Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer Russell Smith is NOT a Navy SEAL
The Navy has named their new senior enlisted man, Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer Russell Smith. There are many reports about his career and military experience. Almost all of them make some reference to him being with SEAL Team 4.
military.com – He was a weapons technician for three years before converting to be an intelligence specialist in 1993. From there, Smith served with Navy SEALTeam 4 and with the U.S. defense attaché office in Russia
stripes.com – He joined the Navy in 1988 and began his career as an airman, later becoming a weapons technician and an intelligence specialist. His sea duty assignments have included SEAL Team 4 and the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise, USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln.
navytimes.com – That career choice put Smith to work with SEAL commandos and duty at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, but he returned to sea aboard the carrier Carl Vinson and did another tour on the Lincoln, too.
I think you get the picture now. He is without a doubt a very accomplished Sailor. I can find nothing anywhere that quotes him saying or insinuating that he was a SEAL. Not one picture have I seen with him wearing a Trident. The man has served honorably and with distinction. Serving with many land-based duty assignments are considered “Sea Duty” by the Navy. I am guessing that he was an Intel guy with the Support folks assigned to Team 4. They man a desk, think up intelligent stuff, complain if they have to stay after 5 and generally stay pretty dry most of the time. Even little ole me manned a desk part my career. I cried when they took it away. Drawer Gunners kick…back.
It seems if anyone has been near a real Navy SEAL its big news for some reason. I put up with a couple of them every day, believe me…they are just as phucked up as the rest of us. Anyway, cut my inbox and Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer Russell Smith some slack, I am sure we both have better things to do.
Category: Navy
Like the splayed out stripes. Cool.
Rock on Fleet Master Chief.
Only hope that he isn’t a “yes, man” and concerned about having the same perks as a three-star, like the assclown he took over for was.
I’ll be happy as long as he doesn’t decide to do away with Navy rates like Stevens wanted to do.
You mean E-9 Mike (I suck cock and work squeakholes) Stevens?
Maybe he can get the damned uniform changed back to dungarees and Cracker Jacks. ’66 – ’69 BT
Looks like an old-school salt. Got that smile that says, “This hurts. A lot.” As for the SEAL business, it’s not his doing. It’s monkey-see, monkey-do among the story writers but each tosses in a new word or phrase for their story and the next thing you know, he led a SEAL team or singlehandedly captured OBL.
No, I don’t see no pitchfork and bird on his dress blues jacket, either. I’d never ASSUME he’s said he’s a seal. When you ASSUME something, you make an ASS of U (and maybe ME, maybe not).
The people who are complaining about Fleet Master Chief Smith don’t understand that the teams have an enormous logistics group supporting each and every one of them, and that the Teams are not just one small group, but platoons within each group.
It appears that whiners gotta whine.
Hey, Ex, Wolf Moon Books and Images yours? Smokey was cute (and a lush, it would seem!)
I love photography, too. I actually have a BFA in photography. I just some 120 film for my Yashica twin lens the other day. I also got some 4×5 film for my Super Speed Graphic. That’s my favorite camera I have.
Yes, it is mine, and while the Late Great Smokey the Pooh went to Kitty Heaven some years back, I have another black cat (because no one else wants them) that I named Punkin Squawkypants.
We had a black manx cat, good little cat!
Well there is definitely nothing wrong with being a support bitch for the high speeds
Been there bone that. Support makes the engine move, the high speeds give it
Pop
The trust that the high speeds put in their support people speaks for itself.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=and+i+helped&&view=detail&mid=55BE1E2F89159BE0C2B755BE1E2F89159BE0C2B7&rvsmid=3221FB0BC96833A7B9613221FB0BC96833A7B961&FORM=VDQVAP
That pretty much covers it. BTDT. Got a few T shirts. Supporting them didn’t make me one of them, but it did get me some pretty awesome references on my resume’!
