The Peter Mims chronicles
We first wrote about Peter Mims when his shipmates found him below decks of USS Shiloh hiding, after they had searched the Philippine Sea. The Navy Times updates the story;
He had financial problems, his marriage had fallen apart and his chain of command was riding him about qualifications. He’d sought mental health counseling, but was not treated when he needed it most.
Before he disappeared from the cruiser Shiloh on June 8, Mims was known for making crazy-yet-sincere claims. Shipmates recalled him saying he had been to space, and that he could shoot fireballs out of his hands.
After he went missing and sparked a massive, 5,500 square-mile man overboard search across the Philippine Sea, the ship’s crew continued a hopeful and fruitless search for him inside the claustrophobic catacombs of the ship’s engineering spaces.
A week after he disappeared — and after his family was notified of his presumed death — a search crew found him hiding in an escape passage leading out of a sweltering engine room.
He was covered in urine and feces, and had a camelback, a multi-tool, Peeps candy and an empty peanut butter jar with him.
The Navy Times’ exclusive reportage is pretty extensive and detailed – Geoff Ziezulewicz did a really good job. You should read the whole thing.
After reading it all, I don’t know how the Navy didn’t see Mims’ bizarre behavior coming – but it looks like the Navy is divesting themselves of him at a reduced rank. I suspect he’ll be a phony SEAL on our Stolen Valor page soon.
Thanks to AW1Ed for the link.
Category: Navy
Master Hide and Seek badge is warranted, I think.
E-4 mafia for life
Except he’s getting an OTH and kicked to the curb as an E-1.
And he should consider himself lucky.
Now THAT is a hide site.
Except bring some Ziploc bags for the poo…
“He was covered in urine and feces”
His own?
No, Daniel Bernath was mailing him care packages.
It was good shit…Jenkem starter kit
Epic sad panda–the result when you have training/schools which rely on the, “pump versus filter” concept. Problems? Who fucking cares, we need the bodies! Send his ass to the fleet and let his command deal with it there.
I was thinking the same thing. Kid can pass the exams but doesn’t fit in so we’ll look the other way and hope for the best.
This is the sort of thing that should’ve been uncovered in boot camp.
I hope the kid gets the help he needs.
As a Timmy with a red rope all I can do is Laugh. Althought the Demon that Lived in the South Galley at Great lakes was using me as a tool to harass young SR Hathaway… couldn’t get rid of him…
We had a novel way of dealing with people like this when I was a TAC. The Army made it hell to involuntarily drop a candidate who exceeded all of the physical & educational standards even if they were a complete nutjob, so to motivate them to drop voluntarily, we made this individual’s squad carry him everywhere in a skedco at shoulder height. Everywhere. Classes, obstacle courses, chow, during PT & company runs.
That usually only lasted a day before the shame/guilt (or in many cases, that individual’s peers) persuaded them to drop.
Of course, this was almost 20 years ago. I don’t think they could get away with that in today’s kinder, gentler force.
Ooooh that smell
Can’t you smell that smell…
Somebody hade to crawl in and clean it all up for him.
High pressure hose for a low pressure hoser?
Forced to buy soda with his debt card while hiding!
WTF OVER!
Unless he gets a discharge that prevents him from getting care, he will be on the steps of the VA seeking mental health care, which it appears he is in need. Paranoid for sure. Schizophrenic, also?
Certainly not claustrophobic.
Bathsalts on board?
Yep Chief. I can see 100% disability rating in his future.
10 years from now, he’ll have war stories.
The Skipper was a real piece of work, too, which poisoned the entire chain of command. This kid was obviously having issues, and didn’t get the help he needed.
USS Shiloh Morale
‘“It’s only a matter of time before something horrible happens,” one shipmate warned.
“Our sailors do not trust the CO,” another noted.
It’s a “floating prison,” one said.
“I just pray we never have to shoot down a missile from North Korea,” a distraught sailor lamented, “because then our ineffectiveness will really show.”’
What will it take for Navy higher-ups to fix this sort of thing? A mutiny? Someone tossing a disfunctional leader overboard? A ship -sunk-?
Two wrecked ships and a wrecked crew, all in the same command? This has to get fixed, and it has to start now.
Drain the swamp. Or in this case, drain the South China Sea. Of course, then China will build an airstrip on the new ground, but let’s deal with one problem at a time.
What a mess.
After reading those accounts of life aboard the USS Shiloh under that Skipper, I wonder if maybe he would have stayed a good Sailor had he gotten help when he asked for it versus the toxic environment in that Command?
They should have just dropped this turd overboard….
Or flushed….
Same difference.
VA PTSD benefits in 3…2…1…
No, don’t drop him overboard. They’d have to look for him all over again.
Just dump him off at Olongapo and let him find his own way home.
Hey, drop me off at Olongapo….I loved that place!
“VA PTSD benefits in 3…2…1…”
Yep. “I caught the PTSD aboard ship. The CO was a turd and had it in for me. So I had to hide in a tight space for a week w/o food. Just my geedunk card and I had to sneak around at night to use it so I could eat.”
Yeah, why not? /s
I caught my PTSD when I had to teach US Marines how to snow ski at Huckleberry Creek Mountain Training Camp.
It was a bloody mess, but I had to deal with it…
Back in the ‘ole days, he would have been duct taped, hauled to the fantail, covered in GP soap, scrubbed with natural bristle long handled brushes and rinsed with a 1.5 in firehouse.
Cleansing is therapeutic for all concerned.
Keep him in the brig until they return to home port, then nail him.