Failure – In the last post I was talking about how I failed to wake up on time to be at quarters.  Well, I decided I might as well stay gone for the whole day since the punishment was going to be the same.  I ended up drinking again that night and setting the alarm once again to 7 AM so I could make it there on time.

Failure.  How completely stupid could I be to fail to wake up again for the second day in a row?!  Well, drinking irresponsibly will lead to irrresponsible behavior.  That in combination with the piss poor and childish attitude I had, made for some bad decisions.  I did not wake up again on time and laughed my ass off at how bad I was being.  I knew I was screwed, but I pretended like I didn’t care.

The third night I didn’t even set the alarm.  I had a dscussion with my friend who was letting me stay over his house and I asked him if I could stay for awhile.  I offered to help with the rent and pay my own way.  He agreed to let me stay until I couldn’t pay rent anymore.  In other words, after they stopped my pay and my last check ran out.

Meanwhile back on the USS O’ Bannon…When someone doesn’t show up for quarters in the morning the first thing they do is ask fellow sailors if they know where the person is.  Thinking, maybe they woke up a little late and are still rushing to put their boots on or something.  It happens.  If that is not the case then they are marked as UA and go through the process.

Once they are reported, notification is sent to the quarter deck, along with a photograph and orders to detain the person when they arrive.  After ten days of being absent they stop your pay.  Then after 30 days they declare you a deserter and put a warrant out for your arrest.  They figure you will eventually turn up somewhere so the moment the police run your name they will see you are a deserter and detain you immediately.

I decided I was going to stay gone for 29 days.  I made up my mind that I did not want to be in the Navy anymore and I heard if you are gone UA for awhile they would kick you out.  I was already screwed so I figured I would take advantage of the time off.  Being drunk often made it easier to not care about the potential consequences.

As you would imagine the next 29 days were probably going to involve a lot of partying, and mayhem.  What else is there to do before you have to face inevitable negative consequences.   There was one really significant experience that I would like to tell you about.

That special girl – Flash back…I met her my first time on leave from boot camp.  This was around February in 1998.  I think it was my very first day home, when I went out with a cousin of mine and got introduced to a friend of hers.  We hit it off right away and I spent the next two weeks getting to know her.   We had amazing make out sessions that sometimes lasted till morning.  No sex though, because she was a virgin.  When it came time for me to go back to Florida she decided it would be best if we let each other go.

She felt that it would be a bad idea to stay in touch because, she didn’t think she could handle a long distance relationship.  I didn’t agree.  I really liked this girl and did not want to lose her.   We spent the next few hours discussing it and in the end I convinced her to try.  It was amazing how strong our feelings had grown for each other in such a short time.  By the end we were both in tears not wanting to let each other go.  Teenagers and their emotions…

Back to being U.A – Wouldn’t you know it, the time I decided to go U.A. was the time she decided to come visit me in Florida.  She said she was always curious to travel and thought it was a good iea to come to Florida since I was going to be there.  So one weekend during the twenty nine days she flew down.  It was amazing…

We spent the entire weekend just being with each other and didn’t go out anywhere special.  We were so happy to see each other after the long time we had spent apart.  We had a very romantic time, again very long make out sessions and even had a passionate kiss in the rain.  She left after that weekend and I went back to the ship.

A few days went by and a feeling of depression set in.  I only wanted to be with her and being young and insecure I asked her to marry me.  This idea did no go over well.  What was I thinking???  We talked for a long time but she did not give in this time.  She probably felt like she already let me talk her into having a long distance relationship and this was just too much.  She just couldn’t make the leap of faith I was willing to make.  I always imagine how different my life would of been if she had said yes.

I look back on that time now and laugh at how clueless I was.  I was simply infatuated and had no idea what true love was.  I was truly willing to put it all on the line.  This is probably why parents tend to be so hard on teenagers.  They want to make sure they don’t make the same mistakes they did.

Time to face the music – It was time.  I was very close to the 29 day mark and needed to wrap things up before going back to the ship.  I remember buying a t-shirt just for the occasion.  On the front of the shirt it said, “I’m sorry, you must think I care”.  I was trying to make a statement about how much I did not want to be there.  Stay tuned…

As an 18 year old punk, you often think you have all the answers.  You think you know what you are doing.   However, you are usually mistaken, because you don’t realize that you are still growing, there is so many things you don’t know and your mind is going to probably change.  This truth created some big problems for me in my first years in the Navy.

Back in the introduction I talked about why I wanted to join the Navy.  I said I wanted to become a SEAL and be the best of the best.  Well, that all changed when it came down to ACTUALLY doing it.

In boot camp I had a one track mind.  All I cared about was being a SEAL.  I was in great shape, afraid of no challenge and was on my way.  I had already passed the preliminary physical test and was about to go to dive school.   Then something suddenly changed.

I started thinking about what life would be like if I were actually a SEAL.  What if I did go all the way through the training and make it.  I thought about  how that lifestyle would be.  I already had a good idea of how it would be and I began to doubt myself.

