NAVY - Never Again Volunteer Yourself Part 1

I guess I should add my own biography. I doubt anyone wants to hear it but here goes:



I was an Air Force brat until I was 12 when my father retired from the AF. He was a KC135 pilot for 20 years, with the exception of flying an EC-121R during his two tours of Vietnam. When he retired in 1970 we had finally found "home" in Albuquerque New Mexico. Before that, we had lived in a variety of places. Omaha Nebraska (where I was born - Offutt Air Force Base), Enon Ohio, Roswell New Mexico, Salina Kansas, Little Rock Arkansas, San Antonio Texas, Falmouth Massachusetts, back to San Antonio Texas, and then finally Albuquerque when my father was offered a job as an ATC with the FAA. I guess he figured if he couldn't fly anymore, at least he could talk to pilots all day long. My father is my hero to this day. He was awarded a DFC in Vietnam for something he still won't completely tell me about. I was proud he was at my retirement ceremony. Anyway, Albuquerque became my "home" because it was the only place we spent more than 4 years at. I graduated High School in 1977.



I got bored, and since I spent four years of High School in JROTC, decided to enlist in the Navy. I signed up for a delayed entry program and was finally inducted in Mar 1978. I spent 8 weeks in San Diego at Rosecrans and surprisingly graduated (see my picture if you wonder why it was such a surprise).



I was sent from San Diego, to Pensacola Florida for CTO class A school. I was supposed to learn to type, which for me was fun to say the least. Set back by a weeks stay in the Base Hospital for pneumonia, I was put on remedial typing at night after a full day of classes. About a week in, it started to click and suddenly I realized I could actually type with all my fingers. I "typed out" that night with 51 words a minute with no errors. Sounds slow now, but for a beginner, that was haulin' ass. I graduated from A school Basic to start A school Advanced. Here I was given a Top Secret (interim only since my background check hadn't been completed) and was "read in" to the wonderful world of Cryptology. Let me tell you, if you think it sounds cool, it wasn't. You'd be surprised with the Navy considers classified. It would put you to sleep, seriously. No exciting reports from covert operations or messages from spies. Real boring crap. Anyway, I was on my way to becoming a full fledged CTO. Next to tackle was the Teletype class. We started on very old World War I equipment (seriously, I can point you to a website to see the equipment for your self if you don't believe me). Unlike the electric machines we had used in basic, these had three rows of keys, not four. You had to hit the letters key to make it print letters and the figures key to print figures. And you guessed it, the figures were letters and vise versa. Wonderful stuff and I wish to this day I had capture a teletype before I retired. These things cut five baudot tapes that you put on a reperferator to read them. And we had to know how to read the tape. One good thing while I was in Basic, I learned it on my own so I was way ahead of my classmates. I typed out of that class at 135 with 1 error.



After graduating, I had to wait on my clearance to be complete before they would cut me orders. Naturally, with all the traveling I did as a kid, it took a while before it was finally completed. I finally got out of there on Christmas eve of 1978. The only flight I could get to Albuquerque cost me a months pay, but it was First Class seating on Delta. To this day, it was the best flight I ever took.



Funny story here: Before I left for bootcamp, I had a talk with my father one night. I told him with my luck, I would get orders to Guam. The rest of the males in my class had received orders to ships. Since I waited so long for orders, I guess they were all taken, and sure enough I got orders to Guam.



Guam was an experience of a lifetime. And I mean that in a good way. What a beautiful island. The scenery is second to none and that includes Hawaii. The water is warm and the most beautiful shade of blue you can imagine. I love that place. I wish my "skipper" had allowed me to retire there. I was assigned to the Naval Security Group Department, building 200. For the first 6 months I was the duty driver, picking up the shift CT's and dropping them off, as well as retrieving their lunch from the base mess hall. Included in the duties of duty driver, is burn bag detail. Everything that's classified and trash is put in to a grocery bag known as burn bags. These are then stapled in a military fashion and stored until the next business day for the burn detail. Then at the appointed time, all bags are brought to the incinerator for burning. This contraption is ten foot tall, 25 foot deep and burns at the temperature of the sun. I will make this brief, temperature of the sun, and Guam. You can't believe how happy I was to finally get on a watch section. I still cringe when I think about it today.



