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(continued from Page 7) Any unanticipated disruptions or delays in the ship’s domestic or foreign routine meant longer days and extra work. There were plenty of both. During breaks the mess cook sought sleep. A new skill developed in the ability to catch a nap under the din of chipping hammers, needle guns and deck crawlers. On Whetstone, the spud locker, located on the port side, after end of the 02 level was his well used staging and rest area. Anybody who thought he was overworked, unappreciated, and underpaid before becoming a mess cook was confronted with a revelation that made regular shipboard work and standing watches seem like Nirvana. All others had only to look at the spud locker for a reality check. Beside the ubiquitous white hat, the hallmark of the mess cook was swab and bucket. With a well used cleaning rag hanging out the rear dungaree pocket, he was always ready to spring into action on the notion of the slightest spill. Rings under his eyes and his stained work uniform often betrayed his position on the mess decks-food, grease, soapy water, and sweat. Ah, the smell---soapy steam mixed with a balance of grease and food, reinforced by a distant, but gentle, suggestion of garbage. It was in his shoes, his clothes, and in his hair. He carried it with him every place he went. People used to say that mess cooking built character. Those were probably the people who never served as a mess cook. In reality, it can be said that mess cooking brought out character, a lot of character. Yet it is the way things were. Without the mess cook the crew would not have been fed and the ship would not have been able to meet its mission. Like a keyboard, if one letter is removed the keyboard becomes dysfunctional. Remove the mess cook and the ship would have experienced a form of chaos akin to drowning. Each division rotated one or two people to the mess decks for a period of about eight to twelve weeks. Usually the mess cook was at pay grade E-2 or E-3, fairly new to the ship and often designated as “the new boot.” It seemed the boots were assigned to mess cooking in what may be loosely interpreted as a rite of initiation. Sometimes, he might be relegated as a means to “relocate” from a problem area, though the need and purpose of mess cooking never reflected such a disposition. The mess decks had their own hierarchy and mess cooks worked at different levels of the ladder. These included the mess decks, the number one scullery, the number two scullery, the galley, and the Chiefs’ mess. Usually, movement was based on seniority. Duties varied from these locations to actually working in the galley and getting meals out and ready at the cooks’ bidding. Most desired was the chiefs’ mess mess-man. The chiefs’ mess mess-cook worked in the chiefs’ mess away from the humbling details of the ship’s mess decks. He took care of the chiefs, though his work was highly stressful in that any miscalculation or “mess up” could land the chiefs’ mess mess-man back on the main mess deck. His job was more akin to that of a steward, a regular enlisted rating, for the officers in the Wardroom, though nowhere close to being that exalted, a fact that did not dismiss him from his temporary rating as an anode to the mess deck regime. On the mess deck itself the order of promotion advanced from general duties there to the number one scullery and deep sinks. This was a primary cleaning station where scraps and garbage were collected to be disposed via the overboard disposal system, a component thereof being the grinder. |
Stray trash items were separated by hand and collected. Utensils, trays and other cooking equipment were given a preliminary wash down, racked, and passed to the number two scullery compartment which contained the automatic dishwasher machine. The next position was the dishwasher operator. His job was to run the automatic dishwasher. It washed with high-pressure water jets and provided sanitization at about 200 degrees. Hand loading to a continuous conveyor belt, the operator was busy at both ends of the machine in his job of keeping it fed and keeping the discharge end free and clear of finished product. From the discharge end, the dishwasher man carried hundreds of stainless steel trays, cups, saucers, etc. back to the distribution locker where they were re-racked for immediate return to service. Empty racks were quickly passed by to the number-one scullery for the reloading. The job was fast, hot, and wet. There was no dry way to get it done and there was no margin for delay. A pile up in number two would stall the men in the number-one scullery. They would be swamped. Then there would be a line that might extend back into the mess deck. The chow line from the forward part of the starboard 03 deck leading down to the serving line would be delayed. People would begin to be unhappy. Based on what the ship was doing at the time of mess cooking, the experience became mentally etched, never to be forgotten. As example, ask those who messed cooked during fleet refresher training about their experiences. Again, ask those who mess cooked when the ship was deployed and in the combat zones of Vietnam with troops on board. Some mess deck vets will remember the embarkation of 500 Korean marines and preparation of tons of rice. The location, disposition, and assignment of Whetstone dictated unique experiences based on whatever was going on at the time. Regardless of disposition, location and assignment, 800 to as many as 2500 meals a day would be served on Whetstone. It was a big job. One thing sailors never seemed to get enough of when the ship was deployed was sleep. While this deficiency was intensified, such lack was only one of the chronic hazards of the mess cook. Other occupational hazards included exposure to steam and hot water. As an example, a deep sink full of water at 200 degrees beaconed innocently for the unwary to plunge his arms downward to seize trays or utensils clearly visible at the bottom. Anyone suffering from lack of sleep in such instances lost any symptoms instantaneously. Usually, this happened only once in the mess cook’s career. In her later years, Whetstone’s garbage grinder/disposal system was inoperable for a long time. This meant that garbage and leftovers had to be placed in large metal GI cans. There were three or four of these things. Empty, they were heavy. When full they weighted a ton. These contrary masses had to be man handled from the scullery, through the mess decks, out the crew’s lounge through doors and over flanges, across the spud deck to port, down to the 01 deck, pass the motor whaleboat, then down to the main deck, and finally aft to the port wing wall dumping platform. This was tough work. It was particularly difficult when the ship was rolling. One slip or wrong move and the poor mess cook could be squashed by a garbage can. Worse yet, was the potential for garbage being spilled onto the deck. “Gad! Forget the mess cook, get that garbage!”
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