Harold Underdown (118:50)
A, what we got going on here? You know, if he has to have an escort by, by Master at arms. So he sits down in his seat and all of a sudden these, the Senior Chief beside me started, they started going off. They said, you know, you look like you slept in uniform. You look like you haven't shaved your frickin uniforms A mess. Is wearing Cracker Jacks, you know, the old white sailor uniform. But it looked like it was almost beige, wasn't white. So I'm looking at him and I start, you know, after they, they've been firing off some salvos on him, you know, calling him a dirtbag and, and all this stuff. And I, and I kind of like said okay, okay. I said let's stop, stop this a second. I said I need a cup of coffee. And I told him, I said master Arms, I said take, take the sailor, you know, to my office and I go stand by. I said just take him to my office and stand by. So he gets him up, parades him, you know, he's walking right beside him like he's a prisoner. Takes him to my office and I'm sitting there with the panel and I told, I told the guys, I go guys, I appreciate your, your motivations, you know, I appreciate you being, I said, but you, we've been really hard on this individual. And I said, what I want to know is what, what he's, what's he got going on? What's going on, you know, behind the uniform as, you know, speaking. So I told these guys, hey, just take the, take the day off this thing, this thing's done. I said, this guy's got problems that probably go a little bit far. Then we sit here and chew his ass all day long, but he ain't gonna make a bit of dick. He didn't have one impression on his face the whole time. We were going at it, right? These guys were basically attacking his integrity and his uniform and him not being at work. You know, he's got problems. So I get in the office, and I'm sitting there and the master arms there. I said, you can leave. I said, just. I said, just be outside. I said, you know, I want you to escort him back over to the cb, the garage area right when we're done. But I started. I said, hey, I said, talk to me, man. I said, talk to me. I said, you got some shit going on. You got squirrels in your sea bags or raccoons or something in the bag. I need to know what I'm. What I'm dealing with here. And he started. Had a couple tears, started crying, and I said, calm down. I go. I said, everything okay at home? You know? He said, yeah, everything's. Everything's okay. He said, my. My marriage is not going all that well. And he said, I got five cars. And when he said, he's got five cars, I go, why? Why do you have five cars? He goes, well, I like them. I like cars. He said, I rebuild them. So he said, I'm kind of in debt. In debt with the cars and the people at work. He says, I'm not getting any sleep. You know, my wife, we're having some issues with our youngest kid, and it just went on and on and on, right? As far as he's got problems at home, he's got financial issues because he has five cars. And, you know, you can't support five vehicles, right? I mean, I. I know how expensive vehicles are, paying insurance and all that. So I said, what can we do to help you? And I said, you know. You know, I said, your uniform. I said, you want me to. I said, I can. I can get those uniform cleaned up for you. I said, what? So what? How can we help you? He just said, you know, I need some help financially. I need to consolidate these vehicles. I need to be a better dad. I need to be a better, you know, husband. You know, I need this. I need that. So I'm like, okay, we're gonna. We're gonna do that. We're gonna take care of that. I said, I want you to go back over to your garage and talk to the master chief, and I want you to take a couple days off because, you know, we're not fighting. You know, we're not. We don't have people shooting at us back at the beach, right? And I go, take a couple days off, and I go, let me find somebody that can Help you with the vehicles. And I've got some resources that. Navy resources here on base that we can help you with your finances. We get a. We get you a financial advisor and try to get you get this squared away, because right now you just can't. You can't deal with these vehicles. And I don't know what kind of problems you're having with your wife and all, but we got people that can help you with that. So basically, give him a couple days off. And then I told him, I said, next week, I want you to come back in for the drb, but I want you to understand the gravity of this. I said, you need to be squared away. I said, you need to have the right command rocker on your uniform. Your uniform needs to be cleaned, like in dry cleaned. Your. Your shoes need to have a. Some kiwi, you know, polish on them. Give us some effort, and let me see that you're doing what you're going to do. And I said, I'll give you everything we have. We'll throw resources at you and we'll get this cleaned up. That takes work, right? So I talked with the master chief, Seabee, who was a great guy. I still run into him date, you know, sometimes back at the beat. He's. He's a great guy. And I told him, I said, it's going to be hard work, but this is going to be a little. Little project, little pet project to see if we can get this train, you know, out of the woods, out of the briar patches and get it back on the railroad tracks and see if we can save this sailor. I said, we may not be able to, but I said, the big. A big part of this is going to be how he presents himself next week if he comes in and he looks good. I said, I don't want to turn into shouting. I just want him to open up to us and tell him what he needs so we can set some resources up to help him out. So he came back in that next Monday, totally different dialed in squared away. Dialed in, dialed in. I think he even bought a new set of Cracker Jacks, had the right rocker sewn on. His ribbons were a quarter inch. You know, I know all that about uniforms, right? So I just looked at him. Had a brand new T shirt on, had a brand new white hat. I mean, shoes, had kiwi. Effort was made, right, to bring a different presence. So we sat there, and instead of yelling at him, we listened to his story and he taught us something, right? We don't know what's going on with our employees or our sailors or our marines or army soldiers and all of this. Right. But it takes leadership. If you do it right, it's a little work, you know, other than chewing somebody's ass out and kicking them out to the curb and say, you know, you messed up. Go, go square your away and then never engage again. So we engaged with him on that. That second time that he came in, he looked, he looked a lot better. And then we continued to follow up with the finances, dealing with the vehicles and stuff. So I think we have a success there.
