"Shut all four and Hit the Shore: Life in the Nuclear Navy"

[81038205]

Does anyone know the author of this 200 page manuscript?  It's his autobiography/personal views of life as a sub nuc from MEPS to present and pretty entertaining.  I googled it, but no luck.

http://oregonstate.edu/~melizas/life%20in%20the%20nuclear%20navy.pdf

[81038205]

Sure, here ya go:

http://oregonstate.edu/~melizas/life%20in%20the%20nuclear%20navy.pdf

p.s. I know it was written in 1999 or 2000, but that"s all.

[LaFeet]

Took me a while to read it...... and I have to say that its a bit better - life wise- than a Tom Clancy novel.

 I could recant a few things that happened during my stint...... rambling down the street singing "Centerfold" at the top of our lungs.   Eating things that was still alive as it reached the table.....  I do miss my naval days, but I cant recant all that we did.    Blue nose was always fun though.

[rumrunner]

Too bad it stops with the Oly heading off to war.  An incomplete manuscript.

[shayne]

I had read the same version a few months ago.  I too would like to see the rest of it.  Seems to be an outline for the rest of the book/story....

[LaFeet]

Having read through (the school portion) it appears that this occurred in the (mid to late) 80's in Orlando. 

I'd need to read more of it to tell ya' anything more.  I don't see that happening.  It would do me no good to analysis or critique it for you.

LaFeet had a few years on me.  He went through when "Eating things that was still alive when it got to the table" still was in vogue!  (Thanks for the visual LaFeet......and that was a joke buddy.)

If its the 80s  its the very late 80s.  I think it might actually be the early 90s.  I was in during the late 70s until 1999 retirement.

[PWHoppe]

I'm not so sure it was After I went through.  I'll re-read some of it and get a better idea later.  I was in A school by spring 90 in the big O.  Not sure but, from what I recall (that material I actually read and didn't just scan) it sounded like 80's material.

I've been wrong before.  I reserve the right to be wrong again.

If I'm wrong LaFeet.  You I'll buy ya' an Adult Beverage of your choice.  One beverage LaFeet don't get your hopes up.  Oh and to make it crystal clear (I'm dealing with a Nuke for pete's sake) a beverage that you can hold without supports (the basin must be mobile) and can't be refilled without you paying for it.

Fair?

I'm thinking your getting the drink, not buying it.

Look on page 7 of 200, and the author mentions the year 1987 as to when he approached the recruiter to get in.

I haven't read the whole thing since I got out in the late '70's and it mostly doesn't apply

[93-383]

Don't tell my wife this but I really register with the comments about passing the final board at prototype.
That was probably the single best moment in my life. Yes my marriage and the birth of my daughter where some of the best days of my life, but when you pass your board you float on air you have just completed two years of hell and for that moment I felt the most free I have ever felt in my life. When my daughter was born was a similar moment however it was immediately tempered with the realization that is was responsible for her for the rest of her life. 

[LaFeet]

If I'm wrong LaFeet.  You I'll buy ya' an Adult Beverage of your choice.  One beverage LaFeet don't get your hopes up.  Oh and to make it crystal clear (I'm dealing with a Nuke for pete's sake) a beverage that you can hold without supports (the basin must be mobile) and can't be refilled without you paying for it.

Fair?

Hmmmmmm   I think a single cask of Thomas Hardys Ale will be sufficient......mayhap some Sam Adams Millineum (spelling ??)..... I dunno  I could always do a large Boulevard Wheat

[shovelheadred]

....I have just read a part of the writing...and in Chapter 7- the author says "in 1989, Sub Base Pearl Harbor had 3 main Barracks"...and in the same chapter he says "in 89 we were playing tag with the Rag Head's tankers and the Soviets were still the Evil empire",,so the time frame for the enlistment, or re-enlistment was around 1989...after reading his description of submarine life..I am surely glad for my duty aboard the Nimitz...we could all write a story...he left out making wine in a Rad tagged barrel, and having "A" gand freeze it with liquid Nitrogen and pouring off the alcohol, the stokes hotel in Naples...life before the dreaded drug tests..washing civilian clothes in the decon laundry, and cleaning the strainer because of the blue debris...writing what you really thought about "RL Division" behind the blackboard in the office, the night before you left the ship....the yardbirds at Newport News selling women and booze out of the XO's stateroom in the yard...oh, there are some stories from "RL Division" 1981-1985..and some charachters...Hurry up Hood, and Rapid Riley, Cappy McGarr, Robert Todd Harris....how about it RumRunner, your memory is probably better than mine as I have only been sober and clean for 10 years, the rest is a blurr...and I would never leave out the legend..."Max Parity"..always a strong voice wherever he is present......red

[taterhead]

I took a break from POSS studies and read the whole thing.

It looks to be unfinished toward the end, but it is a decent collection of PG sea stories (he hadn't written about overseas yet, though).

Mildly entertaining in parts.  I enjoyed it for what it was.

[ddklbl]

......mayhap some Sam Adams Millineum (spelling ??).....

Isn't that the $300 dollar bottle of Sammy A? 

