|
1980-1981
Don "DJ" Johnson = djsellsorlando@yahoo.com
Citizenship = Red, White & Blue; Service = USN; Outfit = NMCB
"Fighting Forty"
My_Quest = To get a kidney transplant!
VT_of_a_Swallow = as quick as she can
My_Warstory = So cool to have found this site. Read lots
of the stories some of the blotterheads wrote here. Dodge City was a
friggin
way cool experience that I personally have remembered and cherished for
all
these years. Some days did suck, but the place was just awesome if you
made it
that way. Most of you guys will remember me as the one who ran the
beach alot.
I worked the barracks for a bit throwing rebar, then they sent me out
to the
crusher to work with Chavez climbing that flipping hopper and getting
scorched.
Worked with "A" welding some engine blocks and the piperat team with
Givens and company on that flipping burning hot tarmac area we were in.
Fucking
Hordorf breaking the cherry picker and Paquin. I need a year book type
thing so
I can faces and remember more names. I remember a bunch but not as many
as I
should. I remember that dickweed Jimmy something or another got Vasquez
busted
for the "cid", we were ready to feed his ass to the sharks in the
lagoon for that one. Bus, Paquin, Bob and the Band, Randy Dailey and so
many
more. Couple of dudes I could do without also, like Bob Wright, what a
dickhead. Saw elsewhere on the web where Seabees have local chapters
and a
national reunion. That would be cool to get all Bees that spent time on
DG together
and have Bob and the boys rock some fuckin kickass FREEBIRD like they
did on
the hump party....
Nowadays, I am a real estate broker in Central
Florida,
concentration in commercial. Things are still going well even in this
economy.
I'm optimistic about it all.
I had kidney failure in the last several years
and go to
dialysis 3x a week now while waiting for a kidney transplant. I also do
patient
advocacy for ESRD patients such as myself. My kidneys failed in all
places,
China ... LOL ... almost didn't make it home.
Great catching up. Feel free to email those who might
remember me! Laterzzz
April 1980-April 1981
Leroy
Lawrence jlawr914@ec.rr.com
Citizenship
= USA
Service =
USN Seabees
Outfit = PWD
My_Quest =
to catch up with old friend and try to
remember.
VT_of_a_Swallow
= Depends on the size of the worm
My_Warstory
= Just found your site. very cool. just remembering some of the
times there. driving up to Isite seeing how many crabs we could hit
with our
van. Partying everynight and day.
Taking the
rowboat out to the middle of the sewage lagoon
to burn one cause we thought that would be a safe place. so many
memories so little time.
Would like
to here from anyone that remembers.
take care
Seabees Can
Do!!!!!!!!!!!
Dates_Aboard = THE SUMMER OF 80
GARY FARMER FARMBOSDAONE@AOL.COM
Citizenship = USA
Service = USN
Outfit = 11A - SHIPFITTER SHOP
My_Quest = UNCOVER THE MYSTERIES OF LIFE
VT_of_a_Swallow
= ABOUT 80 MPH IF I'M THROWIN' ONE A SHORT DISTANCE AT A BRICK WALL
DOESN'T GET
MORE TREMINAL THAN THAT !
My_Warstory = THE JAX DROPPED ANCHOR IN THE LAGOON THE
SUMMER OF 80 AND THE WORLD THAT WAS DIEGO GARCIA BECAME VERY
CLEAR.....FANTASY
ISLAND. THERE A FEW THINGS THAT I WAS AWARE OF CONCERNING "HECTOR"
THE HAMMERHEAD SHARK. THE AJAX SHIP'S PHOTOGRAPHER HAD TAKEN THE
DIFINITIVE
PHOTO OF HECTOR FROM THE AFT SECTION OF HECTOR SWIMMING ALONGSIDE AND
JUST
BELOW THE WATERLINE OF THE CAPTAIN'S GIG, A SMALL CABIN CRUISER, AND I
BECAME
"THE" SHARK HOOK MAKER OF NOTE. TO MY KNOWLEGE ONLY ONE SHARK WAS
EVER BROUGHT ON BOARD VIA A FARMER MADE GRAPPLIN' HOOK. THE MASTER AT
ARMS HAD
TO CLEAR THE SHIPFITTER SHOP OF GAWKERS AS WE WERE ATTEMPTING TO HAUL
THE
GNASHIN' BASTARD INTO THE SHPO VIA THE POWER WINCH BUT HE PUT A STOP TO
THAT
BUT I DID GET A SOUVENIER TOOTH THAT I HAD MADE INTO A PENDANT. THE
SHARK WAS
HAULED AFT ON A WEATHER DECK AND INVICERATED BY THE BLOOD THIRSTY FEW,
JAWS
FANS, NOT DOUBT. THE ATOLL WAS NOT WITHOUT IT'S ADVENTURE ESPECIALLY IN
THE
LAGOON SNORKLING ! THANK GOD FOR LOW TIDE AND HUGE HEADS OF BRAIN CORAL
TO
EVADE THE ANKLE BITIN' SHARKS MAKING DINING FORAYS IN THE LAGOON. THE
COCONUT
GAUNTLET GETTING FROM ONE SIDE OF THE ATOLL TO THE OTHER MADE ONE VERY
AWARE OF
FALLING OBJECTS CRASHING DOWN ON YOUR GOURD. THE BEER WAS COLD BUT NOT
NEARLY
ENOUGH IN VOLUME UNLESS YOU GOT THE CHITS FROM A NON-DRINKER. NO
WIMMEN, EXCEPT
ENS. SHIELDS TO LOOK AT AND THE USO TROUPES ( MISS AMERICA !) WORKED ON
SHIPS
ALONGSIDE AND A COUPLE OF MERCHANT/MILITARY SUPPLY SHIPS. THOSE GUYS
ATE LIKE
KINGS ! I ALWAYS VOLENTEERED FOR ANY TRIP OVER TO WORK AS THE SURF N
TURF AND
BREAKFAST FARE WAS GREAT. THE FISHIN' FLOAT WAS A GAS ! A SUPPLY OF
BEER AND
FOOD AND HOT FISHIN' ACTION TOOK THE EDGE OFF THE OTHERWISE BORING
DAYS. THE
DIEGO GARCIA SWIMMIN' POOL WAS A CRYSTAL CLEAR POOL OF WATER DILUTED
CLORINE
THAT ATE YOUR EYES OUT OF THEIR SOCKETS BUT COULDN'T STOP THE EIGHT
INCHES OF
ALGAE FROM GROWIN' ALONG SIDES AND BOTTOM. THE TENNIS COURT WAS AN
ASPHALT
SKILLET IN THE SUMMER SUN AND THE BALL PARK WAS DEFINATELY A "NO SLIDE
ZONE". THE BRITS WERE A GENERAL PAIN IN THE ASS AS THEY SEARCHED FOR
"CONTRABAND" EVERYTIME WE SET FOOT ASHORE. PLAYBOY AND EASY RIDER
MAGAZINES WERE GOLD ! THE SEA BEES WERE OKAY AS LONG AS THEY HAD ENOUGH
ALCOHOL
AND DIDN'T LOSE ALL THEIR MONEY TO YOU IN THE INFREQUENT POKER GAMES.
THE BRASS
STEERED CLEAR OF EM TERRITORY AS WE OUTNUMBERED THEM AND WITH A
SNOOTFULL OF
LIQUID COURAGE SHOWED 'EM NO RESPECT AS WITNESSED BY ALL THE XO /
CAPTAIN MAST'S.
THE TRIPS TO AND FROM THE D.G. PIER WAS NOT WITHOUT IT'S ADVENTURE
EITHER.
REGULAR SALT WATER SOAKINGS COMING AND GOING
DID LITTLE
FOR YOUR ATTITUDE OR BUZZ WHILE TRANSITTING.
THERE IS LITTLE MORE I CAN ADD TO MY TALE
EXCEPT IT WOULD
HAVE BEEN A GREAT TO BE WITH WIMMEN AND SOME TASTY BUDS. I FOUND THIS
WEBSITE
BY ACCIDENT WHILE LOOKING FOR HOW D.G. IS TODAY....I DON'T RECOGNIZE IT
AS THE
D.G. I KNEW AND I'M GLAD THEY BROUGHT THE WORLD OF D.G. UP TO DATE AS
IT WAS
THE MOST DIFFICULT OF DUTY STATIONS I'D EVER EXPERIENCED. A SHOUT OUT
TO THE
1980 CREW OF THE AJAX !
MEMORIES ARE FADING WITH AGE BUT I CAN, ON
OCCASION
RECALL THE GUYS OF 11-A AND SMILE. THERE IS AN AJAX ASSOCIATION LOOK IT
UP AND
MAKE CONTACT WITH OLD SHIPMATES IF YOU WANT [ed note: http://ussajaxassociation.org/].
LATER.....FARMER HAS LEFT THE
BUILDING......................
80-81 81-82
NAME = harry kern
E-MAIL =
harryelectric@comcast.net
SERVICE = seabees
RANK/RATE/JOB =
ce3
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 = its
a
wonder
we have any brain cells left. the weak ones would start lining up at 8
am.remember ron guim, pat ward, denny walls, buzz sawyer, louis rico,
dave
slimgen,john kovacs paul willis ed knickles joe procter ham,
wedge,
others that names escape me ,is it any wonder
1980 -81
NAME = Randy
Dailey
MY QUEST = 200
m.p.h.
VT of a SWALLOW =
Only
37 m.p.h.!
E-MAIL =
jedattn@hotmail.com
NATIONALITY =
American
SERVICE = U.S.N.
Seabees
UNIT = NMCB-40
'C' Co.
Fightin' Fuckin' Forty
RANK/RATE/JOB =
Steelworker/Scummer(as
Cheif Dorrell would call us) then.Car freak now/still whatever
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY
=
First
of all - What a trip finding this fuckin' site ! I remember bending a
shit
load of rebar and "goin down the road " with Hambone (Hamilton) and
gettin'
hammered pretty often with Roy Childers , Les Nebel , Gary Bohnencamp
and
Pat "Bus" Bussanmas then that fuckstick Bobby Wright would come into
the
hooch and lay on top of someone.I still talk to Albert Parkhurst.
He didn't make it to Diego because he crashed his bike just before
deployment.
Anyway I
remember
one night (little) Howie Belssing getting so hammered he got in a fight
with Foley all because he wouldn't back off when Foley asked him if he
was lookin' for trouble after Howie said somethin' stupid . Foley hit
Howie
one time Howie hit the pier on his back knocked out eyes wide open and
he was snoring all at the same time ! I felt sorry for Howie, well for
a second and then I had to laugh my ass off. I think that was one
of the Jungle Juice party nights when Dave Towe got so hammered he
pulled
his dick out (again) so I grabbed it and took him for "walk" it was
funny
as hell because he didn't think anyone would do it. And I
remember
: Y.C.J.C.Y.O.C.O.B.??? Your curiosity just cost you one case of beer
and
havin to beer bong a six pack ! Thank God I/we survived.
April thru
July 1980
NAME = Rex Chilton
MY QUEST = To get
one
of those blasted chickens
VT of a SWALLOW =
all
the way into next week
E-MAIL =
rchilton@uabmc.edu
NATIONALITY = bama
SERVICE = AF
UNIT = Boom
Operator,
tanker task force
RANK/RATE/JOB =
Ssgt
then, retired now
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= This is a No-Shit Drinking Story
MY WARSTORY =
Well,we
arrived at diego from Gaum just after the Iran rescue mission, which
sadly
went very south. Thanks Jimmy. So we thought, ok pack up and head back
to Guam, Wrong! Stayed for a couple months doing missions with the guys
off the "Connie and Ike. Great bunch of pilots.
Before leaving
the rock
we were told to buy as much bottled beer and red man that we could, the
seabees needed supplies. So we did. Once on Diego a duce and ahalf met
us on the ramp and we sold them back our "supplies" at our cost. Now I
have read where guys bought cases of beer for 20 bucks but not from us,
all we wanted was our per-diem money back (of course we kept enough
beer
for ourselves). This turned out to be a very good thing to do, the
seabees
treated us great. Spent many hours at the E6 peir with Don Woods and
the
guys form the 133rd out of Gulf Port MS rasing all kinds of hell. My
good
bud and great boom, Kevin Doyle and I have talked about our time on
Diego.
Hope those guys from the 133rd are still kicking and doing well.
1980's
Phil Furze
<tatahn2@yahoo.com>
After a 25 year
career
(retired in 1994) I still have nightmares, of the time I was in transit
from Oman to Japan. Back in the 80's I was in the Navy and I had to
suffer
7 days in 'DaGar'. The warm lagoon waters, the sandy beach, the
trip
to visit "Katie", drinking beer with the Aussies. It was horrible!
P Furze
MSG USAR (ret)
1980 to 1984
RBRM -
1993
with BJS
NAME = John L
MY QUEST =
Returning
just for the Expat club sunsets and Margaritas
E-MAIL =
johnjel1234@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY = USA
RANK/RATE/JOB
=
Contractor with RBRM and BJS
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Want to Return When the First REAL Club Med Opens
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY
=
After
having been gone from the island for approx. 10 years I took a job with
BJS to see how Diego had developed. I had been there from 1980
with
RBRM during the construction years.
In 1982 the Navy approached RBRM and told us they had 10,000lbs of
frozen
lobster tail they wanted to sell. Since we had our own food
budget
we bought the lobster and started Surf & Turf every Friday night at
the expat mess hall.
When I returned in 1993 I was in the O club and noticed that someone
was
getting a lobster dinner for their birthday. I thought "No it couldn't
be the same lobster we bought in "82." Guess what! It had no
taste
and was really tough.
So much for lobster at the "O' in 1993. By now I would think it is all
gone.
1980
From: Chris Kelley <whotmewory@nc.rr.com>
28 Feb 2008
What a great thing it was to see you
have
Hector on the web.
I believe that the photo that George
Wilson
scanned for you is one taken in November, 1980 from the fantail of the
USS Puget Sound AD-38 by the fantail watch or someone with him. We were
stationed there in the Fall / Winter of 1980 to relieve the Dixon. I
actually
saw a hard copy of this when our Master Diver Chester Stanley showed it
to us. He was so proud of it he would not share copies.
The British customs officials at the
time
had lots of anecdotal stories about him and told us that British and
American
sailors from WWII has seen or heard of Hector during the war; which
made
him quite old in 1980. In a 1970s / 80s book called "Shark!" the author
insisted hammerheads got no longer than nine (or thirteen?) feet long.
