In 1971 I went to work for a small shipyard in Jacksonville, Florida. I’d flunked out of college and bounced around before I ended up in the marshes on the north bank of the St. Johns River. I was a shipfitter helper when I saw my first 72ft Gilbert Hull steel shrimp boat slide into the water. Its a trite phrase to say that it was a watershed moment but I was hooked. I worked my ass off to be the best there was at this thing and I ended up being pretty good at it. It was the kind of work that you either punched the clock to get a check or you did the best job you could so people would call you “craftsman”. That word means a LOT, more than I can tell you.
Around 1979 I started working at Mayport Naval Station. Because I’d never worked US Navy ships before I was assigned to work with another First Class Shipfitter. He showed me the ropes, the ins and outs, the do’s and don’ts of working aboard US Navy ships. First thing to learn, and most important is you’re working in someone’s home. You’re respectful, you ask, you damn sure keep your work area clean and mess up as little as possible. Next was rank…and the most important people to NEVER piss off were the Chiefs. They weren’t God but God listened to them. You get the Chiefs on your side and you’re gold. Knowing a good LPO is a good one too and a knew a few than went on to be Chiefs. Traditions are important to know, like that one table on the mess deck you never ever sit in…not that we were allowed to sit down in there anyway. Or getting everything off your head at morning and evening colors; I saw one guy get kicked off the base for not getting his hard hat off and giving the finger to the OOD, and he deserved it.
Navy work was challenging and complex, lots of rules (too many sometimes) and procedures and if you can learn how to read Navy blue prints then you are doing pretty good. The Navy demands safe practices for obvious reasons and I liked that; in the 80’s commercial yards were still killing people on a all too regular basis, they almost got me a couple of times. Best of all were the people. Navy personnel were by and large terrific people and by and large were committed to a challenging career. To this day, most of my friends are former Navy and I consider myself damned lucky to have them.
I’m going to link this to Twitter so if @AncientSubHunter has any suggestions on what he’d like me to rant on about, please let me know.
BTW, BZ, Byron!
Second!