Using the Word "On" a Bit Too Freely

An AE3 and an AT3 had to apply external power to an aircraft. The AT3 was stationed at the power station, in charge of the on-off switch. Several tries later, nary a volt had arrived at the aircraft. The AE3 walked to the power station and asked the AT3 if the power-on light came on when he pressed the button. The AT3 said it did. The AE3 then said "hold on" and walked back to the aircraft.

At this point in the proceedings, the word "on" was perhaps being bandied about a bit too freely, what with "power on" and "came on" and "hold on." Be that as it may, the AE3 thought the power was off. As he was inspecting the plug, "Brrrzzzaaappp!" 115 of those heretofore elusive volts suddenly applied themselves to his finger. He had touched a contact that was sticking out past its cover, and the AT3, who said he'd never heard "hold on," had left the power on.

Just a minor jolt on the "Brrrzzzaaappp!" continuum, which starts with a minor twinge and a mild epithet, and progresses all the way up to the victim's hair standing on end without the benefit of styling gel, and the major body muscles doing a combination of break-dancing and the funky chicken. But as they say in electricity circles, the potential was there. [May 2003]

You Don't Even Have to Touch--Just Point

Regular readers of the message traffic get daily proof of the persistence and variety of electric shocks aboard ship. The usual causes: frayed wires, chafed insulation, broken contacts, erroneous or missing labels, shoddy tagouts, poor training, and ham-handed yroubleshooting. These things combine to produce a spectacular range of jolts and twinges for our shipboard sailors. Usually someone has a hand or a finger in the wrong place at the wrong time, namely when a little stray voltage is flowing around looking for that good old path to ground.

It isn't haphazardly looking, it is seriously, persistently, creatively looking. And what's scary is that you don't even have to touch anything, as an AT2 discovered on a flight deck. He was troubleshooting a gripe on an E-2C's radar-operator station. He noticed a broken contact in the electrical harness of the main power supply. So far, so good. In order to show his assistant that he'd found the problem, he pointed to it, carefully keeping his finger at least an inch away. Nevertheless, zap! Electricity arced to his outstretched digit. [May 2003]

Bright Idea Plus Overconfidence Equals Booby-Trap

Aboard a submarine, a proactive EM2 came across a beheaded extension cord. He found a spare plug and then merrily connected the black (hot) wire to the ground prong, and the green (ground) wire to the hot prong (y'know, I could have done that and I was an English major). He then attached an electric-safety tag, neglecting to run the PMS for checking extension cords. Safety tag looked good, though, very official and reassuring. Would fool anyone.

Not a day passed before an MM2 tried to use the extension cord while calibrating a temperature gauge. He checked the bogus safety tag on the extension cord and the authentic safety tag on the gauge. Both gave him equal amounts of confidence. He powered up the calibration unit while resting his other hand on a bulkhead. April fools! Instead of the usual data, he got a functional check of the grounding capabilities of his body (he passed).

Just a minor shock, but a great reminder of two simple equations that apply to everyone. First, initiative plus knowledge equals kudo. However, bright idea plus overconfidence equals booby-trap. [April 2003]

Persistence Rewarded With a Stunning Jolt

"I told you so," chapter gazillion. Although an MS3 had been told not to open the control cabinet on a gaylord ventilator, and although a warning label was clearly posted, he knuckled down, gritted his teeth, hauled up his slacks and did it anyway. For his persistence, he was rewarded with a stunning jolt of electricity from the live circuits therein. The shock knocked him out. [March 2003]

A Major Case of the Wibble-Wobbles

Voice-over: "A junior sailor is replacing a screw in the cover plate of a 440-volt, 400hz power panel."

Video: around the globe, regular readers of this message reach for grounding straps and make sure they're standing on rubber floormats.

Close-up: the screw augurs its way through the insulation on a cable right behind the lip of the panel. This is the part I like--the report says the insulation was already damaged but had been "repaired" by a single wrap of electrical tape. Apparently, someone had used the original screw to liven up one of the ship's FOD walkdowns, and the replacement screw was too long. Of course, you couldn't tell it was too long once you put the cover plate back on. That is, you couldn't tell until a jolt of electricity gave you a major case of the wibble-wobbles.

So they blanked off that particular screw hole, and they got some shorter screws. Both preferable to perpetuating the booby-trap.

Next time you're tempted to "repair" something with a single layer of electrical tape, ask yourself how the damage got there in the first place.