I started asking myself if this is what I really wanted to be.  In a matter of minutes I had changed my mind and decided against becoming a SEAL.  Why I made that decision, I am still not quite sure.  I think all along I just wanted to become a SEAL just so I could show off to my brother and father.

It is obvious it wasn’t really what I wanted to do.  I don’t think I really knew WHAT I wanted to do, so it confused me.  I lost sight of the goal and this is where it began to go downhill.

So after announcing that I was no longer interested to my division leader I told him I just wanted to go to my duty station and perform the job I picked initially at MEPS.  I really wish I would of given more thought to the job selection process.  I chose Seaman Apprenticeship which if you were in the Navy you know what that job really entails.

Seaman Apprenticeship is basically a nice way of saying deck ape.  Your job is basically shipboard preservation.  The ship is mostly metal and metal in salt water is not a good combo.  So the ship rusts easily and quickly.  Someone must keep the rust under control or the ship will fall apart in no time.

This is the job of the deck division.  As an E-1 in the seaman apprenticeship program you will be in deck division and you be spending many hours per day chipping and sanding rust, priming and painting and cleaning.  Then you will do more sanding and more painting and cleaning.

As you would imagine I didn’t enjoy doing this job.  It was tedious work that never ended and I hated it.  This along with other aspects of the Navy, such as watches and authority started to make me not want to be there.  I starting thinking that this was not for me and I wanted to get out.

One day I was spending the night over at a friends house.  We were partying and having a great time like usual and I ended up spending the night.  I remember setting the alarm to wake me up in time to get back to the ship and be on time for quarters.  So, I fell asleep and when I woke up it was around 11 o’ clock.  It turns out I accidentally set the alarm for 11PM instead of 11AM.  Quarters usually starts at 8AM.  I was late!  In the military when you are late it is a big deal.  It doesn’t matter if you are late one minute or ten days.  It is still a major offense.

This was the beginning of a life changing experience for me.  Things went seriously downhill from this point.  Stay tuned…and don’t forget to subscribe to get the next story sent to you automatically.

When you work in the deck division on a ship you will probably end up having multiple division officers before your time is up.  They rotate them to different jobs on board the ship to ensure proper cross training.  You know, in case someone gets killed, another officer can jump right in and do their job.

Well, I had my share of division officers but there was one in particular that really stood out.  He had just became our official division officer and not even a couple weeks into it he decided it would be a good idea to have a division party.  I am sure he thought it would be a good idea to take us out of our element and get to know us on a more personal level.

So on a Friday night, we decided to go to one of our favorite places at the time.  Hooters! lol  We loved to go there and get good deals on pitchers and bulk up on some of their “famous” wings.  Not to mention, the lovely ladies that worked there were always something to look forward to.

We get there and right off the bat we order some wings and many pitchers of their finest imported beer.  He had mentioned that it was on him and not to worry about the cost.  He had a credit card, and being the young punks we were, we took full advantage of that situation.

Pitcher after pitcher we began to get pretty hammered.  All night we had been egging the division officer on.   He was tossing plenty of em’ back as all good sailors do.  Unfortunately, it began to get late and the party was coming to an end.  Slowly different parties began to exit and go about their nightly routine or back to the ship to sleep it off.

Guess who the remaining people just happen to be…yep.  The division officer and I.  He was stumbling out of the bar and was trying to his car.  He gets to his car and starts fumbling with the keys, trying to get them in the lock of the driver side door.  All the while scratching the door of his Beemer.  Being the responsible drunk person I was I told him it wasn’t a good idea to drive.

I told him I would not let him drive and got in between him and the door.  He stopped, looked up at me and said, “Oh yeah, Moreno??? Well, why don’t you drive?“, as he handed me the keys to the car.

I said to him along with a smile and giggle under my breath, “I could probably drive better than you can.“  So again like the responsible drunk person I was I got in the car and started it up.

Keep in mind I was 18 at the time, did not have a license, and had only driven a car one other time.

So off we went!  The plan was to take him back to the ship, but then we got to talking and he said he wanted to go to the beach and find some chicks.  I ended up agreeing, so we turned around and set off into the unknown.  I was trying to be really careful because I was nervous about the fact that I obviously “bit off more than I can chew”.

At this time the officer decided he was going to start vomiting on the floor of the passenger side of his own car!  I got to thinking about it and the nervous feeling began to consume me until I snapped back into reality.  I realized the whole situation was a really bad idea so I decided I was going to turn around and go back to the ship.  That is when disaster struck.

As I began to make a left turn around an island I didn’t turn the steering wheel back fast enough to level out and BAM!  I hit the curb with the left front tire and drove up on the island for a split second until I straightened the wheel out and plopped back onto the rode.  The officer sensed something was wrong (maybe it was the loud slamming noise of the tire hitting the curb) and he asked me what happened.  I told him it was nothing and that we just hit a bump.

He didn’t believe me at first but I was able to convince him everything was ok.  I needed to get back to the ship and end this stupid situation.  Now, pretty much sober in my mind, with adrenaline pumping viciously I continued on back to the ship.  We were a few miles away.

