There I was, standing Topside Watch, Subic Bay, Phillipines. One of the guys came back off the beach (which is submariner speak for coming back off of liberty going on liberty is hitting the beach). In this case one of my shipmates was returning from nearby Alongapo City, grinning from ear-to-ear, staggering and laughing up a storm.

His hair was singed and not one eyebrow was left! This is back in the days when the main drag of Alongapo was a dirt road. My shipmate here, had decided that it would be very funny to sneak up on one of the balloon venders and pop his wares with the lighted end of a cigarette. This, he must have accomplished with great glee.

However, he had apparently forgotten that balloons in those days were not filled with helium, but with hydrogen gas. The resultant explosions took out all of his facial hair and had him running for all he was worth back to the boat ahead of the vendor and local police.

He made it! Home free! No pain! Not yet anyway...

Alongapo City held many, many other adventures for us, but I don't dare post them. They have to do with terms like "Butterflying" and "Honky-Tonking" which are found throughout the Seventh Fleet in the Far East. Japan and Okinawa in particular. Warriors know, and I'll just leave it at that. We weren't in Kansas anymore, and our lives were not all that boring. Ping Pong balls... nevermind... ;-)

This was a very nice place to visit - it truly was. However, when surfacing in the Gulf of Tonkin, the first one up had to crack the hatch very slowly and look around carefully for any sea snakes present. They were named by how many seconds it took the venom in their bites to kill you, you see. Sort of throws a little excitement into one's life a bit.

I was riding Sabalo TAD from a smokeboat still nested in Yokosuka, Japan and playing Planesman and Look Out into the War Zone still as an EM.

Look at that map here. We came through that strip of water that you see between Hainan and Communist China. Dead of night. On the surface. Chicom radar painting us the entire way into the Gulf of Tonkin. I was on the Bridge standing Lookout. Once we were well into the Gulf, we found ourselves completely surrounded by signal lights flashing at us from the dark!

In any direction that we looked, dit dah dit - dit dah - dit. That's Morse Code for "R". The entire fleet out there was asking "Who Are You?" The hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end as I could almost feel all those guns and missiles tracking us. Our hull number markings on the sail wouldn't do any good - it was dark as the Ace of Spades, and they were all painted over anyway. The Officer Of The Deck called down for the Chief Quartermaster to bring up the signal light.

I knew that every submarine and vessel on secret deployment had it's own unique code word assigned, and that code would confuse the enemy as to who we really were. Those surrounding us with weapons trained to blow us out of the water merely had to look us up in their codebooks. No problem.

That OOD then ordered the Chief Quartermaster to send the following signal which I knew would protect us from friend and foe alike:

S-A-B-A-L-O

I quickly pointed out all the above, but was ignored as S-A-B-A-L-O was flashed repeatedly at all angles imaginable. At the surrounding fleet, North Vietnam, Communist China...

I could picture all the laughter. From all those skimmers, and from all those surrounding enemy. So much for being the Silent Service... well, I thought it was hilarious...

Good Skippers

This is EM2 me (at about half of my present girth while on Temporary Additional Duty - TAD from Remora berthed back in a nest at Yokosuka, Japan)  This picture was taken in the Sabalo's Wardroom where I was re-enlisting, with the Commanding Officer doing the honors.  Sabalo was a good Skipper.  Commanding Officers of war vessels are actually referred to at times as the name of that vessel.  When a submariner says something like I just did about him, it speaks volumes in submariner-speak.  Other submariners reading this know that I just said that I have full confidence in following his orders in battle or life-threatening emergencies.  We were off North Vietnam.  I've had many CO's, and I said that of only a few - Willie Warhead is at the top of the list, but it's been so darn long now that I don't recall his real name, and he was either Pomodon or Remora I think.  BUT, for instance, I said that of Flasher's Commander Kenny Carr who not only went on to become Admiral, but COMSUBLANT jumping numbers - translated, that means that his skills and leadership capabilities were recognized, and he was chosen over those next in line for the appointment of Commander, Submarine Forces Atlantic.

Years after riding Flasher (SSN-613), and as  ET1(SS), I was standing Office Watch as Duty Instructor at the Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut.  I opened the door to step outside the office for some reason, and out of the corner of my eye I spotted Gold Braid everywhere.  I yelled "Attention On Deck!" of course as I snapped to attention.

Then a very loud voice, "Przybyla, you stupid SOB!  How come you ain't made Chief yet?" I glanced over to a grinning Admiral Carr standing there flanked by two four-stripers. One, my CO, and the other his upcoming replacement.  When I saw who it was I grinned back.

"Cap'n, gimme a break!  ET rate's slammed down tighter'n a drum!  You know that..."  I called him Captain, because he was my skipper on a boat.  Admiral or not, anyone a Line Captain of a ship of war loves to be called that by somebody that served under him.  Then he proceeded to embarrass the heck out of me.  He turned to the two full-captains, pointed at me, and complained how he kept getting telegrams asking about how I was doing from the Venezuelan Embassy.  My Father, Mother and the rest of my family were down there as Dad was teaching them how to make steel in their factories.  The Admiral and me are both Plankowners of Flasher.  After chewing me out again, I solemnly promised to make Chief.  I kept that promise.

Flasher - A Good Skipper