A Veteran's Journey

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)

1. Who said, “Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”?
2. In what movie did we hear (and who said it), “My philosophy: a hundred-dollar shine on a three-dollar pair of shoes.”?
3. What song (and who sang it) did we hear the following? This one’s easy…
   Let the sunshine
   Let the sunshine in
   The sunshine in

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My first encounter with a “seabag” was actually a duffle bag. A World War II vintage duffle bag, to be precise.

I was eight years old—a short little towhead blond who loved the outdoors and loved baseball (who didn’t back in the 60s). G.M. Davis, a local building contractor in Gainesville who had five kids (two were boys) was also a County Commissioner and… a midget league baseball coach. Mr. Davis was one of my early heroes.

Of course, back then, I thought all men who fought in World War II were heroes, including my dad. But Coach Davis… well, he was coach of the Gainesville Fire Department city baseball team. Unfortunately, I was only eight years old and the minimum age to play in midget league was nine…

However, Coach Davis let me be the batboy that year, so that was my start.

Midget League Baseball

The next year, I got to play baseball. But it wasn’t with Coach Davis. Since his team’s kids lived on the southwest side of town and I lived in the northwest, I played in a different league on a different team. Coach Sheffield was now my ball coach and would be for the next four years. Our team was North Central Florida Baptist Church. Even though I was raised Methodist, religion never came up during baseball… though some people think baseball is a religion. Coach Sheffield was a plumber and… a World War II veteran.

He also used a duffle bag to carry all the bats, balls, catcher’s equipment, and a few extra gloves. The few times I tried to carry his duffle bag with all that equipment, I strained. But I wasn’t one to give up, even if I had to drag it from the parking lot to the dugout.

In case you were wondering, I started my midget league baseball “career” as an outfielder. Because as a new 9-year-old with absolutely no experience playing ball, I sucked. But with Coach Sheffield’s patience and help, I eventually became the first baseman, a shortstop and, during my last couple of years, a pitcher. I could also hit the ball. I can’t remember how many home runs I hit, but I was up there with the best of them. Joe Sabatella, who played for another team, and I were tied. But then again, maybe that’s just my wishful memory.

Those were the days… and so long ago.

Boot Camp

Fast forward to 1973 and I was introduced to the US Navy Seabag. It’s standard issue when you enlist. I still don’t know the difference between a Navy Seabag, a Marine Corps Seabag, an Army Duffle bag, or the bag that US Air Force recruits have their porters carry around for them. (Yes, I’m kidding).

But that first week in boot camp (Orlando RTC, July–August 1973; Company #163, ADJ1 Wright), we learned to not only stow our seabag, but also how to fold every item of clothing as well as packing our seabag. That… was fun.

Imagine this… you’ve got several blue utility shirts, blue utility pants, white undershirts, white skivvies, white socks, a pair boondockers (i.e., low-cut boots), belts, utility hats, dress whites, dress blues, and black dress shoes. And… that thick, warm peacoat. Useless in Florida but oh so warm transiting the Sea of Japan.

I’m sure I missed a few items, but you get the idea.

The “Proper” Way

Two things to remember: one, you gotta learn how to fold everything and—I use this term loosely because it means different things to different company commanders—fold them “properly.”

If you don’t fold and stow your clothes properly in your locker, then you’ll experience what I remember as the “boot camp barracks tornado.” It wasn’t just your uniform that needed to be properly folded and stowed. It was EVERYONE’s uniforms. If one recruit blew it, the entire 80-man company’s lockers got tossed.

I was at Orlando Recruit Training Center (i.e., boot camp) 50 years ago last month. I think there was only a single time during our entire six-week boot camp training where CC Wright didn’t toss the lockers. And then, I think he either felt sorry for us (we were graduating the following week) or he was just tired.

