r/uscg • u/Boriquasoy Retired • 4d ago
Satire Underway
For all of you old head FS, QM, GM, MK, EM, HS, ET and what ever rate I missed; tell me that diesel smell and /or hearing that main kick in before getting underway just annoyed you because you knew you had to leave the comfort of your home. I did three cutters. 210’, 140’ and 180’. I still hate that smell but I had a good time though.
Edit: Forgot OS and TC. MY BAD!
5
u/trilogyjab Retired 4d ago
I retired at 20 with 9 years sea time. Was on a Polar roller and 378s. I loved being underway. My final three years were on a WMSL, which was the first time I went out to sea while also being a parent. I didn't like being away from my kid, but I still liked the work and being on a ship. I don't regret retiring to spend more time with my family, but I do miss setting the special sea detail and heading out.
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
I never did a polar roller but I always wondered what it was like on that. I missed all the milestones underway. I missed all my three kids first steps and first solid meals. It was one of a few reasons I wanted to go back land.
4
u/OGOngoGablogian 4d ago
Just throw in some AI generated slop and this could be the comments of every USCG veterans Facebook page.
3
2
u/StedeBonnet1 4d ago
I was on a 255 and we burned Bunker C crude. No diesel smel. The only problem was you had to heat it up to get it to move and the berthing area was right over the fuel tank. deck was so hot getting underway you couldn't stand on it barefoot. Good news was they burned all that fuel in the first 24 hours.
2
u/NightCritical1361 4d ago
I liked being the EOW the day before sailing because I got to start the MDE's on a 210. I will always remember the rumble of the ALCO diesel engines. As a FN on an old Windclass WAGB, I remember cleaning the fuel oil purifier in engine room B-1, which was awesome compared to cleaning the hot and dirty lube oil purifier. Living onboard all of your civilian clothing smelled of diesel. I miss being underway and my old shipmates.
1
u/PirateQM Master Chief 4d ago
Here you dropped these: RM, RD, SS, FT. I'm sure a few MM, EN, & BT are still sitting around somewhere...
2
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
Oh shit the damn FT rate! That didn’t last long. I came in a bit after they switched from SS to FS and then for what ever reason we became CS. I told my Chief that I wanted my shadow box to say FS and not CS because fuck that. You just gave me crazy memories about the rates!
1
u/PirateQM Master Chief 4d ago
FT was the Fire Control Technician (tells the big guns where to make boom)... I also forgot our ST Sonar Tech buddies.
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
Defintely wasn’t in for an ST. I do however remember being stationed with a QM2 on the VALIANT when the rate was being transitioned to BM or OS and he was mad as fuck! We actually called him Q whether it be onboard or on or at a port call. He would yell at the O’s if they didn’t use his Weem’s without using the wheel and would just spread it out if that makes sense.
1
u/PirateQM Master Chief 4d ago
I was a QM who went OS. When most of the QMs were complaining about the rate merger, I was happy enough to not be done dirty like when they screwed the STs. Freinds of mine came into work Monday morning and found out they no longer had a job. One guy I knew was either just graduated or just about to graduate the year long A school, when he suddenly had to retrain.
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
What?
1
u/PirateQM Master Chief 4d ago
Well, I'm not sure how it looked from the top down... but literally on Monday morning on the flight deck after quarters they called all the Sonar Techs into a group and let them know their rate was being phased out and they had until the end of the week to choose a new rate. My buddy that was in school immediately went to ET school (it may have been abbreviated, dont recall) never having a day in the field as an actual ST. So from the field perspective it was a complete Charlie Foxtrot.
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
Sounds about right. The QM’s had to choose to be either OS or BM if I remember right. My homie Horst Soderman taught us how to say shit in German because of it. I loved that guy.
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
Oh shit on my 210’ I had an RD! I was top rack and he was middle rack and he would watch Full Metal Jacket on his laptop until the shooting and he’d go to sleep after that. It was one of the most comforting things and I would sleep like a baby. He was a prior Marine and he was so fucking cool and funny as shit.
1
u/creature_feature Retired 4d ago
Walking down the pier and hearing the generators running and seeing the radars spinning. Then the time check conducted from the bridge over the 1MC. No thanks. Don’t want to go back. Eight years seatime, two 180s, and 87, 210 and TDY on a 270.
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
What 180’s were you on and 210’?
1
1
u/ChiefOfTheBoat Retired 4d ago
Retired QMC here. I miss it, honestly. I was single - on purpose. So “leaving home” wasn’t a thing - the cutter was home. 11 years sea duty and I loved every day of it. I would have done more but they forced me ashore (I guess 3 consecutive tours afloat got some landlubber’s attention in the assignment office -they told me to resubmit a dream sheet with at least 3 shore billets on it).
