COOKING CAULDRON

Washington State University, for years, had a student fire department. We had four fire trucks and an ambulance. We were responsible for ambulance duty on campus and helped out the city of Pullman at times with our ambulance. We were well trained, lived in the fire house, got a dollar a day pay, plus room and board. We had our own cook (Mrs. Erickson), who prepared meals for us during the week. There were four full time men, including the chief (Chief Pence), who were at the station weekdays or when needed.

We also had three individuals who perfomed engineering and troubleshooting tasks on camps (they are the three in the front row of this photo). During my tenure, we didn't fight any major fires but we did go on many ambulance calls I would just soon not think about again.

Our bunkers and suspenders were bright red and we all wore yellow sweat shirts with our fire station mascot (Snoopy leaning on a fire hydrant). I lived in the fire station my junior and senior year. A good summer on an Alaska fishing boat one summer, all helped me pay for the large majority of my four year college expenses.

There were some wild times in the student fire station as well. Two of us decided we needed a new "keg", like the one shown in the center of this photo with our mascot painted on it. Well, we weren't too successful in "liberating" one from a beer distrubutor late one night in Lewiston, Idaho. What seemed like a good idea at the moment (borrowing an empty keg from behind the distrubutor, late at night in a small Austin Healy Sprite), landed the two of us in jail for the night in Lewiston. The only time I got in trouble with the law.

What is worse, is that our bail was $100, which I didn't have. I got the customary ONE phone call from jail, and I called my Dad....collect. I knew what was coming. Everytime I called my Dad collect, the operator would ask him if he would accept a collect call from his son in Pullman, Washington. He would ALWAYS ask me "are you married or in jail?" and when I would answer "no", he would always laugh and say "speak to me son".

Well on this occasion, when we went through our phone routine and I answered "yes", his mood changed. He said "well I know you aren't married, so what did you do?". He paid my bail and my friend's Dad put up the bail for him. We would later appear in the local court and were basically given a light fine, for "petty larceny" for the stolen empty beer keg heist. The night in a jail cell though, had been a sobering experience (pun intended).

To pay my Dad back the $100 bail money, I took a job at the Washington State University poultry farm; gathering eggs; shoveling chickent poop; and artificially inseminating recalcitrant turkeys. I never did put that job experience on any resumes. The moment I earned exactly $100, I gladly quit that job. Part of the lesson.

LAEM CHABANG, Thailand (Aug. 9, 2011) - Culinary Specialist First Class Resty Villacorta reviews a recipe with Thai chefs, Ann Chetcharaporn and "Jim" Phanita during a cooking lesson for Culinary Specialists aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS George Washington (CVN 73). George Washington is currently making a port visit to Thailand as an opportunity to strengthen ties with the partner nation. Port visits increase mutual understanding through positive interaction events such as tours of the ship, receptions, sports and community service projects. This supports regional cooperation on common concerns which are of the upmost importance to continued progress.
(U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist John Harrington/RELEASED)