The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Legion Hall You are in the Navy now

Back in March of 1964 I had to make a decision. Join up or wait to get drafted. I decided to join the Navy. So off to Great Lakes Navy boot camp. The recruiter gave me a choice of boot camps. San Diego, or Illinois. I have never been back east so why not Great Lakes. Someone should have told me it still snows back there in March. Being a California boy that was quite a shock. After boot camp I I went to Tennessee for aircraft engine mechanic school on radial engines. Then to San Diego to join a sea plane patrol squadron. We had 12 planes (water landing only) Out of four years I was on a ship only one month. That was a sea plane tender anchored in Cam Rah Vietnam. The planes were used for flying patrols off the coast looking for the bad guys. The rest of the time we were in Japan, or the Philippines. Later we got 12 locked Electra planes, and were stationed in the San Francisco bay area. Mofett Field. I Had to learn jet engines. Later on I was asked if I wanted to go to Adak Alaska. with the rest of the squadron. Since my four \years were about over I said NO to that in a hurry. I liked the decision to join the Navy. After boot camp and school. It was almost like a regular 8 hr a day job, except every four days we had to stay on the base, if needed. That's my story, Stan

I enlisted in the Army in 1966 for the same reason you did, to have a choice. I went to basic in KY then AIT at Fort Knox then on to Officer Training school at Fort Benning school for boys. Stayed until 3 weeks before graduation then resigned because I did feel like I was qualified for leadership. Went to Viet Nam in Dec. Came home a year later and I was staioned at Redstone Arsenal Alabama. I was assigned a car and a 9-to-5 job. Got out in Jan. 1970. BTW 50 percent of my Benning class died the first year in Nam.

Thanks for the story, Stan! Those P5M Mariners you worked on have always fascinated me. It must have been rather cool to be around them taking off and landing. Plus, to me, nothing sounds as good as a big radial engine pulling some torque. Always loved seeing the Marlin at the museum in Pensacola.

Interesting that you were there for the P-3 Fleet introduction. I supported the P-3 sundown and transition to the P-8 Poseidon here at Pax River as part of my Public Affairs job. The P-3's were great airplanes but they were very tired at the end. 50 years ... not a bad run, though.

P-3's ran the same engines as the USAF C-130, just turned upside down so the air intake was on top- - - - - -something about flying a little close to the waves at times, I've heard!
Jerry

I'm glad I was a Tank Mech. If the tank engine quits running, the tank rolls to a stop (hopefully).... and airplane, that's a different story!

what was the Antisubmarine plane that was based on the Lockheed Electra?

Jim -- P-3 Orion

John, you having attained an exalted rank, What happens if you have no aptitude for where the place you are assigned? I enlisted for Admin, hoping to spend some time at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indy. I got sidetracked to OCS and when I did not complete the course I went to Viet Nam and was offered company clerk or mail room clerk so I took mail room which turned out a wise decision, no guard duty or formations. When I came back I was assigned to the Company mail room at Red Stone Arsenal Huntsville Al.

Exalted rank?? Hardly ...

Anyway, seems like you found your place In the Marine Corps (at least when I was in), you had two shots at successfully achieving an MOS. If you failed your second try, you were processed out. I actually had to do that to a Marine at PAO school. He had been an aviator, got his wings and then managed to get himself thrown out of the F-18 community. So they sent him to PAO school and I was his Journalism instructor. He did not take his schooling seriously and fabricated assignments. The last one, and the one I failed him for, was a feature story he turned in about the Speedway. His problem was that his story contained quotes from a Speedway employee who gave exact figures for how many seats were in the grandstands at the Brickyard ... right! As anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes in Indianapolis knows, the number of seats at the Brickyard is about the most closely guarded secret in all professional sports -- the Hulman family would routinely fire employees on the spot for even speculating in public about it. So no, we did not want him as a Marine Corps Spokesman. We made him a civilian.

I don't know what was at Ft Ben back in the '60's, but when I was there in the early '90's it was home to the Finance Center, Finance Clerk School, the Public Affairs School House, the Mess Management Supervisor's School, the Postal School ... and those were just the joint schools I remember because we had Marines there attending them. We usually had approximately 150 Marines at Ft Harrison at any one time -- about 45 permanently assigned and rest were transients attending the various schools. There might have been more Army only schools there, too. LOTS of Admin types of course for all those school houses. Ft Ben was a great Post -- it was originally a cavalry post and the field grade officer housing around the parade field was really stately and nice. The old horse stables were still there, too but they were all repurposed into warehouses

Even though I was merely a Company Grade (slime) officer, I was still just one of only three Marine officers assigned there (PCS -- two of us were assigned to the Public Affairs school house and the third was the Government contract officer out at Allison Gas Turbine -- now Rolls Royce -- where they make the MV-22 engines) and we were offered one of those cool Parade Deck Field Grade quarters. They were three story duplexes so we decided to pass and found a house out in town. Peggy and I sort of regret that -- it would have been really cool to live in one of those old stately turn of the century houses. We probably would have turned the dining room into our bedroom. The Post housing office was ready to build a ramp for Peggy, too. The Army was very accommodating.

We very much enjoyed that tour. Teaching in the school house and commanding the Marine Detachment at Ft Harrison was my most professionally rewarding tour in the Corps. There were few higher honors I received in the Corps than a thankyou note I received from a former student after he had been named the Navy's Journalist of the Year.

The sad part was being a part of the crew that closed the doors, ran down the flag for the last time, turned off the lights and formerly closed Ft. Benjamin Harrison. It was hard to leave. But ... we were headed to Hawai'i for three years so it wasn't THAT hard ...

Thanks. As I iterated I had no training in the postal service but it does not take much to put mail in pigeonholes and read others' magazines. One of the other perks I was the Colnel's driver so I always had a vehicle at my disposal in Viet Nam and stateside. Stateside only drove him once to a meeting and he came back with others that were there. The car broke down on the way there but I knew how to fix it. He was impressed. . I am glad I did not stay in but sometimes I have thought about why I did not switch to the Air Force, my brother stayed 23 years and ended up an E8. After getting out he went to work as a GS13 at Wright Patterson and his wife was a GS14. I did take the Postal exam before I got out but failed the typing test. Never thought about taking it again when I got out because it was all a writing test, no typing.

Hmm, maybe Ron has the "Skipper's" rank mixed up with a Navy Captain?

He's not the only one... I never had a problem renting a sail boat at White Beach ... dials phone to Navy MWR .... "Hi, this is Capt. Milliman. Can I get one of the Catalina's for Saturday? ..... Great. Thanks!"



Of course, it didn't hurt, either, that I held a Navy Sailing Association "D" qual (Off Shore Skipper). Not too many people on Okinawa at the time with that Qual so ... sailing we went. It didn't take them long anyway to figure out I was merely a no-account, plebeian Marine Corps Captain. Still got the big boats when I wanted one, they just weren't quite as nice to me on the phone ...