On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 09:21:23 -0800, stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 02:56:12 GMT,

On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 09:46:29 -0800, stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

During the four years I worked for a private ambulance service <Most
of it inner city> it wasn't unusual to go 24 to 36 hours without any
sleep and with very little food.

Food wasn't a problem. If you were going to be working through
evening chow the cooks would set aside a plate of food for you.

Last night I shuffled through some old pictures from the days I was on
the job and I swear I was skinny as a rail. I wouldn't have expected
these things you are talking about from the navy though.
Why was it like that?

Usually when a critical system like one of the fresh water evaporators
goes down. The water made from sea water is the purest stuff on the
planet-it has to be. First priority for the water is all four of the
ships 1200 psi boilers. The crew gets whatever is left over.

Sheesh!
Water water all around and not a drop to drink.

Laws that applied to labor in other professions in Tennessee didn't
apply to emergency services.

A piece of tuned piano wire is 'limp spaghetti' in comparison with
crew members nerves. I was 22 when I got out and looked 30. My
nerves were shot and hands shook like a palsied old man.

I know the feeling.
We would draw from reserves we never dreamed we had.
We would be alert as hell during calls but crash like a rock in
between.

Yep. For us it would be 'zombie time' except for scant minutes
dealing with some incident.

Strange isn't it?

Yes and no. On the surface, yes, while if you think about it, no.
Consider the body's resources are at critical levels. 'Triage' goes
into effect. Body reserves are going to miseringly doled out. 'Alert
status' (to whatever degree that is) is for the critical time period
only.

I reached a point at which I could do a few minutes of some sort of
trance but it really wasn't all that refreshing.

And coffee, coffee, coffee!
Damn we drank a lot of coffee.

What's scary is learning Navy coffee has it's limitations. While on
generator watch I'd be on the ladder to the lower level that was next
to the generators and timing my chin-ups and pull-ups to the roll of
the ship.

To make it easier?

To stay awake.

Gotcha.
I was reading a book last night and there is a section on Michael
McNulty who directed Waco, Rules Of Engagement.
He was navy during the Vietnam war and his ship's crew was often put
on 24 hour shifts which they could never figure a reason for.
One of his pilot friends was so exhausted one night that he walked
into the propeller on his plane splattering pieces of himself all over
the window in front of the station McNulty was manning.
<He did the filming of the flight deck>
Another incident he witnessed was the acidental firing of a rocket on
the flight deck of another ship which hit the plane John McCain was
sitting in.
One hundred thirty four sailors died in the ensuing fire.
The poor guys were absolutely exhausted.

Sheesh!
What a life.
I'm far enough away from now that it's almost unbelievable that I
actually lived it.

Yep. A couple of months after I got out of the 'canoe club' a special
report came on the idiot box on the life of a sailor. What they
showed was 'luxury' berthing, each rack had a sliding privacy curtain.
It turns out, by law, a state or federal prisoner is entitled to
personal space which is occupied by six sailors. It was a few months
after that when my five year class reunion was held. One gal was
surprised anyone could live through such and retain their sanity.

I'm surprised as well.
I would not have survived it.

Such is also why the Abu whosit prison wasn't a surprise. 'Normal'
goes into a box (compartmentalization) and you operate out of the
'situation'/'scenario'/'environment' box(es).

Oh yeah!
And people in truly normal circumstances think you're nuts.
And they're right ;-)

Such also explains the Marine shooting the unarmed Iraqi in the
Mosque. It's not an if/then situation.

I would have shot the guy too given the circumstances.
I hope they don't scapegoat the kid.

<Instead of sleeping when we had the chance>
I finally reached a point that everybody I saw literally looked like a
walking corpse and I mean *literally*
The end came one night when I went into the bathroom at the county
morgue to wash my face and the guy in the mirror wasn't me but some dark
and brooding alter ego.
My hands would move but his would not.
My facial expressions would change but his would not.

Excellant for use in a book!

There are lots of stories I could tell from that period.
Very, very strange stuff that a lot of folks probably wouldn't
believe.

Reality beats the daylights out of fiction.

Yes it does.
Problem is some people just wouldn't believe many of the stories I
could tell.
Even in a novel some of them would appear to be too far fetched.

He said things to me that I can't recall but they weren't pleasant.
<Lol! A chill just crawled up and down my spine remembering it>
We were all a bit nuts after a while and didn't give a damn about
anything except our patients, weren't afraid of anything or anybody
and would have kicked the Devil's ***** and tied his tail in a knot if
he spoke out of turn.

Navy crews are all crazy.

I expect so.
Is it still that way?

