Adventures In Navyland. Joe Psy.D. Callihan
go inside, he ran away, and had to be tackled. The Chief in charge of his company came to him and asked what was wrong. “I don’t want to go inside of there, I’m afraid,” was his answer.
The Chief said, “No you’re not!” Then yanking him by the arm, he had someone open the door as he physically threw the boy inside. Quickly they closed the door and turned the wheel, then waited. We all could hear his screams for help. “Mama Help me! Mama, PLEASE HELP ME! MAMA MAMA! OH MAMA PLEASE HELP ME!” This was his frantic plea, as he stood there pounding on the door. Minutes went by, and his voice became weaker and weaker, then the pounding stopped.
Opening the hatch door, his almost unconscious body lay at the floor. The Chief reached in and pulled him out. He was coughing heavily from having inhaled so much smoke. Patting him on the back the Chief said, “What’s the matter son, rough in there?” To which he shook his head in agreement. “Well that’s O.K; you don’t have to go in there now. You just rest and clear your lungs. I hope you get to feeling better. You just sit here and watch, as the others go inside, O.K.?” Again shaking his head in agreement, believing the worst was over for him. Was he ever wrong!
First, the Chief had left him sitting by the entry to the hatch. So every guy entering the hatch, looked down at him and mockingly called him, “Mama’s boy!” Secondly, it took about ninety minutes for the rest of the companies to go through that hatch door, and exit from the other end. Then in around another ninety minutes, all of the fires had been put out.
At this point all of the companies gathered at the smoke house, where “Mama’s Boy” was still sitting comfortably on the grass by the entrance hatch. The Chief in charge of his company then came up to him and asked most sincerely, “Are you alright now son? Are your lungs clear?” To which the boy answered in the affirmative. “You can breathe O.K. now?” the Chief asked, just to make sure. “Yes sir, I can breathe just fine now,” was his reply.
Yanking him up by the arm, the Chief then said, “Good, because you’re going back in, and this time you are going through to the other end and out the hatch!” “No, No, Oh Please No!” the boy pleaded. “YES, YES! And OH YES YOU ARE!” the Chief mockingly replied. “OH MAMA! The boy began. The Chief said,
“OH MAMAS NOT HERE NOW, I AM!”
With that, he pulled the boy inside with him, ordering the door to be closed. A few minutes later, both of them exited out the other end. They both were coughing, and everyone was applauding the Chief for his action. I don’t know how Mama’s boy faired in the Navy. But I hope this incident helped him on the way to becoming a man. Unfortunately, there are still lots of Mama’s boys running around out there today. Far too many of them get elected to Congress, the Vice Presidency, or worse yet, the Presidency. We need more like that Chief!
We were taught how to put out a fire, one of the worst of enemies on a ship at sea. To do so, we had to put out a large fire started in a big round oil filled tank. The importance of teamwork was stressed. The power of the water at the opening of the hose was amazing. We each were given the adventure of trying to control its direction. It would take from three to four of us, working in unison, to get the water directed on the fire. Although it took awhile, each company was able to successfully put out the fire.
YES – IT’S REALLY TEARGAS!
A day or so later we got the thrilling adventure of entering the teargas room. Each had been given a mask to wear. First we marched in a column of two around the room, holding the mask above our head. Then we were ordered to put on the mask, as the teargas pellets were about to be released. Once again we were warned not to yell, or open our mouth. As the pellets were released, you could see the clouds of white smoke rising and getting dense.
Around and around we went, this seemed like a breeze. Then we were told we would be receiving the order to remove the mask, just to prove to us it really was teargas, and the mask really did work., We were again warned against holding our breath. You know me, when the order came, just before removing the mask I took my third deep breath, hoping no one had seen me. Thank God I could hold my breath for over two minutes, because as we marched twice more around the room without the mask on, it took at least that long to get out of that room and into the fresh cool air outside.
This time, all of the guys were coughing a lot. So I joined in, acting, and giving out with fake coughs. I did so, because I could see we were being watched to see if any weren’t coughing. NOT ME – I COUGHED! They should give that boy an Academy Award! Rule breaker? Not really. Just smart enough to know I already believed they were using real teargas, as they had said they would. I simply decided I did not need any proof, so I held my breath.
THE BOYS FROM BROOKLYN
Things went well for the first day at camp, until the problem manifested itself. The problem was a young boy from Brooklyn. Flunking out of high school in his senior year, his father had made him join the service against his will. From what we learned later, his father was ashamed of him, and wanted to be able to say to those who pointed out his failure, “At least my boy is serving his country! What’s yours doing?”
Also, we later learned, this boy had been abused by this poor excuse for a father. About two weeks before he was due to attend Boot Camp; he tried to run away from home. Not having enough money, he came back. His cowardly father had beaten him badly (he had arrived with a swollen lip, and black eye). His father had said, “I’ll be damned if a son of mine is going to be a coward! You are going to go to Boot Camp!” Yelling this over and over as he beat his son, his mother just watched in silence. Sadly, we did not know right away, but all of this had caused the young man to mentally crack up.
I believe it was on our third day at camp. We were going to a large auditorium for inspection. That place was HUGE, there must have been at least 30 companies assembled there, each having eighty men. We were supposed to be dressed in our dress blue uniforms. They are the blue ones having the white stripe. We also were not supposed to have anything in any of our pockets.
As it turned out, our company received the most demerits any company had ever received. It was a disgrace. We owed it mainly to the kid from Brooklyn. I cannot remember his name, but I do remember him in my prayers. But for this portion of the story, let’s just call him Jim. Jim had deliberately rubbed his white hat on the floor, getting dirt on it. But that was small stuff! Once we arrived, we all had to remove our “P” coat. This revealed Jim had on the undress blue uniform, the one without the white stripe. We all had been so worried about our own look, no one had noticed this. It obviously was too late to do anything.
But then came the time to be inspected for empty pockets. As it turned out, Jim had his pockets filled with coins and pieces of paper, every single pocket had junk in it. Did I hear someone say demerits? The company commander was not happy or impressed. But he did not say much until we returned to our barracks.
WATCH OUT! First he asked Jim why he had chosen to do what he had done. “I don’t want any part of your Navy! I just want out!” was Jim’s belligerent reply. The company commander, a Chief Petty Officer, (let’s call him Mel) had Jim dive and give him fifty push ups. Jim did this with apparent ease. Next, he commanded Jim to do fifty sit ups. Again he complied effortlessly.
This exercising went on for about forty five minutes. I became exhausted just watching Jim. But he seemed to be Superman. He did repetitions over and over again, and remained fresh and full of energy. We all were amazed at his apparent stamina. When the company commander finally had him stop, he asked Jim if he had learned his lesson, to which Jim replied he had. “Well let’s hope so,” Mel said. “I would not want to be in your shoes if you’re lying to me!”
The next day as we were due to go over for inspection again; about an hour before leaving, the company commander came to check Jim out. “I see you have on a clean hat and the right uniform. That’s good! Now, do you have anything in any of your pockets?” “No sir, not a thing,” Jim answered. “Let me see,” Mel said as he reached inside Jim’s coat pocket. What did he find? Not only his coat pocket, but all of his