When I was a sophomore in high school we did Rogers & Hammerstein's "South Pacific" as our annual HS musical. A few weeks before the performances we took home notes saying that we needed old uniforms for the play. Well we got enough uniforms to outfit the crew of a battleship, a marine battalion and an army air corps wing. Little did we realize that 1) many of the dads who donated the uniforms were around our age when they wore them and 2) a lot of us would soon be heading to a cozy little place in southeast Asia wearing similar uniforms.
In High School We did “Teahouse of the August Moon” in which I played Captain Mclean, a U.S. Army Psychiatrist. Some 14 years later when I was an Officer of the Crown, employed by the Parliament and the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, attached to the super secretive Australian Department of Defence and embedded into the Australian Regular Army as a Civilian Special Officer, I was offered a Direct Commission by Appointment to the Rank of Captain, in the Royal Australian Corps of Military Police. The ultimate goal, from the Army’s point of view, was for Me to eventually become (by regular Three Yearly Promotions) a Brigadier or possibly Major General, specialising in Officer Career Management, which at the time was My specialist subject as a Civilian Special Officer. Regrettably, (& this is the biggest Regret of My Life) I didn’t accept the offer.
He's made that joke before, one time they had a video sponsored by a maker of wedding rings that uses wood from old ships, so ofc he had one made from NJ's old planks that they're replacing. "I'm not married, but ..."
Ryan, just an FYI, your socks which weren’t stenciled were tied to your belt loops when you washed them. Also, the work boots are referred to as “boon dockers”, great work👍
My Dad's seabag and all it's contents including war prizes was lost overboard at Okinawa after his ship was rammed by an LST during a typhoon. The collision took out the crew berthing space my Dad was assigned to. Lucky for him he was on duty on the bridge at the time of the collision.
I loved seeing that the Bluejackets Manual was in the bag. My mother was a WAVE and the 1940 edition was my first "chapter book". I especially liked the signal flags, the pictures of the ships and the knots.
We even used sea bags in the army, we just called them A bags. Yes there certainly is a tedious art to packing things in them never fails when a mass layout was necessary, there was never much time to repack those buggers and there would be some creative attempts to jamming things in them to get the last 1/4” necessary to close the top and clip it.
In the early 90s I was an enlisted sailor on the USS Dale (CG-19) and if you "effed up" my Division Chief Petty Officer would conduct a full seabag inspection, giving you one hour to report with your complete seabag. Never happened to me but I "fondly" remember helping my shipmates "find" (borrow) items they were missing.
I still have my old green canvas seabags and after over 4 decades, they are still in good shape. I often take one with me when I'm flying on an extended trip overseas with my wife since she always seems to come home with a lot more than left with... They are also good if you need to carry a lot of stuff and are getting close to the weight limit for a bag since they do not weigh much and you thus have more "payload" for the same gross weight... Back in my younger days, I can remember walking through an airport with 3 seabags on my back when traveling between bases. These days if I was to try doing that, I would be using a handcart to wheel them around... :( Why 3 seabags? I had a full stereo system in them with clothes packed around them as padding...
20 years ago i was in The Norwegian navy. Travel was always in dress uniform. So we had in The bag: 1 blouse + shirt, throusers and extra collor. 2 evening shirts t2’s 3 us work uniforms. 1. berret for The work uniforms(The us sailors feared us Norwegians due to The berret) 2. setts of green uniforms. 1 winter coat. (Made of thick wool) Underwear 6sets. Wool underwear 5 sets. 4 for use and one for emergency (battlestation/damage controll if smokediver. 8 pair of socks 4 short and 4 long. 4 pair of wool socs. Extra dress shoes. And The best M77 boots. 8 bands for fitting The trousers with The m77’s
@@wonniewarrior no alternative to that. Take it or leave it. You could opt out wearing The wool underwear. I can’t see persons beeing allergic to wool. Only reason you should react to wool is that it is syntetic. Smoke divers and stokers always had wool awailable due to that wool is anti flame and gives protection from The heat from The boilers.
Hi Ryan, I just found this channel and I want to thank you for doing this. I’ve learned so much listening to you about the history of Battleship New Jersey and of The Navy in general. I look forward to every new video. I hope to visit very soon. On another note, the more I learn the more questions I have 😃. Thank you again.