Everything was going good until disaster struck again and the tire went flat.  By this time, the officer was passed out in the passenger seat.  I woke him up and told him that the tire was flat.  I also asked him if the car had a spare so I could change it.  So we pulled over at the nearest gas station. Wouldn’t you know it, the spare was locked in a compartment in the trunk and he didn’t have the keys!

We tried using that fix a flat stuff but it barely made difference.  He mentioned that the rims were supposed to be drivable rims.  His little nap had sobered him up enough that he started thinking straight.  He realized the situation and began to tell me I needed to leave.  He said that he was acting really irresponsible and that I needed to get back to the ship.  We both could get into a lot of trouble for what we were doing.

I agreed, took a cab back to the ship, and fell asleep.  The next day I woke up went to quarters, but he did not show up.  I figured he was probably really hung over and went on sick call or something.  That turned out to be not true and he didn’t show up on Sunday either.

I started to get worried.  I kept thinking to myself, he got hurt or was in jail.  Maybe he got in trouble and got kicked out of the Navy.  Finally Monday rolls around and he shows up.  That morning after quarters we had a little private chat regarding the situation.  The first thing he said to me was that he was really sorry about being irresponsible and that and he should of never allowed me to be in that situation.

Then he asked me what happened.  He said he did not remember a lot of what happened that night.  He said he only remembers driving until he got pulled over by the base police.  I couldn’t help but to laugh when he told me this next thing.  He said he got pulled over because he was speeding!  The cops said they noticed his tired was flat, but what concerned them was the fact that he was speeding while driving on the rim!

I came clean and told him that I had lied to him and it was my fault why the tire got flat.  He said, “I don’t care.  I am not mad at you at all!  I am just glad you didn’t get hurt or in trouble“.

In other words, he was trying to redeem himself in being a responsible officer.  I did not blame him.  It was the fault of both of us.  I should of never grabbed the keys and called a cab for both of us instead.

He never told me what consequences he faced due to the command finding out about the situation from the base police.  I am sure it wasn’t good.  I never heard anything else about it after that.  I figured he kept my name out of it all.  Anyway, it was no doubt a night I will remember for the rest of my life.

I always think about how much worse that situation could have been and that I was lucky to have made it out without injury or DUI, etc.  Imagine if I let him drive in his state and he crashed on the way home.  Getting really drunk and driving is a complete moron thing to do, especially when you don’t know how to drive and have no license.  No matter who you are or how well you THINK you can drive, it is not a good decision.

Keep this story in mind the next time you decide to drink.

For those of you who know what “mess cranking” is, then you pretty much know what I am about to talk about.  You are basically a slave/restaurant worker.

Mess cranking is a slang term for Food Service Attendant or FSA.  As an FSA you are required to work in the mess area and do a number of laborous tasks such as, scrubbing pots and pans, serving food, detailed cleaning, stocking large quantities of food and more.

Every division is required to provide 1 or 2 people to work in the mess hall for up to 3 months.  I was one of the unlucky people in my division who were chosen.

I started off working in the kitchen scrubbing hot ass pots and pans.  There were 3 big sinks and after every meal I had to scrub all of the pots and pans that were used.  In the first sink I scrubbed the pans with soap.  In the second sink I rinsed them.  Finally, in the third sink, I sterilized them in super hot water using heavy rubber gloves.

After doing this for about a month they moved me into the scullery where I was in charge of washing all of the food trays, bowls and eating utensils.  The scullery was a small room with a big dish washing machine and garbage disposal in it.  There was a window where people passed me the trays after they were done eating.

I had to grind up all remaining food and then run sets of dishes through the dish washer.  The dishes stand up right in the machine and then run through several phases, from soapy hot water to boiling, sterilizing water.  It even had a special section that supposedly waxed the silver ware.

After all the dishes were washed and put away for the next meal we had to completely clean the crap out of everything.  I remember getting very little free time during those three months because of the massive amount of work required to run that place.  It was no wonder they shifted the responsibility around between divisions because I know of no one who would want to do that as a regular job.

In that type of working environment you were constantly sweating.  I pretty much was wet with full body sweat for about 3 months.  I lost 10-15 pounds and built up some pretty solid strength from humping all those heavy ass boxes of meat, to and from the freezer.

Every so often we would have to get new supplies of food and when we did it required a lot of people. We would create fire lines from the pier all the way to the freezer and pass all of the food all the way down to the freezer.  By the way, a fire line is when people stand in line from one place to another and pass objects between each other to get them to the other side.  So it basically was a smart way of moving large quantities of food from the pier down 3 decks to the food storage area.

Working as an FSA was more than a full time job and we would work from 6am to around 8pm+, 7 days a week.  I don’t remember having a day off in 3 months but I might have.  I can’t remember if we had days off but we must have.  3 months straight without a day off?  Hmm, maybe we did lol.

Anyway, it got worse.  I was also unlucky enough to be working as an FSA during a global mess inspection phase.  I can’t remember the acronyms and terms they used to call it but there were some high ranking people and health inspectors who came in and inspected the mess area.

