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 WAR STORIES FROM PARADISE
You have traveled back to 1974!
Entries are posted by the year the writer arrived, so be sure to check either side of the year
you're looking for to find your old buddies, shipmates, and sweethearts!

1974
Michael O'Brien <maxfieldo@hotmail.com
I was on Dego in February or March of 74 for about 2 weeks aboard the USS Anchorage LSD-36. We were there so a couple barges could be sandblasted in our well deck. I have many photo's but until I can digitize my slides it may be awhile before I can get them to you.  I haven't seen anything on your site about the WW1(?) cannon I have pictures of. I'll get my pictures to you as soon as I can, thanks for the web site-great.
 

1974/1975
NAME = Kenton J Kraft
MY QUEST = Retirement
VT of a SWALLOW = Depends on the speed of the windshield
E-MAIL = kjkraft54@msn.com
NATIONALITY = American
SERVICE = U S Navy
UNIT = MCB 10   A Co.
RANK/RATE/JOB = CM3
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Want to Drink A Lot, Cheap
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
MY WARSTORY = Cant say that I really enjoyed the place,but one of the best days of my life was the day we left.  It was and I am sure still is a beautiful place and I really am glad to say I was there.  I dont remember a lot of names but I had some good freinds there.   I do remember the first night there I ended up at the EM club sitting at the bar with Harold James and we got so drunk we could only stand by leaning on each other, we left the club only to find we did not know the way back to the hooch,  we evidently found it because we were somehow reunited with our belongings the next morning.
 

1974, with USNMCB4
NAME = Robert L. Scott, BU2, oops, a long time ago.
MY QUEST = To help set the story straight, hell, you know us Seabees.
VT of a SWALLOW = Flew with VQ1 before I was a 'Bee, same as a whale outa gas.
E-MAIL = seabee@lrec.org
NATIONALITY = What do you think, bucko?  Daddy said I was A-one USA.
SERVICE = The United States Seabees
UNIT = Crewleader, Charlie Company, USNMCB4, 1974
RANK/RATE/JOB = I was a BU3 on Dago, And was promoted after we returned to Port Who-needs-me. I served with the battalion through the Guam deployment, and was medivacced from Spain in '76, with a shattered elbow.
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = This is a No-Shit Sailing Story
MY WARSTORY = For all of thhe youngsters out there who served on dago, and thought it was a hellhole, you should have been there in the early days.  I hear and read the stories about how bad it was for you polliwogs, and I can't shed a tear for you.  When I was thhere, women weren't allowed on the island, unless they had an armed escort.  And the story from that chief who had to wash his own dishes really made me laugh.  We didn't have any, except for what was in the chowhall.  But you know, God made fingers before he made spoons.  Anyway, I'd like to know if thhat bigass hammerhead is still in the lagoon.  Two of us doctored up the only hobiecat we had, and took it for a sail.  But some previous dickwad had put a standard bolt in the clevis that attached the stays to the mast.  Needless to say, after we got out in the middle of the lagoon, the goddam bolt broke, and the mast went over the side.  Almost.  Being Seabees of the first order, [almost], we saved the mast and sail.  We pulled the heavy bastard back across the boat, and took turns hholding it up to catch as much breeze as possible.  As we finally approached the beach, I spotted a buddy, Tom, Sailing hellbent for cocoanuts right up onto the sand in a 14 foot sunfish.  He looked godawful nervous, a bit pale around the gills.  I asked him what the hurry was, and all he could say was "SHARK"!  I looked on the other side of hhis boat, and sure enough, there was that sixteen foot hammerhead, shadowing him all the way into the beach.  I don't think Tom ever got back into thhe water after that.  True story.  Is the sumbitch still there?

1974
ROBERT SCOTT <seabee@lrec.org>
What's the deal here, we put the roots in that island, built the bones, and then put some meat on the bitch.  I wasn't the first Seabee to work on the island, and I wasn't the lasty.  It was still hardship duty when I was there, no females allowed, and no discrimination intended.  It was tough duty.  WE still lived in seahuts, and we shared 'em with the rats and crabs.  My crew placed and finished concrete, and we poured the roof on thhe dispensary.  We also put in the foundations for the radar sites.  We also reinforced thhe water lines thhat run around the island.  If you really want to know what it was like in the early days, talk to the Seabees who built thhhat little chunk of godless paradise.  Like I said, I wasn't the first, but I was there in the early stages.   Scotty, BU2, MCB4, 1974.  My e-mail is seabee@lrec.org
 

1974 -1975
NAME = Paul McQuaid
MY QUEST = Just say Hi to some old Seebee I was on the rock with.
VT of a SWALLOW = Wam Bam Thank You Mame
E-MAIL = mcquaid54@sbcglobal.net
NATIONALITY = Smart Ass White Boy
SERVICE = US NAVY  SEEBEE
UNIT = NMBC 10 Bravo
RANK/RATE/JOB = UT 3  Then. Now I have been working for the railroad 31 years and have three adult kids and seven grandkids.
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember!
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = I'd Like to Share Precious Memories of Drinking/Fishing/Snorkeling/Sailing on Diego Garcia
MY WARSTORY = I look back at the time I was on the rock and it was all good.  Some days sober and most all nights drunk or stoned. I would love to be able to take a trip back to that rock.  Oh well I have my memores some are hazey.  I have looked at some of the pictures that some of the other MCB 10 guys posted and I remebered the faces but not the names.  Also I have read other guys stores and it was like having flashback I wanted to take off my shirt & pants and sit around naked. But it is to cold In Nor Calif. I want to say if anybody remebers a Seebee named Jim Byers He was from Santa Rosa Cailf like myself.  I wanted to say he has pass on back in 1982. Do to a car accident He and I became really became good freinds. Do to the time on the rock. So If anyone remebers him or me and would like to email me don,t hold back. This web site is really great and now I can show my kids were I was and some of
the shit I did befor being Dad.  I was thin and young boy O boy I hade it made and didnt even know it.  Well I will close for now.
Paul McQuaid
Here are some corrections Paul sent in Dec 06:
I was in Bravo Co. .
The name of the camp was Cummings I think ?
It was named after a young Seebee that was killed in a accident on the rock. He was burned by hot steam and water.
The store I was told. Is he was a UT and was taking shower close to the boiler. In the room or shed next to the chow hall. Some times you got pretty dirty working on that boiler and pipes around the chow hall.
This was a few years before I was there in 1974. As when I was there do to lack of parts somethings were by pasted or jerry rigged. Apparently a safety blow off valve that was to pop off and release pressure when it was to high was not working or jerry rigged.
When Cummings was showering this valve blew off and he was scald to death. Hence the name of the camp. I see you and some people refer to the camp as Dodge ?
I Was wondering if the name was changed.
We referred to the Island as the ROCK.
Thank you for replying to the email.
Boy I have been checking your site out. It sure brings back a lot of memories. I was showing my girl friend picture's of the rock . She would love to take a trip over there. Hey and she has a home in Kona Hi.
P.S. Hi Larry Carpenter
Merry Xmas & Happy New Year
Paul McQuaid
 
 

Late '74 to early '75
NAME = Rick Sheridan
MY QUEST = The holy hand grenade of Antioch
VT of a SWALLOW = An African or European Swallow?
E-MAIL = icedude@comcast.net
NATIONALITY = U.S. of A.
SERVICE = The Seabees!
UNIT = NMCB-10
RANK/RATE/JOB = UT2 in Delta Co. Now retired.
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember!
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = This is a No-Shit Drinking Story
MY WARSTORY = There was a cabana by the beach, where a bunch of us usually hung out at, did cookouts, Barbecued chicken (they were free) however were, alas, unable to acquire a donkey for barbecue. We did cook a lot of fine fish.
     Anyhow, one fine Sunday morning, I went to the EM club and at their retail booze outlet, picked up three bottles of Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill. OOO...they were nice and cold. I proceeded to the cabana and found, much to my chagrin, that there was no one there, and the cabana itself was locked, therefore preventing me from accessing the fridge, where I had intended to stow the bottles.
     I decided to wait, and see who would show. And I waited...and waited...and the bottles of Strawberry hill sat there on the picnic table and sweated.
     Well, I wasn't going to waste cool wine, so I opened the first bottle and had myself a drink. It sure tasted great! I therefore had some more. And more. In the meantime, no one is showing up, and the two remaining bottles sat there and sweated. I wasn't going to allow them to get warm! No sir! So I proceeded to open the second bottle and save it from a fate of ignominy. I succeeded. Yes I did. But, alas, still no one showed to open the access to the fridge, So I resigned myself to an act of sacrifice, and prevented the third and last bottle from getting warm in the Diego sun.
     All this happened in the space of about an hour, so you can imagine how stewed I was.
     There was nothing left for me to do but to lay down on the table and take a nap, except for one thing. It started raining. You know, one of them Indian Ocean gully washers. I haplessly staggered back to my hootch, to try to sleep it off.
     Whoever said you can stop the room from spinning by putting one foot on the floor was full of doodoo, because I no sooner laid down, and the room spun, foot on the floor and all. Nausea hit me like a ton of bricks, so I immediately headed for the shower shack to arf my breakfast and the well-used Strawberry Hill. I no sooner stood up and the nausea cleared up, but the other symptoms of my stupid stupor did not. So I lay down again, one foot on the floor, only for the nausea to return.
     Needless to say. I ended up spending the remainder of that day, and night, in misery. Finally, I was able to make it to the shower shack and puke my guts off around 0600 Monday morning. Just as I got done, My squad leader, UT1 Willard Stump, was coming in for his morning shower. I am eternally grateful to him when, seeing the condition that I was in, he sent me back to bed. Thanks again, Stumpy.
     Another memory, brought up by someone else, was of the time we had to get Gamma Globulin (GG for short) shots, as a profilaxis against Hepatitis. Everyone moaned and groaned about it, because, everyone knows, GG shots HURT! Well I'm here to tell you that when my turn came to get the shot, It was a Brit medic who gave it to me, and he took about a minute to pump the evil serum in. I didn't even feel the needle. I was amazed. Thanks to you, nameless Brit medic!

