KP  

Howdy “KP” and Thanks for putting the two photos I sent you last month into your Page 9.

I have been searching high and low for some drawings that I did back in the late 60’s of the 4MMR main engine moisture separator. Each MMR had it’s own “logo” painted on the moisture separator until the ’69-’70 refueling when the bad boys from NR made us remove them.

Not sure what happened to them…..rumor had it that some of the guys cut the paintings out of the lagging and stowed them away for future use. 

Anyway when I find the painting of the one from 4 plant, I will send it your way for publishing in your website.

Later, MMCM

For some reason, I was fortunate enough (!) to be qualified on the RCER watch in 1 plant on our watch team's critical plant watchbill. This watchbill was very carefully controlled, as the men on that watchbill were the only ones authorized to stand watches during the 1 plant startup. This was to be the very first startup of a Rx on the Big "E" since they brought her into Bremerton in 1978, over 2 years before. Most of the old hands and operators who had actually stood watches on critical reactors were gone, so it got pretty anal, since all of the powers that be had maxed out their collective sweat pumps over the whole thing. I don't recall being very worried about it at all, since RCER had a pretty skate watch anyway, and getting to do a rod latch would be cool. I was honored to perform the first rod latch on the first Rx to be started up on the Big "E" after the yard period.

This watchbill did cause some problems for me, though, as it almost got me thrown into jail for contempt of court. Oh, I guess now I have to tell about that DUI...

I left the bar in Siverdale early that night, because I didn't want to get into any trouble, since I was by myself and didn't have anyone to drive me and my car home if I had overdone it. So, I left early, and was trying to navigate the back roads into Bremerton. I missed a turn, and while backing up, my rear tire went into the ditch, and I was stuck. I flagged down a guy in a truck to pull me out, but alas, the homeowner whose house I was in front of called the cops, and Chico's Towing got to do their thing, which ended up costing more than the DUI ticket. I hate Chico's Towing! Those &#*^@@&!?! cost me nearly $1,000 worth of fees before I got out of the Bremerton area. I blew a .14, and I was not even beginning to feel the effects of the beer yet, because I was such a drunk that it must have taken about .20 to get me a decent buzz on. The penalty for that screw up was the NASAP classes, which I'm sure many of you readers know of, some probably first hand! You could miss 2 classes, but if you missed a third, you were out, and they sent you back to the judge for contempt of court.

I had about 3 more classes to go, and then the unthinkable happened. The class came up on a night I was scheduled for watch in 1 plant, on the dreaded criticality watchbill. The worst of it was, I was the ONLY guy on our crew on the watchbill for RCER. They had about 4 ROs, but only me in the alley. I HAD to go to that class! Either that, or jail. Finally, Ben Hunt came and relieved me, saying that he'd take the heat for the problems. He was qualified to stand critical RO, why not the lame RCER? I went to class, and everything seemed fine for about 1/2 an hour. Then the phone in the classroom rang. That had never happened during all the previous classes, and I just knew it wasn't a good thing. It was for me. ME?!? How did they know where I was? Who was it? Well, I knew. Sure enough, the OOD of the Enterprise told me to get my butt and the rest of me back to the ship and get on watch, or the NRO guy was going to shut down the entire testing program on the E. Yep, I was certainly screwed. I told him that if they made me come back, they'd have the same problem next week, because then I'd be in jail, and the cops wouldn't give a flying flip who ordered me to do what! He didn't buy it, he gave me a direct order to return to the ship. I made him tell the NASAP instructor who he was and explain, in the vain hope that they would cut me some slack, but no dice. I was going to fry in my own juices. I had to go back.

The next week, they tried to kick me out of the NASAP class, but I wouldn't leave, and I begged my DO and the RO to bail me out of that one. Somehow, they got the NASAP guys not to dime me out, but as a penalty, I never got the "honor" of receiving the college credit for the course. Like I really cared!

The other time that stupid watchbill messed me up, I was on watch, and I had to take a dump. Now, urinating isn't really that big of a problem, but taking a #2, that's a different thing all together. I couldn't leave a floater in the bilge; even I wouldn't do that to the MMs. So, I had to take a crap in a garbage can, and take the bag with me when I left the watch. And no, I didn't "bag" my relief with that one!

Arrgh!

