DATE: 05/01/2008 12:33:13 / MOOD: anxious

NTC San Diego Califonia Radioman "A" School - What a great base! Established in 1922, some of the barracks look like they were built in 1923! But all in all, it was a nice base, a CLEAN base.

So this is what Navy life is like? Freedom! AALLLRIGHHHTT!! "Hey Martin, lets hop on the liberty bus and go downtown, I've never been to a city before!". So after checking into the command and getting assigned to our barracks and stowing our gear we head out for the big city of San Diego! Having never been to a city I had NO IDEA what to expect.

Now remember - this was 1976. The Disco era had barely started in New York at Studio 54. If you have ever seen re-runs of "Starsky and Hutch" and the "Mod Squad"...this was that time. Well, the liberty bus winds it way down the highway toward what we see off in the distance as the city of San Diego. I'm about on the edge of the seat like all the rest of the sailors. You could tell the ones who had been around and therefore it was no big deal, others just like us...excited at the adventure.

The bus pulls up to the YMCA on Broadway (near the pier) and the doors open. White uniformed sailors clammor off the bus and onto the pavement - San Diego pavement. The smell of the city is everywhere, the city is Busy... Real busy. Thats the one thing that struck me first. Martin and I started walking, where? We didnt know, we just started walking. A few blocks down would be an encounter I would remember for the rest of my life.

We hadnt gotten far when two ladies walked up to us - very pretty ladies. They stopped us and said "Hey Sailors, wanna Date?". I couldnt believe my ears! These beautiful women actually ASKED US for a date! While I was rolling my tongue back up and stuffing it back into my mouth Martin was grabbing my arm and pulling me back and saying "Come on Junior, we gotta go". I'm struggling and saying "What are you Crazy! They want a date!" - I'm pulling against my best friends grasp on my arm over these two beautiful women when Martin, in his infinite wisdom finally says quietly in a hushed voice... "Junior - they're hookers"...."Huh...Wa? They...wa?" I stammered. The girls gave this disgusted look and walked past us as I was drug along by my best friend onto parts unknown in the big city of San Diego. Within 24 hours of arrival at NTC I've met my first!

 

Ill be adding to this - keep checking back...

 

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DATE: 05/01/2008 10:38:10 / MOOD: crazy

NAVY BOOT CAMP ORLANDO FLORIDA (RTC) The Day arrived, Martin, Myself, Tony and Mike (all in on the "Buddy Program") would depart for Navy Boot Camp in Orlando Florida. Mom and Dad, My sister all piled in the Oldsmobile and drove to the bus station (Greyhound) in town for the 2 hour ride to Orlando. We all said our goodbye's and boarded the bus. We were all sitting there waiting expectantly for the bus to leave we all looked at each other and smiled - what fools! Our families all waited by the terminal as the bus slowly inched back away. I could see my father, his face, a concerned look. My mother eyes wet with tears, my sisters too. I was too excited to really feel anything, I was getting OUT OF MY HOMETOWN - FINALLY!

A few thousand stops later, and "Not" the 2 hours they told us but about 6 hours later and at 1 am the bus finally arrives at RTC Orlando Florida. The sliding front doors of the bus opens and yep, you guessed it... in walks this guy in a White, I do mean WHITE uniform. He was a 1st Class Petty Officer (i knew this from Marine JROTC). "MY NAME IS PETTY OFFICER 1st CLASS CLARK - GET YOUR SORRY A**es OFF THIS F****** BUS - NOW!"

With this all of piled off the bus as fast as we could and onto the hot pavement. Yea, 1am, the pavement was still hot. It was July, in Florida - its gonna be hot until December! For the next few hours all we heard was yelling and screaming. There was about 1 hour of sleep that first night, the rest of the day there was haircuts, uniform issues and all other kinds of stuff (that I've forgotten now).

