KP During my time on the E, I tried to learn a little of the languages of ports we would visit. Sometimes that can come back to haunt you.

In January of 03, I spent about a week in the hospital due to major stomach surgery. Since I live in the Bay Area, most of my nurses and "care providers" were Phillipinas.

One of my favorite care providers was a young gal named Daine. (Pronounced "Dane"). She was a cute and perky young thing. I just knew that every time she walked into my room I was going to get my pillow fluffed, my hair combed, or a sponge bath. Daine was "just off the boat" and her English wasn't all that good. I occasionally would try a little of my pigeon Tagalog on her but she always pretended not to understand me. ( Not sure why she did that.)

One day she was giving me a sponge bath and she had me sitting up while she washed my back. She leaned a little far forward and her tiny breasts rubbed against my back. I reflexively said, "Ah, Malaki so-so." ("Big tits," which they definitely were not!) I heard a gasp from behind me followed by a quick rap to the back of the head. She has to pick NOW to understand my Tagalog! The sponge bath ended right f**king there! For the rest of my hospital stay Daine kept me at arms length and viewed me with distrust.

I'm pretty sure there's a moral in here somewhere, but I'm not exactly sure what it is.

PP

3/3/05

Ram, a little variation to an infamous movie line. 

Mark Serna

3/3/05

Son, we live on a ship that needs power, and that power needs to be generated by people in Reactor Department. Who's gonna do it, you? You Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for propulsion and electricity and you curse Reactor Department. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Scrams and Fast Insertions, while tragic, probably saves lives. And our existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you…saves lives. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about; at 8 o'clocks, you WANT me in that plant; you NEED me in that plant! We use words like STARTUP RATE, MAX BASE LOAD, TRIP POINT CALIBRATIONS, and AVERAGE LOGARITHMIC ENERGY DECREMENT PER COLLISION..... We use these words as the backbone of a life spent supporting the entire ship and airwing; you use them as a punch line! I have neither the time, nor the inclination to explain myself to a person who freely takes Hollywood showers with the very water I provide, AND THEN QUESTIONS THE MANNER IN WHICH I PROVIDE IT! I would rather you just said thank you and went on your way; otherwise I suggest you find a chow line to stand in. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!

KP Note: I'm sorry guys.  I've dropped the ball on this one so far.  Mrs. KP made a few calls and got nowhere.  I made a few calls and got nowhere.  Most hotels around here can't block off rooms on such short notice.  My dad is in town this weekend so I can't do much until Monday. I'm going to suggest looking for rooms in Chandler, AZ as our best bet.     

KP Note: Yep, just like them REs to f*ck you over;).  Personally, I hated doing RC lighting.  It was never a simple 'pop in a fluorescent bulb' and it worked.  Usually it was try a bulb--no--pop in a starter--no--mess with the ballast--no--OH WELL, 2 of the 3 are working, so WTF, no one will know any better anyway, put the cover back on and bag the next guy doing an RC lighting tour.  Cursed were the ones where all three lights were out, then you actually had to fix the damn thing.  To be honest RE04 was pretty good about fixing the RC lights.  The worst thing about setting CPAW for a lighting tour was before you could get your RE guys out, them damn RMs came running in to do their work, bagging your poor CPAW with a few extra hours of duty. 

What a great web site! Could spend hours reading at shot but the family would wonder where I had disappeared to or "what's wrong with daddy, he keeps laughing at the computer." So, I have to read a little here and a little there. I spent four years, two months on board - June 81 through August 85 in RE. Worked in #1 plant, RE LPO in #1 plant, and finished out my term as Forward Group Sup. We retiled and repainted #1 swgr, that is when the logo on the tile floor went in. Don't know how long it stayed there but #1 swgr had the nicest looking floor of all the swgrs. All the names and stories bring back a lot of memories. I started at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station six months after departing the Big E and the Navy. I see that you are also a valley resident. If you ever wondered, you could man an entire Enterprise watch bill for one propulsion with the ex Enterprise folks who have and still currently work at Palo Verde. I live in Goodyear. Thanks for putting this site together!

Rusty Maxwell

giljan@cox.net

3/7/05

KP Note: Hey, another Arizonan!  And an ex-RE to boot!  Welcome aboard.  

I've been trying to think of what would be the best way to respond to Capt F*ckity F*ck. First off, let me say that instinctively I know that there is something uncool about the CO going off like that over something that the chief clearly did not see as a problem. After all, when the fecal matter hits the revolving blades isn't he going to have to trust his chief? If the CO did this in front of the chief's subordinates then it was totally out of line. And we haven't even touched on how much of a lead balloon it would probably be in today's PC-friendly, feminized, Clintonized (thanks, Hillary...thanks for the mammaries) Navy. But I digress. Here's how I would respond to the good CO if I were the flag orificer to whom he reported. I would say to him 'are we not running a war ship here? Do we not find it incumbent within our job description to be able to improvise when called upon to do so?' What a commanding officer with any class would do is to carry a flashlight on an inspection. If he doesn't want to have to clear it thought the control point then he could pick up a battle lantern. There. You tested the battle lantern at the same time. If he sees an area that's questionable, he shines the light in the corner and notes what he sees. When he's done he gives the chief a word of encouragement. For example, he might say, 'next time, Chief, let's try to be a little more attentive to keep those lights in good order so I don't have to resort to the battle lantern to see in the corners.' If I were that chief I would have been extremely pissed off. There's a time when you honestly screw up and you have to look at yourself and say 'yeah, I deserved that arse chewing', but this was not one of those times. So that's my take on that.