1974
NAME = Tom Grenier
MY QUEST = To get my hair back
VT of a SWALLOW = I just don't get this???????
E-MAIL = tgrenier4@cox.net
SERVICE = Can Do
UNIT = Blasting Crew
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Other
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = I had Len (Buford) Ruff and Gary (Gary Mac) McCallum over the house this weekend for a mini reunion. Gary's wife lived off base for awhile so she had some stories amd memories too. I haven't seen them since my wedding in 1978. It's a shame because they don't live that far way. Everyone just too busy and time flies by.

I got to tell ya, this was a great afternoon we all spent together. After all those years I didn't think we would have enought to talk about, but once the
stories started and the pictures started getting passed around, we couldn't shut up. My wife and Len's wife who didn't know anyone even seemed to enjoy the stories.

There must of been a lot of MCB 10 guys from the past whose ears were burning this past Sunday afternoon. Every picture, every turn of the page in the tour
book brought out comments like "hey, remember this guy", "remember the time we ..... yadda, yadda, yadda".

Jay Molder sent me an email and told me to try not to emblish the stories too much when we got together. He said we were not as strong or as good looking as we think we were back then. I wrote back to him and told him, Bullshit! I've been looking over the pictures and we were strong and damn good looking! How could those ladies on DG stay away from us......oh yea, there weren't any.  That's why we stayed drunk for eight months.

Anyways, my advice to you is that if you have a chance to hook up with someone from back then, if only for a few hours, jump at it. It will be worth your
time. I'd like to get another reunion down the road with some of the guys we knew. I know Jay is in WA and I think Jack Hickey is in KC, Harry Clausing in MT. Kaminski and Bill Caughey I think were from PA. Bob McNabb, not sure.  That's only a few of the names we dug up this weekend. Anybody else out there?
 

1974
Harvey Foos <hfoos@lionsquare.com>
Hi Ted,
     My name is Harvey Foos (or just THE Large FOOS).  I was stationed on Diego Garcia from Oct 74 to Oct 75 as a Ship’s Serviceman and helped run the Ship’s Store on the island with Ruffo and Abweg.  I was with the COMSTA personal there.  I’m sure a lot of Sea Bee’s from NMCB’s 10 and 3 remember going to the store for there gedunk, smokes and fuejuice.  I remember when “3” came to the island and the radio station (ran by Randy Kafka) had a contest for the new arrivals to capture a LARGE FOOS and bring it to the radio station for a reward.  I remember it taking them 3 days to figure out what a Foos was, before I was caught in a gunny sack and taken for the reward.  I remember opening up M.I.L. vans and C.O.N.E.X. boxes after being delivered by cargo ships and finding all the items we had ordered 3 months earlier.  I remember going to the radio station on early on Sunday mornings to watch the tell-a-types for the college football scores, especially Nebraska.  The long walks along the beaches, going to the other side of the island and getting the medavac nurses and the Miss America contestants in the store for private openings.
     The guys in my division, Branson, Woodall, Ruffo, Abweg, Morring, and Mertz.  These were the guys that I spent lots of time with and help me get through, what could have been one very long year.  The nights of playing spades and drinking, the nights out at the movies and eating those wonderful Dego Burgers.
     I have lots of other stories and some great photos I’d like to share.

Regards,
Harvey Foos
Director of Guest Services
Lion Square Lodge
Vail, Colorado
Email:  hfoos@lionsquare.com
 
 

1974
NAME = Mike Ray
MY QUEST = To reminisce while still lucid.
VT of a SWALLOW = It should be 0 MPH or 0 KPH and it didn't feel a thing!
E-MAIL = slimswitch54@hotmail.com
NATIONALITY = USA
SERVICE = USN
UNIT = TAD - Crash Crew
RANK/RATE/JOB = Then - E-3 ABH
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = My encounter with the famed Diego Garcia started in Guam,USA with crash crew duties at the Agana International Airport. One day after returning from runway alert, our division chief announced that an admiral was inspecting a new naval facility in the Indian Ocean and he found untrained Seabees providing crash/fire service at the airport and he was pissed! He continued...the admiral has sent out this speed-letter asking for crash firefighter volunteers from Japan, Okinawa and Guam to immediately report to Diego Garcia to operate their Crash Crew until PCS personnel arrive to replace us. Three Alabama boys (Me, Ken "Pitts in the Pacific" and ABH6 Thomas) (Roll Tide) and one from Georgia (Don Cahill) thought it might be fun and volunteered. Pitts and Cahill got their orders first and left immediately. Thomas and myself received our orders a few days later with TWA tickets from Guam to Bangkok, Thailand to catch a C-141 at U-Tapao AFB. Well we foolishly assumed that the Navy knew what it was doing so Thomas and I boarded the TWA flight with the handful of paperwork given to us at Ops. All was well until we tried to enter Thailand without PASSPORTS! Yes we needed passports but no one issued us any! So here we go back on the jet we just disembarked that was headed to Bombay, India. The Thai officials WOULD NOT let us stay in the airport until a Navy liason officer could sort the problem out. Thomas, always the optimist, informed me that we will soon be AWOL and have no way to contact anyone. Fortunately for us, the TWA folks felt terrible about letting us on the plane to Thailand wihout a passport. They arranged for us to be held in Bombay until they could get us on a flight to Hong Kong, which was the closest place that could issue emergency passports.  However it was now the weekend and the American Embassy would not be opened until Monday. Well as luck would have it, TWA felt real bad about that situation too and put us up for the weekend at the Hotel Miramar (http://www.miramarhk.com/)in Hong Kong. Life's tough ain't it! Me an ol' Thomas took in the sites and generally had a good time there and got to know the natives. On Monday we finally got our passports amd TWA put us on a free fight back to Bangkok. As luck would have it, we now have missed the flight to Diego Garcia and were forced to stay in Bangkok until the next flight. That Damn Bad Luck wouldn't leave us alone. We finally arrived in DG about a week late and tuckered-out!
     We couldn't see doodley-squat out of the C-141 we were flying in... so boy was I surprised to see the island that I had just landed on! It was like something out of a travel brochure. The most beautiful beaches! Breath-taking lagoon and no damn women! In spite of that MAJOR detail, I had a great time sailing, fishing and chasing donkeys off the runway so the planes could land. The entertainment was provided by drunk Seabees, drunk Billy Joe Truax, and drunk "Pitts in the Pacific". I believe the projectionist was almost strung-up when the film broke in the middle of the movie. Those crazy-ass Seabees went to the supply hut and fashioned a rope fit for a hanging. Lucky for the projectionist, he got the movie crankin' again. We also lived in hooches with crude bathhouse facilities. And to forget our minimal living conditions the Navy provided us with 10 cent beer and 15 cent mixed drinks. I always appreciated the way the Navy tried to compensate sailors for their sacrifices.  It was a short stay but I learned sooo much during that little excursion. By the time I got out of the Navy I had been around the world 3 times and met everybody twice! Not bad for someone from Mudsplatt, Alabama eh!
 