Arrgh stories! At least all you have to do is read 'em. I had to live 'em and mop up after 'em. And it's quite a repulsive memory. Between Arrgh's ramblings and Dirtbag's bullshit the web will be full by the end of the year. 

"The Waste"

PS. Dirt - Thanks for turning me on to this site.

Remember how the water on the Big "E" always ended up tasting and smelling like JP-5? That always made me want a big glass of water, ya' know? Even the bug juice on the mess decks tasted like gasoline. I drank so much pop from cans back then that I bet the Ruskies built their imitation carrier from the aluminum I threw over the side. I think that's probably why I don't drink much pop now.

The way my HT buddy told me that kept happening goes as follows:

Way up in the front of the ship, so close to the bow that the walls could be seen sloping inward, there was a pump room on the 7th deck. There were JP-5 pumps in there, and there were also Potable Water pumps. My HT buddy told me that when the HTs would gundeck the soundings, the bilge level in there would raise up to the level of the pumps. Now, the pumps would work under water, but the seals weren't so good, and the pump action would literally skim the JP-5 off the top of the water when the level got up to the pump seals.  Isn't THAT an appetizing thought? He seemed to be pretty serious that this was how the JP-5 was getting into the pot water system. I always hoped he was wrong, especially knowing what I used to do in the bilges, and I wasn't even a low life HT!

One day, it got so bad that the XO came on the all stations to tell us all that there wasn't enough JP-5 in the water to hurt us, so it was safe. I was in the EOS doing maintenance, and I walked over to the drinking fountain, turned it on, and held the flame from my cigarette lighter under the stream of water, and we all laughed while watching the black smoke rise away from the stream, mocking the XO, "Oh, don't worry!  It won't hurt you." Yeah, right. 

I always enjoyed the way it left your skin feeling and smelling. Can you see the advertising campaign? "All New Big "E" scent! Just like the fresh morning air after flight ops!"

Arrgh!

Travis Young, EE30 91-95, EE04 98-until I transfer
opsymca@aol.com

Bill, 

My name is Ernie Norquist and I am Craig's oldest brother. I saw the website that you have for old Big E nukes and read the story about Craig and the haircut. I was stationed on the USS Saipan when we were going through a yard period in Portsmouth, VA. and spent many a night at a local pub as yard periods allow you to do. I started becoming a "regular" and was introduced to a gentlemen, whose name I forgot, by the owner of the bar. When I told him I was in the Navy we started talking about mutual people we knew. We started talking about duty stations and he told me that me that he was the reactor officer on the Enterprise. I told him my brother was a nuke on the E. Needless to say, the conversation changed when I told him Craig Norquist was my brother. He described the incident with the haircut with all that was involved and asked me, "What is that fuck-up doing with himself now?" I did not take too much offense to this as I knew that Craig was not the most stellar example of a sailor when he was in, but what did give me a sense of pride was informing him that the "fuck-up" was in his 3rd year of medical school at Harvard. To make a long story short Craig and a friend were coming down to visit a couple of weeks later and I told the gentlemen about it. We met at the pub where Craig and this guy spent quite a bit of time talking about the haircut I am sure. After Craig left I continued to see the guy every so often and he would just kind of shake his head and tell me that he never would have imagined Craig as a doctor........... and if you ever saw Craig on liberty in Subic Bay you wouldn't either.

Ernie

Just wanted to add my name to the unofficial list. Ran across your web site while browsing. I'm also in the Enterprise Assn. I
encourage all your contacts to join if they have not. I can be contacted at my email address: jamesvco@cs.com 

James Voorhies, ET1, RC23 & RC Admin, 1983 - 1987 

Thank You, 
James Voorhies

Hi KP,

Thanks for including me in the “60’s and 70’s” listings along with the MMCM listing of the 80’s in your contacts page.

Not sure if you would like to get it all like it was but here it is:

1960’S

4MMR 67-69

2AMR 69-71

1970’S

1AMR 1974

A-1 DIV CAT SUPERVISOR 75-76

PSNSY OVHAUL CREW CHIEF 79-82

1980’S

PSNSY OVHAUL CREW CHIEF 79-82

LEAD CENTRAL CONTROL EWS 81-82

RX DEPT LEAD CHIEF ‘MMCM’ 86-89

If you take into account the fact that 3 out of 4 of my Enterprise Tours were in the Engineering Department and that I spent 18 months on the roof supervising the cat shop during a time frame that included “Operation Frequent Wind” in 1975 you will get a little insight of that guy we used to know as MMCM…….

