I don't want to go too deeply into the weeds on responding to the flurry of responses here, because the topic isn't about me specifically, but I do want to thank everyone for offering up their own advice on paths forward. Much of it aligns pretty neatly with advise I've gotten from others (especially the LDOs/Priors in the Wardroom), and it's been stuff like that which has kept me afloat and helped me try to move my division forward. Anyone that talks about how shitty the SWO community to each other is ignoring the huge strides it's made in the last few years.
There's still improvements to be made, things that can change, but I definitely didn't / don't have the feel of being left alone or constantly stabbed in the back by other JOs, and even department heads.
I'll also throw out that there absolutely are good chiefs on every boat, including my own. There are also chiefs that are bad in different ways - those that do all the work and never force their DIVO to step up. From what little I've seen, it seems like the best are usually the younger, but not young, guys that have been on the ship for a couple of years, know it, know their divisions, and are up to date on everything. The worst tend to be the FTS guys that get dragged off of long shore duty assignments late in their career, that are old and set in their ways and ready to retire. There are exceptions to both. There isn't a one size fits all mold.
My point was not "oh, I have a bad chief" or "chief's suck". Neither of those is constructive. The point I was trying to raise is that we are taught as JOs, before we ever get to our ships, that we should trust our Chief, learn from them, lean on them, and let them teach us... and as often as that guidance is well placed, it's also too often a set-up for disaster. Some people have no chief. Some have bad chiefs. Some have chiefs that are bad in other ways: hammering this one size fits all 'chiefs teach JOs' idea into the head of everyone does no one any good.
He never should have been sent to that ship, you are supposed to have enough time to complete a minimum activity tour. It sounds like by him being screwed over you ended up being screwed over.
Something must have happened for the billet to be gapped like that, I have seen gaps but not that long and it was when we had a guy get picked up LDO and another when we had a guy that was a humanitarian transfer to shore.
How the manning happened I'm not really sure, but I know that the division has gone through 3 chiefs in 3 years, including a year long stint without any chief at all. The last two chiefs have been FTS, and the billet is now only open to FTS for some reason, which is a real shitter. His orders have him here through November of 19, but he retires this year. At the same time my division (billeted for 4 1st classes) has been gapped on two billets for 9 and 6 months respectively, and my other two first classes that have been here both leave at the end of the year as well. By the end of 2017 I'll have no chief, one 1st class that checked in two months prior, two second classes, and a bunch of junior people in a division billeted for 5 1st classes and up.
To put in perspective how bad it is, I've had a work center run by a fireman since I got to my ship (9 months) because he's the senior most person in his rate on the ship.
Go manning.
But hey, we've made it work. It is what it is. Adapt, improvise, overcome.
