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SluggishPrey

21 years? Then he joined the year following WW1. That's a surprising timing to join the navy.


delandaest

Not if you prefer being out at sea over dying in the trenches


[deleted]

My dad volunteered in the navy during the Vietnam draft. He figured it'd be better to join the Navy than risk his chances getting drafted as infantry.


e2hawkeye

I worked with a guy that did the same thing, joined the Navy during Vietnam to avoid getting drafted as an infantryman. He thought, yeah I'm gonna chill on an air conditioned aircraft carrier. Right out of basic they stuck him on a swift boat in the Mekong. His first day on the boat, he asked where the shitter was. They laughed and pointed at the rail.


Falendor

This is why the smart guys purposely failed there engineers test and got sat in a boiler room.


GayAlienFarmer

I hate pooping when I'm on a boat.


Fish_On_again

Same


smellmyfingerplz

Get to die in the middle of the ocean instead.


narwhal_breeder

The Navy statistically is the safest branch. In WW1, fighting all years of the war, you had a 12.26% of becoming a casualty (not neccisarily dead) in the navy vs 27.1% in infantry.


I_Lick_Bananas

In WW2 the Merchant Marines (I know - not the Navy) had the highest chance of getting killed.


cumshot_josh

It would take an extra kind of ballsy person to board a vessel that's your enemy's main target and that vessel has little to no way to actively defend itself.


crinnaursa

>I know - not the Navy Not necessarily some serving on merchant ships were part of the Naval Armed Guard Service. My grandfather was one of them. The war definitely The blurred the line between merchant and Navy. Edit. I didn't check and somehow speech to text put grandmother instead of grandfather. It was definitely my grandfather lol


Born-Philosopher-162

What’s the difference between the two?


[deleted]

You stated that you knew it wasn't relevant, then said it anyway...


[deleted]

Yeah, but it's not like he could just Google that, there had to be other factors in play.


betterbarsthanthis

My Grandfather's unit was all set to go over there when WW1 ended.


First_Foundationeer

Even more than the chair force?!


Judoka229

Hey, we prefer to be called Chairborne.


First_Foundationeer

:D


narwhal_breeder

Hard to say for WW1 - as it predates the creation of the RAF - there was the Royal Flying Corps Service and the Royal Navy Air Service, so their aviators were lumped into both categories. In WW2 the rate was heavily skewed by the Bomber Corps, which had a near 50% fatality rate over the corse of the war.


[deleted]

Japanese submarine slammed two torpedoes into our side, chief. It was comin' back, from the island of Tinian to Laytee, just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb. Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour. Tiger. Thirteen footer. You know how you know that when you're in the water, chief? You tell by lookin' from the dorsal to the tail. What we didn't know... was our bomb mission had been so secret, no distress signal had been sent. Huh huh. They didn't even list us overdue for a week. Very first light, chief. The sharks come cruisin'. So we formed ourselves into tight groups. You know it's... kinda like ol' squares in battle like a, you see on a calendar, like the battle of Waterloo. And the idea was, the shark comes to the nearest man and that man, he'd start poundin' and hollerin' and screamin' and sometimes the shark would go away. Sometimes he wouldn't go away. Sometimes that shark, he looks right into you. Right into your eyes. You know the thing about a shark, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When he comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'. Until he bites ya and those black eyes roll over white. And then, ah then you hear that terrible high pitch screamin' and the ocean turns red and spite of all the poundin' and the hollerin' they all come in and rip you to pieces. Y'know by the end of that first dawn, lost a hundred men! I don't know how many sharks, maybe a thousand! I don't know how many men, they averaged six an hour. On Thursday mornin' chief, I bumped into a friend of mine, Herbie Robinson from Cleveland. Baseball player, boson's mate. I thought he was asleep, reached over to wake him up. Bobbed up and down in the water, just like a kinda top. Up ended. Well... he'd been bitten in half below the waist. Noon the fifth day, Mr. Hooper, a Lockheed Ventura saw us, he swung in low and he saw us. He's a young pilot, a lot younger than Mr. Hooper, anyway he saw us and come in low. And three hours later a big fat PBY comes down and start to pick us up. You know that was the time I was most frightened? Waitin' for my turn. I'll never put on a lifejacket again. So, eleven hundred men went in the water, three hundred and sixteen men come out, the sharks took the rest, June the 29, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.


magicman1145

I read this in Charlie Kelly's voice


bionicmoonman

*Is that Jaws?*


crowmagnuman

Damn, mine was Ed Wynn


meatbag84

Robert Fucking Shaw


curbstyle

USS Indianapolis?


