GASoline71
Mr. Nice Guy
So I was diggin' through a pile of old Navy paperwork that I was gonna pitch in the "circular file 13", and thought I better go through it all in case there was something important.
Anyways... I found one page scribbled in pencil on the back of one of my PQS (Personell Qualification Standards) books from my first ship. It is titled... "The Big Doug". Some of it is barely legible since the pencil has faded from storage. It's only a few paragraphs... but I can remember when I was on 6 - 10 month deployments I used to write in my free time. I need to find the rest of my notebooks from past deployments... I use to write a lot about the woods, and there were 2 main characters. Jack and Marsh... 2 grizzled old wood ticks that had some good adventures.
So heres a taste... I was prolly 19 or 20 when I wrote all this stuff. So I gotta do some more diggin' to find more of it.
Enjoy!
Gary
The Big Doug
“This one’s gonna be a #####.” Jack muttered to himself as he trampled through the thick underbrush. The big Douglas Fir he had to fall was the fifth tree of this size today. The big McCulloch 450 was heavy on his shoulder as he stumbled a bit on some wild berry vines at his feet. The saw didn’t make keeping his balance any easier.
He got to the base of the tree and looked up. “What a snarled up mess.” He said aloud. Plus the tree was leaning back away from the side hill, completely backwards from where his lay was.
“####…” He muttered. He turned back and faced the side hill, then pulled a pack of smokes out of his shirt pocket. “Hey Marshal! Marsh! Bring the jacks down here and a ####load of wedges!” Jack had wedges with him, just not enough. He lit a cigarette, and started swamping out the brush around the base of the tree with his axe.
The call came back down the hill, “On the way in five!”
Good, Jack thought to himself. Marsh can bang on wedges and work the jacks while he made the cuts with the saw. Hmm… saw. Might need the big one for this job. Tree was the biggest of the day. “Hey Marsh!” He called back up the hill.
“Yeah?” Marsh hollered back…
“Bring the gear drive. We might need it on this pig!”
“Okay!” Jack was glad he wasn’t packin’ that big SOB down the hill, plus a gunny sack with 2 jacks in it. The gear drive is a McCulloch 890 with a 50” bar on it. Marsh is a tough cookie. He’ll pack it all in one trip. Jack grinned at the thought of Marsh trudging through the brush, and over snags packin’ that thing. Looks like we will earn our pay today he thought.
Marsh made it down to Jack about 45 minutes later. Jack was sitting on a small stump puffing on another cigarette. “’Bout ####in’ time.” He said through a toothy grin, as smoke passed through his teeth as he exhaled. Marsh just shook his head, and set the saw and the jacks down. He stood and looked up the spar and had to hold his hardhat from falling of the back of his head as he craned his neck skyward. “Jesus Christ! Biggest tree on this hill! What do ya figure? About 7 feet across? Close to 200?”
“200 Easy.” Jack said.
Anyways... I found one page scribbled in pencil on the back of one of my PQS (Personell Qualification Standards) books from my first ship. It is titled... "The Big Doug". Some of it is barely legible since the pencil has faded from storage. It's only a few paragraphs... but I can remember when I was on 6 - 10 month deployments I used to write in my free time. I need to find the rest of my notebooks from past deployments... I use to write a lot about the woods, and there were 2 main characters. Jack and Marsh... 2 grizzled old wood ticks that had some good adventures.
So heres a taste... I was prolly 19 or 20 when I wrote all this stuff. So I gotta do some more diggin' to find more of it.
Enjoy!
Gary
The Big Doug
“This one’s gonna be a #####.” Jack muttered to himself as he trampled through the thick underbrush. The big Douglas Fir he had to fall was the fifth tree of this size today. The big McCulloch 450 was heavy on his shoulder as he stumbled a bit on some wild berry vines at his feet. The saw didn’t make keeping his balance any easier.
He got to the base of the tree and looked up. “What a snarled up mess.” He said aloud. Plus the tree was leaning back away from the side hill, completely backwards from where his lay was.
“####…” He muttered. He turned back and faced the side hill, then pulled a pack of smokes out of his shirt pocket. “Hey Marshal! Marsh! Bring the jacks down here and a ####load of wedges!” Jack had wedges with him, just not enough. He lit a cigarette, and started swamping out the brush around the base of the tree with his axe.
The call came back down the hill, “On the way in five!”
Good, Jack thought to himself. Marsh can bang on wedges and work the jacks while he made the cuts with the saw. Hmm… saw. Might need the big one for this job. Tree was the biggest of the day. “Hey Marsh!” He called back up the hill.
“Yeah?” Marsh hollered back…
“Bring the gear drive. We might need it on this pig!”
“Okay!” Jack was glad he wasn’t packin’ that big SOB down the hill, plus a gunny sack with 2 jacks in it. The gear drive is a McCulloch 890 with a 50” bar on it. Marsh is a tough cookie. He’ll pack it all in one trip. Jack grinned at the thought of Marsh trudging through the brush, and over snags packin’ that thing. Looks like we will earn our pay today he thought.
Marsh made it down to Jack about 45 minutes later. Jack was sitting on a small stump puffing on another cigarette. “’Bout ####in’ time.” He said through a toothy grin, as smoke passed through his teeth as he exhaled. Marsh just shook his head, and set the saw and the jacks down. He stood and looked up the spar and had to hold his hardhat from falling of the back of his head as he craned his neck skyward. “Jesus Christ! Biggest tree on this hill! What do ya figure? About 7 feet across? Close to 200?”
“200 Easy.” Jack said.
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