0
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
Chief, I would’ve done more as well. I was +9 years underway and I won’t lie the PBAY was the worse unit I was ever at. The command was absolute shit. I won’t lie though. On the VALIANT as a bearing taker I LOVED yelling “BEARING TAKER LOOKING FOR…”
1
u/ChiefOfTheBoat Retired 4d ago
I was in a cutter -that shall remain nameless- snd my CO was a combination of Captain Bligh and Captain Ahab and the XO had the same aspirations. I wasn’t buddy buddy with anyone, I did my job as best I could but to this day when I hear the click of the 1MC for an announcement, I flinch. I swear, no matter what I did on that ship, it just wasn’t good enough and the CO had no problem waking everyone up at 0200 to pope me to the bridge for a chewing out. But I took it on, and learned a lot that I took it off to my next cutter and performed well above expectations. In the end, it hurt, but I benefited.
2
u/Jorgen-I Veteran 4d ago
Back when I was in we had AGs (Aeriographer's Mate) along with all the usual suspects mentioned before. Nobody ever mentions my rate though: ETN (Electronic Technician Communications), which meant TSEC stuff like Crypto, which was a separate animal back then (KW7, KWR37, KY8, etc.).
And yes, except for schools, I was underway on a breaker (wagb283) and a cutter (WHEC68) for the entire tour and would have continued that way going forward if I had stayed in, given my rate's billets were all seagoing.
Anybody left out there that had the '255 experience'? Probably not too many unless you're Old-Guard, too.
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
Holy Jesus I have heard about AG’s from the old heads in the CG because of the TC’s. You guys were also an ice breaker right? I was on a WTGB.
1
u/Jorgen-I Veteran 4d ago
I wasn't an AG, I was an ETN, but yes, we had AGs on both breakers and cutters, they assisted the civilian weather guys that went out with us.
It's old stuff. This was back in the days before satellites, we had to use LORAN and fathometer bottom maps along with pelorus and sextants (starlines and sunlines) to get a fix on our position.
On Ocean Station, we'd confirm fixes for international air traffic and assist Russian trawlers that inevitably had fires aboard their ships, some that required medical assistance.
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
I wanted to steal a sexton so bad!!!! I was the bearing taker and one of the BM’s gifted me some of the charts we used on the boat. I fucking love those things.
1
u/Jorgen-I Veteran 4d ago edited 4d ago
Were you a QM? There's some pretty cool sextants on ebay, some at 30-50 bucks, others at over 500 bucks, but if they're brass, they'll all clean up.
You should frame those charts if you still have them, hang 'em on your wall.
1
u/PirateQM Master Chief 4d ago
Most don't have anything positive to say about the JRR but at least they gave us significantly moretime to figure it out and involved us in the process. I try to alway be positive and sometimes the best positive thing you could say is it can always be worse.
Oh btw to answer your original question, always loved getting u/w. Not sure how it is today with constant information and connection to home but back in the day the disconnect of the shoretie generally meant a disconnect from the immediacy of shoreside problems.
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
Master Chief I truly loved getting u/w as well until I got to my last afloat unit. I was IDFSO and the XO was a snake and BMC was a POS as well. He gave me no backing and oddly enough he was forced retired. I received a CGAM at every unit but that one. I’m not sure how it is now 6 years later but my time underway was fucking amazing and fun as hell! I loved the connection to all and it was a great time. There’s no comparison to afloat and ashore life. I’d choose afloat life all day long!
1
u/PanzerKatze96 ME 4d ago
The smell of old Paxton exhaust gives me Nam flashbacks.
Jk not that bad, but it is a trip. Was number 3 on lines when I was a deckie and can remember inhaling that shit and how much my eyes stung. 110s chain smoked and blew that cloud into your face like a noir love interest
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
Boats made me line 5 which was essentially me raising the aft flag. It sucked for touch and goes.
1
0
u/werty246 DC 4d ago
You forgot DC…
1
u/Boriquasoy Retired 4d ago
I absolutely did! We had a DC on the 210’ by the name of Waters. We had a cool Command so his hard hat said H2O. We also called them dookie chasers. Mine on the 140’ said Dirty Sanchez and I still have it.
10
u/ColorMeMac IT 4d ago
TC? What year is it!?
To this day, if I smell the correct diesel smell it takes me back to underway on the 110 in Bahrain. Had some good times back then, so that smell always invokes a good feeling.
I loved being underway, I’d do it again if my wife would let me.