How Many Sailors Does it Take to Change a Tire?

Today is a nice chilly 30 degrees with a windchill making it feel like 23 degrees. Not the ideal weather for working on cars, not that I enjoy working on cars in warmer weather. Growing up with three older brothers who all liked to work on cars I know my way around both routine maintenance and even some of the more detailed aspects of auto mechanics. But knowing how to do it and actually enjoying doing it are two very different things. But today we had taken a friend to the base to pick up her husbands car and the tire was flat. So for a few minutes I thought I might just have to get my hands dirty. The friend had no clue how to change it and my daughters' back has been hurting her all morning. So, I took the jack and felt around with my leather gloved hand for a notch in the frame that matched the groove in the scissor jack. I really dislike newer cars the entire thing felt like plastic. Just then I noticed something and rose and moved to the back end of the car. Holding the jack in my left hand at my side I kneeled down examining the bumper.

Now of course my daughter Val is looking at me strange and thinking what on earth is mom doing, you don't jack the car up by it's bumper. I start to tell her about how in my day ratchet jacks hooked into a groove at the rear of the frame, just as a young man called out from across the lane of the parking lot asking if I need help.  I turned and smiled and said we have a flat and I can't seem to find the right place to put the jack….hehe… of course him and his buddies all tell us not to worry they will fix it for us, and jog over to our rescue.

YEP,  I still know how to play Damsel in Distress and am not ashamed to admit I totally enjoy letting a man fix my car, even when I know how.  My daughter hadn't noticed the group of sailors walking along the opposite side of the lane, thankfully I had. And this is what happened next….

In this first picture you will notice there are three man kneeling, two standing and a woman in uniform standing at the back of the car. I do believe she was not very happy. She had been walking with the five men and did not seem to like that their attention was now completely on changing our tire. She wandered around to the other side of the car until they had finished changing the tire and could be on their way.

Four of the sailors jumped right in each taking over a step in the process of changing the tire.

While the sailor with the blue jacket and red hat took over command of the operation, never once taking his hands from his pockets.  He issued orders such as 'be sure to loosen those lug nuts before you raise the tire.' 'Okay, (name)... jack it up more' '(name) get that spare ready' and so on until the job was complete. After completing the job the sailor in command wish us a good day and turning to our friend said 'your safe to go just keep it under 45.'

So now for the answer to how many sailors it takes to change a flat tire; it is obviously five, one to give orders and four to preform the job. Photos courtesy of my daughters' cell phone, I didn't think it was a good idea to pull out my big camera.

Have you ever played helpless female so that a man will do something for you? I will be the first to admit that I don't like it when a man assumes a woman can't possibly know how to do something that is typically thought of as a mans' job, but at the same time I think there are times that for the sake of male ego (and our own femininity) it is important that we woman let them think we are helpless.