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The old guys make you dress up in goofy costumes
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and you have to sing these bawdy songs.
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And they play practical jokes on you.
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When I did it for the first time, years ago,
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a chief petty officer ordered me to stand watch
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until I saw the equator as we passed it,
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and I would recognize it by the big posts
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that were sunk into the ocean floor and spaced every 100 yards.
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And, obviously, I never hit my rack that night.
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Remember the old commercial for the Navy?
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"Join the Navy, see the world"?
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Well, it's true. I did.