Knight
Well-known Member
Long but not all military service is without perks.
In the Navy duty days are when you are assigned something to do normally every 4th. day. That varies of course depending on where you are stationed & the department you are assigned to.
Starting out of boot camp my assignment was ATO or Air Transpotation Ops. There I had 3 section duty. One 24 hour "shift" and two days off. For a six pack of beer you could get someone off duty to stand in for you. With that much time off going up to Carboneer was what I did, had a girlfriend there. At the time I didn't know it the best thing was I converted my civilian drivers license to a Navy drivers license. Certified to drive everything from an 18 thousand lb. lift capacity fork lift to an 47 passenger bus.
When I reached E-3 I was able to request a school. I chose jet engine school in Memphis, Tenn. There after checking in I was assigned 4 section duty, difference was school during the day, duty at night for 4 hours. 8p/m to midnight, midnight to 4 a/m, 4 a/m to 8 am Duty amounted to those of us scheduled for that time frame being posted as a "guard" at one of the many buildings. NOT me though. I drove the little bus filled with others to post them at the different buildings. Returned to the duty office to drink coffee & play cards with the duty officer. Didn't get rained on or bitten by mosquitos & could nap between checking the posts with the duty officer.
Completed school sent to Charleston AFB for transportation to Roosevelt Roads NAS P. R.
Lots of Navy personel waiting for transportation so no definite time set to leave. Of course I was assigned a duty section. The duty officer noted I had a Navy drivers license so he asked me if I wanted to drive for the Lt. in charge of the shipping dept. That meant instead of standing watch, bagging groceries at the PX, doing grounds keeper duties at the golf course, I had the life of leisure. Get up eat breakfast pick the Lt. up at the main gate at 8 o'clock. Got fishing gear from the recreation building and golf clubs. Stored those in the Lt's office. Depending on what I felt like doing I could fish or golf just had to be back at 4 p/m to drive the Lt. to the main gate. Sadly after a month my flight was scheduled.
After checking in with the squadron life normalized into 4 section duty which was to bad. As the plane captain of the CO's plane I was limited to only the 8 to midnight watch so I would always have his plane ready. A nasty surprise popped up the squadron had to supply a body to the base to work in the galley for 3 months. That meant getting up at 4 a/m to do whatever the cooks needed done. Then working all day and getting off around 6 p/m 7 days a week. As all us new replacements were stading there the head cook asked if anyone had a drivers license. I raised my hand, the cook said stand over there I'll talk to you in a few minutes. Lucked out again, I could sleep in but had to be at the galley by 5:30 a/m to load the van to deliver food to the galley on the other side of the base. Off until 10:30 to load lunch food & off again until 4:30. Easy 3 months.
Last was tour bus driver and base guide for NAS Lakehurst. Everyone else in my assigned job area had 4 section duty. My duty was to drive tours of the base when the PIO scheduled a tour. I could go weeks with no tours. Easiest 3 years of duty plus a lot of thank you letters from schools and others that toured. I had the best expeience ever about the 2nd. yr. of guiding tours. An older German couple showed up at the main gate in a taxi. When they came in the office it was clear they didn't speak english. I had a friend in squadron HU4 that was fluent in German so I called him. He explained the couple was the parents of a lieutenant that died on the Hindenberg and they wanted to see where he died before they did. It was their lifetime goal. So instead of using the bus I used the duty officers car to drive them out to the apron in front of hanger #1 where the Hindenberg burned. A very emotional time for them & me. A nice surprise the base commander shared with me a thank you letter from the German embassy for completing the dream of that couple.
In the Navy duty days are when you are assigned something to do normally every 4th. day. That varies of course depending on where you are stationed & the department you are assigned to.
Starting out of boot camp my assignment was ATO or Air Transpotation Ops. There I had 3 section duty. One 24 hour "shift" and two days off. For a six pack of beer you could get someone off duty to stand in for you. With that much time off going up to Carboneer was what I did, had a girlfriend there. At the time I didn't know it the best thing was I converted my civilian drivers license to a Navy drivers license. Certified to drive everything from an 18 thousand lb. lift capacity fork lift to an 47 passenger bus.
When I reached E-3 I was able to request a school. I chose jet engine school in Memphis, Tenn. There after checking in I was assigned 4 section duty, difference was school during the day, duty at night for 4 hours. 8p/m to midnight, midnight to 4 a/m, 4 a/m to 8 am Duty amounted to those of us scheduled for that time frame being posted as a "guard" at one of the many buildings. NOT me though. I drove the little bus filled with others to post them at the different buildings. Returned to the duty office to drink coffee & play cards with the duty officer. Didn't get rained on or bitten by mosquitos & could nap between checking the posts with the duty officer.
Completed school sent to Charleston AFB for transportation to Roosevelt Roads NAS P. R.
Lots of Navy personel waiting for transportation so no definite time set to leave. Of course I was assigned a duty section. The duty officer noted I had a Navy drivers license so he asked me if I wanted to drive for the Lt. in charge of the shipping dept. That meant instead of standing watch, bagging groceries at the PX, doing grounds keeper duties at the golf course, I had the life of leisure. Get up eat breakfast pick the Lt. up at the main gate at 8 o'clock. Got fishing gear from the recreation building and golf clubs. Stored those in the Lt's office. Depending on what I felt like doing I could fish or golf just had to be back at 4 p/m to drive the Lt. to the main gate. Sadly after a month my flight was scheduled.
After checking in with the squadron life normalized into 4 section duty which was to bad. As the plane captain of the CO's plane I was limited to only the 8 to midnight watch so I would always have his plane ready. A nasty surprise popped up the squadron had to supply a body to the base to work in the galley for 3 months. That meant getting up at 4 a/m to do whatever the cooks needed done. Then working all day and getting off around 6 p/m 7 days a week. As all us new replacements were stading there the head cook asked if anyone had a drivers license. I raised my hand, the cook said stand over there I'll talk to you in a few minutes. Lucked out again, I could sleep in but had to be at the galley by 5:30 a/m to load the van to deliver food to the galley on the other side of the base. Off until 10:30 to load lunch food & off again until 4:30. Easy 3 months.
Last was tour bus driver and base guide for NAS Lakehurst. Everyone else in my assigned job area had 4 section duty. My duty was to drive tours of the base when the PIO scheduled a tour. I could go weeks with no tours. Easiest 3 years of duty plus a lot of thank you letters from schools and others that toured. I had the best expeience ever about the 2nd. yr. of guiding tours. An older German couple showed up at the main gate in a taxi. When they came in the office it was clear they didn't speak english. I had a friend in squadron HU4 that was fluent in German so I called him. He explained the couple was the parents of a lieutenant that died on the Hindenberg and they wanted to see where he died before they did. It was their lifetime goal. So instead of using the bus I used the duty officers car to drive them out to the apron in front of hanger #1 where the Hindenberg burned. A very emotional time for them & me. A nice surprise the base commander shared with me a thank you letter from the German embassy for completing the dream of that couple.
