Memories Popeye's Sea Stories

[bdpopeye]

My second oldest son served on active duty in the USN for 9 years 1998-2007. He's was a drilling reservist from 2007 to 2009.

I remember the day I picked him up from work in 1998 and on the drive home he told me he was joining the Navy.

"Dad..Did I tell ya'?"
"Tell me what"
"I'm joinin' the Navy"
"Really??" My chest puffed up about two more sizes.
"Didja tell your mom yet??"
"Nope..I'd thought you'd tell her?"
"No way..You do it"..
Silence for a couple of minutes..
I said.."Why are you joining up?
"Because"..
"Because why?"
"You know"
"No I don't"
"I wanna be just like my dad"..

My Navy son..photos are about 12 years old.

 

[bdpopeye]

Not all the tales I tell are funny. This one is not. It's just sad.

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that back in the day alcohol abuse and general drunkenness was excepted and expected throughout the USN. sad but true.

Aboard USS America (CV 66) while deployed with VS-33 in the Indian Ocean I had a young man working for me ..Let's call him AN LMc. He was a drunk. Plain and simple. a functioning alcoholic. He was a very good worker..About 4 months into our cruise i.e. deployment in '81 he and another man were discovered drunk while the ship had been to sea at least a month in a secured space. I don't know how they got in they just did. In the ensuing investigation it was discovered that they had been drinking E/A-6B radar coolant. Which by the way was 180 proof alcohol. They'd been mixing it with bug juice from the mess deck. For those of you that don't know bug juice is Kool Aid. This radar coolant came in 55 gallon drums with a liquor seal on the cap. Anyway these guys were sent to Captains Mast(Article 15) and punished.

Fast forward To the Spring or Summer of '82. AN LMc had been getting into trouble associated with his alcoholism since we returned to the US in November. As the final straw the USN gave him a General Discharge under less than honorable conditions. He had been sent to the alcohol rehabilitation center to no avail. He had receives psychiatric counseling..That did not work...so he was given the boot. He was unceremoniously escorted off the base, NAS North Island with money for transportation home.

Ok fast forward about three months later...AN LMc was arrested in the chow hall at NAS North Island for being drunk and disorderly. Wait a minute.. I thought he was booted out? Oh he was...here's the rest of the story.

AN LMc had an extra ID card that did not expire until his original EAOS and a chow pass that was good until the same day. It was discovered that he'd been living in the BEQ (barracks) and eating in the chow hall since the day he'd got booted out of the USN. The man had also taken a job as a part-time house painter to support himself.

I know he was arrested and he faced some Federal theft & fraud charges. We never heard anything about him after that.

Sad but true.

 

[berkut76]

Not all the tales I tell are funny. This one is not. It's just sad.

Earlier in this thread I mentioned that back in the day alcohol abuse and general drunkenness was excepted and expected throughout the USN. sad but true.

Aboard USS America (CV 66) while deployed with VS-33 in the Indian Ocean I had a young man working for me ..Let's call him AN LMc. He was a drunk. Plain and simple. a functioning alcoholic. He was a very good worker..About 4 months into our cruise i.e. deployment in '81 he and another man were discovered drunk while the ship had been to sea at least a month in a secured space. I don't know how they got in they just did. In the ensuing investigation it was discovered that they had been drinking E/A-6B radar coolant. Which by the way was 180 proof alcohol. They'd been mixing it with bug juice from the mess deck. For those of you that don't know bug juice is Kool Aid. This radar coolant came in 55 gallon drums with a liquor seal on the cap. Anyway these guys were sent to Captains Mast(Article 15) and punished.

Fast forward To the Spring or Summer of '82. AN LMc had been getting into trouble associated with his alcoholism since we returned to the US in November. As the final straw the USN gave him a General Discharge under less than honorable conditions. He had been sent to the alcohol rehabilitation center to no avail. He had receives psychiatric counseling..That did not work...so he was given the boot. He was unceremoniously escorted off the base, NAS North Island with money for transportation home.

Ok fast forward about three months later...AN LMc was arrested in the chow hall at NAS North Island for being drunk and disorderly. Wait a minute.. I thought he was booted out? Oh he was...here's the rest of the story.