Let me tell you, this sucked!  This inspection was no joke we had to clean so incredibility much that it almost broke us.  We had to clean all day and night and then some.  We had to clean things that you would never even think of.  It was ridiculous!  I remember getting so stressed out and frustrated that I almost quit.  I had to paint the entire scullery and shine all metal.

We were required to score at least 95% on the inspection.  They would go out of their way to try and hit you on something.  I remember they would open drawers and rub their finger underneath it to look for dust.  They were relentless, checking everything they could think of to try to find anything to lower our score.

I think we ended up scoring a 97% overall so we passed

If you look at it from the big picture though…maybe through the eyes of the crew, you can see how important it is to keep the quality of food service really high.  There were over 300 people that had to live together on the ship so hygiene and cleanliness were essential to keep the health of the crew members up.

The last thing you would want is half the crew sick because we were not doing out job.  Personally I viewed most of the crew as my family and would never want anything bad to happen to them.

In conclusion, working in the Navy was all about pride.  You were required to own your responsibilities and not be a wuss.  You needed to handle your business.  Although, I think differently today I understand why it was important in that environment.  We were charged with protecting the country.  In order to do that you needed to be willing and able to do things other people were not willing to do.  It was a team effort on a large scale and it worked.

Sure there were many times it sucked but that is just the nature of that environment.  I learned a valuable lesson in life.  When you take personal pride in your responsibilities, people notice and they will trust you and respect you.  That is a wonderful feeling.

Sure people will joke and be mean to you but it is all out of love, because you will find that when the shit hits the fan they got your back.

In the next story I will share with you a situation that went from bad to worse and could of ended up extremely horrible.

No matter where I go, I always end up finding a new best friend.  I no doubt talk to many people, but there tends to always end up being one or two people that I really get along with.  In this case it was E.

E was simply, crazy.  That is the word that comes to mind when trying to sum up this guy’s personality.  He was Sicilian and had a bad attitude.  He was arrogant, mean, tough, funny, passionate but likable too.  He was the type of guy who was not afraid to tell you how he felt.  He was a real stand up guy.

We went out drinking one time and became friends right away.   We became like brothers and started doing everything together.  We had enormous amounts of fun working and partying together.  He was a native to Florida so he showed me all around the state and introduced me to places like, Tampa, Daytona, Orlando and Sarasota/Bradenton.

He were different people but boy did we love to get drunk together and cause havoc.  We often went to clubs and bars and drank until we passed out somewhere.  I was probably the worst at this part.  For some reason I often drank to the point of falling sleep in awkward or embarrassing positions and places.  It is amazing that I managed to avoid any major problems because of this.

We both loved to smoke also.  He smoked New Ports and I smoked Marlboro reds.  I actually didn’t enjoy smoking that much.  I was more addicted to the action and nicotine than anything.  There were times when cigarettes were enjoyable, like after a meal or a work out but most of the time it sucked.

At one point we had our own apartment off base.  Boy was that a party pad.  That is all we pretty much did in there.  Now that I looked back we really didn’t do much but go out all the time and get hammered.  We didn’t really think about anything else.  We were constantly moving and looking for the next way were going to have a good time.

There is not much more I can say about E.  He was my right hand man.  My partner in crime.  We laughed our asses off right through the three years we spent together on the ship.  We went through tough times together and always had each others back.  Just a couple of young punks with no purpose in life but to lose control and enjoy ourselves.  We didn’t have a care in the world.  I miss that…

In the next post I will talk about Mess Cranking. Hard work, let me tell you…

In the last post I mentioned a character I call “The Enemy”.  Well, I wanted to tell you guys the story of how it all happened.

The first few weeks on board the USS O Bannon I started doing the usual things people do when they meet new groups of people.  I start talking to each person and find out who they are and all that.  I had been getting to know many of the guys in my division and started to become kind of friends with this one guy (The Enemy).

It turned out he really liked a girl (The Enemy’s Girl) that was in our division.  We would talk about it and joke around as all guys do until one day I said something wrong.  It was one evening after work hours and we were all planning on what we were going to do that night.  Well, earlier in that day I had spoken to the enemy’s girl and she ended up inviting me out to a bar that her and some friends were going to.  For the record, I was not physically attracted to her much.  I thought she was a cool person but did not have intentions on trying to get with her.

Words Are Powerful

While I was getting ready, the enemy came up to me and asked me what I was going to do that night.  I said the following in a kind of chicken shit but joking manner.  “I am going to be going out with your girl!”  You know how sometimes you mean to say things as a joke, but it turns out to be NOT funny to the person at all?  Well this was one of those times.  I don’t know why I used those words but I did and it must have hurt the dude really bad.

He gave me a really sour look and I could tell that he was pissed.  It was that moment that I knew he really cared for this girl.  I tried to apologize but he would not accept it and from that moment forward he began to hate me.  He started talking trash and treating me like crap.  Since I was new he was able to get a lot of the other people against me also.

Not a great way to start off your tour on a Navy ship, let me tell you!  As time went by, I kept trying to apologize and be cool with this guy.  I figured since we have to work together it would be easier on the both of us if we got along.  He just would not budge.  He was really jealous and had this grudge against me.

