About 8 years ago I untertook a huge task of being in charge of converting an empty steel framed structure into our present day church. I had a grand total of about 25K to work with - and all the volunteers I could recruit. From start-to-finish, we did about $500K worth of work - and had our grand opening in less than 3 months !!

Today, I embarked on another rather large task. Living here in the Adirondack Mountains, our church (Northway Christian Family Church) has a "rustic" motif throughout.

Our pastor and his wife have carried this theme into the childrens wing and I am now in the process of painting large wall murals in the rooms and hallways. As part of the process, I had to use some 24" wide rolls of paper to mask off areas and to lay down along the walls, as a dropcloth for any possible paint spills.

In the process, I unrolled way too much paper so it was necessary for me to re-roll the excess. Amazingly, even though it was 24" wide, I had no problem. It was almost like rolling the DSA grams for the first time, after being used to the much smaller grams. Just that this was much wider !!

Almost immediately, I was reminded of many years ago when we used to have gram rolling contests, as the grams hit the floor. Of course, part of the process was removing the paper clips - and securing them again at the top. Often there were small wagers between the contestants - but, for the most part, it was just fun to see who was the fastest.

I guess this is the sort of thing one never forgets how to do - kind of like riding a bicycle or roller skating - once you know how, you never forget.

When something like this happens, I sometimes think it is a bit ironic how such little things can remind one of a long-storied past.

I know that we all have some really fond memories of our "glory days" together. Just wondering if anyone might have a "gram rolling" story to share.

Having fun here in the North Country..............Irv

Great Post Dee!!!! Gram Rolling contests. Took part in many and didn't win any. I could roll em pretty fast ( as a lot of folks could) but the faster I rolled them, the wider the roll became!!!

Similar results with TARF writing contests. (Yep O.B., it was a TARF this time).

I recall in about 1980, Chuck Cable and Myself were on the ORI team and one day in the N2, when we had time on our hands, Chuck and I got into a discussion as to who could "wrote it up" more quickly. I don't think it matters who won (that's what the loser always says) but I can say that if it had been for real, I would have had quite a few "re-submits)

Great times and Great memories.

J

The actor Donald Sutherland had a great line in The Dirty Dozen. He was playing a scruffy private asked by Lee Marvin to impersonate an undercover General and hold an impromptu inspection on a group of squared away paratroopers. The Colonel in charge of the troopers smelled a rat, but went along with the inspection. After looking over the troops, Sutherland paused, seemed lost in thought and said to the Colonel. "They're pretty Colonel, but can they fight?"

My first supervisor was an SOC named (if I recall correctly) "Gaylord" in Antigua. We had many gram rolling contests on the old FQQ paper. After a few months I began to hold my own, and then began to beat him regularly. His favorite line when this would happen was. You're pretty fast, Corning, but are they tight.

After transferring to Argentia and the DSA gear, I met my match and more. The fastest I ever encountered was the late, great Leroy Roark. I think he had an advantage because all you could see of him behind the consoles was the top of his blond crew cut as he giggled his way around a station. We always suspected he had another even shorter person back there helping him.

O.B.

O.B.

The "Dirty Dozen" - one of my all time favorite flicks !! And (although I could not recall the actor's name - Sutherland) what a great "one-liner" that was!

I also like the "one liner" your sup came up with "you're pretty fast Corning - - but are they tight"!! Of course, that was one of the criteria in any bona fide gram rolling contest - they had to be rolled tight, then held in place by the paper clip.

There were a lot of good actors in that movie, not least of which was Lee Marvin. Also, Telly Sevalas, Charles Bronson and Ernest Borgnine.

I also have to wonder what the "newbies" would think of holding that paper clip in their mouth (which, of course, we all did - as we were rolling the gram as fast as possible). They would probably "freak out" at the thought of that clip being in another person's mouth - but it never bothered anyone that I ever knew. Just another day at the Fac!

Thanks for the memories...............

