#7

Years ago, after building a naval base in the Philippines, the U.S. Navy began recruiting local Filipinos. At the time they weren’t eligible to receive security clearances, which meant they were only qualified to work in Supply jobs, as cooks, barbers, pretty much, the low end stuff. Over time a lot of Filipinos settled on west coast with their families which increased the enlistment numbers for the Navy. To crew members, they are known as “mafia,” in part because they’re almost like one big family. They look out for each other in all sorts of ways, and that’s great.

In the Supply section of the Navy, Filipinos are in charge of many different things such as hiring for certain positions, getting supplies out to ships. For example, if we need 100 pairs of boots for the ship and weren’t really tight with the “mafia” or were not a part of it, we couldn’t get the boots in a timely fashion, or even at all. Although if we were in the “mafia,” all it would take is a quick call and we’ve got everything we need, and hen some. On base there is a Commissary where sailors can shop for just about anything they need. Every once in awhile there are large sales at the Commissary, which draws larger business than usual. For the most part, Filipinos are in charge of the Commissary and are able to open up the back door to their friends and family. That’s not a major issue because most people are looking for a hook up of some kind, and to be able to shop for what you need before the store officially opens, when there’s a great stock of items to choose from is always nice.

Supply is made up of mostly minorities. In the Supply section of the Navy you’ll find your most menial jobs. For instance, Ship service men, wash and press laundry, cut hair, and attend to the vending machines. Every so often sailors are up for reenlistment. Since there are so many people in Supply and it doesn’t cost as much to train them, these sailors usually receive little to nothing for reenlistment bonuses. My brother said he has only received one bonus in his 13 years and that was for $3,000.reinlistment. On the contrary, in Operations (combat systems, weapon systems, engineering, air traffic control), which is mostly white; they receive $60,000 for reenlistment bonuses. The navy does spend somewhere around $200,000 to train each sailor in Operations, so it’s cheaper to give them a nice bonus to keep them around than to go ahead and train a new person for the job.