AN LMc had an extra ID card that did not expire until his original EAOS and a chow pass that was good until the same day. It was discovered that he'd been living in the BEQ (barracks) and eating in the chow hall since the day he'd got booted out of the USN. The man had also taken a job as a part-time house painter to support himself.

I know he was arrested and he faced some Federal theft & fraud charges. We never heard anything about him after that.

Sad but true.

Same thing was happening in the Soviet military throughout 1980s when Soviet leaders tried to institute "soberness" campaign by limiting sales of alcohol. Although, in the case of the USSR the results were usually fatal as there was no Kool Aid. The most "popular" thing was to drain radar coolant from MiG-25s and MiG-31 jets.

 

[bdpopeye]

I mentioned that in Spanish ports non-rates (E-3 and below) had to be back on fleet landing by 0000 (midnight) or turn into a report chit.

For those of you navally challenged Fleet Landing is where the liberty boats arrive/depart to take you to the ship when it is anchored out in port.

Barcelona Espana April 1973. The first night the JFK was in port.. on fleet landing about midnight..several hundred squids were milling about smartly some drunk some sober waiting for the liberty boats to get back to the JFK. Who ever was the Fleet Landing officer decided to make two lines ..one for those in uniform and one for E-4 and above in civvies. Naturally this fool allowed the squids in civvies to load the boats first. They were senior. This led to some pushing and shoving. The Shore Patrol stepped in to try to calm things down. I was already in a liberty launch as I got in the last boat loaded before this zero decided to segregate the lines. Bad move on his part. I saw shipmates hookin' and jabbin' and bobbin' and weaving. A few drunks fell into that nasty water as our boat pulled away. I guess it just took a few more minutes to restore order. I actually heard little about the incident the next day on board ship. Such was life in the USN circa 1973...

When I served on the Kennedy in '72 & '73 it was the latest and greatest. Now the USN has zero oil burner CVs. But has 11 nuclear CVNs..Amazing..And in the whole rest of the Worlds navies there's only one CVN...ONE!

Sometime ago I realized that nearly every command I was stationed at in the USN is decommissioned. Except Great Lakes and the Nimitz..

Lets see..

All these commands are decommissioned..Kennedy, Midway, Hancock, America, NAS Cubi Pt, HSL-31, VS-33, HC-11, NAF Diego Garcia & NAS Miramar.

Let's see actually NAS Miramar is now MCAS(Marine Corps Air Station) Miramar. It was turned over to the USMC on 1 Oct. 1996. NAF Diego Garcia was absorbed by Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia some years ago. And HC-11 transitioned to HSC-21..

My oh my how things change.

 

[bdpopeye]

You meet some real interesting characters while in the service. I had a man work for me in 1981 aboard the America. We shall call him AMS3M. He was a 100% Native American Navajo tribe. 100%. the man never got one letter the whole cruise..not one in 7 months. I don't know why. He never murmured or complained. Never. He just did his job. He once told me he like being on the ship..so I had to ask AMS3M why is that? He said;

1) "It's not far to get to work
2) The mess deck is always open
3) I can eat sliders all day..."

No foolin.

On the Midway I knew a man I'll call AO3G. He loved butane lighters. He had a collection of them. Sometimes you'd walk by his rack and a 6 inch flame would come shooting out. He never did set anything on fire. Close but no cigars.. He just liked to play with butane lighters.

No foolin'

 

[bdpopeye]

In another forum some of the members that NEVER served anywhere were joking about the USN...this was my response;

popeye's rant;

In all honesty and sincerity going to sea is no joking matter. Your wife and kids are not there. Your mommie won't tuck you in at night. You can't raid the fridge in the middle of the night..or day depending on what shift you work. You have to stand watches when you are supposed to be sleeping. The 1MC (loudspeaker) is making announcements....all day..

You have to work 12 hours on and 12 hours off.. many shipmates work much more than that. Day after day..night after night. That's the real "Ground hog day".. And there's drills.. General Quarters, Fire drills, mass casualty drills etc..etc.. Oh let's not forget UNREPs..now called RAS, replenishment at Sea. And let's us not forget the working parties for mail ,unreps , flight & hangar deck "scrubex"..and the list goes on and on and on....

