Royal Marines commandos force US troops into a humiliating surrender just days into mass training exercise in Mojave desert

Daily Mail / MailOnline ^ | 2021-11-03 | Daily Mail - Henry Martin

[Dundee]

Regardless of service or country, it seems that rolling with the punches and getting on with it is the mission of junior officers.

As a fresh faced Sub-Lieutenant (Australian Navy rank equal to a 1st LT) I got posted to a ship that was something of a nightmare.

It was one of 2 ex USN LST’s (Landing Ship Tank) that the Australian government had purchased build up our amphibious capabilities. The idea was that we’d buy these ships on the cheap, give them a refit, and get busy doing amphib stuff.

Well, they were in terrible state so required a lot more work than planned, massive cost blow outs, and (important to the story) big contract problems. As the dockyard contractors finished each compartment of the ship (or room for my army friends) they would hand over ownership and responsibility over to the crew.

I posted on as a warfare officer and instantly got a bunch of other jobs dumped on me including physical security officer. A couple of days into the posting the XO tells me that the ship’s armory was to be handed over the next day and that delivery of all the ship’s small arms would be 3 days after that.

Oh, and the Fleet Security Officer would be on hand that day to assess the ship.

No pressure...

I head down to the armory and started regretting the day of my birth.

There was no locks on any of the doors in the armory. No secure weapon racks. Nothing but empty compartments.

I grab one of the contractors and politely ask him ‘where the f*** are the locks and weapon racks?’. He shrugged his shoulders, no one told them they had to install them.

I tell him to get his boss down here and asked his boss VERY politely ‘WHERE THE F*** ARE THE LOCKS AND WEAPON RACKS?’

The team boss shrugs his shoulders, they weren’t on the work order. I tell him to find the diligent servant of Satan who wrote the work orders and get them down to the armory as I have several very, VERY polite questions re: the whereabouts of said locks and weapon racks.

By the time Satan’s servant gets there I’ve got the CO and XO with me and they too would like a quiet word in the delicate shell-like ear of whoever is responsible for this ‘oopsie’.

Satan’s servant shrugs his shoulders and tells us that it’s not in the contract. In short order we are in an office going through the contracts. The contract described armory’s painting standards and requirements, ventilation standards and requirements, electrical standards and requirements... but no security standards or requirements.

At this point the CO, XO, and I would dearly love to know the identities of the contract writers as we would like them to stand still for a bit while we commit several war crimes upon their personages.

I ask the CO to delay the weapon delivery while this gets sorted out.

Nope. Subbie, you’ve got three days to get the armory ready.

No pressure...

I grab two of the smartest engineering sailors onboard and we read through the regulations on what security standards we should have and sketch out a rough plan on what needs to be done.

Over the next couple of days the engineers are designing, building and installing weapon racks and reinforcing the armory bulkheads and doors. I grab the ship’s Supply Officer and drag him and the ship’s credit card to a number of locksmiths all over the region to buy the specialist locks required.

The end result was ugly and wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Mad Max movie.

The weapons arrive as does the Fleet Security Officer. I walk around with him and when we get to the armory I explain what had happened, show him the designs of our work arounds and what regulations we used in coming up with them.

He completes his inspection and heads up to the CO’s cabin. 30 minutes later I get piped up to the CO’s cabin.

The assessment was ‘Not Ready’. There were a couple of other compartments (mostly stores and supply ones) which also lacked the appropriate security (again, not in the contract).

The armory, however, passed with flying colors. Ugly as sin? True. Met or exceeded the regulations? Also true.

He left me a list of defects and a promise to be back in two weeks for a final assessment. The CO praises me for getting the armory fixed, but then tells me that I’m not getting off the ship until the other defects are fixed (basically a 2 week stoppage of leave).

The life of a junior officer. One part tragedy, two parts farce, with a pinch of gallows humor.

[Night Hides Not]

Great story, thanks for posting!