Non- Combat Veterans.
Semper Fi, pishta!
2nd enlistment. Navy, that time. OSVET (other service vet in naval lingo)...... Welding and installing piping aboard the subs. Yes, still wearing my jungle boots with Navy dungarees. Kinda got used to 'em.
We worked long, hard hours but otherwise, things were laid back at the sub pier for the most part. Not too much the Mickey Mouse.
Surface fleet was another matter altogether, though. My striker and I drove up to 32nd Street Naval Station once to do some work in the reactor compartment aboard a nuke cruiser. No Navy truck available at the sub pier, so we drove over in the '56. Had a lot of heavy gear to bring aboard, so I drove up the pier and parked the Chevy next to the brow.
We wore our usual work 'uniforms'...... Green coveralls and blue USS Dixon ball caps with rank insignia on our caps. I thought the OOD was going to have a heart attack. He wanted to put us on report and throw us in the brig. Seemed to think we should have got into our class A white crackerjack dress uniforms and spit shined our shoes to drive over. We both had beards and hadn't had a hair cut in a while and he wasn't very happy about that, either. XO had to come up and calm him down before we came aboard.
Best regards,
Harry
2nd enlistment. Navy, that time. OSVET (other service vet in naval lingo)...... Welding and installing piping aboard the subs. Yes, still wearing my jungle boots with Navy dungarees. Kinda got used to 'em.
We worked long, hard hours but otherwise, things were laid back at the sub pier for the most part. Not too much the Mickey Mouse.
Surface fleet was another matter altogether, though. My striker and I drove up to 32nd Street Naval Station once to do some work in the reactor compartment aboard a nuke cruiser. No Navy truck available at the sub pier, so we drove over in the '56. Had a lot of heavy gear to bring aboard, so I drove up the pier and parked the Chevy next to the brow.
We wore our usual work 'uniforms'...... Green coveralls and blue USS Dixon ball caps with rank insignia on our caps. I thought the OOD was going to have a heart attack. He wanted to put us on report and throw us in the brig. Seemed to think we should have got into our class A white crackerjack dress uniforms and spit shined our shoes to drive over. We both had beards and hadn't had a hair cut in a while and he wasn't very happy about that, either. XO had to come up and calm him down before we came aboard.
Best regards,
Harry