Joe B from Ike

3/8/05

KP Note: I'm sitting here trying to remember my worst ass chewing in the navy.  No doubt it was from LtCDR Casey in NPS.  It was actually directed at my whole class but since he was staring right at me the whole time, the point was driven home.  (And since I was partially innocent I wanted to say, "Why you looking at me for? I wasn't even There!" but I didn't dare.)  I also remember once I was walking into that McDonalds on NAS Alameda when some CDR was walking out.  I didn't see or salute him.  Then all of a sudden I hear this guy screaming at me something along the lines of: "Don't you know how to salute an officer sailor?" The guy was a total asshole. He swore up and down at me as I gave him every kind of salute I knew.  Whoever I was with (probably Dicko) gave me a ration of shit afterwards for being such a kiss ass. 

Today's topic: What was the worse ass chewing you got while in the navy? 

3/8/05 

Okay, I did some snooping around, looks like I can fly for just over $200 round trip and the hotels in Chandler can be viewed in this list:

http://www.visitchandler.com/Accommodations.asp

I spot checked and looks like a range in room prices from:

super 8 - $50/nt Courtyard - $150/nt.

Personally I think the super 8 is fine enough. I'm going to recommend this.

Ram, is there a local watering hole that we can stealthily (without paying for) take over on Friday night? Otherwise should we rally at your warehouse?

Louie

3/8/05

KP Note: there are literally dozens of local bars along Chandler Blvd between that motel and my house.  If 20 or fewer guys are gonna come we can meet at my house.  We can always meet at my warehouse and I can rent tables, chairs, etc.  I doubt I can get San Magoo by the keg but we can get something.  My warehouse is next door to a Casino (no kidding) so we can always ramble there if we get bored.    

KP,

This was my worst ass chewing in the navy...and I was innocent!

After MM "A" school at Great Lakes, a bunch of us were sent TAD for a few months on the base until slots opened up at Nuc School. I was sent to Security to be a "gate guard" (My best duty in the Navy, by far!).

So, I show up for work my first day and find out that the duty section I am in has duty that day. Since I was not "qualified" as gate guard, I am told to go put on dungarees and report back for field day. When I show up, one of the first classes tells me that I am going to wash the car of one of the girls that works at security. (A pregnant E-2 -- I out ranked her!). I'm thinking that this is pretty fucked up but I do it anyway.

About 15 minutes after I start, this other first class comes over and tells me that "Chief Warrant Officer so and so wants to see me immediately." I have no idea who this guy is but who am I to argue? So, I enter the office and this CWO who looks like he has been in the Navy for 40 years starts chewing my ass for using Navy facilities to wash my car. I try to explain to him that it's not my car, but this seems to make him angrier.

After he gets done, I head back over to security and I am fuming. I go inside the building and the First Class who gave me the fucked up assignment starts yelling at me because I've been gone for so long!! I tell him that I got my ass chewed for washing his girlfriend's car and that I'm through with the job. I got my ass chewed because this fucking geek wanted to impress a pregnant E-2.

Anyhow, I worked at Security for the whole summer. Some of our guys got sent to work at the school and they were laughing at those of us who got sent to Security. They weren't laughing when they found out we worked two days on, two days off and every other weekend for us was a three day. Also, on our duty days we stood 3 hours on, 3 hours off of gate guard. There was a day shift duty section and a night duty section so we were only responsible for 8am to 8pm.

Definitely a kick back summer.

Ike Mike

3/9/05

KP Note: We don't have an official list as of yet.  We're not 100% set on the places or times, but we're pretty much settled on the location and date.  I'm not sure who will bring their wife or significant other.  Mrs. KP will be busy on Saturday so I doubt she will be around much.  Go ahead and email me if you're planning to attend and I'll post your name on my reunion page under a "these guys are pretty sure they'll be there" heading. I simply cannot wait to see most of you guys.  It's been too long.  I might even get my hair cut for the occasion (Nahh).

3/9/05 

Ram, You could probably mix up a pretty lethal batch of Mojo in one of your vats. I bet that would get the grass to grow out there.

Chester

3/9/05

KP Note: Sadly, Mojo would probably kill most of us older guys now.  Hell, I drink more than one beer I feel it.

KP

I have to agree with Joe B's comment about the "F**kety F**k" incident. That is definitely a very poor and low class example of leadership. I've been a supervisor since '87 and in that time, I've attended numerous management classes/seminars. Usually one of the things they do is show a training film that includes examples of both good and bad leadership. The "FF" incident would definitely fall in the "bad" category. So much so that it would bring a round of guffaws from the class.

In all honesty it took me a while to remember a good ass chewing story. Maybe I was blessed with good luck. Boot camp had some real memorable ass chewings, but that was all theater so it doesn't count. A long forgotten ass chewing memory finally did surface that has been buried for almost 30 years.