At least use duct tape. Just kidding. [January 2003]

Sometimes Unwitting, Sometime Witless

Note: sound-effects quiz to follow.

Scenario 1: an STS3 descending a ladder in a sonar-dome access trunk, holding an energized light cord in one hand. He slips off the ladder near the bottom and touches a damp bulkhead with his other hand.

Scenario 2: a food service attendant heading out to the weather deck on a smoke break. He leans against a cracked electrical cable on a bulkhead.

Scenario 3: a DC3 on a destroyer removes the cover of a sound-powered telephone amplifier. He points into it and touches a wire.

OK, time for the sound effects. All together now: "Z-z-z-zap!" Extra credit for visual effects such as hair standing on end and muscles twitching.

Here are some of the other things sailors were doing recently when they got jolted: fixing a joiner, testing a bridge suitcase, securing power to a temporary security light, calibrating a pressure switch, troubleshooting a motor controller, removing a broken light bulb, closing a fuse panel, disconnecting an arc welder, et cetera (Zap! Yikes!), et cetera (Zap! Ow!). I don't list these as examples of particularly dangerous tasks, you understand, just to show that shipboard electrician's mates are never going to lack for gainful employment.

Sometimes the victim is unwitting. Sometimes, as in scenario three above, witless (a supervisor had just told him not to take off the cover). On a destroyer recently, an FN was watching another sailor arc-welding a shelf in a workshop. The FN noticed that the welder didn't have a proper ground. The FN first told the welder to stop and shift the ground, then he tried to move it himself, just as the welder struck the arc and delivered to the FN a one-second blast of the good old 440v. The FN wasn't wearing gloves and knew better, but the electricity didn't seem to care. [December 2002]

Is This a Barber Chair, or a 'Lectric Chair?

A PFC walked into the troop barber shop aboard one of our finest gator freighters, plopped down in the chair looking for a high and tight but, when the barber pressed the clippers to his neck, took 115 volts in the back of his skull instead.

The Marine vaulted out of the chair, spun around so fast that cloth pinned around his neck flared like a ballerina's skirt and was about to scream something like, "Dude, is this a barber chair, or a 'lectric chair?!" but he fainted instead.

The barber looked at the unconscious Marine, looked down at his clippers, looked back at the Marine, turned, unplugged the clippers, and put them aside as he dialed the OOD and called "man down" in the troop barber shop!

A crimped wire and frayed insulation were tagged as the culprits in this little drama along with an ignorance of the afloat electrical safety program among the embarked Marines that was both broad and deep. [October 2001]

Poking a Wrench Into a Mysterious Bundle of Wires

By the time a kid makes second class, one expects an occasional glimmering, however dim, of maturity and safety awareness. Sadly, however, one is often disappointed.

Take for instance, this report of a second class who, while stringing a new cable run, got knocked on his can when he used the handle of his socket wrench to poke a hole in a wire bundle running through the packing of a bulkhead terminal.

Can't fault his methodology--it worked good; made a fine hole.

What you can fault--what you must fault--is his risk management technique. This guy never bothered to take the first step in the process. He never assessed the risk by asking himself, "What's the worst thing that could happen to me if I take this metal socket wrench in my sweaty hand and poke it into that mysterious bundle of wires?" Had he done so, one of the answers he was sure to have come up with would have been, "I could die!" That would have been enough right there to make me stop and think, "Is this dumb, or what?" and surely the answer to that would have been, "It's not just dumb, bozo, it's stupid! Go get an electrician. They get paid for getting shocked." [October 1999]

Just One More Electro/Pyrotechnic Booby Trap

I've pretty much convinced myself that if I ever have to go mess cooking again, I won't set foot in a shipboard galley until somebody issues me a head-to-toe non-conducting rubber suit.

Two or three times a month, we get word here of sailors getting knocked on their cans in the galley from electric shocks. The latest incident involved a Saint Patrick's Day surprise for an MS3 who was trying to empty the grease from the drip pan of an electric griddle. When the pan rubbed against the heating element underneath, it set off a shower of sparks and smoke and popping reminiscent of scenes from the "travelling executioner"--lit up the galley real good and put the petty officer on the deck.

