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Until the Catholic chaplain spoke, it seemed like another entertaining novel. Gentlemen, we are ready." Sailors cheered. RTC Captain Bill used the public address system to tell the crew roughly what people expect a ship's commanding officer to say: "My best guess is that we will launch Tomahawk missiles north toward Iraq sometime on the mid-watch tonight. When Captain Bill announced the Navy was formally placing all ships in the region on a higher state of alert, called Defcon-2 ("defense condition two," one step below the outbreak of fighting, or Defcon-1), an officer hurriedly consulted a spy novel to learn what it meant.
#Defcon warn how to
The rest of them, when you come into a situation where the tension level is this high, people narrow their vision to what will keep you alive."Ĭrew members were unsure how to react to events. "The enemy? Of the 135 people in my division, I can count on one hand the number who have had any contact with Arabs. "Combat is impersonal on board a ship," said Scott Smith, a machinist's mate, one of the people running the Wisconsin's boilers. But having the wish come true, at least in this case, offered the Wisconsin's 1,500-member crew little comfort. Tell me what will happen tomorrow and I will make the most of today - or so people fervently believe.
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They wedge themselves into their bunks to wait for the call to battle stations, the alarm they already know will sound several hours hence.Įveryone has wished at least once to know the future. In the guts of the ship, sailors swab decks. In an officer's lounge someone sees stains in a carpet, and an enlisted man hurries over with shampoo and begins to scrub. Four enlisted men, following a schedule set long before, begin painting a narrow passageway, as if nothing was more important before a war than freshly painted bulkheads. What happens is this: Navy officers aboard the battleship sit down for dinner at the regular time and place and complain that the meal is the worst in weeks: hot corned beef, creamed potatoes and a chewy square of cake.