The Navy Times (NAVY TIMES 29 AUG 18) … Mark D. Faram The Navy named its top enlisted leader early Wednesday and he’s a familiar face. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson picked Russ Smith as the 15th master chief petty officer of the Navy. “After a thorough and deliberate review process, I am confident that Fleet Master Chief Smith is the right leader to be our master chief petty officer of the Navy,” said Richardson shortly after a morning run with a large group of chief petty officer selectees at the Washington Navy Yard. “I look forward to working with him to advocate for our sailors and their families selflessly serving around the world.” Richardson installed Smith (SW/IW/AW) as the interim MCPON on June 22, a day after Steven Giordano resigned following allegations he fostered a hostile work environment in his Pentagon office. Smith had been the fleet master chief for naval personnel and continued to serve in that role after Richardson elevated him temporarily to interim MCPON. But during his brief time as the interim MCPON, Smith repeatedly insisted that he was merely one of four equals, with Fleet Master Chief Paul Kingsbury (SW/AW) in Norfolk, Fleet Master Chief Raymond Kemp (AW/SW/IW) in Europe and Pacific Fleet Master Chief James Honea (SW/AW) in Hawaii all pitching in to keep the office running for the Navy’s nearly 270,000 enlisted sailors. For his MCPON, Richardson chose Smith over Kemp and Honea, but the same cordiality and cooperation is expected to extend into Smith’s tenure. Fleet Master Chief Richard P. O’Rawe (SW) has replaced Kingsbury, who will retire. Slated to hit his 30-year mark in the Navy on Sept. 18, Smith had been chief of naval personnel Vice Adm. Bob Burke’s top enlisted adviser since early 2017. He’s also no stranger to the MCPON’s Pentagon office, having served stints there under MCPONs Rick West (SS/SW) and Mike Stevens (AW/NAC). No special ceremony will mark Smith’s change of offices on Wednesday. Traditionally, the outgoing MCPON has passed to his replacement a symbolic cutlass but Smith’s duties begin immediately. Navy officials plan… Read more »
“It seems if anyone has been near a real Navy SEAL its big news for some reason.”
Hold the phone, I worked with the SEALS out North Island and the Amphib base on the strip. I wasn’t in the Navy but can I be a SEAL too? Everyone else is.
You won’t be legit until you get the ball cap with the ginormous trident on it.
Where do I get the T-shirt and leather jacket? And how about a huge pin and I can wear conspicuously so everyone sees it? I could also use a few Silver Stars as well and maybe I’ll put the ‘V’ device on them like I’ve before to make it extra, extra Valor.
I do want to be legit, ya know.
Don’t forget the expenise oversized watch for your arm, also no shivves are to be worn. JOE
Wow, thanks Joe! Boy, am I gonna look spiffy with all those girls buying me rounds of drinks! I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before.
And tats. Nothing show a poser’s commitment like tats.
I had former SEALS as security aboard a containership. Where do I apply for honorary membership and do they still give out those sweet ass cards?
Do they have the removable ones? I don’t like needles.
This seems to be another case of folks too ignorant to be writing stories for publication. A simple understanding of the language they use certainly would help. Words have meaning. Sentence structure is important. Working with someone correctly describes what he did. How else should it be said?
Far too many words simply to say that failure to understand correctly used words should not require the one who knows what words mean to alter their use of same.
For what it’s worth, they’re not saying he’s a SEAL, but that he worked /with/ SEALs. Navy Special Warfare does actually have Intelligence Specialists, Cryptologic Technicians, Aerographer’s Mates, and (many) other rates who work directly with SEAL teams in a Naval Special Warfare Support Activity. See MILPERSMAN 1306-086: https://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/milpersman/1000/1300Assignment/Documents/1306-986.pdf
“Smith served with Navy SEAL Team 4….”
It ain’t hard to draw the wrong conclusion with lines such as that.
Thank God I read the article and got the skinny before I had him at the TAH starting gate and going to the 2 dollar window.
This is all because of Navy PR, plain and simple. The Army and Air Force do their jobs, it’s only the Navy that feels compelled to remind us all the time that they exist.
Ever wonder why there are 12 TV shows called “NCIS” or “JAG” but not a single one called “CID” or “OSI?” Ever wonder why movies or TV episodes about Navy SEALs seem to come out every year but the number that come out about Army Rangers or SF can be counted on the fingers of one hand?
It’s because the Navy is completely committed to the idea that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
In terms of their public image, the entire Navy has been riding on the backs if its SEALs and aviators for a couple of decades now. I think if I was a tin can sailor or a submarine crewman I might resent that a bit.
I’m still waiting for the movie “Signal Corps”.
Signal Corp. I suppose you received your training at Ft. Gordon?
Ft. Monmouth.
Fine dining and the boardwalk at Long Branch.
Tough to get an exciting story on life in a SB-611 patch panel or MRC-68 multichannel rig. Now wire rats on a pole gaffing out and stealing WD-1 has potential!
Forged at Fort Lee: The Quartermaster’s Tale
How about an exciting movie involving some of you signal guys struggling in the bush to erect the beloved RC-292 antenna for a radio relay site in NVA controlled triple canopy jungle? Interestingly, I had two of them in the commo gear assigned to my LRRP company.
A COL I worked with in the late 70’s wrote a message to the Pentagon evaluating a new antenna system that was designed to get above the German tree lines. The memorable line was: “Female soldiers have difficulty handling a 50 feet erection.”
He would have been going to the long course at Leavenworth if that was today.
Starring Ronald Reagan to give it some cred.
Some of us didn’t mind at all being allowed to do our jobs without a bunch of publicity defining who we were. Sometimes there is real comfort in being in a nebulous job which causes civilians’ eyes to glaze over when you try to explain it.
Best pub for the Navy was the Village People. Or was it Top Gun?
Village People hands down!!!
