Lt. Douglas Roberts serves
aboard the USS Reluctant, a naval
cargo ship (nicknamed
"The Bucket" )
stationed behind the battle
lines in the South Pacific during World War
II.
Mr. Roberts, however, wants to leave
the mundane existence of working on a cargo
ship and get into the heat of the battle.
Unfortunately, every time he requests a
transfer to the front line, his commanding
officer, Captain John Morton refuses his
request.
You see,
Morton likes things just the way
they are and doesn't want to jeopardize the
operations of his ship by loosing an officer
to the fighting. Mr. Roberts, however, is
determine to get into the fray of fighting
and transferred off the cargo vessel. While
Roberts waits for the day he gets
transferred, he settles into the routine
business of running the ship.
His companions
onboard include:
Junior officer Ensign Pulver who is always good for a laugh.
Pulver is obsessed with the ladies and is
not averse to smuggling his girlfriends on
aboard.
Doc, the stern medical officer
brings a conservative calm to the group with
his wisdom and somber outlook on life.
And
then, there is Captain Morton and his potted
palm. Morton shows more concern about that
palm tree than with his own crew. The
Captain once canceled shore leave for the
entire crew after he discovered that someone
had crushed out a cigar on his potted
palm.
On a day to day
basis, Mr. Roberts had to contend with a
number of problems. They might include:
- Discovering a pregnant woman accidentally
left in the sickbay after the ship set to
sea;
- Keeping three USO females out of sight
from the crew until they arrived at their
destination
- Hosting a Congressman who
visits the ship after Pulver sent a letter
alleging the crew's heroic exploits
- Arranging a phony surgery on Pulver to
get Doc out of a depression
- Uncovering a plot by a German spy
planted on the ship to impersonate the
Captain.
To keep the
crew's morale from slumping Mr. Roberts
sometimes became involve in activities like
a arranging a boxing match between his ship
and another ship in the fleet, or agreeing
to steal a film (a musical) from the
Captain's quarters after the crew complained
of seeing the same old movie over and over
again.
Another daily
concern of Mr. Roberts was junior officer
Ensign Pulver who avoided work at all cost
and got involved in all sorts of hanky panky
aboard the ship. Pulver's pranks included
accidentally killing the Captain's beloved
potted palm; giving medical supplies to a
pretty lieutenant without permission; and
bringing a bevy of unauthorized females
aboard (Pulver pretended one such stowaway
was a member of royalty to explain her
presence onboard).
Besides Mr.
Roberts's concerns over Pulver and crew, his
main focus in life was getting transferred
off "The Bucket" and into the war. Once
Robert almost made it off the ship but had
to stay when his replacement proved inept.
Ensign Pulver tried to help Mr. Roberts by
contacting his mother in the States to use
her influence to get Roberts transferred,
but to no avail.
With all the
constant rejections, Roberts sometimes felt
overwhelmed and took his anger out on the
crew, but that never lasted very long. After
all, despite his disappointment, Mr. Roberts
was a dutiful officer and would always
follow orders, despite his personal
feelings.
