i plan to include a sea story about dice games in officer’s clubs (and elseware) in these tales. There were two games we played almost exclusively, but i am old and have forgotten the name and the rules of one of those games. The one i remember is “ship, captain, and crew.” i also played “sheriff” with a bunch of factory men in a bar in Fall River when these guys had me drink a bunch of shots and i would choose to forget. i think we played the other game at the officer club bars much more frequently. If anyone recalls that game, i would appreciate you jogging my old man memory.

When we hit the weekend after the arduous (and that’s an understatement if there ever was one), we looked forward to our weekend liberty, or rather our one day of the weekend we had liberty because we were on port and starboard duty.

As limited as it was, we maxed out on escapism either Saturday or Sunday. There were numerous activities Morale Welfare and Recreation had created. Many of the officers and crew pursued those. i went to the officer’s pool but spent most of the time in the officer’s club bar. You see, they had a special drink. It was called the “añjeo goodie.” It featured Bacardi Añjeo Rum, some liqueurs, and a whole bunch of Caribbean fruit drinks. They were very tasty.

Paul George was the Hawkins’ CHENG, and a very good one. He also loved to play cribbage and gin rummy. So did i, and since we were in the same duty section during GTMO, we played a lot of both but played gin rummy a bit more in the wardroom. During one weekend when we had Saturday off and duty on Sunday, we went to the officer’s pool in the morning, and yes, we played gin rummy. We then went to the officer’s club for lunch, sat at the bar, and, of course, drank an añjeo goodie. While eating our sandwich and enjoying our drinks, we decided they were so good, we should have another. Somewhere between the first and third round, we somehow came up with a bet. We decided which one of us could drink the most añjeo goodies.

i’m not ever sure there was a sum to pay if we lost or if there was some prize. i don’t think so.

We began our contest in earnest. The orders slowed as we stayed there for dinner. After dinner, we had one more and decided to call it a draw. We both had consumed 13 añjeo goodies. A bit wobbly, i returned to the ship around 2100.

The next morning as we assumed the duty, CHENG revealed he had gone back to the pool and had two milkshakes before ending liberty. i declared him the winner because after 13 añjeo goodies, volume counted.