COMSUBBBS
Posts: 3202
Location: Alexandria, Virginia | Subject: You know him as Launcher Lary...I call him Billy Bob
There's a term used by men who once made their living plowing invisable furrows in saltwater...It's SHIPMATE. Just because a fellow is called shipmate or likes to think of himself as a shipmate does not necessarily make him one. SHIPMATE is a term of respect that must be earned and deserved. It requires a bond of matured loyalty, rarely found in other professions. With females serving aboard this nation's seagoing inventory these days I would assume the term is no longer gender specific and rightly reserved for those women who have volunteered, put themselves under the UCMJ, and taken the oath to serve, protect and defend....Just showing up in the boys locker room and passing out soap and towels doesn't qualify anyone to shirt-up, put on pads and take to the field. I have known Billy Bob for too damn many years to sort out....He's my friend...what's more he was a dear, dear friend to my late bride. Predjudiced on his behalf? You bet cher butt. Billy Bob is a consumate SHJIPMATE...If the United Staes Navy ever commissions a statue called THE OLD FRASHION SHIPMATE...they could do no better than use William Robert Lary as the model. He's just a tad bit smaller than the Jolly Green Giant...works like a lumberjack...looks like he should be fed hay...can get dirtier than a coalminer and do more work in the same time as twenty normal human beings. When he's in the lower flats of an engine room monkeying with pieces of two ton gear, handling greasy stuff, twisting nuts with King Kong size tools and giving you his characteristic 18 inch grin...the sonuvabitch looks like MONGO the character in Blazing Saddles played by Alex Karras. But here is a small litany of his signature characteristics that make him deserving of being called a true shipmate. If the whole world is against you and you find yourself in a locked door bar fight, the shoulder blades you'll feel up against your own will be Billy Bob's.....He doesn't talk behind anyones back or tolerate people who do. He doesn't craft little cowardly cyber darts and mail them offline. He treats women like they are all princesses and isn't embarrassed to do things like help old ladies across streets and hug little kids. He wouldn't appreciate me belaboring this point...but Billy Bob and his lovely wife have taken in loads of kids and served as foster parents giving guidance and love to younsters who would have had neither without the goodness of this giant of a man in more ways than one. When you need a friend, you can count of Billy Bob...And, I am a perfect example of that...When Launcher Lary is backing you...YOU NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT YOUR 180. DEX |
You know him as Launcher Lary...I call him Billy Bob