He's OK, and they fixed the problem with the grill, but there must be a thousand other electro/pyrotechnic booby traps in a hundred other galleys out there just waiting to go off and fry some unsuspecting messcook. If you're one, be careful. If you're their boss, watch out for your people. Cause that's your job, you know? [April 1998]

Trailing Burbles of Steam From His Ears

Reaching through the darkness in the catwalk for his headset and his sound-powered phone, this airman inadvertently grabbed hold of an uncapped 440-volt electric outlet. As soon as he touched it, he couldn't let go. The shock was so intense it curled his fingers tightly around the receptacle, and he couldn't will them to open. He didn't lose consciousness though, and that's a good thing, because he was finally able to grab his right hand with his left, pull himself free, and save his own life.

The only one I've ever heard worse than that was this story of an electronics tech who was taking a voltage check on a high-powered transceiver. As the ship wallowed through heavy seas, the petty officer put his (unoccupied and ungloved) hand on the metal cabinetry to steady himself against the rolling motion of the waves and inadvertently made himself as one with the 440-volt circuitry in the ship's number two HF transmitter.

Stood his hair right up on end, it did. Bulged his eyes waaay out! You see, unlike our hero in the first story who had only one hand stuck to a hot 440 volt circuit, this guy had both his hands welded, locked, clamped, immobilized inside the high voltage section of this very powerful radio transmitter. He was handcuffed in there and the electrons were running rampant: in one hand, up that arm, across his chest, down the other arm, and out through the other hand. He couldn't get away! He tried leaning back from the cabinet, he tried yanking one hand away at a time, both hands... Nothing worked. Finally, as his consciousness began to fade and the lights in the space were starting to flicker and dim like those in a death-house scene of an old gangster movie, he managed to get one boot up onto the cabinetry and kick himself free.

He staggered to sickbay under his own power; trailing burbles of steam from his ears and spirals of smoke from his hair in his wake as he went.

And here's another. A solitary fireman was totally engrossed in cleaning up the spaces in the aux machinery room when he felt a jolt in his right butt-ox which ran down his leg and into his foot. Spinning rapidly around and finding himself still alone, he checked further and noticed a wispy trail of smoke which, when traced to its source, led him to a dime-sized hole burned in the seat of his britches. Looking a little further revealed a similar hole in his skivvies and a reddish discoloration of the skin on his cheek where the current from a bare wire he'd backed into entered on its journey down his leg into his foot and out through the bottom of his shoe. [June 1998]

A Live Wire in the Pool--Literally

A seaman decided that a dip in the motel pool would be the perfect way to end a great day of liberty.

So, kersplash! In he goes.

And he's strokin' around in there having a grand time until he manages somehow to suck about half a gallon of chlorine-rich pool water into his lungs. Well ... A goodly amount of coughing and hacking ensues, but nothing much seems to be getting better. By now, the kid is getting a little disoriented and a little scared too, if the truth were known, and he's floundering. So he starts making for the side of the pool--planning to grab the scupper and hold on there until he can draw a clear breath.

Unnnnnnfortunately, when he finally got there and made a swipe at the ladder, he missed and came up, instead, with a hand full of (are you ready for this?) a live electric wire!

Brrrzzzaaappp! He's instantly out cold. And he settles to the bottom of the pool, beloved, with a (no kidding) death grip on that wire which is still pumping 115 volts of brain-numbing alternating current into his already unconscious body.

Luckily, a shipmate sees what's happening, and dives in to rescue the seaman. But wait! (I'm starting to sound like Howard Cosell here.) He can't get near the kid cause the water all around him is being charged by the electricity and the rescuer is forced to back off.

What to do? He's underwater so you can't knock him free of the wire ... The water all around him is so charged up that if you jump in there you'll be unconscious too ... You can't find the power source for the cable ... There's only one thing left to do: the shipmate reaches into the water, grabs the cable and uses it to pull his pal (who couldn't let go if he wanted to) out of the pool. Why he didn't get zapped is beyond me. But he didn't and that's good because, when he finally hauled his pal out of the pool, the seaman was bluer than Papa Smurf.

Some unconventional CPR started him breathing again and a fast ambulance ride got him to portsmouth where they set him well on his way to a full recovery.

Holy cow! Great job on the part of a very alert, very determined shipmate. You saved his life, my friend, well done! [August 1997]

Another Painful Assumption That the Power Had Been Turned Off

Do you know what happens when you send a sailor up to the roof of an aircraft carrier in the middle of flight ops and give him just twenty minutes to finish a complex repair on an F-14 wiring problem? Sure you do. He gets the job done.

Problem is, given that scenario, with those constraints and the pressure you, as his supervisor, put on him to get finished in time for the next launch, your average, mark-one, mod-zero, North American blue jacket isn't going to insist on a whole lot of safety niceties while he does his thing.

