Tweet
Just a few stories I've picked up from the military.
Lining up by rank
My last ship did this. They had a "First Class Line" on the aft port messline. (That's the back left line to you land lubbers). Anyone ranked E6 could line up there for chow and get to the food somewhat faster than the people ranked E5 or below.
It wasn't a total "ahead of everyone else" line, just a shorter line for them. One of the mess deck master-at-arms would designate how many from each line could proceed, to keep it from becoming unfair.
Head of the line privileges
On that same last ship they sometimes granted individuals the right to go to the head of the line. Mainly this applied to chow and liberty call. But it was earned somewhat.
One of my coworkers (S) had a chit, signed by the Captain, that gave him this privilege for 30 days, as a bonus for reenlisting. He LOVED using it for liberty call, cos (we were on deployment) it meant being among the first people off the ship after we moored - and it meant his liberty buddies got it too cos, the ship's rules dictated that you couldn't take liberty in a foreign port alone.
In the chow line he didn't use it as much unless he wanted to piss someone off...
Piss off 1: pretty simple. He just saw an E6 whom he disliked. So even though the E6 was in the First Class Line S, flashed his card and went ahead of that E6 specifically. The E6 groaned and grumbled a little but he knew that S had the right to do it.
Piss off 2: A bunch of low-ranked AO's (aviation ordinance) budged ahead of S in the breakfast line and pulled attitude over it.
AOs: What are you going to do about it?
S: This. *he flashes the card and budges ahead of them*
AOs: !!!!!! *furious!*
There was an MA (navy "cop") nearby and the AOs whined to him about S.
MA: *looks at S's card* His card is signed by the CO. He can cut in line.
I think the AOs were still mad but... heh, S was pretty smug about it. Cos if they had asked him nicely he probably wouldn't have had any issue with them. But since they decided to act like they were better than anyone else (even higher ranking people), he was more than happy to piss them off.
Challenge Coin - Liberty head of the line
Challenge coins actually have a lot of traditions in the Navy. These coins (not to be confused with purchasable memorabilia coins) are gifted by Commanding officers or other high ranked officers... usually as unofficial rewards for specific jobs, or sometimes as a prize.
Drinking tradition: If you're at the bar and tap your challenge coin on the table, everyone you're with has to pull out their coins and tap them too. The person without a coin buys the next round. Or if everyone has a coin, the person with the lowest ranked coin buys.
Liberty tradition: Some challenge coins allow the bearer "head of the line" privilege. I'm not sure about the chow line but... well at least for liberty. One of the men I knew had an Admiral's coin that he was allowed to use for this.
Base exchange, in uniform, during lunch
All bases have this rule. If you are in the base store, in uniform, during lunch, you have the right to go to the head of the line. I actually had someone offer to let me go ahead once just because of that, but I declined, stating that I was already off work for the day.
However not everyone really understands this rule. As related to me by my BF this apparently happened on the base here... An officer's wife tried to cut ahead of uniformed military during lunch. When she was told that she couldn't cut ahead, she tried to intimidate them by informing them just WHO her husband was.
So... they called him up and had him come down to the base store. So that he could explain to his wife that his rank did not entitle her to cut ahead in line. And that during lunch, any military in uniform had the RIGHT to cut ahead of her.
Lining up by rank
My last ship did this. They had a "First Class Line" on the aft port messline. (That's the back left line to you land lubbers). Anyone ranked E6 could line up there for chow and get to the food somewhat faster than the people ranked E5 or below.
It wasn't a total "ahead of everyone else" line, just a shorter line for them. One of the mess deck master-at-arms would designate how many from each line could proceed, to keep it from becoming unfair.
Head of the line privileges
On that same last ship they sometimes granted individuals the right to go to the head of the line. Mainly this applied to chow and liberty call. But it was earned somewhat.
One of my coworkers (S) had a chit, signed by the Captain, that gave him this privilege for 30 days, as a bonus for reenlisting. He LOVED using it for liberty call, cos (we were on deployment) it meant being among the first people off the ship after we moored - and it meant his liberty buddies got it too cos, the ship's rules dictated that you couldn't take liberty in a foreign port alone.
In the chow line he didn't use it as much unless he wanted to piss someone off...
Piss off 1: pretty simple. He just saw an E6 whom he disliked. So even though the E6 was in the First Class Line S, flashed his card and went ahead of that E6 specifically. The E6 groaned and grumbled a little but he knew that S had the right to do it.
Piss off 2: A bunch of low-ranked AO's (aviation ordinance) budged ahead of S in the breakfast line and pulled attitude over it.
AOs: What are you going to do about it?
S: This. *he flashes the card and budges ahead of them*
AOs: !!!!!! *furious!*
There was an MA (navy "cop") nearby and the AOs whined to him about S.
MA: *looks at S's card* His card is signed by the CO. He can cut in line.
I think the AOs were still mad but... heh, S was pretty smug about it. Cos if they had asked him nicely he probably wouldn't have had any issue with them. But since they decided to act like they were better than anyone else (even higher ranking people), he was more than happy to piss them off.
Challenge Coin - Liberty head of the line
Challenge coins actually have a lot of traditions in the Navy. These coins (not to be confused with purchasable memorabilia coins) are gifted by Commanding officers or other high ranked officers... usually as unofficial rewards for specific jobs, or sometimes as a prize.
Drinking tradition: If you're at the bar and tap your challenge coin on the table, everyone you're with has to pull out their coins and tap them too. The person without a coin buys the next round. Or if everyone has a coin, the person with the lowest ranked coin buys.
Liberty tradition: Some challenge coins allow the bearer "head of the line" privilege. I'm not sure about the chow line but... well at least for liberty. One of the men I knew had an Admiral's coin that he was allowed to use for this.
Base exchange, in uniform, during lunch
All bases have this rule. If you are in the base store, in uniform, during lunch, you have the right to go to the head of the line. I actually had someone offer to let me go ahead once just because of that, but I declined, stating that I was already off work for the day.
However not everyone really understands this rule. As related to me by my BF this apparently happened on the base here... An officer's wife tried to cut ahead of uniformed military during lunch. When she was told that she couldn't cut ahead, she tried to intimidate them by informing them just WHO her husband was.
So... they called him up and had him come down to the base store. So that he could explain to his wife that his rank did not entitle her to cut ahead in line. And that during lunch, any military in uniform had the RIGHT to cut ahead of her.
.
Comment