FTM2 Tyler... I met him first around 1982. I was on watch and making rounds, going up the ladder to the asroc deck just forward of the chiefs mess and there he was. Gloriously inebriated, sitting on the top step and staring with one baleful eye down the ladder. As I stepped over him I asked if he was ok. He said, yeah, but I dont know how Im gonna make it down. I told him he could always fall... As I was closing the hatch behind me I heard a thumpety bump bump scrape bump. Peering back down the ladder there was Tyler, Laying on the deck with his head on the bottom rung. I made it! he yelled at me pretty proudly. Being the a/c and r guy on the ship, I frequented a lot of places snipes rarely went. Nothing better than getting called to radio central at 0300 because they had to take their fowl weather gear off. The FTMs had a shack at the top of that same ladder Tyler fell down, and their cooling system was on the aft bulkhead. They also used the electronics dry air for the wave guides, and I was tasked with fixing those. So Id stop by often. I think the first class who ran the shop was named Fergussen. but could be wrong- he was a lovable guy though- cut from the same mold as Mark Monaco- ran his shop with a light hand- a loyal hard working bunch of folks. I stopped by one day and Tyler had a black and blue nose. It was a mighty ugly affair, Im here to tell you. When I asked what the heck happened, Tyler didnt want to talk about it, but his boss filled me in. Apparently hed stuck his head inside a radar console of some sort to see what was wrong and his nose contacted something that was very high voltage but very low amperage. The spark burnt the invading appendage and sent him cartwheeling around the shack for awhile till his heart rate calmed down. He hated mixed vegetables. One time he tried to run for a spot on the menu review board just so he could banish them from our diet. Im surprised he didnt get the job- nobody likes mixed vegetables. I saw him once sitting at the corner of the messdeck where the first class mess protrudes and makes a corner at the end of the serving line. Hed gotten a double helping of mixed veggies and was sitting there with his back to the wall facing aft. I watched in fascination as he loaded one side of his nose with a square carrot, a pea, a lima bean, and then tilted his head back, plugging the other side of his nose and blew the contents of the free side aft. Like loading a pistol, he began the routine all over again... We made a cruise through the islands in probably 83? Seemed every port we hit there were 20 or 30 cases of the clap to contend with. By the time we left Curacoa we were out of penicillin in the shot form. Tyler came down with a pipe bending case of the clap. All the doc had to treat it with was pill form antibiotics. Didnt even put a dent in it. We pulled into Norfolk and the heartless bastards wouldnt dispatch a duty driver so Tyler had to walk to Sewells Point clinic, wearing a rain coat because he couldnt buckle his dungarees (major swelling...) I watched him waddle down the pier looking like The Little Tramp with about a mile and a half walk ahead of him. Just another wonderful, colorful shipmate. I hope is is doing well.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 03:09:53 +0000
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