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Memories Popeye's Sea Stories

AAR Galileo said:
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Considering that the USS America was reportedly pummeled for 4 weeks, the fight deck and island look amazingly damage free.
 
Chazman said:
Considering that the USS America was reportedly pummeled for 4 weeks, the fight deck and island look amazingly damage free.
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I also noticed that. But I've read that America was struck only with underwater weapons. Torpedoes, mines & EOD explosives. You know all the info on what it took to sink America is classified.
 
One of the reasons I joined the USN is that I was tired of going to school. Plus I did not want to get drafted into the US Army. Somehow or another my dad had procured me a full boat scholarship to attend Ohio State. BUT big stupid me did no want to go. So I joined the USN!..thinking that I'd be done with school. How wrong I was. First off boot camp is about 40% classroom. Then the USN sent me to Jacksonville FL for aviation fundamentals "P" schools. Next I was sent to Millington TN i.e. Memphis for Aviation mechanics fundamentals..jeez will this ever end? Finally in early March of 1972 I received my orders to USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67)..with an addendum.>>>.OUTSTALANT....I'm asking what the heck is OUTSTALANT? Simply put that means the ship was deployed. JFK was deployed all right..in the Mediterranean.

So I flew from Memphis TN to Nashville TN to Philadelphia PA. I hadda take a bus to McGuire AFB. There I took a military Charter to Rota Spain. Then after a couple days of nothingness in Rota we flew in a C-130 Hercules. from Rota to Naples to Sigonella then finally on to Rhodes Greece where the JFK had arrived that day March 24th 1972 for a two week port visit....I had after 7 months arrived in "The Fleet".
 
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I also have plenty of shore duty stories. In case anyone wanted to know in my 20 years of service I spent 5 years and 10 months on actual sea duty. I also spent 4 years on overseas duty ashore that counted as sea duty.

I was stationed in the Philippines from August '75 until 1 October '77. Some of the shenanigans guys got into there were "over the top"..Really. You had to be there.
 
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In another forum there was a discussion about USS Gerald R Ford weapons elevators not working. And shipmate stated this;
some things in life doesn't need to get fancy. Weapons elevator being one of them.
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You got that right. When I was aboard Hancock CVA-19 in '74 & '75 our below deck CPO , AOC M. Graves,

[IMG]

...before any weapons movement evolution CPO Graves would ask.."Are those elevators ah hummin?" ...and the answer was always yes. Simple electric motor powered elevators. They always worked.

We had a guy in our division named Owens. We all called him Buck. You know like Buck Owens the country & western singer. Anyway he was excellent and singing and playing the guitar. The man was talented. He wrote a short country and western song about CPO Graves. It was very entertaining. Very funny!
 
My grandson "poopeye" is at sea this very moment aboard Nimitz. They are in what we use to call the work-up cycle. Lots of drills and work...work...work. It seems endless. Work-ups suck big time.Nimitz has been at sea nearly a month with two very short visits to San Diego..No liberty on the first stop. For some reason there have been no "news" on navy.mill about Nimitz being at sea and only a few posted photos on facebook. Dunno why. Eny whoo the ship is not finished working up. They are going back out very soon for more work-ups and then a deployment sometime next year.

When I was aboard JFK in January 1973 we did work up down in the Caribbean. The word was passed that we would get liberty in St Thomas the US Virgin Islands.:cool: yea right. Well the time past for our port visit:mad: and we headed back to Norfolk with a short six hour stop in Mayport FL to disembark the air wing that was stationed down there. All the drunks ran off to the enlisted club and got really, really drunk.
 
This is a great thread.. I should devote more time to it. As I stated in the US Navy thread today is the 49th aniversary of me, popeye, joining the US Navy. You know what? I'm still getting paid! Yep..retired pay. Not nearly as much as active duty pay but it sure beats nuthin'!

Something that happened to me years ago when I was a maintenance man at Grant Wood Early Education Center here in Cedar Rapids. One of my jobs was setting up conference rooms. One evening I was busy doing this and a man who had been a conference in one of the rooms came up to me and saw my Vietnam Veterans hat and said. "I bet you weren't even in the service! You are just wearing that hat to get something from people." I said "WHAT?!?" "I served for 20 years with the USN". He said "you can't prove that". I said "Oh yes I can". I took my ID car out of my wallet and showed it to him. He walked away with a disgusted look on his face. No apologizes, no nothing. What a jerk!!! Some people just need..well..you know.
 
bdpopeye said:
This is a great thread.. I should devote more time to it. As I stated in the US Navy thread today is the 49th aniversary of me, popeye, joining the US Navy. You know what? I'm still getting paid! Yep..retired pay. Not nearly as much as active duty pay but it sure beats nuthin'!

Something that happened to me years ago when I was a maintenance man at Grant Wood Early Education Center here in Cedar Rapids. One of my jobs was setting up conference rooms. One evening I was busy doing this and a man who had been a conference in one of the rooms came up to me and saw my Vietnam Veterans hat and said. "I bet you weren't even in the service! You are just wearing that hat to get something from people." I said "WHAT?!?" "I served for 20 years with the USN". He said "you can't prove that". I said "Oh yes I can". I took my ID car out of my wallet and showed it to him. He walked away with a disgusted look on his face. No apologizes, no nothing. What a jerk!!! Some people just need..well..you know.
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I bet that disgusting personage was at a conference to get something from people.
 
On a positive note there is a lady at our Sam's club that always comes up to me and shakes my hand and says "thank you for your service". I appreciate that. When Sam's club mini diner was open she'd get me free pizza or a hot dog and pop/soda. Very kind of her.;)
 
Popeye -- long time fan of your posts. Can't believe I just stumbled upon this thread. Grateful to you for your time, humor, and most importantly, your service.
V/R
RL
 
Thanks for the kind words RL64RL!;)

I visited many, many ports while serving with the USN. Unlike todays sailors who suffer under COVID restrictions. For instance my grand son "Poopeye" is aboard NIMITZ right now. They have been to Guam..on base liberty only and Bahrain..same deal. They went to Oman also but I don't know what the liberty policy was there. Limited liberty is bad for morale and retention.

Not for me!!! No way. I've been to the following places many more than once.

Rota Spain, Barcelona SP.. Palma SP, Valencia SP, The Province of Monaco, Cannes France, Genoa Italy, Naples IT, La Madelena IT, Sigonella IT, Rhodes Greece, Athens GR, Izmir Turkey, Bahrain, Dubai UAE, Port Said Egypt, Singapore, Hong Kong(British Crown Colony), Subic Bay Philippines, Manila RP, Yokosuka Japan..many other places in Japan & the Philippines., Okinawa Japan, Busan South Korea. British Indian Ocean Territory Diego Garcia Indian Ocean. All over the US including Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, St Thomas.US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Oh yea I landed at the airport in Madrid while being transferred. Also I spent about 14 hours in Shannon Ireland because the charter airliner we were in had "issues"..Oh so long ago in a Navy far far far away...
 
bdpopeye said:
Yea up until about March this year... As soon as the COVID thing is under control..maybe sailors will get some "good" liberty....:p

Well sailors will NEVER see the likes of this again..because we live in a PC world...

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Subic and Olongapo were 2 of the many places in my first 6 month deployment "up top" in 1975 as a brash 19 y/o sailor, those times will NEVER be seen again as you say old mate ;)notworthy;
 
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