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Praetorium Honoris

Monday, April 8, 2019

EWWWWWW!

Rainy weekend with moderate to severe T-Storms around. That put a damper (so to speak) on progress on the outside tasks of Mrs J's honeydoo list. Right now, the priority in those tasks is rearranging the horse corral. I've been told by the Vet that I'm taking too good care of these rescues and they (and I) need to "Lose Weight".

I tell him, that I'm not feeding them any grain, they're just grazing.  Well, seems we've had a pretty good spring and the grass is making them fat.  Asking the obvious question, "How do you get a horse to stop grazing?"  He replies, "Put them in the round pen".

OK, we use that for training and not keeping.  No Water, No Shade, No protection from the weather.
Red Circle-Current Pen position, Middle Blue Circle-Proposed Pen Position, Right Blue Circle- current water trough, Black Circles- Horses

So, I am rearranging the corral, moving the Round Pen, which is actually just several panels that hook together to form a pen, just to the east side of the tree, thus moving it closer to the water line and alleviating my need to carry water to them....frequently. As in 10 gallons/horse/day or, using a more personal measure, 167Lbs of water for me to fetch and carry each day.  Once the pen is moved, I'll trench from the existing water trough to the new area and put in a water line. 

The other advantage of moving it to the east side of the tree, is shade in the afternoon.

So that was the plan for this weekend because one of the neighbor boys (we share a fence line) was going to be available to help.  But Rain and T-Storms put paid to that plan, Saturday a complete loss, rescheduled for Sunday.  Severe Thunderstorms as we left for Church. 


Update: Got home from town Sunday afternoon, went to wash my hands and no water.  Thought Verdammt fire ants had gotten into the pump switch again.  (They like electricity, even if it kills them.)  Went down to the well, opened the door, got stung by a red wasp, exterminated the rest of the nest, got to the switch, cleaned it off, put it all back together and turned the breakers back on. 

Nada.
 
Check the voltage coming out of the Meter.


Nada.

Looked at the transformer.  No connection to the incoming line.  The fuse is blown.  Must have been the lightning, but AHHH!  No es mi problema.  Call the Electric Co-op.  They come by and replace the fuse.  

And notice an electrified squirrel. (Living in the country has its pluses and minuses.)

Anyhoo, back to the story.  While I was doing the anti-rain dance Saturday (another Dance that obviously, I am unable to perform having failed at Mongolian Mambo yesterday), I was perusing the internet for something to write about.

You know...the Internet is a wonderful place to gain knowledge of the most useful kind, and Google makes sure that you get to see exactly what you want to see, by recommending just exactly what you were thinking about.

Or something like that.

But, between crashes of thunder, I am on my Firefox home page and one of my recommendations is a YouTube video from the History Guy that talks about a sunken U-Boat that had been discovered a few years ago.

So, I watched it,  very interesting.  It contained a lot of things that I had never considered, or even thought about considering, that are critical to the operations on a submarine.

Given my sophomoric sense of humor, I got quite a few chuckles from the film as the History Guy deftly avoids the so obvious direction the story is going to go.

You see, on its first operational mission, U-1206 was lost when its head was improperly flushed.
Source

If you Google "U-1206", the return titles resemble conversations in a 
7th grade Boys Gym anywhere in the world.  Go ahead, see what I'm talking about.  Heck, even DuckDuckGo isn't any better.

The U-Boat's Skipper, Karl-Adolf Schlitt, had the boat positioned about 12 NM off Peterhead Scotland, when one of the officers needed to use the facility. (The two proper nouns in that sentence could not be more perfect for this tale. I know, I know, sophomoric!)  After having done his business, he activates the flushing mechanism.   (Apparently, they had a sailor on board who was expressly trained and his sole responsibility was to flush the toilet.  "What is this medal for, Daddy"?  "Flushing Toilets!")


In any case, the officer, not the trained sailor, u
nfortunately activates the flushing system in the wrong sequence and instead of things going out, things came in. 

With water coming into the boat, the crew has to surface as the sea water has caused the sub's batteries to produce chlorine gas (a very bad thing to be around especially when you're in an enclosed tube).  Being very close to Scotland's coast, they are soon spotted, attacked and the sub damaged.  They scuttle the ship and take to life rafts where they are captured and spend the rest of the war (about 3 weeks) as POW's.

Source
Aside from my juvenile chuckles, the History Guy's video does a pretty good job of explaining the physics of waste disposal from a submarine.

C'Mon, you know you want to know that, right?






I will never look at Submariners the same again.

