Official Big E Rx Site

Another Hippo Missal

KP:

Arghh!! How the Steamer equivocates. This was his backyard and he was unable to control it? Control, or lack thereof, brings to mind a sojourn with Animal Parker.

After a Coke (with ice) at the club, we found ourselves in town partaking in the time honored massage, manicure, pedicure, haircut routine at the "T." Stupefied and lethargic, we entered a dining establishment. A young lady of Animal's former acquaintance sat down with us and attempted to claim his carnal attentions for the evening. Running with the Hippo precludes this activity until deemed inevitable by lack of brain activity due to loss of blood. After explaining the futility of her wishes, the Animal suddenly appeared to have journeyed to Lourdes and partaken of the waters. A beatific look manifested itself on his craggy countenance. He equivocated and seemingly demurred to the young woman’s wishes. After my adamant and physical rejection of this change in policy, resulting in her departure, it was ascertained that a knife of butterfly proportions had been held against Animals nether regions. This accounted for lack of adherence to protocol and all was deemed right with the world. A celebration of sorts was initiated and the time line grows dim until the AM. I awoke with the sweet smell of grass in my nose and the sounds of porcine behavior in my ears. Finding this in no way unusual, I was not alarmed as this was normal in RC berthing. Wiping the dried plasma (my last transfusion) from my eyes, I was met by a nativity scene. Animal, spooned with a pig, and myself, afloat on a ship of hay in the morass of a sty. The why’s and wherefores of our appearance in this place are lost in antiquity. (I have feelings though that Jumping Jack may have been involved.) We were able to extricate ourselves and returned via jeepny/cattlecar from the manger beside the inn. A hamburger and again a Coke at wharf side completed the circle.

As an aside, I concur with Steamer's validation of the people with which I was in contact. Even with all my nefarious behaviors, I was never left without my ID and if penniless, aided (even if somewhat coercively) with humor and respect. This could not be said of some dealings with Officers. … Singapore and Little Bud await my next foray from the bog.

Hippo

Wog Day 1986

Something that would NEVER happen in the NEW NAVY!

Top Picture L to R: Brian Saunders, Joe Arnold, Dave Gronow, Tim 'Pookie' Hatton, and Mike Beltzer

Bottom Picture: Rx berthing

-Mark Best

Ah yes, Wog Day 1986! That was my first wog day and it sucked since I was but a lowly wog. Wog days '88 and '90 were much better since I was on the "beating end" of the shillelagh.

I remember all the old salts were complaining about wog day '86 since they thought it was too toned down compared to previous wog days. If you ask me wog day '86 was pretty intense since I got many a deserving whack while crawling from rx berthing all the way to the fwd mess decks, through nasty 4-day old garbage, up and across the length of the hangar bay (while stopping many times to blow water out of pad eyes) and then up elevator 2 to the flight deck where all the real fun awaited. I was so sore afterwards that I couldn't sit for days. My knees and hands were also pretty chewed up as well. My favorite wog day story is the one about Ralph Riveria (RE01) (see Mooj.com Feb 28, 2001 newsletter). I still laugh when I think about it.

Those of you who look closely at the bottom photo (above) will see none other than RE04's very own Myron Gyolia ("Q"). I think this photo was taken shortly after our rx berthing wog-dog fights.

So all you modern day salts, what is wog day like these days? Can you still beat wogs senseless with fire hoses and then make them perform unthinkable acts? With women onboard I imagine it couldn't be anything like it was in the good old days.

A Missive From The Missing Link!

Missing Link here! RM 3 from 76-80. Two WestPacs, bombing the Cree, almost shooting down one of our own A-4s that was stowing a target sleeve, catching the first case of Black Clap on the Pig in the PI in '76, being in the battle group that were the first American warships to pull into Hobart Tasmania since 1946, cruising in circles off Kenya because Idi Amin had just taken the hostages and we were supposed to be on our way home, getting home and sitting on a sand bar 200 yards from the pier for hours waiting for the tide to float us off. Ahhh, the memories... I rode the pig into Bremerton and I much preferred sea duty to the yards. Lets be honest, I HATED yard duty; I was even willing to re-up just to get sea duty again. But I didn't meet the height/weight curve and wasn't allowed to.

