A Few Notes: On the Friendship and Comradery Among Ship-board Sailors
Firstly, some background info: I once was a sailor and will always be a sailor …. In the late Sixties, I was stationed on an aircraft carrier for four years during the Vietnam Era …. Onboard, were 5,000 plus sailors; and for sailors at sea for long periods of time, this is how it was:
You were part of a Division, within a Department of the ship … You got to know everyone in your Division, no matter how many … A few, or a lot, became your buddies …
You were part of a team, day and night, while at sea … You became like family; like brothers; and the ship was your home !
You worked together; you ate meals together; you slept within inches of each other; you showered, shaved and sh*t together in communal toilets; you played together, both, aboard ship and ashore while in port; you shared stories and reminiscences about girlfriends and your hometown and your family waiting there for you to return.
After awhile, you knew your closest buddy so well, that you could sense when he was about to f*rt and you would try to get out of the way !
And that’s the way it was !!
Therefore, if you are still with me in reading this, the next time you see any vintage sailor photographs here on Tumblr (or from the internet, at large), whether they be seriously posing for a portrait together and perhaps with an arm around each other (or similar type pose), or whether they are clowning around for the camera by perhaps giving their buddy a friendly and humorous kiss on the cheek, it is not necessarily because they are gay …. It is most likely due to the “real fact” that they are brothers — brothers of the ship, if you will — and any sign of affection among them, is simply called, “brotherly love” !!!
I, for one, will always remember and love, very fondly, my “brothers of the ship” !
Sailor Gil
(Source: sailorgil)
