Navy Story #8
Iron Gut Link
I studied to become a Naval officer at Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Newport, Rhode Island, during the fall of 1972 and the spring of 1973. Here is a picture of my company after
we graduated from OCS and received our commissions as Ensigns:
I'm the handsome officer second from the left in the picture (second from the right in the group).
On several occasions during OCS, after we had learned enough of the rules of the (nautical) road and some standard naval maneuvers (in theory, that is), we sailed the small boats that
are used for OCS training, into the bay at Newport (Rhode Island). I say "small", but these boats are actual patrol boats and are at least 30 feet long, maybe even a bit larger. The bay is Narragansett Bay and
is large and beautiful.
The wind is quite often very strong on the bay. This particular afternoon, it was really, really strong, and the waves were at least a foot, and I think maybe even a foot and a half.
That doesn't sound like much, but for a small boat that's big. The boats were rolling and pitching a lot.
We went out by company, meaning that each of the 6 or 7 companies in my class was on its own boat. All of the guys in my company (Echo Company) got seasick. Except me. I was having
such a good time, and enjoying the challenges of the exercises so much, that I guess I didn't have time to be afraid or uptight or whatever can contribute to seasickness. I had a blast. I even chowed down on a bunch
of the fried chicken that had been provided for our lunch.
After that afternoon's exercises, one of the guys in the company gave me the nickname of "Iron Gut Link".
My gut stayed "iron" for all of the cruises I took on the Pensacola, except twice. Once in the Adriatic Sea, and on another occasion in the Atlantic during the winter, we
ran into severe storms and waves of 30 feet. Even for a large ship (Pensacola is about 600 feet long), those are *huge* waves. Almost everyone aboard was constantly woozy or sick during those two storms, and even the Captain
was having a tough time.
Despite these two occasions when I was seasick, I really do like the sea.