So, as you might expect, our sailor hopped up on the wing of his aircraft--he didn't hang a danger tag, he didn't disconnect electrical power (cause you made it important that he finish quickly, didn't you?)--he called to his buddy to flip the switch in the cockpit to turn off the power; then, with no time to waste confirming that his buddy had done as he asked, he grabbed the appropriate wires, snipped through them with his dikes, and the trap was sprung. Bzzzzt! 115 volts--at 400 cycles per--coursed into his hand, raced up his arm, zipped across his chest and exited through his knee bone back into the aircraft whence they came.

You know, the wonderful thing about these extraordinary human beings we call sailors is--regardless of the obstacles they may encounter along the way--they will do what ever it takes to get a job done. You and I, as supervisors and leaders, need to keep that in mind lest we engender a false sense of urgency into routine tasks. Nothing we will ever do in peace time is worth the risk of one sailor's life--nothing. And don't let anybody tell you different.

Oh, by the way, they missed the launch. [April 1997]

430 Fully-Functioning Volts of Hair-Straightening Excitement

Our max-volts award this week goes to the fireman who was pulling on what he presumed to be a cold dead-end cable and was shocked to discover that the one he was yanking on still carried 430 fully-functioning volts of hair-straightening excitement.

We've been through all this before, remember? When you have to mess with dead-end cables, get a certified electrician to test each cable before you do. He'll probably have one of those multi-meter things, but the real test is to watch his eyes. If his eyes don't light up, you're safe. Make him convince you its cold. They get paid to do that. [January 1997]

Rules? Naw, We're in a Hurry

It never fails. The ship was right in the middle of ECC drills when a no-kidding fire broke out in one of the air conditioners in sick bay. But ... no biggie. As soon as power was secured, the fire went out and the chief sent a couple of junior electricians to tag out the unit, then turned to a second class petty officer and told him to start trouble shooting it as soon as they were finished.

Now if the petty officer had done what he'd been told, I'd be searching for some other story to tell you. But he didn't, did he? Nope. Here's another one of those guys who just can't be bothered with all the those irritating little nuances involved in following the rules.

Just couldn't wait, you know? So he's already elbow-deep into his trouble-shooting routine on the air conditioning unit when those two youngsters finally finish their tag-out. But, as they're closing the door on the circuit breaker panel, one turns to the other and says, "Wait a minute. Let me check one more thing before we button this up." And he reaches in there, real conscientious-like beloved, and cycles the 440-volt breaker he had just tagged out.

Trying to make sure, you see.

Lit that second class up real good.

"Tooooweeeeeoooooooweeeeet! Now hear this. Now hear this. There will be an all hands electrical safety stand-down on the fantail commencing immediately. All personnel not actually on watch lay to the fantail on the double. That is all." [November 1996]

When Is "Mild" Not All That Mild?

The report said the petty officer received a "mild" electric shock when he bridged the gap in a 440-volt Detroit switch with his sweaty, unprotected fingers. And, while I know it ain't the volts--it's the amps--what kills you, when help arrived, they found this mildly shocked youngster slumped against the piping, shaking violently and barely able to breathe. They had to carry him to sick bay.

Using that concept of "mild" electric shock as the benchmark, one could extrapolate a "moderate" jolt, then, is what serial killers get once they're strapped down good and tight in old sparky, and a "severe" charge would light up the night sky like James Arness in his final, climactic scene as the outerspace broccoli-with-an-attitude in that sci-fi classic, "The Thing." [November 1996]

"Electric" and "Submersible"--Hmm

I'm having a tough time convincing myself that I need to buy one of those high-pressure, house-car-driveway washing machines I see advertised on the telly. I mean, I think that if I ever found myself standing barefoot in the wet grass holding a metal wand in my hand while peeling paint off the side of my house with one of these things, and I looked down to see the machine that's giving me all these psi's had an extension cord (i.e., electricity) going in one end and a garden hose (i.e., water--an especially fine conductor) going in the other, I'd figure out some reason to be almost anywhere else.

Which is the same kind of dilemma faced by this third class who was up on the jungledeck trying her best, but getting nowhere, with her attempt to op-test a 450-volt electric submersible pump--the very name of which sends a chill. Frustrated, she unplugged the pump, dragged it out of the water, and began to tear into it again just as a second class came on the scene armed with a similar tasker for another pump nearby.

