Barefooting Bulletin Board

My primary duty in the Coast Guard in 1978 was a boat coxswain (that's pronounced "COCKS un" for you lubbers!), Coxswains are the guys who drive the boats and we were trained in everything from little outboards to the big 44 foot motor life boats that could roll over and come up running and 65 foot Aids to Navigation boats. I was assigned to an Aids to Navigation Team on Galveston Island.

We cared for the lights and bouys in the Houston Ship Channel and the Intracoastal Waterway. Most of the light structures, especially along the ICW were set in coastal marshes. To reach them we would trailer a 17 foot Boston Whaler to a nearby ramp and launch the boat. This actually worked out pretty well for me and my dislike of wearing shoes.

We were required to wear steel toed "boondockers" a kind of low rise boot. I'd wear them around the base but my crews and I would usually take off our boots and socks as soon as we launched the boat, even in the winter.

Whenever we got a "new guy" it'd take him one trip into the marshes to figure out why we worked barefoot all day. The mud was knee deep and it would suck the boots right off of your feet. One guy tried waders and we had to "rescue" him.

We were so accustomed to working barefoot that we'd often forget. One day, we had to replace the dayboards on a 200 foot tall range tower in the Houston Ship channel. Range towers are open frame towers, they look like gigantic windmill towers but with a green light on top. We scrambled all over the outside of that tower barefoot as we unbolted the old dayboard, lowered it to the boat 200 feet below, and hoisted up the new one and bolted it into position.

What we forgot, is that the Coast Guard, even in to 1970's, had the entire ship channel on video cameras watched quite vigilantly by the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service. We worked pretty closely with VTS, as you might imagine, so we kind of spaced them off. They were pretty used to seeing us barefoot and we never heard anything from them.

Until this day.

Apparently, some Lifer called Group Galveston, where we were based and snitched us out. We didn't know anything about it, finished our work, and headed back down the channel.

Before we made it back to the ramp at Morgan's Point, VTS re-tasked us to investigate a report of a pleasure craft adrift in Galveston Bay.

We found the boat quickly, it was a really expensive Bertram, owned by a really rich and profoundly stupid man who knew nothing of boats. I sent my crew aboard, they took about twenty minutes to identify the problem with the fuel/water separator, fix it, and restart his engines.

The crew showed him how to fix it himself next time and we sent him on his way.

When we got back to Base, our Chief was waiting for us. He had just really gotten going in his usual tirade of obscenity questioning our ancestry, intellect, and sense, when the Group Commander, a real live four stripe Captain walked in.

He stopped by to thank us for the great job we'd done on the pleasure craft. The owner, it seems, called the Base when he docked and was quite effusive, even pointing out that we were so considerate that we'd taken off our work boots and worked barefoot so we wouldn't mar his fancy deck!

It really took the wind out of the Chief. He decided it was a wash. I decided to shut my mouth.

Kind of makes you long for the days of the giant three mast sailing ships. It would seem to me that being barefoot on a ship would be prefferred over any type of footwear. Although I can certainly see why the guys on "Deadliest Catch" would wear protective boots, as well as the guys working on carrier decks.

In the "Old Guard" -71-91 The Coast Guard was moderately barefoot friendly, basically what you could get away with. I was stationed in Okinawa at an isolated station that was away from the prying eyes of big brass. There were times I stood my night watches B/F, watched movies in the mess deck (when the CO wasn't around) and of course going to the beach which was just 100yds away.
The most paranoid/foot phobia station believe it or not was a cutter in Hawaii. Once some guest came aboard with sandals on and snagged her toe nail on some pokey thing that ships have everywhere and ripped it off. From then on the CO banned opened toed shoes onboard ship. What a drag this was. The only time we were allowed barefoot was during swim call or during crossing ceremonies (equator/180).

I found the Navy to be most paranoid about feet. I got booted out of the EM club on Long Beach because I was wearing sandals without socks! However ladies were allowed in with sandals without socks/stockings I pointed that out to the door guy who threaten to call the SP's on me if I didn't leave. In their eyes men's feet were unsanitary. It was a long time even before they would allow sandals/flips in Exchanges or Commisaries. I think a lot of wives/retirees complained so the ruling was relaxed later on.