Veterans: What, When, and Where?

b23hqb

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
I suspect there are a lot of veterans on this site (ya think?). So , if you feel like it and it is no terrible security risk to the nation or your health, how about a bit of what, where, when, and your favorite part of your job and service, and the least favorite?

US Navy, June 1972-June 1976. Recruit - RM2 (E5), Boot RTC Orlando, summer 72, Radioman A School, Bainbridge, Md, Sep-Dec 1972. NCS/NCU Asmara, Ethiopia Jan 73 - Jul 1975. USS Worden CG18, home ported Westpac Yokosuka, Japan.

Favorite - I wanted to be OUTCONUS, and I was, and all the cool placers, great liberty, and a pretty good job in Comms as a Radioman.
Least favorite: Heavy seas underway, General Quarters.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
US Navy 1982 - 1998. 98 ASVAB score. I already had an associates degree when I went in, so got E-3 going in. Boot & MS A school in San Diego. Was on the rifle team in boot camp. When I first saw a rifle team perform, I thought there was no way I could ever do that. 4 weeks later, I was the guy the other newer recruits were watching.

141459


Got orders to a carrier in Norfolk. Finished A school ranked as the #1 student, so I got to resubmit for new orders. Selected Hawaii, the Philippines & Italy.

141463

Got type 3 orders to Sicily. Spent 6 months in the barracks then the next year living on the economy. I tried to extend but it was denied. Great food out in town and the US dollar was strong back then, so things bought on the economy were reasonably inexpensive. Made E-4 on the first pass. Took my E-5 exam at this command.

141460


Next stop was a NATO command outside of Naples, Italy. Staff duty supporting a 4 star admiral. In 3 years, we had 4 different guys in that slot. 1, Art Moreau, died while in command. The comparison of Sicily to Naples is like Dameron to Washington, DC. Lots of traffic and noise. Made E-5 by the time I checked in. The duty was pretty good. We got US, Italian and NATO holidays off. We got May Day off which is a communist party holiday for workers. I had most weekends off, so it was more of a 7 - 3 job. I got to play 2 seasons of tackle football for the base team. We had to endure 8-9 hour road trips to play against the Army teams in northern Italy.

141461


Took & passed the E-6 exam 2 years later. That pissed off a few of my underperforming co-workers. I had orders to a ship in San Diego but it was an E-5 slot, so I had to renegotiate for new orders. They had 1 opening for an Aircrewman. The job was dependent on successful completion of Aircrewman Candidate School.

141462


So off to Pensacola after living overseas for nearly 5 years. At 28 year old, I was 1 of the older students in my class. Lots of PT & swimming. I had my first 4 rides in the helo dunker.

My follow on orders were to VP-30, assigned to a P-3A. This was the best duty I had by far. I got to travel all over plus get per diem while we were away from home port. Once we landed I was pretty much off until the next flight. I did 2 around the world flights with this unit. They were 13 months apart. The first one was just before the start of the Gulf War. The 2nd one was a few months after the war ended. I was our detachment's career counselor in addition to my regular duties. I made Chief on my 2nd try at this command. I was a 2 red hash mark CPO for a couple of years.

141464


There were rumors that our outfit was going to be relocated. We supported a lot of people from Washington, DC. I was told that the move was to be to West Virginia. So I took orders to Andrews AFB. In the end the unit never moved. Going to DC was costly as things were more expensive. In Florida I owned a home but the DC area prices were too rich for me.

At Andrews I got to fly on jet aircraft. We supported T-39s, C-9s & C-20s. The C-20 was the slickest aircraft the Navy had at the time. It was all tricked out on the inside. My ditching station was in the galley. My seat was a board that pulled out like a drawer on a cabinet. My shoulder straps were in the overhead. For the plushness of that aircraft, I thought the designers would have come up with a better seating solution than a board with a couple of straps.

141465
141466
141467


At this command I applied for and was accepted to the Enlisted Educational Advancement Program. I got orders to go to college for 2 years. I had to reenlist for 6 years. 6 months into the program I earned a Bachelor degree in Information Systems. The rest of the time I worked on my masters degree. When I was done I was 2 classes short of my masters.

Then it was back to the Navy. I wanted out of DC, so I took orders back to Florida. This time on a ship. A frigate, the USS De Wert(FFG-45). I did 2 months of a Med cruise, a Caribbean drug ops cruise, a UNITAS cruise around South America and many 4-5 day underway periods. I was the command drug & alcohol program advisor, section leader, department 3M coordinator, S-2 division officer and full time babysitter to a few of the crew.

