Base Library

"The new and improved fourth edition of the well-received Poopie Suits & Cowboy Boots benefits from comprehensive overhauls of all chapters. Over 1,000 changes were made to improve syntax, accuracy, and clarity. A few remaining historical, technical, and spelling errors from the third edition were corrected as well. The authors, Frank and Charles Hood, relied on the collective expertise of two dozen veteran submariners to help with proper language choices and more detailed explanations of key concepts. The submarine glossary has been expanded by 50%. The layout has been improved as well, resulting in a handsome publication that belongs on the bookshelf of any aficionado of submarine history.

Poopie Suits & Cowboy Boots is a semi-autobiographic trip through the process of training and deployment aboard a fast-attack nuclear submarine during the height of the Cold War. The reader follows Frank's progression through NROTC at Purdue, his unforgettable interview with Admiral Hyman Rickover, commissioning into the U.S. Navy at college graduation, and intensive post-graduate training stints at Mare Island, Idaho Falls, and Groton on the way to his assignment as a junior nuclear officer aboard the USS SEAHORSE (SSN 669) based out of Charleston.

Filled with tremendous detail that touches upon many of the relevant cultural touchstones of the late 1960s, the story hits its stride with vivid descriptions of life aboard a nuclear submarine. More focused on the day-to-day rather than the cloak-and-dagger, Poopie Suits & Cowboy Boots capitalizes upon Frank’s journey aboard the Seahorse to explain many key concepts of submarine operation: staffing and organization, weapons systems, sonar, periscope function, communications, and much more.

The reader will learn in clear language how Admiral Rickover oversaw the implementation of nuclear technology aboard submarines; how a submarine nuclear reactor functions; how submarines manipulate buoyancy to vary depth; how a target is acquired before torpedo firing; and how important sound analysis is for surveillance.

Additional topics of discussion include food storage and preparation, the qualification process (earning one's dolphins), the challenges of polar navigation, the generation of oxygen and water necessary for life, and the process of arriving in port.

Some very significant personal events, both happy and tragic, affected Frank during his four-year period of service, and these are described in poignant detail as well.

The reader is also provided with a rich tapestry of interesting submarine history along the way.

Through engaging storytelling--drawn from Frank's experiences aboard the Seahorse--the reader will gain tremendous insight into the whole ethos of submarines. This memoir provides a rare glimpse inside a world that few others have any familiarity or understanding.

The story is greatly enhanced by more than 100 fully captioned photographs as well as a detailed cutaway of the Seahorse to give the reader a useful visual aid while reading about the virtual walking tour aboard the submarine. Finally, the fourth edition features 13 original “interlude” stories scattered among the chapters; these vignettes explore specific historical topics important to the legacy of the Submarine Force.

All profits from the book have been donated to a single charity since the very first book was sold in 2018. As of January 2020, more than $27,000 has been raised through sales of Poopie Suits & Cowboy Boots, and all donated funds are earmarked for the Scholarship Fund of the United States Submarine Veterans, Inc. (USSVI). This fund primarily assists family members of submarine veterans with tuition expenses, among other philanthropic aims. The authors are proud of this affiliation, and readers who buy the book can rest assured that their purchase will count toward this ever-increasing total."