I get the rest of it, but...just for the added fatigue?

7x50 binoculars. Or larger.

My Navy days were all shore duty (I was only on active duty for two years), thanks to some deity or personnel requirement specialist at BuPers.

Where can you find pleasure
Search the world for treasure
Learn science technology
Where can you begin to make your dreams all come true
On the land or on the sea
Where can you learn to fly
Play in sports or skin dive
Study oceanography
Sign up for the big band
Or sit in the grandstand
When your team and others meet

In the navy
Yes, you can sail the seven seas
In the navy
Yes, you can put your mind at ease
In the navy
Come on now, people, make a stand
In the navy, in the navy
Can't you see we need a hand
In the navy
Come on, protect the motherland
In the navy
Come on and join your fellow man
In the navy
Come on people, and make a stand
In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)

They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit

If you like adventure
Don't you wait to enter
The recruiting office fast
Don't you hesitate
There is no need to wait
They're signing up new seamen fast
Maybe you are too young
To join up today
But don't you worry 'bout a thing
For I'm sure there will be
Always a good navy
Protecting the land and sea

In the navy
Yes, you can sail the seven seas
In the navy
Yes, you can put your mind at ease
In the navy
Come on now people, make a stand
In the navy, in the navy
Can't you see we need a hand
In the navy
Come on, protect the motherland
In the navy
Come on and join your fellow man
In the navy
Come on people, and make a stand
In the navy, in the navy, in the navy (in the navy)

They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit

Who me?

They want you, they want you
They want you as a new recruit

But, but, but I'm afraid of water.
Hey, hey look
Man, I get seasick even watchin' it on TV!

They want you, they want you in the navy

Oh my goodness.
What am I gonna do in a submarine?

They want you, they want you in the navy

Never Again Volunteer Yourself.

I had thoughts of the same book.

One of the most spectacular scenes in HMS ULYSSES was when one of the larger convoy ships was fatally struck and starting to roll over to one side before sinking. In MacLean's book, a smaller ship turns and comes along/against the side of the stricken ship, allowing the first ship's seamen to make wild, desperate leaps onto the deck of the second. It was such an incredibly dangerous, reckless, insane thing for the second ship to do that I found the scene almost unbelievable.

About a month ago I was reading Tristan Jones' HEART OF OAK, a WWII-memoir, and came across... a description of an almost identical event. (Jones was one of the jumpers.) MacLean based his scene on something that really happened. It really happened. Wow. Wow.

-----

My own father served in the US Navy during WWII. South Pacific duty, so his four-hour showers were warmer ones. I wish I had tried to talk to him about his service before he died; he was almost totally silent on the subject.

I know that two of the ships he served on sank in combat, so he probably saw a number of his friends and companions die.

I know his major duty was running the water-distilling equipment on board ship. My mother once pointed out to me that this almost certainly meant he also knew how to make moonshine.

I know one of the few souvenirs he kept of his service was a grainy snapshot of a stripper in a bar on a South Pacific island. I've always wondered why he kept that photo for over thirty years, even though it must have annoyed my mother. If there was a story to the photo, he never told it.

The only specific story I remember him telling was of the time he and some fellow sailors returned from a spot of shore leave driving an Army Jeep they had, umm, "requisitioned", then hooked up a winch and lifted the Jeep up onto the deck of their ship. (Their captain made them put it back before they sailed.)

And those few fragments are all I know about those years in my father's life.

There's also Montserrat's "Three Corvettes.

That's Monsarrat. Montserrat is:

(a) a hill in Catalonia with an abbey on it; or

(b) an island in the Caribbean named by Columbus after said abbey; or

(c) the first name of a famous diva (and a fair number of Spanish women); or

(d) a ship of the Compañia Transátlantica Española on which, inter alia, V.S. Naipaul travelled.

Chris Gerrib
LT, USN (got-the-hell-out!)

1) Go up on deck. Throw all your money over the side.

2) Go to your berthing space. Bang your head on the bulkhead a few times.

3) Slam your dick in your locker door.

4) Put an old pair of socks in your mouth.

5) Hit your rack.

