1979
bdstrangle@roadrunner.co. March 31 while operating a bulldozer on the runway ext I was struck by a falling tree my head still hirts
I worked at nsf Diego Garcia
1979-1980, as best I can
remember.
NAME = Steve Yager
MY QUEST = Be the best darn mechanic I can be.
VT of a SWALLOW = Depends if the beer is warm or cold.
E-MAIL = eandsyager@msn.com
NATIONALITY = American
SERVICE = USN SeaBees
UNIT = NMCB 40, Construction Mechanic
RANK/RATE/JOB = CM5, but I didn't stay in. I wanted to
come
home and marry my Eighth Grade Sweetheart!
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 = My all time favorite memory of the
precious
time I spent on dear old Diego Garcia was drinking, smoking, and
keeping
one step ahead of the barracks inspections! Anyone remember
those?
Oh, yeah. Where can we hide our stash THIS time????!!!!
I remember one party in
particular.
We had drawn "party rations" from the Chow Hall. Everything was
gone,
except for the GALLON CAN OF JALEPENO PEPPERS!!!! After consuming
many alcoholic beverages - what the heck else WAS there to do on Diego
- we had a jalapeno pepper eating contest! The first memory came
that night in the latrine during "aim and shoot" practice, and the
second
was the next day during the morning "sit down" on the porcelain
throne!!!!
I's like to say "Hello" to John Barto
and
Mike Bowles, and everyone else from that deployment that I can't
remember!
Remind me of your names,
guys! Contact me
at my above e-mail
address.
NMCB 40: We Build, We Fight . . . . WE PARTY!!!!
1979
NAME: big bob dabov
MY QUEST: to stay clean enjoy retirement
VT of a SWALLOW: very deep
E-MAIL: robertdabov@bellsouth.net
NATIONALITY: american
SERVICE: NMCB5
UNIT: POL FIRE PROTECTION
RANK/RATE/JOB: UTCN
MY INTEREST IN DG IS: My Time There is Lost in an
Alcoholic
Haze, Help Me Remember!
MY WARSTORY: WHERE AR MY OLD FREINDS DENISE ALBO RAY
RANGUSA
JOHN TAYLOR JOHN WINKLER RAY LAWSON STUART BURHEN
JAMIE PEREZ RON
ENGLEBERG
THESE ARE GUYS I HAVENT HEARD FROM IN YEARS WHERE ARE YOU AT.
79-80
NAME = Greg Riley
MY QUEST = where the hell did Mcguiness go?
VT of a SWALLOW = good question
E-MAIL = rileyadks@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY = irish american
SERVICE = nmcb-40
UNIT = EO
RANK/RATE/JOB = E-4 discharged 1981
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic
Haze,
Help Me Remember!
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = There I Was, Passed Out in My Room
MY WARSTORY = holy shit, been a long time, my hut was right
behind
the 40 club, quite the partying in there,I remember partying all night,
cooking chickens at like 3 am or maybe joe hartwig bringing in some
fresh
sting ray or eal we wood cook up and yeah when we couldn't find anybody
else to fight with we would fight each other, I remember the
hosher-blake
hut fights, we'd be sitting somewhere partying and all the sudden hear
crashing, hollering, we'd all look at eachother and just say ah its
just
Dsn and Terry going at it again, it was like their third time together
in DG so anything set them off. Anyone know where pete mcguinness ended
up? Tried to track him down on here but no luck. Some of the people I
remember
hanging out with were jay oldenburg, pete mcguinness, crazy mike
excellor,
tom sawyer, I saw rick baptistas write up here and jerry fillion,
definately
some wild times and crazy mfs, I remember the night we stole the jar
heads
flags, partying in the club and knocking down the fleettweets beer can
pyrmids, all good times.
1979-1980
Stephen McWilliams <smcwill516@yahoo.com>
I was there on the rock in 1979 to 1980. I worked at the Main
Power
Plant as day maintenance supervisor. I worked for a Brit Master Chief.
The Brits are great people to work for and with. Thought that I would
send
some pictures of some of the people and places at the most beautiful
place
on earth(not while I was there,but now since I'm home in the States HA!
Ha!). ENCS (Retired) Stephen McWilliams
Here's Steve's Photo:
Here are his friends. Recognize
anyone?
Let
me know.
From
estatemanager@grosvenorwaterside.net:
"The three on the right are Robbie Burns (Red Shorts) Ken Barber
(Master
Chief)
Salty Saltonstall (blue shorts) all brits from the Power Plant."
Here's where they lived. The
Enlisted
Dorms when they were BRAND NEW!
nov 79 jul80
NAME = bu2 r. dewitt (bobby d)
MY QUEST = say hello to all my brother rats
VT of a SWALLOW = is it a african swallow or are there
coconuts
crabs attached to it
E-MAIL = redrat bobby d
NATIONALITY = american
SERVICE = usn
UNIT = nmcb133,nmcb14
RANK/RATE/JOB = bu2
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = This is a No-Shit Drinking Story
MY WARSTORY = man dg seems like a lifetime away
what a life but somebody
had to do it
remember running just so
we could sleep,how about the fishing
thoose
last couple of weeks how about the brawl at the smokers when the dixie
came to town how about turning the cannons on the point at the c
company
party and dont forget christmas morn
to all the boys miss you
guys hope your doing great and that the
time we shred was some of the best. muster at the memorial in dc in 08
at thunder rolls some of us well be there
From: Alan
Saltonstall <saltyfbc@hotmail.com>
Date: 7 Sep 2007
I was facinated to visit the site
and find and old shipmate of mine
Tony Pallace reciting the adventure of our days fishing. I can
confirm
and authentictate Tonys tale as I am the one in the red shorts on the
boat.
The other lads were Jim Laden, Ray Bateman, Pusser Hill, Vince and me,
Salty Saltonstall. I am sorry if I missed anyone out. The
times
in 79 - 80 were fantastic and we had a rather eccentric Brit xo called
Bernie "the beast" Bruen. He was an excellent boxer and never
lost
a golden gloves contest during his time. I did enter the golden
gloves
and my first three fights were TKOs then I won one. We had a
great
time working at the power plant with our US comrades and some of their
stories I relate to. There were some great times at the Ship
Inn.
Hello Ginge Howard, Screwy Driver, Fletch, Jed Stone, Bamber Gascoigne
and all. I did return as the Senior Customs and Immigration
Officer
in 1998-99 and thoroughly enjoyed my tour but this time it was too
commercialised
and the BIOT and Britrep (big chip on little shoulders) went out
of their way to disrupt the pleasure of making full use of Diego Garcia
as a fun place to be. This tour was different but I met some great
people
Nick Wakem who remains a great friend and Big Murph - came from New
York
to my wedding in 2001 - a great guy. We were the ones who built and
constructed
the new Brit club to completion and I hope you all enjoy the beers on
the
beach.
Any person who relates to this
story are more than happy to contact
me. Thanks and bye.
1979-1980
NAME
= john (simmo) simmons
MY
QUEST = mates some one owes me 5 bucks
VT
of a SWALLOW = dead or alive ?
E-MAIL
= cazjon@fsmail.com
NATIONALITY
= brit
SERVICE
= RN
UNIT
= POWER SITE
RANK/RATE/JOB
= stoker long time left the service
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me
Remember!
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = There I Was, Passed Out on The Beach
MY
WARSTORY = help me save the donkey
Spring
of 1979
NAME
= John Sattler
MY
QUEST = Validate my Parking Ticket
VT
of a SWALLOW = When the XO hollars ... .0001 nanosecond; When Drinking
... 5 mph
E-MAIL
= john.sattler.1@juno.com
NATIONALITY
= USA
SERVICE
= USN
UNIT
= Warship Waddell DDG-24
RANK/RATE/JOB
= Gunnery O
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Want to Return When the First REAL Club Med Opens
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = There I Was, Passed Out on The Beach
MY
WARSTORY = Waddell pulled into the lagoon. We went ashore.
"Ships Party" turned into a brawl. So, I grabbed a six-pack and
went
to the beach alone. Three beers later, I was layin' out with my
head
on a log ... stars were out and incredible ... thinking about my
girlfriend
and what a paradise the place was ... drank the rest of the beer and
damn
near fell asleep! The rustling noise coming from the brush behind
my head startled me into getting up and taking a leak. Somehow, I
ended up back at the ship. The next day, I walked the main drag
and
noticed all the nice crabs lined up outside the huts. So, I asked
a guy ... and got an answer that made me realize that my urge to leak
probably
saved my life (or at least the contents of my cranium)! (:-D
march
1979 nov1979
NAME
= Roland Pavey
MY
QUEST = Thinking about what was a great life adventure,if only I could
remember.
VT
of a SWALLOW = depends on the no drip lower lip
E-MAIL
= plains98@hotmail.com
NATIONALITY
= Colorado,
SERVICE
= U.S. NAVY SEABEES
UNIT
= NMCB5 worked on the peir team corner pour
RANK/RATE/JOB
= BUCN did my 5 years and returned to being a civilian
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Other
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY
WARSTORY = There I was 19 years old and I couldn't belive the place ran
out of beer other than OLYMPIA!!! So I ran into JACK DANIALS and the
rest
is a blur,or dont REmEMber. I do remember working on the peir team and
the corner pour on the peir, man was that a lot of concret and a lot of
drinking after. I even have recently met a retired ed1 from the USS
CONSTELLATION
that has docked threr several times. pertty cool to here about the peir
that was just in the construction faze,back then is still in very much
use today.
where
in the ---- is deigo Garcia and all of FIVES BEES from 79-83 when I
departed
NMCB5 C Co.
ROLAND
HAIRNT BALL PAVEY
March
79 to March 80
NAME
= Bill Thrush
MY
QUEST = Hope to catch up with old buddies
VT
of a SWALLOW = couldn't tell ya
E-MAIL
= billthrush@msn.com
NATIONALITY
= American
SERVICE
= U.S. Navy Seabees - 13 years
UNIT
= Ran Diego Bell...the only phone company in town
RANK/RATE/JOB
= CE3 at the time (made CE2 on DG) Got out completely disgusted with
the
way the Navy was falling apart in 1990. Spent time in California, PWD
Sigonella
(twice) Little Creek and Antigua W.I.
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY
WARSTORY = I found this site by doing a web search for my buddy Dave
Ratto.
I read all of the 78, 79 and 80 entries. Man...what great memories.
Diego
was a great place in 79. I remember when the female legal officer
showed
up and caused quite a disturbance (see her entry in 1978). I remember
when
some genious sent a hoochie coochie USO show to the island. That nearly
turned into a gang rape!! A wise senior chief from MCB 40 arranged for
his DET to get the first two rows reserved for DET 40 by working a deal
with the Chief Master-at-Arms to have his guys lock arms and keep the
masses
back if things
got
out of hand. It did...and they did. The (very delicious) young ladies
were
hauled out of there quickly in a van. I guess the show lasted about 10
minutes.
I ran Diego Bell....even had a licence plate made for my van that said
"Diego Bell". Some of you may remember. I don't know how long it stayed
on there after I left. When you have unlimited access to the AUTOVON
lines,
with no other way to phone home (accept MARS calls).....you were a
popular
guy!! Any extra benefits that you could get on Diego were highly
treasured.....and
I had lots of them. Everyone else had to turn in their van at the end
of
work....not me. I parked it in the jungle behind BEQ 6....my
home....shared
with all the guys from the Public Works Department. We had some good
guys.
My roommates were Larry Paul and Mike (can't remember Mike's last name,
but he was a UT and ran the swimming pool....another good job to have).
The one time they told me I had to turn it in....I did so without
saying
a word. I passed by the phone exchange on my way back to the barracks
and
promptly disconnected every phone that the transportation department
had
(they had just moved it into town....by the bowling alley). I had my
van
back in an hour or so....and the phones started working again. The same
thing happened at the chow hall when they got a new MS1 and he told me
that I couldn't have early chow (enter through the back door....no
lines).
I took my time giving them their phones back.
This was a good time to be on Diego. The new BEQs were getting
finished,
but it was a long way from paradice. I could write for hours about the
times and people. Most of the guys I never saw again. There was an EA3
there named Tom.....great guy. We partied together and snorkeled a lot.
If you had to be on Diego, PWD was THE place to be. Some of you may
recall
a toga party in October or November of 79. That was put on by my
roommates
and myself. It was a great party. The battalion guys had it rough, so
we
did our best to look out for them. You made friends quickly and easily
on Diego. It was changing rapidly by the time I was leaving in March of
1980. It was still all guys, but some women were visiting and some of
the
ships had female officers. By the way.....there were NO ships visiting
Diego until the Iranian Hostage Crisis started up. We went from the
nearly
forgotten "sleepy hollow" to a real military base virtually overnight.
To say that the 1,300 Seabees on the island resisted this change would
be a huge under-statement.
It was a great time. I learned a lot about how the Navy works. I
learned
that I made the right choice by joining the Seabees instead of the
fleet.
I learned
that
life without women is peaceful, but a year without them is too long!! I
wouldn't trade it for anything. My thanks to Ted Morris for hosting
this
site.
Greetings
to all my fellow Seabees...past, present and future!!!