On the '76 cruise, we were in the I.O. and doing ORSE prep. In 1MMR we had been busting ass for quite some time and finally got the plant ORSE ready. At just that time it was my turn for CMO quals. One of the things this entailed was a stint in the AMRs to qualify on those watches. I got a temporary assignment to 1AMR just as they finally got a late start on their own ORSE prep. MFP! Back on 4&8s with a full workday to boot. After about a week of painting and virtually nothing in the way of training, I had had enough! I got off the 00 to 04 watch and went to bed. "F**k the workday!" A short time later they sent one of the non rates to my rack to tell me to get down to the plant. I politely told him to kiss my ass. About 10 minutes later I hear my name being loudly used in vain right outside my rack. It was Chief Byrd from 1AMR yelling at me to get my ass down to the plant "right f**king NOW!" I was being carpet bombed with "F bombs." Stark naked, I hopped down out of my rack and stood in front of him letting him blow himself out. When he was done I calmly (well as calmly as I could) told him I was sent to the AMR to train, and not to be someone's slave. I told him that I had busted my ass in my own plant while his guys were dicking the dog. Now that my own plant was done I was not going to someone else's plant and do their work for them. I told him to train me or send me back to my own plant. Either way my painting days were DONE in 1AMR. A week later my AMR qual card was complete and I was back "home."

Interestingly enough, in late June '78 Willy, Gary Steinke and I were standing at the top of the afterbrow getting ready for our last trip down it. Just then we hear our names being yelled out and were told to stop. It was Chief Byrd. He came up and shook hands with each of us. He (sincerely I think) thanked us for serving our country and wished us all the best of luck in civilian life. WTF? Never being one to hold a grudge for very long, I wished him the best in his own future.

Being raised in a military family, it was drilled in me to obey and respect my superiors. I'm pretty damn sure that this was the only time I told a khaki to go f**k himself. I may not have used those exact words, but I'm quite sure the meaning was clear. Maybe that's why I've suppressed the memory for so long.

PP

3/10/05

KP Note: When  you mentioned the "theatrics" of boot camp I had some funny flashbacks.  When I was really ambitions and had lots of free time (basically when I worked for the g'vment) I was going to write a fictional narrative about boot camp.  No doubt I would have used my very own CCs as the main characters in the story.  These guys were great.  Sadly, I can't recall their names (company 84-077).  One was a BMC (named Statton, Stratton or something of that sort) and the other was an old diesel boat ENC (named Gritten?).  Both these guys were headed back to the fleet and we were their last company so they were mostly having fun at our expense.  The BMC was the hard ass (bad cop) and the ENC was the easy-going one (good cop).  So while BMC was mashing the hell out of us ENC was usually cracking jokes so we had something the laugh at while doing push ups, sharks, and all them other awful things they tortured you with.  I can still picture BMC standing in front of me yelling.  I remember it was so hard not to start cracking up (like in that Monty Python "Bicus Dickuss" movie scene).  No doubt the funniest thing I recall BMC saying (as he walked by me while we were at attention or something and my mouth was slightly ajar) was, "Close yer' mouth dickhead.... you're giving me a hard on!" I chocked back my laughter as he stood there glaring at me with his "mean look." Boot camp was probably one of the most positive things that ever happened to me.  I was a completely different person afterwards.  Would I ever want to go through it again? No.  But when I was a 20-year-old un ambitious kid with little or no self confidence, it did wonders for me.     

Boot Camp is a funny thing. I think any military person is somewhat proud that he got through it, but we have to be careful not to sound to our friends or co-workers who don't have military experience like we're boasting because everyone pretty much knows it's hard to fail out of Boot Camp. It's really just a rapid coming-of-age. Let's tear the boy away from his mommy in eight short weeks. Nevertheless, we do have a right to be proud because we voluntarily took on something which, at the time, was a formidable challenge all for the service of our country. I left for Boot Camp in the Summer of 1984 just two weeks after high school graduation. I didn't even take the summer to goof off. I watched the 4th of July fireworks through the window by my rack. I guess for about the first couple of weeks I was literally scared sh*tless. That is to say I was in such a state of shock that I could not even defecate. It was easily the scariest thing I have ever done next to getting married. But that's a different story. The funny thing about getting married is you don't realize at the time what a scary thing it is. That realization has to sink in over time. I was in company 191 (along with Craig Norquist, who hails from the Big 'E') I think Craig handled the mental f*cking with that they threw at us better than I did. But I came around, and by the time we got to service week I was feeling okay. I seem to recall that my service week duty consisted of cleaning our barracks. It was not at all a bad assignment. Anyway, now I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can remember quite vividly the bus ride from O'Hare up to the Great Lakes base and arriving just before sunset in June only to be greeted by these freaky-looking squids in black stocking caps. You gotta hand it to the Navy. What better way to humiliate someone than to have them parade around in the June heat in white leggings and a black stocking cap? Well, I guess they could have trucked in some cheerleaders that we knew from high school and let them watch us parade around in white leggings and black stocking caps. There you go. It could have been worse. Eventually, Friday August 17th came around, and it was a beautiful sunny summer day. And I was starting to feel alive again. I don't think I'm dramatizing. It felt like I was coming back to life after having been dead for eight weeks. That afternoon after graduation our CCs took us all to some bar with a few pool tables. Never before or never since have I so greatly appreciated such a simple pleasure as a few beers and a game of pool.

