Community Forums

Seajay · 12-09-2010, 07:37 AM

My last year in the Navy I was stationed at Cheltenham, Md just outside Washington Dc. It is a major relay for the east coast for everything going out and coming into the nation concerning Naval communications. One thing to remember here …. Shore duty in the Navy is nothing like Sea Duty. Two completely different ways of doing business and it took me a while to get use to all the eggs I wanted and the variety of food was hard to believe.

Cheltenham was built to be used by Waves but it was decided that it was too far out in the country for our lady sailors so they sent mostly guys out there. It was the only Naval base I ever seen with bath tubs as well as showers. The walls in the ''head'' (bathroom) were literally covered in mirrors from the sink tops to the ceiling. This kinda leads to my story.....

In the barracks we had a guy named Harry D. He was a large man with a physical appearance of the ''after'' picture in one of those body building books. Harry never ''walked''...... He strutted.. He would wrap a towel around his waist and ''strut down to the showers''. He would stand in front of the mirrors and ''flex'' using all the poses that they do in the body contests. He loved to ''show off''......
Harry was eat up with ''attitude'' to go along with the muscle. He was a second class P.O. And he thought he was God. He would give the E2 and E3's a rough time at every opportunity. He was an overbearing, loud mouth. S.O.B. And no one liked Harry but he didnt care. He rode a Harley and he liked to go downtown DC and go to the ''Speak Easy'' and find a skinny guy and beat him up just for the fun of it. (thats another story and I will tell it to you later)
Harry loved to ''work out''. He and I were on the same ''watch rotation'' and sometimes after the eve watch I would go down to the ''Rec'' hall and shoot pool by myself.
One night I was bumping a game of 'golf' on the pool table and Harry came in wearing ''sweats'' and a towel around his neck. He punched out the heavy bag and went over to the speed bag for a few minutes. He then went to the weight bench, put up a bar and started loading it with about every weight in the building. I swear the bar bent a little under the poundage he put on it. He made sure that he attracted my attention by clanging the weights on the bar. He then started his ''breathing exercises'' and then laid down on the bench. I was bumping pool balls and watching him out of the corner of my eye. He took several deep breaths and lifted the bar off the yokes. It immediately came down on his chest and stopped. I peeked at him as he tried to lift the bar. He could maybe move it an inch or two but that was it. He was starting to sweat and he made a last effort to lift the bar.......... No dice....... Harry rolled his head sideways and said

''Hay Seajay, How bout a ''spot'' over here''......
I kept shooting pool like I did not hear him.
He kinda panicked.......
''HAY SEAJAY, I need some help over here''
I walked over the weight bench, propped on my pool que and said, ''What'ca need Harry?''
''GET THIS ''FLUBBING THING'' OFF ME MAN, I CAN HARDLY BREATHE''
I told him that there was no way I could lift that bar and I would go get some help and pretended to leave......
''NO, NO, NO …. DONT LEAVE MAN, I WILL HELP YOU LIFT IT''
He was really in trouble but I said I needed to put away my que stick first........
''FOR GODS SAKES MAN........ HURRY UP''.......
I propped my que in the corner and cupped my hands around the end of the bar and me and Harry lifted one end and then the other back in the ''yokes''........ Harry was wet with sweat and he laid there for a few minutes getting his ''composure'' back together.. I went back to my pool game. He finally got up and walked around. He came over to the pool table and shook hands with me and thanked me. He said he thought it would be a good idea if I didn't spread this around the barracks about what had happened and I just kinda grinned at him.

''You bet Harry,,,,,,,,, mums the word''.....
I never told anyone about the incident but when Harry would jump on one of the Seaman for nothing, I would look at him and say.....
''Hay Harry, you been liftin' weights lately, I haven't seen you down to the Rec Hall in a while.'' He would give me a mean look and walk away.

Sometime I will tell you how a ''skinny guy'' almost killed Harry but that is another story for later.......
So it went on ''soft shore duty'' my last year in service to this great nation...

I think they should bring our troops home now 'cause we miss them over here. 'course, that is just my opinion I guess..

haulinhazmat · 12-09-2010, 08:40 PM

I can't wait for that " skinny guy " story.

Seajay · 12-09-2010, 09:51 PM

In the previous post I told you guys about Harry D. and my encounter with him down in the Rec hall one nite. A guy almost killed him one nite and here is that story.

Harry was a real ''blow hard'' and no one really liked him. He was more tolerated than liked by anyone I knew. He owned a nice Harley motorcycle and he had all the leather get up and a hat with a Harley insignia on it. He dated a girl that was just 18 years old but she looked about 14. He would go pick her up and bring her to the E.M. Club to show her off. She was really a pretty girl but she was just slightly smarter than a door knob. She was beautiful and dumb as a rock. Harry and she would ''dirty dance'' to the juke box in the club.