Ryan’s picture of his loved one, an bickering with the Camera operator was very comical. I understand this a educational channel about the battleship and how the sailors lived an worked on the ship, but is there any way for end of the year bloopers and outtakes videos ?
In the Royal Australian Navy, we had a blue 'Kit Bag' which was a carryover name from the British Royal Navy - the same purpose as the USN Seabag. We also had Tooth, Hair and Shoe Polish brushes and a 'Housewife (sewing) kit'.
I’d like to add a little information on a couple things you mentioned. The caps would have been dyed blue on the ship, according to my grandfather who was on AKA-79 during the war the first time you had watch during the rain the dye would run out and leave you with a blue ring around your head. Second the WWII Navy dog tags were a different shape and didn’t have the incorrectly named “tooth notch” some had their thumbprint etched into the back but I think this was prewar. The serial number had a 2 number state code for what state they enlisted in, then a unique 4 digit number with a month code, then a T and the year you got a TB shot then the last character was blood type
We had our religion stamped on ours, C for Catholic, P for protestant, H for Hebrew. No provision for atheists. Everybody had to be religious. Enlistment ("serial") number was in a 123-45-67 format until they started using your SSN.
I just had to go look at my Dad's dog tags, which I have displayed in the case with the flag from his funeral. No religion that I'm sure of, although there's an A which I'm pretty sure doesn't mean Atheist. Serial number is as Bill Martin describes. Full middle name, unlike my Viet-Nam era ones which just have the initial. They are oval. Appear to date to 1943.
Shoes go at the bottom to make a stable "floor" to pile everything soft on top. We could roll the green sea bags down halfway to make them easier to load, could you do the same with the white WWII bags?
I know it hasn't premiered yet, but I would love there to be a "modern day counterpart", for the 1980s US Navy Seabag, and maybe even "today's US Navy Seabag".
Compared to a 2005 seabag, not much has changed. We didn't have the blue dixie cups and we also had to pack working uniforms (working blues and working whites). I think I even still have my BJM...somewhere.
@@Najolve yeah, same here, I was in active duty from 88-91, my goodness all the stuff we hauled out of boot- it was a lot more than just a seabag! I remember very heavy seabag (or two) garment bag with peacoat, raincoat, ditty bags, dress blyes, dress whites, workiung blues and whites, boondockers, dress shoes, skivvies, white t shirts, four pair heavy socks, BJM... there was a reason you came to boot with nothing because you left with everything ! :)
Sitting here watching this video and when you got to the Donald Duck flat cap I looked over at a picture of my Father-in-law wearing one. His has U.S. Naval Hospital on the ribbon. He was in from early 1941 till 1963. Plank owner on the USS Indiana.
Minute #8 - the most interesting edits yet ! (Ever?) I have to admit when I first started watching the channel, some videos at the time to me as if they were done in a single take and No Editing.
P-coat. Don't be fooled. they were NOT warm, unless the weather was, too. For me they served as little more than ductwork for distributing feezing air around my miserable body.
_"Thirteen chances to change your mind about what you're about to do."_ Whereas the Velcro method let any eligible partner make your mind up for you. Gotta say, the buttons were a lot quieter, in a situation where sound could be at issue.
13 chances to fail in offloading the multiple pitchers of beer which you onloaded earlier. Add two additional opportunities to fail getting the waist unbuttoned if you drank the water and need to actually drop them and sit for a spell. As you mentioned, I had two pairs of bottoms. One pair with functional flap buttons for inspections.. One pair with the buttons doing nothing but holding a piece of fabric to the back of the flap and velcro to hold the flap shut. Advantage of doing it this way was that if the additional piece of fabric were stitched the flap at the bottom, you had a nice buttoned internal pocket where you could stash your extra cash and your Military ID until needed.