Joe B from Ike

3/11/05

KP Note: You know Joe, that lack of taking a shit when you first got to boot camp was a common experience.  I remember many a freshly-shaved headed guy asking the Rick next to him if he had taken a dump yet.  Most in my company went days or even weeks without clearing the poop deck.  When the elder division "white hats" in the barracks house met a bunch of newly arrived "raisin headed" recruits they always asked how many days it had been since they took a dump.  Many admitted it had been at least a week.  I'm not sure why that was.  I would guess one's first few weeks in prison would be similar (unless there was an "impact" of some sort that caused things to clear out).    

KP,

Just got back to the site after about a year or two. I'm still laughing, especially at the fuckity fuck story. Wild Bill Isom hit it right on with that story. TJ Dull's other favorite expression was that the Big E was ready to go "shoot somebody in the face." Don't know how many times I heard that. It was great to see Mike Nolan sending in some stories; he was one of my instructors at D1G and Jeff Strong was my sea dad.

And thanks for the link to the Ike Bites website. I just finished 3 years onboard IKE, for refueling. The Nimitz class carriers are pretty good, but the Pig is still second to none.

Thanks,

Brian Heasley RC22, 23, RIMR 1995-2001

P.S. My email is changed, mstang_nuke@yahoo.com

3/14/05

Hey Brother,

Here is another story to add to the RX/ENG site.

KP,

When I was Nub reporting to the E, in early 1974, I was like all other Nubs. I knew everything and I was bullet proof. I had been to San D, Long Beach, Great Aches, Mare IS, and now the “E”. For me it is just “E”. I hated all the mind games for years after. But with age one is blessed with just the funny stuff. Or you wind up in a place not so nice. I wound up in a good place. As with everyone else I started out in the M-Div’r Coop. If you were washed or a pubic hammer snipe, that was the start. I reported on board with this dude, Bruce. I was a washout and he came from A-school. It was Sunday. We had no assignments and really did not know who was going to give us one. What does one do in this situation? Hit the beach!! We decided to go across the bay and see the city or a movie. We were too wet and too new to know where to get a beer. So we started walking and finally found our way to the City. (Bruce he just knew and I kept my washed up mouth shut) Now everyone knows there is no substance abuse tolerated in the Navy. Especially, in the elite of the newclear trained Navy. Them thar tained foks was so edjumakated dat day nu a warnt rat to do da nastezs. So, on our tip, there was no conversation about Merit badges or how to tie knots. Being edjuyamcated we just went to the City. After being Public servants and putting out a fire, what happened is we wound up on the down hill side of San Fran. Yes, you are correct, dumbass! There are a whole bunch of hills. But on this side was a theater that was showing the Exorcist (sp?). So what do we do? Yes, we are educated men. The govmnt said so. We purchased two tickets to the movie and went in. I was never the same again. This is why. Now as anyone who has been in the city on a Sunday, you have experienced the fact that the great public transportation system reduces itself to a penis in 64 degree water and that was just to get to the BART (bay area rapid transit (train, you EC shit heads)) As NUBS we were at the mercy of the City. Now the movie itself, in original format, is a trip. We came out 2 hours later and guess what. It is dark! Remember it is still winter. Some kind of dark we had not seen, with the clouds rolling in. Only in the Bay Area, right? We hung around on a corner for the bus and a very polite gentleman told us that we had to catch the bus some twenty blocks down the street. We started hoofing it thinking that we could get back on the last BART to Oakland. As we walked by each alley we expected to have pea soup thrown on us from hoses. The hair stood up on my whole body. I thought my skivvies had a fur blanket after 10 blocks. I was so scared from that movie. I don’t know how we made it across town without messing our skives. Again, if someone had stepped out of the dark and requested a light, or SMTFO, they would have been drowning in a Sea of Brown-25. A good night in all but we weren’t even getting up a good head of Steam. Yet. 

Doober 

PS This not Bruce “limpdick” Limkin. This was a different Bruce.

3/14/05

3/14/05  

3/14/05 

Today, March 14, is my own personal "Navy Day."  It was on this date 21 years ago that I was mustered into Company 077 at RTC GLakes.  Wow, it's now been 21 years since that dreary, cold, and snowy day!  Those born that day are drinking their first legal beer this afternoon.  No doubt few of my company bros are still on active duty.  

KP

3/14/05 

3/15/05

 3/16/05

KP

I went to boot camp in Orlando Florida on July 27 1972. Although I had started early in the morning at the AFEES station, it was after 10:00 PM when we finally got to boot camp. After some obligatory harassment, they took us to a barracks called RIF (Recruit Inprocessing Facility), gave us some bedding, and told us to make up our racks. Some guys had never done anything like this before and I had a few laughs at their expense. Sometime after midnight, we were finally ready to turn in but "they" wanted to harass us some more. They made us "pop tall" (stand at attention at the end of our racks) while they went up and down the 2 rows of recruits and verbally abused us.

A guy about 4 persons down the line from me nervously let out a fart. It was both loud and extremely wet! To me it sounded like the poor young recruit had taken his first Navy shit without the benefit of ever having been in a Navy head! Naturally, about 10 of us on either side of the unfortunate recruit started laughing. This infuriated our tormenters. A black dude wearing blue utilities with gold anchors on the collar ran up and down the line asking us angrily if anyone thought this was funny. He asked us who it was that he had heard laughing, but we all wisely kept quiet and stared straight ahead. He goes into this tirade about, "A fart may have been funny this morning when you were at your Mama's house, but it's not funny now!" (Like I'm not gonna bust out laughing at a statement like that.) I did my first Navy push-ups over that one.

