Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Quatro
I heard rumor that submarine sailors had to drink their dolphins ... is that true?
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Well, there's two ways to look at that.
There's the feel good version where you drink a shot glass or hi-ball glass of whiskey with your fish in them or maybe a glass of beer. There's also the other version where you have to drink a bucket of "whatever" and grab your fish with your teeth before you barf or pass out.
I got qualified when the Navy was starting to crack down on "traditional hazing" (see the second example). Drinking your fish wasn't as hazardous as getting them tacked on. For 24 hours after the CO pinned on your dolphins, anyone who was qualified could punch your dolphins hard enough to make sure they wouldn't fall off.
I had a quatermaster buddy knock me flat onto the plotting table right after I got mine and by the third day I had learned how to climb the ladder from crew's mess past the wardroom and up to the deck with only one arm. To give an idea of how hard you would get punched, the pins on my fish got knocked through the retaining grommets and into my chest. The scars only faded out a couple of years ago.
The guy who got qualified just before me wasn't too bright about it and told anyone who would listen that they didn't have the ####s to tack his fish. He wound up with a broken collar bone.
When I would tack a guy's fish, I would tell them I learned how to do it by the A-gangers and MM's on the Barbel and they would really want to brace themselves. Then I would wind up like I was really going to clobber them but at the last second I would pull back and shake their hand. Its a tradition but not all traditions are smart.