Got some communication from an old two planter today who says that during the 90’s overhaul in Newport News the MS painting in 4MMR was painted over and lost forever….I told him that I will be spending the day today looking for the drawings that I made of that painting…….got to find them !!!!!

Later, R/…………MMCM

Hi,

Nice site. I'd like to be added, and I'll mention it to others...

Len Staller
RM-22
1992-1994

email: lstaller@cygnal.com

Thanks!
-Len

KP

KP-

It's really a shame that your awesome site is being so sorely infected with the low-life type mechanical scum that are discovering it. Now, not only is the one and only "Dirtbag" infecting us with his bizarre and untrue renditions of the adventures of Arrgh!, but now Jerry "Waste" Waitinas has been referred here by the Dirtbag. This man will certainly try to spew out some story about me crashing his motorcycle. Here's what really happened...

I visited Waste's house in SC one day, and he had somehow managed to get his piece of junk rat bike together with some duct tape and bailing wire. Then, after sabotaging it to fall apart on me, he suckered me into riding it while he video taped the whole thing. Amazingly, his wicked plan actually succeeded (I don't know how) and the grip came off while I was riding around in his back yard. This caused me to drop the bike, and to my great embarrassment, the rascal had succeeded in capturing it on tape.  Fortunately, I have the only existing copy of this video.

I just know that he and Dirtbag will try to convince all of the kind, gentle and very savvy readers of your web site that I was somehow responsible for ruining his motorcycle, which he then was forced to sell.  Please be warned ahead of time that such rumors are FALSE! Waste set me up, and I wanted to get to tell you what happened first, so no one would be fooled. 

Arrgh!

Of course, everything in this letter is true ;>

I found your site and loved it......add me to the list.

Drees, Joseph, EM-14 1982-1986
email Drees@charter.net

Hi KP, 

Got an idea for your site. How about a memorial list. It could include our lost bud's name, division, year they left us, and maybe how they left us (i.e., auto accident, extended sickness, or whatever). I know there are a lot of nuke buds out there that
are still looking for someone but never got the word. 

My first nominee would of course be Mike Bowden, RE Division, 1986, died on duty. 

Just an idea. My HS class started a memorial page for it's website. 

J.V.

Don't let Arrgh fool you! He couldn't balance his own two feet to take a piss in the morning, much less a motorcycle. At the time of day when his Blood-Alcohol system has it's lowest percentage of alcohol, he can be seen pissing with his hand on the wall like a "kickstand" holding himself up. His "pre-emptive" story only confirms what those of us who where there already know. Argh was a "lightweight", and he only remembers half of all the stories. Because it's hard to see what is going on around you from the vantage point of the floor, face down, passed out cold!! 

Another true fact from the "DB"

Buy a steel dumpster, paint it gray inside and out, and live in it for six months.

Run all the pipes and wires in your house exposed on the walls.

Repaint your entire house every month.

Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of the bathtub and move the shower head to chest level. When you take showers, make sure you turn off the water while you soap down.

Put lube oil in your humidifier and set it on high.

Once a week, blow compressed air up your chimney, making sure the wind carries the soot onto your neighbor's house. Ignore his complaints.

Once a month, take all major appliances apart and then reassemble them.

Raise the thresholds and lower the headers of your front and back doors, so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass through them.

Disassemble and inspect your lawnmower every week.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, turn your water heater temperature up to 200 degrees. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, turn the water heater off.

On Saturdays and Sundays tell your family they use too much water during the week, so no bathing will be allowed.

Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling, so you can't turn over without getting out and then getting back in.

Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Have your spouse whip open the curtain about 3 hours after you go to sleep, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and say "Sorry, wrong rack".

Make your family qualify to operate each appliance in your house -dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc.

Find the dumbest guy in the neighborhood and make him your boss for the next two years.

Lower all shower heads to not more than four and one-half feet off the deck and be sure the tops of all mirrors are no more than four and one-half feet high as well. Tell your family members that hunching to look in the mirror is really natural. Then yell "Attention on deck" when the cat walks by to see how quickly they can assume a full upright position.

