or, why I still don't like boats. Or any body of water where I can't see the bottom. (And if I can see the bottom, I still don't trust it.) A ramble about a 6 year old's movie logic and phobias.
I love the movie "Them." Those were good actors showing real fear for papier mache ants. Jaws, though, was downright scary, especially when you're ten and lived near beaches with murky waters.
"Something just brushed my leg." *young Matt learned to walk on water that day, doing a 25-yard sprint*
Looking at your own concerns, do not read my short story in the Rising Steam antho: kaiju cephalopods, with babies that can live, and hunt, outside water being the antagonistic force the Japanese naval landing force had to face. 🦑😱
A few decades ago, I ran into what looked like a barracuda, when I was snorkeling off Phuket in Thailand. We checked each other out until it swam off. 😧
He’d never met one, but recognized it from pics. Didn’t know you only have to worry about them if you have shiny jewelry they might mistake for a little fishy. Or skinny dipping.
This has haunted me from age 6 onward. Dad & Mom took us kids to see it at the Don Drive-In Theater in Bossier City, LA in 1954. For weeks afterward, I was scared of the bathtub and even the sinks.
I see your Desert Storm PTSD might be acting up, Mr. Pierce. I understand and can sympathize. May have a tetch of it myself...not wartime PTSD, mind you. Vietnam and Desert Storm ain't nothing compared to a sudden waking up and a short period of unforgettable lucidity while on a drunken R&R in Kaohsiung in mid-shag with a living nightmare.
Leastways, you had lube, being an Army POL specialist and having access to warehouses full of it. I had nothing, so quit your bellyaching. I'm not bellyaching either...there may be a decent VA claim to be made. Anyway, be well, Sir. ☺
I pretty much did a better job traumatizing myself with my own imagination as a kid than the Gulf did. Now, that Valujet recovery in the Everglades left me with a phobia of flying, but these days some Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s seem to do the trick, with minimal valium…
Just to help set your mind at ease. Guns won't get 'em underwater, but we gots torpeeders! Of course there's never a torpedo shooter around when YOU need one, so caution should remain your watchword. 😁
Gah, never say "never", Johnny. I was once a SUWC on an Aegis Cruiser. I'd have been there for you with Mk-46's, air launched from our SH-60's or deck-launched from our tubes.
That's the trouble. Aegis ships can sure see how big the creature is, and hit it with the big "kaboom", but they just don't hang out in your local flooded quarry. 😉
This explains why my uncle and other relatives like chucking quarter-sticks into the quarry… And now I’m reminded of the giant catfish in some of those dammed up man-made lakes and reservoirs…
I used to "Jug" fish for cats (Tie line around milk jug handle, with baited hook dangling). Wait for the jug to start moving around the lake, chase it down with a Jon Boat, grab it inside its mouth and just haul them in. Never got one more than 35 or 40 pounds in weight. I get the feeling you would NOT enjoy the experience. :^)
Oh, Johnny Oh, never say "never". :( I was SUWC, and CICO too. My team could send a TLAM your way. Maybe some 5"/54 VT frag or a Harpoon if the quarry wasn't too far away, and you aren't too worried about CEP or "danger close".
I'm sure you could have gotten close enough to help, but I ain't waiting for your ship to enter Gulf, come up the Mississippi river, turn right into the Ohio, another right into the Tennessee (I am NOT counting how many Dams there are between here and there), and then make it most of the way to the end of the navigable waterway. I'll source something local, and then grow a beard AFTER the problem is solved. ;^)
Yeah, maybe better to source locally, be self-reliant. We had no say in target selection with TLAM. Picking out which critical infrastructure like bridges, the Ministry of Culture, communications nodes, or the mechanical camel ride carousel at the Baghdad Land-O-Fun theme park were left to the wonks in D.C. and on-scene commanders.
I was training to be UFTG (torps and 3” launcher). If I’d made it to the fleet, I’m sure it would have been fun reading all the nonexistent news stories about all the ships that were never sunk by ordinance that was never launched. “Silent Service” indeed. :^)
I love the movie "Them." Those were good actors showing real fear for papier mache ants. Jaws, though, was downright scary, especially when you're ten and lived near beaches with murky waters.