1979-1980
NAME
= B.U.3 F.C.Dugan "Chet"
MY
QUEST = To find news of Batt.5 Seabees during that time
VT
of a SWALLOW = Kiss my ass
E-MAIL
= wahinewarrior8@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY
= Irish American
SERVICE
= United States Navay, Seabees
UNIT
= NMCB 5-Det. Diego
RANK/RATE/JOB
= BU-3,retired
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY
WARSTORY = I do rember the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders U.S.O. show , it
sure was great to see WOMEN after so many months with out them.In
particular,I
had the good luck to have lunch with one of the girls. I had to take a
late lunch due to a concrete pour at the hobby shop project.The galley
was closing and I was the last Seabee in for chow. As I sat down and
started
to grub in walked this cheerleader in full uniform and sat down right
next
to me.I'd been on the "Rock" for several months by then and could
barely
speak to this girl, I was totally in shock.I akwardly tried to explain
that I was very flustered by having such a beautiful woman share my
lunch
with me after not even seeing one for so long.Finally I calmed down and
was able to chew my food, and speak in cohearent sentances.I forget
everything
we talked about that lunch,mostly small talk, but I'll never forget
that
afternoon on the shitty little island of Diego Garcia. BU-3
F.C. Dugan "Chet" USMNCB-5 "79-85"
1979
NAME
= Jim Anderson
MY
QUEST = old friends
VT
of a SWALLOW = 8.2 gigahertz
E-MAIL
= jla22757@netscape.net
NATIONALITY
= white
SERVICE
= Seabees
UNIT
= Oficers living quarters
RANK/RATE/JOB
= BU3 Charlie Co
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Other
MY
WARSTORY = Looking For Ken Clevenger....Remember the sprouts??? never
forget
that place,what a trip....If it wasn't for the care packeges, I to may
have ended up as crab food on the beach.....
1979
NAME
= Don Gatchalian
MY
QUEST = To get a chance to visit the island again
VT
of a SWALLOW = Mach2
E-MAIL
= Not this time - only have one e-mail address
NATIONALITY
= US
SERVICE
= Seabees
UNIT
= Pier Team Volunteer (NMCB 40)
RANK/RATE/JOB
= LCDR, CEC, USN Retired - was EA3 in 1979.
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY
WARSTORY = I only did one 6-month tour on the island from Jan79-July79
and I consider it to be one of the best tours I had in my 21 years in
the
Navy. I learned a lot in the construction trade which I use now as a
public
works manager as a civilian. I left the Pier Team early because I was
selected
for officer commission as ships driver but came to my senses and
declined
the commission once I reached mainland. I always wanted to be a Seabee
and an engineer.
While on the island, I remember staying in the ocean front sea huts,
naturally
controlled air conditioners (nope - just screen windows and you let the
sea breeze in) and pearl white beach, just 10 feet away from my sea
hut.
I did not really get into drinking but since the Pier Team worked 6
days
a week and at least 12 hour-days, I was too tired to do anything during
the week. Sleeped in on Sundays and got into collecting vinyl LP
record and cassette tapes.
The best friends to have on the Pier Team were UCT divers because I got
my fair share of the crawless lobsters (langusta), cods, octopus and
turtle
soup (before they were considered endangered). I also had my
share
of the coconut crab before the Brits banned them. I remember
running
the tip to tip but after a 15-month tour on Midway Islands before I
joined
NMCB 40 in Rota, Spain in 1978, I was ready to go back to the mainland
after DG.
My Pier Team OIC - LCDR Jack Wong, AOIC - LT Liedke, LCPO - CUCM Meeks,
and my LPO - EA1 Lee Ellsworth. Hey. if the pier is out of line, I did
it!
1979-80
NAME
= Paul Michael aka Slinky
MY
QUEST = contact old friends
VT
of a SWALLOW = dead or alive
E-MAIL
= paulmbuckeye@msn.com
NATIONALITY
= American
SERVICE
= usn
UNIT
= USS Dixie AD-14
RANK/RATE/JOB
= BM-2
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY
WARSTORY = Sailed in to Deigo in December the towel heads screwed our
west-pac
only got to spend a week in Subic. Standing at sea&anchor the
island
looked ok at first then it sunk-in this place is going to suck and it
did.
The island or dodge city was to small for our crew we got liberty 1
half
day a week ( 6 duty sections ) if you made the first liberty boat you
had
time to get your booze at the canteen if it was open. We had three
woman
officers on board they must of looked great to the sea-bea's and
Brit's.All
we did was work I was lucky I drove one of the UTB's on liberty runs
some
times our modified fishing boat. At times we had 3 to 4 ships tied up
on
one side and 2 or 3 sub's on the other. Vert-rep's and our crane's
working
almost non-stop supplys going hand to hand to the other ships the daily
trash run with our mike-boat out side the lagoon and if you were lucky
you got to go to the plantation for the day. When you had liberty you
got
drunk at the bar waiting for a lane to bowl or you went to the softball
field got drunk and chased coconut crabs if they did'nt chase you
first.
You could swim and snorkle on the lagoon side ( with the sharks ) ocean
side was off limits but we still went any ways. We got a break and went
to Maritiuse for a week to stock-up on weed and hash our ship and the
island
needed it we were go'ing crazy. As bad as we had it the CB's were stuck
there some of us made friend some of us just got in fights. we had a
UTB
sink we had one catch fire on a night time liberty run we used mike
boat's
to push us along side the fuel barge. our ship and crew did alot of
good
work in deigo and I feel we paved the way for our relief the LY Spear.
I will never forget my time at deigo or some of the friends I made. If
you were there when I was contact me at my e-mail and if your one of
the
guy's I got into fights with sorry for the blackeye's
1979-1980
NAME
= Ed Rouse
VT
of a SWALLOW = E=MC2
E-MAIL
= stratsurfer2000@yahoo.com
SERVICE
= U.S. Navy Seabees
UNIT
= MCB-62
RANK/RATE/JOB
= BU3 then, Got out in 82'
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me
Remember!
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = There I Was, Passed Out on The Beach
MY
WARSTORY = Hey there Dave Grady, it's been many years. Saw your name
posted
and had too respond. This site has been in my favorites for a couple of
years now, great site! I think your the only other MCB-62'er Ive seen
posting
on this website. I dont know if you'll remember me but I was one of the
four dudes who lived in the seahut instaed of the trailor circle. I
still
have my Battalion year book of that year with our Diego detachment
personnel
photos. Have some memorabilia as well.
I
will truly never forget being there.
Projects
worked on:
I
worked on the POL building at the end of the pier along side the pier
team,
started the arresting gear pads at the runway, and helped the prefab
team
for prefabricated L blocks for the pier team. I still cant get rid of
the
KA-CHING in my head from the pier team driving all them steel piles!
Things
I remember:
The
long plane flight!
The
stay over in the Phillipines.
5:30
am
BU3
Gene Weatherholtz.
Sr.
Chief Cummins (loved to watch him get RED!).
(Formaldehyde
laden) Budwieser & Olympia, and Donkey Burgers!
Outdoor
Movies.
Ships
off loading party.
Fights
with MCB 5.
Mojo
parties with supplies from chow hall for BBQ's.
Taking
the Duece-1/2 to the donkey gate and getting the donkey's drunk.
Starting
of the tilt up wall buildings for the new barracks down by the MTO yard.
The
Iran conflict, Burned up Helicopter pieces on the taxi way.
Clearing
of the jungle for the Marines advanced base.
and
Oh Yeah, the P-3 inbound flights from Phillipines if you catch my drift.
and
lastly boarding that C-5 going home to the states, but eventually being
brought back to that tiolet of the world: GULFPORT (Fuck'in)
MISSISSIPPI!
(But next deployment Puerto Rico was excellent, Remember the band
RAMPAGE?
Know you should remember me).
Take
care Dave and all my other devoted Diego Garcia & MCB-62 friends.
79-80;
81-82
Grady,
Dave [Dave.Grady@city.pittsburgh.pa.us].
I
was in nmcb 62 and did a couple of tours in 79-80 & 81-82, Great
website
79-80
NAME
= Eo Kim Brown
MY
QUEST = Looking for barbara weaver, radioman crossrated to UT
VT
of a SWALLOW = never tell
E-MAIL
= kimmidkiff2002@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY
= real american
SERVICE
= usn SEABEE
UNIT
= none
RANK/RATE/JOB
= EOCN Made E2 3 times in 6 yrs :(
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Other
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY
WARSTORY = i was am an EO, stationed in Pearl Harbor with staff Civil
Enginneers,
Met barbara, became best buds, lost contact. I know she left dg and
tranfered
to pearl, then she went to adak, last saw in 1985 she was on her way to
Port who needs me as a UT instructor. Anyone who knows where she is or
how to contact her PLEASE E-Mail ME Thanks from one cb to another.
Sep
1979 - Sep 1980
NAME
= Joseph Nahorodny
MY
QUEST = Find the fools I knew there
VT
of a SWALLOW = very fast
E-MAIL
= nahorodny@comcast.net
NATIONALITY
= Russian - can you believe that?
SERVICE
= USN
UNIT
= CTO
RANK/RATE/JOB
= E-4
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 = Riding the bike to the secret "seashell
spot."
Thousands washed up on shore, could sit there for hours just picking
through
them. Starting out by the beach side (the side where it started just
past
the cannon) walking along like Charlton F'ing Heston at the end of
planet
of the apes (- the woman of course because of the barbaric conditions
the
Navy set forth that no female persuasion would be present). Running the
6 man tip to tip 36.4 miles and about to win it until the fool anchor
man
who went home on leave the 30 days prior and did not run while home on
leave, we lost it in the last mile I tell you !! 2nd place after we all
ran our asses off. wherever you are you still an idiot. Hanging out
with
the "brothers" coooking up fried chicken in the room, drinking beer,
smoking
and having a great time. Sneaking out of the super top secret
cryptological
cypher box building with a couple of friends and getting higher than a
friggin kite. Here we are with Top Secret Clearances................
yikes,
to be 20 years old again. Watching storms three days out at sea.
Where
are you guys? Not a one of you I knew is out on this site, what a shame.
1979-1982
NAME
= ed crays
MY
QUEST = find other NMCB3 seabees
VT
of a SWALLOW = Dimples from Subic
E-MAIL
= crayzys@aol.com
NATIONALITY
= Italian
SERVICE
= US Navy Seabee's
UNIT
= Naval Mobil construction battalion 3 gold team
RANK/RATE/JOB
= EM3 equipment mechanic
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Want a Job as Far Away from My Wife as Possible
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY
WARSTORY = Jolo's pics wanted, wheres the pic of dimples Dave? Who
remembers
Florida club and the brown derby?
1979
NAME
= ROBERT N DABOV UTCN
MY
QUEST = LIVE AND LET LIVE
VT
of a SWALLOW = NONE IF ITS TERMINAL ITS DEAD
E-MAIL
= BOB@SUPERIOR POWER WASH.COM
NATIONALITY
= SOUTHERN GOOD OLD BOY
SERVICE
= UNITED STATES NAVY
UNIT
= FIRE PROTECTION FOR AIRPORT NMCB 5
RANK/RATE/JOB
= UTCN NMCB5 NOW RETIRED FROM FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS
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 Fishing Story
MY
WARSTORY = I was assigned nmcb 5 bravo company.Went through rehab once
on diego.Iremember winning a batalion fishing tournament with a 40
pound
Grouper i cought on the ships off load. I cought him on a piece of
chicken
out of my box lunch.Put the fried chicken leg on a hook atached to
piece
of heavy rope and dropped it over the side of the barge next to the
ship,
they were loading us up with exsplosives.What a cluster fuck that
was.those
ships off loads were dangerous.I DONT MISS THEM ONE BIT BUT THE WEED
ALWAYS
WAS BETTER AFTER A SHIPS OFF LOAD.1
july
1979
NAME
= mike caldwell was enfn
MY
QUEST = stop the nightmares of returning to dg
VT
of a SWALLOW = depends on if shes standing on her head or not
E-MAIL
= skyspy2112@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY
= usa
SERVICE
= usn
UNIT
= main power plant
RANK/RATE/JOB
= got to d.g. as enfn got out in1987 as en1,had enuff by then....
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 = Arrived on d.g. in july 1979,my luggage went to japan and by
the time it caught up with me i was friggin hungry as the chow hall
wouldnt
let me enter in my week old civies! I was assigned to a barracks
room with a cb,cant remember his name, and a EN named stan,(stan the
man)from
oregon.Thanks to the unnamed cb our little room supplied the whole
island
with recreational goodies for about a year. You see, this guy
pumped
out the shitter tanks on c-141s and man did they hold a shitload of
film
canisters. He also stole a nice rug from underneath the drumset
of
one of the uso shows,dont know how he got away with it but it really
tied
our room together. Remeber a bartender at the club named Johnny
walker,
no shit,used to get us hammered for nothin,best bartender in the
I.O.
Had another friend named Dave from New Jersy,he was a C.B. also, we
took
a dumpster truck on a joyride out to the plantation and stuck it in the
surf up to the axels, we hitched a ride back to town and escaped
without
a scratch. Drove a diesel fuel truck for awhile to fill the main
power plant tanks, overfilled a tank one day and put 300 gallons
of diesel on the ground, didnt know you wearnt supposed to put a stick
in the suicide handle so your hand wouldnt get tire of holding the damn
thing! All in all my stay at dg sucked but it was one of the best
partys ive ever been to! Thanks to all the guys I partyd with and
ill never forget ya,but i vagely remember,to bad they waited untill we
were gone to bring chicks to the god forsaken place. Left d.g. in
july of 1980,stopped at clark for 3 days, tits clits and san migel
beer!
work for ford building f-150s,buy one would ya,my two ex wives are
waitn
for their checks! later....
1979-1980
NAME
= Ned Daniels
MY
QUEST = Sharing Diego stories
VT
of a SWALLOW = Its only terminal if you swollow the can!
E-MAIL
= neddlydan1@aol.com
NATIONALITY
= Been here before the indians
SERVICE
= USN
UNIT
= USS Dixie AD-14 First ship on station after iranian
hostage crisis
RANK/RATE/JOB
= I was an OM2 at the time. Did my four and bolted for the pier as soon
as I got my release papers.
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = There I Was, Passed Out in the Club
MY
WARSTORY = What a beautiful atoll! The natives (Seabees) were mostly
cordial
and for the lack of women, it would have been heaven. I did hear that a
few enterprising Seabees were hooking out a inflatable doll. (GAG) As
Dixie
had a 6 day duty rotation, we could only visit every sixth day, being
anchored
in the lagoon as no pier was built in 79. Days were spent wandering the
beach, Diego burgers and waiting for the EM club to open. I can still
smell
and taste the formaldhyde in the beer! What a hangover! I remember the
Dixie's boxing team challenging the Seabees team to a smoker on the
beach
one day. I think there were four of five divisions represented and
Dixie
was kickin ass on the Seabees, until the final bout. The big
boys!