Like her, he must have really been disappointed when he plugged in his pump and nothing happened. To his pump, I mean. Cause there was lots of stuff happening where she was--all of it driven by 450 volts of pure excitement--seeing's how the pump he plugged in wasn't his at all. It was hers. [September 1996]

Wet Finger, Jam Into Light-Bulb Socket

At great personal risk of being labeled anti-electricity and a dupe of the candle and kerosene cartels, I share with you the following shocking stories. But first, a test.

Do this: Stick your finger in your mouth. Get it real good and wet. Now. Jam it into an open light-bulb socket, turn on the switch and count backwards from a hundred until your hair spontaneously combusts.

Noooo? Don't want to do that? Whassa matta you? Chicken?

Well, I don't blame you. That's really a dumb thing to do. So, riddle me this. Why do you suppose more than twenty-five of our shipmates have managed to nearly kill themselves by doing only slightly less dilbert-y things in just the past couple of months? Do you think they wake up all happy and chirpy and looking forward to continuing the adventure then say to themselves, "Whoa, dude! This day is so beautiful I think I'd like to electrocute myself before secure this afternoon."

If you answered, "I don't think so, Tim," you passed. But we still haven't figured out why:

• An FC3 would disregard common sense and the MRC deck and hold onto a metal door with a bare hand while he stuck his other (ungloved) hand into a hot high-voltage radar power supply.

• A watch stander would pull the front off a space heater is such a way that the cover ended up resting on the heating coils' electrical terminals. But not for long! The current surged up his arm, through his chest and down his other arm to the metal desk he was holding on to. His uncontrolled spasms knocked his hand off the cover and saved his life.

• Half a dozen people would ignore the most basic safety considerations while handling welding leads and get knocked on their buttisimos as a reward.

• A bare-handed ATAN would use a screwdriver to discharge a high voltage capacitor in an aircraft's radar transmitter.

• A jaygee would have to get shocked twice by a faulty microphone before he came to the vague realization that there was something wrong with it.

• A second class OS would try to dig a broken piece of china marker out of the input keypad on his console with the metal clip off a ball point pen. And keep digging and digging until his eyes lit up.

• An electrician's mate would be surprised to get knocked on his can right after he grabbed a flooded-out weather light on the boat deck.

• An OS2 would be so naive as to try to stuff a bunch of protruding wires back into a junction box without first checking with an electrician. The shock knocked him to his knees.

Had enough? I could go on and on but you get the idea: electricity doesn't kill people, people kill people and, almost invariably, those people are people who are stupid about electricity kill, are themselves.

And I know why that is--they're convinced, beyond the shadow of a doubt, it can't happen to them. Now personally, every time I get to feelin' like that, sort of invincible--like nothing bad could ever happen to such a neat guy as me--I recall the last words of General John Sedgwick, who said, as he watched the rebs and his yankee troops skirmish in the distance around the Spotyslvania Courthouse, "Don't worry none. They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist--." [August 1996]

One More Thing Not to Use Needle-nose Pliers For

A QMSN was op-testing the navigation lights for his ship. He noticed the forward mast light was not working so he went to investigate. After removing the cover to the light, he found a broken bulb. Without tagging out or securing the power to the light, this novice electrician' mate tried to remove the old bulb using (honest to Pete) a pair of needle-nose pliers. Brffzzzzt! Foon! [November 1995]

It Always Helps If You Tag Out the Things You're Working On, not Something Else Nearby

A civilian contractor was using wire strippers to trim cable ties after installing a fan motor and managed, somehow, to cut through two adjacent wires in the process. Foon! The ensuing fireball cooked his hands and arms. An EM3 couldn't be bothered with wearing electrical gloves while he checked an energized power panel that had been sprayed with salt water. So, when he closed one of the power-panel breakers, he got zapped. Inadvertently, standing on electrical matting saved his life. An ICFN was sent to the #1 shaft alley to disconnect a power monitor he'd been told was tagged out. When he removed the leads, he was (ummm ...) shocked to discover that they'd tagged out the power monitor alright, in the #4 shaft alley. Close, to be sure--only 3 shaft alleys off--but not nearly close enough for government work. An FN was using a stilson wrench to hold a water pipe in place as he repaired a leak with an arc welder. No PPE, no LPO, just one overly enthusiastic, unprotected, unsupervised striker, a welder, a wrench, a little water to insure a proper ground, and 440 volts of unbridled excitement. Lit his young self up for ten or eleven seconds before the spirit moved him sufficiently to break free and crawl down to sick bay. An EM2 was supposed to repair the dishwasher in the scullery so he very carefully tagged out the hot-water heater (no ... you read that right) before he began poking around in the dishwasher's electrical innards with his bare finger. Doh! Imagine Homer Simpson doing the funky chicken in fast-forward. [October 1995]

