"Chewed out for not being psychic" Topic

So this is an old story, going back to 1993-96, when I was a Sergeant assigned at 3rd Bn, 1st Marines as their Warehouse Chief with one week of turnover.

I had never been at unit-level supply until then, I cut my teeth as a MEF-level warehouse drone and did time at a Supply Admin office and Property Control at the San Diego MCRD (Boot Camp.)

Learning your duties on-the-job when you are supposed to be the one in charge is tough. Fortunately, the younger Marines were decent and it was not within their personalities to take advantage of my lack of experience.

I was taken to task early by the Supply Officer within my first month for not being psychic. You see, Lima Company was scheduled for 29 Palms for a CAX, drove up at 1530 on a Friday and wanted their stuff.

"What 'stuff?'"

The drivers and the Police Sergeant could not be specific what "stuff" consisted of, only the Company Gunny knew that. It did not take long to figure out what they needed once we knew where they were headed, and get it signed for and loaded, but I caught hell with the Supply Officer the following Monday for not having the foresight to have what they needed staged for them to grab and go even though they never requested or articulated ahead of time exactly what they needed or in what quantities.

Needless to say, that never happened again. I made sure to keep ears open for upcoming S3 events, met and ensured I kept in touch weekly with all the CoGy's, and even put together pre-sorted CAX "blocks" using a gear list the CoGy's and I all tabled together.

More old stories form the same assignment and time frame will follow.

In those situations (civilian) I usually refernce the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy and bury them under Vogon level paperwork. anyone who knows that story knows nothing gets done unless there is proper paperwork for it…

Hi Mardaddy,

You said it yourself, "Needless to say, that never happened again." So it seems that the officer's chewing out, while not justified at first .got him what he wanted in the long run. You also pushed yourself to better long term results making both you and your unit more efficient.

What the officer did is sometimes a good management technique providing it is not overdone. It clearly set out his expectations which you then met. If you were unable to meet them or gave the officer a hard time then he could arrange a transfer early on before much damage is done.

I get that from my wife on a regular basis.

Don't worry – if you had been psychic, you'd have eventually been chewed out for that, too.
-Kle.

If the Marines wanted you to be psychic, they would have trained you to be a Marine Psychic and to do it the Marine Way.

So… would I have been one of the "Men Who Stare at Gamma Goats?"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gama_Goat

Well, you're a gamer, so… probably.
-Kle.