Irv

John, O.B.,
John I do not remember having a TARF write up contest with you, but as you said the one that lost remembers less!! I do remember I should have made one last check on my Tape dubbing team instead of doing a TARF WRITE up with you. Remember the ORI tapes for Brawdy were blank because of the electric motors on the long train ride, RIGHT!!!!!! To this day I still wonder what really happened? Someone knows!!!
O.B. Leroy was very fast as you said, but the laugh was just to throw you off. He was a great guy, always laughing. May he RIP.
My vote for the fastest gram roller goes to G.P. Widenor. He would always challenge someone and most often beat them, was it talent or intimidation, probably both. I do remember beating him once or twice.
Chuck Cable

I remember the gram rolling contests on watch at Pt. Sur in 72-73 with Tom Hardy. He would do one array and I the other to see who would finish first or Al Wymann (our watch supervisor) would time us to see if we could break our records.

However, I don't remember the use of paperclips. Seems like they would have just slowed the process down. Also, paper clips around electrical cabinets with moving parts would seem like a bad combination. Like paper clips around a copy machine today. ; - ) I kind of remember just setting the roll on a ledge on the back of the cabinets and there they would sit until we rolled them again.

Come to think of it, I remember tearing off the rolls after 24 hours but I don't remember ever replacing the supply roll. Must have been some really big rolls in the cabinets or a day worker job?

Good topic. I do remember rolling both the older narrow grams and the DSA. I probably won as many contest as I lost. We did use paper clips and we changed the paper when the either blue or red stripe began showing on the edge of the paper.

As a young third class in Arg., I had my shoulder dislocated playing BB and with my arm in a sling, still managed to roll grams. Wasn't as fast as two handed but was still able to get them rolled.

Thanks for jogging my memory. I now remember the red stripe along the edge of the paper when it was getting to the end and having to replace the rolls. Still don't remember the paper clips though. Must be the 40 year span since I did it affecting my memory?

In 1963 and 1964 when the writer was making previously described trips to the BRIDGE site in northern Norway, one of my tasks was to review (unroll and re-roll) all AN/FQQ-1(V) grams generated since the period of my previous visit which often was several months.

There were 18 grams a day for 90 to 120 days. It was a monumental task (no contest since there was no one else involved) - and my lungs often told me as much; however, the rewards could be extraordinary. One such reward was the first ever ECHO-II, the first and only six-blader which made a flank speed run for several hours.

These days, I make searches with similar but different rewards: going through thousands of pennies in bank rolls looking for "wheat" pennies, those minted before 1959 with a wheat-ear design on the reverse. Among the 42,000 or so pennies scanned starting in 2011, I've found almost 350 wheat pennies and - most extraordinary - two Indian Heads: an 1882 with the date almost unreadable, as was the rest of the coin, and a 1904 in relatively good condition (Fine).

Was it the King array in Argentia, back in '63? Those grams were only about 4" wide...much easier to roll than those new-fangdangled ones that came out later. Arg did have one of those wider ones (or two?)...one named Juliet, which took some expertise to roll. My favorite contests though were with the narrower ones. Then it was off to Eleuthera where both stations had the wider ones. That's where I took a back seat to the new guys who were only used to rolling those. Oh...by the way...we used paper clips.
Charlie

Irv, what a great topic! When I was the Ops Officer in Bermuda I spent a good amount of time on the watch floor, out of interest but also to get away from the mountain called my in-box. One time I decided to help a reader roll some grams and asked him if people ever had contests to see who could roll them the fastest. He stated they did and also said he had gotten pretty good at it. I played dumb (not hard for me) and asked him if he wanted to try one, which he did, and I smoked him. He just stood there kind of dumbfounded and I walked back to my office with a big grin and smudges on my fingers :)
Another event that this topic reminded me of was phase drills. When I was a reader in Argentia it was pretty common to have your station knocked out of phase, and once it was discovered one had to get on the overhead and yell out 31XX is out of phase! As you all know, there was a time goal to meet and everyone would come running over to help re-phase everything. One night I was just finishing up annotation for the hour on 11 39 and 40 and noticed they were out of phase. I did my duty and got on the overhead but nobody came running, they all just stood there looking at me. I shouted it out again but no reaction. Finally, a group walked over and ridiculed me for being a total idiot, as it was only 39 and 40 out of phase...my supv knocked it out just to set me up and get a good mid watch laugh. :)

Randy,
I remember clearly being told by someone senior if someone like you, (a LT who was not two years out of OCS) can roll grams like you did should be looking at the ribbons for a "good conduct ribbon."
Chuck