Eventually he started dating the girl and they ended up becoming a couple.  I tried talking to her to make him understand that I felt bad and that he didn’t need to hate me for it.  She usually acted like she didn’t care and seemed to like the fact that we had drama because of her.  They eventually got married and he moved to another ship that was in the same battle group.

The Creation Of The Enemy

I used to hear threats from other people that knew him sometimes.  They would tell me that if he saw me he was going to kick my ass, etc.  This is where I began to dislike him.  I was tired of kissing this guys ass and if he was going to be making threats then I had a problem with that.  This is how he became, “the enemy”.

I am sure by now you might be thinking, “Why didn’t you just let it go?”  Well, all I can say is that when you are young, proud and in that type of competitive environment it is not easy to let things go.  I always felt like I had something to prove.  My friends are no help either because they were usually egging me on to fight him.

I occasionally saw him in local bars, clubs, etc.  We would exchange some words and make threats but both of us always waited for the other person to make a move first.  One time we did actually almost fight but he backed down.  There was even a time when he came to my apartment!

One night we had a party and one of my roommates invited the enemy’s lady over and she brought him along.  I was pretty drunk when they arrived and was blown away that he actually showed up to my apartment.  I stepped to him and called him outside to fight but he didn’t want to.  My roommates held me back and I kept talking trash.   It was probably a good thing that we didn’t fight because I was pretty drunk and he was sober.  Liquid courage can get your ass kicked sometimes.

So, eventually I calmed down and I sat down with him and talked things out.  I explained to him that it was really shitty for him to treat me so bad all that time and make threats and get others to dislike me.  I think we agreed to squash the drama but I got this feeling that he still didn’t care for me at all.  So be it.  I think that was the last time I saw him.  I can’t remember talking to him again after that day.

What I learned

I learned a lot from that experience.   I image what things would have been like if I never said those words.  Or what would have happened if we fought, or what if I pursued that girl in the beginning, lol.  It is crazy how life is like that.  One small thing can change the whole course of your life.  I learned to be more sensitive to others feelings be a little more careful about what I say.

I know some people might ask why I even cared so much about it, well I can’t help it.  It is just how I am.  I feel as though I can get along with anyone and if I feel their hatred towards me is unjust then I always try to fix things.  It is such history now that if I ever saw him again I would probably just laugh and not say anything.

In the next episode I will introduce you to my best friend who I call E.

Life experiences usually have a lot to do with the people involved.  A crappy job can be alright if you work with great people.  This is why I feel it is important to talk about some of the people I experienced Navy life with.

I will introduce you to some of the distinct characters that really made a difference in my life.  There is no doubt that each and every person on my ship and over seas were unique but I will only talk about the ones that made the most significant impact for now.  You know?  The ones I can never forget.

Like I stated before I did essentially two different tours in the Navy.  The first part was on board a ship and the second was spent in Kuwait.  They are two different stories all together.  I will first talk about the characters on the ship and introduce the characters from Kuwait in a later episode.

For their protection I will not use their real names.  I will just use fictional names that may or may not mean anything at all.

The Characters

Shultz – A white guy from Michigan.  This guy was one of the most unique people I have ever met.  He was not the brightest star in the sky but had tremendous heart and passion.  I first met him in Jacksonville.  He was part of the group of us who were all waiting for the ship to come back off of that cruise so we could check in.  Shultz’s antics made for some of the most amazing and interesting stories on the O Bannon.

E – A Sicilian dude from Florida.  This guy was a real class act.  We became friends right off the bat and ended up being like brothers for the next 3 years.  We had many great times together.  We were both heavy drinkers so we were constantly getting ourselves into trouble.

Kay – A a black girl from Philly.  This girl was one tough cookie.  She had a real hard core attitude.  She was intimidating and wild.  Still, under neath all that harden exterior was a beautiful, compassionate and REAL person.

Beamer – A mixed race guy.  Don’t remember where he was from.  This guy at one point was in charge of our division.  He was your average officer but there was a unique incident that happened involving me and him that I will reveal later on.

ED – A black guy from Mississippi.  He was a real tough boatswains mate which we regularly got into scuffles with.  We always had this tradition in deck division where the the Seamen (Rank E1- E3) fight against the Petty Officers (Rank E4-6).  When we got into these wrestling/play fighting matches, whoever faced Ed usually lost.

Web – A black guy from Mississippi.  Web was also a boatswains mate who I got along with really well.  We had a unique relationship. We used to find great entertainment in talking about what it would be like to have sex with the different women on the ship.  We used to talk about the things we would want to do with them, and about what they would be like in bed.  As if we actually knew how every type of women was in the sack.  I am quite sure we were wrong but it was hilarious to us.

Wilz – A white guy from Indiana.  Kind of arrogant and snobby at times but overall a pretty cool guy.

JJ – A black girl from New York.  She had a crush on me for some reason.  She was very open about it too.

Alpha – A pretty cool guy from New York who cut everyone’s hair on the ship.  He didn’t like me at first because JJ had a crush on me and he was jealous.  I can tell that he liked her and they may have had relations in the past.