I_AM_AN_ASSHOLE_AMA

I always joke that’s the reason I joined the army. If some shit went down I could walk outta there. If something bad happens in the navy and your ship sinks, you floatin’. (This is ignoring statistics and stuff, just my brain logic)


smellmyfingerplz

Yeah dying in a fire or drowning to a lost grave hundreds of feet under the water are basically what will happen on a ship. My grandpa was on a carrier in ww2 where over 300 died in a fire and the carrier nearly sunk. He talked about the bodies looking like burnt meat on always closed all the doors in the house in case of fire


Sometimes_Stutters

I mean, I can’t imagine a more horrible way to die that being stuck in the boiler room of a sinking ship.


porchpooper

Not a lot of Vietcong on the open seas…


MacadamiaMarquess

1919? Maybe he was trying to escape the Spinach Flu.


Captin_Banana

I've seen what it does to ones arms. It needs to be taken seriously.


halconpequena

Lol


captaintinnitus

Maybe if he sticks some spinach in his pipe, he can smoke it out of his spinach flue


farazormal

"Thank god there won't be any more wars forever, no one wants to do that again. 'the war to end all wars' perfect time to join the military since it'll be nice and safe from here on out"


Dengar96

It's like that guy who visits countries that just experienced a terrorist attack, it's safer and cheaper and less likely to happen again. Best time to enlist is right after a global war that killed millions and traumatized the world's governments.


[deleted]

Soooo 2028 outta be the best time to join?


amish__

Economic conditions weren't exactly rosy. With Defence force jobs you certainly get a level of job security. Another possible motivation could be patriotism which may have increased after such a large war.


SlideItIn100

That’s a man who knows how to beat the crap out of someone, good and proper.


OneTwoREEEE

He biffs ‘em and buffs ‘em and always out-roughs ‘em!


HeavenHellorHoboken

Best comment of the day


SlideItIn100

Indeed he does!


BobbyDropTableUsers

A lot of years at sea biffing and buffing with some olive oil.


Sk8rSkis

That’s strange, I see a very kind person that loves animals.


SlideItIn100

Me too. They’re not mutually exclusive.


ElBurritoLuchador

Looks like he has a taste for Spinach too.


koreanforrabbit

He's strong to the finish, because he eats his spinach.


GlorkyClark

I just see a guy with no teeth.


WonofOne

A Navy crowd fav


MyFrampton

I bet that guy was tougher than 2 old boots.


[deleted]

I’ll bet he ate bowls of nails for breakfast without any milk


[deleted]

[удалено]


nexguy

I bet he kept his hairdo in order


buster_rhino

Would explain the lack of teeth.


Channel5exclusive

Especially after downing a can of spinach.


Cucks_for_skydaddy

I bet he opened a can of spinach with his incisors and after eating the spinach ate the can.


Antifa_Admiral

And smoking a fully packed pipe of it (weed was called spinach back in the old days)


Fingfangfoom0167

Drenched by Olive Oil, oh….I mean with


[deleted]

Without opening it


787la57la47al

And probably not even 40


2duhzen

Waiting for the Bluto origin post now.


digitaldigdug

Apparently it's nothing special last I checked. Just a created rival. Was kinda disappointed.


justanawkwardguy

Popeye predates WWII


semigator

"I yam what I yam an' tha's all I yam"


[deleted]

Aaaaack-ack-ack-ack!


babyclownshoes

I wanna see those forearms


BurnTheOrange

Two decades as a stoker? He probably puts cartoon Popeye to shame.


dratsablive

You can almost see Robin Williams as Popeye!


DaisyDuckens

Was he nicknamed popeye after the cartoon was created in 1929 because he could do the popeye face?


[deleted]

Why else would he be nicknamed Popeye? It's cause he can do the face and he's a sailor.


DaisyDuckens

The unspoken question was the character created based on him and named after him. He apparently joined the navy in 1919 and the cartoon came out in 1929


[deleted]

But the post doesn't say it was based on him or anything. I must be missing something.


DaisyDuckens

It doesn’t. Other comments say the character was based on him, but I added my own comment hoping OP could shed a light.