[Cycoticpenguin]

and  I though I had a crappy time in bootcamp

[rumrunner]

....I have just read a part of the writing...and in Chapter 7- the author says "in 1989, Sub Base Pearl Harbor had 3 main Barracks"...and in the same chapter he says "in 89 we were playing tag with the Rag Head's tankers and the Soviets were still the Evil empire",,so the time frame for the enlistment, or re-enlistment was around 1989...after reading his description of submarine life..I am surely glad for my duty aboard the Nimitz...we could all write a story...he left out making wine in a Rad tagged barrel, and having "A" gand freeze it with liquid Nitrogen and pouring off the alcohol, the stokes hotel in Naples...life before the dreaded drug tests..washing civilian clothes in the decon laundry, and cleaning the strainer because of the blue debris...writing what you really thought about "RL Division" behind the blackboard in the office, the night before you left the ship....the yardbirds at Newport News selling women and booze out of the XO's stateroom in the yard...oh, there are some stories from "RL Division" 1981-1985..and some charachters...Hurry up Hood, and Rapid Riley, Cappy McGarr, Robert Todd Harris....how about it RumRunner, your memory is probably better than mine as I have only been sober and clean for 10 years, the rest is a blurr...and I would never leave out the legend..."Max Parity"..always a strong voice wherever he is present......red

I remember the time Hoodwink stayed in his rack through two time zone changes in the Med and never got out of his pit.  The time in Naples when you let me do the generator samples before I was qualified and left the shutdown plant for the office, and I proceeded to put two of them OOS and you had to feed and bleed them back into spec.  How about the time our big expert on Naples and Italian culture gave us the name "Mazzola'd" when he got his wallet stolen before he had stepped two feet into the town?  I remember the poly bottle wine and doing the civvies in the decon laundry.  The "dopey" book.  "Jim Hasselback" shaving all his body hair off so he could swim faster.     MMCS Jim S. (greatest chief I ever worked for).  Max Parity for sure, and don't forget Funky and his French bride.  Your bulldog Dixie.   I'll have to think some more.

[shovelheadred]

...I knew your memory was better than Mine......red

[jemac]

Nice story.  Seems like this guy followed right me through the pipeline.
NNPS in 88, S1W in 89, and SubRon1, I wasn't on his boat, but I was in
the same squadron.  Brought back some good and not-so-good memories.

Jemac

[rlbinc]

It would make a great Tom Clancy movie, but the die hards and diggits would consider the writings to be the work of a Godless Communist, double nought spy.

As they say, you can still have fun in nuclear power, but it's probably better kept a secret.

Anyone remember a startup style called a  political critical?

Raise your hand if you've done one or seen one...

[LaFeet]

Ahmmmmmm  errr  I can neither confirm nor deny that I may have knowledge of what you have mentioned rlbinc......

[deltarho]

It would make a great Tom Clancy movie, but the die hards and diggits would consider the writings to be the work of a Godless Communist, double nought spy.

As they say, you can still have fun in nuclear power, but it's probably better kept a secret.

Anyone remember a startup style called a  political critical?

Raise your hand if you've done one or seen one...

In Jeopardy you would say, "Answer is, how do you save 16-manhours while not operatiing a navy nuclear reactor?"

[rlbinc]

In Jeopardy you would say, "Answer is, how do you save 16-manhours while not operatiing a navy nuclear reactor?"

And you would win with that response...

[30Cal]

I know the author.  It's not the same guy on the motorcycle picture from the root directory.  I showed up on USS Alaska in fall 1996 and he came on in probably 97--his name is Xxxx Xxxxxxx.  He got medically disqual'ed around the same time I left the boat in 2000 (see Chapter 2--same deal).  They sent him to an aircraft carrier, and from what I heard, was desperate to get back on a boat.

He loved to bash the Navy and loved being in it.  A textbook closet dig-it.

I read part of it back then (I don't think it's changed, but I never got all the way through it).  Someone must have found it in the bowels of the internets and saved it.


I just stumble onto this thread because I remembered the book after a buddy sent me to watch "hey shipwreck" on the youtube.  Googled "shut all four" and was surprised to find this.


Edited by moderator to remove name, refer to rule #7

7. Peoples name’s: Don’t use them, they lead to law suits. Some names are already censored because of this. Don’t use names in stories or messages that could in any way be taken wrong.

[30Cal]

Wow, I started reading a little.  I can't tell you how many insane stories of his were completed with that last sentance of the first paragraph. "All of this is just what I think, and I’m @$@&(#&*&, so there ya go."  What a trip!

He was my EO for quite a while.

[withroaj]

Unless someone already knows how to find the author of this little gem of malcontent, I think I may have found his blog. bubbleheads.blogspot.com. 
If you have actually found him (and the rest of the story) please post a link or direct me to a book store.  The strangest thing about the story is that he seems to have reenlisted a couple of times.  Wierd.

Correction:  I don't think it's his blog, but someone has responded to some threads with "memories" that resemble the story too closely to be coincidence.  I guess most sea stories are second or third generation, though.  "I" usually means the guy who knew the guy who knew the guy...

[morrok]

I doubt Shut All Four will ever be finished, but there is a blog in the meantime: http://em-log.blogspot.com

[scuppasteve]

I know this is old but if anyone still has this can they email it to me or msg me, the link provided doesnt work anymore/
Thanks
Steve