Fire Before Liberty!
January 18, 2010 by Da-Chief
Filed under Corpsman.com News, Military Information, Navy News
Old School today, HM2 Alfano from back in the day submitted this story/article for us,
Thanks John
USS PINE ISLAND AV-12
I served as a “doc” on board the USS Pine Island (AV-12) from 1964 to 1967 which included two WestPac cruises and enough memories to keep me entertained into the next century. In ’64, after graduating from O.R. Tech school at the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton I was sent to San Diego to await stationing aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, which was at sea at the time. As fate would have it the O.R. Tech on board the Pine Island was being transferred and my orders were changed to replace him. It was to be three of the most memorable years of my life. Here is just one of those memories.
As an O.R. Tech I was given the responsibility for most of the suturing and minor surgery that came through the sick bay door . Though I can’t claim to have been any better at this than everyone in the division I think I did a credible job. That is, unless my mind was elsewhere at the time.
One morning, shortly after we had ported in Hong Kong, there was an announcement that there would be a liberty boat leaving the ship at 1:00 PM for anyone who did not have to stand duty that day. I quickly got into my dress blues and by 12:30 was ready to roll. At that point our ship’s doctor came out of his office and asked me to remove a wart from the back hand of this burly boatswain’s mate.
The question was, could I squeeze this little procedure into the limited time frame that I had and still make the liberty boat?
Of course I could!
We had an electrocautery for such things and I quickly anesthetized the area, made sure my patient was feeling no pain, wiped the wart down with an alcohol sponge and started to cauterize. Immediately after touching the wart with the cautery tip a blue flame shot up from this poor fellow’s hand. Oh my God! First reaction was to blow it out. So here I am puffing away while this guy is just sitting there eyes wide open assuming, I’m sure, that this is normal wart-removal procedure.
Happy ending!
The incinerated wart fell off, no collateral damage and I made the liberty boat.
John Alfano, former HM2
I was a young Corpsman working the night shift on a ward at Bethesda when I learned a very descriptive bit of Naval lexicon. At the time of this educational experience it was about 0500 and I was alone (the Nurse covered two wards during nights) and was kicking off the morning routine. With a number of patient care and admin tasks to complete before the day crew arrived this was typically a busy time of the shift. As I was in the midst of a number of such tasks one of the patients, a retired Admiral, ambled up to me and asked where he could get a cup of coffee.
I politely told the Admiral that I was in the middle of patient care activities and that since the chow hall wouldn’t open up until 0630 he’d have to wait a few minutes until I could put on a fresh pot of coffee. I mentioned that there was a pot on the burner in the ward galley, but I warned him that I had put that one on at 2230. I told him if he was that hard up for a cup of coffee he was welcome to what was there, but that he would probably want to cut it with some milk or water. The old Admiral started off in the direction of the ward galley and I continued with my work. A few minutes later I was coming out of a patient’s room when I met the old Admiral in the hallway, with a cup of coffee in hand and a smile on his face. Raising the cup a bit he told me that it was a great cup of Destroyer Coffee. The coal black liquid looked like tar and was leaving black residue on the inside of the white styrofoam cup. Not being familiar with the term ‘Destroyer Coffee’ I asked the old Admiral just what he meant by the phrase. With a smile he shared the following with me.
As a new Ensign his first duty assignment had been aboard destroyer where he had been assigned to Engineering. Apparently, the Chief in Engineering had taken some insulation off one of the steam pipes and rigged a grill like device that would securely hold a coffee pot. This coffee pot provided coffee for those who worked in Engineering. The water for the coffee came from the evaporators and the Chief supplied the coffee. (The Admiral said that even as a new Ensign he realized that it was best not to ask the Chief where the coffee came from.) Water and a handful of coffee went into the coffee pot which was then secured to the grate on the steam pipe and allowed to boil. The coffee that came out of the coffee pot was thick and black. There was no creamer to be had and if you wanted sugar you had to bring your own. So, this thick black coffee was the coffee that he learned to drink. And from that day own he always referred to such thick black coffee as Destroyer Coffee.
The old Admiral started off towards his room with coffee firmly in hand. He look back at me and with a smile told me, “I never could get my wife to make coffee like this.”