"Something just brushed my leg." *young Matt learned to walk on water that day, doing a 25-yard sprint*
Looking at your own concerns, do not read my short story in the Rising Steam antho: kaiju cephalopods, with babies that can live, and hunt, outside water being the antagonistic force the Japanese naval landing force had to face. 🦑😱
Have a friend who did The Gilligan Gallop the first time he met a barracuda snorkeling off a beach in the Keys…
A few decades ago, I ran into what looked like a barracuda, when I was snorkeling off Phuket in Thailand. We checked each other out until it swam off. 😧
He’d never met one, but recognized it from pics. Didn’t know you only have to worry about them if you have shiny jewelry they might mistake for a little fishy. Or skinny dipping.
This has haunted me from age 6 onward. Dad & Mom took us kids to see it at the Don Drive-In Theater in Bossier City, LA in 1954. For weeks afterward, I was scared of the bathtub and even the sinks.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fs.yimg.com%2Fny%2Fapi%2Fres%2F1.2%2FFe9y5WzlhQoL_4sS0.ml_A--%2FYXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTE0NzY-%2Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Fthe_hollywood_reporter_217%2Fdebccfb260b8fdf4267577f3cf8b81bd&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2ec93a8601cb2e7fbafd964d8e44194a9cf2d3c92ffd22ed14cbc44c7f56ac0a
I see your Desert Storm PTSD might be acting up, Mr. Pierce. I understand and can sympathize. May have a tetch of it myself...not wartime PTSD, mind you. Vietnam and Desert Storm ain't nothing compared to a sudden waking up and a short period of unforgettable lucidity while on a drunken R&R in Kaohsiung in mid-shag with a living nightmare.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fauctions.c.yimg.jp%2Fimages.auctions.yahoo.co.jp%2Fimage%2Fdr000%2Fauc0405%2Fusers%2F8f83705ebe4f5980e976f18ee232edd92adf969e%2Fi-img1200x940-1684038838wkuu2p66968.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2f873d4b68b033de606d3422b505edc7d5a5afc13e4912c5f59603bcedac301b
Leastways, you had lube, being an Army POL specialist and having access to warehouses full of it. I had nothing, so quit your bellyaching. I'm not bellyaching either...there may be a decent VA claim to be made. Anyway, be well, Sir. ☺
I pretty much did a better job traumatizing myself with my own imagination as a kid than the Gulf did. Now, that Valujet recovery in the Everglades left me with a phobia of flying, but these days some Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s seem to do the trick, with minimal valium…
Just to help set your mind at ease. Guns won't get 'em underwater, but we gots torpeeders! Of course there's never a torpedo shooter around when YOU need one, so caution should remain your watchword. 😁
X-Com: Terror from the Deep had Solutions. Spear guns, man-portable torpedo launchers, and power armor. Just sayin’…;)
True, but I can only build 1 of them in my garage and expect it to work on the first try. 😀
Gah, never say "never", Johnny. I was once a SUWC on an Aegis Cruiser. I'd have been there for you with Mk-46's, air launched from our SH-60's or deck-launched from our tubes.
That's the trouble. Aegis ships can sure see how big the creature is, and hit it with the big "kaboom", but they just don't hang out in your local flooded quarry. 😉
This explains why my uncle and other relatives like chucking quarter-sticks into the quarry… And now I’m reminded of the giant catfish in some of those dammed up man-made lakes and reservoirs…
I used to "Jug" fish for cats (Tie line around milk jug handle, with baited hook dangling). Wait for the jug to start moving around the lake, chase it down with a Jon Boat, grab it inside its mouth and just haul them in. Never got one more than 35 or 40 pounds in weight. I get the feeling you would NOT enjoy the experience. :^)
Oh, Johnny Oh, never say "never". :( I was SUWC, and CICO too. My team could send a TLAM your way. Maybe some 5"/54 VT frag or a Harpoon if the quarry wasn't too far away, and you aren't too worried about CEP or "danger close".
I'm sure you could have gotten close enough to help, but I ain't waiting for your ship to enter Gulf, come up the Mississippi river, turn right into the Ohio, another right into the Tennessee (I am NOT counting how many Dams there are between here and there), and then make it most of the way to the end of the navigable waterway. I'll source something local, and then grow a beard AFTER the problem is solved. ;^)
Yeah, maybe better to source locally, be self-reliant. We had no say in target selection with TLAM. Picking out which critical infrastructure like bridges, the Ministry of Culture, communications nodes, or the mechanical camel ride carousel at the Baghdad Land-O-Fun theme park were left to the wonks in D.C. and on-scene commanders.
I was training to be UFTG (torps and 3” launcher). If I’d made it to the fleet, I’m sure it would have been fun reading all the nonexistent news stories about all the ships that were never sunk by ordinance that was never launched. “Silent Service” indeed. :^)