One of the things that happens in the shipyard

 is that a whole ringtailed passel of inspectors show up and we got lucky. Most of them showed up at once.




It is my responsibility to give them a safety briefing and to tell the thruth it is an omni-domini type of thing. I explain that various hatches are open and so forth.



I had another thing to explain to them. I pointed at one of the crew.



"That man served in the United States Navy. Please return his salutes and under no circumstances are you to stand still near him for more than three seconds. If you come in here covered in haze grey paint expecting sympathy I will laugh at you. You have been warned."



Most of them looked confused, but it was a Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer that busted out laughing and looked at me. 'Old school sailor?" he asked.



"Right, Chief," I replied.



The Chief looked like he had started his career on the old pull boats in the Lifesaving Service. This is the type of man that admirals look to with respect.



He explained to the others and entoned solomnly. "The man in question has been trained that if it moves you salute it. If it doesn't, you paint it grey. Do not stand still near that man. You will be painted grey if you do."



The Chief turned to me. "Thank you," he said. "This has been an excellent safety briefing."



The truth is that while the officers are the people that have the clout and fill out the paperwork, it is the Chiefs and other NCOs that do the hands on work and give the officers the information they base thier reports on.



We'll do just fine.



my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/