Military Isn’t Getting The Equipment They Need
Sailors report footing bill for needs on ships
Chief Machinist’s Mate (SW/AW) Michael Seger was tired of his sailors being punished when they weren’t getting their work done on schedule. It happened over and over, and it wasn’t their fault, he said. They didn’t have the gear they needed to clean, paint spaces, or maintain their equipment by the command’s schedule.
So Seger took matters into his own hands. For years, first on the carrier Enterprise and then on the amphibious assault ship Nassau, Seger drove out to hardware stores and shopping centers to spend his own money on the stuff his sailors needed.
Between those two ships alone, Seger estimated he spent more than $4,000 of his own money “to buy everything from simple cleaning supplies that cost a few dollars to high-priced fittings for pumps that cost upwards of several hundred dollars,” he told Navy Times.
“Over almost 18 years of service, I know I am not the only one to do this, and honestly, it is simply pathetic,” Seger said.
He is far from the only one. More than 40 current and former sailors told Navy Times stories about paying for equipment with their own money, a practice they described as common and often necessary to keep ships in fighting shape. Many active-duty sailors asked not to be identified because they worried about being disciplined for discussing shortages or management problems in their current commands.
Navy Times heard mostly from senior petty officers and chiefs located all over the U.S., as well as a few officers.
Leaders were surprised when Navy Times told them what the sailors said, despite the fact that the problem was brought to Big Navy’s attention this spring, in a report filed by the service’s inspector general.
“The only time I’ve seen anything like that is back in the bad old days,” said Rear Adm. David Lewis, vice commander of Naval Sea Systems Command and chief operating officer of the Surface Warfare Enterprise.
“That’s not right. If that’s going on, we want to hear about it — we don’t pay our sailors to do that.”
According to the IG, sales have been slipping at the contractor-operated Super ServMart store on the waterfront at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., which sells more than 8,000 items to the fleet. “This may be indicative of the increasing budget shortfalls noted by the afloat units visited,” said the report, which was examining a number of issues in the Hampton Roads area.
IG investigators found one ship, which they didn’t identify, that had $1 million in unfunded consumable supplies. “Sailors of all ranks, including the supply officer, are buying supplies out of pocket to meet operational and certification requirements,” the report said.
Navy Times asked sailors to comment on the IG’s findings, and heard similar stories from all across the fleet. Some of the most common items were hand and power tools, bought to replace an earlier version that had disappeared, was broken or just wasn’t working right.
One sailor described needing to buy a Simpson 260 multimeter (about $230); a corpsman stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., needed to buy his own medical bag (about $300); and another sailor remembered venturing into town during a foreign port call to buy a replacement fuse for the Mk 13 missile launcher on a frigate (about $6). When he got back to the ship, his tools had been stolen, so he needed to replace those, too.
Over a career, one sailor said, these expenses add up.
“Nothing beats having your wife meet you at the door when you come home — except when she informs you that the money you have spent on your equipment rework over the last four months could have made an extra house payment,” said one aviation support technician first class.
The common theme: Although sailors didn’t have what they needed to work, their commanders still expected results. That included times when crews needed gear they couldn’t buy.
One aircraft carrier supply officer remembered buying his own paint, brushes and other supplies so sailors could get spaces finished on schedule. But what they didn’t have — and couldn’t buy — was the right personal protective equipment, to keep sailors from breathing in the fumes as they worked.
“I cannot tell you how many brain cells I have destroyed due to the fact of our ship not having enough respirators, and our deadlines not flexing for it,” the supply officer said.
Continued at Navy Times
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