Have your neighbor come over each day at 5 am, blow a whistle so loud Helen Keller could hear it, and shout "Reveille, reveille, all hands heave out and trice up".

Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in your back yard at 6 a.m. while she reads it to you.

Submit a request chit to your father-in-law requesting permission to leave your house before 3 pm.

Empty all the garbage bins in your house and sweep the driveway three times a day, whether it needs it or not.

Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, read your magazines, and randomly lose every 5th item before delivering it to you.

Watch no TV except for movies played in the middle of the night. Have your family vote on which movie to watch, then show a different one.

When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone shouting that your home is under attack and ordering them to their battle stations.

Make your family menu a week ahead of time without consulting the pantry or refrigerator.

Post a menu on the kitchen door informing your family that they are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for an hour. When they finally get to the kitchen, tell them you are out of steak, but they can have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they ignore the menu and just ask for hot dogs.

Bake a cake. Prop up one side of the pan so the cake bakes unevenly.  Spread icing real thick to level it off.

Get up every night around midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread.

Set your alarm clock to go off at random during the night. At the alarm, jump up and dress as fast as you can, making sure to button your top shirt button and tuck your pants into your socks. Run out into the back yard and uncoil the garden hose.

Every week or so, throw your cat or dog in the pool and shout "Man overboard port side!" Rate your family members on how fast they respond.

Put the headphones from your stereo on your head, but don't plug them in. Hang a paper cup around your neck on a string. Stand in front of the stove, and speak into the paper cup "Stove manned and ready." After an hour or so, speak into the cup again "Stove secured." Roll up the headphones and paper cup and stow them in a shoebox.

Place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have your family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4 hour intervals. This is best done when the weather is worst. January is a good time.

When there is a thunderstorm in your area, get a wobbly rocking chair, sit in it and rock as hard as you can until you become nauseous. Make sure to have a supply of stale crackers in your shirt pocket.

For former engineers: bring your lawn mower into the living room, and run it all day long.

Make coffee using eighteen scoops of budget priced coffee grounds per pot, and allow the pot to simmer for 5 hours before drinking.

Have someone under the age of ten give you a haircut with sheep shears.

Sew the back pockets of your jeans on the front.

Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go to the scummiest part of town. Find the most run down, trashiest bar, and drink beer until you are hammered. Then walk all the way home.

Take a two week vacation visiting the red light districts of Europe or the Far East, and call it "world travel".

Lock yourself and your family in the house for six weeks. Tell them that at the end of the 6th week you are going to take them to Disney World for" liberty." At the end of the 6th week, inform them the trip to Disney World has been canceled because they need to get ready for an inspection, and it will be another week before they can leave the house.

Who's ready to go back to sea?

Joe "Omnipitant Squid" Drees, 4MMR, 82-86

Ram,

My name is Tom Lindmark. I was in RE division from Mid '79 to Late '81. I made E-6 shortly before getting out following 8 years of duty. My memory is hazy but I do recall being div LPO for a while after Jeff Danner left. Jim Whitsett and I were together for a period in RT and RE. A few months before I got out I was in the Staff Training Group...we provided training to the oncoming/offgoing RX Dept. crews in the buildings they set up on the hangar bay. I hooked up with Jim Whitsett via E mail and Classmates.com.

I just finished looking around at your site. Found it doing a search for Jim Whitsett. What a hoot! Brought back many a memory...some (mostly) good and some that were less than that. I am still thinking about sharing some of my stories with you for publishing on your site. Give me a little more time to get some memorabilia scanned and my courage up. Who is Arrrgh? He got on the pig just a little after I did. He sounds familiar but I cannot place him. 

Have a happy Thanksgiving. 

