Army Navy 2020
“Sir, you now have 15 minutes until Navy beats Army,” LTJG [REDACTED], the boat’s most senior NUB and a proud member of the great class of 2017, chanted.
“Army Navy goes inside the Sanctuary at 0500. The uniform for Army Navy is clothes that don’t smell like amine.”
“The menu for Army Navy is Bud Diesels, Chuhais, and habu sake,” he continued screaming at the top of his lungs.
“I am now shotgunning beers. You now have 15 minutes, sir!” As he finished he threw cold Budweisers into our racks and wouldn’t leave until we got up.
This is how the entire wardroom of the USS [REDACTED] was woken up for Army Navy 2020 during our happy little accident port call in Yokosuka, Japan
Unfortunately, during the peak of COVID, travel off base for a quarantined crew was not authorized. Not all hope was lost though. A clubhouse, appropriately known in the submarine force as the Sanctuary, located a few miles from the submarine pier has been reserved for submariners on port calls for the past few decades. For the non WESTPAC sailors out there, think of the Sanctuary like a crappy frat house. The Sanctuary doesn’t have clean toilets, or carpets that don’t smell, or comfortable beds, but it has cable television and a fridge big enough for a year’s worth of Sapporo and Budweiser, and, most importantly, it’s not the boat. As far as I am concerned, the Sanctuary is a vital piece of submarine equipment.
So, LTJG [REDACTED], on orders of our WEPS (‘10), woke everyone up at 0400 with Army Navy Chow Calls. We mustered in the viewing room, drank some beers together, made fun of the JO who went to Duke, and had the time of our lives.
I am looking forward to watching Army Navy from the comfortable confines of a bar in San Diego this year, but Army Navy 2020 will always be the most memorable of my life. I’ll never forget watching the game in the Sanctuary with the best wardroom a JO could ask for.
Go Navy! Beat Army!
The only member of The Subpar Group who went to USNA (‘16)
