Neat. Thanks!
I wasn’t in the military but my ATM card worked in Thailand in 1993 much to my surprise. It even knew to change the language to English.
Oh, yeahhhh…this guy I knew wasn’t the sorta guy I was comfortable hanging out with and I definitely didn’t. We weren’t friends by any stretch of the imagination. But it was good he knew people I knew and sorta vaguely knew who I was. It wasn’t a particularly rough school, it wasn’t a particularly rough town if you weren’t an isolated dead drunk sailor (in fact it was mostly quite safe, most of the time) and this guy wasn’t really a HS bully in any consistently threatening way. But it was always preferable when the tough, mean people recognize you just enough you don’t have “potential target” written on your face when you’re out grabbing a burger at night.
Why you got to kink-shame, unnamed US officials? If it’s good enough for the CiC…
Fair enough. Nevertheless, it was the reason I was given by PSD Rota, although it doesn’t surprise me that they were either ignorant of the procedure or straight up lied about it. It’s a shame we didn’t have SDMB in 1992 - I could have used your advice.
I went to middle school in Alameda in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s! My stepfather was in the Army, but they didn’t have any housing, so we lived on the Naval Air Station.
When I was living on the base at 12 years of age or so, I used to wander down to the docks to look at the ships. It was also pretty easy back then to get a sailor to give you a quick tour of the ship. I literally did that dozens of times, sometimes with a friend and sometimes by myself. Of course, kids were a lot more free-range back then.
That experience is what later inspired me to join the U.S. Navy myself.
The authorities are likely worried about a sudden surge of “vendor” activity that would be harder to keep an eye on.
In any case Sickbay should take the opportunity to stock up heavily on the antibiotics. Just as a precaution.
But so far the crew seem to be carrying on just in a normalish way:
I sure don’t blame them for shopping first, after all this time out at sea. Lots if personal stuff runs/wears out.
And it seems the kind of incident happening so far is the generally expected sort:
If it stays at that level we’re good, really.
Now I’m wondering what the guy to the right (in the photo) of the ancient geese guy was saying or doing that led to his arms/hands to be standing out in that position while walking.
Yeah, that is definitely a relief. I had worries about sailors (SAILORS NOT SOLDIERS) committing sexual assault against sex workers and hospitality workers, getting in serious fights, and so on, based on a general breakdown of morale and leadership. It’s nice to be wrong.
…dogs and cats living together…
You have to go REALLY off-limits to see THAT show.
I thought that was a time-honored naval tradition?
Rum, sodomy, and the lash? Maybe time dis-honored tradition
No, sailors have money burning in the their pockets after a long sea period. They typically treat the bar girls well. I believe the word thankful comes up, though not particularly respectful.
Fights are more often then not drunken and against other servicemen. Even non-US servicemen. Locals and bars are generally not harmed in the making of Shore Leave.
Please note: I’m 35 years out of date of course. So maybe not so much today.
Did they get their testosterone boosters before the ship arrived in Thailand? Or did Kegsbreath fall down on the job again?
Who generally decides the ship’s schedule? The carrier commander, or his higher-ups at San Diego or something? One would think the commander might be inclined to let his sailors hang out in Pattaya as long as possible to reduce grumbling and increase morale, but maybe his bosses nag him to keep it short to just a few days and get back to San Diego or Pearl Harbor ASAP.
Also, do the highest-up ship people, like the commander himself and other officers, also wander about in Pattaya for a few days or hours?
Not the Captain of the carrier, but the Admiral of the Fleet has say at least dependent on scheduling.
The officers get shore leave, but generally seem to do a good job of not being near drunk enlisted. Probably cuts down on some potentially really bad career ending drunken fights. I can’t speak to specifics to how the officers from lowly Ensign to the Captain handle Shore Leave, not something I witnessed or even heard about.
We have some former Navy officers though on the board.
A lot is being made of the needed R&R, but isn’t this visit as much about reprovisioning that will make morale aboard ship more bearable for the remainder of the voyage? At the very least, get some Thai housecleaners in there to clean the heads.
It is absolutely both. But as much as the need to get off the ships for a bit, I’m sure most of the sailors want to get home.
Hopefully a joke? Won’t be happening. Especially as the Lincoln will not even be at a dock most likely, but shore leave will be via ferries.
I hope they stocked up on penicillin.
It may have been noted already that the NYT had a good article recently about the Navy ships and how they are resupplied and why it was a problem in this current clusterfuck.