The Navy, a Penguin, and Dolphins

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You have seen a Navy combo cover, right? Here is one, an officer’s:

Naval Officer’s Cover

Notice that little gold band thing-ee? I have heard it called a chin strap. (Chin-strap or chinstrap?) Here it is alone:

By the Hairs of your chinny chin chinstrap

And supposedly, the chinstrap can be lowered and worn under the chin. I could be totally wrong with this, but I have seen pictures of it being done. (Or maybe it is against regs?) Here is an Army cover with a worn chinstrap:

SGT Silent, US Army

The above Soldier looks awfully familiar. Although, I can’t place his name.
So what’s up with the chinstrap? Simple:

In a sea of black and white penguins waddling on Antarctica’s Aitcho Islands, National Geographic Explorers spotted an extremely rare, nearly all-white Chinstrap penguin this week.

Rare White Albino Chinstrap Penguin, Antarctica

Neat huh? He, too, looks like an Army Soldier I once knew.
But that is not the only story with the faintest whiff of Navy to it.
Apparently our Fifth Fleet bubbas are using dolphins to police the old Hormuz:

If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. Navy has a backup plan to save one-fifth of the world’s daily oil trade: send in the dolphins.

US Navy Petty Officers training dolphins for the Strait of Hormuz

Word amongst those in the know is that the dolphins ask for “three hots and a cod.”
Be careful when talking about Navy Dolphins, because the Enlisted Submarine Warfare pin is also referred to as Dolphins:

US Navy Enlisted Submarine Warfare Pin

Two uniform pieces, two animal stories.
Where else are you going to get such cutting-edge reporting?

9 thoughts on “The Navy, a Penguin, and Dolphins”

  1. The Navy has a passel of historical stuff to be proud of. Traditions from the bell bottoms to the flap on the back of the jumper. Brown shoe vs black shoe. Whooping Marines ass in bar fights…kinda…sometimes…in our war stories…honest.

  2. With all the uniform changes the Navy has made I keep asking myself: “What’s wrong with dungarees?” When the CNO was here in Bahrain one of the salty Senior Chiefs said to him: “Sir, I love the new cammies. Can we please stop changing them now?”

    The Marine Corps has a similar chin strap on our covers. It is applied to chin only for particular ceremonial duties and such. You can probably find a picture of a color guard using the chin strap somewhere.

    How many barrels of oil can a single dolphin carry?

  3. CP: Concur. . .
    As1stS: A single male dolphin can carry 3 barrels of oil. A married male dolphin can carry two. . .