I later discovered that the black dude was just a lousy f**king "service week" on a power trip. (Dickhead.) I do think of him however whenever I see reruns of "An Officer and a Gentleman" with Lou Gosset Jr. (Gosset did it much better, but then he had the benefit of writers and multiple takes.)

PP

3/16/05

KP Note:  Like most of you I, too, arrived at the RIF long after sundown (after an all day ordeal).  I remember it was my first introduction to 'true idiots' as many in my group could not, nor had ever seen, those scantron-style sheets we had to fill out.  After all the paper work was finished I recall being handed a blanket and pea coat and then marched into a large open bay berthing space.  The lights were turned off and we were told to go to sleep; however, this was impossible due to all the yelling and screaming that echoed through that big room.  Since I was raised in So. Cal I had never really heard the type of racist language being bantered about that night.  The inner city black guys were talking about how much they liked white [female genitalia] and the southern rural types were yelling back stuff about how, they, too, wouldn't touch that [other race of female genitalia].  I thought guys were going to kill each other.  While all this yelling was going on there were many others screaming for everyone to shut up so we could get some sleep.  I'm not sure if I even fell asleep because the next thing I knew the lights came on, a trash can was kicked across the floor and three or four men in red arm bands were yelling at us to get our asses out of bed.  We were then marched to chow followed by a trip to the barber for that infamous first haircut.  It was a bitterly cold morning and having a freshly shaved head was the most uncomfortable feeling I ever had in my life. 

Alright, I'm officially booked. I'm getting in on Friday the 22nd at about 1pm and staying at the deluxe accommodations of the Super 8 hotel in Chandler ($50/night, $55 if you want pool side). Who wants to play golf on Saturday, I'll bring my clubs if anyone else wants to play. Here's a thought, if Ike Mike and Howlin dog Ram are in the same place, perhaps we could get them to play the party. I think if I limit my drinking I can do this thing for less than $500. It can be done on the cheap. May have to resort to Natty lite or some other inferior nectar. If you haven't already committed to being there, don't wait!!! I hope to see you all there. Remember through various trivia contests, Ram owes several of us free beer.

3/18/05

KP Note: I've made some inquires about bar space for that night and met some resistance (i.e., Friday's our busiest night) but we can always just show up and take up space early.  One local pub can accommodate a Saturday reunion party so maybe we'll do the official reunion on the 23rd and just have a general get-together Friday night.  Kevin Doyle, are you out there?  Maybe you could help put together a golf outing on Saturday afternoon.  Or, if any of you want to hang out at a local park and have a BBQ, we could do that as well.  I'll check into Phoenix parks and recs and see what they say.  We may have to just take over the park;)  There are literally millions of things to do in the Phoenix area so maybe someone can look into something.  As long as we're all together I don't care what we do.

Growing up in a Baptist household colorful language was never used. The threat of being beaten to a pulp was held over your head even if you thought about colorful language. Then I joined the Navy. The first two weeks of boot I heard words and terms that I never knew existed. I was glad to join in the fun. I saw a post from PP about STFO. As I recall and used on many occasions the O stood for Off vice Out. And yes, as I recall it was used a great deal in the AMR. I am not sure who coined the phrase but I remember hearing it first from a shipmate who I can only recall as Beans. The term was even used in its more personal configuration, SMeTFO or its shorter term SMO. Always a good reply when your peers were jag'n ya. Oh, and for emphasis one must grab a large portion of his crouch while spilling out the grand retort. Some time after being indoctrinated to Navy lingo I was standing a Water Control Watch. I called down to 2AMR and gave the LL watch the line up. The line up was made and me fine friend Tater Head calls the line up complete and gives me a STFO. Now as everyone remembers all comm is repeated back. Thank you Heimie. I repeat back the comm with he STFO on the end. What little noise there was in Central stopped. I even think the background noise of the circ fan stopped. The EOOW, Abes brother Lcmdr Kaylyn, leans back in his chair and says, "Petty Office Doober, please explain that last comm, I am not familiar with it." My brain goes into neutral and my mouth goes into high gear. I explain to the EOOW that the lineup has been changed to ".classified" and the Starboard Tank is Full and Overflowing. Ie the reason for changing the line up. Kaylyn asks the PPWO if he had ever used that term. Man I was sweating bullets. You could hear lead beads falling on the deck. The PPWO replies, "I have never used it but in a flooding situation I can see where the watch stander might use the term." Kaylyn just turns around and says nothing. The background noise starts up again and I can hear people talking. Kaylyn turns again and is getting ready to say something. I am fried. I figure at least Capn's mast. All of a sudden 2AMR calls up and requests an eductor lineup. The DC guy pipes up a little louder than usual and tells the AMR to line up their starboard eductor. The loud sound whooshing by is the sound of the bullet that just missed my ass. I quietly squeeze through the rest of the watch. Finally, my relief. Just as I stand to depart Kaylyn pipes in. Petty Officer Doober, lets keep all future commutations in the standard and acceptable format." He was no dummy. Pretty even keel for an Assifer.

Doober Nuke.