Harry loved to go to the ''Speak Easy'' which was a joint over in DC. I went over there too look the place over and it was a dump in my opinion. Harry loved the place and about everyone knew him over there. They tried to hire him as a bouncer I was told.

One Monday after we had a seventy two hour pass I walked into the head and saw Harry and he looked like he had been run thru a hay baler. What on him that was not scratched and ripped was black and blue. He had two black eyes, his left arm in a sling and his right arm very swollen and bruised . His legs were just about as bad and he was limping badly. He really looked rough.

''What the 'heck' happened to you Harry?'' ''
'' You look like crap with a hair in it''......
Harry sat down on a bench and told me this story....

He said he rode his Harley down to the ''Speak Easy'' for an evening of fun and games. He said some ''smart ace'' was looking at him wrong and he confronted the guy and wanted to know if ''he had a problem???'' Words were exchanged and Harry hit the guy. A fight ensued and Harry whipped the guy pretty bad. I learned later that the guy Harry whipped didnt do anything to cause the fight. Harry just singled him out and proceed to bet the hale out of him for no reason. Harries tail was that this guy was a smart ''ace'' and he taught this guy a real lesson.
Harry told me that he left the ''Speak Easy'' sometime after mid nite and he was tooling along on his Harley coming back to the base. Harry said a car followed him for about a mile and then it pulled up beside him and didn't pass. He said he slowed down and then speeding up and the car just stayed beside him on the four lane. Harry said he looked over at the car and the passenger window was down. He said the interior lite came on in the car and the ''skinny guy'' he had beaten the heck out of was driving the car. He said the guy just grinned at him, shot him the ''rod'' and then simply turned into him at about sixty miles per hour. Harry said he had two choices. Be run over by the car or take to the shoulder of the road and a 30 foot embankment on the side of the road. He took the embankment which was pretty much covered with undergrowth, trees, briars, stumps, honey suckles and an old barb wire fence at the bottom of the hill. (I went out and looked at the area later) Harry said the last thing he remembered was his Harley being stopped by a large stump and himself going over the handle bars...... His bike was totaled and Harry spent a lot of time in sick bay getting stitches taken out and sharp things picked out of his body. If Harry had not been in such good ''shape'' it would probably have killed him. When he got well the ''accident'' changed Harry a lot. His attitude changed a lot and he was somewhat a nicer guy. I think that the incident showed him that he was not invincible and he could be killed for his actions. He was still stationed at Cheltenham when I booked out of the Navy. He never replaced the Harley. He bought a car instead and he never went back to the ''Speak Easy'' that I know of......
So it went with Harry D. while I was on shore duty in Md.

CorsairIIAT · 12-09-2010, 11:09 PM

SeaJay,

I think Harry's Son or grandson is dating my freinds daughter. I've known this kid for a few years. When I met him he was a third class. I was known thru the F/A-18 Hornet community as the expert for FLIR. So I would get calls at all hours of the day or night. He calls me from the Middle East one night and I fix his equipment over the phone. So I'm still a god in his eyes. A year later he is dating my best friends daughter. Terry (my friend) can't get anywhere with this kid. But Terry knows this kid worships me. So He asks me to talk to him. So I went by the Squadron he was In and told him I have known his girlfriend since she was 7. She is like my own daughter and if you harm her in any way I will kill you. Now you have to understand I am 5' 8" 150 Lbs this kid is over 6' and probably 225 and all mucsle. Also I'm late 40's and he is mid 20's at the time. But he cow touwed to me and said he would do nothing to harm her. Fast forward to this week he is still afraid of me. And this is 2 yrs later he got out of the Navy as a Second Class and got a job in the same building I work at.

Seajay · 12-10-2010, 06:41 AM

Sometimes you have to ''speak to a person'' in a manner that they understand. My sister in law was stuck with a ''adopted grandson'' that was living with her and driving her crazy. She didnt have the '' things'' to tell him not to bring in Whores into her house and shacking up in ''his room''. She is one of the nicest ladies you could meet and she has ''door mat'' written all over her when it comes to ''Little Lonnie''..... I got really burned out with him and met him down in the driveway one day. I simply told him that if he brought in another ''lady of the evening'' into her house that I would ''punch his card'' and I tapped him between the titties... He said it was ''his room'' and he would do what he wished in it. This was shortly after my wife Linda had died and I was in a bad mood to say the least. I got in his face and told him that I was not kidding and he didnt want to ''try me'' because ''he would lose''...... Big time... cause at the time I didnt have much to live for and that I didnt mind going back to prison..... (i have never been to prison but he dont know that) He got the message loud and clear and he never brought anyone into her house again.........

Lets all thank a vet for our freedoms.....