 

may 1974 to may 1975
NAME = Tres Ramirez
MY QUEST = To convince myself I was really there.....
VT of a SWALLOW = Haven't had enough beer to answer that....
E-MAIL = tres28ram@comcast.net
NATIONALITY = American
SERVICE = Navy
UNIT = Reciever Site
RANK/RATE/JOB = Rmsn when I got there, RM3 when I left..
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Other
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = It is really a haze right now, but as a rookie RM, I remember we had to go out side and burn our tapes and discarded messages..
We were out there, 3 of us...the oldest was 19, and we hear a noise.  It was a scream, I shit you not....we kept poking the fire and adding the burn bags....We heard the scream again....it was closer....We couldn't see too far, because like tenderfeet, we had been looking into the fire....Crabs were crawling all over the place, and we just talked amongst ourselves about home, girls, cars, and the the scream came again, this time it was piercing, and it was close....We looked out across the incinerater, through the flames, and the freaking monster....was slowly walking towards us....this thing was like
10 feet tall, arms about 5 feet long, 1 giant eye, and it was dragging some sort of stuff behind it....I swear we tried to run, but we were petrified....as it came closer, it raised his hands in the air and gave out a horrible screech...We tried to run again, and as we turned, there were two other monsters holding us for the  kill.....We screamed like little girls I swear....one of the guys fainted, the other almost went into shock, I almost shit my pants.. I guess the laughter brought us back to reality...it was the RM's in the back that use to keep the systems up....apparently it was the initiation for rookies at R-Site....

I only remember a couple of guys names...One was a guy called Jeep, and the other was Cavazos...

It was a chicken shit thing to do to young kids on their first time away from home and thousands of miles away on a desert island...I guess in the long run it was okay, since we became the Swamp Monster when they left the Rock....

I do remember the Miss America tour, The infamous Philippino rock band that caused the big scandal....R&R in Bangkok, The Diego burger.  Chiken ala king, turkey ala king, ham ala king, and ala king surprise The projector guy rewinding the film everytime there was a nude scene, The new chow hall that never was put into service, the dust, the bus, the donkeys, the crabs, I will never eat a coconut again..

All in all, for an 18 year old....It was a long strange trip...glad it happened...learned alot, treasure it all....

Is it true they have women there now.....where the hell were they when we were there.....
 

October 1974 - September 1975
NAME = David P. Long
MY QUEST = Relive some old memories
VT of a SWALLOW = in MPH, fps, or kmh ?
E-MAIL = davell@pro-ns.net
NATIONALITY = US
SERVICE = USN
UNIT = NWSED (Naval Weather Service Detachment)
RANK/RATE/JOB = AGAN, made AG3 on Diego Garcia. Did upper air weather balloons. Out of the Navy in 1977.  Former paramedic (15 years) now an electrical inspector in Minneapolis, MN
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = This is a No-Shit 'How I Put One Over On My Senior Chief' Story
MY WARSTORY = The atmosphere over DG is very "tall" so our upper air weather balloons would go forever collecting data.  This meant hours of boredom and data. So.... we would carefully tape a crease on the balloon to introduce a fracture at high altitude, thus ending the sounding.  Got quite good at it.  Well, one day the Chief (can't remember his name) drops in unexpectantly.  We had taped that balloon earlier.  Balloon breaks at a fairly low altitude.
Chief laughs and says " I see you guys are using tape." I remember LCDR Jerry Brearton (sp?)- great OIC.  Servied with Tom Howell (AGAN), Dan Wagner (AGAN) and others I can't remember now. I do remember cheap Double Diamond beer, donkey drives, Miss America, R&R in Bangkok, bad milk, hamburgers and chickenevery day for weeks.
 

1974
NAME = Ronald E. Kotz
E-MAIL = ronkotz@verizon.net
NATIONALITY = US
SERVICE = NAVY
UNIT = UCT-1, Underwater Construction Team
RANK/RATE/JOB = E6
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Want to Return When the First REAL Club Med Opens
 

1973,1974 M.C.B. 10 Echo Company
NAME = James McDANIEL, known as Chicken Man Mc Daniel
E-MAIL = burnumupbarnes@yahoo.com
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Please Select The Category That Best Discribes Your Interest in Diego Garcia
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = Hello I AM ChickenMan McDaniel, this is my story. The first time I was on Diego Garcia was in 1973 with Echo com. ,I was a steel worker . Believe it or not I realy did not now where I was going, volenteered for the asighnment . As it turned out there I was out in the middle of now where, stuck on an island, with a bunch Sea Bees, Englishman and no women!!! So when it came time to go on R.R. It was time to go to Bangcock, Thailand. While I was there the Thai Gov. was ovar thrown have lots of pictures still to the day. Then it was time to back to home base,tour was over after six months of deployment. Rretun time 1974 to 1975 of January. M my dutyies were building add on to officers mess hall, then laying out duct work to hospital,on to barecks five ,then on laying out rebar for swim pool,and fianlly back to camp maintenence where I stayed the rest of tour .Now there was a time a bunch
of fellow steel workers went on a shelling exspadishion. When all the sudden the guys out front started to run with out saying a thing, all the sudden I new why I yelled out bees very big bees I was hit twice and was on very fast run . Still to the day I have two scars one on each leg. Most memerable moment was when Miss U.S.A. show , came to town. I thought of all the ladys Miss Minesota was best looking sexy. Still I do have my California drivers licence that Miss Ill. sighned my base ball glove was stolen out mail whn I sent it home, which all the Miss U.S.A. Sighned. I use to do a chicken call when I was playing in the out field and it seemed every one would hit the ball to me.
 

1974
NAME = Ron Kotz
E-MAIL = ronkotz@verizon.net
NATIONALITY = AMERICAN
SERVICE = NAVY
UNIT = UCT-ONE
RANK/RATE/JOB = PN1, Retired/VA disability
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Want to Drink A Lot, Cheap
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = Our trip actually started when our acting OIC LCDR Ron Erchul got on the bus and gave us a pep talk about our deployment to DG.  He went on to say about the mission, living and dying, etc, and oh yeah, the uniform of the day was shorts, however, they couldn't be above the knee's.  His example was about 4-6 inches below, now they would be stylish.  We had an overnight layover at Clark AFB, we had 2 people in the unit that had been there previously, so they schooled us on how to get off base but be back before curfew.  So off the 4 of us went downtown, unfortunately it was good friday and a religious holiday, but we did find American Legion Post #1 and Guys and Girls Bar, there we made the acquiantance of some ladies, paid for the pleasure of their company for the evening, cost about $5.  We had already decided on alias names, Bob Polley aka: John Smith, Earney Ward aka: Peter Pounder, Jim Fransen aka: Dale Arden and yours truly aka: Ronald McDonald.  Needless to say we had an evening of drinking and great company at a local hotel.  Anyway to make a long story short the girls expected tips for their services and we didn't think they deserved them, so we were called cheap and then they wanted us to buy them supper.  The most expensive item was a chicken dinner (or was it chicken) for about $10 (in 1974 that was too much).  We had to land in Guam for a mechanical problem on the aircraft, we were there about 6 hours and it was hot.  Nothing to do but hang around the terminal so someone went to the package store and brought back bottles of booze, which was quickly consumed without a chaser in the heat, upon take off, several of us lost our cookies in the barf bag.  We we arrived on DG, our advance party had already been there about 2 weeks and had built a bar in the back of one hootch.  The refer was already stocked and there was booze.  To belong to the bar you had a pay an initial payment of $20 then pay or run a tab for reduced drinks.  There was lots of drinking after the workday and on Sunday's our only day off.  Once on a Saturday night, we did a sneak attack on the galley and made off with a large pot of stew and butter pads.  We had gone into the blast pits at low tide and got about 20 lobster's and needed butter.  We did eat good as well as drink, however when the good beer ran out and the only thing left was double diamond it was like drinking piss.  Our OIC had never driven a straight drive, so one night we went over and switched the knob's from the floor shifter and the four wheel drive shift.  The next day he was trying to drive and shift, he was running off the road and saw us laughing at him, he stopped and then tried to back up, he had the back window up and backed into a tree, which a Brit-rep saw and made him pay a fine.  Speaking of fines, our first ever NJP was held there after one of our builders John Bond, went to the club one night and pissed in the SP's pant's pocket at the bar.  We had many good times there, wonder how much it changed.....
 