The Enemy – A white guy, don’t remember where he was from.  This is another guy who didn’t like me because of a girl.  This guy became my sworn enemy throughout the 3 years and we almost fought a few times.

The Enemy’s Girl – A Latino girl from Texas.  She is the girl mentioned above.

The Girlfriend – A half breed like me from Texas.  She was my girl friend for about a month.  I learned a very good lesson from her why you shouldn’t date people you work with.  Especially in a military environment.

That is enough for now.

Again, these are a few of the most memorable people that made a significant impact on my life.  I learned a lot from them and had some really great times and even shed tears with them.  I hope I made some positive impact in their lives as well.  You will hear more about these characters as this Navy life story progresses.

I am just focusing on the people that were stationed with me on the O’ Bannon for now.  There were people from other ships, civilians, friends of shipmates and many others who I remember which I am sure to will mention later on.

One thing I noticed is that I don’t keep in touch with any of these people.  Mainly because they all live in different states.  I am sure I may come across one or more of them later on in life.  This has become more and more likely with the new age of social media we live in.  I have spoken to some of them in the past but on a very basic level.

There will be many posts to come just talking about the few people mentioned here.  In the next episode I will tell you about how the enemy came to be.

So, after completing the necessary procedures to check in I went to my first morning quarters.  Quarters is the term used for role call in the U.S. Navy.  We all line up and someone calls out the names of each person.  Once everyone is accounted for we, discuss what we will be doing for the day.  If you are late one minute you are considered UA (Unauthorized Absence) and could face captains mass.  If you are late 1 day it is the same punishment.  This will come into play later on in the series when I reveal some of my dirt about some bad things I did when I was in.

When the ship is in port we usually work like a regular 8-5 job.  However, each person is assigned to a duty section and is required to stay on board the ship for a 24 hour period to perform a variety of necessary job functions.  So, the more duty sections there are, the less often you will have to stand duty.  On duty days you are required to stand watches and provide security for the ship.

The purpose is so that the ship is never left unattended and on duty days we did a lot of training to be prepared for any situation that might arise, such as sneak attacks, fires, security drills and more.  Every Navy ship will have people on board it from the day it is commissioned to the day it is decommissioned.  Quite an amazing thing in my opinion.

So now on to the deck division.  This division is responsible for a wide array of elements.  It has one of the most diverse jobs in the Navy.  One of the main things we learned how to do well is teamwork.  Almost everything we did required teamwork.  As a Boatswainsmate in the Navy I got to indulge in the following  jobs:

Shipboard Preservation

Shipboard preservation is the art of keeping a giant metal object that is sitting in salt water from rusting out.  Steel does not do too well with salt and water.  It creates rust very quickly which means weakening the integrity of the ship’s hull and bulkheads.  We were constantly on a battle to keep the rust at bay.  The ship is very large and there is a lot of area to keep on eye on.  So painting, chipping rust and cleaning were a constant in our lives.

I became a really good painter.  I could cut lines free hand like it was no body’s business and I could cover a lot of area very quickly with rollers.  I once painted almost one entire side of the ship all by myself in just under an hour.  We were pressed for time and I didn’t want to slow us down by managing people to do it.  So instead I just knocked it out with one roller and a couple of extensions.

Rigging

All over the various weather decks of the ship were various tackle, chains, ropes, turnbuckles, etc.  They were used for various things such as tying down small boats, anchors and more.  We were required to know how to keep everything secure using all the types of rigging available.

It gets pretty rough out there in the ocean and the ship gets tossed around a lot.  So it was very important to make sure things were secured to the deck so we wouldn’t lose them out to sea.

Anchoring

Anchoring the ship was always a very exciting but very dangerous operation.  The anchor chain and anchor were very heavy and if not secured properly could end up being disastrous.  If we are pressed for time we can drop the anchor and let it free fall to get anchored quickly however, if not careful and you drop the anchor in too deep of water you could lose the anchor.

Like everything else we were required to maintain the health of the anchor and chain by chipping, sanding and painting it often.  We once dragged the whole anchor chain out onto a barge and refurbished the entire chain.  Let me tell you how NOT fun that was.  It was a long and tedious job.  Glad I never have to do that again.

Sometimes, like many times in the Navy, you get to do some very adventurous and dangerous tasks.  For example, I once had to go out on the bow during a big storm and tighten down the anchor chain stops.  The water was very rough so the ship was getting tossed all around and the wind was blowing really hard and it was pouring rain.  So I put on a harness and shackled myself to the rails and other objects and literally had to crawl and climb up the bow to get to the anchor and tighten the stops down.

I always volunteered for jobs like that because it was exciting and dangerous and fun.

Mooring

Mooring is the art of using giant lines to tie the ship to the dock when we went into port.  It is just like how you tie your fishing boat to the dock but on a much larger scale.  The lines were wrapped around a mechanical winch called a capstan and pulled tight to keep the ship next to the pier.  Then once the ship was into position we tied the lines down onto things called bits.