Remember back on Page 5 where Jim Whitsett (Hi Jim!) mentioned someone cutting the NI cables toward the end of the yard period? Well, I'm not proud of it, and I apologize for the extra watches it created (mainly for nubs,) but I did that. Then later fessed up - the 5 months in the Sand Point brig followed by 9 months stocking frozen meat and poultry in the Sand Point Commissary was the best duty I had in my entire time in the Navy. Even beat driving the base bus in Alameda while waiting for the Boobyprise to get in.

More to come. I do want to let everyone who remembers MOSUX being everywhere know that it still lives; I saw it written in a sani-can in Everett, WA last week...

M. Link, Esq.

Another Steamer Story!

hey KP ...

passing along two stories ... these are from a time B4 the Big E but involve another one of my heros ... young Nick Twigg. He stayed in (I don't get it ;) and retired on the E in 88 or so. Some may have known him as a CPO there ... I told him of yer site but he didn't seem interested as I think there were some undeserved things said about him. But the Twigg I knew as an E3 was quite a blast and one heavy dude (and not just his weight ;) So don't feel ya have to post 'em ... it's your site after all ;) I thought you would at least get a kick out of them. You posted all my good stories at one time so now I have to dig a bit to come up with more ... like spending 20 years writing tunes for an album and then the record company wants you to write 20 more in 6 months, eh?

anyway ... here they be ... do with them what you will:
---

TWI7G

Got to spread some stories about one of my favorite first steamin' buds from back in my pre-nuc daze. Twigg ... some of you may have encountered the lad when he was a Chief back on the E in the late 80's but I knew him when he was an E3 and we were nubs in the radar gang onboard the Destroyer (it nearly destroyed us ) USS Vogelgesang down in Norfolk, VA. This was in '68 and we were just out of ET school and doing a tour of duty before heading off to Sub School. BTW ... it was only later on the 'Prise when he began spelling his name Twi7g (the 7 is silent) and used "7" as his initial on the precrit cals.

Now Twiggso was a trip ... with his Boston accent, most wonderful sense of humor and he was very colorful and visible with his red curly 'fro and highly prized red handlebar mustache. As I said, we were the nubs in the radar division and it was known that we were gonna be nucs so right from the beginning we were considered to be scum-of-the-earth and assigned the shittiest jobs onboard. We spent many an hour chippin' paint and cleaning the aft head and both of us can still recall pulling God knows what up out of those shower drains!!! Whatever it was ... it was still alive and moving. But Nick made it fun ... he knew every word to every Bob Dylan song and taught me them all as we went about our duties. Man ... you should have heard him do his version of Bob singing White Christmas ... I can still hear him to this day and it still cracks me up. ;))) Now Nick was famous for his God-awful farts. (please take this word "awful" in its full meaning: full of awe; awe-inspiring; dreadful; alarming and dire; possessing crippling force; capable of inspiring feelings of respect and esteem with solemn veneration and reverence slightly tinged with fear.) I mean they could take you out, Jack ... and I'm pretty sure that's what made his hair curl, turned his 'stash red and screwed up his eyesight so he had to wear those big ole glasses. Which, BTW, prompted him to take on the name of Four-Eyed-Fat-F*ck ... he really did love to make us all laugh. But those farts!!!! Jeez-Louize. Actually ... it came in kinda handy for our paint chippin' ... he'd go into the space first and fire off a round or two and the paint would just curl up and practically fall off of the bulkheads. I learned how to recognize when he had laid a charge ... a certain smile would cross his face and he would leave the room suddenly ... and I would take a quick breath and vacate the area. Even he couldn't take 'em!!!

One day we were picking up some gear from the base store and were about to step into an elevator to go up to another floor. It was crowded with people and I was behind him as he stepped through the door when he suddenly turned around and stepped back out. The doors closed and then we could hear the sounds of folks yelling and screaming and banging on the door as it embarked. It was funny how the sound moved up and got fainter and fainter as it rose to the upper floors and I was amazed at how long we could hear them cursing before the sounds finally faded away. They were really quite upset. Later that night Twiggso went out on the town and was spotted by a few of the survivors who chased him down and cut off one half of that wonderful handlebar mustache. ;))) hehe ... he said he couldn't blame them and figured he got off easy. Of course after the odoriferous experience they had gone through earlier in the day, I'm certain none of them wanted to risk beatin' any shit out of the lad.

