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Tales from the Apollo

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Another story from the early years of the Sea Org aboard the Apollo by Gary Reisdorf.

 

Stores Party Gone Wild – Sled breaking

One of the functions of being a deckhand is when the ship was at anchor, we had the privilege of running people and goods from the shore to the ship.  Boat runs are normally quite fun and took us away from our usual mundane jobs of painting that bucket of rust, sanding and varnishing the railings or re-caulking the wooden decks.

We had 8 lifeboats on the ship to save the passengers and crew if the ship began to sink.  The problem is, only 2 of them floated.  Those were lifeboat #8 and #3.  I knew the others didn’t float because either the Commodore or one of the Captains had the bright idea to do lifeboat drills one day.  We lowered all of the boats into the harbor and everyone was supposed to be drilled on lowering the boats, rowing them around the harbor and then raising them back up, securing them to their davits.  That drill didn’t last long as all but 2 of them began taking on water.  They didn’t actually sink because they had hollow metal canisters under the wooden seats that kept them afloat but they did end up with a lot of water in them.  It was quite hilarious watching 10 or so crew per boat, sitting on the benches with water up to their waists, rowing like mad but making little progress.  We did manage to bail enough water out of them so we could get the boats hoisted back to the ship.  had we ever had to use those boats in a life or death situation, I think life would have come in second.

The sinking lifeboat drill resulted in the deck force being assigned to re-caulk all of the seams where the wood slats overlapped on the hulls of the lifeboats.  Derek Cusworth and I were given this task.  We would scrape out the old caulking and then tap thin rope into the joints and squirt new caulking into them.  We did complete the job but we never tested them again so when we went to sea we could have all been at risk.  I think the Captain planned to test them with the next lifeboat drill, but that never occurred.

Since lifeboat #8 was one of the lifeboats that floated, it was fit with an inboard motor.  This is what we used for our boat runs since none of the other 7 boats had a motor.  Old lifeboat #8 was my favorite.  Heck, one time the First Mate, Pat McCullough, Derek Cusworth and I plus a couple of snipes (engineers) borrowed #8 and went about 10 miles up the coast from Setubal, Portugal, hugging the beautiful, rocky, Portuguese coastline.  It was a clear day and the sea was flat.  The first beach we found we dropped anchor and swam into shore where we had lunch and a couple of beers, enjoyed looking at some beautiful Portuguese ladies in their bikinis and then swam back to the boat and took it back to the Apollo.  One of the best liberties I ever had!  It was a stunning, warm, sunny day and a great guy’s day off.

The Apollo often docked at the beautiful city of O’Porto in northern Portugal.  However, it didn’t have a lot of dock space so we often ended up in the harbor, at anchor.  Thus we got to do our #8 boat runs during the day which was fun, but the night runs not so much.  You see, the harbor fogged in often at night.  The fog was so thick we could not see the dock light until about 20 feet from the dock.  During the day and at low tide one would see about 10 sunken hulls of fishing boats that no doubt didn’t see the harbor light until they hit a couple of rocks.  So, we had to be extremely careful and every time we went from the ship to shore, those ghost ships were in the back of our minds.  The harbor was normally calm in O’Porto, so at least we did not have that to worry about.

The procedure used to navigate our way from the ship to the shore was that as soon as we did our first boat run, during the day, the bowman would note the compass heading that took us directly from the ship to the dock.  He would then take another reading from the dock to the ship.  These two headings were passed on from lifeboat crew to lifeboat crew.  So we would head out to the dock in complete fog on a heading of 55 degrees hoping to hit our target.  On the way back we do the reverse. The bowman had a flashlight and would keep the skipper informed of our heading.  Of course these headings would change every time we anchored.  We had what seemed like a 50 year old, tarnished compass but it did the trick and somehow. The heading system worked and every one of the boat runs managed to find the dock, rather than the rocks and none of the returns kept going out to sea by missing the ship.