If you are lower ranked enlisted.. I hope you like standing in line. On Hancock I hadda stand in line to take a shower some times. Lines for the ships stores, chow, barber shop, sick call.. especially after a port call in a port where, shall I say, the natives are friendly.

Oh there are fun times..video games , movies on Tv, gyms, bingo all sorts of tournaments...but it's not Fun city. No way. No how

No half steppin' allowed, Trust me ..It ain't no joke. Period.

Rant over.

 

[bdpopeye]

Thanks to all you that post comments and give likes in this thread!

While I was aboard the Hancock in 1974 or 75 I was a member of "Repel Boarders force" . We assisted the Marines in by guarding the movement of "special (nuclear) weapons" and also to assist in the case or riot or mutiny.

Well one evening while inport at NAS Alameda Repel Boarders was called away. We hustled up to the armory to get our weapons.. .12 Gauge shotguns. What had happened was this. USS Coral Sea (CVA 43) was moored across the pier from us. There was a riot in the brig aboard the ship and several brig rats had escaped. The fear was that they may try to board old Hanna...yea right. I was assigned to guard the Quarterdeck embarkation ladder(bridge).



I was standing at the foot of the bridge armed and ready. Eventually after about 40 minutes or so we were secured. The escapees had been captured aboard Coral Sea and one was found dead..where as he had jumped off one of the aircraft elevators and landed on a camel. Ever see Star Trek IV when LT Pavel Chekov falls of the carrier.? that was a camel he hit. It's a big steel buffer between the ship and the pier.

By the way this scene was not filmed aboard USS Enterprise (CVN 65)..the scene was filmed aboard USS Ranger (CV 61).

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[bdpopeye]

I served on two carriers that lost an anchor while of course anchoring..JFK and America. The Kennedy lost it's anchor while anchoring Cannes France in June of 1973. a salvage ship the USS Opportune recovered the anchor.



On the America no such luck as to recovering the anchor..the diver went down to look for it and discovered it had fallen into a hole in the ocean floor while anchoring at Misarah..this funky no liberty island in the IO...Masirah is an island off the East coast of Oman.

When the anchor fell off I thought I may be one of the few in the USN that had served on two carriers that lost anchors. Just so happen that very day the anchor feel off I met another PO1 that had been aboard the USS Franklin D Roosevelt(CVA 42) when one of it's anchors fell off while anchoring.....go figure.

 

[bdpopeye]

Posted by another sailor in another military forum.

Ships have Theme songs:

(most)Every ship has a theme song or piece of music they play over the 1MC (Public Announcement Speakers). This usually happens when the ship gets underway for a cruise or at the conclusion of a UNREP (underway replenishment) session.

The USS Enterprise always plays the theme from Star Trek.

The USS Wabash always played the "Wabash Cannonball"

The USS Robison DDG-12 had a reputation of hitting the good ports and played the Beach Boys "I Get Around"

The USS Texas usually plays "Yellow Rose of Texas" or "University of Texas Fight Song." (USS Texas skipper alma mater)

My ship, USS Carl Vinson usually played the theme of "Battlestar Galactica" (old series) "Flight of the Valkrie" or "Carmina Burana".

Our skipper was a Texas A&M alumn, he never missed a chance of playing the Texas A&M fight song when sailing alongside the USS Texas.

The rivalry between the skippers got so bad that they had a battlegroup chili-cook off.

Nimitz theme song was the theme from the movie "The Final Countdown"(1980). On the

Midway sometimes played the theme from the movie "Shaft" (1971)was played.

On JFK back in the day we had an Admirals staff aboard. And he had a band that played marshall music during unreps...you know..John Philip Sousa etc....

USS Wabash (AOR 5) theme was "Wabash Cannon Ball". The Wabash was being broken up for scrap about 5 years ago in Brownsville TX..A very proud ship.. whenever they pulled along side for an replenishment they played that song..

Wabash was a AOR Replenishment Oiler..The carried fuel, food supplies and ammunition.