86 comments:

  1. When I went to shore duty in '78 ships were still discharging human waste directly into the water even when in port.
    Imagine the water near the piers at a large Navy base in those days.

    During my time in the shipyard I learned that the Navy no longer discharges human waste into the water unless they ship is a certain distance from land.
    Human waste tanks and the associated piping are all part of the CHT system. (Collecting, Holding, and Transfer)
    Someone more clever than I suggested it should be called Sewage Handling Internal Transfer system, but it remains CHT.

    And I know way more than than any normal person needs to know about storing and pumping the CHT.

    I didn't realize horses drank that much water.

    It is unfortunate for the squirrel that electricity causes them to pass on, but it is lucky that it doesn't cause us to have to deal with mutant, electrified, super squirrels.
    How do you deal with mutant electrified super squirrels? Maybe start with an A-10?

    Good post! I was flushed with excitement while reading it!

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    1. I suspect the proposed name for the handling system was used more often than the official one.

      Mutant squirrels? Piece of Cake! Mutant Skunks?....B-61's by the dozen, maximum yield.

      Thanks, glad it was excitement, not the other exc*ement word!

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    2. Electric linemen call said rodents "Sparky the Squirrel." "Roasted Raccoon" and "Flambe'd Rat" are also popular critter finds.

      Occasionally they'll get a "Hobo OhNO!" trying to steal copper from active lines or from transformers.

      Colorful people, Linemen.

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    3. They were a couple of "good ole boys". Knew their trade, got the problem fixed in a matter of minutes and, yes, waxed poetic on said squirrel's eulogy.

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  2. Had the first power outage yesterday afternoon. Potatoes had just finished boiling when POW! off in the distance and the kitchen went dark. Circuit breakers were OK and the whole house was powerless. Called in within six minutes and the customer rep said there was a crew assigned and that 130 customers were like me. Less than an hour later and POOF! Back on. Guessing a squirrel met Mr. Transformer up close, so the warm weather starts....sigh. Huh.....heckava way to lose a boat, an officer messing up, imagine......wonder what the rest of the crew thought about that?

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    1. I suspect, with the way things were going for Germany, Mid-April '45, they might have been relieved. Alive and POW of the Allies, not a bad way to end the war.

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  3. "the ship" replaces "they ship."
    The first comment gremlin strikes again.

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    1. I confess I didn't even see that. Now the Obergrammatikführer on the other hand....

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    2. Nope, I missed it too until John ( iP ) told on himself.

      Ogf Paul

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    3. YES, slipping in my dotage, I am.

      Paul

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    4. PLQ,

      RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGHHT!

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  4. Corrals, horses, electrified squirrels, and U-Boats flushed into the depths.

    Amazing. You've set the bar very high juvat.

    Great post for a rainy Monday morning!

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    1. Thanks, Boss. Pretty nice down here this morning. High is supposed to be in the 80's. Guess Mother Nature does a better job of flushing than the German's.

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  5. Well, juvat, you missed it. The doc was trying to help you AND the horses. I've hauled water like that up in Lubbock county in the winter months when the pipes freeze at the barn. I don't know if I lost weight.

    Once (I learn quick), when I was 19, my buddy Mike (build and looks like Tom Selleck at the time) and I tried to give dad a birthday spanking. He turned us into pretzels in 10 seconds flat. Turns out, he'd been slopping hogs with a 4 gallon pail of basically water, twice a day from before 6 to 18 years old. He was stout. He used to run home from school, 5 or 6 miles one way. Ex-Army, Texas Peace Officer, and athletic as could be. He went to state in every sport he tried, even typing!!!

    All that to say this, maybe we both should be carrying water to the critters....

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    1. I'm with you STxAR. I don't mind schlepping water/hay/feed/whatever for the animals. I just want to be the backup not the primary delivery system. As they say, "We ain't getting any younger."

      Sounds like your Dad was a good and solid man.

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  6. So, you can move the pen, and water line, but I am thinking there were reasons why you put them where they are for other reasons. Sooo, would it be easier, and more fun, to just ride the horses more...increase their exercise since you don't really want them to stop eating grass. That would increase your exercise as well, helping to keep both your doc and the vet happy, the horses get to go wander around, they like that usually, AND you don't need to haul 167lbs of water daily...which is no one's idea of a good time!!

    My brother-in-law was in the submarines (American ones, not German ones thankfully!!) and the stories he tells are pretty funny!
    Not thinking the highly vaunted German engineering system was working at top capacity the day that flushing system was designed...just saying...but that History Guy is a pretty funny guy.

