Thread by @awstar11

Time for a sea story
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https://twitter.com/stephengracin/status/1091140490479788033

When I was the Operations Officer on a US Navy destroyer in the late 90's. It was by far, the hardest job I've ever had. Standing 6hrs on watch / 6hrs off for weeks on end. During my "off watch" time running a department of 100 sailors, managing the ship's schedule...
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... meetings, collateral duties, senior watch officer (3rd in command) and occasionally eat & sleep. It was literally exhausting. But, it wasn't really manual labor. It was making difficult decisions (defensive weapons release authority)...
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...training and dealing with the type of craziness only sailors can invent.

On my last time going to sea with this ship, there was a raffle to raise money for MWR (moral, welfare & recreation) fund.
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The winner of the raffle got to pick anyone on the ship to work in the scullery - the Navy term for the dish washing area - for one meal. My department pooled their money and of course chose me.
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At first, I was dreading it but, as I got into the washing, I really started to enjoy the mindless work of it. No decisions, no complaining, no tough choices. It was actually relaxing.

The crew tried to make special concoctions to make it harder for me...
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... but, it was an industrial kitchen and I had more than enough water pressure to handle anything they threw at me. And, the crew that would try to make fun of me would would get soaked before they'd realize their mistake.
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As the meal ended, I finished the dishes and put everything away, cleaned up the space and presented myself to the Chief Mess Specialist who was in charge. He was used to dealing with 17/18 year old kids who didn't want to be there...
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... and had no idea how to handle the situation where the job was completely done, correctly and left spotless. I left the scullery completely energized.

It was one of my favorite memories of my entire time in the Navy.

Fin

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