Imagine a multi-billion dollar war machine just drifting away freely out to sea.  So, basically mooring was pretty important.  It was also dangerous.  If one of the lines were pulled too tight and snapped, the snap back could easily dismember or kill someone.  They showed us some videos of this happening to help sink safety into our head.

Towing

You guessed it.  Sometimes we would have to tow other ships that were broken down back to port, etc.  This required the deck division to use special rigging to achieve this task.  I was only able to see this happen once in my 3 years on board the old O’ Bannon, but it was pretty interesting.

Underway Replenishment

This was by far my favorite duty in the deck division.  Underway replenishment is an amazing feat.  To be able to refuel a giant ship while out at sea and moving just blew me away.  Not just the idea itself but the technical process of doing it is what amazed me.  In fact I loved it so much that I ended up being the leader of the whole operation.  The leader of an unrep can even boss officers around.

The whole thing starts with a small rope we call a shot line.  One of the gunner’s mates will shoot a ball connected to the line across from the fueling ship to our ship.  The shot line is connected to a slightly larger line called the messenger.   This line is connected to a metal cable which is connected to the actual refueling hose.  Once we get the cable we attached it to a refueling station.  The fueling ship will then put tension on the cable to make a nice path for the hose to be pulled across to our ship.

Once we start pulling the hose across the cable we have to run with the line to slam the hose into place.  Once this happens we begin refueling and then break away when the fueling is complete.  Keep in mind this is all done while both ships are moving.  It is amazing!

Check out this article I found which shows the details of how an unrep works.  I did probably over 20 unreps in my 3 years on the ship and loved every moment of it.

Small Boats

Being a boatswains mate gives you the opportunity to drive small boats during your time in the Navy.  Once you get coxswains training you will get the opportunity to drive small boats.  My ship was equipped with a rib boat and a captains barge.  When we ported in other places we sometimes had to shuttle people to and from land using the RIB boat.  I always enjoyed driving small boats.  One time I got to just cruise in the RIB around the coast of Puerto Rico for a few hours.  It was a nice taste of paradise.

Small boats were also used to rescue people during man overboard emergencies.  We trained for this often.  Once we trained for it during a storm out to sea.  It was a nice real life test to show us just how difficult it would be to rescue someone who falls over board during a storm.

Standing Watches

This job overall sucked in my opinion.  Standing watch was one of the things I hated the most in the Navy.  It seriously does not fit my personality at all.  To stand in once place for 4-12 hours at a time just drove me crazy.  As a seamen I stood many many hours of lookout.  Lookout watch is when you stand on the bridge wing and look out for contacts with binoculars and communicate to the bridge what you see.  No doubt an important watch but it was boring and uneventful.

Bridge watches such as helmsmen were quite interesting.  Helmsmen is when you drive the actual ship.  Now this can be quite an experience.  Sometimes you get to go really fast and turn wildly during drills, and other times you just sit there and cruise at 5mph for 4 hours.  It really depended on what was happening at the time.  I became quite good at both helmsman and lookout after the first year.

Once I became a Boatswains mate I was able to perform some different job functions such as manning the 1MC.  Manning the 1MC means you are in charge of the ship’s main loud speaker system which we use to communicate to all of the crew.  We used to blow a special whistle called a boatswains pipe before announcements.  Check out some samples here of what it sounds like.

There were other watches we stood such as peer sentry and reflash watch and more.  Peer sentry is basically you guarding the peir and checking id’s for people who are coming and going to and from ships.  In all my hours of watch I never had to draw my 9mm and shoot anyone.  Too bad, I always hoped some moron would try something stupid so I had a reason to shoot him and make the watcvh much more fun.  Hey, at least I admit it lol.

Re-flash watch is what you stand after a fire was extinguished.  You were watching to make sure the fire does startup again and is really out.  Boring.

Other Duties

Boatswains mates probably have the most dynamics in their duties than any other job in the Navy.  We handled a lot of things and worked very hard.  Yet we were only one part of a very large team of people who all have important duties.  The ship required all of the teams to function properly.  Even though we used to always talk trash on each about our jobs and make fun of each other we all knew that when the shit hit the fan we worked together or we would fail.

To get into the deck division in the Navy is simple.  You only need a minimum score on the Navy entrance exam to qualify.  Of course that does not reflect on who you are as a person or how smart you are.  Let me tell you, I met some of the smartest people I have ever met in deck division and also some of the dumbest.  It really depends on where you are at and who you meet.

Being a boatswains mate has a label of being lower than other jobs because of the amount of labor you do and many parts of the job can be tedious and boring.  However, I thought overall it was a great job and was fulfilling often times.  Of course it all depends on the person.

In the next episode I will introduce you to some of the characters of this whole Navy life experience.

The USS O BANNON DD-987 is a Spruance-Class Destroyer.  It was the last East Coast based destroyer of her class.  The ship was 50 feet wide, 564 feet long and could hold about 340 crew members fully loaded.

Check out this website for complete details about the ship and contact info for its former crew members.

The ship had many weapons, more than most ships in fact.  There were a large number of tomahawk missiles on the bow which I never got to see fire because it was just too expensive apparently.

