Yeah, back in Carter’s Navy, there wasn’t diddly squat for equipment, maintenance or troops and you didn’t want ANYTHING to look too good or some Sandcrab would haul it off for a Head Start School playtoy.
I was in a Reserve unit that had a P-2V (corroded main spars) that we’d just about spitshined. Except for any more than taxi-around-the-ramp-at-minimum-speed-only, absolutely everything in that bird was as close to 4.0 as we could make it, and every shop in the squadron was bustin’ it to get 4.1.
Got the orders to strip it and ship it (No Sh**) to a Head Start School, and I think that Squadron dropped fifteen percent of its sailors the first month.
Don’t know about after that, ‘cause I was outta there a couple of weeks later.
Don’t blame you. When I got my re-enlistment chat I told tem they were wasting their time. I was accepted to college nad adios. There was no way I was spemding four more years in the Firerooms-I was in 2MMR on JFK as a BT- and watch them wire and glue a 1200psi steam plant together while we added new paint to the overhead.