<Venting “on”>

When I first joined the Navy in July 1973, I expected to wear the “cracker jacks,” both the dress blues and dress whites. Little did I know…

Apparently, the Navy conducted a survey in 1970 (nobody asked me). The more senior petty officers wanted a different, more distinguished uniform. Therefore, someone far above my paygrade made the idiotic decision to replace the crackerjacks with a [insert your own descriptive Navy term here] suit and tie, similar to the officer/CPO style uniforms.

Well, screw me.

Our class in 1973 was one of the first to be issued this “monkey suit,” as we used to call it. I hated it. My boot camp buddies hated them. I don’t think anybody on the entire planet liked them, except for that one person who decided the make the change. I hope he finished out his career mowing lawns somewhere.

But we were stuck with them and, like all good military personnel who wanted to serve their country, I kept my mouth shut and followed orders.

But then… there was that time when I had my picture made for Mother’s Day.

After that brief “venting,’ I’ll admit that when I became a legal technology consultant in the late 80s, I spent the next 25 years wearing “monkey suits.”

<Venting “off”>

Your Whole World…

Everything we owned went into that seabag. Everyone had stenciled their names onto their seabag, just like every other item of standard Navy-issued clothing. In fact, we had no civilian clothes in boot camp. Whatever we wore when we arrived at boot camp from the Armed Forces Induction Center, we boxed and shipped home the day after we received our uniforms.

Oh yeah… there was also a Seabag Inspection. That was fun, too. I’ll spare you the details, but here’s a figure of what to expect during a seabag inspection. Note this is a much older image than my day, but you get the idea.

In my day, we didn’t have the backpack straps that we see now (like in the movie, “Stripes,” with Bill Murray, John Candy, and Harold Remis… happily prancing along to their barracks singing, “Do Wa Diddy…”). No. There was a single canvas handle where you could carry it with one hand or a long strap, where you could sling it over your shoulder. Some of us could grab the handle with our right hand and sling it up, carrying the seabag on our left shoulder.

Funny thing… when I travel overseas now with my Osprey backpack, I still sometimes carry it that way.

I’m not sure what happened to my seabag. My guess is that after a while sitting in the garage collecting dust, it was one of those items I hadn’t used for years so it was time to part ways. I still have my Navy-issued jacket, though.

True Story

My daughter sometimes wore my Navy jacket during her high school years. That… made me a proud Navy dad. One day she came home and told me that one of her high school friends noticed it and mentioned her dad had also served aboard Kitty Hawk, and like me, made the Westpac ’75 cruise. He’d married one of my high school classmates.

Small world, I always say.

While I no longer have my seabag, I still fold many of clothes the same way. As I mentioned earlier, when we travel overseas, we don’t pack a suitcase… we pack an Osprey backpack. Primarily it’s because we often travel to different cities on a trip and many places we stay have stairs. It’s much easier to carry a backpack up the stairs than to drag a suitcase.

And because the Osprey backpack is smaller, it requires a “unique” way of folding and stowing clothes.

Hence… I continue the seabag & folding training traditions of the United States Navy, learned in July 1973.

Until we meet again,
Andy

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Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (’73-77) and the author of several books, including You Can’t Get Much Closer Than This-Combat with the 80th “Blue Ridge” Division in World War II Europe, published by Casemate Publishers (2005) and selected as the Book of the Month for the Military Book Club. His newest novel, NEVER FORGET, is the story of A Vietnam Veteran’s Journey for Redemption & Forgiveness; NEVER FORGET is offered as a FREE (PDF, eBook format) download. Adkins also writes a weekly blog, “A Veteran’s Journey.”

Answers

1. Mark Twain.
2. Stripes (1981), John Winger (Bill Murray).
3. Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine (1967), The 5th Dimension; written by Gerome Ragni, James Rado, Galt Mac Dermot. Written for the musical, Hair.
   1. Personal note: this was also the song I was listening to in the surgical waiting room this past August when the surgeon called to let me know Becky was out of surgery and that she was headed to recovery. Halleluiah!

Previous blogs mentioned in this post:

• #4—From Civilian to US Navy
• #23—Rough Seas – Sea of Japan
• #49—Westpac ’75: After Six Months, We’re Coming Home