I forget which, but after having seen Hector, I was sure wishing there
was a way to tell the author about the Diego Garcia shark.
One thing that struck me was the
British
stationed there told us they had no record of Hector killing or maiming
any man. Funny, the British told us not to swim in the lagoon; the
Americans
told us not to swim in the open seas - or was it the other way around?
Anyway, we swam in both!
I have a neat photo of some WWII guns
on
the beach where we swam. I'll send them from home as work won't send
e-mails
larger than a certain size.
The reason swimming in the open ocean
was
frowned on were the black tip reef sharks that populated the black
coral
reefs on the slopes about 60-90 feet down. I guess they were worried
the
sharks would wander up for a nice bite of calf meat.
At the time we were there, there were
mostly
crazed Sea Bees, chickens and donkeys - and an army of coconut crabs.
Sleeping
in the open screened huts on the [then scarcely populated and
untainted]
island was a lifetime experience. I wondered then at the future when
Hilton
or the Sheraton would ruin the island, or civilians from the PI would
move
there. Later, last decade, I saw an Air Force film showing PI civilians
and barracks and enlisted quarters and...ugh! I am so glad I got to see
the place before that mess.
Thank you for having this site on the
INet!
Cheers!
Chris Kelley, PE
Professional Engineer / Hydraulic Specialist
Apex, NC
Former MM2/DV, R5 Division Dive Locker
USS PUGET SOUND, AD-38
1980
David Semenke
<blake@execpc.com>
I was
stationed
at Deigo Garcia in 1980 for six months while my ship the USS Emory S
Land
visited it. I was temporarily assigned to the customs division on the
island.
While there we took part in operations related to the failed Hostage
rescue
in Iran. The transport plane carrying something, I'm not sure what,
landed
there and only certain people were allowed on board.
I saw some pretty interesting stories while there, one was about a
former
soldier who was in Vietnam and was well decorated - Congressional Medal
of Honor and was carrying it with him. He joined the Navy and was being
transferred to his ship by way of Diego Garcia as a seaman. As I
was going thru his things I found a lump inside of his pants cuff and
confiscated
the trousers as possible contraband. It was soon determined that
the material was harmless but still he missed his flight out. He
was also livid cursing an Air Force Sargeant in the Phillipines,
telling
me that the guy was jealous that a seaman had the Medal of honor while
the Sargeant had twenty years in and nothing to show but good
conduct.
He missed his flight in the Phillipines, as well, while waiting for the
Sargeant to return his belongings. He felt the Sargeant took too
much time and must have planted it there. I don't know what
happened
after that but he said that when he reached his final destination he
was
going to have a chat with the Captain to see what could be done about
the
Sargeant.
Also while I was wandering around the island one day I found the anti
aircraft
guns but I was puzzled by the remanants of a structure nearby. It
looked
as if the foundation was all that was left with steps leading down into
it. In the center was a concrete slab that rose up to the height
of the walls with a base that looked like a pyramid and very little
room
to walk around it. I was wondering if you know anything about it.
Another thing that I want to mention, and I personally feel that
someone
was pulling my leg, is that according to rumor a Japanese soldier was
found
on the island long after world war II and did not know the war was
over.
He actually killed himself before they could get him. Of course this is
just a rumor and frankly I don't believe it.
1980/81
NAME = Russ
Nichols = russn1@knology.net
MY QUEST = To
find and
"remember" old friends
VT of a SWALLOW =
zzzoooooommmm
NATIONALITY =
White
SERVICE = Seabees
UNIT = MCB
Fightin'
Fuckin'
40
RANK/RATE/JOB = 6
damn
years and still left as BU 3rd class!
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Want to Return When the First REAL Club Med Opens
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = I
was
shipped
to 40 outta A school in 80.40 had just already got to The island, so I
came late by a month. But 7 months were a big plenty. It's a
wonder
I'm alive. I was put in a "hooch" with 3 others I knew from school,
Greg,
and a couple others I'll have to look up. Put on the "Hot Tar Crew".
With
one I recognized Wade Hovey, Kees Peer, along with others. All quite
foggy
yet. Need others to refresh my memory.
My story was, not long after I got there. My friends, and all the new
friends,
all were partying one night,(imagine that), and at that hootch, they
had
a sheet of "Micky Mouse" acid. Never tried it till that night, they
talked
me into it, so after a bit, someone had the great idea to go for a walk
to the beach,,, they took us to the jungle, and "Ditched" us!
Then
once we decided we were lost, and freaking out, we started what we
thought
was back to camp. The "older" guys that ditched us, now were hiding
behind
trees, and scaring the shit outta us. I was never so glad to get back
to
camp, and back to my hootch. Never done acid since. But don't
underestamate
me, we all drank, and smoked lots of "Beaners" hash, or partied with
Loui
Rico (R.I.P.) And who can forget the girls off the ship
that
ended up in one of the circles. Lines of men. Never
me
though!
June 1980 and
Feb
1982
NAME = Edd Keudell
MY QUEST = The
Grail...no
the Ring
VT of a SWALLOW =
94
knots
E-MAIL =
mapperhd@msn.com
NATIONALITY =
American
SERVICE = USN
Submarines
UNIT = SSN 694
RANK/RATE/JOB =
SK2/SS
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
MY WARSTORY = I
remember
pulling along side the Ajax and them lowering the brow to our deck.
When
some of their guys came over to attach power and whatever some of them
were so terrified of touching foot on a sub that they crawled on their
hands and knees.
On my second glorious trip to the island with the most pristine beach
I've
ever seen, I got drunk during a softball game in the near-equatorial
sun
and had a black out. Someone told me later I bitched out one of the
O-gangers
back on my boat.
Rumor has it that someone finally caught Hector...
1977 and 1980
NAME = Rick
Baptista
MY QUEST = Who
Knows
VT of a SWALLOW =
Who
Knows
E-MAIL =
r.baptista@comcast.net
NATIONALITY =
White
SERVICE = NMCB-40
UNIT = Pipe rat;
Crane
crew; Batch Plant
RANK/RATE/JOB =
EO3 to
EOC
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= This is a No-Shit Drinking Story
MY WARSTORY =
What can
I say! I stole the truck loaded with Alpha Company, crashed the donkey
gate and chased them fucking brits down the road. To bad Barto
got
caught. Sure was a long walk from the plantation to t-Site. If it
wasn't for the human chain at the donkey gate the rest of us would'nt
have
got caught. Well there you GO LT. Rock now you know. Well
he
always knew but just couldn't prove it. If Bll the Head didn;t
hit
that Brit with his sneaker they might have let us go. Well thats one
story
of many I can tell. Was a fun place and did alot of
drinking.
Having the shits during Shipoff load cause of bad Turkey Ala
King.
Looking for Bad Bart; Dan Hosher; Ron Ried etc. Hey Dog Face I
thought
that was in Newfoundland I broke your back. Anyway I should be
getting
half that check. For all that recall this story send me an e-mail
From:
cfonteno@peoplepc.com
To:
easy501@zianet.com
Date:
23 Jan 2007, 08:56:52 PM
Subject:
Diego Garcia
All
Hail Dodge!
Love the site and would like to be a member. I did T.A.D. transit duty
in the early days, 1980-81 on my way to meet the USS Ranger for West
Pac.
Lived in Splinterville while working with my Squadrons shore detachment
VS-37. Fond memories of the place. I even have a picture of me next to
the "Footprint of Freedom" sign that was up between town and the
airfield.
I'll share that with everyone upon successfull citizenship to the
Republic.
Chuck Fontenot
1980
NAME
= Trish Schiesser, mother of LY SPEAR contingency, Andrea Robin
Schiesser,
Cosier, McDonald, Rose
MY
QUEST = To tell the members of this group about my daughter who served
aboard LY SPEAR in Diego Garcia 1980.
VT
of a SWALLOW = Depends upon how big the drink is.
E-MAIL
= lilreddog1@Yahoo.com
NATIONALITY
= Caucasian, USA
SERVICE
= U.S. NAVY
UNIT
= Boatswain's Mate
RANK/RATE/JOB
= E/2 or E/3. Deceased.
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = Other
SUBJECT
OF MY STORY: = Other
MY
WARSTORY = My daughter, Andrea, was a member of the crew of the L.Y.
Spear,
out of Norfolk, VA. Her ship was called up during the Iranian Crisis in
1980. She was never where she was supposed to be at the time to
be
there, she had more Captain's Mast's than anybody else I know of. She
wound
up in the brig and in the engine room, on bread and water, while in
Diego
Garcia. But, she was a brilliant woman of 18 who didn't know who she
was.
She could have attended Annapolis, but puposely flunked the test so she
could follow in her father's footsteps (he was in the Merchant Marine
at
the time)around the world. So, she opted for a ship, and she got the
SPEAR.
She became one of the first women Shellbacks on a non-combatant vessel.
Her father never became a Shellback, since he was on non-navy ships
while
crossing, but he was an Officer in the Naval Reserve, so Andrea saluted
him when they were together. Andrea was a sweet, kind, and generous
woman,
who loved her family very much - maybe that is why she screwed up her
naval
career and lasted only two years until it was mutually agreed upon that
she exit the service. She was married, first marriage, to Fred Cosier,
who was aboard the LY SPEAR - has anyone heard of him? or heard from
him
recently? He doesn't know that our Andrea, at age 40, died of breast,
lung
and brain cancer on July 19,2002. We miss her terribly and these
websites
really contribute to our well being. She is up in heaven now, looking
down
upon all of you, all of us, sending nothing but golden words to cover
our
heads as we plow along in life. If you knew her, please send me an
e-mail
at: Clara19126@msn.com - I am Trish Schiesser, her mother. God Bless
everyone
of you.
1980
NAME
= lytelle john mcgowan
MY
QUEST = trying to piece it all together
VT
of a SWALLOW = unknown to myself
E-MAIL
= ljmcgowan56@charter.net
NATIONALITY
= white
SERVICE
= navy
UNIT
= uss ly spear weapons department
RANK/RATE/JOB
= e4 busted to e1
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 = as an ex army veteran, i joined the navy for adventure and
to
help me cope with life. all that drinking and smoking earlier in life
made
me quite an onnery character. there i was stationed at norfolk on the
ly
spear and then the iranians decided to take some hostages. so we had to
take a vacation in paradice. i was known as mad mike cause i was always
angry and in trouble. it was rough going accross the ocean because of
rough
seas and a lot of stuff got tossed around on bourd. i wished i was more
into socialising because there were some pretty chicks aboard and a lot
of really great people. HELLO TO ALL THOSE THAT REMEMBER ME. liberty
boat
duty was hell and all there was to do at d. G. was to drink, bowl, eat
DEW BURGERS, and help the CB's build a park. back on the
ship,
we serviced submarines and a one or two surface ships. i finally ended
my tour of duty at norfolk...the captain giving me six months to live
because
of my drinking and drugging.ireally needed that kick in the rear to
change
the course of my life. now i'm a succesful dishwasher at shoneys
restaurant.
ahoy to all you mates that remember me.
1980
NAME
= MIKE SMOLLON
MY
QUEST = FIND OLD FRIENDS
E-MAIL
= MSMOLLON@AOL.COM
NATIONALITY
= USA
SERVICE
= MSC
UNIT
= LIBERTY-MSC CREW USNS RIGEL
RANK/RATE/JOB
= COOK & BAKER
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 = USNS RIGEL - MCS SHIP WE JUST SAILED INTO DIEGO GARCIA MANY
OF THE CREW LANDED ON SHORE FIRST TO GET SOME COLD BEER! wE WENT FOR A
SWIM AT THE BEACH WHEN WE HEARD A HUGE BOOM THEN SMOKED BILLOWED FROM
OUR
STACK. ONE OF THE OFFICERS WITH US 3RD ASST. ENGINE DEPT. SAID WE MUST
HAVE BLOWN A BOILER. THIS MEANT DRY DOCK EITHER IN SUBIC OR SINGAPORE.
I WISH I COULD REMEMBER HIS NAME BUT HE WAS A PROUD IRISH AMERICAN SO
HE
GOT DRUNK AND HOISTED HIS IRSH FLAG IN PLACE OF THE BRITISH FLAG ON
DIEGO.
HE SPENT THE REST OF HIS STAY IN THE BRITISH BRIG, HE SAID IT WAS WORTH
IT!
OLONGAPO,
SUBIC BAY - AN AWSOME LIBERTY!
ANYONE
WHO REMEMBERS THIS ADVENTURE PLEASE GET IN TOUCH.
REGARDS
TO ALL - MIKE SMOLLON, STEWARDS DEPT. USNS RIGEL 1980 OR 81
MSMOLLON@AOL.COM
1980
CHRIS
KELLEY <whotmewory@triad.rr.com>
I loved your site!
I'm attaching for you a copy of a photo of the old W.W.II Brit guns
that
were on the "foot print" back in 1980. (editor's note - sorry Chris, I
couldn't open the attachment for some reason)
Diego was much different then: SeaBees, Divers, rock crabs and laws
against
sodomy of the goats and chickens! I was a 2nd Class diver working on
the
pipelines there. The Brits said not to dive outside the atoll; the
Americans
said not to dive in the lagoon - so we dived in both - netting black
coral
and urchin stings!
I remember hoping - in the open, screen sided Quonset huts we slept in
then - that the Sheraton or Hilton would never mar the little atoll.
I'm glad I'm not ever going to visit the place as it has been trashed
now.
Cheers
from NC!
Chris
Kelley, USN, USAFR Ret.
NC
licensed Professional Engineer
Yadkinville,
NC 27055-8109
336-251-2018
(mobile)
whotmewory@triad.rr.com
1980
NAME
= bud downer
MY
QUEST = find old buddys
VT
of a SWALLOW = 2 mph
E-MAIL
= cjd8364@sru.edu
NATIONALITY
= american
SERVICE
= navy seebeas
UNIT
= cbmu 302
RANK/RATE/JOB
= E-3 discharged in 1982 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 = i was detailed there from subic bay pi. i remember the
kill dozer episode' the barracks burning the iranian hostage situation
making ice formaldahide flavored beer . there was the beer
drinking
donkey coconut crabs and the best snorkeling and fishing
anywhere
in the world. i am from pittsburgh pa and the steelers won the
superbowl
that year. the C-5s bringing in all the helicopters they used for the
rescue
that went wrong. sitting on generator watch in that train car i'm still
shaking.the whole time i was there i never ate in chow hall it was that
bad. some of the guys iremember where tim thrasher ut, paul foley
ce,paul
perkins eo,oh my head its hard to forget but if anyone remembers me
please
contact me, still live in pittsburgh go steelers. been a
firefighter
for 20 years its great but whish i was still in, go figure.