One day in mid-1972, I was assigned as the bowman and Riggs Eckelberry was the coxswain, or skipper of the boat.  The main duty of the bowman was to help tie up the front of the boat when docked to the side of ship.  My other duty was to help people on and off the boat, load goods and then unload them at the ship.  Generally, I was sort of the gopher for the boat run doing whatever the skipper required to move goods and people back and forth.  It was another beautiful day in O’Porto and we arrived at the dock to find that there was a large delivery of produce waiting for us to take back to the ship — apples, oranges, potatoes, lettuce needed by the galley to feed the crew.  I think we had about 25 wooden crates full of fruit and vegetables.  This was a larger than usual shipment of food.

Riggs and I loaded all of the crates into the lifeboat and took off for the ship.  When we got there we called for a stores party.  A stores party is where a number of crew gather to carry stores, in this case fruit and vegetables.  We often would form a chain (or line) and pass the crates or boxes from one person to the next.  I don’t know where they got the word party, as it certainly wasn’t any fun and no alcohol was involved.

The usual procedure was for us to pull up alongside the ship below the aft well deck and directly below the crane.  The deckhands on board would attach a cargo net to the hook of the crane and lower it down to the lifeboat.  We would load the wooden crates of food into the net and it was hauled on board and the stores party would deliver it to the stores room.  The net would only hold about 4 crates at a time and we had at least 25 crates.

This time though another boat, called a sea sled (this was a shallow wooden, flat bottomed boat Hubbard had purchased for “Mission Into Time” to be able to sneak onto shore) was in our desired position below the crane.  We had 2 sleds and they were stored on the aft well deck.  At the time we pulled up someone had previously lowered one of them into the water.  The entire 2 years I worked on the deck I only rode in one once and that was with Captain Starkey.  He took it out for a joyride in Setubal, Portugal harbor and brought me along so he could have someone to help and yell at or comm-ev (like a court martial) if something went wrong.  Or just to boss me around for his personal enjoyment.

So, with the sled in our way, someone would have to move it before we could offload our goods.  Someone on the ship though, had a better idea.  I didn’t hear who gave the order but I think it was my good friend, Pat McCullough, who was the ship’s 1st mate.  His idea was to take all of the crates of food and load them onto the sled.  Then, instead of filling the cargo net 6 or 7 times to offload the goods, we only had to raise up one sled full of fruit and vegetables.

I also wasn’t very happy with the thought of having to load the net 7 times to offload the goods but I didn’t think loading the sled up with 1,500 lbs of food was a very smart plan.  Who was I to argue though.  I had been on the deck force for maybe 8 months, I was only 18 years old and my bosses were much more experienced and older than me.  But, I had a really bad feeling about this one.

The deckhands had a nickname on the ship.  They were called deck apes.  At the time, I didn’t know why but as time went on, I think it must have had something to do with most of them not having IQ’s above 100.  They were normally strong, fit, athletic, tan and as dumb as a sack of hammers.  But, this group of foul-mouthed guys was exactly what an 18 year old from Iowa wanted to be a part of.  It sure beat growing up with 2 younger sisters.

I went onto the sled and Riggs stayed in #8 and passed over the crates of food.  I stacked them onto the sled and got back onto #8.  I really wanted to get out of there.  I was nervous.  I reminded Riggs that we had to hurry as we had another run to make to pick up people at the dock.  Making sure Riggs didn’t get in some stupid conversation with anyone (Riggs loved to talk), I pushed off from the bow and we headed back to the dock.

We picked up one passenger and headed back out to the Apollo.  As we rounded the bow of the ship, I positioned myself all the way to the bow of the lifeboat.  And then I saw them.  About 10 apples, a couple of watermelons and 2 heads of lettuce floated past the bow.  When we turned towards the other side of the ship, there were hundreds of pieces of fruit and vegetables all floating along with the current, on their way out to sea.  At that point, I knew there was going to be trouble.

Well, what Riggs and I missed out on must have been quite the spectacle.  After we left, the 1st Mate Pat, raised the hook, lifting the sled out of the water.  The Storesman, was on board the sled and went up for the ride.  About halfway up, 2 of 4 bolts that held the hook pulled loose from the hull of the sled.  Since the 2 bolts were on the same, port side of the sled, it tilted dumping 1,500 lbs. of vegetables into the Atlantic but stayed attached to the hook.  How the Storesman wasn’t injured or killed, I don’t know.  By the time Riggs and I and #8 got to that end of the ship, he was still hanging on for dear life.  They managed to throw him a rope and he climbed back on board the ship, unscratched.

