Thursday, March 8, 2018

Air bedding

 When I was in the navy our days were run by the Plan of the Day. This was nothing more than a schedule of events. It would list the time of the days activities. On the bottom there were notices and such. The Plan of the Day told you what clothes to wear, uniform of the day, and where to be , when. If you were friends with the ships' administration people you could get an advance copy of the plan and get a heads' up on others. That could prove useful information depending upon what was scheduled. The Plan of the Day was classified as " confidential " information and was not supposed to leave the ship. Funny how they were just thrown in the trash every day. Well, there were no big secrets in them anyway.
 This came to mind this morning because of a request by my wife. We just purchased a new memory foam/gel top mattress. It came vacuum packed and was delivered by UPS. After opening the packaging we read the instructions. It was recommended to " air " this mattress as it would have a " musty " smell from the manufacturing process. So, the wife says  let's put it out on the porch this morning. It was that request that inspired this writing. In the Navy, we called this process " air bedding. " It would appear in the plan of the day. At 0800 all hands are to " air bedding. " What that meant was to take your mattress topside and literally air it out ! As you can imagine that bedding could get quite odoriferous if left unaired. We didn't have any such thing as Frebreeze or Lysol in those days. You had to make sure your mattress was well marked so as not to have someone else walk off with it. No, all mattresses are not created equally ! There are not many personal things in the navy but your mattress is one of them. Well, at least the one you are assigned when you arrive on board. It's not a new one but you don't know who slept there before you, so it feels new. Should you change bunks you will switch mattresses as well. But that is all the normal stuff of life in the Navy.
 So today the Plan of the Day is to " air bedding. " It isn't something I ever expected to do again. I expect folks used to do that back in the old days after a long winter. I remember the spring cleanings of old. Throw open the windows, took the rugs outside for a good beating and those quilts were hung out as well. Air bedding on ship served the same purpose. Our mattress was nothing more than a slab of three inch foam rubber, officers get four inch foam. It had a covering made of bed ticking that zippered up the end. You could take it off and launder it but that seldom happened. Oh, that covering was affectionately called a " fart sack. " Sailor terms can be quite descriptive.
 I have to say the Plan of the Day was quite useful. Took the stress out of everything. It was listed right there what you were wearing and what you where doing today. Told you what time to get up and what time to go to bed. The best was when the Plan of the Day said, " holiday routine " will be observed. That was a day off. Reveille wasn't until 0700 and all you had to do was stand your watches for the day. Holiday routine was observed on Sunday and any other day designated by the Captain. I'm thinking tomorrow I'll grant myself holiday routine. 

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