| Subject: Go Navy Blue- Ch. 5 |
Author:
Grandma JAG
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Date Posted: 15:31:45 11/03/02 Sun
In reply to:
Grandma JAG
's message, "Go Navy Blue" on 14:56:06 11/03/02 Sun
Part 5
USNA classroom building
Monday morning 0800 hours
Mac sighed a deep sigh as she and Harm entered their classroom for the beginning of the second week of the seminar. She hated for the weekend to end. What had started out to be a weekend of anger and conflict, had ended up being one of the best she had ever experienced. She and Harm were able to get a lot of things out in the open, and now she felt that they were closer than ever. She had slept better last night than she had in a long, long time, and now she felt eager to take on this next week. She looked over to Harm, who flashed her his flyboy grin. She turned toward the class and began their topic for the week.
“This week we are going to be going over the Navy Instructions and Manuals. You all did an excellent job on the Uniform Code of Military Justice last week, and the Commander and I were very impressed by your learning logs and the questions you asked. This week we decided to lighten things up a bit and have some fun.”
“Not that the Navy Instructions and Manuals aren’t serious,” Harm interjected. “This is some of the most important information that you’ll receive in your career. But the Colonel and I thought that we might spice things up a bit with how we expect you to show what you’ve learned this week.”
“We will still keep the same format of presenting material in the morning session and have small discussion groups in the afternoon,” Mac continued. “And we will still open up each session to questions at the end. But this week, we thought we would have you show what you learned by doing some role-playing. After the regulations have been covered, we will be asking each discussion group to pick one regulation that they will role-play. This will be done during the afternoon session on Friday. So as you take notes this week, and spend time in your discussion groups, be thinking about what regulation you would like to present on Friday.” She smiled back at Harm who had a mischievous look on his face.
This interaction between Harm and Mac was lost on all the midshipmen, except one. Laura Provost saw the smiles being exchanged between them. ‘What’s going on?’ she wondered to herself. ‘They seem different today. I wonder if something happened over the weekend?’
Harm started out the session by covering the rules of conduct for officers. He talked about the different ranks, compared them with the other military branches, and told what the expectations and timelines for promotions were. He went over the proper times to salute a superior officer, and how to return the salute of an inferior officer. He also talked about the dress code for different situations. By the time he was finished, his throat was parched, so he turned the floor over to Mac and sat in the back of the room with a bottle of water.
“Relationships between the members of the military are very important. Proper social interaction has always been encouraged as it enhances morale and esprit de corps. It is my task for the remainder of this morning’s session to talk about personal relationships that go beyond the customary bounds of acceptable relationships. This is known as fraternization.” Mac was not happy that she had to talk about this subject, but she had lost the coin toss. So she decided to launch into her ‘lawyer’ mode and keep this topic purely informational.
“Unduly familiar personal relationships between officers and enlisted members have traditionally been contrary to naval custom because they undermine the respect for authority, which is essential to the Navy’s ability to accomplish its military mission. Over 200 years of seagoing experience have demonstrated that seniors must maintain thoroughly professional relationships with juniors at all times. This custom recognizes the need to prevent use of a senior grade or position in such a way that it results in favoritism, preferential treatment, personal gain, or involves actions that otherwise may reasonably be expected to undermine good order, discipline, authority, or high unit morale.”
This sudden change in presentation caught the midshipmen by surprise, and they scrambled to take notes on as much of this legal mumble-jumble as they could. All except Laura Provost. She sat back and listened intently to everything Mac was saying, obviously digesting each word internally, and applying it to her own situation.
Mac continued. “Although fraternization has most commonly been applied to officer-enlisted relationships, it also includes improper relationships and social interaction between officer members as well as enlisted members. Its focus is on the detriment to good order and discipline resulting from the erosion of respect for authority. Prohibited relationships include those between an officer and an enlisted member that do not respect differences in rank, personal relationships between chief petty officers and junior personnel who are assigned to the same command, that are unduly familiar and do not respect differences in rank. This would also be true for relationships between instructor and student, and recruiters and recruits. Such relationships are prejudicial to good order and discipline, and violate long-standing traditions of the naval service.”
Mac took a deep breath and a quick swig of water as she allowed the students to get caught up on their note-taking. As she looked around the room, she noticed that Laura Provost was not taking notes, but seemed to be listening intently, regardless. Mac wondered if she was even comprehending what was being said.
Mac finished her presentation by saying, “The responsibility for preventing inappropriate relationships must rest primarily on the senior. Even so, this policy is applicable to both members and both are accountable for their own conduct.” ‘Whew, I’m glad that is over,’ Mac thought to herself.
As was their custom, Harm and Mac opened the floor up for questions about anything they had talked about that morning. Several students had questions for Harm about uniform of the day regulations. Jason Grover jokingly asked if underclassmen would need to salute him in his football uniform, to which Harm calmly responded, “Is that the uniform you plan on serving your country in?”
When Jason sheepishly shook his head, then Harm answered, “Then the answer is no.”
When it looked like all the questions had been asked and they thought they were going to get to leave early, Laura Provost slowly raised her hand. “I have a question for the Colonel,” she said. The class groaned and stopped gathering together their materials to leave.
“Go ahead, Midshipman Provost.” Mac stood at the front of the class with an calm smile on her face.
“Colonel, aren’t you and the Commander sharing quarters here at the Academy? Wouldn’t that be considered fraternization?” The class grew very quiet as all eyes fell on Mac.
