I have found a lot of people on Facebook over the year or two that I have played on it, but the other day I found Mike Rosencranz. We were friends when we were kids serving on the USS Stump, a Spruance class destroyer that has since been turned into a reef on the oceans bottom. I have reconnected with other friends on that ship and the other ship I served on, the USS Gettysburg as well as the shore duty stations I spent time at. With Mike it is different, we have a life long bond. Not anything weird and it is not that we were inseparable in those day, we just shared some really good times together while serving in the Navy. So what is our lifelong bond? It is a scar, mine is on my right arm and his is on his left. They are identical, about an inch and half long and about three quarters of an inch wide, more on that later.
In 1985 we were on a UNITAS cruise, which is a four month show of the flag around South America, at the end of that we had a WATC, or west African training cruise so the cruise totaled 6 months. That was my first 6 month cruise, so I was apprehensive and excited at the same time. Going through the Panama Canal was kind of bittersweet, it was very cool but I was on the sea and anchor detail so we had to work our asses off for what seemed like days straight. It was very cool to use the canal, Teddy Roosevelt got this project started after the failure of the French and most all of the original mechanisms and controls are still being used, they do not build things like that anymore. The design was ingenious, not that I dwelled on that for long though, when we got through the canal and we got liberty and we were all out in the bars, all the coolness of the canal drowned in cheap beer, at least for me.
There were many adventures on that cruise, many I can talk about, many I won’t talk about and still more I probably don’t remember. Anyway, we hit Rio de Janeiro Brazil and my little hillbilly ass thought I had died and gone to heaven. YES it is that cool there! So Mike and I decided we needed tattoo’s, it was not such a popular thing like it is now outside of sailors. So we find a place, the guy did not speak any English, at least that is way I remember it. I was reminded by Mike that he would not tattoo us if we were drunk so I think we came back the next day or maybe later that day. I selected an Eagle, flying through a sun with flames on it. I was a bit nervous when after he shaved my arm, he used the lid of the shaving cream to outline the sun. Nothing would deter me though. So it seemed like it took a long time to get through and it really hurt where the skin is soft but I got through it. When he was done he tells us he is tied and to come back tomorrow so he can ink Mike.
I am not sure if we went back and could not find him or we pulled out but my friend Mike never got inked. He served 20 years in the US Navy and never did get that tattoo. Not sure what that meant for him but the one chance he had slipped through his fingers, or should I say – off his arm. I remember my Mom askin me, “where did you get the tattoo”, I said “in Rio” and she laughed and asked what part of your body did you get a tattoo. I remember thinking that was funny. When we left Rio we went up the coast to Recife Brazil, WHEW, not sure why I mention that because I do not think I can tell one story about that port of call that would suitable for distribution. I can say we took over some 2nd floor bar and a GREAT time was had by all! We left there and went to Africa, which was not a bad trip, lots happened there as well and much beer was consumed. I think it was in Dakar Senegal that I broke my eardrum, it was either there or Freetown in Sierra Leone. I remember drinking a lot of beers from gigantic gold cans, I have no idea what kind of beer it was but it was good. I fell or slid off a very high diving board and somehow hit the water on my side, the pressure of the water perforated my eardrum instantly. I knew something bad had happened right away, even though I was VERY drunk I headed on back to the ship. After that is was back to Puerto Rico and then back to Norfolk.
Well Norfolk is where we got our matching scars. This is the story, the best I can remember it, anyone who may have been there please correct me if you find errors. I can say without doubt that this is how I remember it all happening. Mike and I were at a bar drinking whatever it was we were drinking when a few other friends showed up. I can’t remember who they were, other than one was Jeff, a large and gregarious friend with screaming red hair. There was also a woman with us but neither of us could remember who she was or who she was with. I also can’t remember what bar we were in or who drove us there, or home for that matter. So here we are, minding our own business, having some cold beverages when our friends start buying us shots and then double shots of tequila. I was not a tequila drinker and I do not think Mike was either. Well somewhere along the line we thought it would be a good idea, or at least our somewhat more sober friends thought it would be a good idea, if we, Mike and I, were to put our arms together and drop a cigarette between them to see who pulls away first. Childish and STUPID I know but we were young and plowed on Tequila. Well it seems that neither of us pulled away, so I was told the next day. So they decided to stoke up a couple of cigarettes and alternate them in there. Still nothing from Mike or my drunk ass.
Not sure how long that lasted but they must have at some point grown bored and let it go, not before we each had a scar that bonded us for life. It is about an inch and a half long and about three quarters of inch wide and it took a very long time to heal. I remember the next day waking up in excruciating pain and making my way to the head to wash off my right arm, there were still ashes in the wound. At that point I was unsure what had happened the night before but was looking forwarding to hearing the story. It was a few minutes later that Mike came in and he started washing out an eerily similar scar on his left arm. We just looked at each other and laughed. We knew that we would be unable to go to sick bay to get treatment, alcohol related incidents did not look good in the record so we struggled through the healing process. He slept on the bottom rack and I slept on the top with Eddie Kelso in the middle so we got to compare notes every morning. I wonder what ever happened to Eddie Kelso?
Well over the years I have told many stories about that scar and I have quit drinking as well. My favorite story about it started in Alexandria Egypt and ended in the kings chamber of the Pyramid of Cheops and had Egyptian police and military chasing us. That story is too long for this oratory. The most common and the one I ended up telling my Mom was that my arm got pinched between the exhaust manifold of my Nova and the shock tower. I fFelt bad fibbing to Mom but that truth was just too embarrassing, at least it was at the time – must not be so embarrassing anymore because here I am sharing it with the world.
Mike, thanks for being my buddy all those years ago and I am really happy that we have at least reconnected in Facebook, which may lead to meeting up in person again someday.
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