Well, this Seabee was winning his match when out of the blue, in the
final
round, someone chucked a full beer can into the ring and dropped the
Seabee
like a dirty shirt! It got deathly silent for what seemed like an hour.
Then the scene erupted into a melee of flying bodies, fists and
bottles.
I hastily beat a retreat to the pier. Remember "Hector the Hammerhead,"
shark? As I remember, he had taken up residence in the lagoon for some
years and had taken a few divers lives over a ten year period. We were
urged to swim on the outer beaches instead of the lagoon because of
this
15' killer. Saw him up close by the port pier one evening. He was
chasing
food up close to shore and his thrashing drenched all of up on the
pier!
I also recall a $1,000. reward for anyone who could slay the beast. The
only taker I remember was a somewhat scrawny Seabee with a look of too
much hooch and sun named, "Luther." One day, Luther secured himself a
fine
chunk of meat, some nylon line about an inch thick, some milk jugs for
bobbers and what looked like a baling hook. Luther tied one end of the
line to a cocoanut tree and swam into the lagoon with the other end
with
hook bated and the jugs to mark the location and suspend the meal. The
next week I saw Luther not looking anymore prosperous for his
endeavours.
He told me old Hector took the bait and stripped the hook clean. Even
bent
the hook straight! He showed me the tree that he had anchored to and
there
was a groove cut into its base a half inch deep from the struggle. I
always
did wonder what happened to Hector, and Luther.
1979-1980
Date:
Fri, 5 Aug 2005 16:41:59 -0400
From:
"NAHORODNY, JOSEPH \(AAS\)" <jn7823@sbc.com>
Rodell
"Rudy" Kearse. Where are you? respond to this sight. Anyone from this
year.
Especially those of you who were "CT's". Thanks God Bless, Joseph
Nahorodny
1979-1980
&1981
NAME = Kenneth P.
Greco
MY QUEST = I
would
really
love to go back to D.G. and work in some capacity.
VT of a SWALLOW =
8,999
mph
E-MAIL =
kgreco05@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY =
Caucasion,
but what does that matter !
SERVICE = U.s>
Navy
Seabees
UNIT = June 79 to
May
80 -steelworker NAVSUPPFAC, 81 NMCB 4 Detachment , February to July.
RANK/RATE/JOB =
SW3
(then),
I left active duty in July 81 just after we got back from Diego Garcia
(our deployment-NMCB 4).In Jan.84 I became a police
officer and
remained
one until June 96 when I retired. I spent several years in the Reserves
after active duty, and have been out of the Reserves since 91.
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= This is a No-Shit Fishing Story
MY WARSTORY = One
time
I was fishing in the lagoon on one of those 15 ft. Boston Whaler
boats that you could rent out for free at the marina.This had to be
early
1980 or late 79.I was fishing with another steelworker- enny
Horn.
Usually When you fish in the lagoon you would only wait a couple to a
few
minutes before you hooked a red snapper, grouper, or one of God's
most
beautiful fish on God's most beautiful fishing location!So, me and
Kenny
were out on the lagoon for about an hour and didn't get any bites.So, I
reached my hands into the good old Indian Ocean lagoon to wash them
off,
leaving my fishing rod alone in the boat, and yep! you guessed it!,I
then
got a bite and my rod and reel went out of the boat and into the
beautiful
blue and green waters of the lagoon.I looked down at the lagoon in
dismay
and anxiety, and Kenny Horn just said "it's gone Greco, it's gone!".I
was
ticked off to say the least cause we still had almost a whole day left
out on the lagoon.So, we stayed out there and Kenny continued to fish,
since I no longer had a rod and reel.A little while passed, and we used
a little Seabees "Can Do Spirit and ingenuity". We had snorkeling gear
with us, so we went over to the other side of D.G. into shallower
water,
and I put on the snorkel gear,got out of the boat and used Kenny's line
from his rod and reel with the bait on it(raw chicken from the chow
hall),and
went snorkeling for fish in that mode!I saw one of those puffer fish
with
the spike looking things sticking out from it's body amidst some
coral,dropped
the bait and line in front of it,it bit and we had a catch.Then Kenny
reeled
it in and we so continued.There's alot of other great memories fron
D.G.
that are to numerous to mention(like when me and the same Kenny Horn
were
snorkeling on the ocean side of D.G. and a 12 ft. Mako shark was near
us).Diego
Garcia-"truly the best duty location in the Navy", even though you
didn't
think that when you were sent there back in 79,80,& 81.I like to
say
hello to all those guys I was stationed with back then like Kenny Horn
from the story,Jim Tavenner,Dave Edwards,SW1 Garland Evans,SWSC
Reagan,Mark
Rickaway,John Beausejour a.k.a. "animal,SW2 Holland,BUC Hass,John
Stallings,Perry(don't
remenber last name),and a lot of others that I was there with in Public
Works(NAVSUPPFAC),and to all of the guys I was ther again with in 81
with
NMCB 4,s Det.(J.Miracola,N.Hederman,C.Straney,M.
Formosa,R.Duncan,T.Curran,&
others)."Thanks for the memories"! I am currently looking for work and
I am sick of waisting my time and efforts with alot of the so called
"perfect
employers looking for the perfect candidates for employees".I'm not
perfect
and God knows they ain't either !I can work and am willing to do
so.Please
E-mail me at kgreco05@yahoo.com.
Thanks for your
time
in reading this warstory and request for employment-Kenny Greco.
Date:
Thu, 24 Mar 2005 21:03:22 -0500
From:
"Auggie Dog" <auggiedog1005@msn.com>
From the desk of,
AuggieDog1005@msn.comPlease
help!!!,
If anyone
involved in
Operation Evening Light/ Eagle Claw 79-80 or attached to Helecopter
Mine
Countermeasures Squadron 16, HM-16 and on the rock for that breif
duration
please contact me and lets catch up on some things!
1979-1980
NAME = MICHAEL
WYNN
MY QUEST = STILL
DO NOT
KNOW
VT of a SWALLOW =
E-MAIL =
TWYNN62@AOL.COM
NATIONALITY =
AMERICAN
SERVICE = NAVY
UNIT = USNMCB 133
HCOMPANY/CHARLIE
COMPANY
RANK/RATE/JOB =
MADE
IT TO E-6, COULDN'T STAND THE SHIT ANY LONGER AND DIVED OUT
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Want to Return When the First REAL Club Med Opens
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Other
MY WARSTORY =
WENT
THROUGH
THE STORIES FROM FELLOW PALS FROM GOOD OLE DIEGO. SOME HAVE LEFT A
LIFLONG
IMPRESSION ON ME, WITH MANY MEMORIES. MIKE MCCARTHY ONE CRAZY GUY. NEAL
FOBAR EX MARINE THAUGHT ME HOW TO FIRE THE M-16, BY THE WAY WHICH I
LATER
USED AS A PRISON GUARD. UT3 MALLOY AND E03 BRUCE COTTON WHOM I PARTIED
WITH IN GULFPORT. BRUCE KNEW HOW TO UNLOAD A DUMP TRUCK FULL OF BED
RACKS,
HIS TIMING WAS OFF AS A YOUNG OFFICER CHEWED HIS BUT OFF AFTER HE
DUMPED
THEM IN FRONT OF THE WAREHOUSE. SENIOR CHIEF COZART WHOM RODE A BIKE
WAY
TOO BIG FOR HIM. SENIOR CHIEF HATCHER WHO SPOKE OF "FUCKY SUCKY MAMA
SON".
BEST OF LUCK TO YOU GUYS AND YOUR FAMILIES. MIKE
1979-1980
NAME = Bruce B.
Geibel,
Capt. CEC, USN, Retired
E-MAIL =
seabee_mcb11@tds.net
NATIONALITY =
American
SERVICE = U.S.
Navy
UNIT = Naval
Mobile
Construction
Battalion One-Thirty-Three (NMCB-133)
RANK/RATE/JOB =
LCDR
then, retired Captain (06) now...February 2005.
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Please Select The Category That Best Discribes Your Interest in Diego
Garcia
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= I'd Like to Share Precious Memories of
Drinking/Fishing/Snorkeling/Sailing
on Diego Garcia
MY WARSTORY = To
all
who read these presents, greetings! I was the proud executive
officer
of NMCB-133 from 1978 to 1980. I made the Camp Silver City, Rota, Spain
deployment in 1978, Camp Moscrip, Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico,
deployment
in 1978-79, and Diego Garcia, BIOT, deployment from November 1979 to
January
1980. The battalion was there until July 1980.
We left our homeport of Gulfport, Mississippi, after an exciting period
of rest and recuperation, military training, marching in a dozen change
of command and pass-in-review ceremonies (Ugg!), a full mount-out
exercise,
and responded to local military and community needs after the
disasterous
Hurricane Frederic hit the Gulf Coast from Gulfport, MS. to Mobile, AL,
on September 12, 1979. The Battalion worked many long days and nights
helping
clear the streets of debris, and restoring essental utilities,
including
water and power. Congressman Trent Lott visited Gulfport and commended
the battalion for their service to the community as did Missippi Power
Company. Many of the battalion's Seabees were awarded the "Humanitarian
Service Medal" for their humanitarian response. The Battalion arrived
on
Diego Garcia and relieved NMCB5 on November 14, 1979. The Battalion was
deployed to Diego Garcia for eight months until mid-July 1980.
The Commanding Officer on Diego Garcia was Commander Herbert H. Lewis,
Jr., CEC, USN. I was the executive officer until relieved by LCDR
Frederick
J. Jones, CEC, USN. The Operations Officer was LCDR J. E. "Gene" Jones,
CEC, USN. The Supply Officer was LT. O. Lee Fortier, SC, USN. The
Command
Master Chief was CUCM Charles Guse, USN. The USMC Advisor was GSGT
David
Sardo, USMC. The Navy Careet Counselor was NC1 Sam Williams, USN. The
rest
of the crew were CEC and staff officers, the Seabees and fleet rates
who
made up the battalion. We were a Happy Crew and turned to and burned up
the construction schedule on Diego Garcia. For eight months, from
o-dark
thirty (6:30 am) until 5:30 pm the Battalion literally "...worked their
asses off," not to be confused with the donkeys on the other side of
the
Island belonging to the Brit Rep.
The Battalion deployed to Diego Garcia during some very interesting and
trying times. U.S. Marines and USAF aircraft arrived in the Indian
Ocean
to be ready for challenges facing us in Iran. The U.S. Fleet was
enhanced.
Khomeini was doing his wild-thing in Iran. U.S. Embassy was overrun and
hostages were taken. The U.S. was at the brink of war in the Middle
East
and Persian Gulf. The Beehive of NMCB-133 was active...they had stirred
up the Bees for sure.
The Seabee battalion was expanding the facilities on Diego Garcia to
handle
a rapid build up of U.S. forces being rushed to the Indian Ocean to
handle
the Iranian crisis. Everyone in the World was watching everything that
went on at Diego Garcia. It was said that the official visitors read
like
a stack of alphabet letters. Visitors from CBPAC, CINCLANTFLT,
NAVFACENGCOM
and CBLANT all stopped by for a look around. Even a few congressmen
stopped
by for a look see. A few stewardi from commercial aircraft flying in
reinforcements
enjoyed the sandy clean white beaches on the Indian Ocean. The Seabees
enjoyed the Stewardi (er, sights), as well.
The Bees built BEQ's 9 and 11 and BOQs 4 and 5 from the coral reef to
buildings
fully occupied. Several other BEQs and BOQs were also
constructed.
Enough steel rebar was cut to stretch from one end of the island to the
other. An ammunition storage facility was constructed. The
concrete
batch plant was a lifesaver for the many projects on the Island. The
Bees
blasted coral in the Indian Ocean and dragged it to the beach to haul
away
for concrete, runway, pier and road works. The Island Power Plant was
increased
in capacity and size. The "Kangroo" battalion became better known as
the
"Can Do" battalion during their stay.
Details from CBMU 302 and NMCB's 1, 3, 4, 5, 40, 62 and 74 joined the
resident
battalion from NMCB-133 to complete many joint projects reinforcing the
"One Naval Construction Force (NCF)" concept of operations. The supply
department and galley were burning the mid-night oil during much of the
deployment as the Bees worked in shifts around the clock to complete
high
priority naval facilities.
But, it was not all work and no play. The Bees snorkled and boated in
the
sheltered harbor, snorkled and went Longusta hunting in the shallows
around
Diego Garcia, played tennis, racketball and softball, held weekend
steak
cookouts, and toured the old Plantation on the other side of the Island
with its scenery and donkeys. They put a significant dent in the supply
of hot dogs and hamburgers and definately drained a few kegs of cold
beer
during their stay at the tropical paradise in the middle of the Indian
Ocean. The Ops Officer went on a long overnight cruise in the Harbor
and
was missing in action. That is another story. The Bees awaited the
incoming
C-141's bringing in the mail, and used the MARS station to call their
friends
and loved ones back in the States. They took some R&R off island
and
enjoyed the USO shows on the island...from rock and roll to top 40.
They
enjoyed Diego Garcia every day and in every way (well, some of them
did,
really). All in all, it was a good, hardworking tour for the Seabees.
They
worked hard, and they played hard.
Then in July 1980 it was wheels up and the Seabees of the 133rd
Battalion
headed back to Gulfport, MS, to start preparing for their next overseas
deployment. For their tour on Diego Garcia, the Battalion won the first
of many Navy "E" awards for excellence. The Can Do boys got their
stripes
and their awards the old fashioned way...they worked hard and earned it.
This is one of the annual stories of NMCB-133 that took place during
World
War II (1943-45) and has taken place every year from the Vietnam War to
the present time in 2005. They came, they went, they constructed, they
started over again, and again, and again. Seabees "Can Do!" The
Kangroos
of the 133rd Battalion have "Been There, Done That!" Long live the
Kangroos.