@@Studio23Media Jumper Blues and Dress/Jumper Whites are not worn near as much as in times past. Inspections, special events, visits to civilian venues such as Fleet Week in Seattle or the Portland Rose Festival in Portland, OR. Jumper Blues are the only uniform with the 13 buttons. Everything else had 1 button and 1 zipper, and could be dealt with in the normal manner. When my father was in the navy, he either left the ship in appropriate uniform or just didn't leave the ship. The Dungaree uniform (now camo coveralls) is generally restricted to on base. Space was so precious on the older ship that uniforms were all you had room for. All he would have had were Jumper Blues, Jumper Whites, and Dungarees. It should be mentioned that the "blue uniforms are actually black... In the late 80's, I had Blue and white jumpers, Dungarees (Jeans, blue shirt, boots...See Ryan)) "Johnny Cash" Winter Working (black slacks, black shirt, black tie, dress shoes), "and "Milkman" Summer Working (lightweight white cotton pants and white cotton shirt, no tie). The White Hat/Snoopy Hat/Dixie Cup/Dog Dish was worn with all of them. Shipboard/on base, the White Hat was generally swapped out for a black ball cap with ship's logo. Your Command would generally specify which uniforms were authorized that day, and under what circumstances they could be worn, a.k.a. "Uniform of the Day". Jumper Blues were always acceptable.
Ryan great effort, but the 18th century sailors actually put tar in their long hair before tying it into pigtail. That is wear the old tar slogan comes from when referring to old salty sailors of the age of sail. Also, your friend is correct; the 13 buttons are to represent the 13 colonies. What I was told at Navy boot camp. Your missing the neckerchief made of black satin. It was adapted from the age of sail as well after the tragic death in combat of the Royal Navies Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson as a show of respect and mourning. Remember a lot of U.S. Sailors had been veterans in the Royal Navy for many decades and were sympathetic. It still persists to this very day. Other items in a sea bag were a raincoat and a set of primitive swim trunks and a ditty bag with sewing kit, black shoe polish and shoe brush. A spit kit, with shaving gear, a couple of cheap white towels for showering (Also with name stenciled on each one, with a black indelible ink pin for whites and a white indelible ink pin for blues, not spray paint)! Some sailors would bring smokes, a lighter, playing cards, cribbage boards, bibles, and sometime harmonicas or small flutes. BTW; umbrellas were strictly forbidden for enlisted men. One more thing; the laundry was picked up and washed, then returned by ships divisions, not serial number. Each division had a laundry day assigned by the day of the week. A junior sailor would be assigned to take all the division laundry bags to the laundry and pick them up when they were cleaned, but not ironed. Enlisted had to do their own ironing of their cloths, which was sometimes very challenging. Officers, of course, had ironing of their uniforms done by the officers stewards in the officers mess. They had to pay for it though. I can tell you some of the ways and methods enlisted men got the wrinkles out if you want to know.
Three buttons up either side, three either side across the top and one in the center. No paticular meaning whatsoever. Yep, the neckechief was the only "dressy" part of the uniform besides the "piping".
The piping started out as a ranking for seaman, 1 pipe for third class, two for 2nd, three for AB or first class seam, but was eventually the piping was just put on all. The other uniform which was not mentioned were the undress blues and whites. Undress had no piping, no kerchief, no insignia at all. The blues were made of wool, but Asiatic fleet sailors would soon replace with tailor made caberden with some silk liners and fancy silk embroidery available in Hong Kong tailors shops. The Navy liked buttons. Metal zippers rusted. My experience with seabag inspection onboard ship was to make sure sailors had at least the basic gear before deployment. It was because sailors many times would have lost, ruined, or sold most of their seabag. I had on sailor that had 1 working uniform and a pair of coveralls, that was it. I had him removed. Never did find out exactly what he did with his seabag
Jumpers inside out with all creases proper and carefully laid under your coffin mattress. Always pressed and inspection ready. I did a lot of the alterations and sewing for my division. M Div all day!
You know, I've always wanted this answer. With my Father's seabag from WW2 this was a big, heavy bag of mystery. His wasn't stuffed full, yet he secured it with a grey painted padlock. I quess that this was to keep his kids inquisitive minds out of his stuff. One of the best gifts the Navy has given we civilians is the utilitarian Chambray shirt. I have several, but Ive removed the US Navy badge not wanting to suggest that I'm a one time serving salior when I'm not. These are high quality made shirts, made in the USA, that look smart and they're comfortable to wear. And just so the Mrs doesn't forget whose shirt this is, there is a laundry tag sewn onto the front, way down below the last button.
