[TheForge][OT] Re: The Smell of Space - sorta OT

[James Binnion]

On Mar 14, 2008, at 2:23 PM, Jerry Frost wrote:
>
>
> If you don't think people can get used to a smell ask a submariner  
> if he noticed his buddies smell a couple days out of port.  
> <grimmace> Landlubbers can usually tell a submariner for a couple  
> days (I've heard) weeks after he's gotten off ship by the  
> distinctive smell. I tend to think the jaundiced skin color has  
> something to do with it but. . .

Now what is wrong with a fluorescent light tan? I can tell you from 8   
years riding around in submarines that what stinks is "fresh air".  
When we would bring in "fresh air" by running the main induction  
blower the stink of decaying organic matter was quite noticeable and  
not very pleasant. After a short while you stop noticing it but boy  
when they first crack the hatch or run the blower you can definitely  
smell it. As for how my brother submariners and I smelled it had more  
to do with mono ethanol amine than body odor. Amine is used to remove  
CO2 from the air and stinks. There were of course plenty of other foul  
odors on board hydraulic oil, diesel the galley and of course the  
sanitary tanks. You could wash the stink off your body fairly quick  
but it would stay in your clothes for a while. I have a friend who put  
one of his poopy suits (standard submarine coveralls) in a zip lock  
bag. He went back to college after the Navy and every time he felt his  
will to finish his engineering degree flagging he would un-zip the bag  
and take a whiff of that wonderful smell and get right back to work :-)

Jim

James Binnion
jbin at well.com