Makes sense from the producer’s point of view. More action and excitement, three hots and a cot in air conditioned quarters during filming. Make a TV show about the Infantry and you stand around in the weather (often bad, always uncomfortable) watching scruffy pig-like creatures dig holes in the dirt/mud. No hots, no cot, no AC.
Actually enjoyed the 1960s TV Show “Combat!”:
https://youtu.be/d0qQGS4fXSY
The other was “The Gallant Men”
“China Beach” was a hoot as well.
Tour of Duty. Combat. Army’s PR series The Big Picture.
Blue Angels. Hennessy. Victory at Sea.
I think The Big Picture was on Sunday mornings when TV’S only had like 7 stations.
Welcome, MCPON. Thank you for your decades of honorable service and here’s hoping your’s is a better representation of the Chief’s Mess than was your predecessor. Still haven’t figured out that guy.
Master Chief Billy Sunday set the standard years ago,
“A Chief Petty Officer shall not drink. However, if he should drink he shall not get drunk. If he should get drunk, he shall not stagger. And if he should stagger, he shall not fall. And if he should fall, he will fall in such a manner as to cover up his rank so that passersby will think he is an officer.”
“Still haven’t figured out that guy.”
As a former EW, I can explain him:
CTT.
Note the slight list to port; all that gold and ribbons on only one side.
That can be fixed. Call down to Central and request some ballast be pumped around!
HAY, at least twice I knowingly, directly, hands on, face to face, for reals, supported a SEAL team, once at Norfolk loading a (I believe if memory serves, from photos on the Interwebs) Alligator class onto a C-5 to go someplace….second I was at Aviano and a bunch of heavily bearded guys in civis came in to go out through pax and we put them in the DV lounge to “change, and I was out back watching one of the guys, not asking anything, but watched as he got into his gear after putting on women’s nylons (pantyhose). I didn’t say shit but he looked at me and laughed and said “This is classified, if you tell anyone, I have to kill you”.
I chuckled nervously and said “I have no idea what you’re talking about” and moved my head around and said “Oh who said that?”
Funny day… the little shit you remember.
SO I”m totes a SEAL. 😀 (bark bark!!)
They have admitted that wearing pantyhose makes cold water more tolerable.
What they DON’T know is that skating tights are even better at it. And I will never tell them so.
I also cook.
Learned about pantyhose in Ranger School back in 1980.
I laughed … but he stayed warm.
Used by many troops in Vietnam who patrolled the rivers & marshlands. Supposedly kept leeches from doing body cavity searches. 🙂
Maybe a SEAL will explain this to us. For those of us who earned a living by diving in the civilian world, panty hose made it much easier to get into a wet suit.
Oops. Posted before reading. I was taught that trick by a Chief in my helo squadron.
I helped an ODA team put some cargo straps on a loaded trailer once. I can’t count the number of free beers that story has gotten me.
Also good with a wet suit. Easy on, easy off.
Howdy Chip, were you aircrew, port, or TALCE by chance?
You know how the media calls every rifle and AK47 or AR15, and all firearms are assault weapons? That’s just the way they have been indoctrinated to think. If a guy has a lot stripes and was ever stationed or assigned near a SEAL team… presto, he just became an AK47, AR15, Assault Human, and a SEAL.
Friday nights in Norfolk are everyday stories for folks writing stuff when they have nothing to say.
He is well known and respected in the NSW community.
“…has served with SEAL Team 4…” which to me is like plenty I’ve served with that have done so with Ranger Battalions and SF Groups without being so. Ranger Battalions have Admin to Cooks and Commo that don’t go for the tab yet they’re part of the Unit and ditto with those who are in SF Support Units.
There was no shortage of support people even in a Ranger (LRRP) company in the RVN. We had many men who never rucked up and picked up a rifle. There were several company clerks, a supply sergeant, an armorer, a motor sergeant, several operations NCO’s, some commo people, and even a fully staffed mess hall in Chu Lai, including a warrant officer who was a wizard of the kitchen. In addition, the company XO, the 1SG, and the operations officer never went out with one of the LRRP teams. Although, all of us already had CIB’s from service in infantry line units.
I see nothing but LEGIT complete honesty when it comes to Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer Russell Smith. AT NO TIME has he himself or anyone else ever called him A US Navy SEAL, all accounts say that he either served with USN SEAL Team Four or that he worked with USN SEALs.
Amen.
Is this more of that “putting the adults in charge again” thing that’s been going on since Nov ’16? Asking for a friend. Looks like a real sailor man.
These are all military sites reporting this.
Odd.
‘I can find nothing anywhere that quotes him saying or insinuating that he was a SEAL. Not one picture have I seen with him wearing a Trident.’
I concur, Dave Hardin.
Not ricking The Golden Leg Spreader, in this case I think it’s sloppy ‘reporting’ and/or poor writing, neither of which are the fault of the Master Chief.
Keep up the good work.