Due to what they call PCS, it seems I have serviced my last buoy. I was fortunate enough to experience "the dark side" and enjoy all the trappings that come with it. I have served with some OUTSTANDING coasties like CDR CASH, LCDR DONAHUE, LT HUFF, CWO4 Bealer, CWO ESTRADA, BMC HUNTER, and especially my good friend BM3 Kirk Donnell. I never knew how much enjoyment I could find in working in the Aids to Navigation field until I met and worked with these people. MKC King, DC1 Temple, MKCS Witcher you guys were a trip on MADRONA and OAK and I will never forget the rain forest in E-6 berthing on MADRONA.
We have carried on a fine and noble tradition of working hard and playing hard. Many mariners have enjoyed the fruits of our labor and many young coasties have learned the right way to work a buoy. ATON-thanks for the great memories I will ALWAYS carry with me.
Hey brother, I am on the same AtoN Tender that you are now aboard. May we never physically work another Aid but may the memories always be with us. There is NOTHING like a black hull crew!!
Don, AtoN will miss YOU just as much as you miss it.
I was at Yuktown earlier this year and forgot you had already moved on. You are correct and thanks for the words man. I would love to work ATON for life but I can't seem to pass the damn OIC board. Oh well, I guess it was just not meant to be. There are other things I can kick a$$ at though. Hope you are well. Keep in touch and let me know how you are doing.
Don, Yeah, that OIC board. I think it is all about timing. I still haven't figured out how they/it works. Big AL is down here in Jacksonville this week on the BREY. I have been too busy to get up with him and was hoping to get underway with them but wasn't able too.
Craig, Man, I am still in global. My CG work station has been down for some time now. I will shoot you an email as soon as I can get online. Hope all is well with you and the family.
Not a river tender but a story about spuds. WHITEPINE was the only WLM fitted with spuds, which were left over from the time she pushed a barge on the Mississippi. When they were up they were visible above the wheelhouse, but when they were down they disappeared into the deckhouse and were invisible. It was this feature that made for some occasional humor.
One night the only place we could get the crew ashore for liberty was at a marina on Chesapeake Bay. Since the marina’s floating finger piers were not substantial enough to tie up to, we spudded down parallel and a couple of feet off. Sometime during the night the wind came up and we twisted a little on the spuds. The watch secured a mooring line from the stern to the float to keep the bow from touching the floating walkway. By morning the wind had died down and we were sitting there with only a single slack mooring line from the stern to the pier. The marina manager came down in the morning, probably to see what kind of damage that ship had down to his floats. He walked up and down alongside the ship and finally hollered up to the bridge and asked the OOD what was keeping us there. The OOD told him we were spudded down. He replied: “okaaaay, spudded down.” You could tell that he had no idea what that was.
Another time we spudded down for the night outside the channel in the C & D canal. A couple hours after dark the watch called me to the bridge and said: “you have to see this”. There was a small cabin cruiser slowly going around and around the ship. You could see his fathometer was on. He would shine his searchlight at our draft markings and at our housed anchor. The current was running fair to the ship and he couldn’t figure out what was keeping us there.
