Go Navy Beat Ivan

Man, this is why I wish I'd joined the Navy sometimes. That and getting a ribbon for going below the equator. The Air Force just gives you a funny look if you ask for recognition for going below the equator....
 
Tbpxece said:
Man, this is why I wish I'd joined the Navy sometimes. That and getting a ribbon for going below the equator. The Air Force just gives you a funny look if you ask for recognition for going below the equator....
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No ribbons for crossing the line. I got a shillelagh across my backside among other rites of initiation.
 
Checked my ribbon rack in the I Love Me drawer, nope, no equator ribbon. Checked my wallet, yep, got my Shellback card, no desire to be tagged as a Pollywog again.
 
Hmm, apparently I have been deliberately misled. I was told in no uncertain terms there was a ribbon involved....

Doggone sailors selling me a pack of lies about an equator ribbon. I should have known better, lol. And to think if I had not created an account here, I would have continued believing there was a special ribbon for another decade. Man...

:mad:
 
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Tbpxece said:
Hmm, apparently I have been deliberately misled. I was told in no uncertain terms there was a ribbon involved....

Doggone sailors selling me a pack of lies about an equator ribbon. I should have known better, lol. And to think if I had not created an account here, I would have continued believing there was a special ribbon for another decade. Man...

[emoji35]
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Perhaps I should invite you for a special viewing of a sea bat. They are truly wondrous to behold. I am sure some of the other salty brethren here can attest to just how cool they are.

I can also direct you to the ship’s Chief Engineer (CHENG) should you need a can of military bearing grease. CHENGs love to be asked for that. They also have the spare key to the ship’s engine.

We do give ribbings for standing mail buoy watch.

That was a truly BAD pun, but I’ll stand by it.

This reminds me of the scene in “Master and Commander,” where the Royal Navy Captain, played by Russell Crowe, led the ship’s doctor, a civilian, down the garden path during a festive wardroom dinner at sea to “the lesser of two weevils.” My DH and I were howling with laughter in the movie theater, as other movie-goers didn’t quite get how classic that was. So typical of Navy humor, present day or Napoleonic era, to earnestly share some insight into naval life, that, knowing how odd some of our traditions are anyway, might seem perfectly believable.




Of course, one must also eat one’s weevilly ship’s biscuit on the ship’s china, using the ship’s silver and crystal on white tablecloths.
Note the Marine Officer is in red, of course!
 
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Tbpxece said:
Man, this is why I wish I'd joined the Navy sometimes. That and getting a ribbon for going below the equator. The Air Force just gives you a funny look if you ask for recognition for going below the equator....
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Nah, they led you on with the Equator Ribbon. Any real sailor knows that its the Arctic Circle that gets a sailor a special award.
 
Go to the bosun’s locker for a fathom of chow line, or a bottle of bulkhead remover, or
to the fire room for a bucket of steam, or a BT punch, or
new HMs and nurses get sent to CSR (Central Sterilization Room) for a package of Fallopian tubes.
 
Devil Doc said:
Go to the bosun’s locker for a fathom of chow line, or a bottle of bulkhead remover, or
to the fire room for a bucket of steam, or a BT punch, or
new HMs and nurses get sent to CSR (Central Sterilization Room) for a package of Fallopian tubes.
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I'll trade you a bucket of prop wash for that bottle of bulkhead remover. You'll need a metric crescent wrench though-- none of the bolts on the props are standard. Also make sure you ask the crew chiefs for the aircraft keys-- those props got to be motored to dry properly.
 
And we learned all these critical bits of military knowledge as E-1s or O-1s and then did our duty to train others. I like the ones that are joint in nature!
 
When I worked in the Neonatal ICU (in the 80's) , nurses would initiate the new Resident physicians by first squirting some mustard onto a clean diaper, show the "dirty" diaper to a new resident & say "Hay, this babies' poop looks funny, what do you think? After an opinion was given, she would say, "Let me smell it." Then the nurse would smell the dirty diaper up close making sure to dab some "poop" onto her nose... then take the diaper away from her face, look the resident directly & say, "It smells funny too!";)
 
The eternal pleasure of stringing along the newbie.

For aspiring applicants out there who are reading this, and thinking, “well, these ancients seem easily amused,” humor like this is part of military life. It’s what makes long boring stints of duty bearable, scary stuff doable, mediocre to unrecognizable chow edible when in company with those you are sharing a “go in harm’s way” life, all the hardships and inconveniences of military life, acceptable in the greater balance of things. It’s not knights in shining armor for a pure cause every single moment. It’s hard work, leavened by whatever humor that can be found at hand. Time-worn traditions like this bring a tension-relieving laugh all around, and serve to bring the newest into the fold.

I will never forget the sight of my first sea bat; those memories are right up there with the “shining armor” ones.
 
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Medical gallows humor is even more entertaining. Can’t post much here.

I spent a year and a half aboard a DD as a deck seaman before striking for HM and going to A school, which we call Corps School. I learned all the shipboard pranks plus the animals on the focsle and within the skin of the ship, some of which are not fit for public viewing. I’ll name a couple. Wildcat. Monkey fist. Deck Ape.

Ships also have royalty. The king post.

Trivia: What’s the name of the nozzle dropped into an AFFF can?

Anyway, I failed as an original poster apparently. I found the story of the Donald Cook entering the Black Sea interesting not due to the locale, but because the area commander was agitated and showed the guts to send in a warship.
 
Not at all - there are interesting things going on, and the Navy has often been used as a highly maneuverable asset to project power and strength.
I follow ADM Jim Stavridis on LinkedIn, Twitter and other sources, because of his insights.

Sorry I contributed to unraveling the serious part of the thread by flying off on a sea bat tangent.
 
Capt MJ said:
Not at all - there are interesting things going on, and the Navy has often been used as a highly maneuverable asset to project power and strength.
I follow ADM Jim Stavridis on LinkedIn, Twitter and other sources, because of his insights.

Sorry I contributed to unraveling the serious part of the thread by flying off on a sea bat tangent.
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No apologies needed. The sea bat and related stories are more interesting and informative I think to future members of the military. I certainly contributed to derailing my own thread. Our ships entering foreign waters is not unusual and will surely conclude without incident.
 
Devil Doc said:
the animals on the focsle and within the skin of the ship, some of which are not fit for public viewing. I’ll name a couple. Wildcat. Monkey fist. Deck Ape.
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During night bridge watches, I sometimes kept the team awake by quizzing on thing like this. By the way, there are at least 7 that I can recall on the focsle/main deck.


Devil Doc said:
Trivia: What’s the name of the nozzle dropped into an AFFF can?
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Lets not go there, the donkeys would rather that you didn't. Bonus - I first learned this with Protein Foam (Red Cans) before they switched to AFFF (Blue plastic containers)
 
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