3/18/05

KP Note: Hopefully by next week we'll have the plan down solid.  For now look for a room in the east valley (Chandler).  The official reunion will most likely take place at a place called Shenanigans in Phoenix (which is near my house in the 'foothills') on Saturday night.  I'm guessing we'll probably find a place to meet in Chandler Friday night.  Saturday we'll just do whatever we can.

I remember the first night of BOOT started in the early afternoon in Oklahoma City. Four of us got our travel orders and before long we were in Atlanta to catch a connecting flight. I'll never forget seeing Coach "Bear" Bryant in the gate area speaking to some Southern Ladies who were just thrilled to be in his company. Soon we were in the Orlando airport and waited till late that night as several other new recruits arrived. A gray school bus pulls up and this fuckin' asshole E-6 in whites with a staff braid begins to ration out some smart mouth shit like he's been holding back just for us. We made the trip over to the induction center sitting on our hands and singing "Anchors Aweigh" very badly. After falling in to a half-ass formation and getting a good whiff of our host's bad breath as he informs us we have just entered the "World of Shit", (any of you Orlando guys remember the water tower? The doorknob to the world of shit?) We get a quick shakedown for contraband and a cursory inspection along with a shaving kit and are told to be ready for inspection in the morning. Now, a razor had never touched my little cherub cheeks and I looked like a B movie extra by the time I had finished hacking away at my peach fuzz. Blood was everywhere. I patched up the best I could with shit paper and tried to get some sleep as the "Fire Watches" called out to each other that the space was "ALL SECURE!". About the time I got to sleep the fucking world erupted in light and profanity. The next 24 hours were a blur of P.T., Gear Issue, haircuts, and loud mouthed son's of fuckin' bitches pointing out my shortcomings. Life soon became somewhat ordered in Company 233 in Battalion 10 next to the grinder and USS Neversail. I do remember after a few days we had a deck party where all the Company Commanders dropped in for a little fun with us. I was doing bends and thrusts and jumping jacks because of an improperly folded jacket collar. The poor bastard across from me was being ripped apart after his footlocker was dumped on the deck and hashbrown skivvies were painfully obvious to the most casual observer. The CC went fucking bugfuck on this guy and kept asking him how this could be? The poor dumb bastard said he couldn't help it, he didn't have access to a washing machine. "Oh No, well we can fix that shit right now recruit." the CC said in an almost apologetic tone. He proceeds to make this poor asshole chew his shit stained skivvies while crawling around on the deck saying, "LOOK AT ME, I'M A FUCKING MAYTAG!" I was laughing so hard I drew the wrath of our Chief who upped my reps to a thousand. I still hate jumping jacks, but I get a big grin whenever I see a Maytag commercial.

R2O

3/19/05

Hello,

served on the Big E from Sep 89 (got on just before pulling out on the world cruise) until Jan 94 down in 3 plant with the guys of EM-23.

Would like to have my email address added to the unofficial Rx and Eng website.

jtmcmill@nc.rr.com

Trying to track down a buddy of mine, John Arnaud. Was in 3 plant with me. Any clues would be huge.

Thanks for running the website

James (Mac) McMillan - EM23 - '89-'94.

3/22/05

Guys, I'm totally behind on this site.  I've gotten tons of reunion feedback and cannot keep up with it (I'm running a good two or three days behind on The KP Site.)  I'm up to my ass in work for another three or four weeks so let's post all future Reunion related stuff on Critical Thinking.  If you don't belong just mention KP Site in your request and either Arrgh! or I'll get you let in within a day.  This way we can keep all reunion info as up to date as possible. 

KP

3/23/05   

KP Note: It's always good to hear from ya "Lo_kywog," as we used to call you back in golden days of RE Div.  Hey, did you check and see if those 4-plant REs were still hiding a dopeybook behind the MMR APD?       

Thanks for an interesting web site. I was doing some research for a deceased shipmate's ( Bruce Breslau) wife and stumbled upon this site. I recognize some of the names (this is the 1st site for that!) I'd like my name added in case someone may want to contact me. It's really difficult. Thanks! 

Ken Tutorow, 1966-1969 RM Division and M Division # 4 Plant

talltimber@epix.net

3/25/05

Ram,

I'm surprised it took somebody this long to notice that that's not the Enterprise in the rear view mirror picture. I had downloaded it and sent it to my son who is on the Puget Sound (Navy Northwest, whatever the hell they call the place now) Fire Department, and who because of his job goes on the carriers regularly. He immediately pointed out that the buildings in the picture are new since he's worked there in the past few years, and the Enterprise hasn't been there in ages. Once I got looking closer, the whole island is definitely Nimitz class, and not that of the Enterprise. Also, I seem to recall that since the yards she's had "Big E" or whatever painted on the front of the island, which is missing in the picture.

