Back in the Navy, my
rate/rank designation was PN3 (Pronounced pe-en-three, we always
fully spelled out our designations). That stands for Personnelman (My
rate or specialty) and Petty Officer Third Class (My rank, it was
equivalent to being an Army Corporal). During our first term of four
years, we served four months on the mess decks (food storage,
preparation, serving and eating area) where we, for all intents and
purposes, lost our rate designation and became just Petty Officer
Third Class or Seaman or whatever our rank was.
One of our duties
was Pier Sweeper. I was sent out to the pier with instructions to
clean up any trash that I saw. I went out and saw one piece, then
another, then another. Pretty soon, I was dragging a big, formerly
empty box full off trash back to the dumpster close to where the
beginning of the pier was. Finished, I went back up to the
Quarterdeck to report to the Officer Of the Deck that I was finished
and was headed back to the mess decks. The OOD returned my salute and
said how impressed he was.
I had been taking so
long, he figured I had just gone back onto the ship by the other
entrance (That would have been the Midships Brow) and so he was
pretty impressed to see me dragging such a large load. I indicated
that my actions were all in a day's work and not a problem and headed
down below.
A month later, an
announcement came out over the 1MC that another ship of the same
function as the one I was on was coming into port, would load up and
head right back out again to get to Miami, which had just suffered a
hurricane (Hurricane Andrew in 1992). They wanted to take a few
volunteers from our crew down with them. I was initially depressed
and discouraged and wished I could go with them. Then I thought about
my situation and realized that there was no reason I couldn't. I
asked my immediate supervisor, who gave his okay and then went to the
group that was assembling.
Guess who was in
charge of the volunteers? Yup, it was the OOD who was impressed by my
Pier Sweepers performance a month earlier! He very cheerfully approved me for the trip and I was on my way! I packed a
few things into my duffel bag and walked over with the other 20 or so
sailors who were approved for the trip. We tossed off our duffel bags
at our assigned racks (Our sleeping areas that contain a bed, a
under-the-bed storage area and a small stand-up locker for shoes and
hanging shirts and pants) and went back up to help load a food
shipment onto the ship's mess decks.
The next day, I
introduced myself to a female Petty Officer First Class (Two ranks
above me). and she said she remembered me and noted approvingly that
I was a hard worker. We had gotten off on the right foot!
The trip to Miami
was good. I got a Letter of Commendation out of it. We didn't get
ashore much, but I got into town on our last day there.