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Dirty Coffee Cups in the US Navy?

Discussion in 'Information Requests' started by Otto, Dec 21, 2017.

  1. Otto

    Otto Spambot Nemesis Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I was lucky enough to share a few beers with a friend last night and a local establishment. I say "lucky" because I own a seven month old daughter, and consequently I get few spiritual opportunities these days. My friend is actually a Rogue, but he posts only rarely.

    In any case, my friend mentioned a story he heard about the practice of not washing coffee cups aboard US Navy bessels. Something to do with superstition, or culture, or other. He's not a Navy man himself and he couldn't remember where he heard the story. An additional detail was than Navy coffee was always black, no milk and no sugar, which does seem to fit the narrative here. A coffee cup repeatedly filled with black coffee isn't pleasant, but it's probably fairly clean compared to the residue milk and sugar would leave behind over time.

    So, is there any truth to this dirty coffee cup story? Is this a US Navy thing only, or do other naval services do this? Does this exist in other branches of the military?

    I figured there were enough Navy types floating around here to speak on this. What say you of these dirty coffee cups?
     
  2. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    MM2 Drake, one of my serfs on USS Reeves, demanded that his glass coffee mug not be washed, he liked a patina. Of course this just make it a game to wash it when he wasn't looking. That's the one person in 20 years that did that. Certainly not wide spread in my experience.
     
  3. toki2

    toki2 Active Member

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    It was common practice in civvy street to just rinse out teapots and mugs especially workmen's tin or enameled. I remember seeing navvies brewing up with a billy can on small stoves and I'll bet the vessels were never washed. Some say that this improves the flavour.
     
  4. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    The term is, I believe, "seasoned."
     
  5. USMCPrice

    USMCPrice Idiot at Large

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    It's not a common practice in the Marine Corps. I additionally spent a good deal of time on numerous US Navy ships for deployments and never observed it. I even drew mess duty on a couple of those ships and I know they were washed because that was one of our duties.
     
  6. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I think it's strictly for privately owned cups and mugs. The ones that survive a trip to scullery won't have anything at all stuck to them.
     
  7. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake Member

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    I suspect it is a custom contrary to anywhere in HM Forces, and it doesn't fit well with what I know about other nations.

    Bye and large soldiers and sailors are issued items such as knives, forks spoons or mugs tin, which are expected to be kept clean and serviceable. One common feature of military culture is a fetish if not an obsession with order and cleanliness to the point of absurdity . "Why is there dirt in this rubbish bin"? Some individuals have very low personal standards of personal hygiene and the services (superiors and messmates) take exception to the grotty soldier or sailor who lowers the tone or pose a threat to health.

    There are good hygiene reasons for insisting on clean eating and drinking utensils. Black coffee is not the only liquid that is likely to make contact with coffee cups. Cocoa- soup - as well as various secretions dribbled, swilled or added by messmates as a punishment or practical joke. I can't see the naval authorities tolerating a custom of dirty utensils.

    There is a rationale for the NATO standard as "white two sugars". The added calories from milk and sugar are beneficial to the cold and tired. The historic origins of both tea and coffee are for both to be served with sugar and sugared beverages are more palatable to the heavy smokers previous generations. In more modern sedentary services "Julie Andrews" (White nun) is more common, but is there any evidence for Is a "Whoopi Goldberg" (Black nun) as the US navy standard.?
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2017
  8. Otto

    Otto Spambot Nemesis Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I can't imagine most people in a ship would care about not washing coffee cups, but my friend presented it as an odd thing that the bridge officers tended to do.

    Interesting, thanks all for the answers.

    So, "seanoned" cups are a phenomenon with some US Navy personnel, but it seems to be very limited.
     
  9. Half Track

    Half Track Well-Known Member

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    I was a cook in the Navy for 3 of the 4 years that I was in. Understand, I had shore duty for all four years and when I was in Cuba, only got on a ship that was going to Jamaica or Haiti for the weekend, a ship that was there for a period of time for fleet training. I was on a few destroyers going to and from. Based on that, I never heard about this or was witness to it either. All our cups in the galley were kept squeaky clean. As I recall, our chief in Gitmo always walked around the galley with his coffee cup in his hand, but I never really took notice as to how much he washed it out. Now, speaking of coffee, I could never stand coffee until I was a cook and got up at 4:00 am and went over to the galley by 4:30 to start breakfast. The first thing I did was put the coffee on in one of those big stainless coffee pots. That’s when I learned to drink coffee, black, as I still drink it to this day. I liked being a cook, worked what they called port snd starboard with the other cooks and it has been a long time, but as I recall I only worked 15 days a month and if we got hungry at night, as long as we cleaned up, we could go over to the galley and make ourselves a snack. Every time my orders came, I was hoping for a ship, but it never happened. Our day was 4:30 am till 6:00 pm.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2017
  10. Otto

    Otto Spambot Nemesis Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Now thats a definitive source, thanks @Half Track .

    Now for me, I like my coffee the way I like my women.
     
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  11. USMCPrice

    USMCPrice Idiot at Large

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    Hot, strong and black?
     
  12. Otto

    Otto Spambot Nemesis Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Hot, blonde, and sweet thank you very much.
     
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  13. Half Track

    Half Track Well-Known Member

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    That would be hot with cream and sugar, I presume.
     
  14. Otto

    Otto Spambot Nemesis Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Indeed it would.

    Although when I need a caffeine fix I revert to my Commonwealth roots and go for tea.
     
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  15. chibobber

    chibobber Member

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    An old friend who worked on the railroad during the time of steam relayed to me that when it was break time,tin cups were thrown up to the engineer and he would open a valve and steam the cup.The cup would be thrown back,filled with coffee,drunk at a nice temp,and when done thrown back up to the engineer for a steam cleaning.Seems pretty sanitary to me.
     
  16. toki2

    toki2 Active Member

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    A true family story that perhaps emphasises the need for at least rinsing vessels. My grandfather had a butcher shop and required his reluctant teenage son to work on a Saturday as required. Uncle Dan did not enjoy the merciless pranks and jokes that were played on him by the men so he was quite delighted when, after dishing up their cups of tea, he found a dead mouse in the teapot. They were none the wiser.
     
  17. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake Member

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    By tradition it isn't just dead mice that appear in tea urns
    Officers' Coffee: I'm annoyed that I even have to write this. Get a grip and do the duty properly.
     
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  18. A-58

    A-58 Cool Dude

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    Never heard of such practices in the Army. Didn't drink "lifer juice" as it was called. As best as I can remember, numerous coffee cups were always in the barracks CP, but they never seemed to get cleaned. Once I was in the CP and saw the platoon sergeant pitching a bitch about finding a stogie butt in his cup. He emptied it in the round file, poured a little shot of lifer juice in it, swished it around, dumped it, and filled it up to the brim with and poured it down his pie hole. Now that I think about it, I never cleaned my canteen cup apart from swishing it around in a stream or rubbing sneaux in it from time to time. It always worked and I never got sick. Kept a clean and never used one for inspections, just in case. Bought it at the Army Surplus store in town and DX'ed at supply for one brand new out of the box.
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2017
  19. formerjughead

    formerjughead The Cooler King

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    Free?
     
  20. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    "Complimentary."
     
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