I make it a practice never to tell sea stories, however, this is not a sea story. It is a true event which happened in my enlisted days during my 30 years in the Navy — 10 years as an enlisted man and 20 as an officer.

It all started when I was assigned the job of buying and controlling all the "gedunk" supplies for the replenishment of ships on duty in the Mediterranean. For all you landlubbers, the word "gedunk"refers to such things as candy bars, sodas, ice cream, etc.

I knew I was in trouble when the supply officer, whom I worked for, asked, "How many lifesavers did you order?"

"I ordered 2,000 rolls,"I replied

"Is that two tractor trailer loads" he asked.

I quickly checked the requisition. Instead of 2,000 rolls I had ordered 2,000 boxes at 20 rolls per box or a total of 40,000 rolls. It was probably one of the biggest single sales the lifesaver company had that year or any other for that matter.

After repeated telephone calls to the distributor and manufacturer, the final answer was you ordered them, you keep them. I floored every storeroom with lifesavers, two cases deep. I also assured the supply officer I would get rid of them.

As luck would have it, our cruise was to be three months long. Due to breakdown of our relief we spent nine months in the Mediterranean replenishing the ships at sea. In those days of the Cold War all replenishment was done underway at sea. The ships came alongside and stores were either sent from the stores ship to the receiving ship by Highline or Burtoning Rig depending on the receiving ship's configuration.

After the first three months we ran out of most everything, especially the good candy like Snickers, Mars, Peanut Butter Cups. I settled into a routine. One case of Mars bars was a guaranteed substitute of one case of peppermint life savers, peanut butter cups rated a case of five flavor lifesavers. If they didn't order anything, I figured they could always use a case of lifesavers.

It didn't take too many substitutions until the ships came alongside flying a homemade flag of a lifesaver with a line through it denoting they didn't want any more lifesavers. Since their stores were already topside including the lifesavers, we sent them anyway. During replenishment at sea it is hard to send anything back.

Word travels fast and the tale of the lifesaver fiasco went round the Mediterranean. It was especially prevalent when the ladies with less than a sterling reputation in the bars of Naples all had lifesavers instead of candy bars as gifts from the sailors who frequented those establishments.

When the ship returned to the States there was not a single case of lifesavers left in the storerooms. I had strict orders from the supply officer not to order any.

Needless to say after that I double checked all requisitions for items to be purchased on the open market.