RIFRIFRIFRIFRIFRIF 

The first week when you arrive at RTC you were in whats called "RIF" - Recruit Indoctrination Facility. They do all the necessary stuff to get you READY to start boot camp. The Moth Ball smell on your uniforms was almost unbearable - it made your eyes water unless you were marching. God forbid if you stopped in that heat with that smell! Later on in training you knew if a new company had just arrived by the smell of moth balls. We would often chant "RIF RIF RIF RIF" and would be summarily chewed out by a company commander our own CC for doing it.

Joining the Navy wasnt a bad idea, what WAS a bad idea was joining the Navy and going to Boot Camp in Florida in July-August-September! I was a native Floridian and it just about wasted me and I was still only 17 at the time! Marcus Luttrell talked about Boot Camp at Great Lakes being so cold and that there were no words for it - this was the same but on the complete other end of the spectrum. We had days that were "Black Flag" days where nobody was even allowed outside it was so hot. So, to make up for it what did they do? They woke our butts up EARLIER! Instead of 4:45am wake up... it was 4am wake up time for marching and exercise. One way or another they were going to get us on the grinder!

OH LUCKY US! Company 371! CLARKS CLOWNS! The day comes we are commissioned a company. HT1 Clark names us his "Clowns". We even get a flag with a clown painted on it! Then we get even luckier, we get "Show Barracks". Whats "Show Barracks"? Its the 1st level Barracks next to the Grinder that they show off to everyone visiting for all the ceremonies. Gee - what else. Now we end up having to get Neutral shoe polish and do our friggin floors every other day by hand - everyone in the company on their hands and knees. Every Friday we have to Evac our barracks because some bigwigs tour our barracks for every single graduation ceremony while we go out and march. At least we never got gigged for a single thing and ended up with so many streamers our flag poles were covered.

FLEET WEEK. Some get it easy - Some don’t. My best friend Martin God bless his soul wasn’t blessed with native American heritage and skin like I was (I tan easy). He is IRISH all the way. I ended up befriending the outgoing Galley chief during his fleet week - the outgoing galley chief can "appoint" the NEW one for the incoming one. He appointed me. Martin? He got to mow grass for a week in the Florida sun while I got to sit in the galley drink coffee, eat and talk with the girls...send people back in line and basically do whatever the H*** I wanted to do. The only thing i couldnt do was get Martin out of his duty or I would have.

Got lots and lots of girls names and addresses though. You have to remember, this was Co-Ed Boot camp. BUT - you better not get caught talking or even LOOKING at the girls even if you got seated across from them at chow. Of course we got REAL good at passing notes over time. But then again the odds of finding the same girl the same time every time was impossible.... but NOT if you’re the Galley Chief!!!    :)

HANKEY PANKEY - Yea, it happens even in Boot Camp. They try not their best not to even let them talk much less anything else but it does happen. Ill tell you what I saw happen. I was coming out of the galley one evening after clean up around 8pm. I was going around the corner and heard something in the bushes. I stopped and went over, low and behold, a guy and a gal were back there (yea, getting busy). After the initial shock I yelled at them to get the H*** out of there and get back to their barracks. Within a minute they were both running in opposite directions. On the way back I thought - crap - I should have just ignored them and felt bad about it. I think it was a few days later I heard about a couple getting caught in the old mock up ship doing the dirty deed - turned out to be the same ones. Its been so long I don’t remember what happened to those two but we all had a laugh when I broke down and told the guys i caught them by the chow hall doing the same thing.

PT in the Florida heat is another thing in itself. The Black Flag days were good because we got to stay inside - the Black Flag days SUCKED because "We got to stay inside". CC Clark could think of all kinds of things to keep us busy and working if we couldn’t go outside. But to his credit - he was fair. It think it was about week 8 we finally got through to him and he allowed us "Radio" privileges. The whole company chipped in and bought this cheapo radio and he brought it out and let us listen to it for a half hour or (maybe) and hour a day once in while. I believe it was during one of those days that we turned the radio on and heard a new song - and REALLY cool new song by this new artist! Everybody was like WOW, this is cool! What was that guys name? Peter what? Uh, Frampton? The name of the song? "Baby I love your way" and "Do you feel like I do"...hmmm, Ill have to remember those....