I'm looking through my 1943 Bluejacket's Manual as I listen to ya Ryan. 8 freakin' jumpers, can you believe it! Things change slowly. In 1973, my boot camp in Orlando....we were issued dye and stencil pens and told when to open and use them. The Navy was experimenting with a new work uni, Navy Blues, and I didn't get my first dungarees until they switched everybody back to dungarees the next year.
Yep. You wore undress jumpers a lot in the old days. Even underway. Bridge watches, CIC, ships offices. You had to shift to the undress for the evening meal and movie call.
Hah 13 buttons. I had some that were redone with hidden velcro, and the buttons sowed on the outside so everyone was none the wiser. So you could just whip... never mind.
@@SSN515 Had a shipmate (a lifer E-6) who had completed a WestPac cruise and his Liberty Cuffs were beautiful embroidered "Chinese" dragons....he stood out on a small boy doing a Med Cruise
British forces had a kit bag. Very similar. But you didn't have a draw string for the closure but a large D shaped brass carabiner style clip that could be fastened with a padlock.
When I deployed to Iraq in 2003 with the MI Army National Guard, I had 3 duffle bags, a ruck sack, and a personal civilian backpack. All were stuffed full. I had to re-re-repack to get everything to fit. 4 pairs of BDU uniforms. (never worn in Iraq) 1 pair DCU uniform. I was wearing the other. 1 BDU field jaket; 1 DCU field jaket. 1 black beret 1 DCU boonie cap 1 BDU summer ball cap 1 BDU winter ball cap 1 DCU ball cap 2 pair black combat boots 1 pair suede combat boots (all size 14) 1 poncho 1 wet weather jacket and pants 1 gas mask 1 gas mask filter (new) 1 J-suit (chemical warfare protection) 1 night vision 1 "plugger" GPS 1 crypto devise 1 Vietnam era flak jacket 1 ammo vest 1 web belt 2 canteens 1 first aide pouch 1 battle dressing 1 set of goggles 6 t-shirts for BDUs 4 t-shits for DCUs 6 pair black socks 2 sets of civilian wear 1 pair tennis shoes couple of books. note pad for writing paper envelopes 1 M-16A-2 rifle Thankfully, I was a Signaleer. We ride. We don't march! And I know I have forgotten a few items.
What you called "gym shoes" were called "small boat shoes" while I was in because of their ability to to grip a wet deck. And there were no "white dress shoes" for enlisted men, that was for officers only, and they were leather, not canvas. The flap on the jumpers was to provide a ready grabbing point for removing the jumper in a hurry, as when abandoning ship. The thirteen button trousers were for the same reason: The button holes were relatively large, so grabbing the corners and pulling straight forward would release all thirteen quickly, allowing rapid removal of trousers for swimming.
@@Trebuchet48 Hope you realize that "gym" comes from the word "gymnasium". I am going to go out on a limb and say that "gymn" was probably common usage when that book was published. It would be extremely rare to find a typo making it into print. Language and spelling used to make a difference.
As I understand it there was a way of folding them where the sides were pulled outward and the body tucked in and that’s why in pictures you see the caps are flattened outward over the ears
Ryan, you forgot one part of the routine for doing laundry aboard ship - the part where you hope that all of your laundry comes back to you! Even in officers’ country, there was no guarantee that you’d get back everything that went to the ship’s laundry.
I joined the Navy in 1970. They did not use SSN for dog tags then. In boot camp our sea bags also included a poncho, which they removed. The pea coat was rolled and held together with "small stuff" which is large string. Ours also included a watch cap, gloves and a green sweater. WWII sailors may have had gaiters (covers the shoes for ceremonies). I like the discussion regarding the dark blue dixie hats. I suspect each ship had to ocassionaly dye a new batch of hats. By the 1970s were were folding underwear and shirts in thirds. On submarines we were issued foul weather jackets, but they stay with the sub once you are transferred. Our sea bags were green and had a hasp on it so we could put a padlock on it.
