I was E-Div Officer (concurrently with being RCA) during the pre-deployment workups on USS Topeka (SSN 754) back in '92, and I found that the most important thing for E-Div, supply-wise, was to ensure we had enough spare parts on board for the washer and dryer. Of course, the standard loadout only provides basically one of each spare part for those vital pieces of equipment, so pretty much every boat on the waterfront left with 3 or 4 times the allowed allotment in the form of "bench spares". At the time, I realized this only contributed to the larger problem -- load lists were based on how many parts each boat ordered, and since the boats didn't have to order any additional parts since they were carrying them "off the books" as bench spares, the system never got updated. Still, since I didn't want to get yelled at in the middle of the deployment because the CO couldn't get his knickers washed, I decided not to take a stand and do the right thing, so I got us loaded up with extra spare parts.
What are some of your favorite supply shortage stories?
