Blue water…why blue water? Toilet bowl cleaner? Nope, and Train – you’ll see at the end.
As a newbie sailor a.k.a “boot camp” which is what you’ll be called for a while after you first set foot on “your ship.” Ships go to sea and that’s where you can come from a land locked state and then scant months later be looking out at water all around you; blue water.
But I’m waxing semi-poetic, back to the story…
After a brief leave period (post-school) it was time to leave home again and transition to my permanent duty station – almost. My ship was not in port, in fact it was a ways down south and going around in circles off the coast of Cuba. It was undergoing a form of sea trials to certify the ship’s crew. So I was on hold and waiting for other sailors like myself to show up so we could be taken to Cuba to meet our new sea going home away from home. In true sailor want-to-be fashion, time was well spent shooting pool and trying to drain the beer machines (just like a pop machine – only beer) of it contents. After 2-3 weeks of land-sailor training (hurry up and wait), we all boarded a plane bound for “Gitmo,” military slang for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Got my first helicopter ride from the base to the ship and learned quickly to step-hop over ‘knee knockers’ as we were hurried from the flight deck and upper levels to the bowels of the carrier.
Being assigned to the engine room while the crew was neck deep in engineering casualty control drills made boot camp look & feel like a preschooler’s tea party. Surprisingly, I adapted quickly and gained acceptance from my new shipmates, ‘the snipes.’ For a kid from the middle of nowhere that had very few close friends and did not participate in team sports, it was very flattering in a macho-ego sort of way to be accepted by a bunch of manly fellows – my shipmates. After playing navy games we returned to home port and was told by the high command that all engineering spaces passed their qualifications, however the engine rooms were a mess and we had to work ‘port & starboard’ until they were deemed acceptable. In layman’s terms, we required to be on the ship and working all day & part of the night without being allowed to leave. On the next day – our day off – we had to work from 0700-1800 (7am-6pm); needless to say we we’re not happy with the new edict. Our logic being: how did we pass our quals if our spaces were that messed up? So in typical lemming fashion I followed the lead of my newfound friends and walked off ship for a bout of continuous drinking.
Bar hopping along the coast brought the five of us to a hotel bar that was known to always have cheap booze and an open pool table. It was in the morning and we were already 3 sheets to the wind. Since I was the newest addition to the motley crew, I was tasked to help ‘Jack’ get the drinks while the others set up the pool tables. A very drunk middle-aged lady was sitting at the bar. As we approached she sized us up and thought we’d be likely to buy her drinks if she flirted suggestively. The hick from the sticks (aka me) had never experienced such a thing before; must have been evident from the stupid grin on my face. Little did I know that my cohorts had hatched a plot; i.e., they got a hotel room and Jack & I were tasked to convince her to party with us upstairs – she had no clue about the others. To get to the sordid point, she came upstairs and the ‘gang’ systematically had sex with her. I was literally amazed that she was in favor of it at first, but her enthusiasm couldn’t match the debauchery in the room. I declined participation. I was already ashamed that I had contributed to her predicament and (falsely) declared my noble commitment to my pre-engagement girl friend as an excuse not to partake. Honestly, I was just disgusted with it all but I did nothing to stop it and watched the house burn like an arsonist. Thus my introduction to the concept of ‘pulling a train.’
The end of stupidity came when I ran out of money and went back to the ship while they continued to go on tour. Upon returning I received a royal butt chewing and was written up for “Unauthorized Absence;” supposedly I was lucky because our supervisor wanted to write us up for mutiny. However I was the only one that received formal punishment – $50 fine and restricted to the ship for a week.
On to Deployment or intermediate Reflections – Train.
Or back to the previous blog Anchors Aweigh.
babychristian55 