Bruce B. Geibel
Capt., CEC, USN,
Retired
XO,
NMCB-133,1978-1980
November
79--May'80
NAME = William D.
Miller(BILL)
MY QUEST = Hotel
company
VT of a SWALLOW =
Depends
on her throat depth!!!
E-MAIL =
exastro54@aol.com
NATIONALITY = Red
Blooded
American
SERVICE = US NAVY
UNIT = NMCB- 133
H CO.
RANK/RATE/JOB =
SK2-then
Got out November '80
Noe President of
a
Recruiting
firm from Erie, Pa
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember!
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Please Select a Title For Your Story, or Select 'Other'
MY WARSTORY =
Kevin
Eddy,
Chris Leber, SN freddy Giest What a crew we had on resupply day. 12
hour
shift. Broads off the ship giving blow jobs and then getting caught.
learning
how to drive a Semi in Gulfport.The shitty ass shows the put on in the
out door theater.The fucking jet lag we had the next day. Some asshole
geting busted on the plane flight over nad us drinking all the beer
onboard,
GO FLYING TIGERS>
christmas eve
party in
the hooch, Some asshole puked in the beer cooler. Donkey burgers, room
mates drinking all the beer out of the hooch refrig and not buying
anymore.
Painting the sand crab with the Can do Motto. out of 8 years of active
service, this was the best year of my two tours. My wife sending me
after
shave on a island with all dudes, go figure, plus that shit was awful
smelling
so i gave it ti SN Giest, He loved it. But i got into a fight and broke
my ankle and had to leave DG for the PI, and never saw you dudes again.
Let's get in touch NOW!!!!!!
For you
Kevin------GO
STEELERS. You fuck heads better email me. Need to get together and
throw
down a few.
79,MCB5, 80-81
det
Diego
MCB5
NAME = Michael P.
Jones
MY QUEST = Relate
stories,
find others
VT of a SWALLOW =
Constant
E-MAIL =
diegodrifter@msn.com
NATIONALITY =
American
SERVICE = USN
Seabees
UNIT = MCB 5
First
deployment,
BOQ's, second Hanger, Com station add, and generator bldg add.
RANK/RATE/JOB =
BUCN,
BU3, BU2. Diego, Diego, Sigonella, Adak. Lets see after my
alchoholic
binge and failure at school, just had to resort back to what the navy
taught
me, Ya still pouring concrete.
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember!
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= There I Was, Passed Out on The Beach
MY WARSTORY
= Got
to admit, Diego has special place in me. First time there I just
turned 18, Tropical Paridise. The most enjoyable activity would be
snorkeling.
All the colors and tropical fish, manta rays, giant sea turtles, then
the
mory eal at low tide on the reef, couldn't see him but he sure would
tear
up the stick we stuck in his hole. Now what would we have done if he
decided
to come out and do that to our legs? Always wanted to see a shark out
in
the water. Those damn crabs. I would crash out 0n the beach now and
then
or maybe it was pass out. One time the waves coming in woke me up, glad
it was dark sure hate to see what else was eyeing me. Two guys down the
first deployment. Did they ever find Mcbride? Then the Eo found on the
beach getting eaten by the crabs, This happend within two Months of
going
home and I decided to take it easy in the water, cause i wanted to go
home!
First time was good , drunk and crazy.
Second time
The
Det , back to back was with the Groggers in Tyroliaville. I got stuck
in
that crowd late in homeport, but I think they accepted me. Was going to
Guam then 2 weeks before deployment "THEY" decided to have me go back
to
Diego. For a week I just said to hell with you, then had to put in a
"CHIT"
to fight it, Ya they just laughed at me, The Co of MCB 5 said they
needed
me, I new what was going on, and of course the Det CO was turning
others
down. So off i went this time was fun riding back wards in a c-141 with
about 3 windows half way around the world. Well I sure proceeded to get
drunk when I got there, wouldn't you know it I was first for watch, so
I went to react hut to sleep it off, Then had to do on island
counseling,
for awhile then Got in some more trouble and spent the last 2 months of
deployment sober. Back to states and drunk again till I was 27, been
sober
since I'm 44 now. The opportunities I missed from drinking.
The Iran
crises
started just as we left the first time, 6 months later we went back,
All
hell was breaking loose on Diego, has been ever since. I liked it
better
when it was just a Seabee island 2 flights in a week if your lucky,
Peaceful
it was. The second time there 2 flights in a day, ships subs marines. I
envy the first Seabees in the early 70's.
Hell of a
lot of
crazy shit happened there, mojo, toga parties, fighting, just too much
to talk about. Second time there I about just didn't want to leave,
guess
you can call it "institutionlized". I found peace there with all the
fight
I had in me when i got there the second time, Good friend of mine Don
Miller
BU mcb 40 came over two months into my second time and he got me out of
my fighting shit. I lost contact with him when I got out, I was
stationed
with him up in Adak. Don Dudek an Electrician I befriended there, I
found
him several years ago and with these damn Pc we keep in good contact
Miles Simmenou? I
beleive
it was Ted Gourd Cal surfer used to say, Cowabunga or was it knarley? I
asked him one day what it meant, Hell he didn't know, just a surfer
term
for cool waves i beleive. We lost 2 guys each time there.
I kind of
grew
up there, spent 16 months in my late teens. Hell 5 years active duty I
spent close to 3 years in isolation. I don't regret any of the navy
time,
just wish I had more life under my belt and wasn't a drunkard.
1979
NAME = Ned
Daniels OM2
MY QUEST = To
remember
the good old days!
VT of a SWALLOW =
57mph
at full dive
E-MAIL =
neddlydan1@netzero.com
NATIONALITY =
American
SERVICE = USN
UNIT = USS Dixie
(AD14)
RANK/RATE/JOB =
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = The
Dixie
was the first foreward deployed support ship sent to the rock after the
Iranian hostage crisis started. Notable events include we were the
first
Naval ship to have women aboard in the form of three officers, one ens.
and two ljg's. I see that most of the stories relate to seabee's who
were
stationed there but I couldn't help to throw my two-cents worth in. I
came
to know many of you guys while there and was shown a very good time
indeed.
I remember a particular hut on the westward side of the island on the
beach
that sported a long dock extending out into the ocean, terminating in a
T with a bench and built in cooler for that rank beer we used to swill.
Had many a drunken night out there with you guys. Anyone remember a guy
named Luther who had a grudge against Hector the Hammerhead? I remember
him stealing a beaf roast and baiting a baling type hook on the end of
a nylon rope and anchoring it out in the lagoon to a cocoanut tree to
catch
the shark. Hector took the bait that night and bent the hook straight
and
the rope cut a groove an inch deep into the tree! I also remember the
Dixie's
boxing team taking on the Seabee's team at a group party. Dixie was
fairly
well waxing your asses until the heavyweights. A seabee was winning the
bout til out of the blue, someone chucked a beercan into the arena and
dropped the Seabee. It got real quiet for about 3 secs. then all hell
broke
loose. I for one made tracks for the beach to avoid the blood bath that
ensued. Those were the days!
1979
NAME = Mark Ahern
MY QUEST = To be
among
some of my fellow early settlers of D.G.
VT of a SWALLOW =
Yes
E-MAIL =
markahern@earthlink.net
NATIONALITY = U.S.
SERVICE = Navy
UNIT = R.P. Chapel
RANK/RATE/JOB =
E-3
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Other
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = My
real
problems surfaced while at Diego Garcia, apparently I am an Alcoholic.
And with drinks being 60 cents for singles and 80 cents for doubles, my
drinking took on a whole new life since there were no women to chase
and
Men don,t interest me , sexually. 24 years latre after nearly ruining
my
life and all of my relationships, including God, I finally found A.A.
and
life has never been better.
1979
"Hixson"
<camg@theofficenet.com>
I was on DG with
NMCB-5
in 1979, and at that time there was a story about a 21ft hammerhead
shark
romming the waters of DG. Do you have any info about this shark has
name
was Hecktor the Hammerhead.
79 and 80
DENNIS
MULLOY,
NMCB-5 1979 and DET Diego 1980
<dennis.mulloy@navy.mil>
Hi, I would like to contact some of my old buddies from NMCB-5 Det
Diego
Garcia. In 3 years I did two tours of duty there. 4 months
with the main
body in
79 and a full 8 month deployment in 80-81.
Looking for some of the old 'Groggers'. Shackelford, Jensen, Gourd,
Brewer
and anyone else who spent that special time in our
young lives.
We were on the fire station block crew, and worked also at the airfield
laying the tarmac..
Thanks!
79 and 80
NAME = bill hedy
MY QUEST = old
friends
VT of a SWALLOW =
i'll
get back to you on that
E-MAIL =
bhedy@msn.com
NATIONALITY =
american
SERVICE =
navy,sea bees
UNIT = mcb40
RANK/RATE/JOB =
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Want to Return When the First REAL Club Med Opens
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Other
MY WARSTORY = all
i
remember
was staying pretty fucken wasted all the time, running down the brits
fence,
painting chickens, mojo partys,good friends. I get a hangover
thinking
of it. it was fucken great lets do it again. kurt weber, rick baptista,
pete mc guiness i'll never forget you guys
1979 to 1980
NAME = Stephen
McWilliams
MY QUEST = To not
forget
the Britts and their witt and the days on the rock
VT of a SWALLOW =
What
ever it wants to be
E-MAIL =
smcwill516@excite.com
NATIONALITY =
American
and proud to be.
SERVICE = United
States
Navy (Retired)
UNIT = Power
Plant (Day
maintenance)
RANK/RATE/JOB =
At the
time I was a EN-1 and now I am retired. I retired as a ENCS.
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY =
Spent 365
days on the Island. Worked at the Diego burger part time, then got
promoted
to work at the bakery making buns and bread for the Diego burger and
the
galley. Drank a lot with the brits, got used to warm beer spiked with
booze.
(Man can they drink.) Did a lot of sailing, racket ball, salty dogs and
the out door theater. Sure would like to return to remember good times.
Would like to know the wereabouts of a then first class construction
mechanic
by the name of Andy Anderson. Loved to fish and catch the Jacks and the
lobsters. If not for the service and lack of female companionship it
was
a paradise.By the way, I did make time to work at the power plant
maintaining
the fairbanks diesel generators. Working for the brits was great. Their
work ethic was if there is work to do then do it if nothing is going on
then I'll meet you at the brit club. Lot of good memories and friends
made.
Thanks for the opportunity to let me express a part of my life in
writing.
Thanks
Stephen L.
McWilliams
ENCS (RETIRED)
Nov. 79 to
July 80
NAME = Randy Lloyd
MY QUEST = To
find
others
from Diego to cure my insanity
VT of a SWALLOW =
'till
it reaches her stomach
E-MAIL =
trandy107@msn.com
NATIONALITY =
American
SERVICE =
USNMCB133
UNIT = "b" co.
FUBAR
PLUMBING Co.
RANK/RATE/JOB =
UT-3
I was also called Perkins because I found some greens to wear that had
someone else's name on them.
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
=
Before
we left Gulf Port we watch movies to pass the time. One of the movies
was
Apocalips Now. That scared the hell out of me.I remember that one of
the
stuwardess that was on board one of the planes we took to Diego was in
Play Boy that year. Before they let us off the plane, they told us of
the
things that weren't alowed on the island (like that was the perfect
time
to tell us). I sill remember that catipults weren't allowed. I remember
swimming in the lagoon with the turtles untill I saw Hector the
hammerhead
swim through the pier. I remember the christmas eve that the blacks
hooches
went up in flames and we all spent the next day in major deep shit.
Some
people got busted with things they shouldn't have had. Being a UT, I
was
on duty that night. I remember the donky (I thought she was named
"Missi")
who would let you do anything to her as long as someone was feeding her
beer. I remember bying a couple of hits of microdot for thirty five
dollars
a hit and getting lost in the jungle with my friends and having to
stand
quarters the next day frying my ass off. Amazingly I have found two
other
people hear in Las Vegas were I now live who were there when I was. One
was in 40 and the other was on the ship were Penny Candy came from.
Penny
found two friends of mine and me when she first came on the island. It
didn't take fifteen minutes before our hooch was filled with horny
dick.
My friend from the ship tells me Penny got busted a week later with
over
twelve hunderd dollars cash in her locker. I wonder where she got that
kind of money? I remember catching the 19 foot white tip with the hook
my friends and I made from rebar and using a chicken as bate. I still
make
"Diego beans" from pork'n beans like we did back then when we could get
our food from the chow hall and cook it our selves on the beach. I
remember
ship off load when we worked twelve on and twelve off and the day we
off
loaded all the creosote poles and came back to the hooch to find the
power
off line and no showers working. I remember dreaming of being crushed
by
a boat at the dock and trying to puch it away from me and ultimately
pushing
my hooch momma's locker over on top of him. I remember waking up most
every
day with sand in my bed and having to walk out to the showers in the
middle
of the hooches to do anything personal. I rememb we wrote FTQ on the
road
and found out the Brit's didn't think as funny as we did. I remember
the
morning the bulk haller was found flooting it the lagoon. Ah, Diego. I
remember well. Don't forget to throw a rock on the roof for me too.
July 1977-
March
1978
and November 1979- July 1980
NAME = Kevin
"Samurai"
Eddy
MY QUEST = To
find a
Red Roo patch for my riding vest.........oh yeah living free and ridin'
free as well
VT of a SWALLOW =
I'm
not sure but it ain't near as fast as those chickens were!
E-MAIL =
thejuggernautone@hotmail.com
NATIONALITY =
Texan of
course.
SERVICE = US Navy
UNIT = NMCB
133
"Kangaroo Can Do"
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember!
MY WARSTORY = I
found
this site looking for patches for my riding vest......................
I have perused it the last 2 days and realize now how much I miss those
I served with and those I still call friends even though I have not
seen
or spoken to them since.......... to those on the 79-80 tour (that I
remember
anyway): CE3 T.J. Avallone, ET3 J. Bellgraph, EA3 R. Brown, EACN
S.B. Coats, BU2 R.D. Crissey, CM2 L.J. Cruz, BU3 C. Dains, Bu3 R.
