Keeping the blogosphere posted on the goings on of the world of submarines since late 2004... and mocking and belittling general foolishness wherever it may be found. Idaho's first and foremost submarine blog. (If you don't like something on this blog, please E-mail me; don't call me at home.)

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Chilean Miners -- Can Submariners Help?

NASA has been called in to help the team supporting the 33 Chilean miners trapped far underground, since it looks like they might be down there for up to four months. While there's no doubt that NASA would have some expertise in that area, I'm thinking that the U.S. Submarine Force might be even more helpful. After all, boomer patrols are about that long, in conditions about as cramped. While I don't suggest they have the miners run drills to help pass the time, I'm sure that Submariners can provide some good suggestions.

What were your favorite activities to help pass the time when you were on patrol?

27 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

strokin' it outboard the R-114's

8/28/2010 12:29 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"What were your favorite activities to help pass the time when you were on patrol?"

Jerking off to a picture of a shipmates wife!

I love the easy questions!

8/28/2010 1:11 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

instruct them to become IDCs. that should keep them in the rack more than a few hours a day.

8/28/2010 1:49 PM

 
Blogger MT1(SS)WidgetHead said...

Running hot wheel races down Sherwood forest. Take four popcycle sticks and glue them together in a rectangle configuration which resembles a cars frame. Take a round pencil and cut it in half. Get some staples from the Yeoman and round them off the best you can with a Gerber or a pair of pliers and then attach the staples below the frame. Leave enough room so you can get the pencil pieces in and so the axles can rotate. For wheels, use four washers and glue them on the pencil ends. Only the axles have to rotate not the washers themselves. In order to get the cars to move, use a rubberband for momentum, like a sling shot. So, that's it for arts & crafts.

Watching the same movies over again to the point where we can act out the parts.

Doing a pushup pyramid while waiting on laundry. The pyramid is the number of reps you do between 30sec breaks. Start at 50...take a 30 sec break and then do 40 more, another break and then do 30 and so on till you get down to 10.

How many laps can you run around the forest in a timed two minutes?

Sir, is it time for a swim call? We used to get a dozen or so guys in the water and throw a soccer ball around sorta like a combination of volley ball and dodge ball. A soccer ball is not watertight. It will take on water and become all the more heavier as you throw it. Not too far out from KB, we had swim call three summers ago. There was more than one of us who had a minor black eye from getting hit with a soaked soccer ball. We figured that damned thing probably took on five or six LBs of water once we were done.

E-readers are really good to bring on board. They don't have cameras or any type of video recording devises. You need a chip or a memory stick to fill the thing's memory. You can put books on it movies, TV shows and more. They're not a security difficulty like cells and some lap tops. Plus E-readers take up almost no space either.

Last and certainly not least...A detailed group discussion of our nastiest and dirtiest fuck fantasies. That also includes which actress(s) or super model(s) we'd like to get "underway" with.

Other "thinktank" discussions include hunting, cars, music, history, sports and various scenarios of what would happen if the world were to come to an end as we know it...yet we're the ones left alive. Where do we go?...once we get there, what do we do with the boat? Finally, will there be any girls around? after all, we have to keep the human race going assuming we can locate and reach a nice warm corner of the world to live in.

8/28/2010 1:58 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whack off.

Oh, and no one calls it "Sherwood Forrest" just like we don't call our ribbons "fruit salad".

8/28/2010 2:31 PM

 
Anonymous Pops said...

Mah Jong.

8/28/2010 4:31 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Too bad they don't really know when Halfway Night will be. Or BOCOD, for that matter.

(Lord, I apologize for that...be with the starving Pygmies down in New Guinea, Amen.)

8/28/2010 5:09 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

8/28/2010 2:31 PM, are you sure about that? I don't believe you are entirely.


Sherwood Forest, The Forest, The Jungle, The Steele dick yard, The Missile Deck. These are only a few of the names we've referred to regarding the missile compartment.

8/28/2010 5:22 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Give them the secret game Submarine Uckers.

Only to be played in the wardroom by the CO and a favored department head.

One of the rules is that the CO always wins.

8/28/2010 6:47 PM

 
Anonymous T said...

Also, Uckers is secretly the gayest fucking game ever. We threw out our board after our first CO left so nobody would ever have to watch the DHs and CO play ever again.

8/28/2010 7:34 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let's see...Uckers or beating off? No contest, one beats the other, hands down (or on)!

8/28/2010 7:39 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Three words for those miner: Commence. Field. Day

8/28/2010 8:38 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The need to start running drill sets 3 days a week (M,W,F), hold mining department training on Thursday and hold a mine security drill Saturday morning to wake everyone up for field day.

8/29/2010 6:47 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

They should've added a topic to their LRTP on being trapped in a mine.