1974/75
NAME = Chris (Doc) PARSONS  OBE
MY QUEST = To come clean on me seeing the asses of all the visiting Miss America OFO performers
E-MAIL = chrisparsons@cytanet.com.cy
NATIONALITY = English
SERVICE = Medical
UNIT = Medical
RANK/RATE/JOB = Retired
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = 5 days prior to our much anticipated visit from the first woman most of us had seen in months & months in the shape of a UFO Miss America Show, we staff at the sick bay firmly diagnosed 4 cases of hepatitis A, the lesser severe type of hepatitis, but nevertheless extremely contagious. We took advice from consultants in both UK & US & were instructed to immediately STOP ALL arrivals to the island! Oh great, & so how do we I asked my Medical Officer in Charge fancy being executed by the lads for curtailing the forthcoming 'skinfest' that is more important to them at the moment than breathing?
After a lengthy period of consideration that lasted as long as up to 5 seconds my MOIC said that we must explain the pending mutiny that we were imminently going to cause if the women were stopped from coming to our respective advisors.
We were then told that a revolt, the enormity of which could distabalise Indian Ocean Region security should be avoided at ALL COST & that the only other
alternative was to hastily innoculate both EVERYONE currently on the island, and to do the same to EVERYONE who may visit immediately on arrival.
The innoculation for hepatitis A is an intramuscular injection of gammaglobulin, & as we all know from having injections, 'intramuscular' normally means in the butt.
SO when the girls arrived my MOIC done JUST as we were instructed.... Finally & as a point of interest, one of the girls had a very erotic tattoo on her butt.
But which one & of what???? .... LOOK IN AGAIN AND FIND OUT ANOTHER DAY.....
 

1974
NAME = Alan Hubbard
MY QUEST = To be a virgin again
VT of a SWALLOW = Zero-he's terminal
E-MAIL = hubbard@intellisys.net
NATIONALITY = Good Ole USA
SERVICE = Navy
UNIT = H Company, USNMCB-10
RANK/RATE/JOB = HM2, Lab Assistant. Retired from Southwestern Bell (now, THAT'S a sweet job, goood pay and they demand that you don't go die for them...)
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Other
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = In the past few weeks/months I have been looking over this site and have been remembering a lot of stuff that I haven't thought about in years.  Like, remember when the freezers quit, and we ate steak, lobster, etc for days and days(after a while the cooks were scraping the green shit off the steaks before they cooked them), then had corned beef hash for breakfast, canned pork for lunch, canned beef for dinner, then corned beef hash......  This went on for I think 2 or 3 weeks..... Chief Mitchell really out-did himself trying to feed us on what I guess is called K-rations.  Great times.  I used to have a T-shirt and skivvies that were once white but were rendered a dingy grey from the time the desal barge quit, and our water was at 250 parts per million of salt.  Taste threshold is something like 8 or 10 ppm.......  I kept the underwear just to remind myself that no matter how bad things seemed, they could be worse.
 
 

1974-1975
NAME = Brad Dean
E-MAIL = brad (at) bradleypdean.com
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Please Select The Category That Best Discribes Your Interest in Diego Garcia
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
MY WARSTORY = Construction Mechanic, on Diego worked part of the time for Chief Pugeda in the Parts Shop and assisted part of the time with the roving PM (preventive maintenance) truck, which I seem to recall was run by Kevin Farley of Middetown, Ohio, a CM-3, I believe.  Chummed around with Tom Dumond at Rosy Roads and on Diego (where Tom cross-trained to machinist), spent some time in the Long Beach and San Diego brigs while in homeport (Hueneme, before heading to Diego) for failing to obey an order from Lt. Cmdr. Bueby to get a haircut, and went with the advance team to Diego.  Larry Deggs bunked opposite me in the hootch, and in addition to Farley and Dumond, I hung out with Harry Kline of (as I recall) Staten Island and a fellow whose last name I think was Stipes.  I DJed for a time at the radio station with Paul LeBrun and dedicated Elton John's "Mad Man Across the Water" to Lt. Cmdr. Beuby when he and his fellow officers were having a shindig one time on the other side of the lagoon with the Brit Rep.  I got my ear pierced while on Diego and while in Bangkok on R&R got an "FTN" (Fuck The Navy) earring made, which I wore when off-duty, much to the chagrin of the chief petty officers (Pugeda and Chatsworth are the only two whose names I recall).
    I drew the KP billet at the chiefs mess with one other malcontented Seabee, and we used to have to load the food from the main chow hall onto a truck and drive it over to the chiefs mess, which sat up on a little hill-like rise.  The parking brake on the truck was not working properly, and thank the gods my cohort in KP and I submitted a chit to have the thing repaired because one fine early morning, before light, when he and I were unloading the chow truck and actually inside the mess hall, we heard a loud crash outside.  When we ran to the back door, we immediately noticed that the running lights on the truck were NOT outside that back door, where we had left the truck while we were unloading the food.  No, the damned thing had rolled down the hill and--I swear, this is true--smashed into the hootch at the bottom of the hill.  And who were the two of the chiefs living in that particular hootch?  Yep, Pugeda and Chatsworth.  Well, of course the local MPs were called, and the whole group of us looked at the tire tracks from the truck as they proceeded from the top of the hill near the back door of the mess hall downhill along the road.  At the bottom of the hill the right-front tire got into some deep sand, which of course turned the front wheels very dramatically to the right and caused the careening truck to "turn" (it was going downhill backwards) into the hootch--which, by the way, was of course knocked completely off its pilons or board-like foundation.  Despite all the talking and swear-to-Goding my fellow malcontent and I engaged in, neither the cops nor the chiefs believed us--until we remembered the damned chit we had submitted, which we produced and which got us off the hook (along with our vociferous swear-to-Godings, I suspect).
     I used to run nude along the solitary beach that seemed to run for miles along the south side of the atoll.  Terns would sweep along, and parrot fish swam just where the surf along the shore would break.  By the gods, those were good times!  Just sand and waves and coconut trees and sun and me in the prime of my young manhood, running on and on through the sand, confident of my dinner, and nary a trouble in the world.  I was able to make myself such a pain in the Navy's arse that I got a General Discharge under honorable conditions ("convenience of the government") upon returning to Port Hueneme.  I spent two years, two months, two days in the Nav, and I got five full years of G.I. Bill benefits (three college degrees) for my troubles.  Not bad, not bad at all.  I have no regrets and look back fondly on the whole experience.
 
 

March 1974---March 1975
NAME = Randy Wilson
MY QUEST = find those that I was with
VT of a SWALLOW = about that much
E-MAIL = rwallen7@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY = American
SERVICE = US Navy
UNIT = NAVCOMMSTA  MAIN POWER PLANT PUBLIC WORKS
RANK/RATE/JOB = CECN AT THE TIME,MADE CE2 BEFORE I GOT OUT WAS WITH 31ST NCR AND NAVCHAPGRU HANDLING CARGO BEFORE DISCHARGE
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
MY WARSTORY = Started living in the huts on the beach til the new barracks opened. one of the pics shows the new barracks my was 2nd window from right.We worked 8hours on and 24 hours off at the plant Ken Samsel CECN and Walter Violette ENFN worked together, worked with Andy Sweeney and Derek ABernathy both Royal Navy enginemen (good people),CECN Ron Losinski (I dont know who his mechanic was ) and Jim Martinez with Bob Bothwick a brit mechanic ran the plant.I worked with Armed Forces radio and ran the movies at night at times to help pass the time.There was a radioman stationed there- (I remember he was Port Authority Maryland) was a ham radio operator and talked almost all over the world while he was there. I was into scuba at the time and did as much of that as I could stand.The Brits made sure I was properly initiated at the Brit Club (Courage Beer 1 thru 7).
 
 

1974-1975
NAME = Raymond  (Randy) Wilson
MY QUEST = dreaming of a better time
VT of a SWALLOW = CE at main power plant,
E-MAIL = rwallen7@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY = Caucasian
SERVICE = us navy
UNIT = public works,main power plant switch gear operator
RANK/RATE/JOB = got out CE2 also uct2 it was so long ago-seems like yesterday
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = They say they found  a jeep vandalized at I-site,but we know who went joy riding now don't we?  Remember Senior Chief Brown of NIS?  I didnt know what to tell him.  Jan Selleck , Bobby Bothwick,Andrew Sweeney and Derek Abernathy all my favorite Brits!  You're all missed! If someone sees this and knows how I can contact Derek Abernathy  please e-mail me.There was only one who od'd--he swallowed a balloon full-the poor bastards roomie knew it too.
 
 

YEARS = 1974
NAME = Tom Grenier
E-MAIL = write to Lenny (Buford)
SERVICE = MCB 10
UNIT = Blasting crew
RANK/RATE/JOB = See earlier entry
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Other
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = A few months back I found those blue DG shorts that a lot of us had while on the island. I put my big ass in them and walked out and said to my wife and daughter, "hey they still fit". I probably weighed about 140lbs back then (see picture under blasting coral on main page)and now I hit the scale at about 210. Needless to say the girls are still busting me and have warned me not to take them out again. I wonder if I can sell them on ebay??? Oh well, they brought back some good memories.
 