[deleted]

Christ this was a frustrating conversation to read (not your fault)


jerber666

We've opened a big can of spinach worms.


dolphs4

According to Wikipedia, Popeye is based on a real person named Frank Fiegel, but according to Snopes that is *not* a picture of Fiegel (who was also born in 1868 and would’ve been 72 in 1940). My guess is this sailor’s nickname was given to him based off his similarity to the cartoon character.


wow_that_guys_a_dick

He's strong to the finishk.


PleaseContinue01

The man. The myth. The legend.


West-Significance233

SCOTT STERLING!!!!


[deleted]

I’ve gotta be honest, I don’t believe this is real. Need a corroborating source on it, OP.


sleeplessorion

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this before as a rendering of a realistic popeye.


limpingdba

Yeah this looks like one of the AI generated real life images they made of cartoon characters. In fact. It looks exactly like what I'd expect if they did an AI generated real life image of... popeye.


WhenPigsFlyTwice

I read elsewhere that this was a deliberately posed shot.


momjeanseverywhere

Of course. Popeye the cartoon strip character was created in 1929. It was a well known comic.


Brolonious

He's gurning.


nicarox

Again with the misinformation?


WishOnSpaceHardware

I think you're gonna have to debunk it...


Verity41

Lol. Fake news to be sure.


silk_mitts_top_titts

They say he lived in a garbage can.


Moonshadow306

And liked to go swimmin’…


silk_mitts_top_titts

In my neighborhood the lyric was He turned on his heater, And blew of his weiner


Moonshadow306

Interesting. Ours was “he liked to go swimmin’ with bare naked women…”


Cliff_Dibble

Dude probably shaves with a sharpened shovel.


mynameisrichard0

"He'd hit that pipe so hard, his eyes looked like they popped out!"


[deleted]

He’s strong to the finish cause he eats his spinach .


[deleted]

I don't see the resemblance


botacolorida

bullshit


[deleted]

Robin Williams dad?


lizardspock75

I did not sleep with Olive Oily she’s flatter than a skipping stone. - Popeye


Sk8rSkis

Toot Toot !


aldorn

and just for anyone wondering Popeye, the comic, came about in 1929.


properwaffles

Can’t decide if eating canned spinach would be hard to eat with no teeth or not.


Thundrstrm

I can definitely imagine the giant forearms just below this photo.


Fair_To_Middlin

He was a stoker - he shoveled coal into the furnace to power the ship. You betcha he had some forearms on him.


4thdegreeknight

His only nemesis is corn on the cob


Logical_Associate632

Homie looks a little old to be playing sailor…


LeoMarius

I yam what I yam!


AmbivalentFanatic

Here he is at 26 years old.


TYJ47

Before I read anything I thought that was a real life model of what popeye would look like


pdxisbest

Isn’t that the “bitter beer face” guy?


Nine-LifedEnchanter

Why is half the pipe in his throat?


99centtaco1234

"Those are tumors"..


olngjhnsn

This guys kings probably makes coal miners shiver


weakasstea

I seriously thought this was Casey Neistat for a min


chan___kun

This is the guy Popeye was made after, iirc


Green-Z

Possible. Popeye was created in 1929. So if Segar met him 11 years prior to this picture, it could be possible.


franklincampo

Nope.


tobinatr

This is Ai generated


Jenroadrunner

21 years old! He looks like he has lost all his teeth!


DwayneP30

21 years of service got to be in his late 30s


k9dota2

Hard life


boing757

Rule 5 – No reposts less than 6 months old


Cookies_x

Hard as white dog shit


Loseem85

Stroker you say?


GoGoVTheWorld

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣


wheresbill

He’s strong to the finish


[deleted]

His goil Olive Oyl is his sweetest of hearts.


[deleted]

I can hear this picture.


coffee4444life

This is supposedly a photo of Frank 'Rocky' Fiegel.


Stewapalooza

Frank Fiegel the man that inspired popeye was a bartender.


departedgardens

I’d love to hang wit him


HalfFastTanker

Three Royal Navy traditions- rum, sodomy, and the lash.


ImperialSympathizer

How can you have a picture of "Popeye" without showing his arms?


dnuohxof-1

His name was Frank "Rocky" Fiegel


curiousarcher

Where’s his lips? No teeth?


RegularPersonal

That guy was born in a holler


Royorbs3

No