mrAru never seemed to have problems with it. He did sleep rotisserie fashion [spinning around on his axis just like he was still confined in a rack.] 10 years later he still does it. And I still have a 688 General Quarters alarm on my phone, and on the ipod for the wake up alarm. He definitely hits the floor running with that.
What he found disconcerting, if you will, conversations. We would be discussing something while he was getting ready to leave, and he could pick the conversation up more or less right where we left off - but I would have to get a refresher. Mainly [he thought] because he had limited contacts, so he could replay or keep the thoughts of the conversation fresh while I had more or less unlimited conversations about all sorts of stuff with lots of people and thusly the thoughts would get buried by other conversations.
He also was thrilled not to have to eat boat food and to be able to sit for half an hour and not actually have to do anything. He didn’t have to listen to someone elses movie on the mess decks, he could pick what he wanted to eat and when.
I’ve read that submariners’ distance vision can deteriorate because they can go so long, while submerged, without having to look far away. Did you or he ever notice that?
Never had any problems with having it being too quiet. However, comma…
One of the immediate actions during a fire (or drill) is to secure the ventilation fans, to prevent spreading smoke and fire throughout the boat. There were many occasions when I was awakened for a drill, not by the general alarm, but by the sudden quiet when the fans shut down.
We don’t have A/C at home, so during the summer we sleep with a big fan in our bedroom. A few years after I retired, there was an evening thunderstorm. I went to bed, went to sleep with no trouble, and had no problems sleeping through all the thunder, and the sound of the wind and rain. But I woke up immediately when we lost power and the fan shut off…
I heard that from somebody back when I was in BESS, but I can’t say that I ever noticed it myself.
It’s close enough to the sea that I got to see not one but two space shuttles launch from Cape Canaveral: STS-43, which launched on August 2, 1991 (during my graduation ceremony, as we were marching off the parade field) and another one later that same year, but I don’t remember specifically when.
I do have some fond memories of Orlando. It’s really not a bad town, for a massive tourist attraction.
Two Westpac cruises with VA-165 on board ‘Ranger’. “Top Gun” should be a museum - best CVA in the fleet (with apologies to “Connie”, “Kitty”, “Big E” and the rest of the China Fleet).
