User Reviews

. . . on the North Island Naval Boot Camp's librarian, MEET THE FLEET documents. You see, this tragic tale (based upon actual events) depicts Bill Jennings, the chief, having an on-again, off-again thing going with Joanne, the librarian. But with the U.S. Navy being such a hotbed of raw talent, Joanne insists on remaining free to "play the field" of each new, green recruiting class. Just months before the Japanese sneak attack on Hawaii, Joanne takes a shine to trainee Dan. Normally, this wouldn't present much of a problem, given how open-minded the Navy and chief petty officers always are. But the fly in the ointment here in MEET THE FLEET is that Dan has illegally enlisted, knowing that he is colorblind. Now, if the three colors of civilian highway traffic lights were arranged in ever-changing, random order, colorblind folks would be just as unlikely as totally sightless people to be awarded drivers' licenses. Since Navy life is full of random life-or-death color signs and signals, the colorblind need not enlist. But knowing how sweet Joanne is on Dan (and possibly anticipating a Menage A Trois), Bill lets Dan slip into Pearl Harbor with his graduating class through the back door. The narrator concludes, "Then one night, when you're (that is, the recruit) standing watch out there all alone . . . ," which--disastrously--is exactly where Dan is Dec. 7, 1941, a little while AFTER this ill-fated "recruiting tool" was released across America. Dan mistakes swarms of RED circled Japanese attack planes passing over his lonely head for an expected delivery of new model GREEN Logoed American aircraft. The rest is History!