Playing Fair and Being Kind

Jim Kelly has been on my mind lately. We worked together in the early 70’s. We were a dynamic duo of sorts. Jim was an expert welder and non-destructive test (NDT) inspector and examiner. I was the Quality Assurance Officer on the USS Hunley, a submarine tender tasked with maintenance and repair of deep diving nuclear submarines. We were part of the Repair Department. Our job was to certify the work done by the Hunley technicians on submarine systems that ensured the safe operation to test depth and return to the surface. That system was named “Sub-Safe”. It was a response of the U.S. Navy to the loss of USS Thresher in 1963. Jim and I wrote and issued repair procedures for any system in the Sub-Safe envelope of the submarines. Jim’s expertise in welding procedure and NDT. Not only was Jim an NDT inspector he was the guy who tested and certified other NDT inspectors hence his title as an NDT examiner. Jim was a rare bird.

There is a longer story about Jim and his frustration with the Navy in regard to a test he took to improve his GCT score. GCT is the general comprehension test that the Navy gives all recruits in order to assign a classification number as a qualification for other training. The highter one’s GCT the better one’s chances of being accepted for advanced training. Jim’s encounter told here happened long before we met. Jim’s GCT was sort of borderline and did not truly represent his superior abilities and skills. Jim applied for and received a one-time permission to retake his GCT exam. This was a terrible mistake. His retake result came back with half the score that he had previously. His new score, which now became his final score and never to be complained about again, pushed his options for higher level training or application for officer training out of reach. He was forever stuck with a very low GCT, the lowest I’ve ever seen. He was not going to get anyone in the Bureau of Naval Personnel to consider an application from him for anything more than he already had attained. This was Jim’s greatest regret.

During our tour of duty together Jim applied several times for promotion to officer grade with no luck. He also suffered a low qualification score when he took the E-8 exam after he made chief. Jim was stuck in the promotion pipeline because of that bogus GCT score. There was no way out and eventually Jim took his retirement and went to work in civilian life as an NDT Examiner for a large construction firm. He traveled all over the world to far away places performing examination exams for other NDT personnel. He made good money and lived well. I spoke with him only once about ten years ago. I think he was living in Kentucky. Not sure.

Jim and I spent many hours together. He had a bunch of stories about various experiences he’d had. We rode the Hunley from Charleston, South Carolina to Guam. He’d been to Guam before and was familiar with tradition there and he knew of a few short cuts and dead ends in the communities. His knowledge was handy to have close by. One of the many stories he told was about the Japanese soldiers who were found in the jungles of Guam. They were hold outs from WW II. Jim saw them being captured and arrested in Talofofo. There was another one found while we were there in 1972. His name was Soichi Yokoi. Soichi was in the jungle of Guam for 28 years. He was discovered by two Guamanian men while they were fishing in the Talofofo River. Soichi was tending his crayfish traps in the river and didn’t see the men approach him. He was captured and that ended his isolation. He was returned to Japan to a hero’s welcome.

There is another story Jim told me one day during one of our off-duty times at a Chief’s Club in Charleston. There was a U.S. Navy destroyer named the “Brinkley Bass” and Jim was a member of a rival crew on another destroyer. He recounted how each crew was messing with the other. One night his gang snuck aboard the stern of the Brinkley Bass and painted over the ‘B’s with gray paint leaving the words “rinkley ass”. Of course it was a coup for Jim’s gang.

Well, I see day has broken here at The Castle. I need to go move some snow around. We have about 8 inches of new stuff. I’ve ordered heating fuel and I’ll go shovel a path for the delivery guy and clear the top of the tank to help out.

Be as good as you can. It’s important to treat others as best you can. I don’t always but I keep it at or near the top of my list. Ciao.

G. M. Goodwin
18 January 2018