74-75
Subject:     Diego Garcia, aka "The Rock", aka "Dodge"
Date:          Wed, 20 Jul 2005 16:06:45 -0500
From:        "Alan Hubbard" <sandal239@charter.net>
     Hi all you who are situated in paradise.  I spent 8 lovely months there in '74/75 and hated every minute of it.  Looking thru the perspective of 31 years gone by, many beers and lots of different experiences I feel now that my time on The Rock was a good point, a defining point, in my life.  Don't let it get you down, it will be over before you know it.  One day you will look back and say, "Well, bullshit, I WAS THERE!"  I wish I had done more to enhance the experience, but I chose to drink the cheap booze-think it was 15 cent beer and 25 cent shots or (vice-versa)-in the EM club.  It was an experience that I have not had anywhere else, nor could I have it anywhere else.  The duty station after I left MCB-10 was Idaho Falls, ID.....now, talk about fucked up...... At any rate, keep your chin up, things will one day inmprove.  AT LEAST THERE ARE WOMEN THERE!!!!!!
Al Hubbard, ex-HM2 USNMCB-10
O Fallon, MO
 

Subject:      Diego Garcia, 1974
Date:         Sat, 9 Apr 2005 21:51:33 -0500
From:        "Alan Hubbard" <sandal239@charter.net>
HI-I was stationed on "The Rock" in 1974 as a Corpsman with MCB-10-not quite at the beginning, but close.  We lived in "C" huts and had one head per about 8 huts.....  We walked to the shower nude with our towels slung over our shoulders....when Miss America was there we had at least a week of notices in the POD-"Don't walk nude to the showers while the women are here".   It was a love/hate relationship, as I knew what we were doing was vital since we were getting kicked out of the Philippines, but it still sucked.  We were on double rations due to being isolated, and I actually got tired of eating steak, shrimp and lobster tail.  The only air conditioned spaces were the dispensary and some other HQ offices.  There were about 1200 horny sailers and 300 nervous donkeys there, plus about a jillion damn chickens that crowed at odd hours. One glorious night we were subjuected to a rooster crowing, and got to hear the crowing get cut off in mid-crow...someone had BBQ chicken later!!
Also, I am trying to contact Gareth Parsons, who has asked for anyone who served with his Dad, Chris.  I served with Chris while on DG in '74/75 and would like to contact Gareth.  I emailed him at the email address given, but no response.  I hope that maybe he will check back on this site and see this.....
Al Hubbard
ex-HM-2
USN-MCB-10

1974-75
NAME = Alan Hubbard
MY QUEST = Want to get in touch with some old buddies, notably Vic Boehmer...
VT of a SWALLOW = 6
E-MAIL = sandal239@charter.net
NATIONALITY = USA
SERVICE = Navy
UNIT = HQ, Corpsman
RANK/RATE/JOB = HM2
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember!
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = We had a MA named Jim, I won't divulge his last name....  One time we had a very badk outbreak of the shits...Jim, after he felt better, went to the chow hall and ate, of all things, nothing but SPINACH!!!! He barely made it back to the crapper before his bowels betrayed him.....in fact, on his way into the crapper they DID betray him.  He put his hand back to catch the....uh....stuff that came out, and when he looked, it was the spinach he had just eaten, barely touched!!  He told me about this a few days later, totally amazed that it could look like it hadn't been eaten.....
 

1974
NAME = Mike Reynolds
MY QUEST = Checking out good memories
VT of a SWALLOW = Dead stop
E-MAIL = mjreynolds@ci.santa-rosa.ca.us
NATIONALITY = American
SERVICE = U.S. Navy
UNIT = MCB10, Echo
RANK/RATE/JOB =
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Decided to Join A Monastery, But Couldn't Find One Stateside
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
MY WARSTORY = Mig buzzing the island; one guy od'ing after his r&r; another guy with clap of the throat after a lil' stint in the brig in Phillipines and a mistaken early-out the nite before the return flight( oral sex with whore is a big no-no), and his bunk and locker on the beach for a month; millions of crabs; great eclipse of the moon; power outage with a defrosted freezer at the T site; big ass sharks; good times with my buds.
I remember Jolene!!
Fishing of the barge in the lagoon, and more big ass sharks. Party'ng on the other side of the island, our side of the island, hell, all over that damn island! Beer & mexican food at the "Cantina". Stealing helium tanks and imitating the munchkins at the cannons.
Hell, if Jolene and her friends had stuck around longer, I would be hard pressed to think of any bad memories.
 
 

74-75
NAME = Louis Rogers
MY QUEST = Need Help
VT of a SWALLOW = 0 When it hit the transit mixer.
E-MAIL = louis.rogers@navy.mil
NATIONALITY = Civil servant
SERVICE = Navy
UNIT = Concrete Batch Plant
RANK/RATE/JOB = Builder - made E1 several times
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Geo-political Rabble Rousing
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
MY WARSTORY = Filed a claim with the VA over my back and Hep C. So if anyone else has info as to the Hep epidemic on The Rock contact me. As for my back, that happened in Rosy Roads when one of the boys dropped the other end of the BU kit. Does any one remember "Master" Bates. If you notice my email address, I almost got a real job. I'm a P&E for PW at Naval Base Ventura County. Thats the CBC and NAS Point Mugu bases combined.
 
 

1974
NAME = Mike Villierme
MY QUEST = Joy Ride
VT of a SWALLOW = The one with feathers or the one true love commits?
E-MAIL = mvilli@surewest.net
NATIONALITY = USA
SERVICE = USN CB
UNIT = MCB 10, Echo Company
RANK/RATE/JOB = CM3
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = I'd Like to Share Precious Memories of Drinking/Fishing/Snorkeling/Sailing on Diego Garcia
MY WARSTORY = Where do I start? Ok, here is one that Chuck Stebbins TOLD ME about but w/o hypnosis it is likely to remain subconcious forever...it concerne a night of downing pints at the Brit Club, in 74' it was a couple of clicks south of the main containment area. Ya know, where all the plywood and corrugated tin huts were. At about way drunk thirty, so Chuckie tells me, we wore out our welcome and started the long stagger home. It was rain season. The instant pool, everything is soaked in seconds, cue ball sized rain drops rain season. We were slogging through it when Chuckie went and took a header into one of the trenches along side the road and appeared quite content to stay there. Chuckie say I pulled him out but alas, my only shot at saving another human and I don't recall. But I guess I could fill a book...Fonzy dressing as Dracula, Cornelious taking all my money home from poker games, Bobby Rice shaving his head and winning a bet from some fool, the USO show contortionist, playing raquetball with the base commander, and winning! Great site here! Thanks
 
 

1974
NAME = roy garrison
E-MAIL = 1lroy121@sbcglobal.net
SERVICE = usn
UNIT = nmcb10
RANK/RATE/JOB = cm3
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Other
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
MY WARSTORY = all i wanted was to leave
 
 

1974-1975
"Dave Perkins" <daveylee@adelphia.net>
Greetings!
     I especially enjoyed your Diego Garcia page with the 1974 Miss America tour... as I remember that well (almost like yesterday)  Spent Feb 74 thru Feb 75 there...US Navy at the Transmitter site on the south end of the island.
     I probably acted somewhat foolish after not having seen a woman for quite some time...  That was an outside movie theater that we had to go to and watch the show an it was HOT out already... and then "they" paraded out... and oh well, down with another Budweiser! <GRIN!>
     Good to see some more recent photos of things there.  During my time there, the FIRST C5 landed.  They were not sure the ramp was sturdy enough for all the weight so it was left parked at the North end of the runway overnite... Cargo Offloaded there and refueled there... Eventually someone decided that the ramp was strong enough and they finally "tried it" and since the ramp didn't collapse under the weight they quit parking on the runway!  However, many of us were recruited to make sure no donkeys walked across the runway during the landing of a C5!
     Did you serve on any other islands?  I went to Guam after DG... and then on to Hawaii for 4.5 years.  And, oh yes, I did 2 years on Midway Island in the mid 60's which you can see at: http://midway.daveylee.net
     Did I understand correctly that you are in the Middle East?  If that's the case... please be careful and come back to us safely.
     After I retired in '84, I spent a couple of years working for a "defense contractor" in Saudi installing underground command centers for the Royal Saudi Navy in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Jubail.  So, I do understand a little of what goes on over that way...  Be careful!  (Sorry, I'd already said that...)
David Perkins, USNavy, Retired
MRGRG-MD
online:  http://milret.daveylee.net
email:   milret@daveylee.net
Health Care Swindle: http://mrgrg-ms.org/#TagSwindle1
My only GOOD souvenir left from the tour there.  The 5 x 5 plaque on my office wall.  I think this was from NMCB #10

