It IS kind of funny in retrospect, and it did make them pause for just a few seconds...LOL, I think I must have figured a bluff was worth the effort. But I did have some basis in my mind somewhere...
We has a young guy of korean (I think)extraction get assigned to our squadron. Now, we had all heard some stories long before he showed up to us, and even though his name was Timothy Nariumaya, he was apparently known as...get this...”Bruce Lee”. The rumor was, he had something like a 10th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
When he showed up, he was a very small guy, I would say 5’4”, and his features sure looked Korean to me. Very mild, quiet guy.
Anyway, we had this bizzare initiation ritual to our line shack crew on the ship called “greasing”, involving say, 10 people jumping on someone enmasse, and smearing thick black molybdenum grease on their, umm...bare posterior. (I know...times are different and all. This would be grounds for disciplinary action and a lawsuit today)
It was a ritual that was borne with good humor by most. You were expected to struggle and resist as hard as you could, with the impossible goal of somehow escaping out the door. Nobody ever did, but I suppose if you did that would have relieved you from being subjected to the ritual obligation. There were a couple of guys who went completely limp, and they were subjected to the er...ritual more than once. It did get pretty wild on occasion with people being thrown against walls and such in the process, and I am amazed nobody ever got seriously hurt.
The point is, if you were a rookie, you kind of knew it was coming, but you never knew when.
Anyway, we were planning to get Tim when he came down off the flight deck one day. The door opens and he walks in with all his flight deck gear on, eyeballs the crowd and says “You guys can do what you want, but I won’t be responsible if anyone goes to the hospital.”
Nobody touched him. Nobody had ever actually SEEN him do any martial arts, but...who would take the chance? As it turns out, I saw him sparring with the USMC Top Sergeant of the boat (GSGT Douglas, who was later killed in the Beruit bombing of the Marine barracks) in the hangar bay sometime after that. He gave an entire foot and probably a good 100 lbs at least to the Gunny, and the Gunny looked like he had his hands full...