David and the Battleship Texas
From Bobo's email blast:
Last night David and I spent the night on the battleship Texas with his Cub Scout pack. There were about 35 Cub Scouts and 30 adults.
We were there from 6 PM to 10 AM. We were divided into four groups and led on guided tours of the ship. We slept and ate on the ship. We used the same facilities as the sailors 58 years ago when the ship was retired in 1948. (Except we did have commodes and our mattresses were not cotton.)
When we first entered the ship, it was like a maze of pathways and compartments. By the next day, we had a good feel for the layout of the ship.
I had a sense of being part of history -- sitting in the same ward room or captain's quarters where FDR, Roosevelt (as sec. of the Navy), Coolidge, and Harding had been is unique. And thinking of the 1,000's of sailors who served on the Texas between 1914 and 1948 and who served in dangerous and homesick conditions reminded me of the Army and being away from home.
David was well behaved (which is not news) and asked good questions during the tours. He had cleanup duties twice -- last night for being unlucky and selected by the ship leader and this morning by his officer of the day (one of his scout friends). Whenever the boys did some wrong or even made the officer of the day (one of their Cub Scout friends) mad, they had to do pushups. David had to do 10 this morning for doing something to the officer of the day.
We climbed into our tight sleeping bunks about 10 PM -- about one hour later everyone was asleep except for David -- he was sleeping below me and I kept feeling him toss and turn. His knee was hurting him from growth pains -- I gave him an Advil and he went to sleep. He also had to get up and walk about 30 yards to the "head." I got up about 2 AM to do the same -- now that was a chore in the dark quarters. I woke up about 5:30 AM and was dressed and ready for the day first -- then David was next.
It was a good time.
Dad/BoBo/James
We were there from 6 PM to 10 AM. We were divided into four groups and led on guided tours of the ship. We slept and ate on the ship. We used the same facilities as the sailors 58 years ago when the ship was retired in 1948. (Except we did have commodes and our mattresses were not cotton.)
When we first entered the ship, it was like a maze of pathways and compartments. By the next day, we had a good feel for the layout of the ship.
I had a sense of being part of history -- sitting in the same ward room or captain's quarters where FDR, Roosevelt (as sec. of the Navy), Coolidge, and Harding had been is unique. And thinking of the 1,000's of sailors who served on the Texas between 1914 and 1948 and who served in dangerous and homesick conditions reminded me of the Army and being away from home.
David was well behaved (which is not news) and asked good questions during the tours. He had cleanup duties twice -- last night for being unlucky and selected by the ship leader and this morning by his officer of the day (one of his scout friends). Whenever the boys did some wrong or even made the officer of the day (one of their Cub Scout friends) mad, they had to do pushups. David had to do 10 this morning for doing something to the officer of the day.
We climbed into our tight sleeping bunks about 10 PM -- about one hour later everyone was asleep except for David -- he was sleeping below me and I kept feeling him toss and turn. His knee was hurting him from growth pains -- I gave him an Advil and he went to sleep. He also had to get up and walk about 30 yards to the "head." I got up about 2 AM to do the same -- now that was a chore in the dark quarters. I woke up about 5:30 AM and was dressed and ready for the day first -- then David was next.
It was a good time.
Dad/BoBo/James
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