"The Wabash Cannon Ball"..no one could deliver like the "Wabash Cannon Ball'..

Johnny Cash version..

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[bdpopeye]

This story below was posted in another forum by an active duty sailor serving on a CVN after reading reading my story about the alcoholic airman..

There are many sad stories about drug and alcohol abuse. This story was posted in 2011.

The story about the alcoholic Airman was pretty heartbreaking. We're about to lose a once ABH3 from my division and a Seaman on my ship for smoking that synthetic marijuana, a.k.a. spice. The ABH3 was already on restriction for 45 days and about to be processed out for being caught sleeping during his watch in the Conflag station. Because he'd been late to watches several times in the past, the CO made an example out of him. Anyhow, this fool (as he told us later that he thought he had nothing else to lose because he was already getting kicked out, so why not) decides to miss his restricted personnel muster and goes missing for nearly 5 hours. They call for him over the 1MC (loudspeaker) several times and eventually they had to send out a search party. They find him an hour later in a secured space with the female Seaman, who was also on restriction, and both of them were tripping balls on Spice and pills (don't know what the pills were). Captain's Mast comes and goes, and now he's been demoted to E-2, and on top of all that he's getting a less than honorable discharge. The female Seaman got the same punishment. Because they were using drugs on government property, they say that both of them are facing felony charges and fines. In any case, a very stupid way to end a career. Neither one of them have any clue as to how much they've made their civilian lives difficult.

popeyes comments...

The vast majority of service members perform their duties well..but as in any walk of life you have those that cannot handle the pressure of military life. We use to call them "non-hackers". These are folks that could simply not handle military life. You have to realize that in my friends story the persons he is referring to are more than likely very young. Perhaps 18-20 years of age. Perhaps they were too immature to serve in the military. Fortunately these days it does not take long to to prune away the bad apples.

 

[bdpopeye]

As I stated there are many different types of persons that join the service..just as in any walk of life.

One group we use to call "non-hackers" Guys that just could not adapt to military life. They were always in trouble or going over the hill..UA we called AWOL in the USN. AWOL does not occur until 30 days consecutive unauthorized absence.

When I was aboard the JFK we had a kid I'll call ARR..He was always in trouble. He vowed not to make the '73 Med cruise..We thought he was a sure bet to deploy with us because he was on restriction..He could not leave the ship. His restriction did not expire until the cruise was about 10 days in. So here's the ruse he pulled.

The day before the JFK got underway ARR had two messcooks, for a fee, stash him away in a trash can and simply carry said trash can off the ship. as soon as ARR was hidden by the dumpsters by the end of pier 12 he made his escape. That evening the MAAs(Master at Arms..ships police) were combing the JFK looking for this fool. They could not find him. Of course he was long gone.. or so we thought. The next day the JFK got underway for her 1973 MED cruise..the sights and smells of Mediterranean ports echoed in our little bitty brains..So at about 0900 the we were on the flight deck manning the rails when low and behold we saw ARR standing on the pier waving goodbye to us...a very ballsy move.....

I don't know if AAR was ever captured. I know when I lived in San Diego every once and a while an AWOL sailor or marine was caught at a traffic stop. Generally they have been AWOL for long periods of time. One Marine was caught at the US Mexico border trying to get back to the US..that was just a few years ago. He'd been AWOL since the 1966.. When this happens generally the culprits are given a less than honorable discharge.

This has happened several times

Marine discharged 31 years after going AWOL | UTSanDiego.com

Vietnam-era Marine deserter caught (and arrested) at border - Democratic Underground

USATODAY.com - Decades later, Marines hunt Vietnam-era deserters

U.S. soldier who fled to Canada to avoid war arrested at border | National & World News | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

 

[bdpopeye]

I served aboard the USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67) from march 24th 1972 until August 1st. 1973... When the ship was in it's home port of Norfolk VA(aka NOB..Naval Operating Base) Fridays when I did not have duty for the weekend I'd go to my moms home in New York.

I remember this so well.. On Fridays was supposed to be the ships training day. But after quarters we'd go down to our shop sign the training sheet and if you did not have duty you could take off.

