The command post has rocks on display. A new commander comes in, and decides that the quickest way to assert his independence of mind is to have the rocks painted a new color. Instead of marksmanship training, or maintenance, or any of thousands of other useful things the troops could be doing, they’re painting the rocks a different color. It became shorthand for any petty action that wastes valuable resources (particularly time).

I don’t miss rock painters at all.

It was probably far, far cheaper than Gen. Shinseki’s orders changing the entire US Army over to jaunty chapeax instead of utilitarian BDU caps, and had less of an impact. (positive or negative. There was almost no one in the US Army who was happy with that change other than the social engineers pushing it)

Gilligan’s Island original intro
https://youtu.be/kpimVRP3EW4?t=26

Apparently, some of the Navy O=7’s were envious that their equivalents in the other services (Brigadier Generals) were referred to as “General,” but they were not referred to as “Admiral.”

Or maybe that was the cover story, and they were tired of being confused with members of Lionel Ritchie’s band.

I can’t imagine how many man-hours and millions of dollars went into making that very trivial change.

Both the CO and XO are from Puerto Rico, but I’ve not found any indication that they are related. Sanchez is the fifth most common name in Spain and the eighth most common name among US Hispanics, so it’s most likely a coincidence.

Interestingly, the XO, a mustang, is roughly five years older than his CO. The CO, CDR Alfredo J. Sanchez, got his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico in 1997, and was commissioned via OCS the following year. The XO, CDR Jessie L. Sanchez, did his last year of high school in Tennessee, graduating in 1989 and enlisting in the Navy later that year. He became a Fire Control Technician and received his commission via the Limited Duty Officer Program (Surface Ordnance) in 2001.

Their entries are still up on the USS McCain biography pages:
http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg56/Pages/Bio1.aspx#.Wd6NrjspDIU
http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg56/Pages/Bio2.aspx#.Wd6NizspDIU

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/10/10/navy-fires-two-officers-over-uss-mccain-collision-says-deadly-accident-was-preventable/?utm_term=.27c35cae9ffd

Pics of the commanders in the above article.

I’m honestly surprised it took the Navy this long to relieve those in immediate command.

I wonder what else they are doing to identify the scope of the problem and design remedies.