Wog Day, Crossing the Equator with the US Navy

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March 22, 2007 Wog Day, Crossing the Equator with the US Navy

In the Summer of 1992 the USS Tarawa crossed the equator. I had the distinction and misfortune of being one of the last to go through the crossing the line ritual called Wog Day

I’d appreciate it if no one got turned on by this picture.

“Wog”s are the crew members who have never crossed the equator before while “Shellbacks” are the ones doing the hazing. Which always made me wonder, who hazed the first guys?

The Wogs were required to dress this way: Cami pants-inside out, underwear on the outside (yes, we all wore tiddy-whities. no we didn’t know any better) and knee pads made of cheep shower sandals and duct tape. The knee pads were essential because we were crawling on our hands and knees on the steel deck all day.
You might be wondering why I have “Danzig Rules” written on my ass. Let me explain; while I was in the Marine Corps the poor white trash influence on my life was very high, I was also driving a black ’81 Camaro. But the real reason for the underwear declaration was to taunt Sgt. Frey, my platoon sergeant and shellback who reminded me every week that Danzig was the devil’s music.

The shellbacks are the ones dressed like thrift store pirates.

Highlights include: The Royal Baby, the fattest sailor on the ship covers his belly with some condiment and sticks a cherry in his navel. The wogs are required to take the cherry out of his navel with our mouths. When we’d go it he’d grab our heads and try to smother us with gut and mayo.

The Wog Queen: Earlier in the week there is a cross-dressing competition for the position of Wog Queen. Ostensibly, the queen doesn’t have to directly participate in the ceremony, he/she only has to sit on deck with mustard on his/her foot while the other wogs crawl by and kiss her toes. I don’t know if this is true for all wog queens, but at the end of the ritual our queen had to get down on all fours and crawl though all the muck like the rest of us.

As well as: A toilet full of garbage that reverse-flushed when we stuck our faces in.

A yellow, plastic sleeve of… yes, garbage. An occasional beating. (At some point a shellback shoved a pork chop down my pants. The guy did me a favor because just about every time I got hit I got hit right on the chop.) Being submerged in a tank of I-don’t-know-what-but-it-burned. There was also a wooden coffin (not pictured) that they put us in and beat on the sides, my least favorite part. And a lot of waiting around like this.

From what I hear the Navy doesn’t do this anymore. Charlie went through again a couple years later and said that all of this was gone, instead they just handed out certificates, “Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere!” What a rip.

[Full Set on flickr]

Filed under: LiveJournal Days,Uncategorized
Comments: (35)

