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I worked for Hudson General at the International Terminal (E) at Logan. So El Al was one of the airlines I worked. Even then, they had soldiers with machine guns under each wing while the plane was parked there.

In addition to baggage, I did lavs, water, and mail runs.

I was doing lavs for Air Portugal one afternoon and did not tighten the hose properly. Air Portugal - of all airlines to do that with! I was drenched in raw sewage. Had to take a chemical shower, discard all my clothing and wear a baby blue paper "nightgown" until Hudson was able to get me a new uniform.

That was not a good day. But overall, I really liked the job.

I did a Midshipman cruise on the Ike in the early ‘80’s. Got to rotate through the stations on the ship to get a taste of what the enlisted men go through. I have a couple of stories from that time.

Once, during my three days on the forward flight deck, I was standing next to the guy with the silvery suit when an F-14 was about to take off. The blueshirt PO dragged me away by the scruff. He asked me, “do you know why only the fire-suited guy gets to stand by the blast shields?” When the F-14 went to full afterburner, I would have been a crispy critter. The PO said he wanted me right behind him for the next three days, only in more colorful language.

Next, I did a stint in the repair shop with a midshipman buddy. I went on a call to the laundry, that just resulted in a shore repair ticket (a lot of stuff gets slated for repair when the ship docks).

I volunteered for the next call, but my buddy said no, you just went out. The next time I saw him, he was wearing a robe, and told me this story.

He and a sailor went to examine a sewer header down in the bowels of the ship. The sailor (who should have know better) opened a check port and nothing came out. He then opened the cap, and both were showered with “greasy black *excrement*”, propelled with about five decks of pressure. He had to walk back through the main deck, and just like Richard Pryor’s “when you’re... on fire, people get out of your way”, he was parting the sailors. He joked about going up to the mess and saying, “hmm, that looks good”.

They scrubbed him pretty good, and had to get a shot, maybe tetanus, but I’m not sure.

LOL! Oh my God lol lol! OK now THAT was a bad day! Oh man that would have given me nightmares for years.

Yeah I liked the job as well but they would only give me part time. After the planes were unloaded in the morning they would send us home so I really didn’t care when they canned me.

I almost got killed driving there one morning, I was driving down the Van Wyck expressway going 80 mph like a lunatic while there was ice on the road and I hit a bump and the car started sliding and I lost control and I headed straight towards a cement light post and thought “God, make it quick and painless” and at the last second the car somehow veered to the right and the rear hit the cement post ripping off the bumper and I came to a stop and I just sat there for half an hour my legs shaking, left the bumper and drove off lol lol