The fun didn’t end there.  In the Sea Org whenever anything bad happens it is followed by a Committee of Evidence.  Mistakes weren’t tolerated.  Ignorance or inexperience or age was not an excuse. The fact that you were following an order didn’t matter.  And in my case, not being at the scene at the crime, was not an excuse.  Nope. And I had tried to get out of there quickly!  We all got brought before the Comm Ev.  It’s supposed to be a fair form of justice for Scientologists.  It is anything but fair. In every Comm Evs I have been involved with, the accused are assumed guilty until proven otherwise.  When I was the Interested Party, I always pled guilty to every charge so I could get lesser penalties.  If you plead not guilty but are found guilty, the penalty is harsher.  It was a bunch of bullshit actually.

So, I pled guilty to an array of offenses as did everyone else involved, the 1st Mate, the Storesman, Riggs, they didn’t charge lifeboat #8 though.  Knowingly destroying Sea Org property, placing Scientology or Scientologists at risk, knowingly refusing to follow written policy or procedures.  I don’t remember all of the probably 20 different “crimes” I had supposedly committed.  Heck, I was just following orders.  I just loaded the fruit onto a boat, I didn’t raise it.  I didn’t run the crane or issue the order and I wasn’t even within 2 miles of the ship when they broke the boat.   I was merely a lowly deckhand and didn’t know any better and had to obey an order from my senior.  But, it is easier to just plead guilty and take whatever punishment they decided to dish out.  I knew there was nothing I could say or do to avoid punishment.  Scientology’s system of justice is the most unfair, insane system ever created.

I was assigned a condition of Treason, the lowest condition a Sea Org member could have at the time.  This resulted in probably an extra 50 hours of work, over and above your normal duties. You then work your way up the conditions and ask everyone to allow you back into their group.  You do not get any time off and work 7 days per week during this condition, losing out on your 1 day off every 2 weeks.  But, at least I did it with my buddies, my “deck ape” friends.

Comments

  1. Let’s see who can make this work:

    There once was a man named LRon
    Who pulled off one Hell of a con
    He thought it amusing 
    Tho somewhat confusing………

    Anyone????

    Reply

  2. QUOTE OF THE WEEK……

    I will love you as the iceberg loves the ship, and the passengers love the lifeboat and the lifeboat loves the teeth of the sperm whale, and the sperm whale loves the flavor of naval uniforms

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  3. Gary – love your story telling, very visual please keep them coming. In hindsight I’m sure you’re amazed that you’re still alive, lol. Insanity at its best.

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  6. Derek may still be swinging a hammer at Gold. Was married at Gold to Rachel (also a messenger for Hubbard on the Apollo). Lois’ sister, Geray, and Rachel were ‘best friends’ at Int. Apparently, Rachel has been banished to the bowels of PAC by Dave.

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  8. “Scientology’s system of justice is the most unfair, insane system ever created”. Amen brother. Just reading that made me laugh to myself. If someone is assigned to be a member of the Comm Ev and they don’t find the accused guilty, it is automatically assumed it is because they are guilty of the same or similar crimes. Burn the “witch” or get burned.

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  9. What a great story, Gary! I really enjoy your writing style. Hopefully, you have lots more adventures to share.

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  10. Mike – We hope you and Leah can get to the bottom of what is going on with Marty Rathbun et al and expose the whole rotten bunch contributing to the motion of Keeping Scientology Working.

    Fair Game is a life long commitment by the Church of Scientology and that is why some high ranking ex members cave in. We think Marty caved in and took the money from Scientology in exchange for his bizzare behavior in his videos. We used the History of Fair Game in Scientology to figure it out. While we believe it is not rocket science to figure out what is going on – some people are dumb founded by his predictable behavior.