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?
1980
NAME = Terry
Monser
E-MAIL =
tmonser@comcast.net
NATIONALITY =
Mex-American
SERVICE = Navy
UNIT = Fightin
Forty-B
co.
RANK/RATE/JOB =
ut3
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = So
many
to tell. We didn't know it then but we had a great time. Buzz Sawyer
turned
me on to this site. I still keep in touch with him. One of things I
remember
was the half way party we had, everybody was shit faced from the get
go.
There was a few of us that got hold of some acid and I
decided, since I
was
a veteran of many trips at my previous duty station (NAS
Fallon,NV),
that I'd take 3 hits that day. So at the party I got used to reaching
into
the cooler and taking beers got out of control fucked up. the party
ended
and we move everything to the em club. By this time I was in and out of
reality, so some of this is hazy. I started to reach over the bar and
into
the cooler for beers and the bartender was getting pissed. the MP's
were
called and I was led away. some how I got away from them and spent the
next 10 or 11 hours hiding from them. I would go into the jungle for
awhile
and pop into one of the huts and scream that eveyone was after me. I'd
start freaking out and Frank Long, who had duty that night, would send
me out the back door of the hut and point me in some direction and tell
me to hide some more. Frank, did I ever say thanks? Well, anyway I came
down finally and was told of what i
had done and of
course
had to see the co. chief. He wanted to send me to the brig but ut1 Rudd
(I think that was his name) put in a good for me and I just
had to do some
extra
duty for awhile. I have a hard time remembering peoples names (I wonder
why). I do remember Buzz, and Frank, and Rico(R.I.P.), Twitch Morrison,
Steve Foley, Steve Kelly, Tom Reedy, Wah Wah, thats the only name I
remember
about him,Russ Young. As I sit here thinking some names are coming
back,
Chris Murphy, Eddie Oates. Well anyway, the time we spent on DG was a
pretty
wierd time and I like looking back at it. My daughter is sick of all of
my Navy stories. Drop me a line, I'd like that.FTN-40
October-November
1980
(TDY)
NAME = Michael J
Monz
Jr " Mighty Mike"
MY QUEST =
VT of a SWALLOW =
E-MAIL =
mgtymike33@hotmail.com
NATIONALITY = USA
SERVICE = USAF
UNIT = MAC OL
RANK/RATE/JOB =
SSGT
/E5 during my time on the BIOT
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Professional Adventurer Looking For The Ultimate Get Away
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= I am a Born Liar, and Want To Tell About All The Sex I Had on Dodge
MY WARSTORY =
Assigned
to the 619MASS HICKAM AFB HI, was hand selected by the 834th Airlift
Division
to enroute at Clark for inbriefing and ACM Status on a C-5 for the 8
hour
flight to Deigo Garcia ( BIOT) to establish the MAC Operationing
Location.
What a task considering we had to deal with the squids, who were
nortorious
for tearing up things and calling the ramps of everything a "deck".
Came
upon an old 40K loader that missed the upgrade to deisel. The navy
filled
the tank of this gas vehicle with the stuff, when it did run, it blew
the
most perfect smoke ring. I shipped it back to clark.
We MAC troops had it fairly well considering during this time the joke
was " a women behind every tree" due to the lack of. in fact female
head
count was 0. Still we had a couple of trailers colocated to the
beach
on the bay side. a couple of the navy cooks would hang out there and
assist
with the beer
drinking. Beer
Drinking...
crew dogs took my order, and the next Charlie 5( C-5A )arrival(next
day)
had my request filled. 13 cases of the good ol SAN MIGUEL. Next day at
lauch I sent 12 of them cases back for refill.
Long days and some hard work to get things on track and running. But
the
mission was accomplished, and the "Deigo Garcia Resort" T shirt made
for
some enlighting talk with females looking for the ultimate
escape...hehehe
Nov 1980 Mar
1981
NAME = Tom Persing
MY QUEST = don't
know
still lost in the haze
VT of a SWALLOW =
Just
before the cat swallows it
E-MAIL =
boilermaker1959@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY = USA
SERVICE = Navy
UNIT = USS Jason
11A
RANK/RATE/JOB =
HT2 I
Quit
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 = Was
there
in 80 81 I voluteered to work on the ammo ship ( Merchant Marine} They
didn't care for welding and cutting hot work. I managed to get done
what
they wanted without striking an arc. The Master fed me beer and good
chow.
I was late on the 2200 Liberty the Master kept me late at least he
vouched
for me. I nevwr drank a beer or anything else on the island.
1980-1981
NAME = Mike
"DOGFACE"
McKinnon
MY QUEST = The
story
VT of a SWALLOW =
Good?
E-MAIL =
www.mikedfmck@aol.com
NATIONALITY =
U.S.A
SERVICE = U.S.N
UNIT = "PIPE RAT"
RANK/RATE/JOB =
SW-2
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Please Select a Title For Your Story, or Select 'Other'
MY WARSTORY = It
wasn't
Hordork and Bland that got into a fight over a burger, it was Mark
Givens
and me "DOGFACE" that got into it. And if I remember, I was so drunk
that
Givens kicked my ass. But one time that sticks out is when all the
"PIPERATS"
checked out a duece and a half and went to the other side of the
island.
We played frisbee football and I fucked up my foot. Bland had to drive
back and the asshole hit a tree. Then I had to go before the ROCK and
lost
my drivers license. Hell, I didn't give a shit. I still keep in touch
with
Buzz, Latting, Thompson, Mitchell. Chandler, and a few others. If
anybody
can get in touch with Rick Baptista tell him thanks alot for breaking
my
back. I get a nice check from Uncle Sam. And tell that asshole to
e-mail
me. As for Mat Bland I think he is still in Chino. Later all my "SEABEE
BRO'S"
aDDENDUM:
On the
war stories you have it wrong. At the begining you state that I was a
BOOT
that cought up with 40. You are completely wrong. I was in 40 from
1978-1981.
I was also the crew leader of the "PIPERATS" in 80 and 81. Please get
it
straight.
1980
NAME = amanda
E-MAIL =
amndypanda74@aol.com
NATIONALITY = i
am an
american and i love boys
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Please Select The Category That Best Discribes Your Interest in Diego
Garcia
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= There I Was, Passed Out in My Room
MY WARSTORY
= ok
one day i was asleep in my room and then came my boyfriend and said
that
the phone was 4 me and
1980-81
NAME = Mike
(mick) oeler
MY QUEST = to
find the
end of the road
VT of a SWALLOW =
714
E-MAIL =
mmi20032000@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY =
american
SERVICE = fightin
fuckin
forty
UNIT = charlie
company/
pipe rats
RANK/RATE/JOB =
SWC-3
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= There I Was, Passed Out in the Club
MY WARSTORY =
Anyone
remember the pipe rats? Pipelining from the pier to the new tank farm.
Mike Hodorff, Mike McKinnon, Mark givens Matt Bland, Jimmy "Rocky"
williams,
myself, Chief Henson, Chief Durrell. Eric "abdul bow wow kalcan".
(you had to be there) and a few others. Quite the crew.
If any of you
guys
are
reading this, who was that lifer fuckstick SW-1 we got about halfway
through
the deployment. He was all hung up on proper uniforms of the day. Ours
was shorts, mangled shirts and unstarched hats, it was a little on the
hot side if memory serves. He tried his damndest to get us to tighten
up.
Never happened.
How about the
automated
tig welder? I remeber me and rocky had some officer wantingto watch it
one day. So we fired up on a 24", or 36" pipe weld. This was inside a
tarped
hut, about 130 degrees inside this fuckin thing, and we told the "o"
that
once we started the weld we couldnt stop till it was done. Which was
bullshit.
Poor cocksucker nearly passed out from the heat. Fuckin hilarious, for
us anyhow.He couldnt wait to get outta there.
I remember
mail
call,
with the "special packages". Before the brits wised up. Whoever got the
"box" was damn near mobbed as soon as he got back to the hooch. If ya
know
what I mean.
The great
steak
heist
and cookout. (nuff said)
Bob Rodgers and
the
band
jamming.
Boxing matches,
we had
a guy, Nick somebody, who was pretty damn good.
One special
delivery
of
blotter acid, 30 hits I think, wow.
The softball team.
Riding in that
fucking
cattle wagon everyday out to the pier.
Eating off that
lousy
roach coach, since we were out in fucking timbucktoo we had to stay out
there for chow. Last ones to eat, fuck.
Mike Mckinnon,
myself
and a couple others saying "fuck it" and driving to the chow hall, when
we got there the "cook" told us he turned the grill off already. Let's
just say that he eneded up turning it back on.
Food poisoned
with
some
turkey shit, and the whole battalion running to the outside shitters in
the middle of the night.
Racial
tensions ran
high
for awhile, dont remember why.
Hoarding booze in
our
lockers.
Mike Hodorff
and
Matt
Bland had one of the longest fights I ever witnessed in our hooch. It
started
over the last cheeseburger. These two guys beat the fucking snot out of
each other in the hooch for like 30 minutes, with breaks in the middle.
All the other roomies, 4 of us I think, just watched. Then they shake
hands
when its over. Un-fuckin believable.
takin a 5ton
truck
to
the lagoon to play football, and wrecking the fucker into a palm
tree.Knocked
a hole in the radiator. Im sure we had a couple beers that day.
Checkin out
the
SR-71
at the hanger, watching it takeoff.
That "milk"???
served
warm. what was that shit called?
Damn man, I
could go
on
all day with this stuff.
I gotta say,
looking
back,
what a wild fucking time it was. You didnt realize it at the time, but
it's a pretty good memory.
By the way,
F.T.N..
And, Buzz,(Joe
Sawyer)
yes I do remember the day you were talking about.
Dec 1980 - Feb
81
NAME = Kevin
Mackey
IC-2
Crew Member of the USS Jason Ar-8 (Then ICFN)
MY QUEST =
Remembering
the days
VT of a SWALLOW =
SPLAT
- Terminal Velocity of a Swallow is the same as a bug on the
windshield.
ZERO!
E-MAIL = In the
book
in BRANSON Missouri
NATIONALITY = U.S.
SERVICE = US NAVY
UNIT = USS Jason
Repair
Ship stationed at DG during the Iran Hostage Crisis
RANK/RATE/JOB =
Interior
Communications Fireman, Out in 1983 as IC-2 still aboard the USS Jason
AR-8 (AKA "USS Love Boat" and the "Jolly J"
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = The
Jason
arrived at Diego Garcia (B.I.O.T.) on Dec 11, 1980 at 08:48 and
remained
there until after the Jan 20 release of the American hostages held in
Iran.
We departed for home on Feb 18. 1981. We arrived with a crew of
aproximately
800 men and 45 women. YES WOMEN. Another 45 or so women came aboard
while
the Jason was there. This made us very popular with the natives.
Very shortly
after we
arrived, the EM Club ran out of beer. We had a ships party ashore, with
free beer, and we again were very poplar with the natives. Several
"crashed"
the party with our welcome.
New Years Day
1981,
IC-3
Danny Sotelo, myself and another sailor (can't remember who it was at
this
time) went snorkling in the harbor looking for oysters. Danny was an
experienced
diver and we had found a HUGE oyster shell on the beach. We figured if
the oysters were that large, there was a possibility of huge pearls to
be found. The harbor was very shallow so we snorkled a long way out but
was still in water about 6 foot deep when we found an oyster. The other
sailor was digging one out with stick we had brought with us for the
purpose
while I watched with my snorkle mask in the water. I noticed a large
shadow
pass by, to my side and back, and assumed that it was Danny who we had
not seen for awhile. We assumed Danny had gone on to deeper water. I
turned
to look to see Danny but instead what had passed was a large shark. The
other guy pulled up the oyster he was digging out and asked if I had
caused
the shadow, and I said no. Realizing what it had been he asked where
Danny
was. We assumed that Danny had been attacked and that is why we had not
seen him in some time. We swam the long distance back to shore all the
time worring about Danny. Only when we got back to the beach did we
find
out what happened to Danny. In the beach we found a note in the sand,
saying
"Gone to the Club, Danny". We made a bee line to the E-Club to read
Danny
the riot act for putting us through the anguish.
More one of these
days
...
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.
1980
NAME = Then UT-3
Terry
Willey {Alias Wiley Cyote]
MY QUEST = Find
Freinds
from the old days on Deigo
E-MAIL =
streetshakngrafix@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY
=
American
SERVICE = Navy
Seabees
UNIT = nmcb
fuckin 40
RANK/RATE/JOB =
UT-3
Now medically retired after 12 Years
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = I
remember
passing time away drinking and smoking shit, Fucking withe the chickens
and just plain ass gettin trashed all the time!!!!
I remember
Building the
Biggest Dam Potatoe Gun That Fired a Coconut at least 100 feet to the
zeros
huts and hiding the fucker under the trailer and laughing our asses
off!
Mike Boles, Mike Watson, Jerry Tewes, SOW, Larry Jonesy, and to my
close
friend Roy davis whom I soent a numerous amount of nights gettin
toasted
with! If anyone of you are out there from bravo company please contact
me! Ain't none of us gettin younger
1980 some time
arounf
Feb or March I think
NAME = Bill
Verstelle
E-MAIL =
verst@pacbell.net
NATIONALITY =
American
SERVICE = USAF
UNIT = TDY from
Beale
in support of SR-71
RANK/RATE/JOB =
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
was
told
that I was going TDY to a Island in the Indian Ocean called Diego
Garcia
and it was a paradise. My orders said confindencal location and I was
told
it was a secret mission. Well when we landed in Okanawa We read in the
Stars and Strips what our mission was...so much for a secert.
We were told that we would be eating real well, Steak for every meal.
Well
after a flight that seemed to last for ever We saw the Island on the
radar
scope and when the Island came in sight I remember thinking how small
it
was and could we really land a KC-135Q on such a small island. Well the
runway was just long enough and we all stepped out to a Hot humid blast
and I remember it being hard to breath. When we left Beale it was
Winter.
We were driven to some old wooden sea Huts on the bay side and that was
to be home for the next 30 to 40 days. The mattresses were piss stained
and full of sand. We cleaned it up as well as posiable and stowed ours
belongings.