8/29/2010 9:20 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@ anonymous @ 0647.....737??

8/29/2010 10:03 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous at 0920:

You win, and you owe me a new keyboard!

Of course, they can pen and ink the SRTP and still get credit.

8/29/2010 5:18 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@Anon 0920 if they were the Hampton they could just reprint it and forge the signature dates......

So the hole to them is too small for a person but I bet their binders will still fit up. That way squadron can "help" before their OMSE.

Of course by "help" I mean record everything as a deficiency unless it is done exactly the way they did it on the squadron riders old boat regardless of what the reference says.

On second thought, keep squadron away - they will all just kill themselves.

8/29/2010 6:57 PM

 
Anonymous HMCM(SS) Retired said...

@ Anon 1:49 "instruct them to become IDCs...."

Hey now,

Touchy subject you know... I resemble that! oh, woops! I meant to say that I resent that!

8/30/2010 7:50 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

They should give them a periscope and some graph paper. Have them track all the trucks moving around on the surface. Sometimes they could put the periscope away and just listen for the trucks and guess what they're doing. Then pretend to shoot the truck. When they get really tired adn want to go to bed, they can look at all their graph paper and try to figure out if they did it well enough.

But honestly, I don't think we can teach them anything because they literally can't afford to become hatchplugs by living like submariners.

Rackburn

8/30/2010 8:05 AM

 
Anonymous STSC said...

Spades, Hearts, Cribbage, & Poker. Great time wasters.

Sleep=The ultimate time machine.

8/30/2010 9:39 AM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is the mine under Brokeback Mountain?

8/30/2010 10:55 AM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Send down 3 red baseball caps, 20 foxtails & dustpans then start playing this game…

Split the 33 of them into 3 groups of 10 with the extra 3 individuals able to do what they want. Put the 3 groups of 10 on 6 hour rotating shifts.

Monday – Friday: Every 12 hours have the current ‘on watch’ rotating group of 10 sit with their hands over their nose and mouth for an hour, all the while trying to talk about technical aspects of their job. During this same time, the ‘off going’ group of 10 shall run about with their hands covering their nose and mouth, yelling about something other than the technical aspects of their job. Select one of these lucky bastards to be blindfolded and turned loose. Have 3 guys follow him closely with the guy directly behind him smacking him on the left or right shoulder depending which way he should go to avoid injury. The ‘on-coming’ group of 10 shall sit in a designated area away from and out of sight of the ‘on watch’ group of 10 but shall be able to see and hear the ‘off-going’ group of 10. Make sure that this ‘on-coming’ group of 10 does not talk to anyone. They are only allowed to look at each other and the ‘off-going’ group that is running around.
This is where the red baseball caps come in. The 3 individuals that are able to do what they want are to put on the caps. They walk around with an intense look, confirmed by the ominous eyebrow scrunching, checking to make sure all is well with the ‘off-going’ group’. Do this for 1 hour. Repeat if one of the 3 guys wearing a red ball cap just doesn’t feel like it was effective.

Saturday early morning: Have the folks up top start pumping O2 into the mine. After 4 hours, everyone is to be woken up that isn’t ‘on watch’ to clean the mine. The 3 independent ops guys walk around with a cup of whatever is available to drink. 17 of the 20 ‘off-watch’ guys go around actively looking for things that can be scooped up with the foxtails and dustpans. 2 go and take the place of 2 ‘on watch’ guys so that they can go get the beverage du jour for everyone that is ‘on watch’. The 1 remaining ‘off-watch’ guy wedges himself between two pieces of mining equipment and takes a nap standing up. After 2 hours, the 3 independent ops guys walk around shaking their heads in an approving manner for 15 minutes. At that time, the evolution is canceled and all go back to their regular scheduled events.

That should keep them busy for their ‘deployment’.

8/30/2010 2:59 PM

 
Anonymous PortTackStart said...

"What were your favorite activities to help pass the time when you were on patrol?"

Jerking off to a picture of a shipmate!

I love the easy questions!


There, fixed it for you!

8/30/2010 3:52 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Allowing gays to serve openly in the Army is a long overdue reform, but it must be accompanied by an assurance that heterosexuals will be able to serve openly in the Navy.

8/31/2010 7:26 AM

 
Anonymous ret.cob said...

They should start a blog. And start collaborating on a book. That'll keep them busy. People will buy the book on this one.

8/31/2010 7:18 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Cribbage, cards, and movies. And of course the more you sleep the less you are underway...
As far as NASA goes... NASA sent a bunch of surveys with us on a 117 day (all submerged) deployment. So I imagine, some, of their expertise comes from us.
RS

9/03/2010 1:27 AM

 
Anonymous Marian said...

Pretty effective piece of writing, thanks for the post.

8/30/2012 8:19 PM

 

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