    We hope you expose this fully and go back in history and talk about what Scientology has done to those who dare offer criticism or expose the truth about Scientology.

    Some people don’t think Scientology has teeth.

    Scientology has billions of dollars which gives them some power to destroy and they will go to any length to do that.

    Thank you for all you and Leah do!

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    • Marildi, it’s a real shock to see you still showing up around here after your, umm, interesting comments on Marty’s very heavily censored, cult-owned blog.

      I’m a firm believer in free speech and wouldn’t want to see you suffer the same fate here that everyone who doesn’t agree with Marty experiences on his site. However, I’d really like to know why it is that you’re so reluctant to say here what you’ve been saying on Marty’s site?

      That kind of craven hypocrisy and cowardice needs to be called out for what it is and exposed wherever you run across it. What is your concern here; why don’t you feel free to continue to support the lies and betrayal that Marty is engaging in on this blog? Or, if you really believe in ideological censorship, then why not just hang with those who also believe in it?

      None of you poor benighted “pro-tech” supporters of Marty seem to be cognizant of the fact that his supposedly self-initiated hate/smear videos are now completely indistinguishable from the cult’s own hate/smear sites. If Marty is not being paid for his turncoat performance and cherch-directed personal attacks on the cult’s victims who’ve had the courage to go public with their stories, then it must be because he was coerced into making them.

      What I want to know is: What’s your excuse for carrying the cult’s poison water and supporting someone who’s not only betrayed his friends, but betrayed his own personal integrity by taking positions that are diametrically opposed to what he knows through his own direct and personal experience to be true? If you’re going to get on your knees before evil over there, then at least be consistent about fronting for it over here!

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        • Well said Spike. When adults call others by childish names, point fingers and continue to stir the pot, I move on to another post. There’s enough of that already in Freedom Magazine.

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        • Call it what you like, but it’s necessary to call out hypocrites and liars for what they are from time to time, so…

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          • “Marildi, it’s a real shock to see you still showing up around here after your, umm, interesting comments on Marty’s very heavily censored, cult-owned blog.”

            Thank you Harpoona for saying it like it is. And Spike shut the F**k up. Harpoona knows of what she speaks of when it comes to Marildi.

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            • How would you know, Ms. P? Or are you just piling on, on principle?

              Harpoona avoids giving any specifics, and I doubt there was anything I said on Marty’s that I haven’t said here – or would have, such as today on this thread. I thought about asking Gary if he would ever write anything positive about LRH on this blog, knowing that it isn’t “politically correct.” But I decided not too because I wanted to validate him on the plus points.

              As a mater of fact, on Martys blog I have at times commented in disagreement with his observations, such as the one to do with Mike’s daughter, who I stated must have been influenced by those around her regarding her father. Another one had to do with Jeff Hawkins, where Marty had taken literally what Jeff said about DM “hammer in my face” – with the idea that DM was threteningly waving a hammer – and I pointed out that it was figurative, and probably was “hammerING my face.”

              One difference over at Marty’s is that there aren’t a lot of pile-ons. Spike, orry about that. I admired you and karmareaper for speaking up and thought for a moment that you were going to be allowed your point of view – but as soon as one popped up to shoot it down, others followed.

              Wynski can be expected to spew his usual vitriol – with good intentions, of course/ But as they say, good intentions pave the way to hell.

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              • Excuse the typos: should be matter instead of mater, to instead of too, threateningly instead of threteningly – and last but not least, sorry instead of orry.

              • LMAO! Of course there aren’t “pile ons” over at Marty’s. He censors OUT most comments.

                As usual marildi showcases her sub 40 IQ.

              • Marildi – no “piling” on, I have read your comments over at Marty’s. I even quoted your exact comments here a few weeks ago. You know exactly what you comment, enough said.

              • Still no specifics from either Ms.P or Harpoona. Generalities are easy to throw out but that’s just more piling on. And as I stated above, I don’t think I’ve said anything over there that I haven’t said here – plus commenting on “Mike’s side” a couple times.

              • marildi, we are still waiting for specifics from “YOU about the CoS attacking Indie orgs in the USA.