We had a young Lieutenant with us and all he talked about doing
when
we land was eat a coconut, so he finds a tile knife (we were not
allowed
to bring any knifes with us) He grabs the first coconut he finds laying
on the ground and attacks it with the knife. Well it takes him a while
but he finally get down to the nut and crackes it open and looks inside
and it's full of worms, he throws it down and doesn't look at another
coconut
the rest of the trip. We had a guy with us from Hawaii and he tells us
to only eat the geeen ones in the trees and not the brown ones on the
ground.
The rest of us eat a lot of coconuts until we got the running GI's.
The next day I head to the Chow hall for some of thoes steak and eggs I
was told I would be eating. When we got there we were told that a Navy
ship had a refrigerator malfunction and lost all its meat so they
took all of ours, all they had was some fish rolled in stale potato
chips
and this warm milk in cartons that doesn't need refrigeration and some
stale toast. I could not eat that crap so we went back to the main area
and found these Diego Burgers we called them donkey burgers and even
though
they were not Burger King it was better than the chow hall.
Well now I can't sleep or eat well so the only other thing to do was
drink.
The beer was cheep but not so good the cans had rust on them most was
warm
and not to many brands to choose from but hey when a bunch of GI are
stuck
on a island they will drink any thing. We were running our tankers back
and forth to Okanawa so we placed orders for food and lots of good beer
even Pizza. So life was getting better, we was doing a lot better that
the Seabee's who were stuck there for a year or more and did not have
the
dilivery service that we had. I felt sorry for them they worked so hard
and than have to be away from their families for so long and not a
women
in sight. They the Seabees treated us ok we drank a lot with them
shared
our beer and did have a few fights but most of us were so drunk we
didn't
even remember a fight the next day.
I remember swimming in the bay with Snorlels we check out and I
remember
how beutiful the coral and fish were. We also check out row boats and
went
fishing you could see the fish and catching them was a piece of cake,
we
had some great cookouts. Our young Lieutenant got to go fishing with
the
Navy Capt and our Colonel in a boat with a outboard motor out in the
ocean,
well the LT hooks into a big grooper and fights it for a long time than
all of a sudden his pole bend all the way over than goes slack. Well he
pulls in a 10lb grooper head with no body, than a Hammer head shark
tries
to get into the boat to get what is left of the grooper. Well this
scars
the shit out of the LT and the Capt and Colonel get a good laugh.
The other things I remember was a 5 lane boweling lane and out door
movie
theater and no women on the island. I was in the enlisted club one
night
and the Dutch navy shows up with their nickers and white hats with a
white
fluffy ball on top. They had more American money than we had and clean
out the ship store, but they did buy us a lot of drinks. I also
remember
a lot of chickens and those coconut crabs but didn't see any
donkeys.
We were told that these were British subjects and we were not allowed
to
mess with them.
When we launched our tankers one day some guys in a jeep drove behind
them
with rocks and bits of coral flying everywere and they got a little
messed
up. Well the next day when we were ready to launch I was told to go out
to the road and stop any one from driving behind the planes. Well I was
waiting for engine start and look into the bay were there was a school
of baby fish in a ball so I was throwing small rocks into the middle of
them just to watch them scatter and go back into there ball again. Well
there was this Brit walking down the road and he sees me throwing these
small rocks at the fish so he run over to me and chews me out for
throwing
rocks at the little fish, he says the fish don't have a chance and I
will
kill all of them if I don't stop. Man what a werdo, I think the chap
had
gone off his rocker, spent to much time on this island and need to go
home
and get laied. I later spent a couple of months in England and found
out
that this is normal thinking for the Brit's Know wonder we kicked them
out.
When I was there I hated it and could wait until I got home to a normal
life but now many years later I have a fond place in my heart for this
island. It was a weard feeling while there kind of like being in a
different
planet but it was an experance that I will always remember. I regret
that
I didn't take any pictures I just wasn't into picture taking than, I
did
have a 110 camera but I lost the film before I ever developed it. I
would
like to go back now and see how things have changed. I also remember
how
bright the stars were and I could see the sothern cross...what I could
have seen with a telescope.
Our mission was to bring fuel (JP8) in for our SR-71 which would later
in the year make a visit to the island another team before us took down
one of out SR-71 hangers a Beale and installed it on the island...I
wonder
if it is still there??
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.
1980
NAME = Mary Ellen
Shannon
Nigh
MY QUEST = to
find out
if kittens are aerodynamic
VT of a SWALLOW =
african
or european?
E-MAIL =
sionan37@hotmail.com
NATIONALITY =
American
SERVICE = USN
UNIT = USS LY
Spear
RANK/RATE/JOB =
ICFN
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Professional Adventurer Looking For The Ultimate Get Away
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = I
arrived
at DG after becoming the first enlisted female shellback since WWII and
possibly ever, since at that time nurses were occifers! Our ship
was the one relieving the USS Ajax, which had a couple of female
occifers.
We had over 100 enlisted females onboard the Spear so our CO called us
together to have "a little talk" about the Navy's policy on male-female
relationships. No fraternization! Period! I was on the
first
liberty launch ashore and we were met by a bunch of horny CB's waving
MUTIPLE
PAYCHECKS! I explained that I wasn't interested in ending up in
the
brig, and the guys decided that just talking to a female and looking at
something that didn't look like a deck ape was pretty good. I got
interested in a sweet but slightly older British Officer (there were
two
on the island and he was the younger of the two). Then one day
onboard
the Spear they announced as how anyone interested, could take a tour of
a real live nuclear submarine. Now my job didn't involve going
onto
the sub, but our shop supplied power to the subs, so I was
interested.
I climbed down the hatch and one of the guys was escorting me around
the
Baton Rouge, explaining what I was seeing. We stepped up onto the
control room deck and we passed close to the navigators station, where
there was this cute guy. I made some remark to him and he said
hello.
I explored the control room a bit and then left. A couple of days
later I was helping to organize bingo night (we didn't have a lot of
entertainment)
on the mess decks, when crossing the gangway, here comes that cute guy
from the BR. I asked if he wanted to join me and away we
went.
Several picnics on the DG beach, swimming in the DG swimming pool, some
illegal canoodling on the Spear's bow later, we got engaged on top of
the
BR. On December 27, 2004 (just a few days ago) we celebrated our
24th anniversary! We have 2 sons and many fond memories of
DG.
Both of us hope that one day we can return to the scene of the
crime!
P.S. About that illegal canoodling, we were once run off from our
favorite
spot by a male chief and a female occifer!
1980
NAME = James H.
Martin
MY QUEST = to fly
to
DG someday to help the USAF erect the portable B-2 hangar
VT of a SWALLOW =
1
f.p.s.,
from mouth to stomach
E-MAIL =
jmartin@logis-tech.com
NATIONALITY = US
SERVICE = USN
UNIT = VA-52 off
the
USS Kitty Hawk, transient to Clark AFB PI
RANK/RATE/JOB =
LT in
1980, retired as CDR in 1997.
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = The
USS
Kitty Hawk, CV63, had swung by in December 1979 to pick up the the H-53
helicopters for the Iranian hostage rescue operation. On the way to DG
[alone, we ditched the remainder of the battle group in the Malaca
Straits
during a night high-speed underway replenishment with the White Plains]
we launched an EA6B to DG, the 4-man crew included the squadron CO
going
in to liaison for the H-53 pickup. The EA6B disappeared, fate
unknown, presumed
crashed
at sea. The same month, another EA6B crashed in the med, killing my
best
friend's Whidbey Island roommate. So during our 10th month of
deployment
we picked up the H-53s and headed for Iran, the loading was a
fly-aboard
at 2am--no piers for carriers existed then and the whole operation was
too damn secret.
During early January operations my CO and roommate went in the water in
their A-6 off the catapult. We ran over Bruce Miller the BN. Our
skipper
CDR Butch Williams was alive as he passed down the port side, but his
chute
pulled him under and he drowned despite the heroic effort of the rescue
swimmer who got Butch's body back to the surface. My friend Clint
Provenza
escorted his body back in an S-3 that refueled through DG on the way to
the PI.
After a month and a half of sneaking through the straits of Hormuz in
the
dark and spying on Iran, we were relieved by the USS Coral Sea, we
thankfully
passed the H-53s to her in February [they later made a mess of the
rescue]
and we high-tailed it East. I had a firm PRD and commitment so within
COD
range the CO
launched
me to DG. A fellow squadron mate was with me and we were manifested 10
days later out of DG, the wait backlog was that long [and mail used to
take 30-45 days back then]. Getting drunk in an open-air hooch [the
only
kind at the time] that night we met a C-5 maintenance crew on a
layover.
Their landing gear was broke and could not be repaired on DG. The C-5
was
going to take off at dawn, before all the manifested passengers would
show
up at 8am as-ordered to "wait all day long, just in case". My buddy and
I slinked onto the C-5 pre-dawn as 'maintenance crew', thankfully I was
an Aviation Maintenance Officer, albeit Navy! We had four box lunches
each
to help us survive the 17 hours flight to Clark AFB PI, yep, 17 hours
in
restricted-speed flight, with the landing gear PINNED DOWN all the way.
Noisey, too.
That was my one night on DG, in a giant rainstorm, not sober for a
minute.
My buddy and I holed up in a Manila hotel for a week and waited for our
commercial flight home to Whidby island, WA. Sure was better in Manila
in 1980 than it was in DG. Things have really changed.
1980-ISH
"Mike
Buchinno"
<mbucchino@charter.net>
Here's my info
anyway!
>USA (the best
country
in the world!)
>USAF
>TDY (AF
temporary
duty)
Operation Busy Lobster
>E-2 A1C to
E-4 Sgt
active
AF crew chief on the KC-135A's & Q's back then, E-5 SSgt active AF
jet mech on the F-15A's & E's in the late
80's, E-6 TSgt
Arizona
Air National Guard on KC-135E's in the 90's, E-6 TSgt New Hampshire Air
National Guard(retired)on the KC-135R's
now.....
>Stroll Down
Memory
Lane.....
>Actually I
Have A
Real
Story To Tell.......
>Well, back in
those
days there was a regular TDY exercise named "Busy Lobster Tanker Task
Force"
to Diego from Kadena AB, Okinawa (where I was serving an accompanied
long
tour at the time). I was lucky enough to get two different 9 day
long TDY's to Diego for these excellent, frequent exercises. We
brought
a few tanker's and some F-15A's and IIRC, an E-3 AWAC's from Kadena,
plus
a C-5 from Travis. I have many pictures of the place, and even more
fond
memories. Staying in the elevated half plywood/ half screen
'hooches',
the f***'in jarheads waking us up every morning, the Brits in their
khaki
shorts and their security shakedown/in-briefing, the coconut palms, the
pristine white sand beaches, the rusted cannon 'guarding' the entrances
to the north, the donkey gate, the picnic at SeaBee park, goin' out
'crabbin'
after dark, the warning not to "f*** with the Queen's ass, the Queen's
pussy or the Queen's crabs" (donkeys/cats/coconut crabs). They
told
us that the coconut crabs could crack open a whole coconut with their
claws,
so it was best not to get too close...The "Pentograph" fuel manifold
systems
on the flightline were so limited in flow, that if you put 2 aircraft
refuels
on at the same time, it took twice as long to finish. The runway
that was so narrow that after a C-5 took off, it's outboard engines
hung
out into the unpaved areas and blew so much gravel (FOD!) onto the
runway
that no one else could use it until a sweep truck cleaned up the big
mess.
The barbeque of assorted fish from a deep sea fishing excursion some of
the guy's went on one day, where we all got a taste of barracuda (it
was
delicious!). The two poor guys that got shared shitless while out
snorkeling
on the lagoon side, when a large shark fin appeared between them and
the
shore. The stories of Hector the 26 foot hammerhead. Finding some
awesome red and blue coral and shells on the beach. Riding my
10-speed
racing bike around that I brought along on the airplane (they stopped
allowing
bikes to be carried on the planes shortly after that time).
Getting
woken up in the middle of the night by the crash of a coconut on the
tin
roof. Having to De-Ionize our own water with a fire hose
(sloooowww!)for
the water injection system on the tanker. The almost complete
lack
of females on the island, the only ones being a couple Filipino's that
worked there. The open air theater where we watched old movies at
night. Wow, what a lot of memories of that strange and wonderful
place!
I'll post some pic's soon if possible.......
Thanks, Mike
Bucchino,
Sr.
1980-1981
Subject:
You never know what you got till it's gone!!!
Date:
Tue, 28 Dec 2004 18:21:13 -0600
From:
"Scott Brown" <josephscott13@msn.com>
What happen to
the rock
? Tidal waves had to have hit it. I wish I could have been there!!!
ABH3
Brown
Crash Crew 80-81 [see his surfing pictures on the Surfing
Page]
T. Max Devlin
<tmax01@verizon.net>
Hey.
My name is T. Max
Devlin,
a moniker I sort of picked up on the "Footprint of Freedom"
itself.
(My real name is Tim, Max is a nickname I picked up in the
service, and DG
is
where
it finally stuck for good; now even my mom calls me 'Max'.) I was
senior PO of workcenter 610, VP-4 deployment, USN, in nineteen eighty
something.
Wasn't 'till almost twenty years later I realized it was the greatest
time
of my life, but even then I knew it was great. Sunrise over the
Indian
Ocean is the kind of thing I wish I could still experience every day,
even
though I wouldn't have seen it even once if I hadn't been ordered to be
at work at 0530. ;-)
I hope someone is still there at the PPDRDG. It is nice to know I
wasn't alone in appreciating that god-forsaken nightmare of a
paradise.
But to be honest, I only found you because I heard something that
really
creeped me out about what the US is doing in the BIOT these days.
"Camp Justice", is that
what they call
it?
Sure as hell not the way those who almost-secretly love it would want
Diego
Garcia to be introduced to the wider world, eh?
Thanks for your
time.
Hope it helps.
hmmmm....
Well Max, actually "Camp Justice" is just the USAF tent city where
another
generation of young Americans are sweltering in the tropic sun.
If
you are referring to the rumored prison, well, I'm afraid I don't know
anything about that, but I'll ask you this in exchange: Have you
forgotten?
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!
80-81
NAME = Gordy
"gertin"
Jenkins
MY QUEST = to
find the
grail (really to maybe hear from some of the great guys I was lucky to
know)
VT of a SWALLOW =
african
or american
E-MAIL =
s.jenkins1@cox.net
NATIONALITY =
hard
headed
welch kraut
SERVICE = US NMCB
40
UNIT = H Co.
