US Navy -- An Education In Itself

ElCastor

ElCastor

Senior Member
Location
Northern CA
I graduated from college less than a year before Vietnam. Eligible for the draft -- better the Navy than sleeping in a ditch, so off to a recruiting office, then Newport and OCS. Join the Navy and see the world. As an ensign I found myself, a junior Snipe, on a carrier bound for the South China Sea. R Division junior officer and eventually M Division and Main Engines Officer. My 3 year commitment was drawing to a close and I'm offered 2 years shore duty anywhere I choose, so it's off to Rota Spain -- two of the most interesting and rewarding years of my life. From Norway to Morocco, UK to Turkey, and pretty much everywhere
between. As a reserve officer I was offered a regular commission, but turned it down. Time to settle down and get to know some girls who spoke English.
 

oldpeculier said:
They were not kidding when they said it was not just a job but "an adventure". I loved Spain myself, thought they had the best looking girls. ;)
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I shared your love of Spain. Unfortunately my eventual departure from the Navy wasn't 100% pleasant. I did my two years in Spain. A few months before my time was up I took over running the brig. The brig officer was Navy, but the guards were all Marines. The officer I relieved told me a story that had been told to him by one of the guards, a guard that had been transferred in from Vietnam. The story involved pushing prisoners out of helicopters as an encouragement to talk. At the time it seemed a little surprising, but I figured, ehh, fortunes of war. After I got out I spent a couple of months driving around Europe, and eventually wound up back in San Francisco, a civilian -- where I began to read about another side of the Vietnam War, a side that was not being told in the Stars & Stripes. Oh, oh, I remembered the helicopter story. I reported it up the chain of command, all the way up, and was told it was just a "sea story", a tall tale. That went on for awhile and very disappointed in my government, resigned my reserve commission.
 
Plausible deniability was what we called it when you had R.O.K (republic of Korea) soldiers go up in the helicopter with a p.o.w for questioning and then come back without them. Uncle Sam could then say with a straight face that it was a tall tale and we never did such a thing.
 
squatting dog said:
Plausible deniability was what we called it when you had R.O.K (republic of Korea) soldiers go up in the helicopter with a p.o.w for questioning and then come back without them. Uncle Sam could then say with a straight face that it was a tall tale and we never did such a thing.
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Bottom line, Vietnam was a war we should never have gotten into. I'm sorry to say that I participated in three carrier cruises to that God forsaken war, although oddly enough I never saw the place -- except maybe once on the horizon, but probably a cloud. Spent most of my time working on a heat rash in the forward engine room. Other than occasional stops in Hawaii, Japan, and Hong Kong, (all great) most of my time ashore was in Olongapo -- a mile of bars and beauty parlors for the girls who worked in those bars -- not exactly a paradise, to put it politely.
 
4 years in the US Navy, and I never set foot on a ship. I was a corpsman, assigned to hospitals & finally GTMO. I was stationed in St. Albans, NYC. If they would have left me there, I would have stayed in the Navy for 20 years. But they stuck me in GTMO, where I wanted to stay in the Navy for about 20 minutes. One thing about the Navy was they trained you to do something, then totally relied on you to do your job. That's why there's an 18 year old sailor, steering a multibillion-dollar carrier.
 
My military years were my prime "education"....albeit, not in the Navy, but the USAF. When I graduated from HS in 1960, I could feel the draft board breathing on my neck. Having NO desire to be trapped in a Viet Nam jungle, I joined the AF. They gave me an excellent education in electronics....which laid the groundwork for a very good career in computers when I left the military.

I spent 7 years in the AF, 4 of which were in Germany. I traveled all over Europe, and even married a wonderful Fraulein. I spent my last year in Thailand, in 1967, during the peak of that miserable VN war, and was sure glad that I was fixing broken F-105's, instead of carrying a AR-15.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
4 years in the US Navy, and I never set foot on a ship. I was a corpsman, assigned to hospitals & finally GTMO. I was stationed in St. Albans, NYC. If they would have left me there, I would have stayed in the Navy for 20 years. But they stuck me in GTMO, where I wanted to stay in the Navy for about 20 minutes. One thing about the Navy was they trained you to do something, then totally relied on you to do your job. That's why there's an 18 year old sailor, steering a multibillion-dollar carrier.
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You were lucky! Shore duty in the Navy is, or was, considered a vacation. A ship needs to be run 24 hours a day. It's probably better now, but back in the day those engine rooms were hot and noisy. During General Quarters, ventilation was cut off and it got up to 120 degrees. Personally my least favorite task was as a safety officer during 5" gun drills -- yes even carriers had guns. In those days, not so much as an ear plug. I still have a nasty case of tinnitus. On the plus side, Hong Kong, Japan, and many stops in Hawaii -- followed by two very pleasant years in Spain. Once I was out those 5 years made getting a job back in civilian life an easy task. All in all a great experience.
 
ElCastor said:
I graduated from college less than a year before Vietnam. Eligible for the draft -- better the Navy than sleeping in a ditch, so off to a recruiting office, then Newport and OCS. Join the Navy and see the world. As an ensign I found myself, a junior Snipe, on a carrier bound for the South China Sea.
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I enlisted for 3 years, trained as a Snipe in the Army's "navy", there at Ft. Eustis, Va. Signed an "intent to re-enlist" for 3 years and attended the warrant officer's Harbor Craft Engine Operator's Advanced Course....then off to Vietnam. BTW, I didn't have to re-up as they didn't need WOs, so I stayed and E-5.
The way I ended up in the Army was because the Navy recruiter thought that since I was born in Cuba that I needed to go to the Immigration and Naturalization office in L.A. and apply for citizenship. I had dual citizenship since my parents were American citizens, but the recruiter didn't seem to grasp that. As a 17 yr. old I just thought to myself "screw that", so I went to the Army recruiter who, seeing "fresh meat" assured me that "it's OK kid, we'll take you". :LOL:
 


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