Steamer

In the late '80s there was an ETCM Twigg in RX Dept. I'm sure it was the same person since the Master Chief Twigg I remember was quite a character. He also had a thick Boston accent and red curly hair. He was by far the coolest master chief on the ship (and every other late 1980s rx dept. guy will attest to that!). Please let me know what was written unkind about him and I will delete it immediately.

Steamer's Second Twi7g Story!

Twi7g and I are chippin' paint in the aft head and he's going on and on about this cool bar he's found. He insists that I've got to go with him that night and check it out. It's got a good pool table and free fried chicken gizzards served by a waitress with one eye. And here's what he really wants me to see ... she doesn't wear a glass eye or anything in the socket. He just knows that's something I won't want to miss. Now I'm not into going out much ... I'm married with the wife back home expecting and I'm a pretty squared away 4.0 sailor. I'm into my job and see my purpose as keeping my radar gear in tiptop shape. Hey, I sometimes even sleep on the floor in the radar transmitter room snuggled right up next to the IFF and SPS-10, where it's nice and warm and I can hear and feel it all humming and fall asleep to the soft glow of electron tubes. That's right ... none of yer fancy transistors and computer chips ... we're talkin' Reflex Klystrons and Phantastrons. And I'm still Gung-ho and not into Steamin'. The early daze, lads, the early daze. The old times. ;)))

So we head out that night to the strip ... it's about a mile walk from the Destroyer piers and nobody we know has a car. Besides, it's unlikely we'll be able to drive later anywho. And Nick was right ... it was a great place and we had a blast eatin' gizzards and playing pool and I believe that was the night I ran the table for the first time and even won some money. The waitress ... yep ... just like he said ... 5 foot 2, eye of blue.;) We are blotto of course and on the way back, Nick has two or three spots picked out among the bushes where he can do some pukin' and or retchin' if he so desires. And he does. This is a routine with him and he feels that it's a good thing to do and will prevent acquiring a nasty hang-over and he tries to encourage me to do the same. But ... I hate puking and will do almost anything to not upchuck. Besides, I don't want to see what half digested gizzards look like. Even with the sounds of his disgorging, I manage to keep everything down. This turns out to be a big mistake.

When we finally get back to the boat, I can't seem to get into my rack and he convinces me that I'm better off and will be more comfortable just sleeping in a laundry sack. He helps me in and then hangs it on a hook on the bulkhead with nothing but my head sticking out. The drawstrings are kinda tight around my neck but I still don't puke. He assures me someone will wake me in the morning as there's no way I can get out of this thing on my own. Well ... I've got a radar class to go to over on the base at 0700 and it's more than a mile walk so I don't get much sleep that night. I finally get someone to help me out and I begin the long walk over to the classroom. Normally I enjoy this journey and it's a nice way to ease into the day but I've got a horrible hangover and feel, and no doubt look, like dog shit. I am one hurtin' unit. And it's raining. I just shuffle along ... getting soaked and cold ... punishing myself for my stupidity and vowing, "Never again, never again." I have one thing to look forward to ... nice cold chocolate milk when I finally get over to the chow hall. No way I can eat but chocolate milk has always had a soothing effect on my stomach when I've overindulged and I am way ready. And I'm gonna need it 'cause I've got a heavy duty class on IFF to somehow get through.

I go in and grab a two cartons from the cooler and I note that they are nice and cold. Man ... this is just what I need. I may yet survive. I pop one open and tip it up and am surprised at how cold it is. Man, there's even chunks of ice in it. Hmmmmm .... no, that's not ice ... and then it hits me. It's chunks all right ... great big gobs of curdled chocolate milk !!!!!! Arrruuuuuggghhh !!!!!!! But ... I still don't puke ... I hate puking. I'm doing a lot of heaving but I manage to keep it down and open the other carton. Thankfully, it's OK and I drink it down and head on over to class where I find that we are to take an exam. No problem ... after all the crap I've been through a test is no big deal. I ace it. And I've still only puked twice in my life in the intervening 34 years, regardless of the Twiggso's advice.