RANK/RATE/JOB =
SKSN-SK3
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 = Saw
Joe
"buzz" sawyers story and some the memories came out of the alcohol fog.
I remember jammin with Bob R and Jim Z and Vinnie and Keith (fleet
sailor)on
the beach (picture in the at ease page in the beginning of the cruise
book,
in orange shorts, my better side) and any body else for that matter,
every
chance we got. Seeing Ed's, Steve's & steve's, Mike's, Bob's, and
lamby's
names in print like this blew me away. Who could forget, or is it
remember?,
loading the icebox trailor with ice and shitty headache beer, going to
the other side to cook the shitty burgers, chase chikens with blowguns,
feed the donkey beer after beer after beer, and of course, drink and
jam.
Losing the outboard in the channel, seeing the train line form behind
the
pig from the tender with the guy crying he didnt want to be last, lol.
Watching good softball, seeing the blackbird take off, getting to meet
miss america and say hi to miss conecticut (my home state), getting the
giant clam shells from steve, the purple from "cool" johnson, waiting
in
line for a diego burger?, yeah did it, and of course a new years eve
that
thankfully i didnt remember much of (and dont really need too, i have
the
pictures, and a cracked molar}.
But most of all i remember great, great people. Frank T, Mark G.,mike
B.,
Frank L. and on and on. Being quite mellow now (wife, two kids, no
drinking,
i know, i shoulda quit when i was there) i find my self telling my kids
about the old crazy days in 40.
Ray Johnson, was that you i saw at "witch meadows" campground in ct,
holloween,
oh maybe6 or 7 years ago?, if not you have a twin.
Bob, if u see this bro, hope your still jammin, I am, with a great
bunch
o guys.
Ed N., if you see this, what a great trip home, Pat W. thanks for
the
hospitality, thanks for the ride and the memories
Hope to hear from
some
of you soon
1980 -1981
NAME = Frank
Gonzalez
MY QUEST = Locate
friends
from Grissom AFB
VT of a SWALLOW =
?
E-MAIL =
Frankg807@aol.com
NATIONALITY = PR
SERVICE = USAF
UNIT = 307 OMS
RANK/RATE/JOB =
SR.
AIRMEN
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 =
Anybody
out there remember the time the Subchaser piloted by an Admiral
overshot
DG. Well I was the assistant Crew Chief that helped prepare our tanker
to take off and rescue them. At the time we were laying out on the
beach
in the shark infested lagoon enjoying our many free cases of bear.
We were told that our efforts saved their lives. The tanker arrived
within
three minutes of them ejecting to save them. We were all given
Commendation
medals for our efforts.
Does
anybody out there recall hoew the philipines would go out to the lagoon
during the low tide and circle around the sharks to catch tem for
dinner?
1980
'81
and'82
NAME = wayde hovey
MY QUEST = try to
get
back a few lost brain cells
VT of a SWALLOW =
all
i know is it just ain't fast enough
E-MAIL =
nmcb40cc@yahoo.com
NATIONALITY =
SERVICE = Navy
UNIT = nmcb40
charlie
co
RANK/RATE/JOB =
got out
as a BU2 after Rota Spain dep
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 =
hell we
were passed out all over the damn place had some of the best
times
on that shitty little island got some great pics of our crew drunkards
everyone of them i'll scan some and post some if it's you in there give
me a shout most of my memories are lost in tomenting Tisue you
know
what i mean i'll get those pics posted give a hollor ror an old
drunkard
1980 - 1981
NAME = Bu3 Kelly
Weaver
MY QUEST = Rusty
Tipps,
Scott Jerome, John Schlichter
VT of a SWALLOW =
i
dunno
E-MAIL =
weaverboxing@aol.com
NATIONALITY =
American
SERVICE = USN
SEABEES
UNIT = BRAVO
COMPANY
RANK/RATE/JOB =
BU3
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Please Select The Category That Best Discribes Your Interest in Diego
Garcia
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = Had
many
fights, in & out of the ring...Capt. D.C. Black saved me from
CourtMarshall.
Whipping Marines, AirForce boys & Guamanians..before one of our own
was murdered there
May '80 to
September
'80
NAME = Jim Catron
MY QUEST = wake up tomorrow...
VT
of a SWALLOW = Vt>=delta dawn.
E-MAIL = jcatron@email.wcu.edu
NATIONALITY = Scot-Irish/Moravian
SERVICE = kill'em from30,000' USAF (ZOOMY!)
UNIT = KC135 tanker avionic support
RANK/RATE/JOB = staff sgt then, PFCivilian since '84.
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = I left Seymour Johnson AFB in eastern North
Carolina
in early May of '80 to go to a "FOL". We had tankers going to Diego to
support whatever shit was going down in Iran. Leaving PI we escorted
two
F15s on the way to Kadena.About halfway across the fighters spied the
USS
Constellation being shadowed by a Soviet trawler."Watch this!" they
said
and proceeded to peel off and do a low level fly-over the trawler. Our
young A/C told everyone to hang on and took our KC135(boeing 707) into
a wing over down to 100'! Our boom operator off-loaded a thousand
pounds
of JP4 on the Russians!
When we landed on a Saturday,the Chief Brit came out to do the customs
inspection on the planes-he was the only one around. As we were sitting
on the parking ramp by our planes, he told us what wasn't allowed on
the
BIOT island.."blowguns, drugs,Easy Rider motorcycle magazines,firearms,
etc...But you chaps don't have any of those things,do you?" We
told
him "no",he turned and left and the adventure was on! One a/c crewchief
had been to 'Nam and took me on his plane to show me how he travelled
to
an unknown situation. Under two big padlocks on the container reserved
for tiedown chains and such, was an arsenal of guns and
ammunition,
all private stash of this well-prepared airman. "Sure glad he didn't
ask
to see this box"...
Good to arrive on the weekend-A picnic was scheduled and someone was
needed
to get up early and keep the 'Bees from commandeering the whole picnic
grounds.Gave me and my bud a chance to try out the Kief that traveled
so
far. WoW!! A "Bee cop came by-see what we're up to...gave him the
dozen or so half-empty whiskey bottles that were left by the previous
partyers-
That put us on the good side from the get-go! Plus, we were AF and had
two planes arriving EVERY Saturday from Guam or Kadena-"What'cha need?
We can get it for you! Had two spools of parachute cord arrive (thru
channels-hehe)from
the states via Mac..Thanks, guys!
Our AF group had to correct the image our former people left,that is
one
of "NO horse trading!" Our new OPs officer set aside a slush fund to
aquire
whatever we needed. "Don't use it for steaks or beer",he said. No
problem!
A case of beer was worth a case of steaks anyday! And we always had
beer
coming every weekend! Had a Navy one-star arrive with a broken
autopilot
on his "personal"AF tanker-you know,spit-shined engine cowlings,Lt
Col.s'
for pilot/copilot..His aircrew got pissed because another zoomy and I
boarded
the plane (after the 'dignitaries' were greeted)in standard uniform of
the day..cutoff fatigues, no t-shirt,fatigue shirt unbuttoned-It WAS
night-time..
"Who the hell are you?" AF. "WHOSE AF?" Same one as you, sir... I
don't have to fix your autopilot- you can fly manually all the way to
wherever
you're going..spare parts are real critical here.I don't care. "Just
fix
it! The following week we were notified that a PACAF inspection
detachment
was coming for a "suprise" visit on Saturday.The 30 year, Berlin
Airlift
veteran (who made E9 while in Diego!)running our outfit told everybody
AF to shave,get a haircut,put on long pants,T-shirt, polished
boots,etc..-look
STRAC! And we did! The high level Kadena crew couldn't find any signs
that
discipline on Diego "had gone to Hell..".They departed on Sunday, and
everyone
went back to the uniform of the
day-cutoffs,etc..
True, no females,initially,but one 'Bee detachment(?)was rotating out
and
the new one arrived to find rumor of FOUR naval females that stayed
shipboard,being
occifers..Episodes of near toxic levels of alcohol consumption
resulted..
There was even an attempt to set fire to one of the JP4 shitters
(unsuccessful).
Got to fly with a helicopter crew that was doing touch and go's.
Thanks!
to the very friendly guys that gave a zoomy the nickle tour of the
place!
An SR71 'Blackbird' spyplane came in to show off! That mach3+
plane
also got two of the coveted "Busy Lobster"logos painted on the twin
vertical
stabilizers. In Chevrolet Orange!
The most hilarious event was getting a speeding ticket (and not having
a bus license-there were 27 guys in and on the square blue AF step-van
going to chow).A Brit officer chewed me out and made me give him my DoD
license!(Had 3 more in my wallet)
Housing for us was the newly built SEasia style of plywood hootches,
tinroofs,side
screens for windows all the 'way round with wooden shutters for the
storms!
Our hooch was decorated with a stole sign from a Phillipine bar- The
Bat
Cave-and soon had a 'frig-again from our navy brethren-Thanks!
If I recall correctly,the holds on the ship bringing in supplies-
BEER!-leaked and the salt water trashed the aluminum cans resulting in
the infamous "shortage" of '80! Us zoomies instructed every AF arrival
to buy all the beer he could afford and bring it with them!When the big
side cargo door opened on the tanker,there was always a line to buy
Coors
at $10 a case! Big markup over class 6 stores! But it was COLD,
refrigerated
by travelling at 30,000'. One young 19 year old airman got the
name
of "Crash" Craddock because he rolled a power cart on the flight
line!
A submarine crew came in.Driving on the flightline we saw a REALLY
pale,sickly-colored
young fellow walking about in new jeans and shirt fresh from the BX.He
said they had just spent the last 3? 6? months underwater and was
stretching
his legs.. They were a hard drinking lot,always yelling DIVE-DIVE-DIVE!
at their table!
Then the Phillipino's came to do contract KP work in the mess
halls.
All you could eat lobster soon became half a tail... At dusk you could
see little brown people running all over carrying things they had
"found"
around on base-plywood, toilets,you name it,if it wasn't too heavy,
enough
of them would improve their hootches with everyone's stuff.After all
they
were there for a year!
(This may turn into a book!)
Enough for now-jcatron@email.wcu.edu 68th Bomb Wing SAC
September 11,
1980 -
April
15 ,1981
NAME = Daryl Hopkins
MY QUEST = life long physical fitness
VT of a SWALLOW = .69
E-MAIL = not now maybe later
NATIONALITY = African American
SERVICE = Navy
UNIT = NMCB Fightin Fuckin Forty
RANK/RATE/JOB = E-1 then now Retired E-5 T.E.R.A program. 1996
15yrs.
4mo. 21days. and to many hours to count.
MY
INTEREST IN DG IS = My Time There is Lost in an Alcoholic Haze, Help Me
Remember!
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Other
MY WARSTORY = Lots of P.I. purple hazed beer fogged memories all good.
but what sticks out most in my mind is the Forty Thrashers softball
team.
Staring my self D.hop, Tom Gillespie, Joe Proctor, Mike Hawkridge and
so
many others. I remember or record after the season was something like
56-9
we had a team ritual of rocking a chicken after every game but after
the
first 20 or 30 games it was getting kind of crazy.I remember Olie olson
was the C.O. of 62 I had a few friends from the Battalion as well as
friends
from NMCB 5's det. How about the black out lots of smokin going on
then.
pink floyd on the boom box. captains mast for the beating of a 2nd
class
builder from my det Bu2 Ken Klowsloski whooped his ass good! more than
worth the 20 days restriction and extra duty.well until next time FTN!
Feb. &
March 1980
NAME = Allen C. Hatcher Sr.(TSGT.)
MY QUEST = To find out who is the regular crew chief .
VT of a SWALLOW = Is this for beer or hard hard stuff?
E-MAIL = allenhatchersr@hotmail.com
NATIONALITY = United States of America
SERVICE = U.S.A.F.
UNIT = CREW CHIEF on KC-135A Sratotanker (T/sgt)
RANK/RATE/JOB = S/SGT Paul Harmon Crew Chief KC-135A.
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Professional Adventurer Looking For The Ultimate
Get Away
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = Well I guess I got the ultimate get away when I went
Pacific
Tanker Task Force on a supposed 30 day TDY from McConnell A.F.B,
Kansas.
We, my flight crew and two ass't, were sent to Anderson A.F.B.,Guam for
tanker support of the B-52Hs that were flying the 33 hour nonstop
missions
to Iran and back to show the Iranians and the Soviets that we were
still
players in this hostage situation.
Originally we were supposed to go to South Korea for the joint
war
games that were going on there,but as luck would have it the tanker we
launched to Diego Garcia crapped out about about 2 hours out. Me and a
couple of other NCOs had gone to the NCO club to get some chow and have
a few drinks, mities. At about 23:00 the line chief tracked us
down
to give us the bad news,"boys you're going to Diego Garcia ,so get your
shit together and get down to the flight line and preflight your bird".
Lucklily the only thing we had to do was service liquid oxygen and we
were
ready to go. Our flight crew showed up at around 05:30, they noticed
that
we were a little bit under the weather, chuckle chuckle, I told our
Aircraft
Commander that we had been sucking on pure oxygen to revive us, he just
laughed . Once we got airborne and at altitude we just settled back for
the 10hour plus filght to Diego Garcia.
After flying for over 5000 miles I was Awakened by being weightless in
my fold down crew bunk, "holy shit what the hell is happening", then
all
of a sudden gravity kicked in and I was plopped back down in my bunk. I
jumped down out of my bunk and scrambled up to the cockpit. As soon as
I entered I saw that our boom operator Bruce was flying the plane. Our
two pilots Jesse and Tom turned around grinning and said "hey we didn't
do it" and pointed to Bruce. He turned around said " Oops, sorry about
that,".
When everything calmed down I could see we were on final approach to
Diego
Garcia. It's a good thing we had good navigation aids or we would have
missed it for sure. At least it was bigger than WAke Island ,but not by
much. As we landed I exclaimed " We have the distinct honor of being
the
first tanker from McConnell A.F.B, Kansas."
After landing, refueling and putting our bird to bed, we hopped a bus
to
where we were to be billeted. We were the only ones on the bus except
two
sailors and the driver. Due to my Boy Scout training I was prepared, I
had brought along a couple of cases or COORS beer which I had imported
from Derby, Kansas, this beer was still ice cold from being at
30,000
ft plus lying next to the cold aircraft skin. To shorten this I gave
each
of the sailors an ice cold beer,I will never forget the looks on their
faces, halfway around the world they get a taste of home,one of the
guys
actually had tears in his eyes. To me this had made the trip
almost
worth while.