35 Comments »

Hahah, that’s AWESOME! I mean, if you’re a shellback anyway. I think it’s rad that you have so many clear pictures to commemorate such an important event!
Are you sure we can’t be even a little turned on? 😛
Comment by animaetrix00 — March 22, 2007 @ 11:34 am
Thats the gayest thing I’ve ever seen, and Im a fag…
Comment by anonymous — March 22, 2007 @ 11:39 am
И мы увидим свет в конце тоннеля. И поймем, что приближающийся свет положит конец нашим мучениям…
Comment by kulhazker — March 22, 2007 @ 11:53 am
This is so disturbing… and hilarious!
Comment by jacquelyn4444 — March 22, 2007 @ 11:57 am
Aw, come on, just a little? Please?
It’s great to see the pics for this story, but nothing can beat hearing you say, in all seriousness, “Fortunately, I had a pork chop stuffed down my pants”. Nothing, I tells ya.
Comment by mollymillions — March 22, 2007 @ 12:00 pm
hahaha
Comment by animaetrix00 — March 22, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
Also: reading “I got hit right on the chop”.
Comment by mollymillions — March 22, 2007 @ 12:14 pm
via Google Translate:
And we see light at the end of the tunnel. And realize that the approaching light put an end to our misery.
Это не так плохо, как это кажется на первый взгляд, особенно с учетом того, что мы знали, что будет в течение нескольких часов.
Comment by tone_milazzo — March 22, 2007 @ 12:36 pm
Of course I’ll make an exception for Momo.
Comment by tone_milazzo — March 22, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
Gay gay gay gaygaygaygay.
Seriously. You know, you may as well have just had a big oral orgy on deck and gotten it over with. Less pain, less mess, and you still get to work out all of the frustration of bein ghorny and far, far away from poon.
Thanks for posting this. I’ve just had the brilliant idea to direct the ultimate gay fetish video.
Comment by avantard — March 22, 2007 @ 12:56 pm
You think so?
I don’t see it.
Comment by tone_milazzo — March 22, 2007 @ 12:59 pm
Are you fucking kidding me? All that hot leg and Tony on his knees. You ask to much of your audience. I’ll be in my bunk.
Comment by teawiththecheat — March 22, 2007 @ 1:02 pm
😀
Comment by tone_milazzo — March 22, 2007 @ 1:04 pm
I’ve got something half the guys in those photos can take a look at.
Errr.. uhm.. yeah.
Comment by avantard — March 22, 2007 @ 1:04 pm
thats how frank and i met. we shared a coffin together.
Comment by demonslayer — March 22, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
Hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Comment by jacquelyn4444 — March 22, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
hahahaha
Comment by animaetrix00 — March 22, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
LOL
Comment by animaetrix00 — March 22, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
Well, it IS the NAVY (Insert Village People song here).
Comment by mollymillions — March 22, 2007 @ 1:49 pm
l0llerc0pter?
Comment by demonslayer — March 22, 2007 @ 1:50 pm
C’mon, really. How could I not be tempted what with all the sweatiness, shirtlessness, smirking and pork chops? There’s only so much decorum you can ask of a gal.
Comment by mollymillions — March 22, 2007 @ 1:52 pm
My initial thoughts on these photos was in fact of a Vilage People fan club gathering.
Comment by avantard — March 22, 2007 @ 1:55 pm
I saw this set you posted this morning on Flickr — can I ask how you got such great scans? A negative scanner? Outsourced or own? Any recommendations?
Comment by radcapdotcom — March 22, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
I am apparently the only person who finds it revolting.
Not for any lack of cute boys, though. It’s more the thought of anyone having to stick their face in stinky yellow chunky mystery sauce.
Comment by kirinqueen — March 22, 2007 @ 1:59 pm
I took the negatives in to George’s Photo on University and 30th.
I was mostly interested in not hand scanning 100 pictures but I’m also happy about how they came out.
Comment by tone_milazzo — March 22, 2007 @ 3:36 pm
The galley was holding on to garbage for two weeks before the event.
Fortunately, on this ship the wogs outnumbered the shellbacks by five to one so a bunch of wogs broke into the galley and tossed all their garbage overboard.
The foodstuffs you see here are fresh. One could even say wholesome.
Didn’t smell very good though…
Comment by tone_milazzo — March 22, 2007 @ 4:23 pm
The boys on leashes is enough for me. Rawr, baby.
Wait, that was just Tone with a leash type thing in his mouth. Well, still, got me thinking about boys on leashes which, again, is enough for me.
Mmmm . . . boys on leashes.
Comment by thebarefootrose — March 22, 2007 @ 7:58 pm
Oh, I see it. I can definitely see it.
Also, I would totally watch it.
Comment by thebarefootrose — March 22, 2007 @ 8:00 pm
As a woman who enjoys homoeroticism and draws eroguro art for kicks, this is probably one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever seen.
Comment by hezaakun — March 23, 2007 @ 12:44 am
i did a VERY toned down version of this on semeseter at sea- they emptied out the pool on the ship and we had fresh, DISGUSTING foodstuff/garbage mixtures poured on our head and then as we walked across the bottom of the pool the staff sprayed us with high powered hoses. when we got out of the pool we had to kiss a dead fish, then we had to go up to king neptune and recite something or other and kneel while he proclaimed us shellbacks.
not nearly as hardcore, but better than a certificate!
also, then a whole bunch of people shaved their heads. i guess theres no real reason to do that in the navy, with the not-much-hair already and all.
-amy
Comment by anonymous — March 26, 2007 @ 11:37 am
This is so funny only reason that I looked this up is my son is on the USS Tarawa right now and was just made a shellback last night!!!!…So it does still happen, on the Tarawa anyways
Comment by anonymous — April 28, 2008 @ 11:20 am
i am a mother of a us marine, and i think its wrong totally fucken evil to do some of these hurtful and harmful assinine fucken tortures, esp. to your fellow teammate the other guy who’s to be watching your back, the team member who might all of a sudden remember that pain you caused to them and when you need their help either they just won’t be there for you or they will let you suffer in turn for what you have done to them-like touche’, got your back. HEY ALL YOU ASSHOLES WHO FEEL THE NEED TO HARM YOUR FELLOW MATES WHY DON’T YOU SAVE IT FOR THE FUCKEN ENEMY the guy who doesn’t need to be there to watch your back or care for you, you stupid fool!!!!!! fool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by lynn zielinki — January 30, 2011 @ 10:22 am
Hey Lynn,
Thanks for commenting without any understanding of what you’re seeing.
Keep it up!
Comment by Tone — January 30, 2011 @ 3:52 pm
Just went through wog day today myself.. Not a dirty slimy little wog myself anymore. It sucked while it was going on, but fun at the same time. Can’t wait to initiate wogs on my next cruise!
Comment by Jon — February 25, 2011 @ 7:39 pm
No way that sounds gross and I just can’t see myself doing this but I salute you for doing this anyway
Comment by Megan Kennedy — June 5, 2013 @ 1:57 pm