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Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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?

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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).

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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. :)

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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 ;)

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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.

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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.

Re: Gram rolling contests !!

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

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