141468


Coming from a squadron background, I was shocked at the quality of a shipboard sailor compared to what I was accustomed to in a squadron. Most of my division had ASVAB scores in the 30s & 40s. To say they needed a lot of supervision was an understatement. I had 2 sailors go UA, 1 popped for drugs, constant wife and babysitter problems. As command DAPA, I had to attend all captain masts. They were held on Friday afternoon when we were in port. I watched guilty sailors get over and watched barely guilty guys pay a heavy price. My experience was that the UCMJ was anything but just. I was E-8 eligible but didn't get picked the 2 times I was up.

Since the cold war was over, the Navy was shrinking. They wanted to jettison people. My rate & pay grade was on the early retire list. I applied and got picked to become a civilian. I was anxious to begin my civilian career in Information Technology. I also wanted to get my kids out of the Florida public school system. I got a job in Maryland supporting DFAS out of Pax River. They would ask me nicely if I wanted to work overtime. The one down side was I had to dress myself every morning to go to work instead of just wear the uniform of the day.

In the end, I can't complain. The Navy was good to me. Next month will be 21 years that I will be retired.
 

Kinnakeet

Well-Known Member
I suspect there are a lot of veterans on this site (ya think?). So , if you feel like it and it is no terrible security risk to the nation or your health, how about a bit of what, where, when, and your favorite part of your job and service, and the least favorite?

US Navy, June 1972-June 1976. Recruit - RM2 (E5), Boot RTC Orlando, summer 72, Radioman A School, Bainbridge, Md, Sep-Dec 1972. NCS/NCU Asmara, Ethiopia Jan 73 - Jul 1975. USS Worden CG18, home ported Westpac Yokosuka, Japan.

Favorite - I wanted to be OUTCONUS, and I was, and all the cool placers, great liberty, and a pretty good job in Comms as a Radioman.
Least favorite: Heavy seas underway, General Quarters.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE
 

Kinnakeet

Well-Known Member
US Navy 1982 - 1998. 98 ASVAB score. I already had an associates degree when I went in, so got E-3 going in. Boot & MS A school in San Diego. Was on the rifle team in boot camp. When I first saw a rifle team perform, I thought there was no way I could ever do that. 4 weeks later, I was the guy the other newer recruits were watching.

View attachment 141459

Got orders to a carrier in Norfolk. Finished A school ranked as the #1 student, so I got to resubmit for new orders. Selected Hawaii, the Philippines & Italy.

View attachment 141463
Got type 3 orders to Sicily. Spent 6 months in the barracks then the next year living on the economy. I tried to extend but it was denied. Great food out in town and the US dollar was strong back then, so things bought on the economy were reasonably inexpensive. Made E-4 on the first pass. Took my E-5 exam at this command.

View attachment 141460

Next stop was a NATO command outside of Naples, Italy. Staff duty supporting a 4 star admiral. In 3 years, we had 4 different guys in that slot. 1, Art Moreau, died while in command. The comparison of Sicily to Naples is like Dameron to Washington, DC. Lots of traffic and noise. Made E-5 by the time I checked in. The duty was pretty good. We got US, Italian and NATO holidays off. We got May Day off which is a communist party holiday for workers. I had most weekends off, so it was more of a 7 - 3 job. I got to play 2 seasons of tackle football for the base team. We had to endure 8-9 hour road trips to play against the Army teams in northern Italy.

View attachment 141461

Took & passed the E-6 exam 2 years later. That pissed off a few of my underperforming co-workers. I had orders to a ship in San Diego but it was an E-5 slot, so I had to renegotiate for new orders. They had 1 opening for an Aircrewman. The job was dependent on successful completion of Aircrewman Candidate School.

View attachment 141462

So off to Pensacola after living overseas for nearly 5 years. At 28 year old, I was 1 of the older students in my class. Lots of PT & swimming. I had my first 4 rides in the helo dunker.

My follow on orders were to VP-30, assigned to a P-3A. This was the best duty I had by far. I got to travel all over plus get per diem while we were away from home port. Once we landed I was pretty much off until the next flight. I did 2 around the world flights with this unit. They were 13 months apart. The first one was just before the start of the Gulf War. The 2nd one was a few months after the war ended. I was our detachment's career counselor in addition to my regular duties. I made Chief on my 2nd try at this command. I was a 2 red hash mark CPO for a couple of years.

View attachment 141464

There were rumors that our outfit was going to be relocated. We supported a lot of people from Washington, DC. I was told that the move was to be to West Virginia. So I took orders to Andrews AFB. In the end the unit never moved. Going to DC was costly as things were more expensive. In Florida I owned a home but the DC area prices were too rich for me.

At Andrews I got to fly on jet aircraft. We supported T-39s, C-9s & C-20s. The C-20 was the slickest aircraft the Navy had at the time. It was all tricked out on the inside. My ditching station was in the galley. My seat was a board that pulled out like a drawer on a cabinet. My shoulder straps were in the overhead. For the plushness of that aircraft, I thought the designers would have come up with a better seating solution than a board with a couple of straps.

