Navy DD-711 Part V

The Greene as a Destroyer was primarily an anti-submarine weapon. A sub killer. It's even part of the ship's insignia. I really struggled with that Latin phrase, it seems to be saying: 'State and Clears Prepared'. Really? What does that have to do with laxatives? 

On the ship's patch is an English phrase: On the Affirmative Way'. Hmm? I think I like 'State and Clears Prepared' better.

Well, choose whichever phrase you'd like. At least the dice make sense. There was also a tradition to blast a song whenever we pulled up alongside another vessel. The song was 'Green, Green' by the New Christy Minstrels. If you're bored you can listen to it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfxgbsXeTdE

I always loved that the lyrics include "Say, buddy, can you spare me a dime?" Because, you know, we're homeless and we're worthless and we have no money. It really lifted my spirits.

At this point, I was sending a lot of my paycheck home because I was still making the car payments on the car I had given to my father. It was his first relatively new car since I had bought it less than a year before. The money was going home via money order, ever heard of them? People without a checking account (like my parents) had to pay their bills in person or buy a money order at 7-11 for the amount plus fifty or seventy-five cents and then mail in the money order. My parents refused to get a checking account because they said it would cost too much. ... ... Yeah, I know, I tried, but they never got a checking account.

But even sending that car payment home I always seemed to have more money than everyone else and they were always running out like the day after payday. So I developed a pretty lucrative loansharking business. Calm down, I never overcharged and I only loaned money to my friends so I never had to break anyone's legs. In retrospect, I was only providing a service based on a clearly defined consumer need. That's what I tell myself anyway.

The base where we were doing our refit was as big as a small town. There was every kind of mechanical shop you can image along with human niceties like bowling alleys and restaurants and a huge gym which I used all the time.  

But after working all day, sometimes you wanted to get those grimy clothes off, wash the paint chips away and go have a drink. In this illegally taken photo, someone kindly captured the essence of Rich the sailor-boy standing with my friend Owens who had no first name. Look how happy and filthy I am! I was probably going to be leaving the ship soon.

But no one wanted to go into town in uniform. You were treated much better if you were in civilian clothes. Some businesses had signs posted that read 'No Dogs or Sailors Allowed'. However, when you left the ship, you had to be in uniform and that created a conundrum. 

This collision of worlds was solved by entrepreneurs who developed a system of locker rooms which they built right outside the base gates. You could rent a locker and keep your civilian clothes off base and change and shower right there. 

Many of them also ran a bar, a tailor and a laundry so when you came back at the end of the evening, you gave them your disgusting, sometimes bloody clothes and they would be ready for you next time around. 

This was the true essence of capitalism, the creation of a service based on a clearly defined consumer need. Even if the consumers were sailors.