The Arrival

When I got to the ship I walked up to the quarterdeck and reported to the officer of the deck on duty at the time.  He laughed when I told him I was reporting on the ship.  He said, “Everyone just got back from a 6 month cruise and are out partying and you are checking on board.”  I laughed and agreed with him about the irony of the situation.  After my records were reviewed I was sent to see the Master at Arms to get checked into my rack in the berthing area.

The Berthing

The racks in the berthing were about 3 foot by 6 foot and they were stacked 3 high.  The beds open up like a coffin so you can put your things inside.

As you would imagine there was only enough space for all my uniform, accessories, some personal items and clothing.  That was pretty much it.  Oh, we also had a single stand up locker next to our rack for hanging up dress uniforms, etc.  The berthing area design made it so quite a large amount of people could fit into the area.  If I remember correctly there was close to 100 sailors in ours.

Unfortunately, having such close quarters raises issue regarding hygiene, personal space, etc.  Let me tell you, there were many instances where we had problems with this.  People not taking a shower often enough, stinky feet, dirty clothing bags laying around, people not cleaning up after themselves, people trashing the bathroom and more.  I will go into detail of some of these issues later on in the series.  For now let me just finish describing the internal environment of the ship.

Another distinct thing about the berthing area was that we were just above the engines so we always felt and heard the hum of the engines.  After awhile I used the sound to help me go to sleep.  Sometimes the sonar would be on and we would hear all kinds of sounds which are similar to the sounds whales make.

We had a small little lounge area with a TV that we could watch movies or other programs.  I wish I would have taken pictures of everything back then, but back then I wasn’t a blogger.

The male berthing was on the aft (back) part of the ship and the female berthing was on the forward part.  Oh I forgot to mention that there were two male berthing compartments.  We had the operations (mine) berthing and the engineering berthing.  We were underneath the engineer’s berthing.

The Officers and Chief’s had their own berth’s as well in the middle parts of the ship.  I very rarely got to see them inside because for obvious reasons.  I was just a lowly young whipper snapper and the old timers and high ranking folks wanted their privacy.  It was basically like how you weren’t allowed to go in your parents bedroom when you were a child.

The Other Compartments

Anyway, when you left the berthing you went into a hall way that led to the mess decks.  This is the place where we got our food and ate it.  I remember there was a big screen TV on the mess deck where we often watch the local news.

So that pretty much covers the residential sections of the ship.  The rest of the compartments were used for all of the other functions like, firefighting, painting, engineering, weapons command, storage, etc.

Oh we did have a small weight room on our ship as well.  It was always interesting to go workout while at sea.  Bench pressing heavy free weights while the ship is rocking back and forth was always exciting.

So, I am not going to describe every part of the ship because it would take a really long time.  I will try to mention the most significant parts that I remember.  If you really want a mental picture of the ship environment, go to the link I gave early on in this post.

Stay tuned for the next episodes where I will begin to write specific stories that I remember on board the USS O’ BANNON.  They are interesting, outrageous, disgusting, shameful, embarrassing and much more.

The 2 Week C School

My job classification in the Navy was Seamen Apprentice.  This job has a wide amount of responsibilities such as, mooring, towing, rigging, underway replenishment, driving small boats and even driving the ship.  I went to school after boot camp to learn the basics of these jobs.

Because I only cared about being a Navy Seal, I did not pay much attention to what my job was going to be.  I just thought it would be SEAL.  I was naive of course and I regret not paying more attention.

Well nothing extremely exciting happened during that 2 week school except for the 1 foot of snow fall.  That was the first time I had ever seen snow fall like that.  Also, it was 10 degrees out and that was the first time I felt that temperature.  I remember playing around in the snow and we built a giant snow man which I later tackled and took this picture of it.

Ben Moreno dot net

Jacksonville Naval Base

After graduating boot camp I was given about 1 week and 1/2 leave.  I went home and partied for the time and then flew out to my new temporary command, Jacksonville, FL.

I had to report to Jacksonville Naval Base for a period of about 2 weeks to wait for my ship to come back from a cruise they had just went on months earlier.  It made sense for me to wait instead of the government spending the resources to fly me out to the ship that was on it’s way back into port.  For once the government was concerned about saving money lol.

The two weeks there were very memorable.  I arrived there in the middle of December, so I ended up spending Christmas and New Years stuck in a boring Navy barracks with no money and nothing to do.  It was horrible!  That was the first time I had ever been away from my family on Christmas and New Years.  Christmas is a very big holiday in my family.  We always have a big family reunion and it is always really fun.

Music Association During Bad Times

So spending it all alone basically with no money and nothing to do was pretty depressing.  At the time I was listening to the Deftones album Around The Fur.  The album had just come out and I really liked it.  Well, during that depressing time I was listening to the album a lot to help pass the time.

Over time my brain associated the album with the situation so now whenever I hear that album it reminds me of that deppressing time.  That sucks because it is a really good album.  So the next time you get in a bad situation you may want to pay more attention to the music you are listening to because you may just ruin a good album.

After it was over I was transferred to my new ship the USS O’ BANNON DD-987.  Read all about it in the next episode.