View attachment 141465 View attachment 141466 View attachment 141467

At this command I applied for and was accepted to the Enlisted Educational Advancement Program. I got orders to go to college for 2 years. I had to reenlist for 6 years. 6 months into the program I earned a Bachelor degree in Information Systems. The rest of the time I worked on my masters degree. When I was done I was 2 classes short of my masters.

Then it was back to the Navy. I wanted out of DC, so I took orders back to Florida. This time on a ship. A frigate, the USS De Wert(FFG-45). I did 2 months of a Med cruise, a Caribbean drug ops cruise, a UNITAS cruise around South America and many 4-5 day underway periods. I was the command drug & alcohol program advisor, section leader, department 3M coordinator, S-2 division officer and full time babysitter to a few of the crew.

View attachment 141468

Coming from a squadron background, I was shocked at the quality of a shipboard sailor compared to what I was accustomed to in a squadron. Most of my division had ASVAB scores in the 30s & 40s. To say they needed a lot of supervision was an understatement. I had 2 sailors go UA, 1 popped for drugs, constant wife and babysitter problems. As command DAPA, I had to attend all captain masts. They were held on Friday afternoon when we were in port. I watched guilty sailors get over and watched barely guilty guys pay a heavy price. My experience was that the UCMJ was anything but just. I was E-8 eligible but didn't get picked the 2 times I was up.

Since the cold war was over, the Navy was shrinking. They wanted to jettison people. My rate & pay grade was on the early retire list. I applied and got picked to become a civilian. I was anxious to begin my civilian career in Information Technology. I also wanted to get my kids out of the Florida public school system. I got a job in Maryland supporting DFAS out of Pax River. They would ask me nicely if I wanted to work overtime. The one down side was I had to dress myself every morning to go to work instead of just wear the uniform of the day.

In the end, I can't complain. The Navy was good to me. Next month will be 21 years that I will be retired.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE
 

Auntie Biache'

Well-Known Member
Active duty '80 to '84. Parachute Rigger-PRA school Lakehurst NJ, stationed in (AIMD) Key West. Married in '83, became a dependent after my hitch, then went to Spain for 3 yrs, Iceland for 2 1/2, then MD for last tour of duty.
 
US Navy 1985 - 1991. Submarine sonar technician, finished as a STS2(SS). My favorite part were A and C schools in San Diego. Least favorite part were field days at sea.
 

stgislander

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
USCG Active: 1980 - 1984. USCG Reserve: 1984 - 2000. Electricians Mate (EM): E4 to E6. Commissioned in 1988. Retired as a Lieutenant (O3-E). Stationed: Cape May NJ (Boot Camp), Govervors Island NY (A School), Charleston SC, Gloucester City NJ, Baltimore MD, St Inigoes MD, Lewes DE, and Curtis Bay MD.
 

JOKER

Great Mills Rd
1967 - 1969..US ARMY
Induction - Fort Holabird Md
Basic Training - Fort Bragg NC
Advanced Training - Fort Knox KY
Deployment - Fort Lewis WA
Cam Rahn Bay - South Vietnam
Chu lai & Tam KY & Hawk Hill - South Vietnam.
Intelligence specialist "scout"
and a "paid professional killer"
Never drew a pay check the whole time in Vietnam (15 months).
Fort Lewis Wa.- Honorable Discharge
SGT. E-5 . Picked up my back pay
$ 8900. and headed for Leonardtown.
Purchased a brand new 1970 Plymouth Fury III ($2900.)
and took 2 days off and then went back to work.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
I'm settled and content now but I really did miss moving for a long time after I retired. My dad was in the Navy also for 26 years and we moved sometimes as often as two years, sometimes it stretched out to four but I liked it and it was actually part of the reason I enlisted. Moving to me meant never getting bored with a job or your co-workers or your location. Wouldn't have traded that part for the world.

Where you born in some exotic location?
 

Rommey

Well-Known Member
US Air Force 1980-1996/1998-2002
Enlisted in Los Angeles and went to Lackland AFB on Lincoln's Birthday (when that was still a holiday). Coming from SoCal, I wasn't really expecting cold weather in Texas, but let me tell you it gets quite cold in San Antonio in February. (Missed the "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Winter Olympics)
Went to tech school in Biloxi, Mississippi. My first real encounter with this weather thing called "humidity". 90°/90% was my summer (again, being from SoCal, this was something I never really encountered before).