 But when we pissed him off, which we did on a constant basis life got VERY BAD. We did alot of PT. We did PT in the sun, we did PT in the rain (not lightning tho), we did PT in the dark. He had us in and out of the racks at any and all hours of the night. Getting shut in his wall locker was not an enviable spot either (his socks stunk). All in all - Clark was a heck of a great CC though. He taught us to be United States Navy Sailors. We practiced our knots our test questions and wrote our letters home. He always made sure that we had time to write home. He was adamant about that. He said he didnt want any letters or phone calls from parents of recruits that didnt write their families.

I remember on one of the runs we had to do I had some trouble. I had walking pnuemonia but still kept going. I believe it was the 1.5 mile run and had to do it in a certain amount of time (forget how much). I made it about a mile and dont remember hardly anything beyond that - I had almost passed out. Next thing I know I'm being picked up by two guys and they are literally carrying me. Toward the end I'm trying to go under my own steam along with them carrying me, I remember feeling badly that they were slowing themselves down by helping me. We got to the end - we all passed. Turns out, the two guys were NOT from my company! The two guys were from another company but they KNEW ME! They were 3 weeks behind me in training and were from my hometown! They had served with me in Marine JROTC for 2 years and I had been their Company Commander! Small world huh!

As it would later turn out, I would again see one of these guys In Rota Spain in 1979 in the Air Terminal waiting for a flight. (jack schmidt)

We had one guy in our company with a weight problem. He had gone to a special class to loose weight and done well, but still had trouble running. The LAST PT Run we had to do in Basic he almost didnt make it. He refused to quit, a few of us along the way grabbed him and put our arms under him and carried him along. So, I returned the favor that the guys did for me to him. Thats what being in the Navy is about - Team work and helping each other. You are only as strong as your weakest member!

THE MUMPS AND A BLANKET PARTY

The time came for our company to have its picnic! Woo Hoo! The day before that was to happen I wasnt feeling too well and decided to go to sick call. The corpsman looked me over and felt my neck and sent me upstairs for some reason. Then a REAL doctor checked me over and admitted me! UH OH I though, this cant be good. Diagnosis - The Mumps. What! The friggin Mumps! I called home, "Mom, did I already have the Mumps?", "No honey you didnt", "Ok Mom, thanks". I watched out the window from the hospital as my company marched to the lake to have a well deserved picnic! Where the H*** was I? In the D*** hospital with the Mumps of all things! Geez Um Pete! Well, at least CC Clark came to see me and brought a burnt hamburger with him, i could barely swallow it but I managed to get it down! 

After getting out of the hospital a few days later I was back with my company good as new. As those of you from the "Old Navy" of 30+ years ago remember we carried things called "Street Chits" back then. Little notebooks in our back pockets with 3 pieces of paper stapled in the front. They had your name, SSN, company number, CC name and RCPO name. If someone saw you do something BAD (or good but not usually) they would take a street chit from you. When you had lost all 3 of your chits you got set back a week in training! Now this really sucked for you, BUT - if your RCPO (Recruit Chief Petty Officer) the guy (recruit) you had voted to lead you got HIS street chits pulled the ENTIRE company got set back a week in training.

Remember our company name? "Clarks Clowns". Well, we had a clown, ONE CLOWN in the company. I forget the guys name but I remember his face. He was a MORON with a capital M. He was a Smart A** all the time. When marching he would sometime dance, he would purposely go out of step. He would scratch his butt all the time and just make life difficult. Well this joker got 2 of our RCPO's street chit's pulled in a 2 or 3 week period. ONE LEFT TO GO before the entire company got set back. CC Clark had jumped all of us and jumped this Moron so many times. He had hinted that the "Company would take care of its own" if he didnt straighten up. This idiot finally made the mistake of saying one day that we "didnt have the Ba*** to do anything"...... That night a blanket went over him and most of us took a good shot on him. By the time 30 or so of us had popped him in the belly he was balling like a baby. I believe he DOR'd soon after that. The Navy didnt need men like this in the fleet.

