The Dive Watch Connection

Flying all over the world in large aircraft like the C-130 or C-5 wastes a lot of precious time. I mean, what can platoon of guys do for sixteen hours on the way to a drop zone in a contested area other than sleep, inspect gear, check comms, etc? You guessed it! We quilt!

As you all know, I'm the founding member and president of the very popular "Mid Atlantic Defense Individual Quilters" group (also known as MAD IQ). We are a serious group of professionals who produce a large quantity of exceptionally well made articles that we either give away to the populations [that unfortunately sometimes try to kill us ] or we sell/trade them for items we need like extra MRE's or even, in one instance, some delicious Zinfandel wine which we enjoyed together while swinging our legs over the back of the cargo door watching a beautiful sunset.. But, that story is for another day.



Anyway, anybody out there a military quilter? Please tell us your stories! I know Henry and his submarine friends were probably very close during all those weeks at sea.. Perfect time for quilting parties!

Pics, please!

Paul, that is a wonderful way to prepare for a mission! I'm sure Mike will chime in on this one. He has posted a great thread on his sewing experience in the Navy here: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=2321

I once read that Admiral Nimitz-while planning strategy for the battle of Midway-would do so while sewing a T-Shirt quilt using all of his shirts he was awarded for running marathons. Although I have never actually seen the quilt I've heard it was simply dazzling.

Great thread

I can just picture you guys quilting away at the back of that cargo door watching the sun go down Doesen`t quilting just make you feel so ALIVE?!! QUILTING! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!

You people gots pronlems

Paul,

I'm glad you brought this up. We did have a lot of time for quilting on patrol. Naturally, on a submarine we were limited on supplies, but we made do with what we had, and the more advanced guys made sure to bring a little extra from home. Spending months at sea, we became a pretty close group and would make submarine bunk-sized quilts for each other to celebrate important news from home, using somewhat formalized patterns for such recurring events, like the birth of a child or to celebrate a first or second divorce.

Little-known fact - the two-person snuggie was actually invented on a submarine, a Spec Ops boat, as a collaborative effort between a Sonar Tech and a SEAL chief (although it took the commercial world to add the second set of head and arm holes).