Tom Lindmark
lurkertom@hotmail.com

Landon "Rosey" Rosenquist
EM-14 1998-2002
Roseymc213@aol.com 

Let me just say a few things about the nukes in my time.  Sure we got drunk and looked like shit most of the time, but beneath the "Shitty Attitudes" was the undeniable fact that we were good operators.  I served for nine years after leaving the Enterprise and never encountered the level of knowledge and expertise we had there.  There was great peer pressure to qualify and those in plant boards were a bitch. Didn't matter who you were or where you came from, the highest compliment you could get was to be known as a good watchstander.  I remember when I was in SIMA San Diego in 94 or 95 I had to checkout a job on the California.  On the quarterdeck was a sign that said, "Cleanest Ship in the Navy." Just shuddered when I saw that.  It was 2200 on a Friday night and all the nukes were fielddaying while the topsiders were out on liberty. I rarely had work days on the Enterprise when steaming and stupidly thought that the rest of the navy was like us.  One reason was that the engine rooms of the Enterprise were so damn hot.  We had to take heat stress surveys and our stay time was like 45 minutes.  Before we got air conditioning in M-Div berthing it would be in the 90s.  No one would believe me on later ships that berthing was hotter on the E then the MMRs on a Nimitz class.  Damn, rambling on again......... The day the Navy died: Jan 1, 1985. That's when the beards came off.  I remember not recognizing half the division. Worst was Joe Gilmore (MOK).  He was about six foot five and had a ZZ TOP beard. Big deadhead (who turned me on to them and to whom I am eternally grateful) and partied with the AARRRRRGHHHH. I heard a lot of the ARGH stories from him.  MOK got busted twice for drugs and still made first.  He did alot of acid in PI.  Everywhere else for that matter.  Drove an old Dodge Challenger he called the Deadmobile. He rolled it on his way to shore duty in Bremerton if I remember correctly.  We used to go to A's games back when they sucked.  $2 for a bleacher ticket and $20 for beer.  I remember puking out the window going through the Alameda tunnel at about 90mph in the deadmobile.  All the good times at the ballpark with those baseball nuts. Just a nice place to get drunk.  Four plant sure made a lot of chiefs.  Randy Fisher who skateboarded to work, Todd Mizer who was always in the hospital, Mark Kellog (Milkman), Todd Anderson (Wogger), Lee (Princess Lea) all made chief. Mordus who was my last chief was an officer on the Vinson. These were all great guys too, not like the shitheads I had to work for later on other ships.  We always lucked out in four plant, never had an asshole in charge like some of you did.  On the Nimitz I was nicknamed Wiwote (When I Was On The Enterprise) Joe because it never measured up to Enterprise standards and I never let people forget it.  Damn we were good! It really was the best and worst of times (Dave Trongone getting killed in a car accident was the worse for me.  I never drank and drove after that).  As a single guy who lived on the ship I rented a storage shed behind Dales (home of transvestites and hard core drinkers) with about ten other guys. We had car seats in there to sit on and Joe Gilmore's stereo tape deck. We would drink all day and piss in 2-liter Pepsi bottles.  I honestly remember Mike Crooks filling one up in one shot...........Cool.  It really sucked being single in Alameda.  In Hunter's Point we had to stay on the ship in drydock. No hot water (if any at all) and they replaced the deck coating on the aft messdecks (M-Div was directly below aft messdecks). Impossible to sleep.  Remember the ice cream shack on the messdecks?  Remember spending Thanksgiving day anchored in the fog cold iron between Alameda and Hunter's Point with grilled cheese for supper? Rambling again, time to take my Zokor......

Joe Drees

Bill,

Tom Lindmark here. I have attached scanned pix of some of us from RE, RC and RM div in 1980 at my 25th birthday and later at a Halloween party. Can't ID all of the folks but maybe someone else can.

Brewery Tour, L-R EM3 Peter Klevitch, LT ????, EM2 Tom Lindmark, ET2 Brian Robinson (went to work at Millstone early '82), Brian Robinson in drag at Halloween Party, October 1980, MM2 Dennis May at Halloween Party, October 1980 Mary Ellen May with Brian Robinson at Halloween Party, EM1 Jeff Danner with MM3 "Jethro" at Tom's 25th birthday, June 1980, L-R Mrs. "Jethro," ET3 Mark "Lipps" Tietsort, Joy Danner, Jeff Danner EM2 Peter Klevitch MM2 Tommy Weber and Linda Weber Unknown, Unknown RC div'er, EM1 Jeff Danner in background, EM2 Tom Lindmark, EM2 Terry King and Unknown RC div'er (Oren????)

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Jim "Arrgh!" Schibetta
RC-14 1980-1983

KP……Did this attached sketch of the Moisture Separator lagging painting in 4MMR. Had some spare time in January – February 1969 while we were cold iron in Pearl Harbor after the ‘Big Fire’.

