My rate was Boatswains Mate. When I passed the exam I had turned age 20. I loved being a Bosuns Mate and when the Skipper called me "Boats" on the bridge it was even better.
I would have not liked working for me back then. I was to young and to full of coffee.

An old ditty "The Boatswain's Mate"
Does a BM work? As no other I can attest.
As a sailor, he is best!
With a coffee cup in hand, he makes the ship reach the land.
A Bosun makes sure the work is done, that is from sun to sun.
I think there is nothing quite so great and salty as a Boatswain's Mate,
A Boatswain's Mate with hairy chest who never gives his yap a rest.
A Boatswain's Mate who yells all day, for someone up to deck to lay.
And calls on his pipe and booms in brasso "sweepers man your brooms."
Any fool can make a rate; but only God makes Boatswain's Mates.

Originally I was a BM Striker but crossed over to EN because in the late 50's there was a lot of Hash Mark BM3 around I did have some good training boat handling I could walk a Mike Boat with the best of them even after 15 years as a Snipe. I guess when you get the knack of boat handling you don't forget.

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i'm an undesignated airman, in strike fighter squadron 136.

Welcome Lance!

Welcome aboard Lance us oldtimers are grateful for your Service to our Country.

Is this a Navy thing? I retired an E7

coach I think it was started as a new post I just answered Dave and it was kinda left hanging out.

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quote:

Originally posted by coachman:
Is this a Navy thing? I retired an E7

I hope it is a seagoing thing. I was hoping to get a discussion going on our rates both in the Navy and Coast Guard. I remember we used to tease one another on the Cony regarding our rates.

Well alrighty then you anchorclankers have at it LOL us groundpounders will march out.

Glad to hear from you Dave
My Opinon of a BM
1.BMC will write a chit on you in a heartbeat.Most important don't walk in front of this Old Salt,don't wash his Coffee Pot
2.BM1&BM2 the backbone of the Ship.
3.BM3& BMSN (this is these old salts I saw in Mine PAC)can park any boat single screw or twin screw in a space the length of the boat and never scratch the paint give or take 12 inches.They don't care what your Rank or Rate is if it is a Liberty Boat don't ever step on the seats of that boat or he will chew your A** until you don't even think you have one.(these Old Salt BM3&BMSN's were probly leftover Beachmasters from the Korean conflict.PSJust so you don't get the big head after I made 2nd class I wasn't afraid of most BM's but I found out it was a good idea to let them think different.

And I was a Machinist Mate, got the privelege of being in a hydraulic shop where we played with both hydraulics and pneumatics..I served on the USS Holland AS-32 until her lovely decom in April 96.

Welcome Aboard Snipe I was in Charleston Navy Shipyard on a AOG the same time the AS 32 came in for mod.and major overhaul I think they had just came back from being stationed in Holyloc, Scotland it was 1968 I was an EN started out as Minesweep Salior but did a lot of everything did some Tugboat Duty put two years in Vietnam I Corp ,AOG S.C,LST 1181 Little Creek VA. worked on just about every Diesel Engine USN ever had Fairbanks Indianhead Airjammer,Copper Bessemer Airjammer Packard 2D-850,Packard ID 1700 Jimmy 16-278's,38 1/8 Fairbanks opposed Piston,even worked on a old Union with and outside oiler. Minesweeper had Varible Pitch and so did the LST(1181).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sully,

quote:

Originally posted by Sully:
Glad to hear from you Dave
My Opinon of a BM
1.BMC will write a chit on you in a heartbeat.Most important don't walk in front of this Old Salt,don't wash his Coffee Pot
2.BM1&BM2 the backbone of the Ship.
3.BM3& BMSN (this is these old salts I saw in Mine PAC)can park any boat single screw or twin screw in a space the length of the boat and never scratch the paint give or take 12 inches.They don't care what your Rank or Rate is if it is a Liberty Boat don't ever step on the seats of that boat or he will chew your A** until you don't even think you have one.(these Old Salt BM3&BMSN's were probly leftover Beachmasters from the Korean conflict.PSJust so you don't get the big head after I made 2nd class I wasn't afraid of most BM's but I found out it was a good idea to let them think different.

Sully:
That is how we did it on the Cony. I made BMSN on the Cony and loved operating the whaleboats. The fact was it would rile me when sailors would leave their black shoe heel marks on my clean surfaces! I received high marks for boatmanship.

Dave I have been reading a lot in your homepage lately enjoy it very much got some great links out of there.I read your story about the Bay of Pigs.I had some pretty weird stuff happen to me that day also I was on a West Pac cruise in Mine Div 72 we had just pulled into Sasebo Japan I had just came off Shore Duty in Sasebo the previous Sept. so I thought since I had a lot of friends to see I would take 3 days leave while I was there so I swapped duty with one of the guys in my EN Room I took his duty because I was going on leave anyway the next day. To make a long story short I had the Mid- Quarterdeck watch and I noticed there was something diffrent where there was normly Japenese Security Guards they also was USMC guards also I ask one of the Marines what the heck is going on he said we may ready to kick some butt down in Cuba the only thing I knew to do was wake up the XO he didn't know anything either so he woke up the Skipper. And when the Skipper walked out on the Quartedeck and looked at all the extra Marines he walked out on the pier where I was and asked one these Marines what to He** was going on when the USMC told him what he had just told me I had never saw our Skipper mad before he was an old Mustang LT Commander he went to his Wardroom about 30 minutes later the Deck Officer was on the Quarterdeck and we were at GQ and already underway I didn't know them old Packard Disels rattled so much cold.At 0700 the Skipper passed the word on the PA that a Battle Group was underway and headed for Cuba.That is all was ever said the next week we went back into Sasebo and started up where we left off but I talked to a Marine buddy that I had stood SP with before I went back to the States and he told me that all heck had broke loose over on the base.

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Still not letting us ground pounders in HUH

Hey coach it is ok with me I don't have a problem with Groundpounders my Father was 1stID in France 1917.

Thank you sir for letting an old ground pounder in to play.

Pretty hard to refuse I have picture of my Dad over my PC desk he was 1stID 2BN 16th INF 1917 he lost his left arm at the Aisne-Marne he was a 1st SGT.

Sully:
Thanks for your kind remarks, regarding my web site. Many people are stunned when they see the photo's taken in the Bay of Pigs. One good thing about the photo's is they clearly show there was a lot of action and bad surprises. The CIA people in charge of us did not expect Casto and his entire Army to be on the beach.
That was one time I did not know where I was, or what I was doing. As neither did anyone around me, except the Skipper and XO and they weren't talking.
Our ships spent a lot of time in those waters. The crisis was not really over until the Cuban Blockade ended nearly two years later with an almost nuclear holocaust when the Cony dropped the grenades on the Russian sub. Do you believe that period is called "Peacetime" by the VA? Well it is, though we didn't see much peace!

Dave it was a pretty rough time for all of us that was one day that I was glad my Skipper was a Mustang even though we could tell he was mad he was as cool as a Cucumber.I went into your friend Mike's website and Bama's Bunker it has some great stuff.I also learned a lot about Agent Orange I am sure I have problems but sometimes I feel it was part of my job I treat Agent Orange the same as asbestos.