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    1. Thanks Suz, but Horse riding is not on my list of medically allowed activities. Doc says I can fall off one time and das es alles. I injured my neck while flying.

      Re:History Guy. You could tell, he was thinking something other than what the script said as he described things on board. I'm chuckling about that right now.

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    2. Ooops!! No unallowed medical activities...das es alles is definitely not how you want to end your 2nd quarter of retirement!! Your Missus would not be happy for sure! Nor would Sarge, as you would not be around for Monday's postings. We would miss those big time!!

      Are you allowed to walk them on a rope, in circles? If you know what I mean...been decades since I rode horses, most of my critter experience is with cows, goats, rabbits. And dogs and cat of course. Or is there either some kid in the neighborhood, or does your wife ride? Just trying to save you from major moving stuff, especially since I am lazy, and try to find the easy way out. lol.

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    3. Actually, I'm ok with the moving of the stuff. And..If we get the plan right, it gives us a bit more flexibility in taking care of them. Might put the round pen panels around the opening to the barn. Trench some water up there into a trough. Then during winter, the water is not frozen (although I do use a water trough heater), we can put hay in the stalls and they are out of the wind and weather.

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  7. Can't pump sanitary tanks until you are fifty miles offshore.

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    1. Well, NOW you can't, thank goodness. Back then....

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    2. Well, StB, you can, but then you'll have every Fed agency from EPA to FDA crawling up your bu.... keister.

      I like the beaches much better now that the 50 mile limit is in place. I remember when it wasn't. Ew.

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    3. Agreed Beans, I've been to some beaches in places that don't have that limit. Not a pretty picture.

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    4. I was reading a book on the CAPTAIN'S class figated, the FEd that we have to the RN. They were turned over to RN crews in NYC.The description of MY harbor, with the city emptying it's untested sewage into the Hudson, to be carried out to sea, was disgusterating. Just reading about it made one's eyes water.

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    5. Why does blogspot's spell check change words, when you press post? For figated, read frigates, DE, for FE.

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    6. Turn it off. Always turn off spellcheck. In most cases we're smarter than the machines and have a much larger vocabulary.

      Anyhoo, it isn't Blogger doing that, it's your browser.

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    7. Scott-The William R. Rush's (DD-714) homeport was a pier in the East River at Ft. Schuyler in the Bronx when I was on her from '76-'78. Yep, no CHT in those days.
      Among the interesting things floating by us were numbers of East River Whitefish.
      Definition #2.
      https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Whitefish

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    8. How far is that from Flushing?

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    9. Sophomoric...very Sophomoric!

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    10. How come I read that in Michaleen O'Flynn's (irl Barry Fitzgerald's) voice from "The Quiet Man"?

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    11. OOOH! Something to research....tomorrow!

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    12. You've never seen "The Quiet Man"? With John Wayne, Barry Fitzgerald, Maureen O'Hara, and so many other great movies?

      One of John Ford's best!

      It's on the Bean's family DVR and we watch it at least once a year, more like once every 3 months, as it is that good. Spectacular scenery.

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    13. "movie greats." "MOVIE GREATS." Yeesh, Beans...

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  8. TINS, folks, this is a great post. Allows us all to think like middle schoolers and yet learn some interesting stuff. I remember the "low residue" luncheons that were issued when we flew the Phantoms over to the secret location in 1965. I guess it worked - or - I was too busy to worry about such things.

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    1. Yeah, weren't those something? On our Moody to Taegu deployment, the lunch made at Hickam was a cut up steak wrapped in black tin foil. The instruction (or more likely the word of mouth) on how to prepare it, said to put it on top of the head rest for about 30 minutes. Did that and, while not hot, was quite warm and tasty. And, you're right, I didn't have a problem. Thankfully!

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    2. Note: TINS has been added to the Acronym Page.

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    3. This is No...Fecal Matter!

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    4. Ah, opposite of IMAT food?

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    5. It Makes A T...(4 letter word for poopsicle, fewmet, baby ruth, floater, brown round, plopper, log, brick, block et al).

      I thought it was a widespread mil-term.

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    6. AHHHHH, I see. I may have been in a feelings protected portion of the military. Never heard that acronymn. Gonna defer to the source of all knowledge, AKA Sarge.

