'Ummm, Bears at Sea?'

IN THE NAVY much of our time is spent at sea, drilling for emergencies. Once, when our ship was conducting simulated combat exercises, a message came over the loudspeaker…

"This is a drill, torpedo hit to starboard, all hands prepare to abandon ship -- land bears 090 degrees, 11 miles!"

Running to my abandon-ship station, I was stopped by a young seaman, apparently on his first sea tour…

"Excuse me,"

… he drawled…

"But if we really had to swim for it, how are we gonna deal with all those bears?"