Jim

3/25/05

  3/25/05

3/26/05

Randy Guthrie – email changed to kickin3@usamedia.tv

3/26/05

3/28/05

3/29/05 

Permission to come aboard? I spent 10 years in the US Navy, but I never served on Big E. After getting out I worked for Newport News Shipbuilding, and was qualified Chief Refueling Engineer for the 91-93 refueling. I cut seals, pulled fuel, moved fuel, stored fuel and shipped fuel. Since I took out your trash, I reckon that should make me at least an honorary member of the Reactor Division. In navy life I was a happy healthy EM1/SS aboard USS Memphis SSN-691, until I went to a sub tender for 2 years of "Neutral Duty". At the end of that screwing the Detailer (I think his name was ETC Bohica) told me that since I was rotating from neutral duty I had to go back to sea. I told him to fvc$ off and walked out of the meeting. I had done 2 years in school, 6 years on a sub, 2 years on a sub tender and my next 2 years minimum was to be at sea, meaning I would get a 2 year shore tour for my 13th and 14th years in the Navy. My department head, a guy I knew well and respected, asked me what he could do to keep me in the Navy. I asked him not to embarrass himself. Anyway, 15 years on and I'm living in Canada (I married a Canadian university prof), fixing electronics for the UNB Saint John School of Science, Applied Science, and Engineering, and coaching soccer as often as I can. Life after criticality is way good... Cheers, 

B Lee Williams 

rwillia2@unbsj.ca

3/31/05

KP Note: That sounds like a good idea!

Greetings long lost shipmate,

How’s Arizona treating you?

I don’t know if you got my last e-mail, it was maybe almost a year ago. Last year I moved my business into an old hangar at NAS Alameda. We have to have a RX department reunion here. The place is huge, plus it’s full of vodka. It’s ripe for a party.

Funny story, a no-shitter. I hired a guy to run my tasting room. His dad is a retired cop, is a bit bored one day, and decides to try to find out what kind of a guy his son works for. After an exhaustive search of the internet, the most authoritative source of information he could find just happened to be your website. After laughing my ass off about some of the sea stories this guys dad told him about our Navy days, I started telling a few that I don’t think are there. Like your abuse of an English to French dictionary in Toulon (may I park my caravan in front of your Laundromat, etc.).

Hope that the fertilizer biz is treating you well, you’re a natural for it.

Give me a call or drop an e-mail.

Lance Winters

4/1/05

KP Note: Hey Lance!  I called your office today but you were out.  Don't be surprised if your secretary looks at you funny.  I told her I was one of you students from Cal Berkeley.  She had no idea that you were moonlighting as a professor teaching nucleonic genetics.  

Hey, next year, we'll have to have the reunion in your place.  How spooky would it be to stumble once again in a semi-sober cloud along those hallowed former NAS Alameda parking lots?

Glad your tasting room guy has a new appreciation for your long-lost heritage.  I recall a similar thing happening to poor Dicko, when his father did a Google search on the family name.  Poor Dicko had a lot of explaining to do. 

I think I mentioned something about our "French" misuse in Toulon somewhere on this site.  I think our best sayings came from the "medical" section of the book.  The poor bar gals had no idea how to respond when we asked them if we could leave stool samples.  

Hey, just in time for our big reunion, Smoking Joe wins Big!  Check out www.iwon.com!

4/4/05

4/4/05 

Hi, my name is [omitted] and I wanted to drop you a line and just compliment your site. Nice layout, good info, good resources. I was looking around at a few different sites pertaining to veterans and VA information and I definitely thought yours was one of the best.

That being said, I also noticed you guys have some great content.. I currently work for a company that maintains a website that offers home financing, www.veteranloancenter.com. We are a nationally recognized, reliable source for VA loans on the web and I was wondering if you'd be interested in us paying to advertise via text links on your site. I realize that there are sometimes set rates/fees involved in such placement of text links so feel free to name your price.

If not, thanks for the time and keep up the good work!

Thanks, 

[omitted]

4/6/05

KP Note:  Well, hot-digity-dog!  After years of toiling with nothing to show for my troubles, someone actually wants to pay to advertise on this site.  Will I subject you guys to advertising? No way.  Er, unless, of course, it's for one of my own useless Mooj memorabilia items (which are now all sold out anyway).  Just know in your hearts that I labor on this site purely for selfish reasons: to reunite old friends and shipmates so we can share the tales of our best years together. My reward is knowing you guys still want to visit this site.  I'll give the guy a plug anyway (see link above) for his kind words.     

Ram,

Love the site – wish I’d found it a few years ago! I was a 2 plant RM that came aboard the Friday before the Big E left Alameda for her “Trans-global navigation” back in 1989. I was among the first three from my group to finish BNEQ (along with Richard “Mongo” Lewis and Jim “Mac” MacMillan). Butt-Crust (a.k.a. MMC Dave Harper) was so pleased to get a hot runner that I got to spend the next 3 months in the Coop! Ah well – it beat sweating my nuts off on the CTG flats. Sadly, the coop sapped my morale, so I became quite the curve-rider when it came to qualifications. I finally got down into the plant just in time to get in a few weeks of steaming experience before we got to Norfolk. Got through RAO quals before the last workup cruise - then it was back to the coop again! The good part of that was that I didn’t get stabbed with a billet on the Resin Discharge team (whew! THAT would have REALLY SUCKED!!!). Eventually, as the old salts started getting short, I was brought back to the plant (they needed someone to stand SRW and do the weekly tag-outs). But it was cool – by that time, I was back into the qualification frame of mind, so I blew through all the quals I could get my hands on (RMO, CPAW, GFE, NQCI, etc). When we went into rotating shifts, I was on Crew C. Within a year, I was one of the only 2 plant RMs who had seen steam in the plant - that led to me becoming a QPO. When they started bringing steam back into the plants, life was getting pretty fun again. Ironically, I stood my first CRAO watch in 3 plant (RM23-C was still re-qualifying after all being DQ’d following the resin incident in 3RAR). I have a lot of good (and not-so-good) memories of those years on the Pig. I am very glad to read through this site and reflect upon them…

For anyone that knew me, hi!