Chuck, Chuck, Chuck.....OCS?? My God man, what did I ever do to deserve that?? :) Irv, I'm sure you did your part to "break in" Jim, et al! Jim, loved your story about Jane and that sounds like her. I first met her when she was an OT3 and eventually attended her retirement ceremony in DC. There were more flag officers there than I knew we had in the Navy, what a career she had. I won't repeat the story about driving her home in her car down Centerville Road, after a little partying at the club....or her reaching over and turning the ignition off....thus losing steering and brakes on that road....Nope, ain't telling about that one ;)

Randy,
I used the "OCS" comparison so I would not have to come right out and say you were the older looking LT. I too signed my WC log over to my LT. OWO in Barbers Point HI for the same reason Jane did. He came looking for me and we had a discussion away from the display room. We both met with the OPS Officer the next morning, he went on to become the Admin Officer away from all operations, the next day??
Chuck

Chuck...gotcha. Misunderstood but was j/k anyway :)

Randy -

Somehow, it does not take too much imagination to figure an ex "white hat" pulling such an underhanded deed on a "newbie" reader. Of course, as the OPS LCPO (1974-77) in Bermuda - I never would have dreamed of taking advantage of any junior enlisted person. Just ask Nick McConnell or Jim Donovan - I'm sure they will both vouch for my integrity on that account!

I, like yourself, welcomed my time on the watch floor - as it also took me away from my in box and a myriad of other tasks (making out the monthly watch bill comes to mind) that I had to prepare for the OPS Officer. It was a very good tour for me - as was the one there from 1966-1969.

Irv

Ok Gang,

I'm glad i'm not the only old timer to be suffering from dementia. I'm gonna settle the "paper clip" issue once and for all.

The Paper clip was only used for the first few hours when the roll did not have sufficient bulk to safely sit on the "ledge" by its on weight. After the roll achieved sufficient bulk, the Paper Clip was removed and placed on the ledge to be used the following night after grams had been "torn" and placed in their little gray box or bin or whatever the ^%&^ it was called.

I'm guessing this'll get a discussion going!!!!!!!!!!
J

So, I have to comment on this one. As a brand new LDO Ensign I was assigned to be Watch Officer for an OT1 named Jane Wright at Keflavik, Iceland. We were watch section 3. I knew I was an "Ace" analyst and all around good OT. And at times I would get up from my OWO desk and "Walk the beams" just after HYRADS had printed. Oh, I found 2 or 3 Russian submarine contacts and thought I was doing my part to get great timelates for our watch team "Section 3". One night, I think it was a Mid watch; my Watch Coordinator (Petty Officer Wright) was nowhere to be found. We looked high and low. We eventually found our way to her desk and the "Watch Coordinator's Log Book". Transcribed was the following entry: "Properly relieved buy ENS Jim Donovan". We fond Jane in the Geedunk area smoking her cigarette and having a cup of coffee. I learned a very big lesson that night and never, ever did that again.

The very fastest gram roller ever was a reader at Antigua in 1972 who modified a battery powered screwdriver and added some wires that connected to a large battery that was hung on a harness around his waist. He replaced the screwdriver attachment with a tuning-fork looking apparatus that you stuck in the end of the new gram after it was folded over and stamped.

You could roll 8 hours of gram (only at the beginning of the new day) in about 3 seconds flat.

Paper cuts were a liability.

Neither the Ops O or OWO ever challenged us to a rolling contest.

To further clarify Mr Ellis' explanation of the proper use of the paperclip.

We routinely didn't bring the clips into play until the tightly rolled DSA gram would no longer fit between the whatchamacallit silver bar and the other doomaflatchee edge on the back of the table top.

Some of the more pain in the **** maint folks complained when we did this....allegedly it torqued the table top out of whack or some other tomfoolery....I never bought any of that.

Nick

I knew there was something missing in my Paper Clip Post. it was the
whatchamacallit silver bar and the other doomaflatchee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For the life of me. I could not think of the names of those parts. Thanks for straightening that out Nick.

J

If I remember when you had the gram all rolled up and sitting on the bar in back and you forgot and lifted the front up for a paper change it would fall off and you had to start again. How many times have you said oh S*%# I forgot, darn got to roll it again.

Jim I had forgotten that. We had such good times on watch...worked hard and played hard.