Publishing under a pseudonym, Kim Kipling's new book "Neptune's Asylum" is a collection of sea stories from his time in uniform with the U.S. Navy in the 1980s. The author (and friend of this writer) laments the passing of a different era in the Navy, a service he says is now overrun with political correctness.
While some things about military service never really change, reading Kipling's book is instructive in that we are in a very different world now.
Kipling wrote the book after friends of his, who had been hearing these stories for years no doubt, told him he should write these experiences. I'm glad he did because they are hilarious and instructive at the same time, especially for a landlubber former Army guy like myself who knows little about Navy procedures and traditions.
The sea stories range from the author's time on tour with a nuclear submarine to being the captain of a hydrofoil in the Caribbean. While on the submarine the captain of the boat played a bit of a prank/teaching point on his men by simulating an underwater collision. The crew nearly panicked, but he got his point across... working on subs is serious business for serious people. Slackers need not apply.
In another sea story, Kipling recounts the time he was the captain of a Pegasus-class Guides Missile Hydrofoil conducting a counter-narcotics mission in the Caribbean. In the middle of the night, an anchor breaks loose and slashes open the ship's fuel reserve. Leaking fuel, and leaking salt water into the fuel tank, the crew has to get creative if they are to make it to Panama for repairs.
Eventually, they make it, and the Navy fixes their ship and gets them out of there just before Operation Just Cause kicks off and paratroopers jump into the country to remove Panamanian dictotor Manuel Noriega from power.
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Other stories are irreverent, funny, and a few are horrifying. A tow line nearly kills a crew member, Kipling gets an unintentional buzz cut, an abusive commanding officer wreaks havoc on crew morale, and the boys have some fun when they find out one of their teammates is deathly afraid of ghosts.
As much as Kipling loved the Navy, his problems with the service's hierarchy limited his prospects of career advancement, as he concedes himself. He went on to serve a long career in the CIA instead. His other recent book is a biographical piece on his friend and mentor, legendary CIA paramilitary officer Jan “Dutch” Wierenga.
Both books are worth a read for different reasons, but "Neptune's Asylum" is sure to evoke a lot of nostalgia for the old salts out there who once stood watch on the decks of America's Navy.
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