Beer Day Experiences

[thull]

In certain regimes, alt, time of day, flight station/observer team has beaten the radar operator in locating the feather wake trail of periscopes. I have won my fair share of beer that way. You get real good at picking out buoys, marking on top, and finding swirl patterns. All part of the hunt, and using ALL sensors.

quick, random question. Is alcohol allowed on subs/carriers and if so to what extent?

 

[Brett327]

quick, random question. Is alcohol allowed on subs/carriers and if so to what extent?

With the exception of "Beer Day," there's no alcohol consumption (or posession) allowed while underway, at least on the carrier.

Brett

 

[MasterBates]

When sailors performed well, we launched the "SS Corona", a 8' rubber dinghy with a case of beer, on a tether. Other than that, no beer.

This was off a CG on a Gulf cruise.

 

[scoober78]

Negative on subs...at least in my experience. Some of the ancient guys, between scraping barnacles off their asses, occasionally talked about a "beer day"...but nobody believed them anyway.

 

[thull]

When sailors performed well, we launched the "SS Corona", a 8' rubber dinghy with a case of beer, on a tether.

Sounds potentially more dangerous than any other sea-faring vessel out there..

 

[llnick2001]

nuclear missiles and beer...could make for quite the after party

 

[Intruder Driver]

I'm not sure if it still around, but during the Iranian hostage crisis in the early 80's, we had a beer day if the carrier went 100 days without a port visit. We had one beer day on USS Midway (CV-41), and the rule was 2 beers per person, but no one kept score. Amazing how one's tolerance drops after 100 days. We wound up with about 105 or so days at sea, and then we went to Perth for 10 days, then back to our home-away-from-home, the Philippines, for 10 days before going to our real home of Yokosuka.

One of the nukes, either Ike or Nimitz, went 150 days, and they gave them a second one at that point.

We were also allowed to store booze on the ship in a designated separate, secure area (officers and chiefs only) so that we could stock the admins ashore instead of having to buy alcohol locally.

 

[pat]

Our liquor locker was open to anyone, and run by the MAC. You could drop off bottles/cases at specific hours, and retrieve them when we made it home. I brought a case of wine back.

And we had the same beer days Intruder Driver mentioned, but it was every 45 days without a portcall.

 

[Schnugg]

Have had several beer days. They can be fun. Rule was no port call in 60 days, with no potential port call in next 15 + 2 beers per person. Time for beer day determined by CO.

On one on the Stennis in the NAS in early 2002, the other CVN with us had a bad beer day. 17k cans for 3000 potential drinking sailors...lots of abuse, drunk sailors...what a mess.

So our CO says not gonna happen on our boat. Wrist bands, supply Nazis, and roaming beer enforcement officers...

In the end we had so much beer left over, it was a no big deal kind of thing. Ended up in the officer's wardroom, with the supp O asking if anyone wanted more beer...to help ourselves. Watched the SUperbowl drinking a real Miller beer...yes. Everyone drank responsibly.

Of course only had corny AFN commercials to watch during time outs, etc. "Hi I'm Vern Clark, this is my wife Dottie, we'd like to..."

 

[brownshoe]

I can remember a time when we were doing qualifications on the Lex out of Pensacola. I was on the ground crew that det. For the week or so that we were there, there was a British Buccaneer with a maintenance crew next to us on the ramp. Every afternoon those darned Brit’s would stop for a rum break… right there on the flight line! In my day we never had any beer days; some beer occasionally could be found in the fuel pits, used to cool them with fire extinguishers. Of course I was never a part of that! However, at the Cecil Field enlisted club, all could buy beer for ten cents a can during happy hour. Now I’m gonna date myself… there were “GO-GO” dancers at the club during happy hour.

Steve

 

[Intruder Driver]

May be hard to believe, but until the mid-80's, Wednesday night was dancers at the Oceana O'Club and there was nothing left to the imagination late in the evening. Thursday's was Klondike night, until a young fighter LT lost his new TV in a pot and his wife complained and the base CO told her to learn the way's of a master jet base. The ensuing congressional didn't see it that way and shut us down.

 

[brownshoe]

May be hard to believe, but until the mid-80's, Wednesday night was dancers at the Oceana O'Club and there was nothing left to the imagination late in the evening.

You officers had it made… the dancers at the “E” club didn’t take off anything!

Steve

 

[Intruder Driver]

Well, like too many good deals, one person who probably never went to the O'Club ruined it for all of us.

 

[A4sForever]

We never had a "beer day" as such on the ship(s) I served on ... at least not with the blessing of the Navy nor the ship's CO's ... we just made our own.

DO ANY OF YOU REALIZE HOW HARD IT IS TO CARRY A 100+LB PARACHUTE BAG TOSSED JAUNTILY OVER YOU SHOULDER!!??
AS IF IT WEIGHED 10 LBS WHEN BRINGING YOUR "STASH" OVER THE BROW !!!!!
THE SWEAT IS RUNNING DOWN YOUR BACK !!!
YOU ARE HIDING THE TREMBLING OF EVERY MUSCLE IN YOUR BODY FROM THE SHEER PHYSICAL EXERTION!!!
THE VEINS ARE POPPING OUT OFYOUR FOREHEAD !!!

.... As you calmly salute with the right hand and say ... "Permission to come aboard, Sir" ??

*sigh* .... memories ..... to wit -- (I posted this @ 2 years ago):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After one long 12 hour day on the platform -- @ 0100 with all recoveries made and squadron debriefs done -- four of us LSO's repaired to a rather out-of-the-way stateroom with plates of MIDRATS sandwiches to continue "our debrief". Quietly laughing and scratching with our fortified "orange juice" night caps , we were interrupted by a very loud "BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOM !!" knock at the door ....

The fool nearest the door dutifully opened it; guilt and reflex action, I guess --- WHAT WAS HE THINKING, anyway (that's right, he wasn't ) --- and there in the dimly-lit passageway stood all 6'2" of CAG -- glowering down at us four LSO's caught like the mice that we were with "cheese" all over our whiskers ....

HOW IN THE HELL DID HE KNOW ??? That's right: CAG knows EVERYTHING !!!

CAG thundered: "YOU GUYS ARE IN A HELLUVA LOT OF TROUBLE ...unless I get a drink in my hand, right now !!"

Whereupon four "orange juices" were immediately thrust forward and offered to CAG as he stepped forward into the stateroom, big smile on his face, closing the hatch behind him .... thankfully ..... CAG was the "Bossier City Bearcat", a MiG Master, one of the "Old School Navy" and a really, really good guy ...

FOSTER S. "TOOTER" TEAGUE: 21 Nov. 1934 -- 29 Aug. 1998 ---- Fair Winds and Following Seas, shipmate ...

 

[Steve Wilkins]

With the exception of "Beer Day," there's no alcohol consumption (or posession) allowed while underway, at least on the carrier.

Brett

Silly aviators. You guys can figure out how to take 10 days of househunting when it's not authorized, but you can't figure out how to consume/store alcohol when it's not authorized? Sheeesh.