                You are either insane or a OSA troll. Pick which and let us know.

            • Ms. P:. I figure it never hurts to be polite. I don’t know Marildi. What she said was mild enough. IMO we should grant others the space to talk and not jump on them.

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            • Yeah. Because “shut the f**k up” isn’t hateful. Interestingly enough, Mike was able to let Maridi know what he thought of her post without repeating himself constantly in every comment section, name calling or attacking her no matter what the content of her post. And Mike has enough drama in his life without having to moderate the same old pissing fights in his comment section.

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        • Spike —

          Hate and vitriol? Are you kidding? The only hate and vitriol is coming from Marty and the handful of his supporters.

          Harpoona asked very valid questions. Just because you may not like the questions doesn’t make it “hateful”. It’s called being realistic and wanting to know what’s going on with something that so obviously stinks to high hell.

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      • Well said Harpoona. But marildi has already proven herself to be an insane cult controlled troll when she battled Mike R. on this blog trying to convince people that being an auditor outside of the church was dangerous.

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  12. You know, Gary, reading this story, if I took out LRH and the slurch entirely, it would be a story of fun, adventure, excitement, stick-to-it-iveness and so on.
    Reading it as part of the slurch’s history makes me ill. Degrading and punishing people was obviously part of the package, even back then. Glad you made it out alive!

    Reply

    • I know, T-Marie, and agree, there might have been fun once.

      The story has an element of excitement and adventure, a myth… “it’s US against the WORLD”.

      Unfortunately the whole lie was belched out of the (bad-breath) mouth of L. Ron Hubbard.

      The fantasy world imagined by LRH was created only in his troubled and diseased mind.
      This fantasy, in which LRH was the soul supreme being was a male teenager’s fantasy at best.

      LRH’s creation of scientology is not an aberration, nor is it any demonstration of some rare genius.
      His methods and tactics are only yet another use of the recipe of all cult and most religion founders. Throw enough bullshit at the crowd, and guess what, some of it sticks.

      Reply

    • I probably shouldn’t admit it, but the ‘slurch’ made me laugh so hard….I am apologetic because i dont want people to think i am not taking this blog and the posters seriously.

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      • It’s okay Maria. I LOL too. I can hardly bring myself to call it a church anymore. It never acted like a church while I was there. Slurch, to me, combines slimy, sludge, and lurching together quite nicely. 😉

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        • Yes, I apologize in advance because I’m going to steal the word “Slurch”. There is something infinitely satisfying in the sound and nicely combines three perfectly descriptive words!

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  14. For all who spent time on the ships of scientology, I was wondering what you thought of the movie “The Master” with Philip Seymour Hoffman.

    Was that a good approximation of Hubbard in those days?

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  15. My uncle was in the Navy in WWII, an enlisted man working on a ship that brought frozen meat to North Africa for the US troops fighting there. There was an incident where someone screwed up, and a whole frozen compartment of food was spoiled. He was off-duty when the mistake was made, but nonetheless he was threatened with some bullshit disciplinary action, and got out of it by threatening to make accusations against an officer involved in the incident. Gary’s description of this incident reminded me of my uncle’s story, right off. So, believe it or not, Hubbard’s insane justice procedures may have been learned in the wartime US Navy.

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  16. Funny that you mention the “Deck Apes.” Us Snipes on the Freewinds called them that too.

    One of the funniest things I remember was when the First Mate (a New Zealand Maori named Rory) was down in the E/R control room getting reprimanded by the Mechanic’s Chief, Bill Straass. It seemed the Deck Apes had gotten a mooring line wrapped around the mooring winch motor, literally tearing it off, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage and a lot of work for the Engineers.

    After Bill was done and it seemed like Rory had had enough, (the Comm Ev was yet to come) Bill had one last line of inquiry for poor Rory. He said, “So you’re in charge of the Deck Apes, right?” (Rory said yes) “And you’re the First Mate right?” (again, Rory agreed) And so Bill finally delivered the coup de gras by saying, “Well then I guess that would make you the Pri-mate…”

    Rory barely managed to say, “Oh come on, mate…” as he hung his head and left the Control Room.

