The topic of this cache is that of scale, or relative size.
The CO hisself was never large in scale... On the playground in grade school, he was smaller than most of the other boys, and of course the girls were ALL bigger than the boys. Interestingly, one group of girls took to galloping around the schoolyard like a band of wild horses, even throwing their long hair back like a mane and whinnying!!!?? It was not uncommon that, upon seeing little me, they would spin around and come “clopping” over (of course, with big grins on their faces!!?)!!!?? And then they would even rear up as if they were going to forge me with their hooves!!! To this day I tell people I was “scarred mentally” as a young man on the schoolyard in grade school... of course they just laugh, and say “Sure you were!!”!!!?? Interestingly, I saw the ringleader of the band (of horses) several years back at our 50th high school reunion, and when I reminded her of how she and her girlfriends had treated me, she just grinned!!!? <Bad girl, bad girl!!!??>
In high school, this poor fellow was too small for football and so, instead, went out for wrestling. Early in his career he had “trouble weighing in”... Not the usual problem in that sport, though: he wrestled in the smallest weight class (95#) and couldn't weigh that much even if he had had a large meal before the match!!!?? The fellow did do pretty well, though, and was particularly known for not being easy to pin. Eventually, as a senior, he made it up to the 112# weight class; and based on the above characteristic, he even filled in at 120# or 127# if it was advantageous to the overall team score. The net of it was that I spent a significant share of my wrestling career on my back!!??
After high school, I went into the service and ended up serving on a submarine. Of course, space on a sub is at a premium; for instance, a small room off the mess decks on our “boat” served variously as the “doc”'s office, the ship's library (there were several interesting reads placed in the small collection by the commissioning Captain's wife, including the Allan Eckert novel “Wilderness Empire”), and the crew's weight room!!!?? Yup, things were a little cramped for sure... but for once small size was useful!!
As an E-6, I was assigned to the “first class bunkroom”, which was up forward behind the sonar dome and emergency diesel. There was only one berth available, which was in the third tier up and ran along the hull behind the “head” (Navy slang for bathroom). Interestingly, the only way to access the berth was a small rectangular opening at one end, and one had to climb up on the lower two bunks then turn and snake into the opening head first!! Overall, there was barely enough room to roll over without hitting the overhead light!!? Kind of like being in a coffin!!? And, as one may surmise, getting out was truly a contortionist challenge too!!? But for the Frahmanator, no problem!!!?? Best of all, though, one couldn't fall out of it if one tried!!!