DeWitt, BMC J.M. Ezell, EO2 C. Green, SW3 R. Gustad, EA3
J.E.
Messenger, CMCA W. Mitchell, CM2 R. Moeller, BU1 R.A. Moody, CMCN K.
Overstreet,
BU1 D. Pullen, BU3 T. Pullman, EO2 D. Rath, CM3 L.
Sullivan......
oh hell the list goes on and on .................these were good guys
one
and all. I personally am proud to have been a Seabee with them.
Of course I have to separate these guys from those guys though I am no
less proud of how I fell about them. But lets face it without Hotel Co.
who would have gotten paid? Ate? Got supplies or those rare R&R
leaves
we heard about.... SK3 G. Pasley, SK3 T. Holian, SK3 C. Leber,
DK3
D. Barnett, SK3 J.A. Koenig, SK2 W. Miller, YN3 M.G. Bland,PC3 P.V.
Bradley,
MS1 R.S. Collins, MSSN D. Collins, MS2 E.E. Crane, SK2 T. Dale, DK1
M.R.
Felker, YNSN M.D. McCarthy, HM3 D.J. Henry, PNSN M. Scott, MS3 D.R.
Patitz,
MSSN F.X. Porter, SK1 K. Payne, PN3 W. Payne, JO3 J.R. Powers, SK3 A.V.
Filyaw, SK3 N.F. Fobar, YN2 R.F. Gray.
Come on.. Freddy
(SN
F. Geist), Drac (SKSN M. Griffin) or Squirrel (SK3 D. Swoope) would I
forget
you three....
To the guys from 77-78 133 Diego Detachment that started that POL
pipeline
namely: Jerry, Billy, Mule, Drew, Chris, Browny, Martinez, Chief
Cortez,
Mask, and the rest of you guys on page 140 of the cruisebook that (I
can't
remember your names) in typical fashion the names were left off of......
Anyway to all of you and all of the others before and since.
Well done gentlemen. well done. Kangaroo Can Do. ......and did!
Oh yeah by the way the 77-78 detachment built what we called a
Bar-B-Que
Cart..... has any body seen it? the Kangaroo was on the tongue
and
it even had a grill and cooler...... I have pictures
oh yeah I've got
pictures............
ON OR ABOUT
SUMMER
OF
1979
NAME = Michael Tacovelli
MY QUEST = TO FIND SAILORS WHO WERE ONBOARD THE USS RACINE
VT of a SWALLOW = LAIDEN OR UNLAIDEN......
E-MAIL = grnbear@bellsouth.net
NATIONALITY = UNKNOWN
SERVICE = NAVY
UNIT = VARIOUS
RANK/RATE/JOB = BM1retired
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Other
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = I was the boat coxswain of the capt's gig transporting
the
capt of the uss racine to the beach during the above year. after
myself and the boat off loaded the capt a dn officers at the pier close
to the post office in diego garcia , myself the bowhook and the boat
eng
decide to go for a swim. of course we had to undress(totally) to
go swimming. we all enerted the water naked, then we returned to
the shore seeing that our uniforms were stolen. all 3 of us
placed
our rain coats on(looking like exibitiists)transporting the CO and
other
officers back to ship..they never knew what happened...and they never
asked...thats
my story..
79-80
NAME = Derek Knight
E-MAIL = derek3112@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY = American
SERVICE = USN SEABEES-
UNIT = MNCB133
RANK/RATE/JOB = E-4 to E1 depending on what month
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 = So many stories.First night on the rock after getting off
watch we had a mojo party and a guy said lets steal a duce i'll give
you
a tour of the island. Long night shortened, went to the other side of
the
island knocked over many coconut trees and the Brit. gate, wrecked the
truck had to walk back. OR
The time they showed the new movie Warriors one night and we had such a
big riot they cancled the rest of the shows.
OR
The racial riot on Christmas Eve, complete with fire bombings and a
congressional
investigation.
OR
The time the Marines came during the Iranian crisis and we got them so
stoned and then tried to steal a tank.
Probably the best time on the Rock was after they started letting girls
on ships we met a girl named Penny? We called her Penny Candy.Well one
night made 9 monthes feel not so bad.
Never forget my time with the red rats,
Derek Knight
1979-1980
Lopez, Ignacio
(CBCHUE)"
<LopezI@cbchue.navfac.navy.mil>
To fellow members of the Diego Garcia history,
I deployed to the Diego Garcia atoll in the Spring of 1979 and left
January
1980. Our NMCB 40 Det was mainly tasked with the welding of the
16-inch
fuel line that connected to eight fuel tanks, the construction of
12-inch concrete walls to surround the tanks and the construction of a
fuel/water separator pit. We had our full, complete deployment work
schedule
cut for us but we made time to jog/run in the afternoons or drink our
"mojo"
in the weekends and throw rocks or dried coconuts at the tin roofs of
our
Seahuts.
We lived in Seahuts that had only some sort of screen to prevent
insects
from getting in. When the wind blew hard (during high tides), we
get sprayed and wet with salt water from the lagoon. We normally
had Sundays off and most of us tried to get as much sleep as possible
only
to be woken up by crowing noises made by chickens running around the
Seahuts
areas. Seabees sleepily throw rocks at the chickens to drive them
away. Mind you, that's where the "Every week is a Chicken Choking Week"
sign on T-Shirts came from.
One of the memorable events that I have joined was running the island
"Tip
to Tip Marathon Relay"on July 4, 1978. The whole distance was 38
miles with six runners per relay team. First and last leg runners
took seven miles each and the rest ran six miles each. That must
have been the only excitement at the time because there was high rate
of
participation. A total of 19 teams registered and ran the
race.
I still remember running along a narrow path where I've seen land crabs
scurrying to their holes as the runners went by.
Having parties at the plantation side was equally fun. I have
experienced
a young coconut fruit fell and grazed my head as I stooped down to stir
the coal in our barbecue pit. Lucky for me because the fruit did
not land squarely on top of my head. The donkeys always had their
share of the beer that we brought. Once someone puts down an open
can of beer, one of the donkeys would lick or bite the top of the
can.
No one would want to drink from that can then, but the donkey.
Keeping the "Donkey Gate" secured/closed was always an issue.
There
were times when people who go and visit the plantation side would
forget
or miss closing the gate and the donkeys from the plantation side would
have a free reign to go to the runway. If a flight happens to
come
in at the time, you'd hear the plane radio in and require the donkeys
be
driven out of the runway and fly a little longer in the air until the
runway
is clear.
When I returned in the early winter of 1982, I have found out that the
land adjacent to the runway has been widened with rocks/corals that was
dredged from the lagoon. I know that it has been continuously
improved
so I'm not surprised when I get word now that the island has turned out
to be a paradise. It feels great to hear about Diego Garcia, -
"The
Footprint of Freedom". I'm CUCM Ignacio P. Lopez, and I have just
retired after 30 years in the Naval Service on 01 January 2004.
I'd
be glad to hear more news about the island or to get word from folks
who've
been in the island during the earlier years. Hurraah!!
Diego
Garcia.
Ignacio P. Lopez
1979 -1980 AND
1981
-
1982
NAME = Garland D. Evans
MY QUEST = Work
VT of a SWALLOW = 8,999 MPH
E-MAIL = nmseabee74@aol.com
NATIONALITY = Texas
SERVICE = USN Seabees
UNIT = NAF and NMCB 74
RANK/RATE/JOB = Retired SWC
1979,1980,1984,1985,1986
NAME = Joseph P Stropole
MY QUEST = Old Friends, and Enemies....
VT of a SWALLOW = 60 MPH in a Windshield
E-MAIL = jstropole@mail.com
NATIONALITY = USA !
SERVICE = Merchabt Marine
UNIT = USNS Rigel, USNS Mercury, USNS Jupiter, USNS Ponchatoula
RANK/RATE/JOB = 3rd Asst, 2nd Asst
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Decided to Join A Monastery, But Couldn't Find
One
Stateside
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = This is a No-Shit Sailing Story
MY WARSTORY = 1984, Ready to leave the skids, for the rock, civillian
merchant
marine waiting for the REPAT flight, the animal launch (remember this
one
???) Broken Faces (not mine), Broken dreams, and then broken airline
tickets,
somebody smacked my favorite CHENG, the offender was a jarhead....The
rest
was BIOT history....
1979-1981
NAME = Dennis Mulloy
MY QUEST = To Survive
VT of a SWALLOW = About that
E-MAIL = DMulloy@Sprynet.Com
NATIONALITY = WHITE
SERVICE = USN
UNIT = NMCB-5/ NMCB-5 DET DIEGO
RANK/RATE/JOB = E-4 a couple times.
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 = After reading fellow grogger Ted Gourd's story it brought
back memories. If I recall, Ted was a surfer from So. Cal. A few
of us known as the 'Groggers' were always up to no good. Especially,
when
NMCB-133 was releiving us. We would go out in the middle of the night
and
change their monikor, i.e., sign. By morning it would read 'Groggers'
or
something like that. We changed it for a whole week straight. We would
change it at night and NMCB-133 would change it back by day. This went
on for 4-5 nights. Finally, the word got out that is was those misfits
from NMCB -5. We only had about a 30-40 man DET. So we were fairly
close.
Best times of my life were on that rock. Pretty sick huh?
Did I ever tell you the story about the loyal chicken subject that was
run up the BRIT flag pole.
Another time my friend.
79
Chet Kittle
<chetnmarsha@integrity.com>
Subject:
The last
photo of Dodge I have.
After leaving Diego in 79’ with Det. 74, (we built the hanger), I had a
stack of photos and now just one. And it’s a beaut. Everybody’s
favorite
place to take a photo of a sunset. I’ve been crusein’ the site for a
good
year and finally took the time to get this off. War stories, I got a
few.
I’ll send a couple soon, but this photo says more than I could ever say
of way I feel about “that fly speck.” More to come, Chet Kittle EO2,
NMCB
74. 76’ to 81’79-80
[here's Chet's
sunset
photo]
David Stott
<dkstott@compuserve.com>
Hi there,
stumbled upon
your
site..
I spent 1
glorious year
on the rock from 1979 - 1980.... I was there during the Iranian Hostage
Crisis, Yemen crisis and during the time of no women on the
rock....
I ate food from Donkey Burger, drank preserved beer, and
somewhere's
around here, I have photo's from the time spent there as well as my
"everyday
is chicken choking day on Deigo Garcia" t-shirt.
Dave Stott Jan.
79-
Sept.79
[here's 2 of
Dave's
photos
- the Donkey Burger, and the theater]
NAME = Chet Kittle
MY QUEST = To return.
VT of a SWALLOW = Anywhere in front of a jet engine.
E-MAIL = chetnmarsha@integrity.com
NATIONALITY = I was born in Dodge,KS
SERVICE = USN
UNIT = Det. 74, crane operator.
RANK/RATE/JOB = Made E4 the fourth day we were there.
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Decided to Join A Monastery, But Couldn't Find
One
Stateside
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
MY WARSTORY = Oh dear God, where to start. I'll do some memorables then
a bunch at the end. One of the three days that they gave us to
recooperate
after the flight (36 hrs. from goofport, 6 on the ground)I saw everyone
running down to the lagoon. There were about 20 guys pointing at this
shark
fin that stood about 2.5 ft. (or more) out of the water. I don't know
what
you call that fin that's in the back, but it was about 16 ft. behind
the
front one. They said it was a 20' ft. white that got caught in the
lagoon
at low tide and was circleing until it could get out. That was straight
out my hut door, 15' to the water.
After being there for a couple months, everbody started going a little
nuts, woke up one morning to hear that notorious clunk-clunk,
clunk-clunk,
clunk-clunk. Poor Mittens couldn't even keep up on Air
Only.
Watched a friend of mine single a chicken out, and chase that poor bird
down (by hand) and then rip it's head off. I was driving
back
to the hanger after lunch one day and I was in front of Alfa Co., where
you can pretty much look straight down the run way, and I was watching
a 131 take off and just wishing I was on that flight, when the outside
engine went poof, so he circled and landed. Pieces of engine peppered
the
body, nobody hurt. One of the most memorable times was the tip to
tip relay. I had the first leg, seven or so miles, (I think there were
six of us), got to take the mike boat over early in the morning,got
stuck
about 100 yards from the beach, so a few jumpin' porpoises, and ran my
little ass off. Came in sixth out of 12 I do believe and we ended
up 3rd overall (thanks to that Brit gettin' heat stroke right in front
of the hospital. We used to get 5gal. buckets full of the
land
crabs and take a jeep down by the donkey gate, head back into town
about
35 or 40mph, lean way out the back of the jeep and gently set the crab
down on the pavement. Well they skid along pretty good until they hit
something
or try and move and they just tumble and fly apart. Ah,good
times.
And I don't know how many times the neighbors would be haveing one of
those
very inertaining parties, when one time it was dark, everybody was
trying
to sleep, they had a card game goin' or somethin, when the power went
out.
Well that just sent 'em into a tizzy. Fuck this and fuck that, and then
they broke into a rouseing rendetion of FTN, FTN, FTN,FTN,....... while
jumping up and down in the hut. No shit, you could hear it all over
that
end of the island. FTN, FTN, FTN, the floor gave out. All ten hit the
sand
at the same time. Died silence, except the laughter! Here goes with the
bunch of stuff....ea moray eels(6' or better), barricudas,
shellin'
(cowreys or anythig that didn't move), Black tips, whites,400+
lbs
of snapper at time, 6' steel leaders with three sets of treble hooks to
catch absolutley nothing!!,turtles, seacucumbers, 1" scare on my finger
tip from a razor clam, black coral, sailing;sailing;sailing, tree house
(split level),softball, outdoor movies, the Steal band from
Holland,weights,donkey
burgers, coconuts (ate one a day)hated the way they freaked ya
out
on the roof at 2am but sounded great on the cheifs hut,The Plug, red
white
and blue chicks that would turn purple with age, watching the tires
burn
on my crane after a CM backed the gantry into that 15 thousand volt
line
at Alpha, working with asbostes and red lead (son, how come you look
like
that), flash burns from looking at the tig (yea yea I know), the
plantation,
watchin' and hearin' a C5 scream out on a medavac, a crane that would
start
by itself, watchin a 131 buzz the hanger with six guys laying sheeting
on the roof, church (there's a firsts), sunsets, and the ocean.
