My original duty committment to the U. S. Navy had been for three years active duty. However, I "shipped over" for two more years if I could teach at the U.S. Naval Officer Candidate School in Newport, R. I. - shore duty on the East Coast. Interim duty before arrival at OCS was a one month military instructor course in California. After the instructor course, Mary and I drove back to Minnesota to celebrate the Christmas holidays ... and then on to OCS.
I was assigned to teach in the Tactics Division. This consisted of two phases. The first 8 weeks of an Officer Candidate's program in Tactics would be Naval Operations; the second 8 weeks was Weapons Systems. My Gunnery Department experience onboard the USS Valley Forge came back to haunt me again. The Division Head wanted me to teach Weapons Systems. Fortunately, I was able to convince him that I was better qualified to teach Naval Operations.
The physical site of OCS had changed somewhat since I had last been there. The Officer Candidates no longer slept in wooden barracks like I did when I was an Officer Candidate but in nice brick buildings much like most college dormitories. However, they also had a more intensive physical training program than I did - probably more like the "boot camp" that other enlisted people had to endure. They knew that they had a good chance to have to be physically fit. After all, the U.S. of A. was no longer in a "peacetime situation."
Whenever new Officer Candidates arrived "on campus," instructors would sort through their class information sheets (provided for the division instructors' use) to determine if anyone had come from their alma mater college. I did this sometimes too. Once I found two from Minnesota. One of them had a German teaching degree from Mankato State College. I wrote down both their names in case I had a chance to meet either of them.
In order to help the Officer Candidates academically, the various divisions provided instructors in the dormitories for the students to consult during their evening studies. One night when I had the Phase I Tactics Division duty, several Officer Candidates came to ask questions. Once the academic questions had been dealt with, I got into a personal conversation with one of the candidates. I mentioned that I was from Minnesota. He said that his buddy who had come to this study area with him was also from Minnesota. Due to the nature of the questions that the student was asking, I knew that his buddy had to be one of the two students from Minnesota whose names I had written down. I took a chance, using the name of the Mankato State graduate, and said, "Oh, you must be Frank Jones." His buddy's eyes popped as I had chosen the right name. When I knew that, I proceeded to ask him questions about Mankato State and instructors who we should have known in common. He was amazed that I knew who he was "without having a prior conversation" with him. I didn't tell him how I knew. When he asked how I knew his name, I just said, "We want to keep track of our students so I just know who you are ..."
With the Vietnam war going on, OCS was running at maximum capacity all the time. There was no space at OCS in Newport, R. I. for the normal influx of the summer ROTC students. However, it was recognized that during the summer, the midshipman at the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, were out on summer training cruises. There was plenty of building space there both as teaching spaces and living quarters for the Officer Candidates. Naval Schools Command, R. I., would have to send the ROTC students there for training. The Naval Reserve Officers would also be sent there to assist with the training but some experienced OCS instructors needed to be there to supervise the training. Naval Schools Command was concerned whether they would get enough people to do this. They wanted to make the program work with volunteers if possible.
That summer I had planned to take leave from OCS and go visit Washington, D. C. with Mary. I was concerned whether the OCS Tactics Division would allow me to do that. This particular summer ROTC program at the Naval Academy was "the perfect fit" for me. I volunteered. I was in charge (in practice) of the Tactics Division as the "senior Tactics Division officer from OCS" as I was now a Navy Lieutenant (O-3) I assigned who taught which classes when. Somehow my classes were all in the morning with the afternoons off. (ha-ha.) Afternoons Mary and I spent touring Washington, D. C., and the neighboring areas. Fortunately, one of the Naval Reserve officers teaching in the Tactics Division was a Lieutenant Commander (O-4). He was senior to me and was in charge (in theory) of the Tactics Division. He was responsible for all of the administrative paperwork. I liked that. I was able to "have my cake" and be "able to eat it" both.
During the first week that we were at Annapolis, the Commander of the Naval Academy held a "welcoming party" for the officers with the transplanted OCS Program. Most of the Tactics Division officers sat at the same table. Everyone introduced themselves. As the wives of the Tactics officers introduced themselves, we heard names of Mary, Marybeth, Mary Ann, etc. Almost all of the wives present at that table were named Mary or a derivative of Mary. Someone commented how "amazing" that was. The thought came to me almost at once. I quipped, "No, it's not. Remember Annapolis is in Mary Land."
It seems that the Officer Candidate from KILO Company got caught the night before when he was dumping trash. He had forgotten to dump his trash until after he had removed his uniform. Rather than put his uniform back on, he sneaked out to the Dempster Dumpster in his underwear. Just as he was dumping his trash, he heard the Officer of the Day making his rounds. He knew if he got caught, he would get a "gig" (or demerit which would result in marching time). He jumped into the Dumpster so that he would not be seen. The Officer of the Day heard the noise that the Officer Candidate caused by jumping into the Dumpster. He shined his flashlight into the Dumpster to see what had caused the noise. The KILO Company Officer Candidate was quick on his feet and in his mind. He stood at attention, saluted the Officer of the Day, and reported, "Dempster Dumpster #1 all secure, Sir!" I heard this story from my roommate in the summer of 1963 as he returned from dumping our trash in his underwear.
Five years later, as an Tactics Operations instructor, one of my students wanted to tell me a story of something funny that had just happened the night before. It really did happen! He told me the same story only I don't remember what company the Officer Candidate supposedly was from. The class didn't believe me as I laughed and told them that I heard the same story 5 years before when I was an Officer Candidate. They continued to insist .... "It really happened last night."