I did not have a car so I'd take the Greyhound bus to NY. The USN made this easy by allowing the Greyhounds to come on base. So all a sailor had to do was walk down to pier seven and the buses were all mustered their. . I remember that it cost $24 dollars round trip to NYC. On the way to NYC the bus used US route 13 northbound and always stopped at "State Road" Delaware for a 20 minute rest stop. At this place there was a shop their that sold terrific Cheese-steak sandwiches..Philly style. It was only $3.50.. That cost included your sandwich, fries and a soda. It was great.



Then the bus proceeded to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC. She lived in Mt Vernon NY. Her home was about a mile and a half from the Dyre AV station.



From there I'd take the subway to my moms home.



On Sunday evening I'd have to return. The bus left the PATH bus terminal at about 2130(9:30PM) ..It took about 6 hours to get back to Norfolk. Before the bus left a vendor would board the bus and sell salty snacks.. then after that the same vendor would get back on the bus and sell soda and other soft drinks... Well when we got back to NOB the bus dropped us off on pier seven and I had to make that long cold walk back to the JFK docked at Pier 12...back in the day....

 

[bdpopeye]

A few years ago I was looking at some pix at Navy News Service - Eye on the Fleet Current Collection and saw this one.


Download HiRes

PACIFIC OCEAN (April 20, 2013) Operations Specialist Seaman Danielle Krieger, from New Market, Md., receives an Anthrax vaccination in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Nimitz is on a deployment to the western Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Vanessa Y. David/Released)

I remember the year just before I retired we were standing in line waiting to get our flu shot. There was this young woman in front of me just sweating like crazy..I hadda to ask her was she OK. She said she hated needles and wish they just shoot us with the "shot gun" like in boot camp.. so the closer we got to the front the worse she got. She was sweating profusely.

Finally she was next. the Hospital Corpsman held the needle up and tapped on it like they do and she saw that and went down (fainted) like a blond oak tree. The put one of those amoniona poppers under her nose to awake here. They took her out of the room probably to allow her to recover...I wonder if they gave her that flu shot? Oh Well...

yeahh this is what you DON"T want to see..... Stevie Wonder with that inoculation gun in his hands..yikes and gadzooks!



The dreaded "Shot Gun"

This is the beast they shot us with in boot camp. If you moved too much it could cut you. I think it worked on CO2 pressure. Beastly gadget .

 

[bdpopeye]

I saw this photo on navy.mil a few years ago and it reminded me of a sea story.....


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SAN DIEGO (Feb. 20, 2014) Culinary Specialist Seaman Apprentice Shalik Rolle makes ham and cheese sandwiches during lunch in the ship's galley aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2). Essex is nearing the end of an 18-month, $200 million dry-dock planned maintenance availability and is scheduled to be operational in Spring 2014. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Nathan J. Lang/Released)

I have to wonder if this young man is related to an old shipmate of mine from Midway...Seaman Rolle. Role was a big chunk guy from St Louis I think. Kinda like a giant chocolate drop. Never got in trouble even though he liked to tip a few brewiskies from time to time...well a lot of time.

Rolle's claim to fame was that he said could not get drunk. Even though we'd all seen him staggering down the Honcho in Yokosuka drunk as any sailor could get.

Well Midway was in port in Hong Kong BCC in Feb. 1974.. 44 years ago..wow!.. It was our last night in port. Some shipmates had seen Rolle staggering around the Wanchi (Suzy Wong) district..drunk...very drunk..

Wanchi..Suzy Wong district in Hong Kong BCC oh so long long ago....early seventies..

When we got under way Weapons Department was missing a man..Seaman Rolle was missing. Nobody knew where he was. Guys had seen him but he was not aboard Midway.

A few days past at sea and we were having an unrep with USS White Plains. Well we were standing in #1 elevator well watching the UNREP. And someone said they thought they saw Rolle on White Plains with an orange helmet on working as a boatswain mate during the unrep. Well it turns out it was Rolle!..

