JAG - "But, Sir…What Happens to my 1st Class Rating?"

"But, Sir…What Happens to my 1st Class Rating?"

Author: CdnJAGScribe

E-mail:

Rating: M

Classification: (extremely short story)

Spoilers:

Summary: Legalman Tiner wonders why he was told to remove his 1st Class rating and wear 2nd Class Rating?

DISCLAIMER: The characters Harm Rabb, Jr., Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Meg Austin, AJ Chegwidden, Bud Roberts, Harriet Sims-Roberts et al. belong (in concept if not name) to CBS/Bellisarius. Animal and all OC characters are the property of Heather and Hugo Chikamori. No profit is being made from this story, nor is any infringement intended

Author's Note: If one remembers Season 2…There is brief mention of Tiner…and he is wearing a Legalman 1st Class rating. So What Happened in Season 4? He is formally introduced and has some speaking lines in various episodes and is wearing 2nd Class rating. My question is what happened? Did he receive a punitive reprimand and end up losing one rating or what? That's the question. So how does one solve it in the JAG timeline? ~smirk~

JAG Headquarters; Falls Church, VA; 1300 ZULU 0800 EST

"TINER!" Tiner heard the Admiral bellow from his inner sanctum where he tended to ensconce himself away from the rest of the office.

"Yes, sir!" Legalman First Class Jason Tiner responded hastily and entered the office. "Legalman First Class Tiner; reporting as ordered, sir!"

The Admiral looked up with a rather frustrated look on his face. "Did you ever receive a letter from BuPERS authorizing you to wear Second Class Legalman's rating?" He said looking down at Tiner's personnel file. "…because I don't see it here in your personnel file."

"Sir, the only letter I got from BuPers was telling me back in 1994 to put on my Legalman First Rating, so I did as I was told. I was promoted by Admiral Brovo during his tenure after receiving a letter indicating that I should put on Legalman First"

"…and he didn't bother checking to see if you'd completed the Legalman First ratings test before promoting you to Legalman First? Because I don't see a ratings exam completed for Legalman First." The admiral started getting a migraine headache. How many of Brovo's mistakes was he going to have to fix?

"So, Sir, what happens to my First Class Rating?" Tiner looked extremely worried; wearing unauthorized insignia was a serious violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, "Sir, should I be looking at getting counsel for an Article 106a violation, sir." Legalman Tiner stood stiffly at attention.

"No, Tiner. It's somehow a BuPERS screw-up since you have an authorized letter allowing you to wear Legalman First. However there is a problem in that you have not completed the pre-requisites for that and you don't have time in Second Class rating to qualify as a Legalman First. The only pre-requisite that you have officially completed is a high passing score on the Legalman Second Rating. So unfortunately, as Judge Advocate General, I'm going to have to ask you to remove the Legalman First Rating and put on Legalman Second. And I'm going to tear someone a new hole at BuPERS for screwing up and potentially subjecting you to an Article 106a Wearing Unauthorized Insignia and get them to issue you a proper letter for Legalman Second." RADM Chegwidden growled under his breath, "Damned BuPERS lemmings. Always some screw-up that we have to fix…"

Tiner ignored the last outburst and nodded. He looked deeply disappointed at having to give up his First Class rating that he'd worn for three years now.

"Look, Tiner; I know this is difficult, but well, understand that you still have to serve the time that was required to be Legalman Two. What I'd suggest is to take some advancement courses and see if you can get into OCS…you've got the skill for that…" The admiral suggested, hoping that would take some of the sting that losing his Legalman First rating would inflict. After all, Tiner had been wearing that rating for the past three years under the presumption that it was a legal promotion with a legal letter of promotion and not subject to reversal.

Tiner's face brightened. That was an avenue that he'd never thought would be possible. If he became an officer, he could do a far lot more than he could as an enlisted.

"Maybe I should look into night-school, sir?"

"That would potentially be a great idea…" The admiral nodded. "So, I'd suggest that you get to NEX and rectify that problem as soon as possible, Tiner, since you've now been informed. You're excused from post for the duration of time that it takes in order to get that uniform rectified."

"Aye-aye, sir."

"Dismissed."

Legalman now Second Class Tiner left the admiral's office…and excused himself as he had to head to the NEX under admiral's orders.

Once Tiner had left, the admiral shook his head, muttered a "Goddamn!" under his breath and started dialing BuPERS. Somebody's head was going to roll over at the Bureau of Personnel. About ten minutes later…one could hear a very loud profanity laced tirade coming from the admiral. "Well that's not my goddamned problem; is it? It's your bloody mistake. Write me the proper letter and fix it!"

****THE END****