[KevinBeyerJr]

I had to put my own personal story about one mishap while in the Navy.

About 4 years ago, give or take, I was stationed on the USS John C. Stennis and we had just transfered to Bremerton, Washington from San Diego, California. Even though we were at our home port, they insisted that we kept a sniper watch on top of all of the roving security watches amongst the ship. I was a Quartermaster at the time and was working late one night on the island of that beautiful aircraft carrier (the island is that huge tower in the middle and to the right on the flight deck. After working until 12 AM or so on the logs for the Captains approval, I decided to step out and get a breath of fresh air and enjoy the view. I was walking around to where the Sniper watch was typically posted and didn't see him, after switching on my flash light to make sure he didn't fall asleep in some corner, I only see his M25 leaning against the bulkhead. I grab it and do 2 more rounds of that deck and can't find the SOB anywhere. I then call the Officer of the Deck to find out where he was. Low and behold, he was asleep in his rack about 8 floors down. I feel sorry for the guy, but there were still contractors on board and if any of them would of seen that gun sitting there, they would of probably put it in one of their big tool boxes and left with it after their shift. That is a $2000 gun at least.