Chosen career field: Avionics Communications (328X0). When I entered tech school in April, basically I could have worked anything that flew and had a radio. But during my time there, the AF split out the fighters mainly due to the integrated avionics on the F15s & F16s. So now fighters were off the possible locations. Soon after that they split out the bombers, so that left pretty much anything cargo. So I finished tech school and ended up in the garden spot of the midwest: Altus, Oklahoma working C-141s and C-5s. Spent three years there and got orders to Andrews in late 1983. We bought a house in 1992, so of course the AF decided I needed orders in 1994. The house issue and with the daughters in school, kind of forced me to go unaccompanied to Rota, Spain. While there, I developed skin cancer and they sent me to Bethesda for treatment, so I basically spent August-December 1995 TDY to my house. The medical board decided that I wasn't able to stay on active duty and put me on the TDRL. In hindsight I wish my family could have come over with me as Spain was a great place to be stationed...BUT I doubt I would have survived as the only reason I got the skin cancer detected was because my wife saw a news show about skin cancer and called to pressure (i.e., nag) me to get checked out.

Spent the next two years working on Andrews full time for the contractor taking care of the Army and Marines Gulfstream (C-20's) aircraft. In 1998 the medical board decided that even though nothing had changed, I was somehow now qualified to return to active duty, so I begrudgingly had to come back in and managed to secure a billet at Andrews. So no PCS move and I was able to return to familiar settings to finish my last four years.

Retired in November 2002 and am still working as a contractor on Andrews. So for you Navy peeps, not including basic and tech school, that's 4 PCS moves in 22 years. My oldest daughter was born in Oklahoma, but she was too young to remember a military move to Maryland; my youngest daughter was born here and has never had to go through a military move.

About three years to go and I'll be done working on airplanes. It's been fun and challenging, but it's getting to be too much, and retirement is looking better every day.
 

itsbob

I bowl overhand
Started my life on am Army base.

Born in Ft Bragg NC, First Birthday on the USNS Rose on the way to Germany.

Dad retired with 27 years the same year I left for Basic 1980 I was DEP for a year)

Aced the ASVAB (98/147) and was told "any job you want" then I took the physical and found me to be colorblind amd theybdid pick from these 3 jobs.

I picked 19D (Cav Scout/ Recon).. Basic/AIT (OSUT) at Ft Knox KY, Oct 1980 - Jan 81, where I took my SATS then off to Germany to serve in Fulda with the 11th ACR, back to Ft Knox with 2/6 Cavalry (ACX) first unit with both M1s and M3s.. worked a lot at the Armor engineer board testing the next, next generation of Armored vehicles.

Back to Germany Schweinfurt with the 3rd ID 1/30 Infantry (RECON).. Trained with the 7th SF, (more like played) they would accompany us to weapons and demolition ranges and teach us cool "stuff". Lots of stuff that went boom.

After walking the trace in Fulda, and walking and guarding the Czech border out of Coburg missed the wall coming down by months. Applied fornDrill Sergeant school and recruiting command grabbed me (downside of knowing how to read and write) where I served out the rest of my career.

Manchester, Nashua, Laconia, Tochester and Portsmouth, then off to Oil City PA.. WHERE I started college started with VEAP, converted to GI Bill which lasted until I completed the academic portion of my doctorate.

Navy took me aboard as a computer Scientist in Jan 2003 working with the Marine ATC community.. now work E-2D as the Japan Systems Engineer, start with THE FAA in about 4 weeks.

So Army 1980 - 2000
Navy 2003 to 2019
FAA 2019 - ??
 

osprey10

New Member
Monello: When were you in P-Cola I know the instructor in the picture. I was stationed there 86-90 Aircrew Candidate school
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
Monello: When were you in P-Cola I know the instructor in the picture. I was stationed there 86-90 Aircrew Candidate school
Feb. - Mar 1988. Back when they still boxed in either the 3rd or 4th week of training. That was an amazing 5 weeks. Some of the most diverse training I had. When they dropped us in the bay for the helo pickup, the water was quite cold. On the recovery boat they had a large cooler of chicken noodle soup. There was a ladle in it so you could scoop out a cup of soup. Problem was people were soaking wet with salt water. When they went to get the soup to warm up, sea water would run down their flight suit arm and go into the cooler. After about 30 students, that soup was awful salty.

1 of the few blackshoe A/C.
 

Monello

Smarter than the average bear
PREMO Member
Spent the next two years working on Andrews full time for the contractor taking care of the Army and Marines Gulfstream (C-20's) aircraft. In 1998 the medical board decided that even though nothing had changed, I was somehow now qualified to return to active duty, so I begrudgingly had to come back in and managed to secure a billet at Andrews. So no PCS move and I was able to return to familiar settings to finish my last four years.

I flew on the Gulfstreams out of NAF Andrews in 1992 & 1993.
 
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