For Reasons of Unsuitability

Not long after­words, was I ordered to report to the XO’s state­room. With some anx­i­ety, did I pro­ceed to his state­room, for I had been on pretty good behav­ior, of late, or so I thought.

“Come in,“ responded the XO to the knock on his door.

“Mr. Drury, Sir,“ I reported upon enter­ing his stateroom.

“Have a seat, Mr. Drury,“ he said.

“I have here a state­ment,“ he con­tin­ued, “I want you to read very care­fully. Once you have read it, I want you to sign it right above your name, exactly as your name appears, to acknowl­edge that you have read the state­ment and under­stand what it says.“

Look­ing down at the piece of paper he’d handed me, I saw two small para­graphs, each dated 23 May 1967, which read as follows:

You are hereby advised that because of the nature of your con­duct onboard ship, you are being con­sid­ered for dis­charge from the Navy for rea­sons of unsuit­abil­ity, in accor­dance with BUPERS Man­ual, Arti­cle C-​​10310.

P. L. Mer­win, LCDR USN, Exec­u­tive Offi­cer
By direc­tion of the Com­mand­ing Officer

I acknowl­edge that I have been coun­seled and advised that any fur­ther irreg­u­lar behav­ior on my part may cause my dis­charge from the Navy for rea­sons of unsuit­abil­ity, in accor­dance with BUPERS Man­ual, Arti­cle C-​​10310.

Wit­nessed: E. J. Drury, SA
P. L. Mer­win, LCDR USN

When I had fin­ished read­ing the state­ment, I looked up at him.

“Do you under­stand what you have just read?“ he asked.

“I do,“ I replied.

“Then sign it, right here above your name,“ he com­manded, where­upon I signed the state­ment just as he had instructed.

After the XO had signed his name beneath both para­graphs, he dis­missed me.

Need­less to say, I grew wild with excite­ment over the pos­si­bil­ity of get­ting dis­charged if my behav­ior didn’t change. Why I felt as if the Navy had just given me the cue to mis­be­have. For lack of bet­ter insight into myself, I couldn’t have agreed with the Navy more, that I was totally unsuited for this way of life.