Navy service numbers were used until 1971 when they were substituted for the members SSAN. White hats were not rolled in you sea bag but were folded in three parts. The number of buttons on the blue trousers was arbitrary. That style was common before zippers were invented. In 1970 my sea bag had: 4 Blue Trousers 4 Undress Blue Jumpers 1 Dress Blue Jumper 4 White Trousers 2 White Jumpers 2 Tropical White Shirts 1 Neckerchief 4 Pair Dungarees 4 Dungaree Shirts 4 White Hats 1 Ball Cap 1 Sweater 1 Raincoat 1 Peacoat 1 Blue Working Jacket 4 Pair Underwear 4 Tee Shirts 4 Pair Black Socks 2 Pair White Socks 1 Black Web Belt with Buckle 1 White Web Belt with Buckle 1 Pair Boondockers 2 Pair Dress Shoes 1 Pair Gym Shoes 1 Pair Swim Trunks 4 Towels 1 Ditty Bag 12 Clothes Stops 1 Bluejackets Manual
My father was in the Navy in the 1950’s. He had a small chess set, playing cards, a pocket sized New Testaments book and a spare pair of glasses from what I can determine. He also had cruise books of his tour on the USS Coral Sea.
I was a sea cadet in early 1970's. The navy put on unit onboard the USS Coral Sea for a two week training cruise. It was.an amazing experience for a young man. Have still a lot of great memories of it.
When I went in the Navy, in 1968, we were given a very specific way to fold each and every item. Not only that, but we had to put everything in our lockers, at boot camp, in a very specific way. We were introduced to Navy language right away. For instance, our socks had to be rolled in pairs and placed in the locker with the p***y to the wall. Putting them in the seabags came later when we were getting ready to graduate. Years of experience had taught the Navy how to pack the seabags in a way that gave us the quickest access to items in it. Once I was aboard ship, we never did that. Very few even used their seabags except when being transferred. I notice you didn't mention the ties around the items. Those served 2 purposes. The 1st is how you see them. The other was when you were somewhere where laundry service wasn't available. Rather than clothes pins, we attached the clothes to the clothes lines with those ties. That is how we did it in boot camp. There, we had big concrete tables where we scrubbed the clothes we had worn that day with very stiff brushes. Yes, we had to tie each item to the clothes lines in a very specific manner. Not only were the blues kept inside out, so were all of our uniform items. This wasn't just to keep the outside clean, but to keep them pressed properly. We would even lay uniform items under our mattresses where our own body weight would help keep the creases in. At that time, anyone E-6 and below, was not allowed to have civvies on board. That didn't bother me. I was very proud to wear my dress uniform ashore, especially my blues. Like most, on my 2nd cruise, when we got to Hong Kong, I had a tailor made set of gabardines made. They were silk lined, a dragon on the inside of my jumper and on the inside of the cuffs. That made me standout like a sore thumb when I was transferred back east. I was a DP3 with 7 ribbons, some with multiple stars, and a uniform that was black. Many of the guys still wore regulation dress blues and had no more than 1 or 2 ribbons.
Did you ever experience white tornado's in bootcamp? I remember coming back to the barracks and the entire companies lockers were emptied and everything strewn about...AKA a white tornado. Then you would have 20 minutes to get everything right so you would be running around the compartment trying to find all your stuff. Ahhhh good times lol.
@@Bellthorian No. I heard of other companies where it happened. I think those were companies with several guys that weren't squared away and were causing problems for the rest and they didn't take the bad guys in hand. We did have one scrounge who had an aversion to showers. He got a thorough cleansing with our laundry brushes. He was always the first to hit the showers after that.
We kids read Dads blue jacket manual from cover to cover. Several years ago I found the same edition of the manual in a Good Will store. It's a treasured possession of mine.
My seabag was green with a shoulder strap. As others commented, peacoat and ditty bag were in there. Workboots are boondockers. Old Bluejacket manuals are $$$$ these days. SSN's replaced service numbers in the early 70's. We used paint markers to stencil uniforms. I think we kept the stencil we were given in boot camp for later use. Ryan missed a great adventure by not joining up but he's doing his part quite well by getting us back aboard. I want that job!
I seem to recall my Dad's seabag from WWII had legging from boot camp, a 2 piece mess kit and a canteen with cup. He was in the Pacific theater on a yard tender as a MM
Nothing other than what was required went into mine. The dity bag was for the toiletries, shoe polish, pocket knife, etc. And of course, the dity bag goes in the sea bag.
