BoatBanter.com - Conflicted

On 12/4/2014 12:18 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 04 Dec 2014 04:48:01 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 12/4/2014 12:29 AM, wrote:

On Wed, 03 Dec 2014 22:03:45 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

Easy, mace and/or a taser. I have seen large adult men running in
circles, screaming like babies and running into trees after being
maced with the military stuff.

I have also seen guys who just got mad when they were pepper sprayed,
They don't use "Mace" anymore (CN or CS gas depending on the brand) it
is pepper spray now.

My former father in law (DC cop) said mace was only good to blind the
guy for a second so you could get in a couple good licks with your
night stick. ;-)

There's a reason that in the old days the image of a police officer was
a smiling, blue uniformed dude walking down the sidewalk twirling his
night stick.

I've mentioned before that I learned how effective a night stick can be
while standing Shore Patrol duty in the Navy. A quick blow to the shins
will drop just about anyone without causing any permanent damage.

They sent me to the Marine E5/E6 club with an SP arm band while I was
in Norfolk in instructor school. The first thing I did was take that
pretty white club off my belt and tell the bar manager to put it
behind the bar. When the manager asked me why I said I didn't want one
of these drunk gunny sargents to shove it up my ass. He laughed and
said "I think I am going to like you"
There was some kind of fight about once an hour in that place.
I was able to simply talk them into taking their fights across the
street to the field where they were allowed to do it. (Norfolk city
property, off club property)
By the end of the first night I was pretty much accepted and I was
requested back the next night.

I agree the Garner thing might have been able to be handled better but
if he does not want to be arrested, they need to do something. With
all of his health problems, a taser or pepper spray could have easily
killed him too and it might not even work.

I'd say you were lucky. Dealing with drunks on the strip at Norfolk or
even Great Lakes wasn't fun duty.

The biggest brawl I ever saw was at the club at the base in Ponce,
Puerto Rico. The USS Ponce (a Marine troop transport) pulled into the
port in Ponce for a liberty call. That evening the EM club filled up
with Marines from the ship along with the regular Navy personnel
stationed at the Fort Allen transmitter site. My wife was working at
the club as a waitress at the time, so I got a job as a bartender, just
to keep an eye on her.

The evening started out fine. The club filled up with lots of heavy
drinking going on. Then, one of the Marines who had been making a lot
of loud, obnoxious comments started grabbing at my wife. A few of my
friends saw it and came to her rescue, knocking the guy off his chair
and onto the floor. One yelled to me (I was behind the bar not looking
at what was going on because I was getting someone a beer from the
cooler). I turned to see what he was yelling and a beer bottle flew by
my head, smashing into some bottles on the bar shelf. I jumped over the
bar, grabbed my wife and pulled her back behind the bar and told her to
stay put, kneeling down on the floor mat and went back to go after the
guy that had been grabbing at her. (I was young and stupid then).

By then the whole frigin' place was like a bar brawl in an old western
movie. People swinging at everyone, chairs being thrown and bottles
flying. I have to say that the Navy guys didn't do too badly against
the Marines. We outnumbered them but not by much.

It finally ended with both Navy and Marine Shore Patrol arriving. I
don't know where they all came from but they were there in force.
There were guys out cold laying all over the place.

I've never experienced anything like it since.