He said mines had practices to alleviate it, like wetting down roadways, installing proper ventilation, turning on water sprays, ensuring cuttings heads were working properly, and making sure miners positioned themselves to minimize harm.
|
|
He has delivered toasts at the annual William J. Donovan dinner given by the O.S.S. Society, which is named after the World War II-era precursor to the C.I.A. Mr. Greene has joined in a few "wetting-down" ceremonies, in which newly promoted officers buy a celebratory round for their colleagues.
|
|
Modern wetting down parties may or may not include some version of, or homage to, this ritual, such as pouring beer over the officer's head or forcing him to jump fully-uniformed into the ocean.
|
|
A wetting-down party is informal and improvisations on the ceremony are the rule, not the exception. The senior officer present may make the final speech, or if present, the commanding officer who made the promotion can make the final speech. Sometimes the final speech is presented by the new officer's father, especially if he has served in a navy. Although, for particularly exuberant wetting-down parties, parents and senior officers are not usually invited and the honor falls to one of the new officer's close friends.
|
|
In an episode of the American TV series, Major Dad, 2nd Lt. "Gene" Holowachuk (Matt Mulhern) is promoted to 1st Lt. and is, therefore, obliged to throw his fellow officers a wetting-down ceremony. However, Holowachuk wants the ceremony to be alcohol- free since he does not drink liquor. The episode, titled, "Wetting-Down", originally aired on October 22, 1990. This ceremony was also shown in Star Trek Generations when Lt Worf was promoted to Lt Cmdr and dropped into the holographic ocean in the holodeck.
|
|
The warship completed repairs by 1 May and began amphibious training at Kauai to prepare for the Marianas operation. On 21 May, while Waters was in Pearl Harbor, an LST moored near her exploded. The resulting fire quickly spread to ships moored nearby. Though Waters was unable to get underway immediately and clear the area, her crew responded quickly by manning the fire-fighting equipment and wetting down the decks.
|
|
In the ninth season opener of TV series NCIS, Probationary Officer Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) receives her ID badges and shield which means she is officially a special agent of NCIS. Ziva wants to go out and celebrate and McGee (Sean Harland Murray) implies she means a wetting-down, but Ziva thinks he is referring to a wedding because of the language barrier. Gibbs (Mark Harmon) corrects her and explains it means she is paying. The episode, titled, "Nature of the Beast", originally aired on September 20, 2011.
|
|
The wetting-down celebration is always paid for and hosted by the newly promoted officer, who invites his or her friends, which usually include several officers of the same rank at which he or she has most recently served. It is customary for the officer to spend the difference between their pay at their old rank and their pay at the new rank on the bar tab for their guests. Normally the party occurs at a bar or pub frequented by officers. Being located in a bar, there is typically a great deal of drinking of alcohol.
|
|
The "wetting down" for such a party term comes from the historical practice of wetting new rank insignia to give it a more weathered appearance. In most navies, officers's rank insignia consists of gold braiding in the form of stripes on the cuff, epaulets, and (historically) arrangements of gold braid on buttonholes, collars, etc. Upon promotion, a newly added stripe or epaulet would stand out against the more weathered gold braiding already on the uniform. Newly promoted officers would literally soak the new gold braid (usually with either seawater or an alcoholic beverage) to make it appear older so that the promotion would not look as recent.
|
|