    I was fucking dying ???

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  17. Gary, you’re a good writer and I love reading an Apollo yarn of yours whenever you’re in the mood to write one. And, it just hit me: what a reality show this would have made!

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  19. Great story, just goes to show what happens when a little knowledge meets reality and old equipment. Reminds me of a song…

    “Sugar Plum Fairy came and hit the streets
    Lookin’ for soul food and a place to eat
    Went to the Apollo
    You should have seen him go, go, go
    They said, hey Sugar, take a walk on the wild side
    I said, hey babe, take a walk on the wild side, alright, huh”

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  20. Great little day-in-the-life tale of a young SO deck hand learning yet another hard lesson in how cult ‘justice’ is dispensed. In $cn, when you break any of the many, many rules which rigidly govern you behavior as a cherch member, the penalty either costs you more money or more work, but humiliation and injustice are always part of your sentence.

    Looking back on the days when I was a $cilon, it seems like every time I was required to work my way up through those stupid conditions, I got further and further away from being a True Believer $cilon until *poof* I was gone.

    $cn is the perfect Orwellian embodiment of DoubleSpeak, where ‘justice’ in the cult means its exact opposite in practical terms…that is, unless you’ve got money, then all is forgiven;)
    .

    Love to hear some more “coming of age in the cult” stories. I bet you’ve got some great Cap’n Starkey stories! Folks focus in on lil davey as the Great Usurper and Despoiler of the Holy Word of Elron, but the tiny tyrant rose to power through the efforts of thugs, like Starkey and Rathbun, who literally strong-armed the cowardly punk into power.

    Love to hear more about Starkey from someone who was there. He’s one of the very few old-time $ea Ogres who wasn’t purged by the tiny Stalin impersonator who’s managed to put himself in charge of screwing up $cn as badly and as quickly as possible.

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  22. Seems like the Captain & crew of the Apollo don’t know about the Titanic….a good laugh of the day story….

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  23. Thank you again Gary for another hilarious and wonderful story of life aboard the Apollo. It’s fascinating as well. Hypothetically, if you had ignored the order to load the crates onto the sea sled or argued with your superior Pat (or whoever gave the order), is it safe to assume that your “backflashing” would have resulted in a Comm Ev in and of itself? In other words, “damned if you do and damned if you don’t”?

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    • From my experience SO members rarely disobey an order from a senior, especially when it is such a fluid activity of offloading goods, hoisting the crane, keeping the boat in place alongside etc., all under time constraints. When you have time to ponder an order one could write what was called an “Orders, Query of” and that would happen but very rarely.

      It is a culture of the SO. No one queried LRH’s orders (and now no doubt DM’s) and that attitude rolls downhill.

      If I would have refused to move forward with this stupid scheme, I would have no doubt immediately been assigned a condition and refusing to help the crew would have put me out of favor with my fellow deck apes that I had to work with daily. The assigned condition though would no doubt have been lighter than the comm-ev results.

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      • It’s military culture, in my time in the army I many times have to remind myself one of the articles of military statut “orders are executed and only then appealed”

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  25. Gary, I really enjoy your Apollo stories. Looking forward to more I hope. I believe Riggs is still in but as a public Scientologist. — Peter M.

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    • Riggs ,I think was married to Karen Black. I used to know his mother Rene Duke, she was one of the very first Scn. Riggs’ brother Alex Eckleberry and his family are all in the bubble and living in Clearwater, actually Bellaire.

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  28. What a blast from the past! Thank you Mike & thank you Gary. I archived your experiences on The Apollo. I did not have the adventures you did as The Excalibur was dockside @ San Pedro for weeks waiting for an engine part when I did Product Zero on her in 1974 as an Expiditer. However there were Life boat drills in a few rubber zodiacs and of course mine took on water as did all the other ones and I had to swim in that disgusting harbor water back to the old girl! With a Flag Officer watching us all try to paddle like mad as those things started filling up with water. Those were the days of the expiditers banding together just so we could make it through another day of scraping Blue dust off the boiling hot decks! ?❤️??

    Reply

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