One of my dad's favorite stories about his experiences in WWII is the time he spent at Samoa prior to the Iwo landing. He would have been 18 back then, in 1942.

One day, a group of Marines stole a truck full of beer and hid it up on a mountain by an observation bunker. The truck contained 400 cases, which is about 4800 bottles. There was a lot of pilfering going on at that time, so the FBI came to the island to investigate what was happening. The base commander, a Navy captain, heard about the stash and planned a surprise raid on the bunker to see if there really was beer up there. So, one afternoon he snuck up the mountain and caught about 30 sailors and marines chugging the stolen brew and having a good old time. According to my dad, when they saw the captain they all dropped their beers and tried to act like they were sightseeing, but the captain knew better and had them all line up in a row for an ass kicking. Expecting a court martial and a generally SHTF scenario, some of the younger guys were shaking, scared shitless as any young man in that position would be.

After giving the guys the evil eye for a few moments, the captain walked up to the line and said, "You guys better find a better hiding place for that beer because if I can find it the FBI sure as hell can too."

And that was that.

In the end, the FBI did find the beer, so the captain made the guys break every bottle, one at a time, by throwing them off a cliff onto the rocks below.

What a tragedy.  All that lost beer.

No:

Some female sailor would have started crying about being abused or discriminated against because she didn't drink and there weren't any free sodas for them.

The NIS, and DACOWITS would have come thundering in looking to punish the innocent and absolve the guilty.

The enviros would have gone crazy on hearing the sailors tossed the bottles down the cliff and a huge working party would have been organized to pick up all the glass.  Since the glass could not be jettisoned at sea now...a glass waste management plan would have to be created, a processing plant built, contractors hired, funds budgeted and obligated, a transportation infrastructure set up, and a host of other neat stuff done to deal with this terrible threat to the snail darter...or spotted owl...or whale...or was that a crab?  Anyway...you get the idea.

The FBI would have found one 18 year old sailor (who had a long history of liking beer) to pin the crime on...who later it would be learned, was still in boot camp when the crime was committed.  The feds would stick to their story.

The Navy JAGs would have had a fit when they heard the sailors and Marines were not read their rights exactly as written...so the IG would just stop the war while they investigated the entire matter.

A congressional fact-finding mission (boondoggle) would have junketed out from Washington to look into the entire matter.  They would drink up the last of the beer, give a couple of speeches decrying the dangers of alcohol for our troops then go home, hold hearings, blame the entire affair on Ronald Reagan and the tax cut, and apply for medals to put on their chests so they would jingle when thumped during speeches at re-election time.

[beer]

L Wilde , that is so frickin Accurate it makes me want to puke.

Benjamin

The sub needed painting and all the rubber boats were in use by other boats.

Soo the "scrounger" departed one night and returned with one of the SEALs pristine rubber boaties.

Two days later the FBI arrived in search of but by that time the pristine one was so covered in paint the FBI stood twenty feet away but failed to identify.
That night the rubber boaty slowly sank to the bottom of San Diego Harbor.  Course the deck crew had finished the painting.

Naw, nothing that nasty could possibly happen today !

LWilde, man, that is so funny.

I guess wartime changes prople's priorities a little. When you need all the men you have, I guess you just don't throw them all in the brig for such a small "infraction".

True and PAINFULLY funny !!

(Don't forget, Al Sharpton for President !)

[smoke]

During Desert Storm I was in the Seabees, and stationed in Awali, Bahrain..
One day we took a convoy to Saudi, to pickup supplies. I think it was about 6 or so stake bed tricks and 1 or 2 Blazers…  Anyway… I was riding shotgun in one of the trucks.. When we got to the supply depot, I was walking around checking things out while the trucks were being loaded when I saw a pallet full to about 3 high of Beer. Saudi was supposed to be dry… I don’t remember the brand…  I jokingly said something about it to my First Class.. Well a little while later I walked over there again and it was gone…  When we get back to Awali, I noticed one of the trucks pull back to our work area away from where all the other trucks were parked. I walk back there and a couple of our guys had a fork lift out unloading that Beer and stashing it … I later found out that “Someone” had paid one of the locals that were loading the trucks, 20 bucks to load the beer…

We used shipping containers to build a wall around our compound, 2 high. Some guys had pulled one from the bottom in just enough to allow the door to be opened and stacked sand bags and other stuff up so you couldn’t see it.. They built a bar inside. With a counter, lights, stuff on the wall, bar stools.. everything……

So yes it can, and does happen….

Cg.

Ah, the good old days.

Let us consider this story further for a moment.

I see four elements:

1)  4800 bottles of beer.
2)  Marines
3)  Navy
4)  FBI

With Nos. (2) and (3) bent on "consuming" No. (1) I don't see No.(4) having a snowballs chance in hell of saving No. (1) - or being able to pin "anything" on Nos. (2) and (3).

I believe the truth may lie before our eyes in "mattja's" father's statement.

I refer to the passage "....made the guys break every bottle...."

While implied there is absolutely no 'direct' testimony of those bottles containing any parts of any beer.
I believe the "breaking and throwing" of bottles was a part of a continuing cover-up and destruction of evidence.

Gentlemen,
It is my opinion that all 4800 bottles of beer were consumed.  I do not believe even one was spared.