1974-1975
"Mike Villierme" <javillierm@ardennet.com>
Hi, my name is Mike Villiereme, I was a CM3, briefly an EM3, then again a CM3, then briefly a SW3 while on the rock 74-75 with MCB 10, Echo Company...MCB 10 was most notably the hardhat battalion...this did not keep it from being disbanded in 1975...I would like to be island entertainment laison officer...if that position is not availble, palm frond patrol was not bad duty...each afternoon while on garbage detail, we swept the beach in front of the O quarters...sounds subservient but it kept me from mess hall duty...GREAT SITE!
Thanks for the great web site re: The Rock...I was there with MCB 10 from 6/74 - 2/75 (est)...never heard it referred to as The Dodge but it makes sense...I keep in touch with a few compadres, some were on my deployment, some later...stay safe in the sand my friend, shoot first and sort all later... Mike Villierme, Constructionman 3...USN MCB 10 Echo Company
 

1974 & many more times after that
James Domenico <jdidom@pacbell.net>
Ted
     Just something for your timeline of US military doings at Diego. Before the Seabees had finished their reef blasting, removing most of the toes on Diego's foot. I was an aircrew on a Navy P3 Orion and first flew into Diego in 1974. They were still going there in the late 70's when I was discharged. It was still primitive living, but what a beautiful place. We knew about the Navy's plan to dredge a harbor in the lagoon and thought it was criminal the way they were planning to destroy a jewel like Diego. If you can find a good aerial photo of Diego before the blasting and dredging you would see that it really looked like a human foot. The islets across the open end of the lagoon made up the toes and was so striking that's the picture in my head when Diego comes to mind. That and the MANDATORY bomb-bay full of San Miguel beer every time we were in the Philippines before going out to Diego.
     We (Patrol Squadron 4) and our sister squadrons usually had a plane and crew there for about 5 days at a stretch, so we had lots of time to play, fishing, snorkeling in the lagoon, then another crew would relieve us and we would fly off to Bangkok, or the Philippines, even to Bandar Abbas in Iran on the Persian Gulf.
     The Navy actually told us that the natives had been killed of or removed  by the Japanese in WW ll and that's why we and the Brits each had half an island.
Jim Domenico
San Francisco, CA
 

1974-1975
From:  RUSTY
     I was thinking of all the guys on DG today in the wake of the earthquake off Indonesia - there's not much high ground to run for when expecting a tsunami.
     Found your home page and even a mention of me  - memories of DG keep coming back after all these years, most of them stories people would not believe.
     No problem if you want to add this note to the home page but I would rather you only passed my EMAIL address to qualified recipients.
     Everyone knew me as Rusty - two of us arrived on DG in June 74 - Albert and myself - we were Brits but because we were both CTCMCS's assigned to
NAVSECGRU the Brit Rep did not know anything about us until we arrived. This caused a minor reshuffle in the hierarchy of RN Party 1002 and put us both in a unique position to effect some good and bad while we were on DG.
     One distinct memory shortly after our arrival - a sail boat came into the lagoon at night - bumped into the unlit fishing barge and started complaining. The Brit Rep called for water transport - a tank landing craft from Harbour Ops - once within hailing distance he called "Ahoy there - stand by for the Island Commander, the Island Immigration Officer, the Island Health Officer ......." and another half dozen titles that I can't remember - the reply came back "how many should I expect for lunch" - "Just the one" he replied - there were many occasions when it was hard to keep a straight face.
     We lived in a hooch on the beach by the Chiefs club and had a dump truck as our private transport. At that time the Island had a base ball field and at
least five bars but nothing had been provided for recreation on the lagoon.  Just about anything could be organized over lunch in the Chiefs mess and it was not long before we commandeered two old dental trailers and parked them on the beach as the start of the Boat Works. The bar was built first then the boats, we had our priorities straight.
     I left in September 74 then returned for a one year stint to take over from Al in May 75. The Boat Works was flourishing when I returned and it was not
long before we had an old target towing launch raised from the bottom, re-engined with a 671 courtesy of the deep six behind A Company - this became our prime water transport.
     A Taiwanese  company was dredging the lagoon and much of the fish we caught was cooked in their camp - boy they had a good cook.
     On a routine trip to AirOps I found two Aussies sitting on their baggage looking sorry for themselves - Pinky and Nick - they were the surveyors for the blasting operation which was due to start knocking out the coral heads left behind by the cutter suction dredges. For some reason they had arrived ahead of their support gear and had found themselves quarantined from any Island help. Even though the BOQ's were being occupied by this time I still lived, by choice, in a hooch on the beach and invited them to take over the vacant one next to me - first priority was to find them a fridge - we stencilled the fridge door " on loan from Rusty's Whore House to the Ettamogah Pub" - this was the start of much trouble.
     A week later a barge arrived with Pinky and Nick's portacabins which were off-loaded to a patch adjacent to the Taiwanese camp. The portacabins were
fully equipped, fridges, ice makers, aircon etc but there was no generator. So one dark night I crept thru the bit of jungle between them and the Tai camp with a large chunk of power cable, climbed on a box at the back of the Tai ablutions and proceeded to hook up power - it was dark, that's my excuse - I managed to hold onto both live and neutral - was hurled from my perch and landed waist deep in a trench full of you know what - I then realised where the Tai crew grew their greens.
     Their barge came with a large pile of wood which quickly transformed into the real Ettamogah Pub - the origin of the name is from a cartoon in the
Australian Post - we had a collection of these cartoons from Pinkies mum and framed them round the bar. Initially we did not have fridge space for all the beer needed for Saturday nights so we operated out of garbage bins full of ice. This became, for a short while, the place to go for a beer, one of the guys would put on a really great Hell Fire and Damnation preaching session which had everyone in tears of laughter.
     A few weeks after the Ettamogah pub got going the word was out for a big fridge and ice maker - the call came one day from AirOps they had just unloaded a stainless steel bar organizer complete with fridge, ice maker, sinks, you name it - it had arrived on a C5A with no paper work - I guess we all knew it was for the new officers club but the calls went out - B Company carpenters were immediately mobilized - the side wall came off the pub and the new acquisition was installed and camouflaged within hours of arrival on the Island.  We survived for at least a month before ROIC and the Island CO cottoned on to where the prime component for their officers mess had ended up - the Ettamogah pub was bulldozed with much sorrow.
     There were no women on the island at that time but I remember the Rec Officer had the brain wave to invite the runners up in the Miss America contest to visit DG - bad mistake - it took weeks to obliterate the large welcome signs painted on the buildings - most of which were unprintable.  Miss Alabama and Miss Ohio, you both retain a warm spot in my heart.
     Prior to the end of my second tour it was decided to lay black top from AirOps to the Camp - we had noticed that the land crabs were both territorial and creatures of habit, they crossed the dirt road in front of the Boat Works at the same place each day about 16:00. When the black top was laid we painted yellow stripes on the road and put up signs indicating "Crab Crossing". I was arraigned in front of the Island CO only to be asked how I had managed to train the crabs to cross the road each day at 16:00 - as I say it was hard at times to keep a straight face.
     Leaving DG was an adventure in itself - the US had pulled out of Thailand - my passport was stamped in Utapao but my only way out was to hitch a ride
on a C5A into the Philippines - I sent a wire note to my buddy Omar who met me on arrival, found a way to short circuit immigration and made it his mission to make up for the absence of women in my life for the previous year. If you read this Omar, you are my hero.
     Nothing but fond memories - I am very proud to have served on DG - made so many friends - my MCB-10 and BIOT plaques still have pride of place in my
study. I'm a Canadian these days - still live a charmed life - have a classic wooden sail boat which I keep in the Gulf Islands - Albert came to visit earlier in the year and we found some time to go sailing and reminisce about DG.
     I made an impromptu visit to Port Hueneme some years back but failed to locate any of my old friends in the short time available. Did however manage a quick and happy visit with my DG boss, Gerry F, in DC.
     Please drop me a line to confirm that you have received this note - I have photo's which I will scan if you can use them.
Cheers
Rusty - ex RN - seconded to the USN for the DG tours.
These photos go with my earlier note:
     I'm on the left in the boat picture - centre is the 2 IC RN2001-  right is the RN2001 Chief Stoker - blowed if I can remember their names.
     I have found a whole bunch of negatives from DG just need to fix my scanner to take them - some of the negs show the launching of the steel launch in
the picture as well as me fitting the engine and doing some dubious welding.
     The second picture is of the Ettamogah pub with "Preacher" in attendance - we built him a pulpit as he was a star attraction - the guy holding the toilet roll trumpet is Pinky - again I'm sure I will unearth more shots of the Pub once I get organized.
For Lenny:
Somewhere I have negatives of a submerged D6 - there are just two pipes sticking out of the water - the modified air intake and the exhaust - plus the head of the driver - seem to remember that you guys rescued this dozer from the deep six and modified it to pull a scraper to recover the rock after charges were blown at high tide. Meanwhile my recreation was driving an Eaithy Wagon on the haul road - I never did figure out how to adjust the seat so everyone knew when I was coming back empty as my legs would not reach the pedals when I hit a bump and the journey was a series of high speed spurts. I did find my licences - apparently A Company signed me off for everything including the 50 ton crane - never did figure out how to reverse a 40ft flat bed properly - took lots of lessons from the old guy on the grader but again never succeeded in producing anything other than washboards - and definitely remember a frustrating time with a D6 until I discovered "Float" on the blade.
Lots of good memories
Cheers
Rusty

