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Dave Henry
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Dave Henry
(back to Life on a Submarine)
There is a certain romanticism in the independence of
submarining that was very appealing, and without any false
modesty, I have to say generally the quality of people you
work with in the submarine force is significantly higher than
just about any other endeavor that I have ever been involved
with, either in military or civilian life. The professionalism
of everybody from the guy straight out of sub school to the
Captain, you generally get a level of professionalism and
dedication that you just don't see other places. I'm sure you
have heard the old saying that with any sort of management
activity you spend 90 percent of your time with 10 percent of
your people; that the 10 percent who are troublemakers will
take up most of your time. You just don't have that in the
submarine business.
I have heard some people describe it as almost a gentleness
between shipmates on board a submarine, and a lot of that has
to do with the close proximity. When your living space in
square feet is basically the size of a three-bedroom house,
and you've got about 120 guys jammed in there, you develop a
certain amount of consideration and civility, or you just
don't survive. The crew works as a single entity, and you do
what you need to do as part of that entity.
An example that comes to mind is during one patrol, we had an
alarm go off, which indicated a possible problem in one of the
compartments. I was at the watertight door getting ready to
enter into the compartment, where there could have been this
potentially very dangerous, possibly even deadly situation. I
was already getting ready to enter before it really crossed my
mind that, yes, there might be something dangerous in there.
Maybe this is a little extreme, but it's similar to a white
blood cell: When it detects something bad in your body, it
attacks it and eats it without any consideration of the
long-term effect on itself.
Among submariners, there is a common understanding from
uncommon circumstances. You know where these people are coming
from. The fact that they have proven themselves on board
submarines is a mark that these people, at least in my mind,
warrant respect, consideration, and trust. They've earned
it.
One of my least favorite aspects of life on submarines was the
complete detachment from the world at times. I was underwater
when the Tiananmen Square massacre happened. I was underwater
when the Berlin Wall fell. I was underwater when Panama was
invaded. You get some news broadcasts, little snippets, but I
had no idea of the enormity of these events until two months
after they had happened. I came back and I realized, wow, I
really missed that whole thing.
There is a real detachment, and I think that is part of what
drives the camaraderie. It is impossible to have a lot of the
standard social interactions and commitments that most people
have. I used to be somewhat of a musician, but in the
situation I was in, it would have been impossible for me to
have been in a band with anybody other than people from the
same submarine. You can't say, "Gee, I'm going away for three
months. You guys can't play any gigs while I'm away." You
can't do community theater, because you can't say, "Well, I'll
be there for the performance on Saturday night, unless of
course I get a phone call, and we have to go to sea." You
can't have those kinds of social commitments, because your
life really does belong to that boat.
—Dave Henry performed four deterrent patrols aboard
the USS Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN-658) from 1987 to 1990,
participated in the new construction, outfitting, sea
trials, and commissioning of the USS Jefferson City
(SSN-759) from 1990 to 1992, and worked with Submarine
Group SEVEN in Yokosuka, Japan from 1992 to 1995. He is
currently a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve and
lives in Tennessee with his wife Yuka and new baby
daughter.
Continue: Patrick Householder
See Inside a Submarine
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Can I Borrow Your Sub?
Sounds Underwater
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Life on a Submarine
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