The SEALs COME CALLING. Toward the end of Navy Boot Camp the Navy SEALs came calling. They crowded alot us recruits of into an auditorium somewhere (I forget) a few weeks before graduation to watch a movie and talk with some special guys - Navy SEALs. Some of us had heard of these characters, others had not. We watched the film and some of the guys were laughing at the training they were going through. Especially when it got to the part where they put crates on their backs and told them to pretend to be airplanes and run up and down these sand dunes etc. I wasnt laughing, I was really into this. There are always some certain things in life, one thing for certain in my life was Martin. He was like a big brother. He almost ALWAYS kept me out of trouble (except in Tijuana which you will read about later). Because of my "Jar-Head" past and love of weapons I was front and center when the film was done. I was talking to a SEAL that was answering questions, we were discussing how badly the M16a1 sucked when compared to the M14 (as a battle rifle) when quick as a flash Martin had me by the arm and was leading me out of there "Junior, come on, I know what youre thinking". The SEAL was laughing as I left.... I really wanted to talk to these guys but went back to the barracks with Martin (darn it anyway). Besides, I would be in San Diego in a few weeks anyway and could probably talk to them again....

GRADUATION! THANK GOD WE MADE IT! The day came - We made it, Graduation from US Navy Boot Camp. Almost all of us had families who came to watch (some didnt because of distance). My Mom & Dad, Sister & my Grandmother came. As we passed in Review I was on the outside column, it was "Eyes Right". Of course our column eyes stayed straight but as we marched past, my family was right there to my right on the front of the bleachers in the first row. My Dad was standing there staring at me as I marched past- Tears were streaming down his cheeks....and I saw them. I thought my chest was going to explode with pride. For the first time in my life I knew I had made my father proud of me.

So you know, the only other time I have ever seen my father cry is when my Grandmother passed away (the one that was there that day).

Boot Camp IS over! - THANK YOU JESUS. It was home for 2 weeks leave, 2 weeks with my best friend Martin doing recruiting duty with Chief Archer then he and I had guaranteed Radioman "A" School in San Diego California ... boy... what lay ahead in San Diego...

I'm writing these blogs for a couple of reasons. One, it was one of the best times I ever had in my life. Two, it will give you young guys who are getting ready to enlist and idea of what it was like for me or someone like yourself. And it will give you something to think about when you start your "Adventure". I know things have changed, times have changed.... but, its still the NAVY. And, Its still the greatest NAVY in the world and has the best Sailors the world has ever known!

The Navy's old motto USE to be... "Its Not just a job, its an Adventure"

 

 

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DATE: 10/08/9412 12:09:49 / MOOD: thoughtful

The heart of a young man beats for adventure. In the early 1970's the country's heart and mind was in a far of land called Vietnam. I, like my father, and his father before him and his father before him - I am a Patriot. I believe in this country. I believe in serving this country, right or wrong. Our high school had an JROTC program, a MARINE CORPS JROTC program. The instructors were combat hardened men. Colonel John W. Ruhsam USMC. WWII, Korea, Vietman Veteran fighter Pilot. This man earned the Navy Cross for valor in fighting the Japanese in WWII as a fighter Pilot. He is considered one of the Ace’s of WWII in the Pacific. Colonel Ruhsam was one of most unique Marine Officers I have ever known In my entire life and it was an honor I will never forget.

 

James Dailey, 1st SSGT USMC, Korea, Vietnam Veteran. A "Chosin" Marine. A Parris Island Drill Instructor.. What a Marine! Gunnery SGT R. Gawne, recently separated from the Marines and fresh out of combat from Vietnam and a heck of a great guy.  

 

In the evenings after dinner we would watch faithfully watch the CBS Evening news with Walter Cronkite. At the end of each broadcast there would the daily totals of the KIA/WIA/MIA in Vietnam. I remember some of those days my father and I both would groan at the numbers of our boys lost. Later on my father would tell me that he was scared to death that I would be enlisting in the Marines and going over there. He had fought in Korea back in the 50’s and knew much better than I what possibly lay ahead for me.

