The flares I thought about stealing were an aluminum tube about 1.5 inches wide and 16 inches long. We had a case of them on the bridge of our ship when on station off the river mouth. To light it off you took off the cap, placed it on the other end, and then hit that end with your palm. When I and other officers had OOD bridge watches on boring nights, we often set one off on the port side, which was away from the Captain’s stateroom. We never got any questions from other ships in the area about what the he?? we thought we were doing. The Captain had to notice there were fewer flares in the wooden case each day, but never made a comment. He was a great leader and always picked the right issues. We operated with running lights at night and were well out of range of any ordinance the VC could send our way.
The flares I thinking of was a cardboard tube about
3”X28”.You had to hold `em with both hands and hit it
on a hard surface.
One of the coolest things I ever saw was when we were
surrounded with they said a full NVA division at Camp Caroll,
they went to firing these giant flares out of those big
mortars that turned 150 acres to brighter than daylight.
Had to have been cool to have been on boat...Delta Sailor
I guess
Welcome back brother