Here's what happened. He got so drunk the last night in Hong Kong that he got on the wrong liberty boat and wound up aboard USS White Plains(AFS 4)!!!. There were no more liberty boats that night so they kept him aboard. White Plains sent a message to Midway stating Rolle was aboard and was safe and sound. In the 1974 USN this was no big deal. Now-a-days no tellin' what would happen.

Anyway Rolle stayed aboard White Plains until they reached their homeport of Sasebo Japan. Rolle was unceremoniously bussed back to Yokosuka..

And the jest of the story is this..Rolle started calling himself "Sweet Rolle..from Sasebo"..you'd see him staggering down the Honcho in Yokosuka and he'd say.."I'm Sweet Role from Sasebo.. I ain't drunk..I can't get drunk". LOL.. and was he ever drunk....

 

[bdpopeye]

From popeye's salty old brain...Enjoy!

In January 1986 while returning to Diego Garcia from "Environmental and Morale Leave" I flew on a C-5A from Travis AFB CA to Hickam AFB in Hawaii. Then on the same aircraft to Anderson AFB in Guam. When we landed in Guam on January 28, 1986 we discovered the Columbia space shuttle had suffered an explosion.

We next took the same aircraft to Clark AFB in the Republic of the Philippines. We had a 24 hour+ plus layover there because of an alleged hard landing. Next up we flew to my destination Diego Garcia British Indian Ocean Territory so I could finish out my tour there.

In case you gents did not know the C-5A has a passenger compartment on the top deck above the main cargo bay seating 70+ passengers...and trust me..It gets cold up there. When we took of from Clark AFB the cold air from the air conditioning caused a cloud to form in the passenger compartment..

Here's a little glimpse of that compartment...





And.. this is how you embark the compartment..



Keep 'em flying boys!

 

[bdpopeye]

Continued....If memory serves me correctly there was a real latrine/head/lavatory/restroom on the top deck. Similar to an airliner.

I remember the crew serving us box lunches. I remember landing in Guam and the cafeteria was closed in the air terminal. But we stayed there long enough to get a decent meal.

Myself and this Filipino sailor I was hanging around with wanted some beer. We we bought a couple of San Miguel's but the cafeteria did not have a bottle opener. San Miguel a.k.a. San Mcgoo did not have twist of caps. So we opened them..Pilipino style by opening them on a table top.

Place said San Mcgoo bottle cap on the edge of a table. preferably not wood.

Make a fist.

Hit the bottle cap of the San Migoo with stated fist. bottle cap should fly off.

Drink San Moogo.

Simple...

 

[bdpopeye]

In another forum I was answering questions.

Hey..I've been to Cannes twice in 1972 & '73. I was aboard USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67).

In 1973 I went to the Gran Pix of Monaco. Jackie Stewart, the English gentleman, won the race. It was very warm that day.

As for as CV permanently assigned to the Sixth Fleet. There was a plan to homeport USS Independence (CVA 62) in Piraeus/Athens but those plans never came to fruition.

Midway arrive in Yokosuka 5 October 1973..long before many members of this forum were born. I, Big Daddy Popeye was there!

 

[bdpopeye]

USS Midway...Part II

 

[bdpopeye]

USS Midway (CV-41) awards... Midway had some serious "fruit salad"..



During Desert Storm Midways Carrier Air Wing FIVE with only two catapults aboard Midway launched more sorties against the Iraqis individually than , USS John F Kennedy, USS America ,USS Ranger, USS Saratoga & USS Theodore Roosevelt...

 

[BravoZulu]

In another forum I was answering questions.

Hey..I've been to Cannes twice in 1972 & '73. I was aboard USS John F Kennedy (CVA 67).

In 1973 I went to the Gran Pix of Monaco. Jackie Stewart, the English gentleman, won the race. It was very warm that day.

As for as CV permanently assigned to the Sixth Fleet. There was a plan to homeport USS Independence (CVA 62) in Piraeus/Athens but those plans never came to fruition.

Midway arrive in Yokosuka 5 October 1973..long before many members of this forum were born. I, Big Daddy Popeye was there!

Wow, I was in Yokosuka mid '75 on my first deployment "up top", HMAS Brisbane a Charles F Adams class DDG, I did a walkaround of Midway while I was there!