Please add me to your roster:

Adams, Jesse RM22, 1989 – 1993 jesse.adams@insightbb.com

It’s nice to see some names that I recognize. I’ll try to dig up some pictures I have from the World Cruise and send them to you soon.

In the meantime, be well.

2Charlie (the auxiliary 2 plant turbine – always on the limiter!)

4/6/05

Hi

I came across this sight purely by accident and became quite excited especially when I came across a couple of names I have seen sense 1976.

To start My name is Daniel "Clem" Wilken I was on board from 1972 to 1976 and assigned to RM 1.

When I left the Navy in 1976 I put out a bunch of feelers for different jobs in the nuc field never really finding a niche in some place where I wanted to settle down. I did take a job for a short time at a Illinois utility company which really sucked rocks and left for position as a stationary engineer for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I Retired from that job back in 2001 and took to teaching at a technical college part time witch is where I'm at at this time until budget cuts dictate otherwise.

I'm looking forward to making contact with some of my old steaming buddies.

Daniel "Clem" Wilken

danielwilken@sbcglobal.net

4/7/05

4/7/05

I signed on to your site about a year ago, but my job and family have kept me busy to the point where I haven’t had time to relay any of my sea stories. I fear that my memory of those glorious days is quickly fading so I won’t be able to provide much detail. I am in awe of how much you guys can remember, and grateful for your mental abilities, as your stories are slowly beginning to bring foggy memories back into focus. For the most part, that has been a good thing.

I was inspired to submit my first offering while reading the various stories detailing the worst butt-chewing received while serving in the Navy. My worst occurred while serving onboard the Big E. We were returning from sea (can’t for the life of me remember exactly when this happened), and were steaming into the San Francisco Bay. I had been up most of the night standing watch and finishing up PM’s in 1 plant control equipment. I was about to head to my pit to get dressed in preparation for liberty call, when the dagger fell. I was told that nobody else could be found who was qualified (thanks guys) to do some “rarely-performed” voltage checks on one of the control cabinets immediately following shutdown. I was assured that it wouldn’t take long, and I could leave the ship as soon as I was finished. I was given the procedure and told to get ready for it. I read through the procedure three or four times and decided I would try to get a head start so I could get off the ship as soon as possible. The procedure required a voltage reading immediately upon shutdown (rods on the bottom), and then every five or ten minutes for about two hours. I figured I would take the first reading (and maybe even the second and third ) even though the rods were only about half way down. At this point we were probably under the Bay Bridge. Just as I inserted the fluke leads I heard the unmistakable whine of rods being rapidly inserted emanating from the control rod panel, accompanied by the short partial insertion alarm. Ron Ulmer was the RCEO, and I remember him looking at me with a very worried look on his face. I also remember my feeble attempt at self defense by declaring, “I didn’t touch anything”, as the fluke leads dangled from the front of the panel. The WO and RO (Booger Robbins, I think) were Johnny-on-the-spot with the follow up procedure for a short partial insertion during a controlled shutdown, which was, of course, a reactor scram. Boy was my face red. Well, it seemed like about 3 minutes later and BP McClure crashed into control equipment. He went up to Ron and asked him what had happened, and Ron just turned and pointed at me. After explaining to him what I had done, Lurch began reading the procedure I had open on the desk. A couple of minutes later he pointed to a page and said, “ If you can read, tell me what this says.” I was horrified to see that he was pointing at a sentence that stated that if I did what I had done before the rods were fully inserted, a short partial insertion was likely to occur. It was at this point that Lurch called me about every four-letter name in the book, and informed me that my life on the Enterprise was about to become difficult. I guess I deserved that “reprimand,” but even after all these years I still can't understand how I missed that one piece of information in the procedure that could have saved me a lot of grief. I chalk it up to just being too tired to do what I had been stabbed, I mean asked, to do. But then, being tired all of the time is one of the things I remember best about life at sea as a Nuc on the Big E.

Funny thing happened as a result of that incident. I was disqualified to do maintenance until I completed some retraining program devised by Mumble Yak. For some reason, I wasn’t in a hurry to complete that training, and I was barred from doing any maintenance at all for several weeks. Darn the bad luck!!!

-W

4/8/05

Hello, My name is Mike Seals, my fathers name is William T. Seals, he was the commissioning Chief on the Enterprise. He was heavy in nuke power and the history of it from the later 50s. Was on duty at the Navy reactor the night the Army had their little trouble with their reactor in Idaho Falls. He is now up in the years 70 plus and his health is failing. Still can drive down for a beer but that takes some effort.

I was looking through the book on the maiden voyage of the E and looked at the RC group and asked him if he had kept in contact with these guys and he said no. So I am looking around to see if I can locate any of the original commissioning crew for the RC group.

He has some great stories about the startup and Admiral Rickover that should be shared and I figure if I can get him some of his old crew to talk with, he may want to share them.

Thanks

4/11/05

KP NOTE: Hey, you gotta have your dad share some of his stories.  Maybe you can have him tell you a few yarns and pass them along to us.  I can assure you that we would all love reading them.