I
found this in a book I was reading, “American Sailor: More Adventures to Go
with the Job.” I hope you all enjoy …
During
the build-up of Desert Shield and Desert Storm, General Schwarzkopf planned a
visit to the USS Independence one day. Admiral Unruh wanted to show the General
what he knew about seamanship, so he decided to take the Admiral’s barge out
for an afternoon fishing trip. The barge
was a modified motor whale boat with a cabin top and more comfortable seats
onboard. Admiral Unruh decided that he could be his own coxswain for the
afternoon with just him and the General onboard.
When
the General arrived, he got the five and dime tour of the ship as the deck
department lowered the Admiral’s barge into the water and then brought it over
to the area where the import gangway was located and lowered the gangway for the
Admiral and the General.
When
it came time for them to depart on the fishing expedition, then went down the
gangway to board the barge. The Admiral
showed his good seamanship skills by pulling the barge away from the ship and
headed out.
The
found a good fishing place about two miles away from the ship. They were chatting and having a good time
fishing when all of the sudden one of those Persian Gulf storms began to brew
up so quick the Admiral did not have time to get the barge started to head back
to the ship.
The
wind began blowing and the waves became white caps. The barge was being tossed
around like a rag doll. The barge was
then upended tossing the Admiral and the General into the water. Then the storm stopped as quickly as it
began.
The
General was handling the situation very well and began swimming back to the
upturned barge. As he began swimming he
saw the Admiral struggling and decided to go assist him. The Admiral was beginning to go under for the
third time when the General reached him.
The
General grabbed the Admiral and began swimming and pulling the Admiral with
him. It took a little while for them to get to the upturned barge but when they
finally made it, the General pushed the Admiral on top of the hull and then
climbed up himself.
After
both of them were able to catch their breath, the Admiral spoke up and said,
“Norm,
can you keep a secret?”
Norm
told him he could …
“Norm,
don’t let the guys know that I can’t swim.”
The
General said …
“Jerry,
your secret is safe with me. Just don’t let the guys know that I can’t walk on
water!”