I am not a great artist…..and sure not a camera…..but those who were in 4MMR in the “old” days will remember this on sight………The original was about 4 or 5 foot square if my memory serves me right. It was centered on the MS above the LP turbine.

Original artist is believed to be someone called “the Stub” and rumor has it the idea came out of an early Playboy Magazine….????????

At any rate, all MMR’s had a Logo painted on their MS and this was the pride and joy of 4MMR during the 1960’s and beyond off and on until it was reportedly destroyed by stupitidity.

R/ MMCM

This article came out in the local paper while we were in the shipyard 79-81. The Reactor Operator that was interviewed got busted by NIS for some trumped up charges and went to Leavenworth Kansas for 6 months hard labor.

(Click to enlarge)

Found your site awhile back and have been enjoying the "memories". Now that some of my fellow "ELTs" have come out of the closet....I guess I will too!

I was with RL Div (Long live RL01 Forward Shack) from 6/81 to 6/84. I also qualified as a Reactor Mechanic and stood many watches in #1 and #4 Plant as an honorary MM. Please add me to your list. 

Brad Davis
davisbj@id.doe.gov

Hi KP,

The first drawing is a detail drawing of some of the characters of the 4MMR MS drawing. In those days we all had our favorites and could see ourselves in one or more of the characters.

The second drawing is entitled, “Tools of the Trade”….. Because more so, than any other time in the history of Enterprise, that I am personally aware of (1967 – 1989) , CLEANING, SCRAPING, SCRUBBING, WASHING, WIREBRUSHING, AND PAINTING was the “primary duty” of the day for 90% of the Eng. and Rx. Dept. sailors in the 1960’s.

In those Days we actually had work days at sea from 0745 to 1600 in addition to standing our 4 on and 8 off watch bill. (because it was strictly forbidden to do anything except watch duties on watch)………the regular workday (6 days a week) was needed to take care of all the “MAINTAINENCE, CLEANING, PAINTING AND ETC.”

I lost 20lbs on both the ’68 and ’69 cruise and in those days I didn’t have 20 lbs to loose.

Later, R/ MMCM

This is a change of email address for Gail Flowers Jr. EM14, 93-95. My new email address is gflowers@usd497.org

Thanks,

Gail

I missed one familiar face in there the first time I looked at Tom's pics. Jethro! Who could forget him. Back in the yard period I bought a Torino from Ben Hunt. It's the car Dirtbag and I took to SeaFair in that story about the canoe. After smashing my car (not my fault! I was totally sober that time, really!) and getting a DUI in it (ok, so that was my fault), I decided that I'd be better off without a car, and I traded it to Jethro for a bicycle. In fact, the bicycle was a piece of junk that Jethro had cut the frame on because he couldn't get the chain off. The frame was spliced back together with hose clamps. But hey, there was no such offense as drinking and riding, right?

Arrgh!

"The Tark and Mel Drinking Team"

