Navy Vet
I am proud to have had the opportunity to serve our country.
I put in 6 years in the US Navy, and enlisted in 1974. Vietnam was just winding down and the cold water was in full force. I was trained as a Missile Tech and proud to have been able to service some of the most powerful weapons on Earth. Maintaining their state of readiness as the ultimate deterrent to War.
I had the opportunity to experience submarine training school and to work on several submarines but never went on a patrol, just served tender duty. USS Proteus AR5. A converted World War II Relic with teak wood decks and a missile magazine.
Had a bit of a dicey time outrunning a typhoon in the middle of the Pacific once. A bit scary when you're cresting 50 foot swells with a cargo full of megatonnage, with your screws breaking water at the crest of the wave sending a shutter through your 50 year old ship that's been cut in half to insert a missile magazine and then welded back together. Fun times!
Changed my rate to Instrumentman in my fourth year as I felt it would give me more opportunities for a career path. I spent the next two years on the USS Vulcan, a repair ship. It was the first Navy vessel to go underway with a coed crew, we were tagged The Love Boat.
We had the opportunity to tour the Mediterranean which are memories I will never forget. I almost ended up in the Indian Ocean during the bungled Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt to maintain the gear for all the message traffic that was flying about. Many of you know the rest of that story and I never had to go.
I managed to get promoted to E-6 by my fifth year, and accomplishment I very proud of. I was still only 23.
My Navy experiences were very rewarding to me and I never regret any of it.
I wish we had laws like Israel where everyone is required to join the military for 2 years. I think people would have more respect for their country if they were required to serve.
Lee
Also a Navy Vet. Enlisted in '71. The draft was on again/off again but was ON when I was getting ready to graduate. Not wanting to be drafted into the Army or Marines, I joined the Navy like my uncles before me. At that time, the military was a good place for young men that weren't sure what to do with their lives. It was a good choice and I'm glad I enlisted.
Enlisted in '71 and attended Boot Camp at NTC San Diego. Graduated and was assigned as a Machinist Mate E-3 to a gearing class destroyer, USS Wiltsie DD716. She was a destroyer built in mid 40's and saw action in most conflicts beginning with the Korean War. I was stationed aboard right before being deployed for what would be her last involvement in combat. Did a 7 month deployment to Vietnam and were saw some action, enough to received a Combat Action Medal. It made being in the military and being in a war, that much more real!
When we returned home after Vietnam, I was approached by our Engineering Officer for a job because I could type. When he asked for a volunteer and no one stepped forward, he called out my name, asked if I could type and when I acknowledge "affirmative, Sir!", he said, "come with me." I followed up the ladder out of the engine room to the Engineering Office where he said, "this is your new work station. You work for me, you'll not go down in the Engine Room unless we are at GQ." I became the Engineering Division Yeoman. I held that position for almost 3 years and was given some pretty great perks along with a clean work environment. Didn't make too many of the guys down in the hold, too happy! I told them, "you should have learned to type!" :DDDD
My original boss and Engineering Officer of the ship got transferred and I got a new Lt. to work for. He was even better than the first. He asked what I wanted to do after I got out and I told him I wanted to become a firefighter. He began sending me to every firefighting training school he could find in the bay area of California. I think I spent more time at firefighting school than I did onboard ship! I received tons of certificates for various firefighting schools that I think helped me get hired.
I was honorably discharged in '75. I went to school and took fire science courses, took many tests and was lucky enough to get hired by the same fire department as my father in law. I had a great experience while in the Navy and don't ever regret my time spent in the military. I did resist some authority and standards and missed being home with my wife but it was a good experience and it helped me find direction and purpose.
As an Instrumentman, we didn't have very many watch duties. Mine was assigned of the engineering office to answer the phone. That was a great watch Duty. Sometimes I would have to stand the mid watch and would be there from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. .
I used to take care of the guys in the hold as I would head to the chow hall and get the fresh baked Donuts and bring them down to the engine room early in the morning. Those guys love me!