I'm still gonna get him back for that night. I'll work on the story of the adventure he and I had on our very first trip to sea on the Vogelgesang. It was almost our last ... seriously. It was supposed to be a simple 4-day trip from Norfolk to Boston but ended up taking about 4 years off my life. It has to do with Voodoo, a rudder falling off, 3 days of seasickness, being dead in the water and on fire at night lost in the N. Atlantic in fog so thick you couldn't see 20 foot with all of our radar and nav gear down. And this was the same night that the USS Evans (same class boat as us) got cut in half (right thru the radar xmtr room) by an Aussie aircraft carrier in the fog and lost 70 some sailors. I didn't believe in Voodoo before that trip. Not saying I do now but ... I'm not gonna mess with it anymore!!!

Steamer

A Short and Pointless Story

I hope Steamer doesn't make us wait long for his Vogelgesang story. I love his adventure tales! You know what's funny .... If Steamer stayed in the navy he would have been a SCPO or MCPO (like Twiggs) when us 80's slackers were rockin' the boat. Hmmm. Scary thought.

As far as sea sickness goes, I guess it really wasn't an issue on the Big E. I think the worst boat-rocking I experienced in my 4 years was during a storm we rode through going around South Africa on our way to Australia in 1986. I remember waves were crashing up into the hangar bay and all the planes had to be dogged down extra tight. Before the storm two guys from my division were given the rare and exotic privilege of "cross decking" with a couple of EMs from one our escort destroyers. These guys made a big deal about riding into Perth on a destroyer (I guess they thought they'd get ashore sooner than us Big E boys, since they would pull up to a pier instead of anchoring miles off the coast). One of the "lucky" guys was Gerry Wheeler, and he was pretty arrogant about his cross decking selection. Most of us were pretty jealous and watched with glee as his destroyer (off to our port side) bobbed up and down like a helpless fish and slapped its keel across the waves. Later when Wheeler rejoined us on the Big E in Perth he told us that he was so sea sick on that destroyer that he thought he was gonna die.

I also remember a pretty wild storm up near Adak, during Norpac '89. Lots of nubs were puking because they were sea sick and us old salts didn't feel a thing.

ETCM Steamer?

Yo KP ...

Yup ... had I stayed in (the thought never entered my mind) all you nubs would have been bustin' azz under me and Massa Twi7g ;)))) No slack.

Actually ... I'd probably still be an E4. Made it twice in 6 years as it waz ;))) Will begin working on the voodoo story, "The Magic Doggie's Head" asap. It's long and complex and will take some time but perhaps I can do it in installments. Last time I talked to Massa Twi7g, he didn't even want to talk about it for fear it was still after us. There was a time way back in '76 or so when he was stationed back in Nof*ck and I tried to talk him into going aboard the V'sang and stealing it but he wanted no part of that !!! We swore we would never speak of it again and now here I am about to bring it back into the realm of the living. If you never hear from me again ... well ... me Hoser email addy is F.U.B.A.R. so we best change it to OBJack2k@aol.com. I know, I know ... AOL sucks but I tend to move around a lot tryin' to stay ahead of the Doggie ... (never look back, somethin' might be gainin' on ya) and it gives me access from most of the places I end up in. Anyone ... feel free to write me and let me know if you like the stories. If you hate 'em ... bite me! ;) Hopefully I will have some time to establish a discussion group at Yahoo and KP will link to it. [KP Note: This is that "Critical Thinking" thing everyone keeps asking me about.] Then we can all swap and comment to our little sailor heart's delight. It's in the works.

Steamer
OBJack2k@aol.com

The Stohl Man Arrives!!!!

Below is an email I received from one of my dearest friends, Mark Stohl. I will include part of that letter below (hope he doesn't mind).

... Hey Ram, great to hear from you! It's great to catch up with some of the old shipmates & see what's been happening to them. Sorry for not getting back to you right away, but I've been pretty busy at work lately. I check my email almost daily though I've been in the Navy reserves almost 6 years now, it's much more tolerable than the active duty counterpart, and the pay, travel & retirement make it worthwhile. I've been on trips (annual and weekend trainings) to Colorado, Alaska, San Diego and Great Lakes (boot camp), but this year I decided to go to Norfolk. I hadn't been in touch with anyone from active duty, so I thought I'd check on the internet to see if the Enterprise was in and see if anyone I knew was assigned. When I ran across your website, I kept on reading it for at least an hour and was cracking up the whole time with the dopey books & stories & all .... But the real surprise was when I was checking into SIMA Norfolk one morning and ran into Mike [Bowman] on the way in! When I got assigned to his shop it was just like old times and he let me know what everyone has been up to.

