by Todd Gilbert | Oct 29, 2016 | Crows Nest
4 Reasons Why Being a Veteran is Awesome 1. You don’t panic over dumb shit. If there’s one thing you learned in the service, it’s that nothing gets done faster or more efficiently just because someone is losing their mind over it. A toilet is...
by Todd Gilbert | Oct 20, 2016 | Crows Nest
What is a Shellback? A Shellback is the recipient of a Line-crossing Ceremony. Popular in the American, British, Dutch, Australian, and Russian Navies, it marks the moment when a sailor crosses the equator. Though the ceremony’s events are largely kept...
by Todd Gilbert | Oct 16, 2016 | Crows Nest
No, you can’t protest in uniform. Recently, images and video surfaced of a Navy sailor screaming at a riot police officer during the protests for Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since, we’ve discovered that the sailor, who in the video is...
by Todd Gilbert | Oct 13, 2016 | Crows Nest
The Kool-Aid Man Story This week’s Sea Story Sunday is really more of a prank than a story, but it’s a funny one. For those of you who’ve never been on a smallboy, a DDG only has one set of vending machines. Usually, this consists of one or two soda...
by Todd Gilbert | Oct 8, 2016 | Crows Nest
The Goat Locker The “Goat Locker” is the traditional term for the senior enlisted mess aboard a ship. All sailors know and many fear the term, but few know how the goat locker came to be. Following the establishment of the rank of Chief Petty Officer in...
by Todd Gilbert | Oct 3, 2016 | Crows Nest
The History of the Drunken Sailor Let’s be real: some stereotypes are true. One of the easiest to identify is the stereotype of the drunken sailor. Any shipmate who has ever been on a deployment knows that a sailor who doesn’t imbibe in a liberty port is a...
by Todd Gilbert | Sep 30, 2016 | Crows Nest
History of the Gunner’s Mates Despite the tragic loss of their rate on September 29, 2016, the history of Gunner’s Mates was long and storied. They were one of the first rates in the Navy, established in 1775 with the Continental Navy, along with...
by Todd Gilbert | Sep 29, 2016 | Crows Nest
Navy Rates are gone. The writing was on the wall for Navy Rates. When MCPON Stevens announced earlier this year that sweeping changes were coming to the Navy Rating system, we might have known. Most people assumed that the intention was to just remove the concept of...
by Todd Gilbert | Sep 22, 2016 | Crows Nest
I’m Pretty Sure Petty Officers are Superheroes A Petty Officer is a strange creature. They’re technical experts, junior leaders, and expert sailors. Most have been through the grinder a bit already. They’ve still got just enough spirit to cause...
by Todd Gilbert | Sep 22, 2016 | Crows Nest
Naval Air Stations: Love ’em or not, they’re home. Every Naval Air Station has something amazing about it. They also always have something wrong with them. Your Flightline is your home. You can always take pride in the birds you put in the air regardless...
