Starting a 750 Kw steam-driven turbo-generator (SSTG) can be ... fun ... when you're compose mentos. When you're barfing your brains out it's much more fun! Getting ready to get underway from Subic Bay, c. 1983, involved getting our internal generator online so we could unplug from the pier. I seldom drank when I was in the PI, thank you my-shipmates-who-served-as-examples-of-why-that-was-a-bad-idea, so I was little surprised when I felt sick that morning. I yelled for one of the troops to bring a trash bag and he barely got there in time. I keeping nursing the SSTG up to operating speed, usually a twenty-minute operation requiring constant attention. That day was no exception if you disregard the fact that I was leaning on the damn thing to avoid falling down. Evidently my barfing made the trooper's stomach object and quickly we were taking turns at the bag. Well, mostly we took turns. The competition, perhaps inevitably, resulted in a collision of foreheads. Now I'm not a small man, but the trooper was pretty much Drax. The mutual headbutt knocked us both down. But we kept on barfing.
Join the Navy, it's an adventure.
Join the Navy, it's an adventure.
