You recall the movie "Caine Mutiny" and Capt. Queeg?" My story about a certain well known Capt.______ involves my ego as an RD and being one of the senior POs on the ship, in addition to being the leading RD I was also the OPs Div senior PO. I busted my ass for Capt. Law ( a predecessor) and I guess I had a high opinion of my self. Capt. ______ did't know me. We had been out for two weeks and as usual I spent most of the time in CIC, 20 out of 24 hrs. We came into port and tied up next to a tender . I was in CIC alone reading a magazine when "bam!" the door flies open and in walks Capt_____. He proceeds to chew my ass out for loafing and arbitraily gave me 30 days restriction. He then found the Ops Office and chewed him out for my dereliction of duty. The Ops. Officer came up to CIC and told me that per the Capt. I was repremanded and restricted for 30 days. I told the Ops. Officer that he could tell the Capt. that he had helped me to make I decision not to reenlist. That started me on my attitude toward some officers . As I say maybe I resented all of this because I had the respect of Capt. Law and he treated me with respect.
My wife tells me that the older I get the worse my sea stories get and thats probably true. I tend to remember the good times more that I do the mid watches.
As a 1st class PO, I was exempt from any duty while waiting at Des Base for my discharge. I didn't have to do any thing but I couldn't leave the base during duty hours. The barracks were off limits during those hours but one day I went in the barracks to change into my dress blues. Standing in front of my locker with just my tee shirt on I was accosted by a MAA, a 3rd class BM, you will recall the type!
He proceeded to chew me out for being in the barracks and wound up by telling me to come with him that he had a head that needed swabbing down. I guess he thought I was some young boot that he could bully, in only that way a BM3 MAA with 8 years of service could do! (No slam on BM's intended). I didn't say anything but put my jumper on and then while pointing to my crow with 3 chevrons, I said "Boats I've got 3, you only have 1, so if someone is going to swab the head it will be you not me." He said that we need to talk to the Chief MAA about this.
I told the Chief MAA that I was first class PO and that I was "entitled to a little more respect than I had received from a BM3, does that stand for bowel movement? In addition I have less than 5 days left in the USN and didn't care to put up with this BS!" I think I flabbergasted the CPO because all he said was "Get out of here!"
In reviewing the sea tales and the story about the shipmate that reenlisted and then was killed in an auto accident brought to mind another shipmate that was killed in an auto accident. His name was Lew Ayres RD2. He came aboard in 53 after having served at a radar station in Japan. We never knew what happened only that he was hitching a ride fro downtown San Diego one night and was killed in an auto accident. It fell my lot to go with the Exec Lt Buart Huls to the naval hospital at Balboa to make a positive ID. He was trussed up like a piece of meat in a cold storage locker ontop of another body. It was a very difficult thing for me to have to do and I was disgusted at the way his remains were treated. Dick Hitt RDSN cleaned out his locker and wrote Lew's girlfriend a letter of condolance and returned all of the letters that Lew had received from her. All of the Radar gang signed the letter.