Posted on 11/11/2009 4:31:02 AM PST by mattstat
My dad was an electrician’s mate back in 1960 on the USS Valcour AVP-55. The ship was in drydock for an extended period, and since idle hand’s are the Devil’s tools, to keep the hands busy, the daily inspections became more of a focus than they ordinarily were when the ship was at sea.
This rankled one man so much that he felt forced to take drastic action. Nowadays, we would say he suffered from post-inspection stress disorder, or PISD.
Anyway, the Engineering Division, the largest in the ship, would muster each morning at 8 am on the fantail, where the old warrant officer would routinely ask, “What’s on tap for today, Chief?”
One Sunday, the men noticed a seaman with a bucket behind the Chief cleaning up a mess. Somebody had pooped on the fantail. The theory was that somebody got sick and couldn’t make it to the head, so the incident was dismissed.
But then it happened again. And then once more, and then even more times, six or seven in total. Muster suddenly became something to look forward to.
On the days with fresh deposits, some would quip, “From the look of it, he must have gone through the chow hall line twice.” A few suspected that the material was produced elsewhere and delivered. Others insisted it could only have been done in situ. Nobody could agree how whoever was doing it escaped detection, especially under the increasingly watchful eyes of the officers and Chiefs. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at wmbriggs.com ...
The worst guys for the BS were the military retirees who had come back as civilians. They seemed determine to make our lives as miserable as their’s had been. We had one retired AF Chief who ran the shop and he had an open ranks inspection every morning 15 minutes before the workday was supposed to start. Anyone who walked in after he called us to attention was late and was given some crappy make-work detail.
I thought every Navy ship of the line had its own “phantom s***ter”
Watch “Flight of the Intruder”. Produced in 1991 and still a great war movie. A subplot involves a “ph. sh.” wreaking havoc within the huge aircraft carrier.
A wise man once said about military life:”I would not do it again for a million dollars; but I would take a million dollars for the experience.”
As we grow older, we forget the BS and the horrors. Instead, we remember fondly the good times we shared with our brothers.
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