Are bosun's boring?

[Double-R]

Ive been told that being a Bosn in the Navy is boring? We'll at least compared to other trades like Infantry and such..is this true? Do Bosn's fire small arms weapons a lot? Do Naval Boarding parties take action a lot?

We have our fair share of boreing days in the infantry.  It's not all battle runs, raids etc.  You need to ask your self what kind of "action" are you looking for.

 

[FDO]

30 years as a Bos'n. We have our good days and we have our bad. If the bad out numbered the good I wouldn't be making this post. I always said that as soon as I lost  interest or didn't want to get out of bed to go to work (for other than being over served at the bar) I'd be done. Yes the mids suck, and oh yeah the 5 cal is cool. RAS is cool, towing, etc it all makes our job interesting.

 

[sea.sea.sea]

I'm a bosn and I love what I do. We are not boring, we're fun people!  Like any job (military or not) there are boring moments. We are the jack of all trades. Bosn's fire weapons and clean them too. (Not that weapon cleaning is boring.) Bosn's do so much, I haven't done everything a bosn does, yet, but I can't wait.

 

[Greymatters]

(Not that weapon cleaning is boring.)

Yes it is!  That's why we often watch TV, play music, or talk to others while doing it...

 

[FDO]

Weapons cleaning isn't boring. I've watched it for hours!!

 

[cdn_STiCK]

I believe "bosun" is spelled "boatswain".

 

[FDO]

Boatswain is the correct full spelling. By the way in old English it means "keeper of the boats"  Today the accepted short form is Bos'n.

 

[PMedMoe]

I believe "bosun" is spelled "boatswain".

Gee, thanks for pointing that out.  :

 

[Occam]

Boatswain is the correct full spelling. By the way in old English it means "keeper of the boats" 

What does Coxswain translate into in old English?    ;D

Come on, you knew someone was going to go there.

 

[gcclarke]

Same thing really.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The coxswain (pronounced /ˈkɒksən/) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives us a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from cox, a coxboat or other small vessel kept aboard a ship, and swain, which can be rendered as boy, in authority.

 

[FDO]

Way back when, before even Otis was glint in his father's eye, part of the steering of a vessel was called the "Cog" The person in charge of or responsible for steering and navigating was responsible for the cog as well. He was called the "Cogswain" or "Keeper of the Cog". Today we call him/her the Coxswain or Cox'n as the person responsible for steering the small boats such as RHIBs and zodiacs, even in olympic rowing the person who steers the boat and navigates it down the course is called the Cox'n or Cox. There are many references to this term. But most start late, around the time of the British rule of the seas. Cool thing about being the winner is you get to write the history books.

This is what I was taught and that's where the RN got it. May come from the time of the Roman occupation of Great Britan.

Thus ends todays lesson on Naval lore.

 

[Greymatters]

Is that in any way related to 'Drop your cox and grab your socks', a formerly common army phrase?

 

[FDO]

Could be. Many of todays common words and phrases come for terms used at sea. The correct Naval term was "drop your cox AND your socks". The Army just altered it to suit their own needs.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Back on topic please

Milnet.Ca Staff

 

[BIG E]

I took in a ton of information from all of your replys! Thank you everyone so much! I love this website.
Yes. The recruiters tried really hard for me to get into a technical trade in the Navy. But Boatswain interested me the most because of the wide variety of jobs. However, it is full until April. So I gotta be patient. Patience is key in the Forces. 
Infantry is full until April as well. Had a family talk and the Infantry is not for me.

 

[trigger324]

why not think about sonar op?  did they try to convince you of that? you wouldn't have to wait til april and you'd still get to do a variety of jobs with more than your share of bosn work ;D

 

[FDO]

"why not think about sonar op? you wouldn't have to wait til april and you'd still get to do a variety of jobs with more than your share of bosn work"


That's why we call them "Ping Bos'ns"

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

And locked

Milnet.Ca Staff