 

But, back in school in Marine JROTC - I thrived. I loved weapons, my father had bought me my first BB gun at 6 years old (true), and took me hunting for the first time at 9. By my 2nd year in Marine JROTC I was a company commander (a Captain) and Captain of the Rifle Team. I had scored higher at the rifle range than any other cadet had ever scored. My best friend Martin was the captain of the drill team (of which I was also a member). Life was good and I just knew I HAD to be a MARINE!

 

All of our Instructors were good Marines, Good men. These Marines who led us, who taught us honor, discipline and the important things in life and mostly what it was like to be a Marine. Both 1st SSGT and Gunney having just left Vietnam months before werent sugar coating anything. They were dealing with the horrors they had lived with for multiple tours each and in some cases 2 wars. They didnt play games with our heads about this "glory" BS and dying for your country crap. They watched too many of thier fellow Marines die to say that.

 

This may seem quite crazy, but its true. Back in 73, 74 etc it was such a different time. The Marine Corps really put alot into its aspiring young cadets - it wanted to make sure its "Future" Marines were prepared. A couple of times a year the Marine Reserve Unit in Tampa would send down some weapons for us to "Play" with - FULLY FUNCTIONAL weapons. We would usually get 4 or 5 M16's and 1 M-60 for a week. We had to stow them at the police dept overnight. Now, get this. Sometimes one of the instructors would take them over or pick them, sometimes one of us would! Hard to believe that a teenager could load these weapons our car with no questions! I aint kidding! A high school student with a back seat full of M16's and an M60! I guarantee you they dont do that anymore!

 

We had a rifle range on school property! It was located behind the football field. Since I was the Rifle team captain I had the armory key and could go get the weapons and take the team out for our practices....with LIVE AMMO. I know this sounds nuts - but I swear its true. Thirty five years is a long time...

 

 Vietnam slowly wound down and the war came to an end my parents had a collective sigh of relief. They knew fully well I was going to be a Marine and had already decided to volunteer to go to Vietnam. Now that Siagon had fallen things had changed. My best friend Martin had decided on the Navy. I was still GUNG HO UH RAH MARINE! Slowly but surely he and my father worked on me. One day Martin was able to talk me into going with him to the Navy recruiter's office. I guess I didnt catch the High 5 they gave each other at my acceptance :)

 

To make a long story short - Because I had scored extremely high on the ASVAB test, high enough that Chief Archer (Recruiter) said "Jimbo, Any job in the United States Navy is yours" and threw this huge book at me and said pick what you want to do.

 

2 weeks later I'm on a bus going to the AFEE's station with my best friend Martin to enlist in the United States Navy's delayed Enlistment program.

 

Now - how do I break the news to Colonel John J. Rusham - USMC? Or should I say, Colonel John J HARD A** Rusham USMC that I've enlisted in the Navy and not the Marine Corps. I go in and tell 1st SSGT Daily, he looks up at me - doesnt say a word...just this blank stare from one big, mean Marine looking at this scrawny teenage kid (now shaking in his tennis shoes). Finally, the silence is broken..."YOU DID WHAT?" HE YELLED? "GET THE F*** out of my F***** Sight You piece of S***".... yea...he said all that... Ill tell you why...

 

Little did I know, Colonel Rusham had put me in for a 4 year college scholarship paid for by the Marine Corps. One Cadet in the district is awarded this honor. I did not know he had pulled some strings to get me this - and here I go enlisting in the NAVY. Until the day I left for Navy Boot camp the Colonel never spoke to me again, nor afterward when I came home. 1st SSGT forgave me and was nice to me later, but the Colonel never did.

 

Ill add more more later... There's some neat stuff.... teasers?  Hmmm...  Ok...  I had the honor of meeting LCDR Roy Boehm...(Not long ago I emailed him, that booger actually remembered me) ...that guy has a memory like an elephant! :) 

 

Ill tell you about it sometime..  And if you have to ask who he is then look it up.

 

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