In The Navy (FT “A” School), Part 5

The winter came and went and FT “A” school came to a close. We knew all about what a Submarine weapons system does and a big thing was how to handle communications on the sub. I will get more into that when I get to the boat.

Most of the people in every class I took got along great. In “A” school there was this one guy named Anthony that rubbed everyone the wrong way. He was from New York City and had a tremendous chip on his shoulder. Most people in the class avoided him at all costs. Dyke was really annoyed by the guy, but I think it was more because they had a lot in common. I don’t mean to bash Dyke, he was a great friend and either of us would have done anything we had to for each other.

So…very near the end of “A” school, Dyke must have had a hair up his ass one day. We were all sitting there waiting for the instructor before class one day, when Dyke went up to the chalk board and drew a shape;

http://myspace-887.vo.llnwd.net/01344/78/82/1344722887_m.jpg

He didn’t say a word, just stood there for a few seconds, looking at the class smiling. I was just as perplexed as everyone in the room. There was a long silence and I spoke up and asked, “What’s that?”

Dyke answered, “This is Anthony’s head.” Circling the whole sketch with his hand and then pointing at the indents that are above where the ears would be. “And when his Mom was shitting him out, this is where she had a Rest Stop.”

The whole class cracked up for at least five minutes. Anthony sat there and just took it, chewing a toothpick. It’s so funny because he really had an odd shaped head that was pretty much the shape Dyke had drawn. He must have just had the idea, because I had never heard it before then. I doubt I am giving this justice, but it was the funniest thing I had ever heard live, to date.

The nick name stuck, we called Anthony “Rest Stop” whenever he started acting like a dick.

We had Advanced FT “A” School next, which was just 3 weeks learning some of the more advanced digital electronics. I won’t devote a whole section to it in this story.

At the end of Advanced FT “A” school, we were split up into different groups based on what weapons system they needed people trained on. The guys going to the newer Mk117 equipped boats went into one group of classes and those of us going the older Mk 113 route were split into a few groups too. It was like shuffling a deck of cards.