I didn't mind the mid watch onboard ship, midnight to 4am. I still stood my duty down in the hole when underway. I had a knack for the throttles. Got a reputation with the boiler techs and when at GQ, they wanted me on the throttles at all times. One time, when a rookie throttleman dragged a boiler offline, their 1st Class Boilerman requested that I remain on throttles at all times and suggested I bunk at the throttle board! :DDDD I ended up teaching my opposites on what they needed to do.
One of the things I was taught by an ol' salt was to make friends with the cooks, laundry and dispersing guys. I, too, would go down on mid watch and we'd smell the fresh baked cinnamon rolls the cooks were baking for the officers morning breakfast. The crew never got any fresh baked goods while underway, in the chow line. I'd be on the throttles and hear my name called at the top of the hatch and shimmy up the ladder and my cook buddy would hand me 6 big, fresh baked cinnamon rolls for those of us on watch! I always got my laundry done quickly and never had to wait in line for pay day! Life was pretty good onboard ship, for me anyway! :DDD
One of the other things I did was inherit a "slush fund" from the same guy that told me to make friends with a cook, laundry guy and dispersing guy. I became a loan shark and made enough money to get me home on weekends between paydays and extra money to send my wife and little girl. Too bad those money making traits died with my Navy days. I'm terrible at saving money! :DDDD
As an instrumentman, I was in charge of the typewriter repair shop. I was also good friends with all the other Techs on board ship but especially got friendly with the team that ordered the movies for the ship while we were underway. While visiting with them one day one of the guys asked me if I could make them a motorized film rewinder because they had nothing but a manual hand crank model.
So with a old typewriter motor and some fabrication from my welding Buddies I made them a really nice power driven film rewinder. They were so excited to have it that they told me anytime I wanted a movie and a projector to just come and see them. So whenever we were underway I,d just go check out a projector a
and a movie and we would set up in my shop and watch movies instead of the crews lounge.
Definitely paid to make friends in the right places. We eventually got a 27 inch TV mounted in my shop and had our own direct link to the ship's CCTV system. Just got to have an in with the right people. I loved that job.
Wow nice work Lee! My "Tin Can" was a bit too small and unsophisticated for things like that. We didn't even have movie nights that often. Our "crews lounge" was actually a helo hanger and was used more for storage than anything else. You had to bring your own folding chair to sit on and there weren't that many on the ship! When we came back from our second WesPac cruise, that helo hanger looked like a storage unit from one of those "hoarder" shows! :DDD
One of my most memorable underway experiences was when we were on our way to the Mediterranean. Halfway there, in the middle of the Atlantic, on a sunny morning when the weather was calm, the 1 MC announced swim call in 1 hour.
Really? In the middle of the Atlantic?
Being one to never miss out on something really crazy and over the top, I went and got my suit.
They stopped the engines threw a cargo net over the side, and allowed everyone who is interested to jump in. What a crazy Rush! That incredibly beautiful blue water, virtually bottomless and jumping off the side of the ship.
There were only about two dozen of us who had the guts to do it . It was an amazing experience!
They had the Gunnersmates up on Deck with their M16s standing Shark watch, just in case. Never saw any Dorsal fins but had a really incredible enjoyable swim.
The surf was calm but the rollers were still rising and falling on the side of the ship about 6 to 8 feet.
I enjoyed it when a crest of a wave allowed me to grab onto a pad eye welded to the hull, as the wave would pass, I'd push off the side for a dive into the deep blue!
The rule was once you're in you stay in once you're out you stay out, so I stayed in as long as I could , floating out in the beautiful ocean for the better part of an hour.
I had a whole new respect for our Captain after that.
We did this as well but when I saw the gunnersmates with M16's on shark watch, I wasn't going in! :DDDD
We did this on our way home from RVN. We were given the choice of going down to Australia for a few days or go below the Equator, become Shellbacks and head for home, we chose the latter. It was pretty great becoming a Shellback and swim call was so we could wash all that crap the veteran Shellbacks slathered all over us for our initiation. I chose a hosing off on the fantail! I regretted not taking advantage of swim call south of the Equator! Fun times in the USN!
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