USS Casimir Pulaski, SSBN633 - next to sub tender
The dry dock in Holy Loch, Scotland
Casimir Pulaski in dry dock
When I first met Fred in Holy Loch, Scotland, in 1976, he had gone to check out a job on the USS Casimir Pulaski, SSBN633 — the fleet ballistic missile submarine where I was one of the crew. When I went back to the engine room that morning, he was sitting there unable to get back to the tender after scoping out the job he was supposed to work on.
While he was checking out the job, the submarine had been moved away from the tender and was on the way to the dry dock.
Fred hadn’t been to breakfast and he hadn’t reported in to the shop, yet. For all we knew, his chief considered him AWOL.
I don’t remember if we told any chiefs or officers about Fred’s dilemma so that his shop could be informed. I do know, though, that I took him to his first breakfast on board a submarine.
Supposedly, the food on submarines is supposed to be the best food in the services. I really don’t know that to be a fact, since the few meals that I ate on any vessel other than the sub were on the submarine tender and I don’t really remember those. However, I seldom had any complaints about what we were served on the boat.
Fred’s job had been assigned to the tender as a temporary duty station. He later served on a submarine.
About 5 years later, I was sitting in the control room of a commercial nuclear power plant when a potential new employee was being given a tour of the plant and the control room. I looked at him and asked, “Where do I know you from?”
He asked what boat I had been on and I told him, “the Casimir Pulaski.”
“You were the guy that took me to breakfast!”
It was Fred.
Fred accepted the job offer and went to work in the same department that I was in, Operations. After I went to the Training Department, we both ended up in the same senior reactor operator license class. He stayed in the Operations Department far longer than I did, but eventually he accepted a job in Training. He is actually older than me, but he stayed at the plant after I retired, retiring almost exactly a year after I had.
Fred is now working as a contractor at a plant in South Carolina.
I’m now working at what used to be Fred’s desk.
Yesterday, I was going down the hall heading back to my office, preoccupied with what I was doing.
However, it’ still one of the necessary qualifications in today’s “paperless” nuclear power teaching environment.
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Choices in Life — part 1
August 10, 2009
We are the products of choices.
The path our lives take is the result of many, many choices. We make choices that decide our future and impact the lives of others. Decisions and choices by others affect us every day.
“I choose to have a positive attitude at work regardless of the problems or issues. ” – or — “How can I have a positive attitude with all the mickey mouse stuff they want us to do.”
“There aren’t any decent jobs around here, so I guess I’ll just take what I can get.” — or — “There aren’t any decent jobs around here that I’m qualified for, so I’ll do what I need to do to be able to get a better job, even if it means leaving.”
“I’m going to deal with other people based on who they are, not what they are.” — or — “You just can’t deal with those people; they aren’t like us.”
“I’m just here to earn my paycheck; I’m just going to do what I’m told.” — or — “I’m going to do what I need to do in order to be the very best that I can at this job.”
“I’m tired and grumpy because it’s been a long day, but I sure won’t take it out on the worker at the checkout counter when the product I’m buying doesn’t scan.” — or — “I don’t care about her; I just want to get done here so I can go home and have some beer.”
What are some other examples of choices that shape our lives?
day 68
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