(3 of 10)
Earlier Z-grams had knocked out restrictions against men wearing civilian clothes on a base when off duty, opened a pilot program to allow first-class petty officers to carry any kind of clothes they wish aboard certain ships and to wear them when on liberty. The rule requiring dress uniforms when a ship arrives in port (when greasy gear and dirty lines must be handled) was eliminated. At least half the crew of a returning ship must be granted 30 days leave, and even when at sea, at least 5% of. a ship's crew must be allowed to remain ashore on leave.
Convinced that many men fail to re-enlist primarily because their wives are unhappy, Zumwalt ordered all shore-base commanders to set up channels for hearing complaints not only from the men but from their spouses. Zumwalt also said make-work projects must cease, Saturday duty must be minimized and those irksome barracks and personnel inspections, if held at all, should not interfere with weekend liberty. Beer may be dispensed in barracks, and liquor can be kept in those barracks that are divided into rooms. Optimistically, he set 15 minutes as the maximum time any sailor should be ordered to wait in line for anything.
Local commanders are free to apply the Z-grams in their own fashion, and wherever the Navy writ runs, the fresh breezes of innovation and experimentation in listening, in correcting, in treating sailors like adults, are blowing.
The telephone rang at the desk of Captain A.W. ("Hap") Chandler Jr., commander of the Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego. "Hey, Hap, what are you doing about flight jackets down there?" asked the skipper of another Navy facility. "You letting them wear them around the base?" Replied Chandler: "Sure. I've got to, since I do it my self." A former colleague of Zumwalt's in Saigon, Chandler is so enthusiastic about the freer atmosphere under The Big Z that he tries to keep a step ahead. He relaxed the rules on hair and beards before any Z-gram mentioned them, wears his own hair in a long wavy pompadour with modest sideburns. Moreover, he is sending his base barbers to hair-styling school so his airmen can get something better in their $1 cuts than sheer sidewalls. "We're putting in female shampooists too," says Chandler. "You might think we're going a little gay around here."
Chandler also opened a "Captain's Hotline" through which any sailor can dial C-A-P-T (2-2-7-8) at any hour to record a beef. Chandler answers each one in the base newspaper. The line has averaged 80 calls a week, ranging from complaints about cockroaches in the barracks to poorly cooked hamburgers at mess. When one caller suggested that men be able to check in from leave by telephone, Chandler's answer was one word: "Approved." The line has worked so well that Chandler talked his wife Marjorie into answering calls from women on a line reached by dialing AHOY.
Chandler, who wears a Spiro Agnew watch, does not think he is unduly coddling his men: "The guys today are a lot more sophisticated than when I came in to the Navy. These old farts, the admirals, just don't see this. The old way of doing things not only perpetuated bureaucracy but also mediocrity. That old saying, 'If it moves, salute it; if it stands still, paint it,' has got to go."