Navy Tales

Since this is my first blog post, I'd like to start with a few basics. First of all, my picture is from the 60s. I thought it would be appropriate since my posts are about mostly Navy things (mostly old Navy things). I will try to find a good and recent picture to post in the future.

Most all veterans like to tell funny stories about their experiences in the military. The Navy Vets call them Sea Stories. The other service Vets call them War Stories. These are based on reality, but embelished, and added to so they will be entertaining. I will do my best to make you smile, and maybe even get a laugh, or two.

For starters, the Navy is a bit different than the others since we were on ships a lot, and even on bases ashore, some used Navy terms to describe common things. For example: stand in your living room...your feet are on the deck. If you look straight up, you see the overhead. If you look left, and right, you see the bulkheads, and if you look fore, and aft, you also see bulkheads. I'll bet you just saw two more Navy terms! If I use any words that are too strange, I'll explain their meaning.

So, let the sea stories begin.

One of the guys in the squadron, (during most of my time in, I was in aviation squadrons assigned to a ship, and to a base when the ship was in home port.) lived off the base in a small frame house with his wife, and kids. He asked some of his buddies to help him paint the house over a weekend, and six or seven guys said sure, if he furnished some BBQ, and beer. Bright and early, his workers showed up, and they got out the paint, and brushes, and ladders. He told them to start in the front, and work their way around the house. He had the beer iced down, and the food ready to cook when they were done. 

I had to work that day, and was going to go over there in late afternoon, to see if they needed help. When I got there, the front of the house looked great! But, it seemed like there were a lot of empty beer cans around. I walked around to the back, and what a sight! There were guys asleep (?) on the ground, and the entire back of the house was painted white...walls, windows, doors, everything!

The big rule they broke was: do the work first THEN drink the beer!

PS, he eventually got the mess cleaned up.