And tappin' that
fuckin'
salt!
Dodge will always
be
a part of me, 'cause I was a part of Dodge.
jan 1979
___1980
NAME = TED GOURD
MY QUEST = TO
FIND SOME
OLD DOGS (IMISS YA MAN ! )
VT of a SWALLOW =
1.82
SEC. WITH A BEER BONG &2 BEERS
E-MAIL = TED@RPMS
OUTLAWNET.COMW
NATIONALITY =
WHITE
NATURALLY
SERVICE = U.S.NAVY
UNIT =
NMCB-5
DET-NMCB-5
RANK/RATE/JOB = I
WENT
FROM A HAPPY E-1 TO A HAPPY E-4 ON DIEGO
(2-DEPLOYMENTS)
THEN I WENT TO SPAIN!!!!!
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Want to Drink A Lot, Cheap
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= I'd Like to Share Precious Memories of
Drinking/Fishing/Snorkeling/Sailing
on Diego Garcia
MY WARSTORY = JEE
WIZZ
THIS IS KIND OF A TRIP :A LOT OF SHiT WENT ON OVER ON THE ROCK!@ FOR
CHRIST
SAKES
1979
NAME = JAMES
CARRIERO
MY QUEST = DIEGO
GARCIA
E-MAIL =
JJAMCINMATNIC@AOL.COM
NATIONALITY =
ITALIAN/IRISH;
SERVICE = US NAVY; UNIT = NMCB74 AIRCRAFT HANGER; RANK/RATE/JOB = CE2
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Decided to Join A Monastery, But Couldn't Find One Stateside
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= This is a No-Shit 'How I Put One Over On My Senior Chief' Story
MY WARSTORY =
DURING
SHIP OFFLOAD, WE STOLE THE OFFICIERS ICE CREAM AND JAR SHRIMP. WE
FEED MILLER LITE BEER TO JENNY THE MULE. SHE WAS THE SIZE OF TWO
MULES. I GOT ARRESTED FOR SPEEDING IN A DUCE AND A HALF BRINGING
THE CREW TO CHOW. THE BRITS WOULDN'T LET ME DRIVE ON THE ISLAND FOR 6
MONTHS.
I LEFT THE ISLAND A WEEK LATER FOR THE STATES. BROKE MY
HEART.
DIDN'T DRINK A SINGLE BEER THE WHOLE 8 MONTHS I WAS THERE. THE
PLACE
REALLY BLEW MY MIND.
4 months in
1979
ALSO
4 more months in 1976
NAME = jim sanker
MY QUEST =
perhaps
getting
in touch with ol buds.
VT of a SWALLOW =
what
the freek......kind of question......is this? Depends on what your
eat`n!
E-MAIL =
starvinmarvy@charter.net
NATIONALITY =
USA;
SERVICE
= Navy; UNIT = NMCB-5; RANK/RATE/JOB = Was a BU.First time there,I
reported
to the battalion right out of "A' school with 4 months left on the
deployment.Second
rotation a BU2 and a SHORT timer.Only 4 months of that rotation.Then
back
home.I should have stayed with the Seabees and retired at age 37!Anyone
else regret this?
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= This is a No-Shit Snorkeling Story
MY WARSTORY
=
Well
if I gots to chose a catagory....this one may as well start it...one
day
my buddy Clay Carvalho decided to chance a snorkel session out off the
reef (out by the cannon)at low tide.It was just spectacular but only
being
able to see whats directly in front of you with the mask on (no
periphial
vision)I was uneasy.We saw the beautiful colored fish,the coral
fish(who
chewed the shit and you could hear that under water),we got to about 5
feet of a moree eel,and you could see the teeth on this mother but it
never
really seemed alarmed.But then I get this uneasy feeling and look
behind
me and there probably,hell ..I`d guess about 30 feet,is a shark
swimming
by along the ocean floor.It was then that we decided to get the hell
out
of Dodge....but one of things I`ll never forget!!
Another
time was coming back to the hootch after breakfast and found a little
coconut
crab passing through.Well I had a couple of apples from the chow hall
for
later that day but got down in the little guys face.He was a little
pissed
and I stuck one of those apples in his face and he effortlessly mashed
it in half.THATS ENOUGH for me I thought.All the rumors about the crab
were true as far as I was concered!!And he was a small one.
February 1979
(also
Nov.
'78)
NAME = Earl B.
Taylor
VT of a SWALLOW =
European
or African?
E-MAIL =
microlex@juno.com
NATIONALITY =
USA;
SERVICE
= U.S. Navy JAGC; UNIT = NLSO Subic; RANK/RATE/JOB = LT JAGC USNR while
visiting DG. Civilian since 1982
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Irritated World Citizen/Communist/Religious Extremist
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = In
the
fall of 1978 I was stationed at NLSO Subic. It was the day before
Thanksgiving
and I was in courthe middle of a Court Martial. It was one in a series
of Speical Courts Martial involving personnel from the USS Kitty Hawk.
The Kitty Hawk had been on about a six month deployment in the Indian
Ocean
and was homeward bound. In the middle of the trial a message was
delivered
asking how many trials I had left to do. I replied back I had two. Then
they asked if I could do the trial without personnel from the Kitty
Hawk.
No I couldn't. Then I was advised to have my gear ready to go on the
Kitty
Hawk at 1700 as I was going for a ride. This was the time of the
Iranian
hostage crisis and President Carter, God bless him!, was sending the
Kitty
Hawk back to the Indian Ocean, and I was to ride along and have the
trials
on board the ship. So instead of being stuffed to the gills with fine
food
with friends on Subic on Thanksgiving we were thrashing past Singapore,
and I had access all the bug juice I could drink. Thus got to ride a
nice
big boat out to Diego, and got to become a shellback.
I
was flown out there in February 1979 to do more Courts martials. One
day
I was walking around and noticed that the British Flag was at half
mast.
I asked some enlisted SeeBee what the deal was and he replied that "The
IRA wasted some limey". A rather terse summary of the end of Lord Louis
Mountbaden, former commander of the British war effort in South East
Asia
during World War II, and the last Viceroy of India.
1979-1980
NAME = Mike
McCarthy
MY QUEST = to
regain
the many brain cells lost partying with donkeys, chickens, and crabs
VT of a SWALLOW =
depends
on how wide her throat is
E-MAIL =
swineheart61@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY =
friggin
american, and you?; SERVICE = USN; UNIT = NMCB-133; RANK/RATE/JOB = E-4
RETIRED
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 =
FRICK,
WHERE DO I START? IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES AND THE WORST OF TIMES,
WHERE
ROSIE AND I REALLY GOT TO KNOW EACH OTHER, AND I FOUND OUT JUST HOW
SICK,
DRUNK AND SLOVENLY HUMAN BEINGS CAN GET. I REMEMBER GETTING ROSIE
(NOT THE SAME ONE) THE DONKEY DRUNK AT THE PLANTATION. ON THE
SAME
WEEKEND, I ALSO REMEMBER (BARELY) WAKING UP SPRAWLED ON THE FRONT PORCH
OF THE PLANTATION, NURSING A VICIOUS HANGOVER (BELIEVE IT OR
NOT).
TO HELP SHAKE OFF THE COBWEBS, I TOOK A WALK ON THE BEACH. IT
WASN'T
TOO LONG BEFORE I NOTICED I WAS BEING FOLLOWED BY A COCONUT CRAB.
THE LITTLE PRICK WAS STALKING ME-I WOULD WALK FASTER, COCO BOY WOULD GO
FASTER. I WOULD SLOW DOWN, HE WOULD SLOW DOWN-YOU GET THE
PICTURE.
I'M NOT ASHAMED TO SAY I WAS GETTING A LITTLE FREAKED. I FOUND A
BIG STONE, TURNED AROUND, SIDEARMED IT AT CLAWBOY AND NAILED HIM
DIRECTLY
IN THE FACE, A ONE IN A MILLION SHOT I COULD NEVER DO AGAIN.
KILLED
HIM DEAD ON THE SPOT. AH, GOOD CLEAN FUN ON DIEGO. OF
COURSE
I REMEMBER THE DONKEY BURGERS, SCROUNGING FOR BOOZE A FEW WEEKS BEFORE
SHIP OFF-LOAD, PARTYING AT THE CANNONS, NO-SLIDE RULE FOR SOFTBALL
BECAUSE
OF THE CORAL, SAW THE SR-71 WHEN IT LANDED, GASING OUT MY HUT ONE
MORNING
AFTER A SERIOUS NIGHT OF PARTYING, MAKING EVERYBODY RUN FOR THE DOORS,
WHERE WE WENT TO GET BREAKFAST ONLY TO RETURN AN HOUR LATER TO FIND THE
FOG HAD CLUNG TO THE WALLS. AH YES, FUN TIMES ON DIEGO!!!!!!
WELL,
THOSE ARE JUST SOME OF MANY SERIOUSLY WRONG TIMES ON FANTASY ISLAND.
P.S.----HEY CHRIS
LEBER,
I REMEMBER YOU MAN, HOW THEY HANGIN? LATER BROTHERS OF THE ISLAND
1979-80
NAME =
Merrill
D.Lamb
MY QUEST = Find
Joe(BUZZ)Sawyer.
Buzzsaw [editors note: Buzz's email is
SwyBzz@aol.com]
VT of a SWALLOW =
A
Windsheild
at 65MPH
E-MAIL =
KW@KANAB.NET
NATIONALITY =
AMERICAN
ALL THE WAY BABY AND DONT YOU FORGET IT; SERVICE = USN-Seabees; UNIT =
NMCB 40 Charlie Co. BEQ 9 Crew;
RANK/RATE/JOB = 6
years
10 months Active Duty,4years 10 months Charlie Co. NMCB
40!!
2Years Public Works PT.Hueneme Ca. BU-2 upon discharge.
MY WARSTORY =
Hey, Its
good to see my old buddy(BUZZ Sawyer CE NMCB 40 Bravo Co.) is still
alive.
Im cruisin around on the net when WHAT DO I
FIND?
WARSTORYS FROM PARADISE.So I go to 1980. Then I start to browse through
the storys! The first story I read is MY OLD BUDDY BUZZ talking about
getting
puckin drunk at the FISH TANK while we were listening to Bob Rodgers
and
the COMMODE HUGGIN MUTHAS(our little MOWJO BAND.Lets take a little
stroll
down memory
lane.
REMEMBER WHEN-We had coffee cans around our neck with wire so we could
carry a gallon of mojo at a time? Remember-The Britts(Notorius members
of the ButtWrenching Gang)?.
REMEMBER-Midnight
Coconut raids on the officers huts? REMEMBER-The night we
belly-crawled
into the 1st Amphibs camp and took their REBEL FLAGS AND THEIR COMPANY
COLORS.While Kenny Nunn,Brad Jensen,John Barto etc. caused a little
ruckus
down on the beach to get the grunts attention,We slitherd in and
snagged
their flags. BOY HOWDY THE CHEIF WAS PISSED.Next day they were
searching
huts and lockers,But we had em stashed.I really dont think the cheif
was
that pissed.He told me LAMB tell your buddys to keep those fucking
flags
out of site untill those Peckerheaded Marines get off the island.RIGHT
ON CHEIF BOTTIGI.ROCK AND ROLL FTN 40.Remember Kirby Hurst, Steve
Latting,Bob(BLASTOFF)Young,Greg Linville,All the wild nights we spent
with
the boys from MCB 5s det AT THE RALPHMASTER BAR AND GRILL.Thank the
govt.
for Donkey Burgers,RandR on the plantation with missie the Jack Daniels
Guzzeling Donkey.Thanks for the bagio sense,Thanks to all of the one
legged
crabs,Thanks for the concrete pours in 115 fht. THANKS FOR THE MEMORYS.
HEREs to watching a coconut fall out of a tree and nail a whitehat
liferdog
Square on top of his head. HERE IS TO ALL MY BROS FROM
40-5-4-1-62-3-133
Every day is Chicken Chockin Day On The Rock. YOURS TRULY BU-2
M.D.(MUFF)LAMB.Fighten
Forty. I could go on to tell you storys from the ship offloades and the
weekly suicidal idiot that would steal a vehicle and try to kill
himself
because he got a dear john letter,But Ill save the rest for`another
time.Rock
On Diego
1979
Charles Sheppard
<csheppard@bio.warwick.ac.uk>
[Ed. Note:
Charles
has spent over a year in the Chagos on scientific expeditions over the
last three decades. He is the author of "Ecology
of the Chagos Archipelago" which I heartily recommend you all buy
and
read.]
On one trip, I spent 2 weeks in DG in 1979 hanging around for a flight
out. Had some day-long flights in a P3 to kill some time (why do
they only put
breakfast meals
on
them...?)
shooting met and radio canisters out of a tube in the floor every
hour.
The Seabee batallion / regiment or whatever from
Mississippi where
doing
the works then. We had a couple of wives with us (one was mine)
who
were kept under lock and key in the medical block most of
the time!
The
Seabees
were hosed down by the fire truck during one X-rated movie, and one
night
some took a bulldozer to a brick hut which contained
the booze.
My
wife
was once taken to the ATC tower where she talked down a P3 - relaying
the
instructions which were pretty meaningless to her - and
that was noted as
the
worst landing they had seen. The crew rushed up to the tower,
looked
stunned and one said 'Damn it really IS a woman!' then
rushed out
again.
She was also drafted into reading a lot of the music requests for the
Seabees
from their families on DG radio - they had no TV then, and was asked to
use her best bedroom voice - which she reckoned was difficult at
pre-dawn
breakfast time! It was a good couple of weeks.
