Like a lion stalking its prey throughout the Serengeti, so too does a Jody hunt — lurking within the evening, ever vigilant in hopes of listening to that one magic phrase: “Deployment.”
So, how does one cease an insatiable Jody in his tracks? For one seaman, the answer was easy: Beat out the competitors by merely being there.
On July 20, 1967, Petty Officer 1st Class David Jarvis Anderson submitted an uncommon particular go away request. His plea was easy.
“My spouse is planning on getting pregnant this weekend,” he wrote, “and I might certain prefer to be there when it occurs.”
Anderson’s tongue-in-cheek entreaty appeared to have labored. It was, in spite of everything, the Summer season of Love.
Whereas requests for particular liberty can typically scale back a poor service member to a determined husk of a person, in 1967, it seems that the powers that be had been a bit extra forgiving — permitting for Anderson to take pleasure in shore go away in the suitable port throughout a very essential tide.
In touring the seven-plus hours from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the coal mining city of Layland, West Virginia, the sailor thwarted all would-be Jody’s within the space upon his arrival residence.
No phrase was available, nonetheless, on whether or not the pair’s weekend’s festivities produced the specified consequence.
Commentary Publish is the Navy Occasions one-stop store for all issues off-duty. Tales might replicate writer observations.
Claire Barrett is the Strategic Operations Editor for Sightline Media and a World Warfare II researcher with an unparalleled affinity for Sir Winston Churchill and Michigan soccer.
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