PCPilot's Military Service Page

I served in the United States military for a total of 13 1/2 years. After losing a coin toss with my high school buddy, we entered Marine bootcamp on the buddy plan in San Diego on my 18th birthday in April 1975, the month Saigon fell. After boot camp, I was assigned to the Bulk Fuel Company that was part of the First Force Service Group (FSSG), or Regiment as it were, on Camp Pendleton. I was trained to operate heavy equipment including several types of bulldozers, loaders, mobile diesal pumps, and trucks, mainly duece and a halfs.
However, my eyes were always upon the sea and its distant horizon. They still are to this day. I have always had a sailors' blood and heart in me. I longed then and now to travel and to see for myself all those incredible places spoken of in the books I've read. After 2 1/2 years, I went to a recruiter for the Navy and asked if he could get me in. The bastard said, "Yes, but you'll have to attend bootcamp again.", says he. "Bootcamp? But I went thru as a Marine. Ive already did it", says I. "Ah, but you have to learn the Navy way lad", says he. That seemed to make sense. I wanted to learn all I could. "So sign me up you fishy smelling, mud-bottomed, scavvy infested swab!" roars I...or words to that effect...November of 1977 found me going thru societal withdrawels again at the San Diego Naval Training Center.
After graduation, I was assigned to the USS Independance CV-62 which happened to be stationed very near, if not at, the exact apex of the spincter of the earth, Norfolk, Va. While Virginia is a beautiful state and the heart of my beloved Dixie, Ive never been to a more sailor unfreindly town than Norfolk. That town has earned my undying antipathy. The Indy on the other hand was a grand ship with what turned into a very good crew. She was undergoing a nine month overhaul when I came aboard at the Naval shipyards near Norfolk on the Elizabeth river. After completing ROH, and me gaining petty Officer third class(BM), we underwent some serious training for about 6 months, then got underway for the Caribbean, a sailors' paradise. When we got back to spinct...er..., I mean, Norfolk, we had a short rest, then left for the Mediteranean.
It was a young mans dream come true. We visited Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Israel, Sicily, and Crete. We met beautiful girls who really did like us, (and our money), and we swam, we ate, we drank, and life was great. Except maybe for the midnite watches, constant flight quarters, and refuelings at sea. When my 2 year enlistment expired, the cruise had a few weeks left. I opted to fly home to Philedelphia from Rota, Spain in a creaky old 4 engine prop job that appeared to have been hit by flak in WW1 and was still piloted by the same old veteran. My 1st "wife for a week" Cindy, met me with HER son, and home I went to work in the copper mines in Arizona...until they went on strike a few months later.
Having to care for a family, I rejoined the Navy for 4 years and was shipped off to San Diego again. Funny how this laid back, sunny town kept cropping up in my life. Here I boarded the finest ship with the best crew in the Pacific fleet, the USS David R. Ray DD-971. The 4 years on her saw me go on two "WestPacs" covering the area from San Diego to Diego Garcia, to Bahrain and the Shatt al Arab waterway at the far end of the Persian gulf. We picked up Vietnamese refugees and cleaned the blood of them we were too late to rescue off the boats they were attacked in by the local bastard pirates. We cruised wartime steaming thru the Persian Gulf, manning .50 MGs from WW2, waiting for the Iranians who wanted to be martyrs to try to fly their suicide cessnas into us. We visited the Phillipines, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Perth, Austrailia, Hawaii, Guam, and Thailand. And as all too many young sailors do, we drank, we whored, and we lost one of our own, one of MY men, Steve Opfer, when he took a bad fall during a nite of partying.
When it came time to reenlist, I had met a most beautiful blond girl named Karen who dissuaded me from going back to sea and come to Portland, Ore to marry her. So I said goodbye to the sea in 1984. I'll never forget casting off that fine ship's bowline from the bollard on the pier and waving goodbye to the ship as she pulled away going back out to sea again on another adventure, this time without me. One of the saddest days of my life, and also one of the happiest. Wierd...
I wont go into detail about the interim years, but after 12 years of time and a second divorce, I decided to go back into the military once again, this time as a California national guardsman in San Diego. Funny, I started the military working with fuel and heavy equipment, and I ended my service doing the same. You'd think we used a lot of gas...yes folks, I was a 77Foxtrot, fuel handler, for a supply company, (Alpha company), in the 240th Forward Support Batallion(FSB), 40th Infantry (Sunburst) Division Mechanised. While there were some really great people there, mostly the military I saw in the Guard was only a "little bit Army", in the words of a Sgt1C. I decided to pass on further service, just in time to miss all the fun in Bosnia and Aphganastan. Bummer...
Anyway, here are a few pics of my adventures. Im very proud of my service time and of my brothers and sisters in the military now. I dont agree with all the political correctness, and lowering the standards to fit women in. However, America can rest assured that every soldier, sailor, airman, Coast Guardsmen, and Marine know their duty and their place in history. They feel everyday in their hearts the legacy of those who have served before. Washington and Greene, Lee and Grant, Roosevelt, Pershing, Eisenhower and Patton, and every man jack of them who have went before, have shown our military today what valor is all about. Dont worry America, your military wont let you down. With our Good Lords' help, they will protect you from enemies outside our good country who would take your freedoms. I often feel the greater threat to our personal freedom will come from inside the country. I'd keep one eye on your politicians if I were you...

18 and scared to death.	back row, upper right.
The Indy CV-62, 100, 000 tons of good old American knowhow and whoopass!	The David Ray in 1980 when I came aboard.
Running the 50foot utility boats on the Indy in the Med.	Someone took this shot of me and my boat in Haifa, Israel.
Bringing in "Seasnake two zero" one of over 1000 times according to the ship flight log. Yup, I did ALL of them over two deployments. Chief Kniesley watches over everything; a good man...	The Captains Gig on the Ray. I loved this boat; A young man with a boat that has a 250 horse Cat diesal, speed screw, and transom mounted leveling planes...need I say more? hehe
Persian Gulf 1981	Persian Gulf 1983

Salt's just dripping off us...
Haze grey and almost underway for deployment number 3.
Thats BM1 Larry Waelty on the right, a good friend.

"Sign on young man and sail with me. The stature of out homeland
is no more than a measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep the torch
of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young,
the brave, the strong and the free. Heed my call.
Come to the sea. Come sail with me."
John Paul Jones

Show me that horizon...yo ho.

BACK
to Main Page