Writings about things that have occurred in my life. Not in Chronological Order |
Things that have happened in my life, good or bad. The entries will not be in Chronological order |
Sea Stories @Kåre เลียม Enga and ForeverDreamer , thank you for your comments about starting a reactor. Life in the Navy was 180 degrees out from the life I live now. Kåre เลียม Enga we were young, yes. Were we more mature? I don't think so. I would say we were better trained than the average sailor, and being so, we understood the risks associated with operating the reactor plant. Plus, it had been drilled into us from day 1 in the Nuclear Power Program that risky behavior wasn't tolerated. Add to it that Nuclear Trained Personnal also received extra pay, pay that a lot of us either couldn't afford to lose, or didn't want to lose, and you have yourself the 'well trained nuke'. That doesn't mean we didn't have a sense of humor about things. Far from it. But it was always at someone else's expense, we never fooled around with the plant. Like the time we had to get underway on a moment's notice (okay, a couple of days notice) so we could be at sea when Typhoon Pamela pummeled Guam. (We operated in and out of Apra Harbor, Guam). The Engineer came aft and saw the mess that was the Engineroom during refit and said, "Stow the Engineroom for sea!" We had a young Ensign on board who was just as Dorky as could be. Sorry, I don't mean to belittle him, but he was quite the character. Well, here was the Engineroom with that Ensign just kinda hanging around as was his custom. There were 2-3 Machinist Mates nearby when the Engineer said to stow the Engineroom for sea, so after the Engineer left, they grabbed the Ensign and held him against the Evaporator while one of their shipmates taped him to it, with Duct Tape! He was spread-eagle against the side of the evaporator, and couldn't move at all. They also taped his mouth shut. Later on, the Engineer came aft again and saw the Ensign taped to the Evaporator, sighed and said, "Get him free so we can get this thing started up!" It was acts like this that really allowed us to keep our sanity for the most part. Another 'game' we played was seeing how fast we could make someone mad. We called it 'Spinning them up', a reference to spinning up missiles before launch, or simulated launch. Some were 'easy' to spin up, others not so much. I was 'easy' on my first patrol, I know that. Once I learned what the game was all about though, it didn't happen, and someone else became the target. If you want to see our humorous side, look no farther than "Playing With Hot Dogs" . This small incident occurred on my second boat, the USS Sargo, SSN 583. True story though, no names mentioned because I don't remember them. Jim Dorrell |
What is something people get wrong about your occupation, gender, community, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, medical condition, etc. that you would like to clarify? This is nothing major, nor a real eye-opener for anyone who knows me. But doing what I will write about here gives people the wrong impression about me at times. I quit using most four-letter words when I left the Navy. I figured (hoped) I would be getting into a career, work shoulder to shoulder with people completely unlike my Submarine shipmates, and thought they would probably not cuss like a sailor. So I made a conscious efforft to not cuss. In the early days of my retirement from the Navy, I struggled to find a job with decent pay. I worked in a restaurant, worked in retail sales, drove a taxi-cab, went to school at night just to draw GI Bill Benefits (at the time, $700 a month, more than I made each payday) and have extra income for the family. It was 1993, imagine having 6 children, the youngest is 3 months, the oldest is 13. You make $8.00 an hour, working 40 hour weeks, and have a retirement income from the Government of $1300 a month. So yeah, we struggled. I worked at a Red Lobster as an Alley Coordinator (kitchen, arranging food on plates/trays to be taken to tables), and one day I cussed, using a word that starts with S. (I remember this incident distinctly) A young female server was nearby, and gasped, "Jim, what did you say?" I responded, "Nothing, nothing important." She came back at me and said, "No, you cussed!" I couldn't believe it, I'd just spent 20 years in the Submarine Service, and she was surprised that I would cuss? We talked about things a little bit, and at one point she said, "You have to understand Jim, you not cussing made me think you were a priest or something." That's when I realized I'd been successful in removing four-letter words from my vocabulary. This same thing has occurred on at least 3 more occasions since then. But heck, if you know me, you know that's far from being true. I started writing in 1995 or so. My first efforts were centered around Erotica/Porn; there were reasons for writing that genre that I will not go into here. Let's just say I was unhappy with my life, the direction it was heading, how I was living. That's all behind me now. No, I have not changed to become a Saintly person, nor am I a eunuch or anything like that. I'm just me, someone who has finally embraced his golden years, accepts himself for who he was all those years ago, and who he is in today's world. What I find a bit humorous in all of this entry, is that I 'quit using four letter words' in 1993. Yet in working at Motorola, I probably say one or two more often than any of my co-workers! So no, they're not really gone, just on the back-burner if you will. Along with all this, I've had to learn to not be too judgemental about those who freely use F bombs and more all the time (another JAFBG prompt). That was easier said than done. That's all for now. Aren't you glad? Till next time, y'all be good, take care of yourselves, and love those who love you. And of course, keep on writing! |