Meeting The New Enlisted Men

[NS]

The first day that Chief Abram Wallace reported back to duty was spent in checking the T.A.D. (Temporary Assignment to Duty) Barracks, making sure that three four-man rooms were available on the same floor for the incoming new crew of Enlisted Men. He also left written instructions with the Chief Master-At-Arms so that the M-A-A on watch could pass them along to the new crew members would be trickling in during the next fourteen hours or so.

After that, he stopped by the 5-EX landing area to make a personal tour of the ship. The Officers and Crew of the cruiser would not started working on the ship for another two weeks and would not start transferring their personal gear onboard until a week after that.

Still, the Boatswain wanted to make sure everything would be ready.

When he returned to the T.A.D. Barracks, he had the Chief Master-At-Arms set aside one of the four rec-rooms for Wallace to use the next morning as a meeting room.

***** ***** *****

A little before eight a.m., Chief Wallace arrived at that recreational room. Most of the crew were already present and the Chief sat in a corner by himself, reviewing the muster list. By oh-eight-fifteen, all twelve men had arrived and Chief Wallace stood up, cleared his throat, and boomed out,” Alright, listen up. I am the Boatswain of your new ship. My name is Wallace. Chief Abram Wallace. You can feel free to call me by my first name, which is ‘Chief’. Or, if you prefer, you can call me Boatswain or ‘Boats’.”

He looked down at a small, handheld device. Then he looked up and announced, “When I call your name, answer up and raise your hand.”

Using a list prepared by the First Officer, Chief Wallace divided the men into two groups of six. Each group had three Able-Bodied Spacemen and three Ordinary Spacemen. These two groups would be the Port and Starboard Watch Section. He had everyone line up in two columns, and he marched them over to the Training Center. It was there that the men met the rest of the crew: the First and Second Officer, the Midshipman, and the Cook.

As everyone took a seat and were talking quietly among themselves, the door to the room opened and a Lieutenant strode in.

“Attention on deck!” Chief Wallace yelled as the Officer entered. Everyone stood up, including the First and Second Officer. Although they were of equal ranks (actually, Lieutenant Faraday was Senior to the new arrival), the First and Second Officers stood out of respect to the Lieutenant’s status as their Instructor.

They were in his class-room and it would be his show.

“Be seated,” the Lieutenant said as stepped behind the podium at the head of the room, facing the small, folding desks that the personnel of the 5-EX were sitting in.

His introductory remarks were fairly brief. He told everyone a little about his background and explained that the “regular” crew members would be present only for the first period. The scientists, and researchers, and academics who were now Enlisted Men in the Solar Guard had all completed the three month Basic Training Program at Brasilia and would now be taught the rudimentary skills needed to be part of an EX cruiser crew.

The first three days would be all class-room time: Four hours of fifty-minutes in the class room with ten-minute breaks in between. An hour for lunch. Followed by four more fifty/ten hours of instruction ending with dinner at 1700 hours. From 1800 hours until 0800 hours the next day, they were free to do as they wished, including leaving base. The weekends would also be theirs.

After the first three days, they would spend four hours a day in class, and four hours a day in the simulator. One group would have class in the A.M., simulator in the P.M., whereas the other group would have class in the P.M. and simulator in the A.M.

The “Regular” crew would participate in the simulator training. The Officers and Boatswain practicing with whichever watch they were assigned.