NMCB-40 1977
and
NMCB
40 1979-80 also NMCB-40 1977
NAME = Rick
Baptista
MY QUEST = To get
that
donkey (Missy) and drink some beers with the old gal
VT of a SWALLOW =
Depends
on who is swallowing
E-MAIL =
rbaptista@mediaone.net
NATIONALITY =
Human;
SERVICE = Seabees; UNIT = POL Pipe Rat, Batch Plant, Crane Hill
RANK/RATE/JOB =
EOCA
in 77, EO2 busted down to EO3 in 79 (LOVE DG) Retired 1998 as a
EOC
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Professional Adventurer Looking For The Ultimate Get Away
MY WARSTORY =
Good
site!!Well
let me start.My first time on DG was in 79.I was the boot of the DET
(NMCB
40). Worked as a pipe rat with the SW's digging the Pipe Line along the
runway. (TS 24 scrapers). The second time there 1979-80 (NMCB 40)
things got fun. Well me and a bunch of drunk Alpha Type decided
to
swipe a 5 ton and go look from some crabs on the plantation. Well
no sooner then I filled up the Hot truck the Brits were on my ass (Land
Rover) heading out of town. Well they were still on my ass when I
crashed
threw the Donkey gate and was not going to let up. Well by the
time
I got to the Plantation I was getting sick of them chasing me, so I did
a U turn and statred chasing them. A 5-ton Cargo verus A Land Rover
with
A blue Bubble. Well those Brits new us Alpha Types were crazy and
stared
running. This gave us time to ditch the truck and head back on
foot
(Long Walk). The brits tried to catch us on foot. One of those drunk
CM's
(BARTO) got caught by the brits handcuffed and thrown in the back of
the
Rover. In the mean time we all made our way to T site where a bunch of
Twigets were leaving for town. We hopped in the back of there
truck
and fell asleep. Well to our suprise, there was a human blockade
at the Donkey gate. They had everybody out there, REACT FORCE, SHORE
PATROL
ETC. Well to make a long story short, I went to MASS and the CO
gave
me restiction but ALPHA COMPANY had there own fucking mass and busted
me
down to E4. Big shit I had a good time there and I would have done it
Again!!!!!!
April (?) 79
NAME = J.L.Hite
MY QUEST = To get
back
to the tropics(not D.G though)
VT of a SWALLOW =
You
tell me.
E-MAIL =
jeffh@oregon.uoregon.edu
NATIONALITY =
USA;
SERVICE
= USN; UNIT = Beer drinkin'; RANK/RATE/JOB = Had the old man busted me
yet? Yep, I guess so. At least I wasn't in the "Grande Island Seven"
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Geo-political Rabble Rousing
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= There I Was, Passed Out on The Beach
MY WARSTORY =
First
landfall
in a hell of along time, Pulled into the lagoon on USS Waddell DDG-24
after
being "modloc"ed in the arabian sea. Beer, coconut crabs, and the
skinniest
land I'd ever seen. Would have rather been in subic city. Rusted gun
and
implacements on the point wuz kinda cool. Anybody who had
to
stay an extended time has my sympathy.
1979 &
1978
MICHAEL R. BABCOCK <mbabcock@pdq.net> See his 1978 entry!
1979
AZ3
Segen
<LadyluckSweet@aol.com>
deployed in
transit for
operation (EAGLE CLAW) Arrived 12/13/79
Departed
12/28/79
I still remember
getting
drunk at the outdoor movies and getting eaten by those little bugs with
big teeth. AZ3 Segen HM-16 NAS Norfolk
79-80
NAME = TED GOURD
MY QUEST = TRY TO
REMEMBER
?
VT of a SWALLOW =
1.82
SECONDS -2 BEERS IN A BONG
E-MAIL =
TED@RPMS@OUTLAWNET.COM
NATIONALITY =
WHITE-SO.CAL.;
SERVICE = NMCB-5 & DET; UNIT = CRANE CREW / R-SITE ADD.;
RANK/RATE/JOB
= BUILDER E-1 TO E-4 TO E-2RETIRED
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Green Eco-Freak Who Hates How the Brits Have Taken Such Good Care of
The Island
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= There I Was, Passed Out on The Beach
MY WARSTORY
=
I DONT REMEMBER WHAT DAY IT WAS,BUT I WOKE UP ON THE BEACH AGAIN
WELL I WAS STILL NOT FULLY AWAKE. ANYHOW THERE MUST HAVE BEEN A
THOUSAND
FRICKEN CRABS SURROUNDING ME LICKING THEIR LIPS!! SO I GOT UP AND
STARTED
CRAB KICK~EN !!!! SICK FUN I GUESS
I HAD LOTS
OF
GOOD TIME FUN IN TYROLIAVILLE HOME OF THE WORLD RENOUNED GROGGERS.. ME
AND A FEW OTHER GUYS USE TO CHANGE THE BEWARE OF JOGGER SIGNS TO BEWARE
OF GROGGERS (DIDN`T GO OVER WELL WITH THE BRASS AT ALL)BUT WE JUST DID
NOT CARE THE COMANDO RAIDS WERE FUN!!
WE AT
DET-5
ALLWAYS
RAN AROUND LIKE CRAZY PIRATES HALF DRUNK AND READY TO FIGHT, BUT A FREE
BEER WOULD MAKE US HAPPY AND OR SICK ASTHE DOGS WE WERE ,SO WE PRETTY
MUCH
STAYED OUT OF TROUBLE IN THAT DEPT.
ME AND
KEVIN
GURTES
THROUGH A PARTY WITH BANDS BOOZE AND BEER AND FIVE DUMP TRUCK LOADS OF
DUNAGE FROM SHIP OFF-LOAD AND SET IT OFF! BIG FIRE TOSAY THE LEAST AND
MORE FUN TO BE HAD FOR ALL ON THE ISLAND AND LAGOON
HAVE TO
MANY
THINGS
TO REMEMBER IN TWO DEPLOYMENTS I"M SENILE NOW! AND I'M PRETTY
SURE
MY MIND WAS LOST ON DIEGO P/S IS HECTOR STILL ALIVE I SEEN
HIS PICTURE WHEN I WAS THERE
1979
ROGER SCHWEITZER
"Hawaii
Rog" <inopohak@ilhawaii.net>
Heard you on NPR and it brought back memories. I went to Diego
Garcia
in 1979 or 80 with a surveying company called Wes Thomas and
Associates.
Our job was to do a topographic survey of both sides of the runway so
that
it could be widened for B52's.
I was in the US Navy for seven years (submarines) so this was like old
home week for me. I was familiar with the rules and regs, but
some
of my fellow draft dodging workers thought they could ignore the rules.
We were given information about how intolerant the customs people were
about illegal drugs and related paraphernalia, so it was somewhat
embarrassing
for the owner of the company when his son was busted for having some
marijuana
on him. They tossed him off the island and he was told never to
come
back.
They gave us a brand new barracks, which they trashed at the end of
their
stay. The company had to pay for the damage done to the barracks.
We were given access to the Officer's Club, but that privilege was
quickly
abused and we were sent packing to the Acey Ducey club, we fit in much
better there. Being an enlisted man, I got a kick out of the "O"
club for the short time that I was there. I enjoyed the stay at
DG.
Yours
truly,
Roger
Schweitzer
79
NAME = Thomas E
Lawson
<telawson@earthlink.net
MY QUEST = To
remember
what I didthere.
VT of a SWALLOW =
which
one
NATIONALITY =
U.S.;
SERVICE
= navy; UNIT = jack of the dust; RANK/RATE/JOB = Ms2
MY WARSTORY = I
drove
supplies to the galley almost everyday. I made a pizzia for Skc
in
the EM club kitchen, but the sauce was too hot. Then they ordered
pizzia crusts for the kitchen to sell. Met the plane twice a
weekfor
fresh milk and veggies. Don't remember too much about the
evenings
though.
In 1979 we had a $50,000 BBQ.We had two freezers at i-site and reefers
banks the SeaBees ran to store food.Well after the first ship offload I
worked, the freezers at i-site were packed like a can of
sardines.
We had pallets on the floor so the air could circulate, but we had to
remove
cases of meat just to climb up over the others cases. Freezer #1
was having trouble maintaining 0 degrees and was staying at 15-20
degrees.To
make along story short most of the meat went bad after about a
month.
We used a dump truck to haul the meat to the dump (4 trips) and had to
use JP5 fuel to burn it. The inhabants of the CBI camp were
watching
us closely for any unburned cases of meat to salvage. I was found
not gulity for ruining all that meat. I hate the smell pine oil,
which we used to clean the inside of that freezer. Thawed meat
juices
sure were swept outside and the flies were plentiful, and the smell
wasn't
appeciated by the people woking there.
One more thing about the dump.The package store tossed outdated olympia
beer and nobody tried to salvage any. Maybe "Its the
Water"?
Tom
[EDITOR'S
NOTE:
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! I lived in Olympia
for 9 years, and LOVE that beer. Of course, that's probably
because
when I lived in Montana, it was that or Buckhorn or Lucky....
"Its in the
water,
that's
why its yellow!" - Bear Whiz Beer]
Did you ever drive by the vichele dump, right in the middle of it was a
road. It went out to the ocean side and there was a
"house".
Nobody I asked knew about it or wouldn't tell me what they used it for.
[EDITOR's
answer:
Seems to me I remember that 'house'. I think it was one of the
hootches
the old seabees built all over the island. That was where they
would
go to "get away from the base". Most of them fell apart over the
years,
and in 86 or
thereabouts,
the NSF CO had them all destroyed (he couldn't stand having people off
in the bushes on their own!). There was one really neat one on
the
lagoon side just at the south end of the airfield. Had a dock and
everything.]
This was no hootch, it had a kitchen, living area, bathroom and two
bedrooms.
But no furniture or curtains and a big padlock on the door.
Looked
like VIP quarters.
O.K.
Readers... anybody remember what this building was???
P.S.
I was reading 1987 entries and came upon what they were wearing
then.
When I was there the uniform was khaki shorts, white t-shirt, jungle
boots
and ball cap for enlisted personel. I even had a SeaBee poncho I
wore when it rained and nobody complained. When I worked in the
freezer
I wore a DG short sleeve sweat shirt (navy blue of coarse), a green
long
sleeve SB shirt and gloves. My mess cooks were usually from
MNCB 4or 5 and they had thier field jackets in there.
[editor's
note: here are some more bits and pieces from Tom]...
We had tv when that scienctist [Charles Sheppard - listed above] was
there.
They had the Fighting Seabees and the Quit man on every other Sunday.
That's
how we waited for mail call to be announced. We aslo watched the
Story Lady tell us about our benifits. Here is where the
requests
that lady was reading on the radio came from.
I saw an old photo of my favorite burger joint on your site.They used
to
bake the hamburger and hot dog buns in the old SeeBee bake shop which
faced
the back of medical.The front was about 15-20 feet kitty corner to
Donkey
burger. It had two barn like doors which opened into the main
chow
hall. I used to issue coffee and sugar every Tuesday at 0900
hrs.
We used the chow hall for extra storage space for dry stores, until
November.
We had to move everything to the main warehouse, because they were
going
to demolish the old chow hall. I had to put up a sign telling
everyone
that the coffee issue has moved to the main warehouse.
I had my folks send me a care package. It contained 6
bottles
tobassco sauce, 4 can openers, 4 cans chili, 1 pizza mix, 1 chung king
chicken chow
mein,
1 box instant rice, 1 quart water bottle and 1 portable radio. I
shared the can openers and tobassco sauce with friends. Using
p-38
can
openers
was hard on the fingers. You mentioned bug juice for your flight
back to Clark. We used it to clean our grills in the galley, it
really
made them shine.
When I arrived there I was assigned to a seahut.The VP's were in a
seahut
next door.They were always complaining about palm rats visiting them
at
night.The 141 crew had a seahut nearby.We had a picnic table and BBQ on
the beach in front.The head was outdoors on a slab of cement surrounded
by a partition and roof.I remenber sweeping the sand out every morning
before going to work.I stayed there for about a month until they made
me
move to the open bay barracks.We had an old refriderator in the seahut
that would ice up all the time.We also put in a party chit for burgers
and had a BBQ on the beach.They gave us a #10 can of pork and beans for
10 people,catsup,mustard and some hamburger buns. I had already bought
BBQ tools from the ships store as soon as I arrived on island.I also
bought
a face mask and snorkle.but only used them once.I couldn't see very
well
underwater with out my glasses.I had an extra pair of GI glasses ,so I
pulled off the earpieces and tried to get them to stay in the face
mask,it
didn't work.I still have the face mask and snorkle and I don't know why.
I would call Airops on Wed. and Sat. to find out the ETA of
plane.
I would tell the mess cooks what time to meet me at the galley and we
would
drive out to the apron. The Seabees supplied a low-boy trailer to
haul the milk and veggies (potatoes,lettuce,tomatoes etc.) back to the
reefer banks to unload. The milk and ice cream came in an
insulated
container with dry ice. The veggies came in your standard
cardboard
boxs. I think we recieved between 20-30 5 gallon boxs of
milk.
The milk would run out after 4-5 days and they would use the milk that
didn't require refridgeration. Not many people liked the white
milk,
but the chocolate milk was OK if it was chilled. If we were
running
low on certain meats they would also be sent by plane ( beef
patties).
We got apples, oranges and pears by ship every quarter. We
usually
got done in the evening delivering the fresh milk and veggies to the
galley
for the next days use. We had a problem with the ice cream
disappearing
between unloading the plane and getting it loaded on the low-boy.
It seems certain Airops crew would borrow some for their own use.
I fixed that problem with some steaks for them. The ice cream was
for the officers mess only. The galley had a ice cream machine
that
rarely worked, and if it did the ice cream was runny. I got a
case
of San Migel beer from Airops for the steaks. How did the flight
crews get the beer to DG?
