It was a duty night on the ship. While walking the weather decks on my rounds, I noticed a huge giant starfish on the pylons under the pier. I scooped it up and out of the water. It was impressive! I wanted to dry it out and hang it on my wall at home. A friend and I took it up to the crow's nest atop the cranes. There it would dry in the sun during our trip back to Hawaii. Seagulls surrounded the crow's nest all the way back. After our return to home port Hawaii, we waited until our next duty night to retrieve my new wall ornament. I stood lookout while my partner reached up to get the Starfish. He gags and barfs. Then drops it to my feet. The bonehead had forgotten to remove the starfish from the plastic bag when he placed it up there.Now it was a bag of rotten dead fish mush. I couldn't barf enough to drown out the smell. I quickly grabbed the bag and tossed it over the side. Now every sailor has to look over the side to see what they toss out. And there was my first lieutenant standing on the deck below us looking to find out where this fish mush came from, as he wore it on the backside.

Chief Scott Brown
Toledo, OH