Have Mishap, Then Hold Training-Yeah, That Makes Sense

An EM2 was installing a new flood light on the upper portion of a bulkhead on the fantail quarterdeck. Believing that the 117-volt line for the light was tagged out and de-energized, he tested the line using both leads with a multimeter. Since the line had two leads that both carry 117 volts, the multimeter indicated no volts, which further convinced the EM2 that the line was tagged out. He soon found out that the assume word made one of him when he touched the exposed line. After doctors did an EKG and found no damage, he realized that he failed to test the line to ground, which would have indicated the line was live. Who turns these people loose with live electricity without making sure they know what they are doing? Every time we get a mishap report like this one, it always ends with a statement that a training session was held after the mishap. What's wrong with before? [October 1995]

Another Improper Dead-End Almost Leads to a Real Dead-End

An ICFN was pulling sound-powered phone cable through a stateroom when he decided to remove what he thought was a pipe from a stuffing tube. It was actually an improperly dead-ended 1,000-volt electrical cable. Cha-ching! He burned his hand on the cable and received an electrical shock. He wasn't wearing rubber gloves. But, while it's easy to sit here and pontificate that this is what caused this sailor to get hurt, the real culprit in this scenario is the clown who left the cable improperly dead ended. Let's not set up our shipmates. Take care of your end of the job so you won't injure somebody else. [September 1995]

Even Precautions Create Hazards

Remember the classic headline, "Man Bites Dog"? Here's the Navy version: "Electrical Safety Tag Causes Electrical Shock." While plugging in a shop vacuum, an MM1 didn't notice the string for the electrical safety tag was dirty, wet and wrapped around the prongs of the plug. He grasped the plug (and the string), plugged it into the outlet and felt a major tingle. [April 1995]

One More Way in Which a Power Cable Isn't Like a Handle

Another fireman walks off with the coveted Rocket Scientist of the Week Award. This week's wiener was using a submersible pump to suck the water out of a flooded storeroom. When he was finished, without unplugging it, he gave a mighty tug on the pump's electrical cable which did three things simultaneously. First, it immediately catapulted him into the finals of this week's competition. Secondly, it left the pump sitting exactly where it was and, thirdly, it left the fireman standing in two inches of salt water with a white-knuckled grip on a live wire whose bare ends were shooting blue arcs to a nearby bulkhead. Suddenly our hero was struck with an irresistible urge to dance. Something of a terpsichorean cross between happy feet and the audition scene from "Flashdance"--but at like, 78 rpm. He finished that routine, and his break-dancing retrospective, and was about to transition into the Electric Slide when a passing shipmate noticed the little spiroids of smoke emanating from his hair and yanked the cord out of the wall, turning this spine-tingling, high-amperage performance into one that was, happily, unplugged. [February 1995]

Something Like A Real Fast Moon Walk

The EW1 was replacing a circuit card on a SLQ-32 display panel that had lost power earlier in the week. He set the panel on a metal cover and noticed a loose connection. After he replaced the card, he decided he'd be a good guy and fix the loose connection while he was there. With one arm resting on the metal cover he reached for the card and brushed against a fully charged, 500-volt capacitor. Ba-da bing! He woke up sitting on his keister across the room (seems you get a whole lot of involuntary movement out of five hundred volts--something like a real fast moon walk). Anyway, two of his buddies picked him up, slapped him back to consciousness and dragged him off to sick bay. Down in medical they traced the path of the current which had traveled up his left arm, through his chest, through his heart, then down his right arm where it exited back into the metal cover. Even though he reported a tightness in his chest, blurry vision and numbness in his hands, his heart beat registered normal when they hooked him up to an EKG. Kinda makes you wonder what this guy's heart rate might have been before he got zapped. After several hours, they sent him back to work. But now he has an additional assignment--he's the division electrical-safety training petty officer educating his compadres on why it's important to use a shorting probe, how to identify charged electrical components, and what not to do when working on energized equipment. Just one question: where was this guy's chief? Where's his division officer? Where's the khaki? [February 1995]

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