After getting out of the Nav, I went to college in Wisconsin and got a degree in Civil Engineering. I worked for a private engineering firm in Minnesota for awhile but have been here in Wisconsin working for the state Department of Natural Resources (environmental protection) for the past 4 years. I'm in the Waste program, working mainly with landfills (dumps - old, closed and new, active ones), and also recycling and composting. The work is mainly to ensure compliance with the environmental laws. If this doesn't happen, we sometimes bring the violators to court & sue them. I've got good
coworkers & supervisors, and I pretty much work on my own at a window cubicle in a new office building. The city I live in - Racine, WI - kinda sucks tho: crime, drugs & gangs, poor schools, high taxes & unemployment - what else can you ask for? The only consolation is that it's better than Milwaukee.
Anyways, I plan on moving in a year or so to be closer to my family in northern WI.

C. Hawk, aka "Stohlman"

I wish I had a few hours to waste so that I could write down all my "Stohlman" memories. I have thousands of them!

Anyone serving on the Big E during the mid-to-late 80s knows Mark Stohl. To this day I can still hear his high-pitched laugh and hear the Sam and Dave tune Soul Man (with Stohlman substituted for soul man). No matter where the Chicken Hawk went on the ship, whenever he entered a space, the occupants of that space would spontaneously begin singing that song. (They probably even did this on the bridge when the Chicken Hawk was invited up there to discuss UCMJ biz with the old man.)

I couldn't count the number of times I had to carry the poor Chicken Hawk back to the ship when he was otherwise incapacitated. Two that I recall off the top of my head are 1) that wild and crazy night at Larry Blakes [in Berkeley] when he and I tried to out drink each other (and I had 100 lbs on him), and 2) that time in Pattya Beach, when he was on restricted liberty. He had a 1900 muster to attend and we found him ashore in some bar at 1830. I actually think three of us (Dicko, Q and I) had to carry him back to the boat and roll him onto the hangar bay just as the restricted liberty muster was beginning.

An Old RC Bud!

It really doesn't surprise me much that there aren't more RC guys (except for RC22) registered. Maybe it's true that we were boring. Anyway, my name is Robert Fend (nickname "Fend-Nub") and I was in RC23 between '86-'90. Some guys I'd like to find are Ned Wilson (RM22), Doug Miller (RC23), Scottie Spencer (EM11), George Bagwell (RC Shop), Dan O'Rourke (RC Shop) and several others that I can't recall off the top of my head.

rfend957@earthlink.net

Hey Rob, I recall seeing your friendly face in 3-plant. I was good friends with most of RC23, including Kenny Y., G. Wingardner, Billy-Bob Scoggin, K. Kessler, M. Denton, Bayman and S. Bagwell. In fact, I have stories about each of these guys that I might someday add to this web site.

In truth, Billy-Bob Scoggin was one of my all-time favorite people on the Big E. He slept in the rack above mine for years (until he finally got moved into RC berthing). I often quote him on occasion since he was so prophetic about stuff. My favorite saying of his was (must be said in a thick Georgia accent), "You know, redheads is either the best looking thang you ever saw or they're just plain butt-ugly." He was so right about stuff like that.

I also remember an RC23 guy named Sheets, do you remember that guy? Lance Winters and I were always trying to talk him into doing fictitious criminal acts for us, which he rightly refused to do. He was "on to us," so he thought.

I wish I could find Mel Denton and George Bagwell again, too. I think both wound up in the RC shop. They were pretty squared away and could fix anything.

And...., who could forget my fellow guitar playing tweaker bud Ken Kessler? (I'm not sure if his name was even Ken, but that's what we called him--which always resulted in a puzzling look from him, which is why I think Ken wasn't his name.) Do you guys remember the time Kessler met that stranger at Johnny B. Goode's and agreed to take a ride from him back to the base? The guy took Kessler back to his apartment instead and put on gay porno, hoping it would ignite Kessler's inner urges. Instead it resulted in the poor guy getting his ass kicked and Kessler having a very long walk back to the base (longer than if he had just walked home from Johnny B. Goode's in the first place).

