From: EMIPHONE@aol.com
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 17:03:04 -0500 (EST)
To: robbd@primenet.com
Subject: Sea story

Wrote you a week or so ago and been wanting to get back on and share a crazy
story.  First day aboard, ship's first day back from Wespac.  I was assigned
to Forward Guidance (Talos) and given a PMS card (remember them?)  My fear of
heights had never been mentioned at school, so suddenly a simple assignment
became a nightmare.  I explained after doing GT1 to my first class (RJ Young,
I believe) about my fear of heights and he just pointed up the ladder leading
to GT2, which is parallel with the windows on the bridge, about 35 feet
straight up.  
I got halfway up and froze.  Another man came up and assisted me back to the
deck, where I was sure I was finished for the day.  Nope!  Back up the ladder
I went in just a few minutes.  Realizing that further protest would be
futile, I made it without event.  
For the next 3 years, I made that climb one handed in heavy seas carrying
spectrum analyzers and o'scopes when the situation warranted.  I never lost
my fear of heights, but the one handed climb became second nature.
Two years after my discharge I got stuck in a lock on the Mississippi river.
 They had to evacuate the lock because the gate didn't close properly.  The
only way out was straight up a 35 foot ladder bolted to the lock.  I took my
5 year old son under my arm and made the climb I never would have been able
to otherwise.  
Never know what you're being trained for.
chuck from nashville