We settled in and started flying a couple of missions a week. What
would
happen is that our tankers would go up and hit the B-52Hs from Guam
that
were on their way to Iran to buzz the Soviet navy then they would fly
back
and we'd top them off for the long flight back to Guam.
After being there for almost 30 days things started to get real
interesting.
One evening I noticed some activity at the gymnasium so I ambled over
the
to see what was going on,as soon as I walked in I saw that the entire
gym
floor was covered with cotts and on those cotts were combat dressed and
armed Marines. "oh shit something is coming down big time", so I got my
ass out of there.
The next day my replacement tanker arrived, low and behold it turned
out
to be another McConnell bird, Paul Harmon's. When I recognized
the
plane I just busted out laughing and couldn't marshal the bird. All of
a sudden the pilot put the brakes on and stopped right there, then the
cockpit filled with bodies and the pilots window opened up. When they
saw
it was me about 4 arms stuck out of the window giving me the The Hawian
Good Luck Sign, you know the finger. I regained my military bearing and
brought them in. I was like old home week having one of our own with us
even thought we would be leaving in a few days.
I warned the guys that Diego Garcia was a whole different world.
Later that evening Paul Harmon and I went over to the enlisted club to
have a few beers. We were sitting there when two juiced sailors
were
playing so full contact ping pong decided to play through,the ping pong
ball landed on our table and one sailor decided to play the ball where
it laid. The sailor ran over hit the ball off the middle of our table
it
was a nice chip shot. Then the game was on. I told Paul to finish his
beer
and that we had better scram, because all hell was going to break
loose.
Sure enough just as soon as we walked out the Master at Arms with his
boys
to break up the fight. Paul commented "These guys are animals", I told
him that's what happens when you get guys who have been cooped up on a
ship for months and they finally get a chance to blow off steam. As we
were walking back to the barracks we saw all sorts of passed out
sailors
in the grass and leaned up against the palm trees with a can of beer in
there
hands, ahh memories.
With in a couple of days my crew and I rotated back to Guam and them a
couple of weeks later we got back home . It was April 24/25, 1980. We
got
back to kansas around 03:30, my wife and 3 year old son were there to
greet
me. The 30 day TDY turned out to be a 69 day TDY go figure. At around
noon
our time Gail woke me up and said honey you need to get in here and see
this. The TV news was going wild about the failed rescue attempt of the
hostages in Iran.
Later on when Harmon got back he told me that they were tasked to
refuel
the C-130s that flew into Iran. And that it was real spooky cause
they flew just off the coast of Iran, but they had an escort of F-14
tomcats
to keep the Iranians off thier ass.
Well so much for my small tale of high adventure in the far off land of
DIEGO GARCIA. T/SGT
ALLEN
C. HATCHER
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....
1980
NAME = Eric Gutierrez (Chico)
E-MAIL
= Egutie9706@aol.com
SERVICE
= USN
UNIT = NMCB 40 Charlie Company
RANK/RATE/JOB = SW1, 8 years of service
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Stroll Down Memory Lane
MY WARSTORY = I met NMCB 40 as a new boot while they were deployed to
Diego
in Decmeber of 1980. I then returned to Diego on a detatchment
from
1981 to 1982. After Diego, I deployed to Guam and then to Rota
Spain.
I was then able to secure a TDY assignment with the 31st NCR as a
weapons
(81mm) instructor. I then re-upped and served my last three years
with CBU-409 in Long Beach, CA. I made a lot of good friends
while
serving and regret not keeping in touch with them. If you are one
of those individuals please forgive me and drop me a line. Most
people
that I served with remember me as "Chico." I was given this
nickname
by a good friend (Mike Hodorff) because I was one of the few hispanics
in the batallion. When I first went to Diego we worked on the
barracks
project for the fleet sailors. When I returned in 1981 we worked
on the Officer's Club during the entire deployment. I now live in
my home town of El Paso Texas. Recently my wife Sandra and
I went on vacation to San Francisco via Pt. Hueneme. I tried to
get
on the base but was refused due to tightened security probably from
9-11.
This was very disappointing to me because I really have alot of fond
memories
of my Navy days. To all of my old friends, Doug, Mike, Floyd, Bob
or anyone else that I served with, please drop me a line.
1980
NAME = Dan Flak
MY QUEST = To follow that star no matter how hopeless, no matter how
far.
VT of a SWALLOW = Depends on the weight of the buckshot in the cargo
department.
E-MAIL = dan.flak@danflak.com
NATIONALITY = U S of A
SERVICE = Air Force
UNIT = Air Force Commander (only 3 AF people on the island at the time)
RANK/RATE/JOB = Then - captain
Now - Lieutenant Colonel (Retired)
MY INTEREST IN DG IS = Decided to Join A Monastery, But Couldn't Find
One
Stateside
SUBJECT OF MY STORY: = Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = I spent a year at Diego one month (Aug 1980).
I was sent there from my C-130 squadron at Yokota to coordinate the
airlift.
Although only a captain at the time, they put me in field grade
quarters
which were far superior to the quarters given the aircrews. We could
never
get it straight with the XO about not inspecting the quarters during
crew
rest.
I could tell which crews would be trouble: those coming off the plane
grumbling
and complaining. Then there were those crews that came off the plane
already
in cut-offs, carrying the cooler and the fishing equipment.
I had a friend of mine who worked the command post at Hickam. He had
the
Pacific, and I had the Indian. Between us two captains, we controlled
about
2/3 of the free world's airspace.
It took me about 15 minutes to figure out that although the Admiral
thought
he ran the place, the real power was with the Chief. The Chief had a
thing
about stationary supplies that were only available in Japan at the
time.
I quickly established a supply line and with a willing import-export
executive
on the Japan side (my wife). I could get anything I wanted on the
island.
In 1980, there wasn't much traffic in and out of Diego. A busy day
might
have been 3 or 4 airplanes. Most days it was just two. We worked all
kinds
of hours, but there was a lot of time off. We did manage to get some
transportation
and visit the plantation on the other side of the island. We did bring
a beer for Missy the Mule.
I spent most of my free time sleeping on the beach. When the
temperature
is a constant 80 degrees with a sea breeze, it's easy to nod off.
There were several events that happened while I was there. The first
was
the Miss America tour that came through. They put the women up in an
undisclosed
location with a marine guard on them. I don't know who was guarding the
marines. Miss Arizona seemed to be the favorite. They "laid over" at
Deigo
and then went onto the Gulf to entertain the sailors on the ships.
On the way back one of the aircrews showed me the autograph Miss
Arizona
made in his "black book." It seems he showed her where the crew loft
was
and how to get comfortable there. Her entry read, "Thank you for
letting
me sleep." He said he hadn't figured out what to tell his wife about
that
yet.
I had a C-5 come in with an engine out. That was a lot of fun. Where do
you park it? And what do you do with all those people? I convinced the
aircraft commander that due to extremely limited billeting to keep only
those crew he needed to taxi the airplane, and send the rest back to
Clark.
We'd bring them back with the parts. He kept 12 and sent 18 back. I got
a great view of the island from the tail. It was the tallest structure
on base.
Another incident that occurred was that some sailor got drunk, stole a
vehicle and had a 70 mph meeting with a tree. He was in bad shape and
the
medics came to me asking how quickly I could get him out. I had one
partying
aircrew on base, and a C-141 due in. I asked the aircraft commander of
the crew on the ground how long he thought, if they stopped drinking
right
now, that they would be ready to fly. He told me he thought he could
sober
them up in about 6 hours.
I went to work flight planning (it had been a while since I had done a
flight plan for a C-141) and got the engineer on my team prepped to do
a pre-flight on the incoming bird. It then occurred to me that it took
24 hours to get flight plans approved in those days. The Chief told me
not to worry about it. He apparently had connections. He also had about
half the island standing by to service the aircraft when it came in.
I commandeered the airplane, much to the displeasure of the incoming
crew
(they were Reservists and insisted it was "their" airplane), and
decided
to deal with that matter at some other time.
The medics had the injured sailor in stable condition by this time, and
we sent them all off to Clark. Then it was that I realized that it was
Sunday, and the runway at Clark was closed. Once again the Chief
managed
to get me the autovon connection I needed on the first try so I could
call
them and inform them that I was sending a C-141 their way with such and
such an ETA.
The reserve crew were being real pains in the you-know-what. I got them
airborne on the next C-141 out. Then I informed the command post at
Clark
that they were coming their way and that something looked funny in the
baggage and maybe customs should give them a thorough going over. The
command
post came to the same conclusion.
My tour was cut short by a couple of days. My wife took sick and was
admitted
to the hospital at Yokota. I couldn't get through on autovon, so I
fired
up an APU, cranked up the HF and phone patched through Clark. Everyone
on the planet knew about my wife's kidney stones. People on Vega (23
light
years away) now know about it. We knew a lot of the C-130 folks at the
squadron there, so we got tons of phone calls from Japan and the
Philippines
shortly after our return.
I do have some pictures, but they are lost in the noise level of about
5,000 pictures I took in my 3 ½ year tour at Yokota.
1980 through
84.
ROB HODGES
<hawkeye6936@attbi.com
My how Diego
Garcia has
grown up. And now a new aircraft added to the TDY stock.
I used to fly in
and
out of the sandbar for MAC from 1980-1984. I was stationed at
Clark
with the 9th Aeromedical Evacuation Sq.
In those days,
the
females
were in the lagoon aboard ships protected by USMC law enforcement.
In thoses days, A
pallet
of mail got you surf & turf box lunches on departure.
Then, billeting
was in
the gym......so much for Crew Rest.
And back then,
Norton
loadmasters and Flight Engineers nude sun bathing found out why they
shouldn't
have.
BIOT Customs
would
"ask"
for the names of the crew "for bulleting purposes" of course. No
biggie unless one of the males happened to be named "Francis" or
"Carroll"
The whole island showed up at the crew entrance door.
When we did bring
female
nurses, oh brother!
Great site.
A lot
of hard work. BTW, the link to the British club is now dead.
Rob Hodges
1980
From:
"DAVID
POPOLA"
<gunsforfreedom@hotmail.com>
hi ted,
really enjoy your
site.
in january of 1980 i was detatched to diego garcia to provide weapons
support
for vp 23. i guess cause vp 4 didn't have the hackles harpoon update
package
for the p3 orion. ok by now you are wondering what my point is ? well
heres
the deal i haven't been there in over 2 decades
and was wondering
if
you were ever contacted by the other personnel that were detached to
diego
in 1980 from nas brunswick maine.
i have message
traffic
in hand to verify my claim I being one of those from nas weapons
brunswick
maine that established and manned the first weapons and stowage
capability
on diego garcia. at that time my rate/rank was aoan popola. if my
story spurs any interest thats cool e-mail me back. if not i will go
back to drinking
my
beer.
you know being an
ao
is kind of like a mother handing her son his brown bag lunch - if you
ain't
gonna eat it dont bring it back home drop the damn thing some where
along
the way.
sincerely ,
d.popola
1980
NAME = Eddie Young
VT of a SWALLOW =
Is
"swallow" a noun or a verb?
E-MAIL =
the7youngs@earthlink.net
NATIONALITY = US;
SERVICE
= USN; UNIT = VS-31 ; RANK/RATE/JOB = AW2
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 =
Miss
Piggy(US-3A
COD) was transferred from Midway to IKE and assigned to VS-31 during
the
Hostage Crisis. A major difference between Miss Piggy and a real S-3A
was
Miss Piggy's lack of ejection seats. In the event of a serious inflight
emergency 1800NM from anywhere but saltwater and seasnakes, the
survival
procedure was to ditch the A/C, deploy a raft, and call for help(yeah,
right!).
Highlights of flying Miss Piggy from Gonzo Station to DG and back
included:
A near
collision
with
a Royal Thai Airways 747(so much for ICAO flight plans).
TWO inflight
fires,
the
first one a real "MAYDAY, MAYDAY, We have liquid & lumps in our
flightsuits"
experience.
A single
engine day
carrier
landing with an extremely nervous U.S. Congressman and his extremely
nervous
entourage.
Landing at DG
with
300
pounds of fuel onboard after losing our Omega Nav system and being
steered
RF/DF by a P-3. We were about six minutes away from a much unwanted
swim-call.
Flying Miss
America
and
four runners-up(Bob Hope's USO Tour). Shortly after takeoff
from DG, I served box lunches(with sodas)to the ladies. After lunch,
one
beauty asked "Where's the bathroom?". I pointed to the relief tube
within
arm's reach of my jumpseat. She unhesitatingly replied "No thanks". 2
hours
later she asked "How does it work?". Thinking quickly, I fashioned a
box
into a funnel, placed it into the tube and gallantly volunteered to
hold
it for her. After some animated conversation with her peers, she
decided
to try it! Keep in mind that its difficult for most(some?) gals to pee
while wearing a flightsuit. She unstrapped and made her way to my side,
partially stood up, unzipped the flightsuit, wriggled out of it,
dropped
her panties, positioned herself carefully over the funnel/relief tube,
and did her business. By this time, the pilots were going apeshit
as I was giving them a blow by blow account of the proceedings over the
ICS. They were trying to crane their necks around the bulkhead into the
passenger compartment for a peek. I enjoyed the whole show, as there
was
no room for me to move from my jumpseat. It worked so well for the
first
that the rest of the gals decided to go too. You can only imagine my
joy!
1980
NAME = Richard
Nigh
MY QUEST = To
become
a towel boy at a disrepuatable whorehouse
VT of a SWALLOW =
African
or European?
E-MAIL =
A3rdRILA@HOTMAIL
.COM
NATIONALITY =
'Murican
dammit; SERVICE = United States Navy; UNIT = U.S.S. Baton Rouge
(SSN-689);
RANK/RATE/JOB = QM1 (SS)
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= I am a Born Liar, and Want To Tell About All The Sex I Had on Dodge
MY WARSTORY = 22
years
ago this week the U.S.S. Baton Rouge (SSN-689) "The Big Red Stick" (Or
big red something or other.) arrived in the beautiful harbor of Diego
Garcia.
We snuggeled up tightly against the U.S.S. L.Y. Spear (AS-36).
The
Spear was the first Navy ship to forward deploy with wimmin on board.
We
were warned by the COB not to fool around with the females on board the
Spear. It was a quite interesting time aboard the BR.
Walking
into the head in middle level and finding one of our machinists in
freshly
creased dungarees, clean shaven, and putting on the stinky stuff. Going
to the Hydraulics shop. Hell, we'd been underwater for 3
months.
