Navigator
Living Legend
Not me. 34 years both enlisted and officer. As an enlisted guy I was on river gunboats so got to work on those as well as a cable layer when I was with an inshore underwater warfare group. My first tour as an officer I was the deck, mine countermeasures and gunnery officer on a wooden minesweeper where I had to work on the gear and also learned to splice both line and steel cable, at times out in a Zodiac in rough seas. I also got my engineering qualification on Packard diesels and have turned a wrench or two on those as well having to crawl around inside fuel tanks, cofferdams and voids. The latter is where Sailors at times get killed from exposure to methane gas when their breathing apparatus fail. I resolved not to and didn't. I always had grease and paint on my uniforms which drove my wife nuts trying to get it out.
Edit: Yes and I've heard that saying about boats all too many times but that is primarily for folks who don't know how to take care of a boat, or don't, and should never have owned one in the first place. Too many people buy boats on a lark and then use and abuse them. I've seen many of these idiots and rescued a number of them out at sea. You have to love being out on the water, which I do. If I had it to do over again, I'd have bought a boat the day after I retired from the Navy03. The true mariner will always enjoy and care for his boat. As with anything they can be trouble but one has know that up front.
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