The third destroyer I served on, as I had said before was a steaming mother!!

Many of the things in life; were brought to a sharper and clearer definition through my service in the US Navy...  One of the important facts was that people, are generally lazy and will continue to do the same stupid things even though they know it is wrong... BTW: This is one of the things we need to learn to get over in our life! 

I saw guys, when they got paid, {we were paid twice a month in cash} go on liberty on the beach, and come the very next day and have to borrow money...  Life like nature hates a vacuum; so there were loan sharks, who would loan, $5 for $7, and multiples on the same scale, until  next pay day...   BTW This did not happen to me, I had an allotment sent to my bank, and I learned to live off just a few bucks....  Some times I would stand duty in port, for cash, and thus increase my bank roll....  { This meant that if someone had a duty weekend in port and wanted to go home, or on the beach, they would get (Pay) someone to stand their watch...}  

Another wonderful idea was that some guys thought that they could drink, everyone else under the table.... DUH!!  It is never going to happen!!  So we had some real addicted sailors on the ship...  { I went out once, with some of our gang, to do the bar hopping, well after about the fifth or sixth bar, one other guy and myself decided to take the bus back to the base and call it a night...}  BTW: I was conned into it; some of the guys had said,  "Kermit you never go to the bars, what are you scared or something?? " To which I answered  "No I have spent more time in bars, over the past twenty years with either my father, or step father; than you guys will if you started ten years ago...."   BTW:  did I know bars....  No fun either, you can only play so many games of shuffle disc, and pin ball....  So they badgered me into going on the one and only bar hopping run, I did while in the Navy... 

 Now there were other opportunities.... Shore Patrol, or what we called nite stick liberty....  I was selected, or elected, or what ever to patrol the "Strip" right outside the Navy base, we would go over about dark time; two by two....  We instructed to comb the bars, and be on the look out for sailors who were belligerent, and or fighting...  Great fun, watching drunk sailors....  Well we would approach a suspect, and try to talk him into just going back to the ship, or Navy base and sleeping it off... Most did, but there were always some stupid igmo; who thought he was ten feet tall and bullet proof, and wanted to fight us....   So we would have to subdue him...   Usually one Shore Patrol would confront the sailor face to face, while the other one went around behind,  {I liked this part best} and when the guy started to punch out the Shore Patrol in front of him, I would run my nite stick down the back of his jumper, and grasp one shoulder and force him out the door.... Where we had called, for a pick up by the Patty wagon..... Hand cuffs were not usually necessary, this is something they started doing on TV and in the movies....  Ya, and we did not have to shoot anyone either....    Neat experience, but would not want to be a policeman....  Thanks to you guys who are !! We need you, so thanks for your service!!

Then there was the example of power is as power does! This is a lesson in life that we all should learn early, and remember always....  There are people who live by violence, they think that everyone has to be mean and over bearing to get any where in life...  Boy did they miss the boat!!  Maybe you know someone like that...

Well, one thing that was reinforced while in the service was that some people only respect power....  There are many quotes we could use about such persons, but I will now just limit this discussion to a few events that  I saw....   Many movies, and books have been written about being so called " Ten feet tall, and Bullet proof " of course this is just the figment of someone's imagination...   Some people want to be greater than they are, or be concieved as tough  and feared...   Most of these people, the ones who are not insane, are really seeking,  love and companionship, but do not know how or where to get it....   They come to think that if they are mean, and crual, that people will respect them...  What they do not understand is that , this type of respect,  when you get it is simply out right fear...  

I will cover more on this when we discuss some more actual examples of this type behavior, in later blogs...

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