"Ruff, Leonard F HS" <leonard.ruff@hs.utc.com>
To:  "'nrushton@bjservices.ca'" <nrushton@bjservices.ca>,  Albert Plumb <apfco@supanet.com>
    Yes we were on that crew with the D-8's in the water if you look on the DG web page and scroll to a page called blowing corral for fun and profit you
will see maybe some faces you recognize one is yours Rusty when you took us to the plantation a lot of years ago but I will never forget them.
Lenny
 
 

1974
"Ralph Buschman" <rbuschman@comcast.net>
hello:
I here by request membership in the republic. I was there on "the rock", for almost a year way back in 1974. I was even honored with a plaque by my department as the best streaker on Diego Garcia. I still have pictures of the award ceremony and the plaque. I was a CE-3 with NMCB-4 back when the base was being built, and most all of the buildings were south east asia huts. Glorified tents, tin roofs with screen 1/2 way down that let the rain in.
 Ralph Buschman
 

From:    "Richard Lehner" <lehner_richard@hotmail.com>
Rick lehner here, just wanted to thank you and wish you the best. i was there with ncb one alpha co. on the blasting team...just an imature
stupid kid....now am a grown up imature stupid adult....lots of great memories thanks...peace

1974-1975
NAME = Anthony Baca
MY QUEST = Reliving the old days
VT of a SWALLOW = Zero MPH, it's that sudden stop that's terminal.
E-MAIL = ABaca@SempraUtilities.com
NATIONALITY = American
SERVICE = US Navy SeaBees
UNIT = Delta Company
RANK/RATE/JOB = CE3, Shipped out
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Interested World Citizen
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = Hey Frank Sapien, I remember you, we worked together at the Vortac Site. I was on the Advanced Party too. Were you there the day some of the ladies from the Miss America Tour came by? That sure was a nice change of pace. Are you still in New Mexico? Okay, my experience on "The Rock." I have to admit my tour of duty on Diego Garcia went by a lot faster than I thought it would, or so it seemed. Looking back, it wasn't all that bad. I remember all of us having to be vaccinated against Hepatitis. I was on duty the morning that guy died of the overdose. The OD wanted me to go check it out. Sure, I said, he looks dead to me. Standing watch over by the freezers was a trip knowing the body was there. But I remember only one guy dieing, not two. My strangest experience there was, after partying in the jungle, eating some great chili the guys made, and drinking beer, I was 3 sheets to the wind when I started back to the hootch. I must have passed out along the trail cause all I remember was watching the trail pass under me feet as I walked. I awoke on the porch of my hootch the next morning. That's fine, I made it home. The bad part is, I was stark nakid. To this day I cannot account for the lost time. Hey, I know..it was an alien abduction. I'm glad they didn't do any obscene probing. None that I know of anyway. How about the Sunday morning a jet plane buzzed the island? Heck that scared the crap out of everyone. That sucker was loud. Turns out the USS Enterprise was paying a visit. That gave me a sense of security since Russian ships had been the only ones around for a while. I've seen the pictures of Diego, as it looks today. Quite a difference from what we experienced. I was glad to leave, glad to get home to my sweetheart. I got married, shipped over, and spent the next couple of years at Harold E. Holt in Western Australia. I had a great time in the Navy. I'll always cherish the memories.
 
 

1972,1973,1974
NAME = jerry cripe
MY QUEST = retirement
VT of a SWALLOW = english or african?
E-MAIL = jerry.cripe@navy.mil
NATIONALITY = wasp
SERVICE = US NAVY
UNIT = NMCB-10
RANK/RATE/JOB =
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Want to Drink A Lot, Cheap
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Please Select a Title For Your Story, or Select 'Other'
MY WARSTORY = NO STORY. NAVY MADE ME STAY ON THE ISLAND AND BUILD STUFF.

1974-75
     NAME = Gary Solano
     MY QUEST = Old Freinds, Old Memories
     VT of a SWALLOW = Hell if I know
     E-MAIL = gas0013@hotmail.com
     NATIONALITY = American/Latino
     SERVICE = USNR
     UNIT = MCB10 Echo Company, BU
     RANK/RATE/JOB = BUCA worked as a builder Humping blocks, mixing mud, then laying crooked walls that QA would have me knock down to rebuild.
     MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Homosexual Interest Only
     SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = I'd Like to Share Precious Memories of Drinking/Fishing/Snorkeling/Sailing on Diego Garcia
     MY WARSTORY = Its now 2004, this was back in 1974 and 1975. RNMCB 10, Echo company, so where are all you guys at? Who's maried with kids and divorced now, or worse yet passed on.
     Well I am proud to say I served two tours there, with RNMCB 10 before she was decomissioned. I wish I oculd remmeber all my friends names but here are a few, in case you run into them. UT David Chang, UT Monk Malone, UT Tisot.
     The last tour I was there got cut short, after many months of working and partying in most places we could, and even smoking banna leaves. On October I just could not muster up the strenght to party and eat anymore. Some of my buddies told me I looked like shit, in fact it was wierd becuase my shit was coming out almost chalky colored. So i went to the dispensary there and after checking me out they said I had Hepatitus A. They kep me in the dispensary there over night a shipped me out next day to Utapao, Thailand. FOr the rest of my tour.
     I worked with the expediting creww in Utapao, airforce base.  This was funny because they had to give the whole fucking island GG shots to ward off an epidemic of hepatitus from starting. At the end of the week there were three or four of us in the hospital there in Thailand.

1974-1975
     NAME = Paul J. Bombard
     E-MAIL = paulj91@hotmail.com
     NATIONALITY = 100% Proud to be American
     SERVICE = Navy SeaBees MCB-10
     UNIT = Delta Co. Utilitiesman
     MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Want to Drink A Lot, Cheap
     SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
     MY WARSTORY = No real war story here, just a lot of good memories. Ah, those USO shows....how come the girls were always escorted by the officers.? Didn't they trust us.???? And that beautiful outdoor theater, yea, we were some of those drunks sitting in the rain, watching whatever the hell was on, and tossing shit at the screen(I mean the wall). Hung out with those Bravo Co. barge rats...Rick Smith, Dave Johnson, Bob Covell...you know who you are. And what can you say about Bangcock except I WANNA GO BACK!!!!! I remember some of the people that have left messages here. You should go to military.com and register...there's a few of us M&M heads there, it's a good place to touch base with old friends. There's also a web site for Diego with pictures of it now.
     Hah, nothing like it was that's for sure.........

1974
     NAME = Lenny Ruff [Buford]
     E-MAIL = rufflen@hsd.utc.com
     NATIONALITY = American
     SERVICE = Seabees of corse
     UNIT = MCB-10 c compamy Blast and tide haul
     RANK/RATE/JOB = Equipment Operator e-3
     MY INTEREST IN DG IS = My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember!
     SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = This is a No-Shit Drinking Story
     MY WARSTORY = I Remember hanging with Rusty [The British Guy] having a great three day bender and then getting him ready for a surprise inspection. Whewww!  Then it was Tom Greniers 21st Birthday at the club Then my 21st birthday in Bangkok.  Then I think ground hogs day Bird day Fish day I think we celebrated them all.  besides The Drinking we got a lot of corral hauled and crushed.  Blew a few rings off tires @ the tire shop with Stan Simonson {he was our first class in charge of us} so if you knew Stan you knew why we all drank.  Oh yea .75 cent a bottle boones farm apple wine and driving rock dumps what a combo.wow it's all starting to come back to me I better leave now.

1974
TOM GRENIER <tgrenier4@cox.net>
Blasting crew, drinking crew, rock crusher crew, drinking crew.........can't remember what else we did....did I mention drinking crew????
MCB-10 Charlie Company - Equipment Operator - E3
     I remember having a 13 man hooch right on the water. There was a large rock right outside one of the doors. For eight months, after sunset, instead of walking to the latrine, we would simply walk out the door and piss on the rock. When it was our turn to go home, I remember one of the "newbies" stretched out over that rock sunning himself saying "ah, this is great, I claim this rock!"
     At least Buford (Len Ruff) or Harry Clausing didn't piss on him while he was laying there! I can't speak for Joe or John Warnike (sp?), the two brothers from Amarillo TX. They were crazy enough, they may have pissed on him.

