A Very Special Man (1968)

[Music] w Bob huh the radio still doesn't play right huh that's funny what's funny well a guy signs up for 6 years in the Navy a zli weeks of training electronics and still a gal can't get him to fix a radio I'll fix it before I leave [Music] great dear Bob thanks for fixing the radi it was very nice of you it plays just fine I [Music] think you're a very special [Music] man it is Pleasant to agree with an attractive girl and in the case of Bob Wilson and hundreds more like him the Navy does agree these are very special people filling very special [Music] needs they are the ones who make it possible for today's ships to see to speak to hear to compute to fight with the weapons of modern war on or under the sea very special men indeed members of the advanced electronic field vital parts of the electronic nervous system of the modern Navy all hands to quarters for muster inspection and instruction all hands to quarters for muster inspection and instruction all right man we've got division duty today Jones your EK Duty division Department well very well gentlemen the day we have been anticipating a rise tomorrow you'll inform your leading Petty officers that 0800 observers will arrive to conduct an operational Readiness inspection as you are well aware an oi is an annual competitive event used to grade us against other ships of our class Cunningham is the best ship in a squadron let's prove it questions [Music] post operational Readiness inspection the time when every area every piece of equipment is measured against the unrelenting standard of combat Readiness when you and your team prove the dayby day efficiency of your own efforts Martin get up to the bridge and check out the captain's radar repeater okay right away y all set on the main power supply checkout Graves looks all right to me read it's okay on the test equipment good let's keep it that way and that's the way it goes here and in the nerve center of it all the combat information center where all the systems come together where each serves the other and all serve the total organism that is the ship itself yes Martin what is maybe you better have a look at the Captain's repeater yourself something wrong no I don't think so all right let's take a look looks all right to me it's just that it seemed to come up a little slow that's all well it's nothing to sweat over Martin is there something else on your mind I was wondering if you might have a little time when we're through with our checkout it's uh a personal matter we're just about checked out coffee on the mes deck say half an hour fine combat information center where when the chips are down the ship is fought from where each electronic system feeds the others and all together feed the demands of the ship itself to carry out its mission cic where you and the other very special men the ones able to analyze test repair and maintain the electronic nervous system find a man's Place doing a man's [Music] job how you doing Martin thanks for coming down Wilson glad to be of help if I can what's on your mind it's about my future in the Navy when I enlist I figured I'm putting in 4 years and then getting out I had qualifying marks for the advanced electronics field and my counsil even suggested it but but 6 years seemed like a long time right right but after working with the guys in the radar gang I'd like to put in for the full treatment and you'd like to have some idea of what you're getting in for is that it well after all you've been there in that case let's begin in the beginning okay if you had gone in at the time of your recruit training Martin you would have extended your 4-year enlistment to 6 years why because to develop the kind of man this Navy needs that's the required time as you know you could come out wearing an electronic technician rating like mine a Data Systems rating A Fire Control technician rating or his missile counterpart whether you hack one of those or instead a runers made missileman rating a rating as sonar technician a missile technician or finally a Communications technician the accent is on one word technician not a glorified screwdriver mechanic or repair man but a man qualified to use test equipment to analyze a problem and to make the necessary repairs or adjustments and you get a Top Flight education in electronics one that you can't buy anywhere else in the world oh yes you get something else too call it challenge you'll get it first in your a school instruction all the way from initial Theory to practical work most of it on the same kind of gear you'll find on shipboard one thing you will learn and fast the men doing the teaching are men who have been there through school in the fleet and most of them called back to instruct the way I could be myself or you could be someday they have only one goal in mind to make you able to do one of the big jobs that this Navy needs done they know that when the chips are down your discipline judgment and knowledge are going to be the things upon which the skipper of the ship will often have to depend and when you move on into your Advanced schooling you'll specialize in Communications or in Data Systems the brains for all the other systems or radar you work with the same gear you find aboard ship and you get the same kinds of problems months of them use the test equipment to find the problem and analyze it study it out in the schematic get it operating again again and again until you can do it in your sleep or the way we might have to do it in the oi tomorrow or in actual combat conditions sounds like a rugged qu it is but it's well planned do your day work work every day and you stand a good chance and you can go a lot further from Advanced school you can move into one of the seed schools for training in specialized operations or maintenance another 8 to 16 weeks so that when you are ready for the fleet you have the finest electronic education available anywhere today slice it any way you want you've got everything going for you a career in the Navy and an education good enough to put you well up up the ladder if you should decide to go back to civilian life later on Bob could go on for quite a while and if he did here is one of the major points he would make as made by the officer in charge of the school you men are here because you are the best the Navy has the best the country has to offer to answer the question everyone of you in this room who completes his work here and maintains a clean military record should be a first class petty officer at the end of his six-year enlistment some will make it sooner than that the Navy is not only willing but anxious to promote you it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the finest electronic equipment it needs men to keep it running as it was designed to run you are those men you can move up faster in this field than in any other field in the Navy you may become elig for a college program sponsored by the Navy leading to a commission it might interest you to know that the majority of the officers in this school came up through the enlisted ranks all of us at one time or another sat in a room such as this and the opportunity is available to you the only limitation is the limitation that you place on yourselves you take on a big responsibility to yourself to your Shipmates to your commanding officer to the Navy and to your country you're going to work hard because if you do you find out one thing Martin that nothing but yourself stands between you and any goal that you choose more than anyone else the Navy wants you to succeed well there's just one thing bugging me yes can I hack it can I make it I thought you were going to ask something new every man who Begins the advanced electronic train training course asks himself the same thing you well you've already shown through your test that you're qualified to join a select group of very special men and if they've hacked it there's no reason in the world why you shouldn't good [Music] [Music] luck [Music] w people have a lot of names for ships but to those who know and work them a ship is an organism grown to do a special job and the way that organism Works depends on the men who work her for without the men a ship is a lifeless thing with them it is an eager willing part of an overall capability called the Navy to see where the ship is going is a primary requirement with radar eyes here backed up by other eyes here in the central nervous system through which all information must flow from the air from under the sea from hostile and friendly elements in this operation information coordinated used and distributed to the entire organism hi I sir right away [Music] Martin yes stand by the phones the bridge repeater is giving trouble okay electronic control shifting phones you wish there had been no trouble but as you move toward the bridge you figure the problem sort out the possible answers and Alternatives you wonder is this a true breakdown or is it a test set up by the inspectors you will never know the answer to that one you hope it is an adjustment it is up to you to know you have seen this before it is an adjustment not overhauled or repaired and you work and you work quickly and well you know what you're doing once again the ship has eyes to see with it function properly now sir that was real fast Service Wilson thank you as the O wears on the nervous system functions as it should should seeing at long range at intermediate range at target range for approaching aircraft answering the attack problem with information computerized calculated in micros seconds to meet the Airborne threat preparing to fight back through electronic information supplied by gunfire [Music] control bearing its weapons against undersea attack sensed and calculated by the electronic nerves of the ship and coordinating the Maneuvers with other ships through the voice of electronics [Music] radio and when the operational Readiness inspection is over secure the gear put it on standby you know that your ship is ready to meet any situation and you wonder wonder if your ship will wear the Navy e for competence because if it does you know that a lot of the credit goes to a team of very special men Electronics men men with a great responsibility in today's and tomorrow's Navy and opportunities even greater opportunities open to you now [Music] today we missed you at the beach this weekend everyone says hello thanks again for fixing the radio I still think you're a very special [Music] man