I won't mention being sent to the Boatwain's Locker for bulkhead remover, relative bearing grease, and propeller wash.
and under no circumstances will describe being on the Mail Buoy Watch standing on the forcastle in 10-15' seas with a retrieval pole being sent back & forth to the bow as directed.
Give that man a BA 1100 N and send him to get some frequency grease for the ST-1. Now there's a sight to see! :lol: :lol:
Reminds me of the time the Comm squad NCOIC, (they were next door to my armory), sent a FNG over to me for a can of frequency grease. The Prive shows up and hands me a standard request form with space for a dozen approval signatures at the bottom and written in at the top is "Frequency Grease - (1) Can".
I look at the form, make a show of going over to a locker and opening it, checking, then coming back and I tell the Pvt "I'm sorry, we only have two cans left, you're going to have to get S-4 to sign off first." I make a note on the form that a Qty of (2) are remaining in stock and sign off, sending the kid about 3 miles off to the S-4 office. (This was on Okinawa, an island 60 miles long) Then I forgot about it for the rest of the day.
Much later that afternoon I get a call from the Base General himself, Brig. Gen. JJ Went, whom I had met when I took over the unit armory, (which is another story). He's yelling at me over the phone, asking why the hell did I send this private up to his office over a can of frequency grease!?
Turns out it was an exceptionally slow day on Okinawa for the Marines. Later I got the full story. The pvt goes to the S-4 shack and hands his request to the E-4 there. The Cpl looks at it and says "whoa, that's above my level" and passes it off to the Sgt, who declares "You're going to have to get the SgtMajor to buy off on that" and sends him over to S-1 with a call to get an appointment to see the SgtMajor. Now Top was a cranky old bastard that had been in forever. You know the type, coffee cup fingers in a permanent crook, etc. Not known for his good moods or ability to deal well with jokes. Note that the S-1 shack was another 100 yards up the road.
The pvt gets in to see the SgtMj and hands him the request. Top looks it over with his grizzled jaw set in stone and with out a word, picks up the phone and calls the XO. "Captain, we have a critical shortage and we need to to examine the issue". And signs off on the form and sends the Pvt down the hall to the XO's office.
The XO reads the form, and gets up and walks next door to the CO, a full bird Colonel who's favorite saying when it came time for punishment was "You will receive the maximum". "Hatchett" Jack Cunningham. Next the XO calls the Pvt in and leaves. The CO reads carefully over the request form.... ponders the situation..... and tells the Pvt "This is serious shit! You're going to have to go up island to see the Chief Warrant Officer in charge of island stores." Then he sends the poor kid out to his house mouse to get directions. It's a 30 mile bus ride, then look for the building with the big flags, (the base general's buidling), then ask for directions again.
The kid finds the bus, spends the next two hours on it, gets to the correct base, finds the general's building and goes in. The receptionist listens to him, reads the form, and makes an appointment for him to see the CW04 in charge of Island stores for all of the Marines on Okinawa. He has to wait until almost the end of the work day to get in to see him.
When he finally gets in to see the Chief, the Chief Warrant Officer reads the form, notes all the signatures indicating further permission is required, looks the kid in the eye and tells him "Two cans? how the **** did this happen? There's only 5 cans on the whole damn island now! WTF? You're going to have to see the old man." Then he picks up the phone and calls the base general and tells him there is an urgent request pending that must be dealt with today before end of business and he's sending a Marine right over for his decision.
The kid hustles down the hall.... where the red carpet begins and things get really quiet... and is shown into the General's office by his waiting receptionist.
The General takes the form, reads it, shakes his head and gets up from his chair, walks around his desk and puts an arm around the terrified Pvt's shoulder and says "Son, what's a frequency?"
Poor kid stammers out something about radio waves to communicate with.
The General then says "Can you grease a frequency?"
Pvt says in a stutter "I, I, I d-don't think so Sir"
General replies "Son, you've been had. Now go back to your unit."
About 15 seconds later, I got a phone call. :lol: :lol: :lol:
