HOM: Tacoma III

I probably should have spent more time with the crew. Some of the guys accused me of snobbery because I stayed alone so much. I put my foot in my mouth when we were leaving San Diego. Some of us were in a bar at the airport, and when the hostess asked up what we'd like to drink, I got a beer. One of the guys remarked that he didn't think I drank, and I made a smart remark about the fact that I didn't drink with him didn't mean I didn't drink. Dumb move. he took me seriously and was offended. They were a good bunch of guys. Most of the crew were regular Blue water sailors. I think Cochran, the cook, was the only other guy with Brown water experience. Most of them were pretty good guys despite their regular navy handicap. One of the chiefs was living in a travel trailer with his wife and a number of kids. He always seemed grumpy, but I guess that was understandable. Chief Morgan's car wouldn't start so he asked me for a tow. I was happy to oblige, but it might have been better if he had told me his car had power brakes along with the auto transmission. When I stopped at an intersection I glanced in my rear view mirror and all I could see of him were teeth & eyeballs. He got stopped about an inch from my bumper, and once he caught his breath he let me know what he thought of my driving! He also unhooked the tow rope... The officers were great! The commissioning ceremony was kind of fun. There had been quite a bit of friction between Captain Grace and the BUSHIPS guy, Lt, Schrodt, and it all came to a head the night before the ceremony. It wasn't a sunny day when the 98 was commissioned , but both of them were wearing dark glasses to hide their shiners and sporting swollen knuckles & puffy lips that made their speeches a bit blurry. I think Grace won. Gracefully. When we were setting up the night before the ceremony, we worked pretty late. I was responsible for the PA system. To test it, and being a little peeved at liberty call being delayed, I put out " Now this is a drill, this is a drill. Liberty call!" at full volume. ("This is a drill..." is the beginning of the announcement of ANY drill.) My EO, Mr Dinwiddie, shut me down pretty quickly, saying any ship in earshot had to hold a drill if we did and even a humorous announcement like mine could cause confusion. FuddyDuddies! Anyway, soon after commissioning and a bit more tinkering, we were ready to leave Tacoma. I drove the Jeep home and flew back to ride the boat down to San Diego. I came within a hair of hitting a horse somewhere over in Idaho on that trip. It was a dark horse in the middle of the road on a dark night, and I must have missed it by inches when I swerved. TBC (Me) (Home)