Sailors and Coffee

[sop2510]

If someone said a Navy ship was grounded on coffee grounds. It meant they rarely went to sea and were tied to the pier most of the time. Something I would have liked to serve on.

Yep, the sub tender at Rota, Spain would get underway once a quarter to clear the coffee grounds, but, more importantly, to allow the crew and squadron personnel to continue collecting pay for sea duty.

[John Sukey]

Well one day the cooks screwed up and made coffee SO BAD the Gi's were throwing it out. I am sure everyone knows how bad that has to be!
Brother-in -Law was stationed on the Nerius at treasure Island (sub tender) WOODEN DECKS! So many concrete patches in the hull that when they had to occasionaly take it out they wern't sure of getting it back. Had to be towed in once.

[SMOKEY]

Not saying coffee was bad at Oceana in the late 60's but there was alwasys a pair of shears by the coffee urn to cut off a chunk. Nastiest coffee I ever drank. Even worse that what the scout snipers at Quantico use to make in the 80's

[Weasel]

When I reported for duty at NASS Whiting Field parachute loft I was told the new guy makes coffee in the morning. I had never made coffee in my life so I dumped the grounds in, as much has it would hold, dumped water in it and plugged it in. I figured that when they drink this crap they will fire me on the spot. The Chief came in got a cup of that tar and took one sip out of it. He stood there made a couple of weird faces, smacked his lips and said "Damn, that's the best coffee I had sense I came to this $hit hole". I got stuck making coffee in the mornings till he left almost 6 months later.

[John Sukey]

Now I do drink tea not coffee. In the mess Hall at Ft George (Aberdeen Scotland) I drew a cup from the urn and the milk was already in it! The Scots have wierd tastes!

[cwartyman]

Was on duty in the squadron ready room as a young Lcpl had been told to make sure the coffee was ready for when the pilots started to roll in and to make it strong. So i used two packs of coffee then after that brewed, rebrewed the coffee again. The looks on the pilots faces were priceless, after that I was told the pilots would brew their own coffee.
Mack
USMC 1988-1995

[wayne]

Does the Navy still put salt in the coffee?

[Mickey Christian]

Coffee and the Navy....
While in boot camp (1971), I drank a LITTLE coffee at meals in the mess hall. When service week arrived ( when your company gets it's turn washing dishes &etc.) I quickly noticed that you could check out a sponge from the cleaning gear locker and clean the toilets one day and the next day you could clean the coffee pots with the same sponge! So I didn't drink much coffee in boot camp.

[BEAR]

When we used to go to the field, coffee was a luxury that only came out with hot chow...maybe once every other day if we were lucky. We had to depend on C-rat or MRE coffee. Most of the grunts would make field 'mocha' with the coffee, sugar, creamer and cocoa packets. Most of the guys used heat tabs but I carried a small "GAZ" propane stove. With it's blue flame in the bottom of the fighting position it couldn't be seen ... and warmed up the hole. In the mid eighties, I was assigned to the 9th ID at Ft.Lewis as a platoon sergeant. We had been in the field for a week and were in a stand down period before our ARTEP. We had just been issued the new MRE's and were still getting used to the different items. Two of my squad leaders came over to my hole and asked if they could use my stove to brew up some mocha. As we sat on the edge of the hole waiting for the water to boil these two got out their condiment packets and began preparing the "brew". We were sitting there enjoying a canteen cup of hot drink when one of the squad leaders said that it tasted funny. The other guy denied it did and then asked the rest of us what we thought. It did taste funny ... and was gettig thick. A quick click of the flashlight revealed the problem ... in the dark, two packets of creamer had been missed and two packets of dehydrated ketchup had been added instead. Being wet and cold, the two packets of creamer were quickly added and we all enjoyed a cup of "tomato soup mocha".

[alibi]

If someone said a Navy ship was grounded on coffee grounds. It meant they rarely went to sea and were tied to the pier most of the time. Something I would have liked to serve on.

Some years ago one of the tenders that had been moored in San Diego was moved, and divers were sent down to inspect the condition of the harbor bottom. On the bottom was a large pile of coffee mugs that someone figured was below the railing just outside a galley. Apparently the sailors had stepped to the rail to take a break and either accidently knocked cups off the rail or found it easier to drop them in the water rather than return them to the galley.