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  9. Ships at sea and disposing human waste is an engineering problem. The comfort of the user is a secondary, if at all, consideration. 50+ years later I remember the facility on the good ship General Maurice Rose and my 14 day all inclusive cruise. A 10' trough with a continuous flow of sea water topped with a stainless steel cover with anatomical shaped indentations around an opening. No toilet paper need, the sea water also acted as a bidet.

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    1. All the comforts of home WSF, all the comforts of home. Plus a Bidet, those are all the rage these days. I always took you for a trend leader!

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    2. And a favorite form of entertainment was to wait for the up roll, and light a wad of TP, put it in the trough, and watch as it traveled "Downhill" on the down roll. Be prepared to run.

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    3. Somebody, maybe you, told me about that on my visit to the USS Kidd. Seems one might find one's self waking up overboard as retribution.

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  10. Dumping ship’s waste was strictly verboten at Midway Island’s harbor.
    Fortunately, most ships were there only long enough to refuel.

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    Replies
    1. But it probably didn't take long after leaving the harbor when the nearest dirt was several miles below you.

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  11. This tale is up to the usual juvat standards. I really need to 'do an Andrew' and go back to the beginning of this blog and read all the posts I have missed. Keep on horsing around down there in the Lone Star State and perhaps some day I may get down there for a visit.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

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    1. It's worth it to go back and read how OldAFSarge has evolved in to the overly literate history buff he is now. Some of those early posts are almost at the "See Dick sit in front of computer. See Dick type on keyboard. Wanna see Dick's picture?" level. (Not really, but the scope of the blog has evolved from his early emptiness to this point, where we're openly discussing how one of NAZI Germany's finest managed to flush any chance of 'Victory at Sea' down the drain. At the same time as we're discussing fat horses. Finest minds at work!

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    2. See what happens when I go through commentor's withdrawal? My sense of humor turns weird(er.)

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    3. Did someway say dicke Pferde?

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    4. Yep....7th Grade Boys Gym Class...In Mongolia. No difference.

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    5. My horses are both (all) Mares.

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    6. Ah, no!!!! Visions of Mongolian teenagers and their low-riding horses... Wait, Mongolian ponies ARE low-riding horses... Weirdness ensues...

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    7. Sleep well, Beans. Please replay Sarge's Yuve Yuve Yu video as a lullaby before falling into the Arms of Morpheus....just to enhance the dream.

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    8. Ah, just have flashbacks of "Mongolvision" and loud cries of "Praise the Horde" while watching "Mongolvision." Weird. May have to introduce y'all to said "Mongolvision." POCIR.

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    9. As to weird music to fall asleep to, fell asleep last night to "Tron: Legacy" and it's heavy heavy electronic score by Daft Punk (who also had bit parts in the movie, special bonus points for those who know who Daft Punk is and what parts they played in the movie.)

      Darned good music.

      As to MTM (Mongolian Throat Music) I can and have fallen asleep listening to it. See my rant on Asian music and the only cultural group I dislike and won't fall asleep to.

      Music I hate to listen to falling asleep: Han Chinese music, some (dot) Indian music (that which is farther away tonally from European music,) (feather) Indian music (especially with flutes) and whiny arsed flute music of the Celtic variety. (I like some Celtic music, just not whiny-arsed flutistic crapola.) And some various and sundry others.

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    10. Speaking of Daft Punk.
      Pentatonix covered them in a video.
      Amazing sound, and the video was shot on a shoestring budget in someone's kitchen.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MteSlpxCpo

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  12. nice and interesting post, juvat. It's amazing the things that y'all who post here and comment here come up with for intellectual stimulation. Not to mention the occasional dive into sophomoric humor. Always enjoyable!

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    1. Thanks, Tom,
      We aim to please, plus a little return to 7th Grade never hurts. Just don't stay there!

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  13. Whilst a Midshipman 1/c, I served in USS Odax (SS-484). Amongst the numerous qualifying checkoffs was how to use the head. I did pass. The most frequent trick played while we trainees were diving officer was a (seemingly) innocent request to "Blow sanitaries and vent them inboard". It only took once....

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    1. OK, I did have to reread the third word in your second sentence lest the OGF gets involved. I'm assuming, out of an aeronautical background sense of ignorance, that the command was not necessarily either in the correct order or the correct direction?

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    2. The command was technically correct, but resulted in an interior effluvium not easily forgotten; as well as enmity from the entire crew. Normally (unless in extreme stealth mode, one vented sanitaries outboard; preferably while surfaced.

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  14. I read a book about US sub operations during WWII, can't remember if it was full of factual stories or a novel, but apparently one can have fun with the bronze toilet seat and a hand-cranked generator set.

