The war in Vietnam took away a lot of good sailors who could have staffed our ships, and the opposition to the war reduced the number of good men available for the large number of ships that we were keeping in operation. Staffing was so short that ships could not allow officers go on leave, or the ship would be too shorthanded to sail. Each of us earned thirty days of leave each year, and none of us knew an officer who had taken any leave in ages.

The Bureau of Personnel (BuPers) had lots of empty billets to fill in the many ships in the several fleets, and not enough qualified deck officers to fill them with, so the pressure to move briskly from one ship to the next was great. Any officer who complained about not having time for leave between ships ran the risk of getting a really disgusting assignment. His career might never recover. So it was common for an officer to fly from coast to coast, with at most one weekend of time between leaving one ship and arriving at his next billet. We complained, but there seemed to be no solution.

Someone solved the problem for us, intentionally or otherwise. It was fascinating to watch from the perspective of the Forces Afloat.

It was reported to the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) that a statistical analysis showed that officers were not taking enough leave. CNO is the highest ranking four-star admiral in the Navy, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What followed was a pair of messages that made us want to either laugh or cry. This is from memory, now twenty years faded, and surely the original wording was far more bureaucratic than I can reproduce.

From: CNO

To: All Operational Naval Units

Subject: Officers' Leave

It has come to the attention of this office that commissioned officers are not taking sufficient leave. It is very important for efficiency and effectiveness that officers in stressful positions utilize their leave for rest and recreation. It is a mistake to assume that one is being effective by simply working non-stop. Studies show otherwise. In fact, this office is convinced that the performance of fleet units will improve when the key officers have had enough rest to bring a fresh perspective and enthusiasm to the job.

Officers are directed to take as much of their leave as possible, during the year in which it is earned.

In other words, the Chief of Naval Operations had been a senior admiral for so long that he no longer had any idea at all what went on every day in the working levels. He was a Person Unclear on the Concept. However, CNO was not dumb, and he was not a wimp.

Well of course it was pointless to tell officers to take leave. The entire structure of the Navy, all of the layers of Bureaus and Commands and Task Forces and Systems Agencies were in the way. We wanted to take leave. CNO wanted us to take leave. But Very Important Captains in the Pentagon could get their promotions to Admiral only if they actively prevented us from taking leave. The problem was not out at sea with those of us who ran the ships. The problem was with the politically ambitious functionaries down the hall from CNO himself. Probably the problem was with the very same subordinates with whom CNO had lunch on a regular basis.

This particular CNO was courageous, smart, and surprisingly for a four-star, he was still able to listen to the little guys. Apparently one of us got the word to CNO, because two months later, we received the following message.

From: CNO

To: All Operational Naval Units

Subject: Officers' Leave

It has come to the attention of this office that the previous directive did not adequately address the question of officers' leave. In the interest of clarification, the following orders are promulgated.

Detailing Officers are ordered to assign thirty days leave to each officer who receives orders for a Permanent Change of Station. Any exception to this must be approved, on a case by case basis, in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Detailing officers will be evaluated, in their annual Fitness Reports, on their ability to assign leave to officers on PCS orders without requesting waivers of the thirty-day rule.

Officers who receive PCS orders are ordered to take all the leave made available for their transfer. Officers are not to surrender their leave for the sake of operational efficiency. The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations will take great interest in any reports of officers who fail to take adequate leave on PCS orders.