How can they walk with balls that large? My family is sick of me watching that stuff, but that has got to be the most uncommon collection of determined men outside of the military.

When I was Oil King I had about 38 hrs of straight duty when we were refueling a flotilla of Spanish minesweepers in stormy weather. There could be no "oopsie!" There was only one way to do it right, safely and in a timely manner. I had to transfer 100K fuel to several small vessels while maintaining trim and maintaining fuel and water quality for our own propulsion. During the last few hours I was so tired I was freaking hallucinating in moments when I didn't have an immediate responsibility. Times like that are when you learn what the term, "shipmate" means. My shipmates took care of me so I could do my duty.

That is what I saw when that one guy went overboard. His shipmates did their duty for the newbie despite everything thrown at them. Those are the admirable qualities that any man or woman can call upon, if they have the courage. We see it most often under times of extreme duress. it is an addiction of a sort. A good sort, mostly.

B