To make a long story short. My wife and I will be celebrating our
22 wedding anniversary this December. I proposed out there in
anchorage
B-1. (I don't know if it's still called that.) With a hammerhead
shark named Hector for a witness. We really do have plans to go
back
one day, and attend to some left over business from our first
visit.
We may be the only sailors who have genuine romantic memories of Diego,
without having to worry about the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy."
Richard
Nigh QM1
(SS) & Mary Ellen (Shannon) Nigh ICFN
1980
NAME = Bill
Edwards
MY QUEST = To
find the
TV of a swallow
VT of a SWALLOW =
E=MC2
or something like that
E-MAIL =
N8ARW@aol.com
NATIONALITY = US;
SERVICE
= Uncle Sam's Canoe Club - Navy; UNIT = NAVCOMMSTA; RANK/RATE/JOB = RM2
then...Owner Computer Aided Design (CAD) Service Bureau now...
ALSO: Ham
Radio
Operator N8ARW (VQ9WE on DGAR)
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Want to Drink A Lot, Cheap
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= There I Was, Passed Out on The Beach
MY WARSTORY = My
War
Stories have more to do with before and after going to Diego.
After successfully dream sheeting for Naval Radio Station (R), Sugar
Grove,
WV out of RM School. I decided to apply a strategy when dream sheeting
my next duty station from NRS Sugar Grove. I dream sheeted:
Glasgow-Scotland,
Reykavik-Iceland and Adak, Alaska with my Ultimate Duty Station as Down
on the Ice in Antarctica.
My orders come in with my detailer deciding that NAVCOMMSTA Diego
Garcia
needed me far more than any of my preferred choices. I called to plead
my case with the detailer, telling him that I wanted COLD weather
locations.
I'm thinking 7 degrees South of the Equator was a bit out to far North.
But off to DGAR it was! When I called my folks to let them know where I
was headed, my dad said, Diego Garcia? Didn't he used to pitch for the
68 Yankees?"
On the island, in addition to the normal activities (read:
drinking),
I spent a lot of time with the guy's of the NMCB Det. at the MARS
station
running phone patches back home. We didn't have Cable & Wireless
yet,
although being a Radioman, at least we had access to the Autovon line.
I also spent a significant amount of time at the Ham Radio Station
making
more contacts than I cared to log. As an amateur radio operator, DGAR
was
like being at the Ham Radio answer to Mecca. In amateur radio, DGAR
was,
and still is one of the rarer contacts to be made around the globe.
While making contacts with other hams around the world, I managed to
consume
a vast quantity of fresh popped popcorn. Several of the fellows had
managed
to get a 50lb bag of popcorn they had swapped one of the transient air
crews a case of steaks for. Also, along the line of snack
foods.....While
some of the domestic beer on the island was nasty from baking in
shipping
containers, who can forget the bags of stale Doritos from the exchange?
Expiration dates on the bag being 6 to 9 months old! Only the finest
for
the boys on Dodge.
I loved the room inspections..."There's coral dust under your
rack!"...Duh...No
kidding, were living on a frigin' island with coral used as aggregate
in
the concrete....Of course in Antarctica, it probably would have been
ice!
Sheeshhh...Talk about bullshit...
After leaving the Navy, I went to technical school and ended up landing
a job with a international fire protection firm in Cleveland, OH.
One day at work, my manager calls me into his office to give me my next
assignment. He starts to tell me about this contract we were awarded
with
the Navy. Some
little island out
in
the middle of the Indian Ocean that no one has ever heard of called
Diego
Garcia. I proceeded to tell him I had been there, done that and
had
the t-shirt(s). He ended up giving the project to another designer. I
suppose
he figured that I had already paid my dues. So much for my return trip
back to Fantasy Island!
I have enjoyed Ted's web site almost as much as Diego itself. I would
like
to petition the PPDRDG to create a position of Communications Minister
for which I could apply. It's obvious with my communications
background,
that I could easily learn Smoke Signals and Drumbeats for secure
intra-island
communication. Hell, I can still send and receive Morse code better
while
drinking, plus no one notices any slurring!
Survivor TV series my ASS! We got to have some great times on Diego
Garcia
and were paid to do it! Hail to our leader Ted! Thanks for
providing
such a great forum...Long live the PPDRDG!
80'-'81
NAME = Joe
"Buzz"
Sawyer
MY QUEST = To
leave the
island and the Brit Rep
VT of a SWALLOW =
714
E-MAIL =
SwyBzz@AOL.com
SERVICE =
Seabees; UNIT
= Bravo Co. NMCB-40; RANK/RATE/JOB = CE-2 and CECN
MY WARSTORY
=
Aaahhhh Diego,
Nice place to be but under the wrong circumstances. Good
nights
listening to Bob Rogers and the guys jamming in the 40 club
hut.
Drinking so damn much that you would puke.But it felt great to relax
and
forget the shit that was going on. Rain, heat, humidity, more
rain,
warm beer, Donkey Burger, supply ships arriving, hut searches by
the Brits.
Merrill Lamb,Mike "Dogface" Mckinnon ( I still see him ) Steve Foley,
Steve
Latting, Tom Reedy, Scott Valler, Rick Moon, and many more.
Remember
the big fire at the OP's building? How about the Miss America USO
show? Ship unload duty? Partying on the beach? Good
times
there but also bad times like a certain night of Sept. 30, 1980.
If you remember what happened that night then I guess maybe then that
you
knew me. Well gotta go, I'm glad I've found this
website.
FTN-40 Buzz
80-81
NAME = Rich H
(Ski);
E-MAIL = rhulcha1@twcny.rr.com
SERVICE = Seabees
CM;
UNIT = Public Works; RANK/RATE/JOB = E4 finished with honorable
MY WARSTORY = I
was
hanging
out with some of the 1st and 2nd class petty officers in one of those
god
forsaken hooch's with the friggin moss growing on the steps because we
hated pissing in the jet fuel (JP5). We were eating
jallopeneos
and drinkin smirnoff (average day) when we got this idea to rent a 14'
deep V row boat with 4 hp motor and try fishing in the lagoon. The 5 of
us thought it would be fun. We managed to haul everything in the boat
including
the 5 of us and a case and 1/2 of anchor seagull piss beer and the
fishin'
poll.
We got about 100 yards off shore when the waves started hitting
hard.
It turns out, when old Willy Wilson mounted the motor he must have
thought
it would tighten itself to the transom, well need I say more, that
thing
came screeming out of the water, flew off the transom and was dangling
underwater by a chain which somehow he thought to connect. We all
scrambled to save the beer while the motor, still running, was
thrashing
around under the boat. I think Hector high tailed it to the ocean
side.
We managed to make it back (fishless) laughing our fool heads
off.
We made Willy pay for the motor. I was 18 then and 40 now but
glad
to have the memories. Any Seabees in public works or nmcb 62
around
that time, shoot me some mail. Ski
Spring of
1980(To
the
best of my recollection)
NAME = Kenneth
Mangum
VT of a SWALLOW =
Is
it diving or just floating?
E-MAIL =
mag@astrosfan.net
NATIONALITY =
Texan;
SERVICE = Navy; UNIT = USS Dixie (AD-14); RANK/RATE/JOB = Just a
regular
MMFN working in A-gang back then, but I was actually doing my time in
the
galley while anchored out in the lagoon at Gilligan's Island.
Now,
engineer for oilfield company working in the Gulf of Mexico.
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY = For
all
you people out there wondering where all the nautilus's went, I will
tell
you. As mentioned before, my ship was anchored out in the lagoon
for five months during the Iraninan Hostage crises. I caught the
ship for the last two months there. Me and a friend hitched a
ride
on a jeep that went through to the British side of the Island. We
jumped off and headed for the beach and found lots of shells of course,
including 2 nautilus's, so we each got one. Those things could
have
been there for years I guess. Anyway, you're all familiar with
the
usual beer drinking binges, picnics and such, boxing matches, softball
games,....so I won't bore you there. Oh, about the picture with
the
palm tree almost horizontal, I swear I have the same picture, well, had
it darn it, I may still have the negatives somewhere!!!
1980 iran
hostage
situation
NAME = richard
torres
E-MAIL =
torres_richard@hotmail.com
NATIONALITY =
Spanish-American;
SERVICE = U.S. Marines; UNIT = 31st MAU. COMMO PLT MSSG-37
RANK/RATE/JOB =
newly
promoted Corporal. Now retired since 1995. Home Aiea,
Hawaii.
MY INTEREST IN DG
IS
= Stroll Down Memory Lane
SUBJECT OF MY
STORY:
= Actually, I Have a Real Story To Tell
MY WARSTORY =
Well alot
of water has gone under the bridge since 1980. Hard to belive it
will 22 years. It was my first deployment from Hawaii. I
was
embarked on the USS RACINE LST 1191. We referred to it as the
raisin
- a flat bottom section of hell to we called home. I will never
forget
the sunsets on deigo, to this day i always tell people that they have
never
seen sunsets like that, even in Hawaii. There was nothing much to
Deigo back then. We trained during the day, not too hard as there
was limited area to do serious training. At night we cooked
hotdogs,
burgers, seafood and drank beer. I remember looking at the sunset
with a beer in my hand and thinking how far i was from anything.
We had a great time there and I was with best guys I ever worked
with.
Their names: Cpl. Mike "mad" Lloyd, Sgt Threult, Sgt Idso,
Cpl J.P. Johns, Cpl D.C. Caldwell, Cpl Fast Eddie, L/Cpl Danny
Laguia.
On the other hand I may be headed back as a contractor -
telecommunications
for a year. Funny how things come around.
Just came
ashore
with
a few of the crew for some cold beers
NAME = Mike
Smollon
MY QUEST =
Messmen/Cook
Officers Galley
E-MAIL =
Msmollon@aol.com
NATIONALITY =
American/Irish
SERVICE =
Military
Sealift
Command/USNS RIGEL - unrepped with the 6th fleet during hostage crisis
in the early 80's
UNIT = Stewards
dept.
RANK/RATE/JOB = I
was
about 21 years old my duty was a cook/messmen in the officers galley. I
left the sea for family reasons about a year later reluctently never to
return.
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 = I
was
aborad
the USNS RIGEL with MSC the crew started to be ferried ashore once my
friends
and I came ashore we went straight for the beer hut. We just hung out
at
the beach enjoying a few cold beers laying around. When a explosion of
smoke plumed from our ships stack. I remember enough that I had said
"OH
SHIT" what was that? the friends I hung out with were young officers
names
have abandoned me but the ranks as I can try to remember were 2nd mate,
3rd mate, 3rd engine, a couple of other guys I think were deck dept. I
was the only stewards dept guy in the group. One fellow was nick-named
Mad Dog what a guy he alone made the voyage awsome! Where is Mad Dog? I
last heard he was sailing out of California with a union company. One
fellow
among us was a proud mick who thought the British flag flying over DG
was
a bit lonely so he hoisted his own Irish Flag above the British as a
result
he spent the rest of his liberty in there brig. Leaving DG was
memorable
for me since I was initiated under King Neptunes rule from a poly-wog
to
a shell-back going to DG. With a starboard list resulting from the
boiler
blowing up we headed for Subic
bay for repairs.
Olongapo,
Olongapo where art thou Olongapo! GOD that was a great town,
bless
those filipino girls! Hope to hear from some of you guys.
1980, 1981,
and 1982
NAME = Larry
Ortega
MY QUEST = to
find the
Holy Grail
VT of a SWALLOW =
European
or African swallow?
E-MAIL =
AKAZILLA@AOL.COM
SERVICE = USN;
UNIT =
NMCB-62; RANK/RATE/JOB = I was a cook on my first deployment, and a
steelworker
on my second one.
MY WARSTORY = I
was on
Diego 2 deployments back to back. Great fishing! I still have the
shells
that I found there. My wife has them on top of her piano where they
have
been since I sent them to her from Diego. When we see NATURE specials,
they talk about Cone Shells and how poisonous they are. We both look at
the great big cone shells in our living room and think, "Boy was I ever
dumb to pick those up."
There was a fleet guy there the first time I went there. His name was
Lee
Reddick Jr. He was there when I arrived, and still there when I left 8
or 9 months later. When I came back 6 months later, he was still there,
and he was there at the end of my second deployment too. Does
anybody
know if he ever left the island? Does anybody remember Darrel
Oates,
Kenny Barr, Max Parker, "Trego", "Critter" from NMCB-133,Mike Baddners,
Ron Parvin or the weird CE that ran the MARS Radio station? How
did
Olson ever make it to Admiral/Radm? He was too busy getting soused and
getting into fights. If you know these people, let me know.
I am going to go look though my old cruisebook and see who else pops
into
my brain.
Some
of the jobs I was on were the pier, the fual farm, "C" site, and
extending
the runway to handle B-52's. For the people currently on Diego,
Remember
that place well. When you get back to the real world and tell
people
about it, they will not believe you. They will not believe how clear
the
water is, how white the sand is on the beaches, or how good the fishing
is. You may (or may not) think that Diego sucks, but over
time,
it will become one of the best places in your memory. I liked
Diego
when I was there, but then I like isolation duty and fishing.
Best Wishes,
Larry Ortega aka
"Taco"
P.S. I am
the guy
who took the picture of Hector the hammerhead shark - When we
landed
the boat (16 foot Boston Whaler) I gave the picture to Nigel, the Brit
Rep. A friend and I had been out fishing and had hit a school of Cuda.
After about an hour of fishing, something hit my line really hard and I
brought up about a 6 or 7 foot white shark. We tied a rope around
the tail of the shark, and headed back in to the beach at the SEA huts
where we lived at the time. As I turned around to take a picture
of the shark, I snapped the pic, and all I got was a pidture of Hector
swallowing my shark and biting through the rope we has used to tie it
to
the boat. When I told that to everybody on the beach, they said
"NO
WAY, talk is cheap". I showed them the picture, and we ended up
drinking
warm beer with Nigel and we gave him the picture.
P.P.S. I'm trying to track down Max Parker, Scott Zoeller, Mike
Badners and any of the other "Delta Dogs".
1980
NAME = John Flynn
MY QUEST = To
find the
Grail.
VT of a SWALLOW =
English
or African?
E-MAIL =
jflynnstl@aol.com
NATIONALITY =
American;
SERVICE = US Navy; UNIT = Military visitor
RANK/RATE/JOB =
LT,
Bombardier
in A-6 squadron on USS Eisenhower. Was later editor of the Navy's
Approach magazine from 83-86, now a management consultant with big
firms,
currently working on logistics modernization for the US Army.