[smoke]

That sh!t would not fly in today's "kinder, gentler Navy".

LWilde is exactly right.


And that's sad.

I joined the Navy thinking it was still like the old salt stories that you hear about. Not so. Ever see "Men of Honor"? I love that movie. It even showed how much the Navy has changed.

I proud to see the tradition of 'midnight requisitioning' hasn't die out .[beer]

SurfWar.
the Navy I was in wasn't like the Navy the "old" guys were in either.

You guys, and - choke, gasp - sea-broads make your own damn Navy and your own damn stories.

Every generation of sailors has and always will.

[smoke]

In the early 70s we had topless dancers in the nco club at Ft Bliss. We also had go go girls in the em club at Pensacola in 1969 when I was in the Navy. Much later at my last duty station in 1991 I was in charge of a bus load of folks. When we got to the destination I said "lets make like the baby and head out. A female filed a complaint on me for that one. sheesh. John

On the boat one night, we tried prying into the storeroom to nab a couple cans of pistachios.  We liked them, and the captain decreed that they were reserved for the wardroom.  Needless to say they became a highly prized war trophy.

Woops!  Around the corner comes the duty officer who asked just what the hell we were up to.  The several of us try cooking up a story but it didn't wash.  It came out that we were looking for pistachios.  He brightened up and told us, " You don't break into the storeroom on submarines.  The duty officer has the keys!"

What could that captain have been thinking !

His decree was a virtual delaration of WAR !

[smoke]

IMO, the Navy began downhil when they required POs to shave their beards.

True salts are beared, and can get anything done...

My father told the story of how during WWII he was an MP and then the Provost Marshal in the Phillipines and how they had to guard and load the US planes with San Miguel beer because McArthur was a part owner of the brewery.  They hated it (because real troops didn't get what they needed because planes were off making people money) and found a lot of interesting ways to make sure the beer never got to it's buyers.  A lot of troops got free beer and McArthur didn't make as much as promised...ain't corruption fun when you've got stars.

What are they going to do? Shave your head and send you to war?
Being Navy would suck, all that nasty stuff there is to do as punishment aboard ship.
A Marine has a better chance. "No Marine you may not die on the beach like a dog, we caught you with filched ale. To the brig with thee."
But in todays service all bets are off.

Being clean shaven has always been a requirement for guys in the fire party, can't get a good seal when using an OBA if your bearded.

Which is why EVERYONE has to be clean shaven, since everyone, not just the assigned Damage Control people, are expected to be able to turn to as firefighters.  One of the "lessons learned" from the [i]Oriskany[/i] and [i]Forrestal[/i] disasters- it IS possible to loose BOTH your primary and secondary firefightng teams in action.

Having to shave again - wasn't that in 1985? - So much for Z's reforms.

A proper trim was always required to wear an EAB/OBA.  What I think did the policy in was that new 18 year old E-4s thought they had what it took to grow one.  I remember even the lifer cheifs waited till midnight on the deadline to shave.

SINKING STUFF:  We got a barge to work from while our boat was in drydock at Pearl Harbor.  It was used by a skimmer (a destroyer called the Omelette (?)), and had all the office stuff needed by 150 guys.

It was great sport when we moved aboard to throw desks and filing cabinets overboard and watch them sink.  One night, a filing cabinet refused to sink and it started drifting away.  The E DIV'vers panicked and started throwing things at it before anyone spotted it.  I found out what was happening when an agitated electrician asked if he could have some of those hand made specialty tools we had to throw at the cabinet.

Every time I had to find a Ford wrench or something in the next three years I cursed the whole of E div.

Another time, the galley ran out of coffee cups.  The usual solution was to send a guy back to the engineroom to pick them all up - there were just too many places to set one down and ignore it.

One day, this failed to produce very many cups.  The solution?  Send divers over the side.  They picked up many, many cups and plates.  Topside watches used to pitch glassware overboard.  

Also, we were the first boat at Pearl to get the rubber tiles on the hull and our neighbors got a charge out of seeing coffee cups bounce off the hull.  

Yup...that's it exactly.  An Oxygen Breathing Apparatus, a Scott Airpack, an Emergency Escape Breathing Device (EEBD), and a gas mask won't seal with facial hair.  If they don't seal...and you get into a hostile atmosphere (As I happened to be on more than one occasion.), you DIE!

For the record, My GQ station was never in a repair locker.  Nonetheless, even as an officer, I had to suit up more than once to fight fires, flooding, or hazardous gas discharges.  Ever had a catastrophic leak of Freon in the main refrigeration plant [X] or a total breach of the main sewage plant piping while the system was under pressure?

I can ASSURE you that only those of us with OBAs worked THAT casualty!).  [puke]

Yep, when I headed up Repair 5 (and was on the NBC team) I kept a clean shave. The only time in my life after bootcamp I shaved until last year. My wife had never seen me with out a beard after 18 years of marriage, and so one day I shaved it off. She took one look and said, "Grow it back." Lesson learned...

LOL. I had a "No Shave" chit in boot camp and had a great beard for years.  Got a wild hair one day and decided to shave it off.  My wife saw me come in the house and demanded to know who I was.  My 2 year old daughter didn't recognize me until I spoke.  My wife told me that, "You had the beard when I met you and you had it when I married you, and you better grow it back right away because I can't stand your face without it!"

Still got it.