Sea Stories

I spent 12 years in the US Navy (mainly in submarines). Like anyone who spent time in the service I have many stories about my time there that range from the hilarious to the horrible. One such story is about qualifying subs. One of the requirements to be on a submarine is that all hands must qualify submarines. The submarine qualification basically states that you are familiar with all the major systems on the sub and can be useful in a casualty anywhere on the sub. I like everyone else that has qualified subs had to balance my time between work, regular watch station quals, and sleep (that thing we non-quals always talked about but never seemed to get), and, like everyone else I was having trouble getting my signoffs.

I finally came up with (what was to me) a good plan, I would find an Auxiliaryman (A-ganger) and trade some skill I had for knowledge that he had. I approached a guy named Leeman Burke and found out that he wanted to learn how to play guitar. Since I knew how to play guitar and needed to get qualified subs and Leeman was qualified subs and wanted to learn guitar we struck a deal.

I wondered at the time though while learning and teaching of either of us were going to achieve our goals, as initially, his playing was as good as my knowledge of the ship's steering system. However, with practice, practice and yet more practice we both achieved our goals and I got qualified subs.

The point I want to make here and the reason for this entry is that almost every success you will have in life is a group effort.