I told you I was in business when I first got out of the Navy. The Navy trained me to be an electrician. Navy power systems are, by the nature of being on ships, industrial in nature. Many of you will be passingly familiar with the Army’s MOS system. The Navy has something similar called Navy Enlisted Classification (NEC). While your rate may be something like Electrician’s Mate, you can attend specialty schools within that rate to add specialization to it. The NEC code from attending a particular school gets added to your personnel file, so it can be used to fill the needs of future command assignments.
I earned three of them while I served:
- 4632 (Auxiliaries Electrical System Technician)
- 4615 (Electric Motor Rewinder)
- 4613 (IMA Outside Electrical Journeyman)
Because of that, I was uniquely qualified to work on electric motors, generators, and motor controls. It’s also why I ran my own business for a couple of years. I’m not sure how good I would be at this point, it’s been a number of years (OK, 30-something) since I have rewound an electric motor. While I was in business, I had a guy working for me that would pickup and deliver repair jobs for me. I had one of those small pickup trucks that I let him use to do the job for me.
One day, he just didn’t return from making deliveries. A couple of days later, I got a letter from the state, telling me that, as the registered owner of the vehicle, someone had declared the vehicle abandoned on his property, and they would be issuing a new title in that person’s name in 14 days.
I went looking for him and my truck. When I arrived at his house, he told me I couldn’t have the truck back, and chased me from his property with a 2 foot length of metal pipe in his hand, telling me if he saw me on his property again, he would knock my teeth out. I went to the Sheriff’s office to make a complaint.
The Sheriff himself explained to me that, because I had given him the keys, it was a civil matter and I would have to take him to court. Since the truck was over the limit in value for small claims, it would require a lawyer and a bit of money and time. I asked him what he would do if one of his deputies quit and refused to return his patrol cruiser. The Sheriff replied: “That’s different.” Then I was told the police wouldn’t get involved, so I would have to deal with it myself.
So that’s what I did. A friend of his told me that he had gotten a new job at a company making roofing trusses. I went to that workplace, and there was my truck. So I tried to start the truck with my keys, but it wouldn’t start. I popped the hood, and the wire from the distributor to the spark plug was missing. That’s fine, I had my wife drive the vehicle we arrived in, hooked a tow rope to both vehicles, and was about ready to drive off.
That’s when my former employee came out with a bunch of his coworkers in tow, saying: “I told you what would happen if you came near my property again,” and began advancing towards me with a hammer in his hand. I pepper sprayed the living shit out of him.
As he was rolling on the ground, I was about to get in the truck to be towed off, when his coworkers began yelling and advancing towards me. So I did the most direct thing- I pulled a Remington 870 from my vehicle and pumped the slide. “Who wants to be a fucking hero?”
No one did. So I drove away as they yelled about calling the cops.
An hour later, I got a call from the Sheriff, who said he wanted to talk to me. I met him at his office.
- Sheriff: “That boy you attacked had to go to the hospital. He might be blind.”
- Me: “It’s pepper spray, he will be fine.”
- Sheriff: “I could arrest you for armed robbery.”
- Me: “It’s my truck, registered in my name and it was self defense. Besides, you told me to deal with it myself. I dealt with it.”
- Sheriff: “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I should arrest you.”
- Me: “We both know it won’t stick. Look, no one was permanently injured, no laws were broken. I got my truck back.”
- Sheriff: “I don’t approve of your actions, but you’re right. No laws were broken.”
- Me: “OK, I guess we’re done here.”
I sold the truck. The sheriff retired more than a decade ago. I don’t know what happened to the ex employee. Haven’t seen him since.
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