Welcome to the Dance USN by GEORGE LICATA

Author:GEORGE LICATA [LICATA, GEORGE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: urn:uuid:00000978-0007-4138-0599-000000000002
Publisher: PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.
Published: 2017-12-22T05:00:00+00:00

February, 27, 1973, Tuesday

We spent most of the afternoon licking our wounds after the ass chewing we got in the morning. We went over the basic of carpentry, measure twice cut once. I know our measurements were spot on. The topside fucked up. Later.

February 28, 1973, Wednesday

We get our retest on the Destroyer today. This is looking like Boot Camp. One or two idiots can affect the masses. Brice is still the ranking class officer. He picks his topside crew. It’s the same set up as last time. The lower deck team is fine with the status quo. We don’t want those dummies on our team.

The jets and the bombs came on queue. The ship was going down. What we found this time was a large gaping hole in the deck (floor). The water was coming in like a fountain. We put two lockers on top of the hole, it took five of us sitting on top to keep it down. We estimated the size of the hole and added more inches. We were going to need four long timbers to hold the thick ply wood down. The ceiling was too weak to hold shoring alone. The pressure needed to be shared with the bulkheads. Three different guys measured four times. We sent the measurements to topside, via radio.

Two pipes burst at that same moment. One was larger than the other. Two guys measured three times. We sent those measurements topside. We waited and we waited and then we waited some more. Finally the lumber came down.

We sent measurements that specified two timbers the same length and two other timbers cut a different length. The four that we got were all different lengths. They sent us four different cuts, instead of the two we needed. We couldn’t make it work. We laid another locker on top of the two already on the hole.

The team that was wrapping the burst pipes was also dead in the water, so to speak. Both wraps were wrong sizes again, neither would fit. The ship sank deeper into the cold water. The water rose quicker and then we were dead. They turned it off when it was at my chin. The taller guys were fine, the shorter guys were hanging on to the bunk beds. Up the stairs we went.

We may have been drenching wet but we were steaming mad. I was looking for Brice as soon as I reached top side. “What the fuck are you stupid?” I said. I was ten feet in front of him and closing. He was causally lighting a cigarette. “Don’t you talk to me like that, Licata!” He answered. I was about two feet away. “Talk to you? I’ll knock your fucking head off” He was tall and lanky. I would have him for lunch. Barry stepped in front of me. “Licata, don’t do it. I can’t let you,” he said calmly. I stopped.

The rest of the bottom level guys didn’t stop, they were cussing at the topsiders loudly.

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