28. What exactly did you do and where did you serve in the military?
Answer: Supply: Management Specialist. While in the U.S. Military I did 3 (6 month) deployments overseas in 4 years to many different countries. In normal operations I managed the supply inventories (lotsa good bartering happening there lemme tell ya!). In the middle of nowhere deployed for months at a time dudes will trade anything for a case of Captain Crunch cereal! LOL Consequently I always had new boots and gear and free access to the MARS Radio Room (where we could call home whenever/wherever). During Battlestations (on my first boat I manned a .50 cal providing cover for advancing Marines) and the next two boats I worked with the Hospital Corpsmen putting "damaged" soldiers back together.
'89 - '94
- Desert Storm
- Somalia
U.S.S. Vancouver LPD-2
U.S.S. Ranger CV-61
U.S.S. Lake Champlain CG-57
Countries visited (a couple times each):
So one day I'm walking through a water-tight (half-ton) door on the ship and this dude in front of me slams the door behind him. I jumped back and felt a tug on my left hand. Apparently I didn't jump back fast enough as my thumb got caught in the hinge of the steel door and popped off. In disbelief I looked at my thumbless hand and figure,"wow, that really hurts..." I calmly opened the door, picked up my thumb and walked to medical (calm because I was prolly in shock). So they looked at my injury and shouted,"OH SHIT! Dude, you've gotta get to Balboa (hospital in San Diego)!" There was no duty driver available atm so I had to drive myself (stick shift). Got there at 9am, they didn't call me till around 1pm and the doctor told me,"well it severed just after the last knuckle there so I don't have any skin to sew it on with - I'll have to sew it through the finger nail." Well shit, what could I say - don't sew it back on?! So he did the best he could - sewed it on - its been like 15 years since and today my thumb works fine. Folks don't even know that anything happened to it - unless I tell them.