1979
JIM ZEDAN
<zedan_james@bah.com>
I happened across your DG site and was surprised to see a poem by Ralph
Blessing. Did you know him? I was stationed with him a
couple
of times while I was in the navy. When I was on DG in 1979 it was
before women were allowed there and most people lived in plywood huts
with
corrigated tin roofs. It appears that things have changed a great
deal.
1979-1980,
1985-1986
SCOTT VAN AKEN
<SVanaken@aol.com>
Super site on Dodge. Where were the babes when I was there? Was stupid
enough to do two tours there (79-80) and (85-86) and there were
definitely
no wimmin on the joint during the first tour, just Seabees, which are
close,
but not
quite the same.
I do remember the SR-71 flight, the stealthy C-130s and quickly
repainted
MH-53s (which ended up burning in the desert) as well as the USS
Guadalcanal,
Conestellation and (I do believe) the Kitty Hawk also showed up during
the
later tour.
Also
had the opportunity to get a brief tour of the USS Missouri and some of
the B-52s that the Air Force kindly sent so that we'd have something to
do when not fixing planes!
Spent time with Customs and the Security force during the first tour.
Got
to know lots of Brits and that they drink while on duty! Found it odd
that
they only got ale resupplies every quarter, especially by the way they
consumed the stuff on weekends. Must have been a LONG flight in a C-130!
Enjoyed the place while I was there, was very glad when the tour was
over
and wouldn't mind going back if the money and job were right.
Keep up the good
work,
Cheers,
Scott Van Aken
USN (ret)
June 1979 -
June 1980
NAME = David K.
Stott
MY QUEST = Find a
Donkey
Burger !!
VT of a SWALLOW =
2
miles
per hour
E-MAIL =
dkstott@compuserve.com
NATIONALITY = US
citizen;
SERVICE = U. S. Navy; UNIT = Calibration Tech.; RANK/RATE/JOB = left
service
after 6 years as an ET-3....
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
graduated
ET school in Great Lakes, Illinois and actually put D.G. as one of my
three
choices to be stationed... Somehow my third choice of D.G. was moved to
#1..
I was sent to D.G via Hawaii ( hey that wasn't too bad)... then on to
the
Phillipines where I met up with a group of Sea-Bee's who taught me how
to find every bar in the area...
We then landed on D.G. and were promptly told to strip all of our
clothes
off for the Brit strip search...
I was placed in a barrack with a lump pillow and in the middle of the
1st
night, was awoken by a coconut rat staring at me from across the
pillow...
That was my first night there!!
Does anyone have the recipe for Donkey Burgers?? or baked beer??
remember
all the beverages were stored in metal containers to bake in the sun?
I was there through the Yemen crisis, the Iranian Hostage crisis and
the
very first appearance of women on D.G when a supply ship arrived with
women
on it...!!!
We had orders to keep our hand off of the women...Yeah right...!!
Dave Stott
1979-1980
JOSEPH X.
NAHORODNY
<Joseph.X.Nahorodny@sbcdo.com>
Awesome place.
Shell
collecting, snorkeling, fitness, introspection........what gripe????!!!
1978-1980
HARRY CONLON
<HWConlon@aol.com>
See his 1978 story.
1979
KEN CLEVENGER
<R0D0G@aol.com>
Hi Ted!
My name is Ken Clevenger Bu2 NMCB 5 '79 Arp.-Nov. The intenet is
so great, I could never imagine that there would be a website about
"the
Rock". It makes sense though if you (like me) have had the honor
of serving a tour there. A place everyones dreaded to go to,
adapted
to and time never forgotten. I made good use of the time I was there,
college
courses, swimming everyday, boxing, partying with the Brits and
exploring
the plantation. I actually think I found the high point on the
island
on the other side. It was a paridise that some people have
touched
on,( the sunsets, lagoon and the plantation ), that one cannot realize
unless they nhave been there. The hardest thing about coming out
of isolation was the phillipines and back in the good 'ol USA looking
at
REAL LIVE WOMEN !! Thanks for this site and being
able
to reminise with people who have lived it. It's interesting to
read
how it has changed in the past 20-some years.
79-80
NAME = john barto
MY QUEST = loose
shoes
tight pussy warm place to shit
VT of a SWALLOW =
ruby
or yellow throated?
E-MAIL =
jvembarto@cs.com
NATIONALITY =
loser
SERVICE = fucking
seabee
UNIT = fighting
fortys
heavy shop....onthe end of the runway
RANK/RATE/JOB =
cm-3
ftn, onehitch
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Want to Drink A Lot, Cheap
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= I am a Born Liar, and Want To Tell About All The Sex I Had on Dodge
MY WARSTORY =
what a
lousy fucked up pent up mass of youth we were...800 boys in paradise
and
no pussy... caught a guy beating off to a picture of John Denver (full
size, hung on his locker door). best story consists of a fellow loser
cutting
the top off a seven up can filling it one quarter the way up with
lighter
fluid putting a baby chick (fucking brits loved the
chickens) in the
can
and lighting it the sound of baby chick tapdancing in that can is
seared
in my pickled brain to this day. Another hobby was spray painting
the chickens various colors not found in nature. As for telling
time
(hour of day when asked) a casual reply was what the fuck do you really
care what time it is you fucking asshole? You ain't leaving are
you?
Alltime favorite beverage? gin and gatorade before the supply ship came
used to love canned beer that sat outside so long the color of the can
faded. "Jesus hates me this i know cause I'm on Diego".
1st Time
December
1975
(3 months), Second Time May 1978 (4 months), Third Time January 1979 (3
months), Forth time March 1982 (18 months) August
1983 - December 1985
NAME = Jack
Kaltenhauser
E-MAIL =
arizseabee@email.msn.com
SEE HIS 1975
& 1983
ENTRIES...
march79 march
80
NAME = william
(bill)
tyson
MY QUEST = to
find
another
donkey burger
E-MAIL =
wtyson@pamlico.net
NATIONALITY = us
(north
carolina); SERVICE = us navy; UNIT = base ops crash rescue
RANK/RATE/JOB =
abh-1
am now retired (03/30/80)
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember!
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= There I Was, Passed Out in My Room
MY WARSTORY =
feeding
the donkey beer. never being able to catch a dam crab.
1979-1980
and 1987-1988
NAME = Walt
Bowlby
E-MAIL =
wa9neu@shawneelink.com,
wa9neu@drivernet.com
NATIONALITY =
USA;
SERVICE
= U.S. Navy; UNIT = C-Site; RANK/RATE/JOB = CTM1 Retired
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Professional Spy
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= I'd Like to Share Precious Memories of
Drinking/Fishing/Snorkeling/Sailing
on Diego Garcia
MY WARSTORY = It
was
always easy to find a party on DG and you were automatically
invited.
A few beers in hand would be a passport. But even empty handed got you
in.
I remember the bigest event was when the Dallas cowboys Cheerleaders
came
to the island. That reminded me that there were women back in "the
world"
and I was anxious to see them. It helped my 1 year tour go faster!
Diego Garcia was an interesting island and there were lots of things to
do. I enjoyed biking and also ham radio.
To anyone reading this, if you can you should do a tour of DG you will
have some good memories of it later!!!!!
1979-1980
CHRIS LEBER
<lawdog57@earthlink.net>
Just got done surfing your page. I was NMCB 133 and arrived on the
island
the day the hostages were taken in Iran. It was tense for a while. You
are right about being a tropical paradise although we had no women at
that
time. Who could forget the 90 day ship offlaods where we worked
12
hours shifts for 10 days straight to offload supplies. Anybody tell you
about the Christamss 1979, where they confiscated weapons and trashed
the
island. I would love to see current pictures if you have any.
1979 VP-48
Deployment
(also '80 & '81 & a year in '78)
DAVE "DJ" JOHNSON
<Ejection4@aol.com>
Great site, OLE
DG
brings
back memories, I was there for my year in 78, and went back with VP-48
in 79, 80, 81. I would like to become a member. thanks for the memories
Dave "DJ" Johnson
1979
THOMAS ROYCE
<ThomasR@actionio.com>
Ah...Diego Garcia. I spent only 3 months anchored in the Lagoon back in
1979. (USS L.Y. Spear). We could only go onshore every 3 days, but I
made
the most of it!!! I spent most of my time skin diving or riding rented
beach cruisers through jungle trails. Once, a few of us skinny-dipped
with
snorkeling gear on the ocean side of the island. I have never seen such
underwater tropical beauty, before or since, and I've been to many
other
"pristine" tropical locations. I'll never forget seeing fish whose
colors
change like a rainbow as they turn in the water, or the giant clams,
eyes
reflecting an iridescent blue as I viewed them from the surface 30 feet
away...And the sharks! Every night, the waters around our ship were
illuminated
by PAR lamps, giving us a chance to appreciate the grace and size of
the
schools of these impressive beasts...I have lots of memories; Coconut
crabs,
thermoclines, generators rumbling, hot, sticky-then refreshing rain,
jungle,
beaches so white the sight of them hurt my eyes, crappy bear,coral
fingers
descending to a sandy bottom, sunken sailboat, garbage barge, solitude,
and the realization that I might never again find a place quite this
remote,
quite this beautiful. I loved Diego Garcia the first time I saw it.
Every
place I've ever been has changed me in one way or another. Experiencing
Diego Garcia brought me peace,and an appreciation of the beauty of
untouched
places on our planet. I would love to go back!!!
Thomas Royce
Applications
Engineer
800-767-5726 X2261
thomasr@actionio.com
FAX: 858-277-6277
http://www.actionio.com
76, 79 and 82
CLAUDE
BLACKSHER
<cab0557????> See his 1976 entry
March 1979-
November
1979
DANIEL TEGTMEIER
<dptegtmeier@worldnet.att.net>
MY QUEST = For
all to
remember those we left behide
NATIONALITY =
American;
SERVICE = USN Seabees; UNIT = USNMCB-5
RANK/RATE/JOB =
BU-2
when discharged 1982, Rank on DG BU-3. Mertitorious advancement
while
on the DG.
MY WARSTORY = One
of
the sadiest days on the Island....Would like all
to remeber SK2 Michael L. McBride, USN September 22, 1979.
Seven (7) of us went lobster hunting out near Alpha Co. on the seaward
side of the island. We were out about half way to the reaf when a
wave nocked us off the walkway. Mike never made it back to shore
and the six of us were unable to get to him. Mike, to this day
Buddy,
I toast your memory. YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN MY FRIEND!
1979-1980 80-81
SEAMAN ROBERT
IRWIN,
USS DIXIE AD 14 <fortyyrscuz@webtv.net>
T.A.D. from
Kami
Seya,
Japan Oct 1982-Oct 1983 also Oct 1979-Jan 1980
DANIEL GUAJARDO
<wings97-98@att.net>
See his 1979
entry.
SERVICE = U.S
Navy;
UNIT
= Naval Security Group (C-site); RANK/RATE/JOB = was a CTO2
during
my time there.
My Time There is
Lost
in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me Remember!
MY WARSTORY =
will
submit
one later, as I have to go to areas of my brain that have been dormat
since
1983, still in shock from spending two x-mas's and two new years on the
rock.
1979 7
months
,
then I went to Japan
KEVIN GLEASON
<twoblkdog@hotmail.com>
MY QUEST =
Knowing
someone
else had fun in Paradise!
NATIONALITY =
American;
SERVICE = Navy; UNIT = NMCB-5; RANK/RATE/JOB = 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
I had worked at the laundry with MCB-5 back then, so we used to have
access
to the pick-up on most weekends after hours. A trip to the
package
store and my friends and I were down the long road to adventure.
A few times we went over to the plantation to look around,be nosey,
chase
donkeys and chickens, and to check out the history on the island.
Breaking the lock off the gate the Brits had accross the road was a
small
challenge if you used a big rock! We didn't have four-wheelers
back
then! Drunk as we would get, it didn't stop us. After a
while
word was out that the Brits were pissed about having to replace the
locks
we had broken,but no one ever directly accused us of doing it, however,
use of the truck became increasingly limited. I guess they really
didn't like people over there without permission. There were
other
places like Turtle Cove that were cool to check out. The deep
history
of the Island has always intrigued me. Trips to the beach and
falling
asleep certainly happened, and guys getting so drunk that they were
willing
to swim home are still hazy. I did lose a camera after a Seabee
bash
right before I left, probably in the clutches of a mean coconut crab!
When
I used to pick up laundry in Officers country, I would occasionally
steal
hots dogs out of the CO's fridge for Breakfast. Never got caught!
January 1979
thru
January
1980
ROB FLOOD
<rrflood@yahoo.com>
USN
UNIT = c site
RANK/RATE/JOB =
CTTSN
This is a No-Shit
'How
I Put One Over On My Senior Chief' Story
I was just a young 20 year year old and was a decent athlete. I
use
to party with lots of people that were seebees and anybody but the
secret
spy group....which was really not acceptable. My C.O.,Commander
Davis,was
great and he was also the coach of our Softball team,Volleyball team
and
Basketball team.
Here's
my no bullshit story....I was also known for losing my temper alot and
telling our section supervisor to f*** off quite often. He wrote
me up on charges of failure to obey a direct order and for assault (I
knocked
him to the ground one night). It goes thru the division and the
XO,Commander
Davis gets it, laughs, and tells the XO to handle it at division
level.
When he was questioned why,Commander Davis laughed and said,"he's my
starting
left fielder and batting fourth tonite, so don't f*** with him!!!!"
Otherwise,I would like to visit D.G. again for a week maybe....the
recent
pictures I see on different web sites make the island almost like a
different
place than 20 years ago.
1979
DAVE
SUMMERS
<mtnguy@erols.com>
I visited
DG in
1979 while stationed aboard the USS Bluefish SSN 675, a fast attack
sub.
I have fond memories of very large hammerhead shark that always greeted
us as we came and went from the Submarine tender moored in the lagoon.
I know he was just waiting for some drunk submariner to fall overboard.
The other thing I remember was the warnings from the Brits not to mess
with the donkies and chickens and not to fall asleep on the beach. I
guess
the crabs would pick your body clean.
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