Mac’s smile slowly faded. Harm resisted the temptation to jump to her defense--- he had promised her as much. Mac carefully thought out her reply as she responded, “As women in the military, there will be situations where we have to share quarters with men. For example, aircraft carriers, other ships at sea, and maybe sometime in the future, even submarines. The Navy tries to provide separate quarters as much as physically possible for the privacy of males and females. The Commander and I share a kitchen and living room here, but our sleeping arrangements are separate.” Harm tried to conceal a smile. She had handled that one!
Laura raised her hand again. “Colonel, what if a man and woman are dating and they are of the same rank? And what if they want to get married but are in the same chain of command?”
Mac was growing increasingly uncomfortable with this line of questioning. “If they are the same rank and are senior officers, then dating is not considered fraternization. Normally married officers are not assigned to the same chain of command, but if they are already there at the time of their marriage, then the decision is up to their commanding officer whether or not they would be allowed to stay within that chain of command.”
Harm stepped forward. He didn’t want to appear to be rescuing Mac, but at the same time he felt that this session needed to be brought to a close. “The bottom line, Midshipman Provost, is that it is the responsibility of the officers to not do anything that would be prejudicial to good order and discipline.” Before she could say anything more, Harm dismissed the class. “Thank you all, and we’ll continue this in our small discussion groups this afternoon.”
After the students left, Harm turned to Mac and grinned. “Nice job, Colonel. You sure got out of that one!”
Mac smiled back and said, “Thank you, Commander. Now let’s go eat. I’m starved!”
Friday afternoon
1330 hours
The rest of the week had gone smoothly. There were still a lot of well-asked questions by the students, but no more as discomforting as Laura Provost’s. Harm and Mac were really looking forward to this afternoon’s session.
“As I’m sure you are all aware, today is the day that you are going to show the rest of us what you learned this week about Navy rules and regulations,” Harm addressed the group. “Each small group will make a short presentation, role-playing a regulation of your choice. Now, who would like to go first?”
Pat Burmeister and her group raised their hands. Mac was not surprised when they presented a situation where Pat was a junior officer who was being sexually harassed by a senior officer. She took her role so seriously, that Mac wondered if maybe something like this had already happened to her. She would make a point to talk to her about it at their next yoga class.
Jason Grover’s group decided to role-play the regulation regarding misconduct. The class roared with laughter at Jason’s portrayal of the plebe who did everything wrong. Bradley Whiting begrudgingly played the part of a computer technician who hacked into the master computer to commit fraud, and Samuel Alexander Cunningham,III relished the role of the judge who sentenced a petty officer to dereliction of duty. Finally, the last group, which included Laura Provost and Jeff Bailey, proceeded to the front of the room.
Laura sat down at the front desk and pretended to be going through some files on her desk. Jeff came walking in, pretending to close the door of Laura’s ‘office.’ “Laura, I need to talk to you now!” he said, loudly.
“Jeff, keep your voice down! Do you want everyone in the office to hear?” Laura looked up at him from her desk.
“I don’t care who hears!” Jeff continued to talk loudly. “This has gone on long enough!”
“What are you talking about?” Laura asked. “Jeff, sit down and calm down!”
Jeff continued to pace in front of Laura’s desk. He was so intense in his role that Mac couldn’t help but giggle. Harm glanced over at her and frowned.
“Laura, we have known each other for four years. Don’t you think it’s time that we confront our feelings for each other?” Mac suddenly felt her face flush and noticed that Harm started to squirm in his seat.
Laura put down her file and looked up at Jeff. “I’m afraid, Jeff.”
“Of what?” Jeff asked, frustrated.
“I’m afraid that if we act on our feelings, that we might be accused of fraternization,” Laura answered.
“But we’re both senior officers, and we’re both the same rank,” Jeff said, trying to convince her.
“But we’re in the same chain of command,” Laura argued.
“And we’ve always worked together in the most professional manner possible. No one could ever accuse us of being a detriment to good order and discipline. I love you, Laura, and I want to marry you!” Jeff walked over to Laura, who was now standing up, and held her in his arms.
“But Jeff, we both love our jobs here. What if the Admiral transfers one of us out of here?” Laura looked into Jeff’s eyes with a pleading look.
“Then I think we should go ask him.” Jeff took her by the hand and led her into another ‘office’, where another of their group was waiting to play the Admiral.
Jeff and Laura stood at attention until the Admiral acknowledged them by saying “At ease. Now what can I do for you two?”
“Sir, we would like to speak with you on a personal matter,” Jeff began. “The lieutenant and I have been working for you for the past four years, and have grown......uh.....closer.....and.....uh, well, sir.........”
“What he means, sir,” Laura tried to bail Jeff out, “is that we both really enjoy working here, and we........well........”
The Admiral watched then both stammering and finally said, “Will one of you please tell me what’s going on?”
“We love each other and want to get married, sir,” Jeff said in a big rush. Laura gulped and just nodded in agreement.
“Well, isn’t that something?” the Admiral smiled. “All this time and I never would have guessed it. You have both conducted yourselves with tremendous dignity and professionalism on the job, I can see no reason why you shouldn’t be allowed to continue on my staff as husband and wife. Congratulations, you two! Now, when’s the wedding?”
The class broke into applause as the skit came to a close, but both Harm and Mac sat there, speechless. This group had just acted out their own lives, their own situation! Every word that had not been said in the past six years, every thought that had plagued them individually, all in one five minute skit! All their excuses were now taken away. Not daring to look at Mac, Harm walked to the front of the classroom, complimented them all on a job well-done, and wished them all a great weekend.
The students filed out of the room, and Harm offered comments to a select few, shook some hands, and laughed at something Jason said to him.
When he turned to look around for Mac, the room was empty. She was gone.
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