image via wikipedia

Things were really getting dicey for this sailor aboard the USS Glacier AGB4 which was still in dry dock but the work was about finished.  I had been aboard for three months as leading yeoman but that would soon change.  When the full complement of sailors were aboard rules called for a first class petty officer to be the leading yeoman.  I was four months away from being promoted to second class.  There were other reasons I wanted off that ship.  The Glacier was an ice breaker and in two months time she would be sailing for the south pole for Operation Deep Freeze II.  Brrrrr.

There was another thing that was bothering me.  To get to McMurdo Sound we would cross the International Date Line.  Uh oh.  I was a polywog…someone who had never crossed that line before.  Most of the others who would be on board had been to the pole on Deep Freeze I.  Polywogs had to undergo a nasty, sometimes brutal, hazing that included having their faces rubbed into the belly of the fattest sailor on board after said belly had been slathered with used cooking grease.  A run through the gauntlet followed ending with a toss overboard.  I rummaged through the exec’s files one day and found what I was looking for–a certificate indicating that I had already crossed the date line.  I filled it out and handed it to the Executive Officer for his signature.  He would sign anything, including my replacement I.D. card which aged me one year so I could enter the various establishments in Boston.  What a guy.

Just days before the full crew arrived a dispatch came in addressed to all ships at sea requesting a Yeoman Third Class be transferred to NATO Headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia.   There was just one catch…18 months sea duty required.  Undaunted, I filled out a request for transfer and asked for a sea duty waiver and the exec endorsed it.  He would sign anything.

A week later we were afloat, a full complement on board, and were on a shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  I was sweating blood.  I was no  longer leading yeoman and I had heard nothing from HQ regarding my transfer request.  In six weeks the Glacier would be bound for a 10-month stay with the penguins in Antarctica.  The two-week shore leave in New Zealand on the return trip didn’t seem adequate to me but the veterans were looking forward to it.  Something about free love.

Just before we returned to Boston my orders arrived:  WAIVER GRANTED.  I would leave the ship eight days before she sailed.  My tour at NATO was fairly routine but getting there was an adventure that must wait until another post.

(The above photo is of the USS Glacier WAGB4 during Operation Deep Freeze XV after the ship was given over to the Coast Guard.  Archival photographs from my era are owned and closely held by the Glacier Foundation, a private organization attempting to prevent the scheduled demolition of the ship.)

To read Part One see:  “Yeoman: To The Quarterdeck, On The Double” – This Site