1974-87
NAME = Stan Alsing, MSgt,, USAF, Ret
MY QUEST = Just to say I've been there, done that and got the t-shirt
VT of a SWALLOW = Beats me Sarge.  Enyoyed searching your site.  Flew in there 8-10 times a year on C-5s.
E-MAIL = SRALSING@aol.com
NATIONALITY = US; SERVICE = USA-USN-USAF 1949-1993; UNIT = MAC C-5 Loadmaster; RANK/RATE/JOB = MSgt, USAF, Ret
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
MY WARSTORY = Quarters were not up to the USAF "primadona" standards, but the chow was OK and the E clubs were great.  Good thing we were only there for overnight almost every time we were there and we always returned to Clark to enjoy the "LBFM's" again.  Thank God for Clark.

1974-1975
NAME = Larry M. Carpenter, Sr.
E-MAIL = lizardman54488@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY = 100% Red-Blooded American
UNIT = Bravo Co. NMCB-10; RANK/RATE/JOB = Builder;
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Want to Return When the First REAL Club Med Opens
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY =   If there is heaven on earth, it's on Diego Garcia.  Thank God and Kodak for fine photo memories!
       It was great to be in "B" Company . . ..  We had Chief Farley who, at times, I believe missed his calling as a comedian.  I could, but won't, tell a story about Chief Farley and (galley chief) Chief Mitchell--that little on-going spat could've been rated R.  Chief Ostrander was another guy who could make you laugh.
       How could I ever forget Ens. Hambrock?  I believe we got him straight from officer's school--he was as green as his uniform.  Last I heard, which was about 1998, he was still wearing the uniform--you gotta love it.
       Being in Bravo Co., and being a builder, meant I was part of the fire department.  Since I was, at the time, a bit on the light side I was one of the engineers (drove the truck).  One evening somebody called in to inform us of a reddish glow at the Alpha Co. yard.  Thinking it may be a major conflagration, we stepped on it.  I nearly put the truck up on one side going around that first curve but, we got there in one piece only to discover that it was the crusher still glowing proudly from the work it had performed all day.  So much for excitement.  By the way, anbody want to fess up about all the dumpster fires that were set?  They can't write you up for it now.
       I laugh at this now but, at the time it wasn't so funny.  I was behind the chow hall working and was asked to take the utility vehicle we were using back to the shop to get something.  As I drove ahead to proceed in the proper direction, a utility access portal (manhole) magically appeared out of nowhere.  I
scarcely doubt anyone could park a truck so squarely as I did upon that damned thing.  We needed a tow truck with a turret mounted boom just to get the truck off of it.  And they allowed me to drive the fire truck?!  What were they thinking?  They must've been in the sun too long or, maybe it was all the
formaldehyde preserved beer.  We actually drank that shit?!
       Most folks, who were there when I was, may recall I hung around Luther Craig.  I learned more about the South from him than I did from any history book I ever read in high school.  But that's about all I learned from him--sorry Luther.  Last I saw of him was about 1998, he was driving truck for "Frozen Food Express."  So, if you see any FFE trucks flying down the super-slab it may be him.  Just move over and let him through.
       I now have a son in the "other" (regular) U.S. Navy.  Perhaps he may wind up on "The Rock" someday.  Currently he's involved in that "Turkey Shoot" looking for bin Laden.
       To all who I know, take care.  May we all meet again someday at Club Diego.

1974 THRU 1975
NAME = RICHARD RIORDAN;  E-MAIL = riordan_1999@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY = american; SERVICE = us navy; UNIT = nmcb-10; RANK/RATE/JOB = cm2 at the time while i was there but retired cm1 january 1986.  i was in alpha company at the time. working in the tire shop.
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Professional Adventurer Looking For The Ultimate Get Away
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = I'd Like to Share Precious Memories of Drinking/Fishing/Snorkeling/Sailing on Diego Garcia
MY WARSTORY = on diego all i ever did was jog and play sports because i did not dri nk.but i remember a lot of times we did not have water  to shower after work. the desalt barges broke down all the time.wearing basketball shoes in the lagoon to swim so we dont step on stone fish.waiting for the tide to go down at night to hunt sea shells on the reef. the mail plane commming in wednesdays and saturdays.some times not at all.remember the uso show where someone in the audianc moooned the performers.going to the nite movie under the prefab cover only to have  the drunks thro things at the movie screen.playing minature golf with sand all over the greens. remember 2 alpha company personal dying of a drug overdose after returning from bangkok.i remember the supply ship that came in the lagoon every 4 months. 12 on and 12 off un til the ship was unloaded.

1974-1975
NAME = Bill Boardman
E-MAIL = Barandra@mediaone.net
NATIONALITY = American; SERVICE = Seabees; UNIT = A. Company T.A.D. Headquarters Co.
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Geo-political Rabble Rousing
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
MY WARSTORY = Great Island if you like a remote location.  I used to know Kip Holva who actually was one of the first ones to set foot on Diego. Steve Deshazer, Frank Bryant, Jay Hennesy, Bob McNabb, Steve Hilton, Paul LeBrun and McDonald or Mac.  Harvey Dow boy did we ever piss you off.  Remember you were the traffic officer with the weapons carrier.  The bunch of us were kids in their late teens at the time that had a great time fishing, shelling and drinking beer.  I use those times as a lesson on how not to raise your kids. I think that may have helped with MCB 10 being decommisioned, well maybe.  Some were at Diego for the second time.  Hell I thought I pissed someone off when they sent me to Adak!  Diego was a neat place with alot of  coconuts.  Paul was a D.J. at AFRTS during the nights and the rest of us just raised a lot of hell and had to make the best of the situation. Little did we know at the time we were building an airstrip for retaliation for 9/11/01.  I remember taking the British boats out in the lagoon for a midnight swim.  Sometimes we would let them swim out to retrieve them if they wanted them back.  Point Mary Anne and the other hot spots on the island were very memorable.    Feel free to write if you want to  Barandra@mediaone.net

JOLEEN BENOIT <BENDENBIJI@aol.com>
1974 USO TOUR
    Hello... I don't know why I decide to inquire about Diego Garcia tonight but glad I did.  One of my fondest memories of my life is a trip to Diego Garcia---magical.  I was Miss Minnesota in 1973 (of the Miss America Pageant).   Six other state representatives, Miss America  (Becky King) , and  I performed a USO tour of Korea, Japan, and Thailand in the summer of 1974.   One of the stops on our tour was Diego Garcia.  I shall never forget  the mystical/magical aura of this tiny little military island.
     I was a singer in our tour group---play a twelve string guitar. I went on to perform in Brazil, Japan, and eventually  had a number  one record in Japan in 1990.  I currently  hold a position as On- Air- Host for Shop NBC  (formerly Valuevision, Intl.)
     Simply happy to connect with others who have experienced the "magic" of this  tiny little island dropped in the middle of the most beautiful Ocean in the  world.....the Indian Ocean... Fondly, Joleen Benoit.

June 1974-Jan 1975
Frank M. Sapien <fsapien@mail.com>
MY QUEST = Relive Paradise; VT of a SWALLOW = The splat; NATIONALITY = American; SERVICE = USN Seabees; UNIT = T-site, Vortac site; RANK/RATE/JOB = Made BU3 on Diego
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Want to Return When the First REAL Club Med Opens
MY WARSTORY = I can't say I enjoyed the experience as much as I should have, being that we shipped out 2wks after my wedding. I spent my time on Diego at the cabanas drinking beer and hanging out with Martinez, Sal, Robledo, Ortiz, and other beer drinkers. I remember the long hrs. and hot days, the cookouts with food supplied from the galley so we wouldn't have to go eat there, the homemade tortillas Montoya use to make, rolling them out with a wine bottle. These are the fondest of my memories, but the the best memory is the one that bought me the ticket home on the advance party, the birth of my daughter. Thank you BU1 Jim Quinn for sending me home early to a wife and 3 wk. old baby. I'd like to see what Diego looks like now. When I was there it was plywood huts and metal buildings, Diego Burger and all night movies on Saturdays. I'm glad for the experience.

1974/75
Michael PADILLA "PANCHO" <panchomcb10@hotmail.com>
MY QUEST = TO HAVE A MCB10 reunion
VT of a SWALLOW = wern't no swallows in Diego
NATIONALITY = American; SERVICE = USN; UNIT = Personnelman/Yeoman; RANK/RATE/JOB = YNSN
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Want to Return When the First REAL Club Med Opens
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell