I'm just trying to remember about when the Navy pay line was canceled out of existence. Back when I was a Twenty year old halfwit idiot fresh out of high school & still wet-behind-the-ears, I remember the days before direct deposit when you stood nutt to butt in a long line with your ID card in hand so you could claim your share of green backs to later stash in an ol’ boondocker in the back of your standup locker like a personal safe!!!
You see… there were no established trustworthy financial repositories to do business outside the dispersing office… doing economic business in a seagoing vessel could cost you an arm or a leg!!! There were no ATM machines... MWR Savings & Loan Bingo Establishments… or plastic credit cards dispatched by the DoD Credit dispensary!!! There wasn’t any electronic wiring of funds or payday loans with any legal standard!!! Nope… when you were broke you were flat busted until the next payday… unless you could barter $20 for $30 on your next paycheck… illegal slush funds!!! But that can be covered in another yarn...
Paydays like today were established twice a month… on the first and fifteenth… and it usually commenced at a specific time of the day on the messdecks with a couple a’ Gunners loaded with .45s’ and ready to shoot anybody trying to commit any funny business… Everyone would line up, sign the pay list & get there cash in a nice… long… unadulterated fashion!!! If you missed out on the line then you had to make special arrangements with the DISBO to pick your cabbage on a later date!!!
I remember we had to make a stop by the dispersing office a few days before and initial our social security number out there for everyone to see… acknowledging our pay amount in case of any issues… you know sometimes your pay got screwed up… a lot!!!
Not a very gaudamned efficient way of doing business… but that’s what we had before electronic data links to shore investment accounts and same day allotments to the ol’ lady back on the beach!!!
Somewhere along the line the younger generation has been spared the task of wasting half their gaudamn day standing in line and the Navy decided to put ‘em all on Direct Deposit… Now the DISBO has all but got a job…
Back in the old days he would have to go to the bank guarded with a sidearm to pick up all that cash carrying it across base in a briefcase… it’s a wonder none of them bastards ever got thumped over the head with a dogg’n wrench with all the predatory sharks and sneaky Petes out there from pier to pier…
Hell, even the damn Corpsman sons-a-bitches would get involved… stand’n at the head of the pay line with vaccinations… if you wanted to get paid you had to get your damn shots first!!!
Then… if you were in a foreign port like Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand… etc.etc… you got a currency exchange table at the end of the pay line… how do ya like them apples!!! And the fella runn’n the damn thing can hardly speak a lick of English… but don’t worry, your money is safe in his hands!!!
Now the Navy has gone completely cashless… they give you a damn ‘CASH’ smart card with a chip in it so you can transfer funds between the card and your bank account… it’s even got a damn VISA*MasterCard logo on it!!! They got a make shift ATM machine hooked up so you can put chump change on the card and use it on the GEDUNK machines and the ship store!! CRAZY AIN’T IT!?!?!?!?
So all you young Whipper Snappers out there consider yourselves lucky!!! The Navy Finance System of days gone by when young sailors went to sea in greasy smelly dungaroos and leaned on each other secured in their manhood nutt to butt while talk’n ‘bout Suzie Rotten Crotch for hours on end just to get paid… is long gone… and I suppose so are the slush funds we used to keeps the suds’ a com’n when we didn’t have a dime to our name on liberty… he,he!!! Them were the days!!!
You see… there were no established trustworthy financial repositories to do business outside the dispersing office… doing economic business in a seagoing vessel could cost you an arm or a leg!!! There were no ATM machines... MWR Savings & Loan Bingo Establishments… or plastic credit cards dispatched by the DoD Credit dispensary!!! There wasn’t any electronic wiring of funds or payday loans with any legal standard!!! Nope… when you were broke you were flat busted until the next payday… unless you could barter $20 for $30 on your next paycheck… illegal slush funds!!! But that can be covered in another yarn...
Paydays like today were established twice a month… on the first and fifteenth… and it usually commenced at a specific time of the day on the messdecks with a couple a’ Gunners loaded with .45s’ and ready to shoot anybody trying to commit any funny business… Everyone would line up, sign the pay list & get there cash in a nice… long… unadulterated fashion!!! If you missed out on the line then you had to make special arrangements with the DISBO to pick your cabbage on a later date!!!
I remember we had to make a stop by the dispersing office a few days before and initial our social security number out there for everyone to see… acknowledging our pay amount in case of any issues… you know sometimes your pay got screwed up… a lot!!!
Not a very gaudamned efficient way of doing business… but that’s what we had before electronic data links to shore investment accounts and same day allotments to the ol’ lady back on the beach!!!
Somewhere along the line the younger generation has been spared the task of wasting half their gaudamn day standing in line and the Navy decided to put ‘em all on Direct Deposit… Now the DISBO has all but got a job…
Back in the old days he would have to go to the bank guarded with a sidearm to pick up all that cash carrying it across base in a briefcase… it’s a wonder none of them bastards ever got thumped over the head with a dogg’n wrench with all the predatory sharks and sneaky Petes out there from pier to pier…
Hell, even the damn Corpsman sons-a-bitches would get involved… stand’n at the head of the pay line with vaccinations… if you wanted to get paid you had to get your damn shots first!!!
Then… if you were in a foreign port like Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand… etc.etc… you got a currency exchange table at the end of the pay line… how do ya like them apples!!! And the fella runn’n the damn thing can hardly speak a lick of English… but don’t worry, your money is safe in his hands!!!
Now the Navy has gone completely cashless… they give you a damn ‘CASH’ smart card with a chip in it so you can transfer funds between the card and your bank account… it’s even got a damn VISA*MasterCard logo on it!!! They got a make shift ATM machine hooked up so you can put chump change on the card and use it on the GEDUNK machines and the ship store!! CRAZY AIN’T IT!?!?!?!?
So all you young Whipper Snappers out there consider yourselves lucky!!! The Navy Finance System of days gone by when young sailors went to sea in greasy smelly dungaroos and leaned on each other secured in their manhood nutt to butt while talk’n ‘bout Suzie Rotten Crotch for hours on end just to get paid… is long gone… and I suppose so are the slush funds we used to keeps the suds’ a com’n when we didn’t have a dime to our name on liberty… he,he!!! Them were the days!!!
Oh MAN Dennis, you NAILED this one! I remember it as clear as yesterday.. the pay lines, all that cash, Doc with the shot records.. and don't forget about the "slush fund" dudes with their pens and notebooks just down the passageway from the messdecks pay line!
ReplyDeleteI remember making money hand over fist lending out 10 for 20 and 20 for 40. I would then lose most of it at the casino when we pulled into some far off port. Lose the rest on some gal who probably knew how much I had in my wallet better than I did.
ReplyDeleteI still miss it.
awe yes the sluch fund. was a necessity atfirst when i got there and last year and half so i was able to make my way to a dispensary. New guy comes onboard and first ones free, closer to payday bigger it got. Honestly what 18 year old wants to spend the night onboard rather than Waikiki. I still remember the payday the government went from paydays on the 15th and 30th to the 15th and 1st to get out of debt
ReplyDeleteThey miss everything! How about the good ole Payday CRAP Game down in the Reefer Deck? More than likely they no longer exist - NO CASH.
ReplyDeleteDamn I remember those days on the old Indy....... Payday line as long as the mighty Mississippi on a carrier.... Yup and doc corpsman with his harpoons running your name down his list... How about when paydays had fallen on field day, you had to sneak down to get your cash, and if you didn't make it. Shit out of luck.. Come back tomorrow morning between 9:00 and 9:02 LOl
ReplyDeleteWho remembers going to the smoke hole below steam receivers?
ReplyDeleteI know we switched over sometime after 89...maybe in 90, but not later than 91. I remember standing in line and the MAA there as well. Wasn't too long after I arrived that we switched over to direct deposit.
ReplyDeleteDepended upon the size of the ship, too.
ReplyDeleteOn the Callaghan, ('87-'90) we didn't have ATMs (and only 400 guys), so they did it the old-fashioned way. When I reported to Tarawa just before DS, she had ATMs with Navy issue debit cards (that you could only use aboard ship to take cash out of your payroll account).
Big dif trying to pay 400 vs 5000.... ;)
Remember that they used a lot of $2 bills
ReplyDeleteIn those days the $2 bill actually had a rather shady reputation of association to prostitutes. No self respecting Christian town folk would deign to handle them any longer than it took to trade them for other denominations at the banks.
DeletePay lines disappeared after 1974. I got a loan from the credit union and they required an allotment in 1970.
ReplyDeleteYep, I was one of those slush fund guys. Guys would line of for pay then line up to pay me. A few days before the next payday, the same guys would borrow money again. Made a ton of money!
ReplyDeleteI also was one of those "private disbursing agents." That was because I spent a lot of time restricted to ship or base and couldn't spend it. Always made more than I was fined. One time I had a newer squadron mate refuse to pay up. My buddy Bear, a Pacific Islander picked him up with one hand shook him a couple times and "suggested" he pay me. I had my money the next day.
ReplyDelete