the good, the bad, the meetings, the challenges will prepare you to go into the civilian world and be more successful than you ever imagined. But you you learn you're prepared. A lot of people struggle in the civilian world, being prepared. The military makes you prepared.

Gary Wise 2:12:20

Yeah, for sure. Hey, how do you see the role, the field of leadership development, evolving in the future? Do you see it changing?

Dave Robinson 2:12:30

I do. With the artificial intelligence and technology, the sensitivity and being desensitized, I think that's gonna go away. The more we stop talking and talk through devices, uh the the decent we become desensitized to each other's feelings. And sometimes our weaken our message can be misinterpreted because you didn't talk to me, you text me, or you sent me an email and you don't want to talk. So, as the that I think that's gonna go into leadership as well, and a lot of unfortunately, messages are gonna be misinterpreted, and the person, the personal relationship and leadership is gonna start dwelling away.

Gary Wise 2:13:20

Yeah, all right. Now let's get out of those heavy questions. Here come a little more funner ones, right? All right, bro. It's Saturday night. We're on the ship. You want the pizza? You look for the pizza or the wings?

Dave Robinson 2:13:30

Ah, pizza, pizza, pizza, all right. Pizza.

Gary Wise 2:13:35

All right, hey man, I I need somebody in the birthing or the working party. Which one do you want?

Dave Robinson 2:13:41

Working party, working party. Let's work, baby. Let's work. I'm not surprised.

Gary Wise 2:13:48

I'm not surprised, but we need people in the birthday too. You know that. Yeah, all right. We're gonna watch a movie in the mess, bro. We're gonna watch either a De Niro or Pacino movie. Which one? Which one would you rather see? Pacino, Pacino, yeah. Hey, looking back at your career, man, what was your favorite duty station?

Dave Robinson 2:14:07

Oh gosh, RTC. Really? Yes, I loved it. I love the standard, I love the focus, RTC, the discipline of you. I love it for you.

Gary Wise 2:14:22

All right, looking back on your career, what was your best liberty port?

Dave Robinson 2:14:27

Oh, so many, ah, so many, uh maybe Italy, yeah, Naples.

Gary Wise 2:14:41

So your first ship, you hit your favorite Liberty Port?

Dave Robinson 2:14:44

Yes, yes.

Gary Wise 2:14:46

Good for you. All right, what was the most difficult qualification you ever had to achieve during your career?

Dave Robinson 2:14:53

Bing a uh uh at RTC being a red rope. That was the most difficult training I ever experienced. Difficult.

Gary Wise 2:15:04

That's a big one, yes, sir. All right, if you had the chance to do it again, or if you could give somebody advice, would you recommend they go overseas or stay sayside?

Dave Robinson 2:15:14

Go overseas, get the experience, get the exposure. Uh, the more exposure you have into in your mental brand in your mental bank and to pull from to learn from, the better your life is overseas.

Gary Wise 2:15:28

Yep. Okay, uh, do you have a favorite movie series?

Dave Robinson 2:15:34

Uh I like uh I like the wire. Yeah, I like the wire, yeah. I like the wire, yeah. I like prison break too.

Gary Wise 2:15:49

Yeah, okay. Uh prison break, what's the kill?

Dave Robinson 2:15:52

Yeah, prison break, too.

Gary Wise 2:15:54

Yeah all right. Would you rather be independent, Dave, or on a team?

Dave Robinson 2:15:58

On a team.

Gary Wise 2:16:00

Okay, do you have a personal leadership philosophy?

Dave Robinson 2:16:05

Lead strong, lead consistent, and lead with no regrets.

Gary Wise 2:16:10

Ma'am. Strong, consistent, and no regrets. All right, so we got deck plate leadership, institutional technical expertise, professionalism, character, loyalty, active communication, and a sense of heritage, right? These were our mission, vision, or these were our guiding principles for the Chiefs mess. Out of those, which one was your favorite?

Dave Robinson 2:16:33

Deck plate leadership.

Gary Wise 2:16:35

Yeah, baby. Let's go. That's it.

Dave Robinson 2:16:37

Love it.

Gary Wise 2:16:38

That's it. Hey, I'm with you, man. That was my favorite one, too.

Dave Robinson 2:16:41

Deck plate leadership. I'm there. Where you at? I'm there.

Gary Wise 2:16:45

Yep. All right. Would you rather lead or follow? Lead.

Dave Robinson 2:16:53

Okay. I'm not running from the responsibility. I carry it. I carry it.

Gary Wise 2:17:01

All right, man. That's it, bro. You have any same rounds or alibis?

Dave Robinson 2:17:05

No, man. Thank you and Erica, man. I'm I'm so glad, man, to see you. I watch you and follow you. You all again a powerful couple, and love you all, man. You're consistent, beautiful family. Yeah, love you all, man.

Gary Wise 2:17:21

Thank you, bro. I appreciate you too. You and Felicia, y'all held it down out there in Sassable. Y'all was definitely pillars in the community. I'm not surprised. I'm so glad y'all doing well. And I know we'll see each other again. So we're too close not to connect, man.

Dave Robinson 2:17:37

Yes, sir. Definitely.

Gary Wise 2:17:39

All right. Well, I appreciate you, bro. Everyone listening to the sound of our voice. If you like the words that we said, please hit us up. And Dave, what was the name of your church again down there in uh in Tampa?

Dave Robinson 2:17:50

Inhabitants of Christ Ministries. Our name would glorify God from the neighborhoods to the nations.

Gary Wise 2:17:58

Yeah. Hey Dave, make sure you shoot me an email with that stuff with the information on there so I can put it in the video stuff, man. All right. All right. All right, everybody. Thank y'all for listening to us. Hope y'all enjoyed the conversation. Homie, I love you, man. Thanks, Dave.

Dave Robinson 2:18:14

Love you too, brother. Be blessed now.