The Order of the Shellback

When Marines and Sailors aboard a US Naval Vessel cross the Equator, a right of passage must be taken. As you enter King Neptune's domain you do so as a Pollywog or Wog.
Wogs, as they are refered to are those who have yet to complete the right of passage into the brotherhood of the Shellback. This is an old Naval tradition to initiate the Pollywogs, so Captains either during peace time or war, prepare their ship for two days of initiation.
The preparations are endless, storing up garbage, smelly clothes, and anything else that is totally disgusting ( not hard to find on a ship mostly inhabited by men).
The fun starts the night before with a Pollywog beauty contest. Imagine Marines and Sailors of whom are not yet Shellbacks, dressed as women, or women dressed as men. Basically it is a really twisted drag show. After the fun ends and all retire, Wogs quake in their racks, anticipating the day long hazing to come in the morning.
Morning comes and the berthings (sleeping quarters) are stormed by Shellbacks dressed as Pirates. If the Navy ever has a "Talk like a Pirate Day" this is it. The Jolly Rodger is flown below the US Flag on the ships mast, and all hell breaks lose.
Wogs are pulled from their racks by Shellbacks and ordered to get dressed, however, their underwear must be worn out the outside of their clothing. For females aboard the ships, the rules change slightly as to not create incidents.
During my initiation, the Wogs were led down to the Mess Deck on dog collars. Once we reached the Mess Deck we found our breakfast of Green Eggs and Spam laid out on blue tarps.
Now I don't know about you, but I think that Fish Sauce, Phillipino delicacy, is about the worst smelling thing on the planet. Fish sauce soaked eggs are not the best thing you have ever eaten, believe me.




We were then led out to the flight deck of the USS Constellation. Another horror awaited us, we had to eat a grape or cherry out of a fat Chief's belly button, not only was that bad enough, his stomach was covered with lard. More hazing stations were laid out before us, each station more hilarious and gruesome then the one before.
The final obstacle lay before us. A jet engine container filled with GOD ONLY KNOWS what lay in our path. Our mission, low crawl through the obstacle of the most vile things on the planet an emerge reborn.
Our initiation was special though. Some in the military are Shellbacks, our ship on this faithful day had done something special. Not only had we crossed the Equator into King Neptune's domain, but we had also crossed the International Dateline, into the domain of the Golden Dragon. After crawl through the quagmire, I had not only emerged a Shellback, but a Golden Shellback!