In the morning: Your head hurts, your dick hurts, your money's gone, your mouth tastes like old socks, and you can't remember leaving the ship. You must have had a good time.

I think your mother may have been blaming the Navy for somebody else's contribution to his education.

Having some experience with WW2-era marine fresh-water distillation plants myself, as well as some experience making ethyl alcohol for drinking purposes, I can assure you that a reasonable person could spend several years making fresh water out of sea water on a daily basis and still not know enough about fractional distillation of ethanol to keep from poisoning themselves when they drink the condensate.

Every moonshine operation I've ever seen was a simple batch fractional distillation system, and the traditional way to poison yourself in that procedure is to forget that the first few milliliters of condensate are usually loaded with methanol and other things that make for unpleasant flavor and nose. Another good way is to forget that ethanol is a very versatile solvent, and you probably don't want to drink the first pass through a still made from the radiator coil of a 1971 Chevy Impala.

Human ingenuity never ceases to amaze me, especially when booze is involved.

Grey Funnel Line

Also, Royal Navy Songs

And finally, The Royal Navy performs Bohemian Rhapsody.

What kind of person makes a better commanding officer?

Notice that I'm not asking which kind of CO you'd prefer serving under. Let's say you have two officers who have been given the same orders, the results of which will mean severe casualties for those serving under them. One of those officers is motivated mainly by looking good to his/her own superiors. The other officer hates sending those under into a messy situation, but still does it.

Again, what kind of person makes a better commanding officer? Who is likely to have the better fighting force?

It should be irrelevant what motivates one's officer, but we're not machines.

The better CO would be someone who's predictable and consistent. One with whom you know where you stand, who is fair, and fair-minded, who considers the options before making a decision, but doesn't hesitate to make a decision when it's needed -- not half-an-hour late.

Always assuming basic competence and intelligence.

The best COs are very smart and very competent indeed.

[Posted from 91.104.135.236]

-----
* Better At Spotting Trollish Effusions Requiring Deletion

On top of it all, this person who is calling us all gay basterds, is using the username "i am gay." I think it's a message of cheery solidarity.

I must say, the temptation didn't present itself when I met Xopher. Maybe if I saw Xopher and ethan at the same time?

I share my house with a cat who has taken serious exception to that. To the point of biting the declaimer.

Of course, it takes a strange mindset to call a fully-grown male Maine Coon "kitty".

I can't speak for ethan on this, but I suspect his reaction might be similar.

confidence can I have it ?
LOL
you am all in my eyes
eating away
my peace

u are all gay basterds :)
u are
yes u are :)

peace can I have it ?
LOL
you am all in my mind
eatin away
my self

u are all gay basterds :)
u are
yes u are :)

self can I have it ?
LOL
you am over my words
eating away
all sense

u are all gay basterds :)
u are
yes u are :)

confidence can I make it ?
I are with no mind
I are with no peace
My self
eaten away

I are all gay basterd :)
u am
yes u am :)

Nah, all it takes is pride.
Just ask Nanny Ogg. Or Professor Xavier.

What does a 500-pound canary say?

[boomy bass voice]
Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!
[/boomy bass voice]

Note to self: if I ever meet Xopher or ethan, I now have the appropriate greeting.

MD² @46:
Well done. I like it.

Lately we've been discussing weights in terms of our cat, Emperor Horton: 2 Hortons = 40 pounds, and so forth. But he'll *look* much heftier when he loses the last few mats we can't get out of his fur (without bodily injury to ourselves) and grows back his gorgeous winter coat.

And what is the family name of Xavier's student Kitty?
Pryde.
I tell you, that gay agenda is everywhere!

(Anyone that gets this one, I owe you a cup of coffee with some home made apple pie...)

@Serge (#55): I wish ! Just try to go to your nearest stationery trade and ask for a gay diary, and see if they can sell you one (bilingual bad jokes ftw! ... hum).

@abi (#53): thanks a lot. Had this one stuck in a dark corner of my brain for some time now, due to some of your comments in the LOLCatz thread, but I couldn't find the right context to try to pull it off. Glad you like it.