When I got on a real CT watch section, I was put in an area we called SEATIC. It stands for South East Asia Tactical Information Center. Here I sent and received message traffic for 8 hours. Real boaring stuff let me tell you. But at least I was doing what I was trained to do and I fit in real well with the rest of the CT's on my watch section. I was there for about 2 months and then it was time to get my first sea experience. I was sent TAD to the USS Oklahoma City (CG5), which at that time was COMSEVENFLT's flag ship. I was put on a section and we deployed on a round Japan trip. First time I was underway, and I wasn't sure I liked it. Soon I realized that this was fun and started to enjoy myself. We got to cross the equator which is a story I will save when I am in a foul mood. It will cheer me up to tell it. Then alas, it was over, and I went back to Guam. About 4 months later I was sent to the USS Tripoli (LPH10). Oh fun, Jarheads everywhere. Standing in line after line, no matter what it was for. I had just made E-4 so I still had to wait in the line with all the grunts when I need to go to the ships store, or the mess decks and even the head in some cases. Seriously, you could stand still in the middle of a passageway and pretty soon, there would be a line of grunts behind you. That's how bad it is. I was transferred by helo from Tripoli to the USS Cleveland (LPD8). Just a smaller version of Tripoli. Same problems with the grunts. Finally we sailed into Apra Harbor and I was "home" again on my island. I then decided for some unknown reason to marry someone. A female sailor (isn't that an oxymoron?). Just kidding. It was a mistake both of us would come to regret. About 3 months later, I was sent to Tarawa (LHA1). A bigger version of Tripoli with even more jarheads. I made E-5 while onboard. Oh yes, I was blessed with the Amphib Navy. Three months of hell on that pig and I was finally released to Guam to finish out my tour. I did, and left in 1982 bound for California. This time it was Treasure Island. For those of you who don't know where that is, it's a man made island in the middle of the San Francisco bay. I spent four years there. Duty was nothing to speak of. During this time, I divorced my first wife and found my second and current wife Isabel. We married in 1985 and are still happily married. Ready made family. She had two girls, and one boy. The oldest was 15 and the youngest was 11. Times were tough when we started out, we both were paying for our divorces from our previous spouses. Money was tight but we got by without assistance. I will tell the funny story of how I purposed at a later time. I got orders in 1985 back to Guam and you guessed it, I was in a Direct Support Billet (which means more sea duty coming up). Sure enough, I hadn't even moved into base houseing yet from the hotel when I was wisked away to the airport to catch a flight to Subic Bay PI. My ship, USS Tarawa again. Wonderful. The three weeks I was supposed to be there for turned into four months. I finally got back to Guam and was put on a watch section again. Oh yeah, I made first class (E6) just before I left TI. So I was assigned as a Communications Watch Supervisor (second in command of the section). But alas, two months later, I was on my way back to the PI to pick up the USS Halsey (CG25). I had a blast on that ship. I finally felt like part of ships company. I hung out in the First Class mess most of the 5 months I was onboard. The ship got extended twice in the Indian Ocean right outside the Persian Gulf because the damned Iranians had purchased Silk Worm missles from China. So ironically we had to protect the Iraqi shipping fleet from possible attach from Iran. I was selected Sailor of the Quarter onboard (a big no no for TAD personnel). I finally got off in Cicily and flew all the way around the world back to Guam. I did one other short stint on the USS Debuque (it was only a month) and that ended my sea duty for the rest of my time on Guam. While I was on Guam, I got into Darts. There was a league and the guys on my watch section recruited me to play for the local VFW. I found I wasn't half bad so I stuck around and eventually ended up President of the league. We left Guam in August of 1989 bound for California again, this time San Diego. I had permenant orders as ships company on USS Valley Forge (CG50). I will stop here and continue with Part 2 tomorrow.