No this story doesn't have Argh in it, but it does include a pair of genuine alcoholic RMs from four plant. Most of the RMs were alcoholics, true. But the difference was these guys always had dibs on puking in the garbage cans on UL RAR. You could use them as your "hangover standard." If you looked worse than they did, you were really on a serious "bender." And someone else got you back to the "Pig", 'cause you didn't get back on your own. One of our first nights back in port or maybe the first week (winter 81- spring 82???) I decided to go out drinking with these two. Big Mistake. Their gig was "let's go do our laundry." That was code for "let's get drunk and drive around looking for a Laundromat next to a bar, if we find one we'll do laundry. If we get too drunk looking, then we'll try again tomorrow."  This was pretty much the same thing I did with my usual drinking buds, except we didn't haul around our dirty laundry for two weeks. The other thing was, these guys always drank bourbon. I was normally a beer, vodka, rum, and "smoke" kind of guy. With these two idiots, it was just bourbon, lots of it. These losers proceeded to drink me under the table. It wasn't my best performance, and that bourbon is some mean shit. At some point we ended up in a strip club in downtown San Francisco; couldn't tell you the name, or where it was. Don't even remember how I got in the club. I can remember for a moment the "bourbon haze" lifted, and there was some gal wearing lingerie with about half her teeth rotted out sitting on my leg talking to me. With a superhuman effort, I understood part of what she was trying to tell me. She kept repeating that the woman sitting on Tark's lap was "weird!!!" She said that something about "her" wasn't right. Like a tank turret gun in slow motion I looked over at the woman she was talking about.  I carefully focused my eyes. On Tark's lap was the "woman of his dreams." I noticed she had a "boob job," nothing new there, hell every woman in California has those. She was ugly, typical for Tark, again nothing new. She didn't have a "package," as it would have been obvious through the skimpy "thong panties" she had on! Other than the fact she had big hands, and was trying to suck Tark's tongue out of his head, everything looked okay. Of course I couldn't make out many details through the "bourbon goggles" I had on. The foreplay between Tark and his new friend went on for a few hours. At one point the girl on my lap mysteriously disappeared. She probably got tired of me staring at my dick with my eyes closed. I woke up from my "bourbon induced coma" again, this time because the place was closing. Tark's dream woman had changed into her street cloths and was following us out the front door.  She and Tark were hugging and kissing like a couple of high school kids. Tark tossed me the keys to his car, and told us that we were on our own. He was going home with "dream girl" for a night of wild sex she had promised him, and he would see us tomorrow. I stood there on the street corner watching him walk off, wondering where the car was, wondering where I was, and knowing that I couldn't drive even if I did find the car. I was still standing on the corner with Mel, when Tark came back. I was confused; I asked him what was going on, and why wasn't he still with "dream woman." He demanded my knife, and he stated that he "wanted to cut off his lips." He had made it about half way down the street when "dream woman" informed him that she had been born "A Man." She told him that she was a full post-op trans-sexual. She had all the "right stuff," so it wouldn't be a problem taking care of a big man like Tark. I guess Tark walked away from his "sexual experience of a lifetime." On the way back he made us promise not to tell anyone on the ship. I laughed so hard I think I broke a couple ribs. I actually passed out laughing in the back of the car, and then woke up in my rack about 10 hours later. I showered and wandered down to 4 plant. As I stepped into EOS, I overheard a funny story getting retold, curious because the story seemed familiar. One of the RMs started telling me about Tark's adventure from the previous night. I had to stop him and let him know I already knew what happened, I was there when it happened. Damn, Mel beat me to the punch. He had already told everyone. It seemed there wasn't a soul who didn't know about Tark's big date. Tark took some serious hell in the Dopey Book for months. There were even a few disgusting cartoons from Hustler Magazine someone cut out and pasted on the pages, with new words wrote in. I just want to set the record straight: "Mel was the one who ratted you out Tark." He woke up before I did. I have to admit I did retell the story a few hundred times, to people that didn't know you. Just wanted to thank you for all those "good laughs" over the years.  Oh yea, sorry about posting it on the site. Heheheeheheheeh!! Real sorry!!!

A True Tale, from the "DB"

yythra@yahoo.com

Larry Deaton, Rx Training, 1998 - 2000
e-mail: snoozerpooch@ameritech.net

Please change my e-mail address to jpw@southwind.net

James Wood, E-DIV, 1977 to 1979

I would like to inform any shipmates out there from the "old days" of the recent death of former Electricians Mate Randy Orr. Randy (like myself) was not a Nuke, but stood watch in 2&3 Switchgear (the "haunted" switchgear"). Randy and I were assigned to the Power Shop and took many a "Liberty" in PI and other points around the world. We lost touch for many years, but touched base again about six years ago. Randy had finished his tour on the Big E and got a job in Bremerton as a "yardbird". I was recently informed of his death (11/23/02) in Bremerton due to a heart attack. Randy was a great guy and one hell of a good party buddy.

James Woods

Hi, my name is Mark Valdick, and I was an RM-23'er, 82-86. thanks!

rosevaldick@attbi.com

Must have been an "Reactor Operator" transferred from 1 plant!

[KP Note: Yeah, like that never happened on the Big E!  There was one time when moral was at an all time low and things like that were happening all the time.  Once someone pulled SCR fuses and left a note that said, "FTN."  There were too many suspects for any investigation to be of any significance.]

