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Swimming in the South Pacific
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Fond Memories While I was in the Coast Guard, on board the USCGC Sherman, we did a couple patrols in the South Pacific. These were called SouthPats. On days when our schedule allowed, and the weather was nice...or freaking hot...we would have swim call. This was an opportunity to go swimming. We would stop the ship, just float there, and let the crew go swimming. I loved it!
We would take a couple of cargo nets, fastened together, and hang them over the side of the ship so everyone could climb back up. Most people after climbing up that net one time would say, “I ain’t doin’ that again! That climb was murder!” Wimps! I would go up and dive back in several times. The part that bothered me was the gunner’s mate standing on the bridge wing with an M-16 on “shark watch”. Hmmm…
But the one thing that really impressed upon me was floating in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean knowing that the nearest land was two miles BELOW you. That was a very humbling thought.