    John Ringo touches on this in his 'Vorpal Blade' series. Something about you don't piss off submariners as they have eeeeevil ways of getting even (something about locking people in a steel tunnel for 90 days at a time seems to direct madness into semi-useful and painful ways.) (The way JR relates in his VP series is some chowderhead pisses off some of the powerroom techs on their converted SSBN which is now the first human starship. Taping said chowderhead to the outside hull in a space suit with lots of air tanks or an air line while locking all the suit joints and cutting his radio, for days. The ship's surgeon quietly sedates said CH when they find him, pending transfer from the ship next time they hit home port...)

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    1. I can't be positive, but I'm fairly sure that the hand-cranked generator is a hand cranked megger, and the Electrician's Mates used them to test if motor insulation is good. It can deliver a fairly harmless high voltage and low amperage shock.
      Very effective when you need to wake up the heavy sleeper and you don't wish to leave visible evidence.
      If you scroll down a good bit, you will find that piece of equipment described as a MEGOHMMETER.
      http://www.rfcafe.com/references/electrical/NEETS-Modules/NEETS-Module-03-1-31-1-40.htm

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    2. Yes...well...Kinda says it all doesn't it. Fighter Pilots start looking like normal upstanding heroes in comparison, now. Right?

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    3. John,
      Hmmmm! I would tend to wake up cranky that way. Things might go downhill from there.

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    4. Technique used as last resort on those who didn't care and were already late for relieving the watch.
      Don't think you would be in either category.

      A good managerial technique for dealing with those habitually late in relieving the watch was to begin with verbal counseling, then move to peer group pressure, "Nobody leaves the engineering space until all the watch reliefs are on the deck plates," after that the watch supervisor would send two large snipes to fetch the late watch relief with the caveat that as soon as they delivered him to the deckplates they could leave, and also the watch relief must be in a condition that he could stand watch.
      Being late for relieving the watch just isn't done, and if by chance it happens, (we're all human) you would relieve way early on the next watch to make up.



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    5. John,
      That's what I really expected. I'm watching a online course on WWII. The first installment ended with a very appropriate quote. "It's easier to lead humans than to drive them." It was intended to highlight the difference in the Allies approach as opposed to the Socialist/Dictatorial approach.

      I think it apt...at so very many levels.

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    6. And I forgot to mention that part of the leadership is to include myself in the peer group.
      I also stayed on the deckplates until everyone was relieved.

      It took me quite a while to realize that when I assigned tasks, they didn't have to be done my way, the task simply had to be done right.

      I stumbled on this Patton quote quite a long time ago.
      "Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."
      George S. Patton

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    7. I'd read that quote early on in my career. Wasn't always successful in following it, but it was a good place to start.

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  15. Good luck with the horses. And yes, submariners are kinda 'serious' about getting the flushing procedure correct...

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    1. Out of curiosity, how is the, ahem, disposal of human waste handled on P-3s?
      Do we non-airdales need to look out for a yellow rain drizzle, or a rainstorm with lumps?

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    2. Maybe a "Watch out for the Blue Ice" moment?

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    3. Most likely, much like on an airliner. The waste is kept in a SHIT (CWT for Nylon) and downloaded for further disposal upon landing. Which is why you don't want to go to the restroom on a long intercontinental flight just before landing.

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    4. Man, just like a septic service, once again juvat sucks the fun out of the thread.... :)

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    5. Yes....but I started the thread, and set the fun level at Sophomoric. And that having been said...Don't go to the restroom at the end of a 17 hour Trans-Pac flight. Especially on MAC (AMC now).

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    6. Um, yeah. Take a double dose of Imodium first, right? I thought they waste dumped over the ocean. Well, I learn a new thing every day.

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    7. Some of the Airline Guys that comment here could probably inform us one way or another. But can you imaging the $4!7Storm there'd be if an inadvertent $4!7Storm happened over NYC, DC, SF, LA or Chi? Course figuratively that's exactly what's been happening in flyover country for years. I'd probably laugh if it actually happened to them.

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  16. LOL... Actually, the P3 did not have a “working” head on board. We had a pisser, and a 5 gallon bucket under the $600 form fitting structural member. Most of the time, you did not take a dump on the airplane, because if you did then it was open season and the first one that took a dump had to empty the bucket. The pisser got emptied by the lowest ranking in listed, or whom ever on the crew was on the shit list for that day! :-)

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  17. After reading these comments, all I've got to say is....
    You guys (non gender specific) are ok. Warped sense of humor, much like my own.

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