Brad Gable, EM-23 1998-2000 & EM-22 2000-2002
bradgable@comcast.net

philfossil@excite.com

Finally! Straight from the horses.. er, mouth! The true, fantastic, remarkable, side splitting tale of Arrgh!'s trip to the funny farm. This is a true story, folks! Somewhere, in the anals of dopey books in 4 plant, from the late 1983 time period, there are certainly many references to this tale, although, sadly, I didn't get to read them because I got out of the Nav instead.  Bummer.... NOT!! Anyway, read it and weep with laughter. It's the ultimate Arrgh! classic, and the culmination of years of hard partying and wastedness. Mikey Noland probably remembers this well, as he undoubtedly has retold this classic many times. Better make a head call first, though. You'll ruin yer shorts on this one... and it's all absolutely true...

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CritThink/files/Arrgh%21/Arrgh17

don't forget part 2!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CritThink/files/Arrgh%21/Arrgh18

Arrgh!  

Yes, KP was known to drink a few beers in his time.  But I was not one of those guys who was always drunk.  I was most comfortable with a slight buzz, and so that's how you often found me when I was out and about.  But one night I really overdid it.  I was down in Orlando, working as a security guard at NPS (one of those pre nuke school TAD assignments--I was lucky since most of the others arriving when I did got assigned "smerf" duty).  One night after my shift was over my good buddy Steve Hamil and I (who was also in my security detail) decided to walk to a place called O'Brian's, right off Colonial Blvd, near the McGwire Gate.  We met up with others from our security detail and a drinking contest ensued--you know, East Coast boys vs. West Coast boys type of thing.  It was 2-fer-one night at O'Brians and our drink of choice that night was Bacardi 151.  (Bad idea!)  I have no idea what happened next but several hours later Base Security found me laying in my skivvies behind my BEQ bldg, with my head laying in about 2-inches of water by the edge of some lake!  They asked me where I lived and I told them so they brought me back to my bunk and tucked me in (nice guys).  They weren't so nice about an hour later when they found me in the same place with my head in the lake again!  I have no idea why I wanted to be there, or why I felt the need to put my head in the water but I did.  The SPs warned me that if I showed up there again I would be spending the night in the brig.  I was sobered up enough by then to understand them.  I actually got alcohol poisoning as a result of all that drinking and was sick for days.  I've never been able to drink Bacardi again.    

KP

If you sent me some email lately and it is not posted here, please resend it.  My mailbox got deleted.  I know there were some pics from Arggh and DB, plus a few new guys (and even one resume). Please resend and I'll see if I can retrieve it.  I got some Virus thing that deleted my entire mailbox :(  

KP

This may look like an RPCP indicator lamp to the untrained eye, but an experienced, seasoned veteran of almost any cruise would know that this is in reality an RPCP pachinko ball. The idea was to get it to land on top of the meters and switch covers on the panel, with various point values assigned for different resting places. This one was my luckiest ball! WO's hated this game; they always thought that we would break something. With that tiny bulb? Get real... They were just jealous because we found something to do to pass the time!

Arrgh!!  

KP,

Here's some more pics of stuff I have from the olden daze...

Matches from the PI, still good after 20 years! 

Olangapo Mardi-Gras ticket

 An actual "Nukie Cookie" which I wore for 6 months, and palmed on the day we were supposed to turn them in (7904).  Complete with seed burns...

Arrgh!

CTG man - RM-22.

This is an absolutely terrific site. I was on the pig from '91-'96 in EE30. A friend sent it to me that was not even on the Pig, however, knowing I was and the fond memories I have, he sent it to me. I must say that I am disappointed by the turnout of more people from my era, I believe we were the "wild dogs" or something like that (we were told that we piss in our own den, but that's another very entertaining story). Although it does warm my heart to see through reading the entries that there are one or two people out there who remember the 4E lounge. OK, that's enough for now, I'll be sure to share some stories later. I can't be the only one on here that remembers the "mung bucket".  

My contact info is jeff.hudson@novellus.com, all of which can be posted, no biggie. Again, good site man. Truly a gift.

This was what Jerry the "Waste" did best. Here he is, caught in a weak moment, performing a close inspection of the inside of a cardboard box. If I remember right, we did "stage" the bottle in his hand. He was so drunk it took us several tries to get him to hold the bottle long enough for us to "get the shot!!!" He was way past drinking anymore, and he wasn't going to get to the bathroom to puke. And of course none of his "buddies" were going to help him, other than kick a box under him!!! Hehehehehe!!!

DB

Orlando Florida, 1977/78

Onward and Upward!

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