Bag holds a lot but you had a little room at the top to throw in a set or two of civies. In my time you had a garment bag in addition, don't recall if the pea coat went in the sea bag but that thing took up a lot of room.
We all had our personal effects, mostly legal, pictures, cameras, writing materials etc. But you also had your towels, soap, shaving gear, sowing/ button kit, and most important , a ditty bag! That’s where your dirty clothes went until they would go to the laundry. Ditty bags were very small.
Completely unrelated, but how well does that radio hanging on your pocket work when you're deep in the ship? Seems like all that armor steel would make reception problematic, especially when you're WAY out there, like exploring the extreme bow with the lipstick kisses, or the spaces that have the water on the other side. Also, I assume when you go into those spaces it's like going into the wilderness, you have at least one other person to yell at you from behind the camera, and you tell the people topside where' you're going and how long you expect to be gone so they'll come looking for you if you don't get back on schedule.
That "radio" is a wireless mic setup; it's only going as far as the camera and audio gear he's looking at. If you can hear him on the video, it's working. :)
@@stonebear The mic pack is in his left back pocket (you can see the wire going to it in other videos when he's crawling through manholes), the brick with an antenna hanging off his hip pocket is definitely a walkie-talkie.
Walkie-talkies were acually somewhat useful aboard ship, especailly in peacetime/good weather, when most doors were left open. Granted the range was very limited, especailly deep inside or lower decks. Signals would reflect for surprising distances, but wired interphone (1JV, etc.) systems were the only reliable means of voice commication.
As an addendum or correction, when I was in the Navy we did not use spray paint to stencil our uniforms. We used large ink pens, not like the ones you write with but more like a sharpie. The pens had the ink or paint in them and you used the stencil and the pens to mark your gear. You got a black and a white ink pen for stenciling the different colored gear.
man, lol I will never ever forget 'stencil day'- marking all those first issue items on a hot August day with those markers at Great Lakes... good times!!
In the mid 90s Marine seabag, we just crammed everything and everything in there that we could. CD walkmans, cartons of smokes, logs of chew, beer and everything else that was banned. Then the uniforms and essentials took up what little space was left. 😏
Hi Bill, Not being from the USA it might sound weird, but thank you for your service. A question about what you said on the item's that you carried in yout sea bag. What would have been thr punishment (if any) for having Beer in your Sea bag. Thank you and Cheers.
@@billpilling5725 Remember the book and movie 'The Bridges at Toko-Ri? Beer Barrel the LSO on the aircraft carrier was allowed to bring an entire duffel bag full of beer on ship. It had something to do with his ability to do his job on a pitching deck, if I remember correctly.
Very cool video. My dad was in the navy stationed at Great Lakes as an instructor needless to say as a child because very aware of how to roll my clothes as a kid . Yes even at 69 I still wear a crew neck white under shirt most all the time even with a polo type shirt over it. Also have a picture of my dad in his Donald duck hat.
When my Gradfather got back he had two bags. One for his normal stuff and one for loot. Sadly he didn't get permission for any of the loot and ended up needing to dump it overboard.
Sailors in the "Age of Sail" were often referred to as "Tars". Their long hair would be braded into a pig-tail and the flap attached to the shirt would be a dark color to hide staining.
Boot Camp, San Diego RTC, 5 Oct - 5 Dec 1985 The peacoat, night cap, ditty bag, working blues and whites, and neckerchief were the only items missing. As for footwear: dress shoes, boondockers and sneakers.
We'd put those NONE PG magazines in ours from the ships store. Sometimes we'd also put GEE DUNK(it's been a long time, hope I spelled that right?) in our sea bags, or in our 782 GEAR when I was a BEACHMASTER at BMU-2 LITTLE CREEK, then later as a reservist at NMCB23 DET O1, LITTLE CREEK. My how times have changed. ☠⚓🇺🇲
I had to look it up: Gedunk refers to ice cream, candy, potato chips, and other snack foods, as well as to the place on a ship where these items are sold. The first known published usage of the term "gedunk" in a non-naval context is in a 1927 comic strip which refers to "gedunk [ice cream] sundaes."
@@theoldbigmoose Aboard AS-15, the snacks made available to those preparing for midwatch was called "midrats", and often called "gedunks" too, as it usually was candies as well as hot dogs, hamberguers and sandwiches et c.