If anything else, it'll be worse with the increased amount of time
ships are 'on station.'

Damn!
How about desertions or suicides?

Very common?

Fights among crewmates?

I am truly surprised by this info.
I always though the navy was fairly easy and mostly fun.

Fun? Rarely. Black humour was a constant.

Black humor, yeah...ha ha.
Not so funny to normal folks though eh?

Easy is dependant on the
observers' situation. Crews from the days of sail would find it a
ruddy paradise!

I imagine they would.
I have several books on the days of sail.
I'm awed that they could do what they did.

Funny thing with us is that while we weren't actually scared of
anything *real* after a while, we were jumpy as hell sometimes.
Emergency rooms, funeral homes and morgues are pretty weird places
after two or three days of constant running and wading through rivers
of blood, vomit and what seemed like mounds of bone crackling beneath
our feet without sleep, decent food and gallons upon gallons of
coffee.

Yep. Same reaction with Navy crews although our 'rivers of blood,'
and such, were different.

Heh.
There are times when I'm watching a movie or my mind begins to wander
that I can smell it and feel everything involved all over again.
Just like being there.
I'm a fan of the series Homicide Life On The Streets and have bought
every season available on DVD.
It's the most realistic series I've ever seen regarding the subject
matter.
There are scenes and characters that I actually recognize from real
life and I've sometimes had to shut it down and take a break.

I mostly don't regret doing the job though.

I saved some lives and alleviated the pain and fear in a lot of
people.
And delivered a bunch of beautiful babies :-)
As for the rest of it...probably nothing that a few really potent
shock treatments wouldn't take care of for a while ;-)

Sometimes we would find ourselves laughing at things and at
inappropriate times which in retrospect weren't funny at all.

Ditto.

We scared the cops sometimes.
My partner and I once laughed when he split his pants while picking up
a murder victim on a city street lined with people about ready to
riot.
It was the third d.o.a. in that same two block area that night.
Two murder victims <One was an 11 year old boy killed with a shotgun>
and one heart attack victim who was distraught over the two murder
victims.
The cops were nervous as hell and it didn't help to have these two
weirdos laughing at their asses off.
Damned embarrassing thing to admit to now.

Why? That was your survival mechanism.

I've heard that said before.
I think maybe it was due more to a really obscene cynicism.

I saw a cop on court tv once testifying about hearing the screams of a
young man who died while trapped in a vehicle fire.
The cop couldn't get to him and was obviously eaten up with guilt
over it.
<Superman should have been able to save the kid ya know>
He was testifying in a really professional manner when suddenly his
voice trailed off, his eyes went blank and "poof" he was gone.
Next thing I knew I was hearing a muffled commercial in the
background, my vision was returning and I realized I had just made the
trip with him.
Sheesh!
Crazy people.
"Poof"

atheist@home#1554

What's scary is learning Navy coffee has it's limitations. While on
generator watch I'd be on the ladder to the lower level that was next
to the generators and timing my chin-ups and pull-ups to the roll of
the ship.

To make it easier?

To stay awake.

Gotcha. I was reading a book last night and there is a section on Michael
McNulty who directed Waco, Rules Of Engagement. He was navy during the
Vietnam war and his ship's crew was often put on 24 hour shifts which they
could never figure a reason for. One of his pilot friends was so exhausted
one night that he walked into the propeller on his plane splattering pieces
of himself all over the window in front of the station McNulty was manning.
<He did the filming of the flight deck> Another incident he witnessed was the
acidental firing of a rocket on the flight deck of another ship which hit the
plane John McCain was sitting in. One hundred thirty four sailors died in the
ensuing fire. The poor guys were absolutely exhausted.

<snip>

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 11:21:23 -0600, stoney wrote
(in article <6iqh01lci3gbce0889ndod0p737hea1moi@4ax.com>):

On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 02:56:12 GMT,

On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 09:46:29 -0800, stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Sun, 06 Feb 2005 03:34:15 GMT,

snip

Food wasn't a problem. If you were going to be working through
evening chow the cooks would set aside a plate of food for you.

Last night I shuffled through some old pictures from the days I was on
the job and I swear I was skinny as a rail. I wouldn't have expected
these things you are talking about from the navy though.
Why was it like that?

Usually when a critical system like one of the fresh water evaporators
goes down. The water made from sea water is the purest stuff on the
planet-it has to be. First priority for the water is all four of the
ships 1200 psi boilers. The crew gets whatever is left over.

Stoney, imagine what it was like when someone dumped the bilges ahead of the
seawater intakes for the boilers.

It was not a pleasant next several weeks.