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 = I
was on
Diego twice for short periods of time, but it made a strong impression.
The first time I was in transit from the states to the Ike on Gonzo
Station
during the Iran Hostage Crisis. I arrived from the Philipines in the
quasi-comfort
of a C-5A "Aluminum Overcast." I spent a couple of days mostly
walking
around the island, drinking at the club and enjoying the cuisine of
Diego
Burger, the only fast food joint on the island. The first night I
slept in a quonset hut in the jungle, but thereafter I stayed in a
litte
air-conditioned shack that was assigned to the air wing. I found it
very
peaceful and relaxing. I think of Diego as Jimmy Buffet's idea of
heaven.
Finally, I hitched a ride in an S-3A that was being ferried out to the
ship, which was about 5 hours away. I spent the next 8 months
flying
recon missions off the coast of Iran and preparing to attack, which we
never did.
The second
time I
was
on the island was months later when I got to play "Survivor" in a
Search &
Rescue
(SAR)
exercise. I got dropped on a remote part of Diego with just the stuff I
would have had if
I had
punched out of an A-6. Then I had to go through all the procedures:
Using the
hand-held
radio,
signal mirror, smoke flares, etc. to get a helo to come and get
me. After several
hours,
I got "rescued" and my reward was to get to spend a few more hours
on the populated
part
of the island, visiting Diego Burger and the club once again.
My time on
Diego was
short,
but the experience has stayed very present in my memory. It
struck me as
having the
rare charm of being completely unique.
1980-1981
Billy Bob
<lumpdawg@pacbell.net>
Organization:
just
another slug
Sir,
I was a member of the class of 80-81 and will never forget my
experience
on Diego. I have some incredible stories I would like to relate
about
my 12 month hoot. My only concern is the statute of limitations
issue.
Could any one hunt me down and haul my ass off for shit I did twenty
years
ago?
Billy Bob
[editor's
note:
Yes. And they read this page regularly to find guys who might
have
stolen the CO's jeep on night, or fished illegally for lobsters.
Several correspondents have wound up in Portsmouth Naval Prison because
of their indescretions on these pages. So look out, Billy Bob,
they're
coming for YOU!]
Here's his follow
up
story:
Honorable
President for
Life,
As all of us sailors will testify, you got your 'no shitters' and your
'sea stories'. I would submit to you that this is a 'no
shitter'.
I reported to Diego July of 1980, after begging, pleading and down
right
promising the detailer a three finger reach-around. Ultimately I
convinced him the US Government would be better served if I was sent
over
there as opposed to Bahrain. This was the first time I had ever
heard
the expression "Be carefull what you wish for." The Iranian
hostage
crisis was full tilt and you couldn't skip a stone acrossed the lagoon
without hitting that tub the Ajax or the other odd assortment of those
big gray things. As a SeaBee with NSF Public Works, I was
grateful
for the discomfort of a sunburn in a cot full of sand in Splinter City.
I didn't do 'haze gray and under way' and for the 11 months and 23 days
I was on the Rock, I spent a total of fifteen minutes on the Ajax,
chasing
down collar devices. You think the Ajax looked bad from
shore?
Take a mike boat over to her. Classic case of 'good from far, but
far from good!'
Within
my first 60 days on station, I had the drill figured out. The
detachment
from NMCB-5 was always partying. They had a cool bar set
up.
The regular barkeep was from Jersey and his mission was to get the
FNG's
to buy rounds. 'Shop talk buys a round' stated the plaque behind
the bar. Sure as shit stinks, he'd snag me with 'Hey man.
How's
the work on the airfield doin?" 15 guys standing around for the
bell
to be rung and he banged me three or four times before I got the clue.
At
least I got my name up on the Ralph Master. The Ralph Master was
a crudely fashioned piece of one foot by one foot plywood
enscribed
with the names of who ever puked after raging at the beer hut.
Had
my name up on that thing several times. My first entry was after
about three months on the Rock. I got my moving papers from
Splinter
City to the PW barracks near the chow hall. Stuffed my seabag,
threw
it on my new rack and blitzed over to the NMCB-5 beer
hut.
Grabbed a
Donkey Burger on the way. This was time to celebrate. "Make
it a sloppy Donkey, boys. Just moved outta Splinter City".
I made it to 5's camp and just started slammin' beers down. Keep
in mind, these were the pull tab Budweisers. Don't drink the
sediment
crap that settled on the bottom. Took me years after being back
in
the World to quit doin' that. Anyhow, I started gettin' dizzy and
I got about 20 feet out of the beer hut when I lost the Donkey
Burger in a most
unflattering
manner. Man, I just hurled and hurled. Made it back to my
new
barracks where I impressed my new roomates with my wit and charm.
I ended up dry heaving out front of the barracks all night.
I lived for mail call. The C-5 flying overhead meant a lot of
things
to alot of people. For me, it was fresh food and mail
call.
I ended up being the mail call dude for Public Works. AFRTS TV
would
play the stupid commercials with USO bimbos announcing mail call.
These broads were pretty as home made soap but I damn near blew a rod
every
time I saw the commercials. I would dash over to the post office,
grab the mail bag and head back to the barracks. I would pass out
the packages and letters. This went on for a while. I
just happened to notice one day one of the Brits followed one of the
guys
back to his room. Gave him a pocket knife, "Open the
package,
mate". Word had it the sailor ended up in a Singapore brig.
Seems some one sent him some of those left handed cigarettes. But
nobody messed with me. The Brits had no idea. I would leave
my packages in the mail bag, pass out the mail and just mosey to my
room. I got
over
for the most part. Then, the post office started hanging on to
the
packages. They would issue a slip of paper with your name.
'Report to the post office to collect your package'. I
accumulated
three or four of these slips after 2 weeks. I finally beat feet
to
the post office and there's the friggin' Brit Rep. Aw crap.
"Open the package, mate." I knew exactly what it was and I was
crappin'
my britches. Two el bees of Mexico's worst migrane-inducing
chronic
busted up into quarters. And I was on the road to hell. I
swear
I hemmed and I hawed for a lifetime. I
stammered out a
weak
assed "I ain't never seen or heard of some one named Sue Love.
You
gotta send it back." Sue Love was the super secret return address
and I knew right away I was a dead man. Sure enough, they sent it
back, although I think some one got the hint. My last three
months,
I stayed away from the ilicit crap. More than once, the Brits had
fun shaking down my roomates, who were clueless but made my life
uncomfortable.
I could go on and on but I'll just share some memories before I
bail:
fighting over Drumsticks Ice Cream cones at the chow hall that had been
defrosted and refrozen beyond physical recognition. Chowin down
on
the best seafood and crab I have ever had. Drinking ice cold
Michelob
out a bottle. The Zoomies from the KC-135 det would sell it for
20
bucks a case. And I gladly paid it. Standing in line for 4
hours for Coors being sold out of a refrigerated milvan, buying
my 5 case limit
and
going
back for more. And then dragging a case to the base theatre to
see
Willie Nelson and Dyan Cannon in 'Honeysuckle Rose'. Standing in
the MARS radio line for hours and talking to a mechanical voice that
was
'sposed to be my girlfriend. "I love you, over." Drinking
Strawberry
Daisy, some long life milk by-product crap that was
chunky in every
other
box. Watching the majority of the NMCB 5 detachment bumping
around
at three in the morning after drinking the Mojo that got dosed by yours
truly. Farting in front of the fan in our 20 man hut in Splinter
City and leaving to the howls of my drunken partners. Pulling
coral
out of my ass after trying to boogie board on the ocean side of the
Rock
in the biggest, hollowest, closed out tube of my life. Stealing a
tank of helium, draggin it out to the cannons and huffing helium with
Ace
till we puked our guts out on the beach. Electrocuting land crabs
with a megger on the airfield. Wrestling with the Public Works CO
at the picnic beach near Public Works. He'd throw these BBQ's
once
a month and get down with us. Seeing my first chick on the island
after nine months. She was a Zoomie air crew babe and she was
wearing
Charlie perfume and I almost passed out when she walked by.
Getting
dragged off the C-5,
goin' back to the
world
for good, by the Air Ops officer to restore power to the airfield
lighting
so the god damn plane could take off. Seems the the switch was in
the safety postion and the ATC couldn't get the airfield lights to come
on. Being denied advancement and retention by my first class,
only
to be pen and inked recommendation for advancement and retention by my
CO. Being denied orders for school at Port Who-Needs-Me and
assignment
to Public Works Pearl
Harbor, only to
have
it thrust in my face my very last day in the Navy awaiting an honorable
discharge at Treasure Island. Not no. But fuck no.
Billy Bob
"Friends help you
move.
Real friends help you move bodies."
1978-1980
HARRY CONLON
<HWConlon@aol.com>
See his 1978 story.
January to
September
1980
AND March to November 1981
Kurt C
<cannbefit@home.com>
MY QUEST = To see
if
any of my ole' Seabee pals are still alive and puking
VT of a SWALLOW =
Too
fast for me to mention (but I know how fast a rat can run through
a sea hut, how fast a chicken has to run to miss being hit by an
orange,
how fast a donkey must run to get through the donkey gate....
NATIONALITY =
American;
SERVICE = USN Seabees - '79-'84; UNIT = NMCB 1; RANK/RATE/JOB =
Equipment
Operator 3rd Class
MY WARSTORY = One
warm
afternoon while riding home in the back of a 5-ton with a bunch of
stinking,
sweaty pigbees, I decided it would be nice to cool off the next jogger
we saw with our left-over 10-gallon jug of iced water.
So...my buddy and I grabbed to cooler and as we drove by him (his back
was to us headed toward town) we got him good!! It was great!
The only problem was he just happened to be a Warrant Officer and you
know
how mad they can get...So he cut the next truck off at the pass and
hitched
a ride after us. As soon as he got into town, he found us and
demanded
to know who did it. We confessed.
To make a long, and much worth it, story short...we wrote an apology
letter
to him and promised never to do that again.
What's the moral of this story? It's ALWAYS worth it when you can
soak an Officer's head!
Enjoy the 80 degree weather in those olive green shorts and black
ankle-high
work boots - and don't let the foot rot bite!
1980-1981
DAVE
<DChap578@aol.com>
Hi, I retired from the Navy 2 years ago as a BMCS. I spent a year in DG
back in 1980-81 and hated it at the time, but later realized it was
really
fun. I was a BM3 at the time working at harbor ops driving a Mike-8
boat
supporting the 13 anchored ships and Sub tender. They were still
working
on the pier when I left. The most interesting boatrun I made was
offshore
to pick up a Seabee in an intertube with his bags on his way to the
USA.
Elian Gonzolas had nothing on this guy! Fishing was really great and we
were allowed to go anytime as we were in charge of our own boats.
Sometimes
we would go "outside" and troll and get large tuna along the reef edge.
One time a 275 pounder. I understand that later though that there was a
boating accident and that was changed. We used to have stringers of
large
Grouper and Snapper while we were anchored "inside" and would have to
pull
them up occassionaly to keep them from the big hammerheads. Is the
legendary
Hammerhead "Heckter" still around. Well I wish I was there with today,
it was a lot of fun. Even though I was in "Splinter City" open bay
barracks.
When I retired in 1998, I went from driving Tugs, LCU's, Ships, and
boats
to driving a Drawbridge in Jacksonville Fla. (rides smoother). My last
duty
station was a PC
out
of Little Creek, lots of fun. Enjoy your day, Dave.
1980 VP-48
Deployment
(also '79 & '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
1980-1981
SHAWN DONOVAN
<shawnfromut@webtv.net>
Discharged 1982 now work for the airlines ..... it was a different
place
to be. u would have to have been there to know.
1980-1981
DALE EDMONDS
<daleintx@webtv.net>
I got to Diego Garcia in Feb 1980 and left in Feb 1981. I had
heard
lots of different storys about the place befor I got there and not very
many of them were good. I was very apprehensive about the
place
when I arrived and stayed that way for a year. I was Personnelman
recruit straight out of A school. I was immediately put to work
doing
what we called receipts PN where I checked in everybody and did some
indoctrination
and helped people with their travel claims and whatever other paperwork
was needed. So I was usually the first person people had any
contact
with on the island. Just to list some of my shipmates
that worked in personnel: PNC Plummer, PNC Richards,
PNC Colt, PN2
Rowel, PN2
Hooker,
PN3 Johnson, PNSN Kaschak, and me PNSN Edmonds.
Being a PN standing duty was pretty easy I was the autovon switchboard
operator and could call any place in the world for free. I had
lots
of people want to be my friend when they found that out. I would
have pilots from carriers fly in and I would help them call home or
just
anybody else that needed to but I was breaking the rules by doing it.
We worked 5 days a week and half a day saturday. Not much time
for
fooling around. However i did fish and snorkle a lot. Diego
Garcia had beautiful reefs in the lagoon and it was a real pleasure
swimming
in the tropical waters. I saw so much different tropical fish and
other sea creatures not to mention swimming up on an occasional shark
or
two. I had a nice air conditioned barracks for most of my time
but
was moved to the recently built sea hooches when my replacement who out
ranked me came. The sea hooches were full of mesquitos and it was
all i could do
to sleep at
night. This
was during the Iran hostage crises and they were really sending many
people
to the island and there were no quarters for them. Many people
lived
in the gymnasium which we called the Diego Hilton. There was a
little
burger stand on the island which they closed later but you could buy a
donkey burger if you got hungry and didnt want to go to the chow
hall.
The ships store was always empty of most of the important stuff people
wanted except when the supply ship came. Then the lines would be
a block long trying to get the stuff you needed or wanted.
Sometimes
we ran out of beer on the island and then people started getting
stressed
and irritable and very cranky. I remember the cigarettes were
stale
and old and had little black dots on them except Benson and
Hedges so that became my brand from then on. For me it was
a rough year I really got tired of the tropical island stuff
fast.
No
woman or
civilians
there
until about 10 months after I got there.
Actually there was quite a lot fighting between people on the
island.
I was in a few fist a cuffs myself with people. Most of the
people
missed their familys a lot and I couldnt tell you how many mens wives
diviorced
them while they spent that year on the island. I did many
divorces
and the paperwork for them. I guess wives just couldnt stand
being
apart from the husbands for a year. If you asked me
if
i would like to live that year over again I would say HELL
NO.
So thanks for letting me tell a little bit of my story for my year on
Diego
Garcia B.I.O.T. |