Its a shame there are so few veterans from the 40's we can talk to, because I am sure those guys found all sorts of creative ways to pack who knows what into their bags to get it aboard. And man id love to hear the stories they could tell.
Have you ever done a vid on the 1MC? Alll the different whistles, bugle calls and such and what they mean? I use to mimic the 1MC call "Sweepers Sweepers man your brooms lets give a good clean sweep fore and aft! Starboard side air your linen, Starboard side air your linen!" I did this on our PA system at work to mess with our Navy guys. LOL!
I had bought a very small iron and kept it hidden in my rack. The irons in berthing always seemed to be burnt. I also kept a very small plastic bottle for water i would spray on the uniform.
Have my dad's Bluejackets Manual (1943) - great reading. He said he carried a copy of Lee's Lieutenants through the. No idea how he managed that. Lucky enough to have a copy of the ship's (USS Kwajelin) order of day 03 Aug 1945. Paper is deteriorating, need to scan it.
Once I left submarine school and got to my boat... and for each of my five patrols, I never packed my seabag the Navy way again. Nor did I have the prescribed list of things in it.
You "bubbleheads" were given lots of leeway... and righfully so, because 1. It was hellacious duty and 2. There was far less space available aboard the boats (You didn't mention whether you were on a nuke or conventional. I'm assuming conventional.). Kudos.
The flap on the back of the crackerjack uniforms would be tucked up under the hat while riding backwards in the liberty boats to and from port to keep wind and spray off you.
Ryan, I was always told the 13 buttons were representative of the 13 colonies. If you think about it, they could have put any amount there or made the hole bigger or smaller.
As stated by @super Geek, those items would go in the "Ditty Bag", which would be on your person or some other secure location if you needed to leave your seabag unattended. In Real-World terms, the presence of a Bible or other Holy Book of reasonable (read small) size during a surprise inspection would generally be "overlooked". Unofficially, it goes on top of the Bluejacket's Manual, face up, centered and squared.
@@larrystuder8543 Last i stood one, during a Dungaree inspection a Navy-issue pen in a (buttoned) shirt pocket was allowed, as was your Military ID. Socks were NOT inspected, as it was generally assumed that the wallet NOT allowed in your back pocket was stuffed in the top of one of your socks. In my specific case, my wallet (in my sock) contained the key to my shop and the key to my desk in the shop. The rest of the guys simply dropped everything not suitable for an inspection that they didn't want to try to hide in their socks (or underwear) into my top desk drawer, watched me lock it, then headed off for inspection. This worked well, as pretty secure since all of the shop keys except for mine were in my desk drawer...
it's pretty much like the US sailor's bible- chock full of everything you need to know from naval history, traditions, rank, ship identification, signal flags, knots, etc
That 'conversation' made me go look and found this. "What does the 13 buttons on the Blue “Cracker Jack” pants mean? If you said that they represent the original 13 colonies…you are wrong. 🙂 For decades, older Sailors told incoming Sailors that the 13 buttons on the front of the Cracker Jack bell bottoms represented the original 13 colonies. I was also told this by my first Chief on my first ship. 🙁 The myth was so commonplace , it actually had to be excised from Navy history texts. Real reason the pants had 13 buttons…….Sailors originally used a drawstring to hold up their pants, but replaced the drawstrings in 1864 when a new version of the bell bottoms was designed with seven buttons across the top holding the crotch flap. With a nod toward comfort in more tropical climates, the Navy elongated the flap also called a broadfall in 1897, and two buttons were added to each side, now totaling 11. But as Navy men grew broader, thanks to improvement in nutrition, the flap needed to grow longer. So in 1905 more buttons were added, creating those 13 buttons." Sounds like the person behind the camera is still repeating the Navy's attempt at censorship. 😂
***Its startling when you see your last name stenciled on a pair of dungarees while watching a video. I know I had an uncle that was in the navy but I have no other information.
@@spaceghostohio7989 LOL. Neither do mine. Have gained 50 lbs since then. Still have my last set of dress blues and whites. Surprisingly I can still squeeze into the Dress Blues.
@@RetiredSailor60 Guess my Boon Dockers still fit...god those things were uncomfortable...that the Maker we were young and could take it..or ignore it..