RC23 Trivia Question Time: A Mooj T-Shirt goes out to anyone who can answer this one. What was the name of the late '80s RC23 guy, who never qualified anything? The guy pretty much made it through 4 years on the Pig without even qualifying RCEO (or if he did it was after I left). This guy pretty much skated his enlistment away working in the Rx Admin office.

BEHOLD!!!!!!!! CRITICAL THINKING IS UP AND RUNNING

A new group, "Critical Thinking" has been formed and you are all invited to become "plank owners". Let's think of it as a Virtual Dopey Book.

This is a message board and discussion group ... and also an email group. As a matter of fact this is the old EGroups ... before they were taken taken over by Yahoo a year or so ago. And it's FREE. I have a lot of experience with these groups and think that this will be something that will be a valuable addition to Tuli's RxDept. I don't want to detract from his group ... but enhance it by giving us present and ex nucs a place where we can all talk and trade messages and pictures. You can always post your message here at RxDept too. Any messages concerning the Big E or your Navy experiences are most welcome, but it's not limited to just the Nav. I encourage all to tell any stories you wish to. We will have more space to just gab and get to know one another and perhaps bridge the gap between our various generations. It seems to me that we have a lot in common even though we may have served our time in different decades. (or centuries ;) So please check it out. You can always leave later if you don't find it inspiring enough. ;) All I ask is that you let me know why so I can work on improving the site. I'm open to suggestion so lend a hand and we will see if we can get this thing underway. Steps to get in:

1. Go to Yahoo.com and follow the destructions to obtain a valid Yahoo ID. This is painless and free. If you are already a Yahoo (or even a Yahoo member ;), jump to step 4.

2. Choose a nic for an ID and a password and a valid email address. They will send you a conformation email to this addy to ensure that it's really you and not some bozo using your addy. You MUST reply to this message to validate your ID. Yahoo is not always prompt in doing this so don't get too excited if it doesn't show up right away. Try again.

3. Give them as much or as little info as you wish. You're supposed to tell the truth about who you are but you can make up anything you want. One thing to think about is this: If you forget your password, you will have to give them the same info to validate who you are before they will reveal it. So remember your lies.

4. Once you are valid ... go to http://groups.yahoo.com and sign in. Or go directly to the group and click on "sign in" or "join this group". In this case it will be

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CritThink/

I will then open the door for ya. I may make it open to all in the beginning so that I don't have to deal with approving everyone. But I would like to limit it to former nucs. I'm undecided at this point. If you have any recommendations or feelings on this ... join and have your say.

5. When you join you have some choices ...

A. You can elect to view the messages and attachments from the Web only. I recommend that you do this in the beginning. This gives you access to all the messages and attachments and to the other sections of the site. These include Photos, Polls, Files and other stuff. Also ... I hope to have some FAQ's there for your info and some "Read Me First" messages. You can change this later once you know what you want and learn the ropes.

B. You can elect to receive the messages and attachments via email. They all come to the email you joined with. Including the attachments. This can get large and overwhelm your mailbox if this place becomes popular. Thus ... my recommendation to choose "Web only". Different strokes for different folks.

C. You can elect to receive a digest of the day's or week's messages. This will be a list of the message headers. You can then download those you wish to. You can then post messages directly from the group site or send messages via email. The email messages can contain attachments ... such as pictures.

To email messages and attachments to the group:
CritThink@yahoogroups.com

There is a limit to the size of each of the attachments for a single message ... 800KB or so. However, larger files, such as MP3's can be posted to the Files section as long as there is room. There is also a Photo Section ... where we can create albums. Again ... the space is limited (30MB I think) so it's best to just send them as an email attachment. There is no limit to the number of messages or picture attachments so this is a big plus.

Do check it out and let me know if you have problems getting in.

