Don’t forget about the actual ingredients in the food, no matter what the portion size is. There’s a reason that 1 year old McDonalds cheeseburger looks just the same as it did, fresh under the heat lamp.

【Today he’d be the 3rd fattest guy at the local Walmart.]

That’s assuming the Walmart mobility scooter left in the parking lot has enough of a charge to get the actual fattest guy through the doors. The pictured guy could come in 4th.

I had the same issues with the communications suite on USS BOISE (SSN764). I ran a division of 11 great guys who did their jobs well, got their work done, and did minimal damage during radio room WWE events. There were a few personalization items in the radio room. One was a dancing hula figurine, who really got it on during any flank bell. There was the bobble-head turtle, who looked like the Engineering Officer - the absolute worst Officer of the Deck, and a few pop-culture comics (mostly Robot-Chicken stuff) taped up inside of a few COTS equipment racks. There was nothing lewd, and nobody naked…you know, modern Navy.

Now, the radio room is a SCIF, so only the radiomen and a few officers ever go in there. You’d never find the Sunday afternoon girl scout tour going through Radio.

Anyway, the captain comes in one day, sees some of the personalization items, and says, “Hey, Chief. Some of this stuff is a little less than professional.” I chuckled and said, “Yes sir.”

A few weeks later, during a stop to Radio, the Captain sees the same stuff, and says, “Chief. I thought we discussed this stuff being unprofessional?” I responded, “Yes sir. We did.” He left.

A week later, I walked into Radio, and the Captain is talking to one of my guys, and when he sees me, he said, “Chief. Didn’t we agree that some of this stuff was unprofessional?” I said, “Yes sir.” He said, “You should probably consider getting rid of it.” I replied, “Yes sir.”

About a month passed, when the buzzer went off. One of the guys opened the door, and the Captain came in. As he made his way to the aft end of Radio, I saw the flash of anger on his face, before he said, “Chief! I thought you were going to take this stuff down?!” I said, “Well, sir, I considered it, but unprofessional as it might be, there’s nothing lewd, nothing morally offensive, it’s all in a place where nobody except the people who work here would ever see it. My guys work their asses off, do everything they’re supposed to do, and do it well. If a couple comic strip, a hula girl and a bobble head turtle keep them happy and working well, is that really too high of a cost to us? Plenty of WWII bombers and fighters had unprofessional things prominently painted on their hulls, and displayed proudly. Everything on this boat that doesn’t have to be painted a certain color, and is not wood-laminate is painted blue or orange, after Boise State. It looks gaudy, and as far as I know, neither Idaho, Boise, or Boise State University has ever some anything for this boat. My last boat did the same thing, but in purple and gold, with viking emblems everywhere - talk about offensive!” The Captain stared at me for a moment, and said, “Well, I don’t like it.” I said, “Yes sir.” He left.

A couple weeks later, I’m in the Chiefs Quarters, and one of my guys comes down and says, “Chief, the CO wants you.” I said, “OK. In his stateroom?” He said, “No. Radio.” Oh shit.

Up to Radio I went, where I found the Captain, “God damn-it, Chief! Everything is still here!” “Yes, sir.” We stared at each other for what must have been a full minute. He said, “Well, were you ever planning on removing it?” He looked past me, to one of my guys, and said, “Go get the COB.” The COB (Chief of the Boat) is the Command Master Chief. We just stared at one another, until by the grace of God, the phone rang, and I ended up on the phone, and a laptop for a few minutes. When the call ended, the COB was in the room. The Captain said, “COB, this is the stuff I was telling you about.”

We had a Mexican stand-off staring contest.

The COB finally said, “Well?” I said, “Well, if he had ordered me to get rid of it, I would have gotten rid of it.” The Captain asked, “You’re going to make me order you to get rid of it?!” I looked at the Captain, then the COB (I was standing between them). The Captain then walked out, and the COB followed him.

About 20 minutes later, I went back down to the Chiefs Quarters. The COB was reading a book. As soon as I walked in, he asked, “Did you get rid of that stuff?” I said, “No.” He asked, “Why are you keeping it, when you know the skipper doesn’t like it?” I said, “My division does its job really well, they don’t give me any trouble. There’s not much I can do to reward them for doing well, but if that little thing makes them happy for months inside this miserable fucking boat, then they should have it. If the skipper orders me to take it down, I will, and I suspect if it’s really that important to him, he’ll give the order. This turned into some stupid pissing contest a long time ago, but I won’t choose to lose. He’ll have to order me to make him the winner.”

The COB shook his head and laughed. None of it was mentioned again, and everything was still there when I transferred 2 years later.

So, shortly after checking aboard the first fast-attack submarine I served on, in April 1991, the boat was locked down one evening, when the engineer couldn’t find his Zenith SuperSport 286e computer. Suspecting someone stole it, the boat was locked down and searched - for 3 hours. Everyone was really angry… It’s 2025 and I remember it well.

Anyway, after 3 hours or so, at the Captains insistence, the ENG, doing paperwork in his stateroom, let someone else in, to look for his computer. There it was, sitting plain as day, on his bunk, where his pillow should have been. The ENG said he didn’t notice it, as he thought it was his pillow…gross, considering everyone else’s pillowcase was white.

The Captain immediately lifted the lockdown, and all the off-duty people went home. The anger lingered though, and the Engineer seemed to have a dark cloud over his head. He was fired a few months later, and I’ve always wondered if it had something to do with that computer - I was just too new to know anything about the guy, and I didn’t work in engineering.

LOL! I had the Timex Sinclair 1000. It connected to a B&W TV, and a cassette tape player for a drive. My dad won it from our local bowling alley.

I didn’t get too far with it.

The predicted Allied casualties for a mainland invasion of Japan were so high, especially with regard to the civilian fanaticism witnessed throughout the Island-hopping Campaign, the right choice was using the Atomic Bomb. After use of the first atomic bomb, when Japan failed to yield and refused to surrender, the return to consideration to a homeland invasion, along with running the numbers of anticipated Allied casualties, made using the second Atomic Bomb the correct choice. The best choice was made, with regard to the information on hand at the time.