-Steamer-
OBJack2k@AOL.com

HME Apologizes to "Massa" Twi7g

Greetings again, King P. I was sad to see the response one of my Heavy Metal Memories got. I'm trying to be fun, not rotten. If I get a little punchy, and if my memory fails me and I make a wisecrack that burns a good man, that's not cool. I recollected ETCM Twigg in my post because I really do have fond memories of the man. I said I always got a kick out him, and I meant it. He was a riot, and not just when he was leading my larded ass around the track at mando PT. But what I remember most about him is that he was absolutely loyal to his men. If somebody from another department fucked with a nuc, Master Twigg took it like they were fucking with his own flesh and blood. For most of my time on the pig, I thought the whole purpose of the chain of command above the division level was to make us feel pain, but Master Twigg looked out for us and tried to make life on the ship bearable. He was the best MCPO Reactor Department ever had in the short while that I was there, maybe the best ever. KP, you did the right thing in editing my inexplicable comment, and for punishment, I volunteer to eat both my own buttocks. Not to get mushy or anything, but I hope "Twi7g" will accept my sincere apology, and share with us his Big-E memories. And if he gets to the Boston area, and I'm judged redeemed, I'd be honored to buy him a cold one.

HME

"Fend-nub" Sends More Memories

To start with, Kessler's first name is also Robert (we called him Bobbo, much to his dislike). He was from somewhere in Montana (Great Falls, I think). I seem to remember that I was the one to turn him on to Metallica (or at least I would like to take credit for doing that). Mike Sheets married some lady from SF shortly before the change of Home Port ('89). I remember that he (along with at least half the crew) was worried sick not knowing what happened to anyone after the earthquake hit while we were toolin' around the North Pacific. I should know the answer to your question (being an ALPO and such) and I believe the man in question was also a roommate of mine---Dave Tyree. If I'm wrong, then I guess I should have paid more attention in class, taken more notes. Nobody said this was going to be on the test! Now for some findings on past Div Officers. I seem to remember a Lt(jg) Carroll for one of the RM divs. There is now a CDR Carroll who was in Rx Dept during the late '80's who is now CO of the USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG-60). For some of those from less ancient times (mid-'90's), there is a LCDR Metzger who is XO of the USS Gary (FFG-51). I don't know if would be possible to contact these men (or if anyone wants to). Just thought I'd pass on the info.

I'd like to say Hi to Mike Bristol. If we were too hard on him when he came to 3 Plant, I'd like to apologize. One would think that with Flange around we wouldn't have the energy to f*ck with anyone else.

Now I know why Kessler always had a confused look on his face whenever I called him "Ken." Another funny thing I remember about Kessler was one day I saw him standing inside one of those art stores on Mag-say-say Drive in O-Town. He was buying a giant black velvet painting of the dogs playing pool. I laughed and said, "Good one Ken [sic], who you gonna give that to as a joke?" He just looked at me with a serious look on his face and said, "I'm buying it for myself. I like it." He also bought a black velvet painting of the dogs playing poker. I felt bad for insulting his artistic taste. Whenever I had a few extra pesos in my pocket I often stopped at that art store and bought black velvet Elvis paintings to give to family members [as a joke]. They were only about $5 or $10 back then.

Yep, Tyree was the RC23 guy that I was thinking of. As far as I know he never qualified anything the entire time he was on the Big E. In truth, he might have toward the end of his enlistment but I don't remember it. All I remember is that he was infamous [and legendary] for his delinquency. Send me your address and I'll see if I can locate one of those rare and coveted Mooj minion T-shirts.

Also, you mentioned something I hadn't thought about in a long time: the '89 SF quake. Remember how awful it was to be out at sea and have no news from home. Most of us had loved ones in the Bay Area; and not having immediate information about their safety was nerve-racking. I remember initial reports told us that most of the area was devastated and that 1000s were killed. I knew my girl friend [now my wife] was a Giant's Season ticket holder so that she was most likely at the World Series game when the quake struck. It turned out that she wasn't; she had sold her tickets and was home. I couldn't count the number of times I drove along that "bumpy" Nimitz Freeway up toward the Bay Bridge; it was sad to think of all those that died there when it collapsed.

Oh, and thanks for mentioning "Flange." I had hoped to never to hear that guy's name again. God, just thinking about that guy gives me the willies. Does anyone know what happened to our favorite rx dept. senior chief?

ERRATA

My apologies go out to my old pal Dave Tyree. A former RC TPO type has informed me that Dave qual'd RCEO, Throttles, and maybe RO, but it is doubtful that he qual'd SRO. Was SRO senior in-rate for you RC types? I thought RO was.

When I first arrived on the Big E in 1986, SRO was the senior in rate qual for REs. Most of us were awaiting CO boards when some "off the wall" Naval Reactors directive came out that ordered all surface nuke EMs to qualify load dispatcher as their senior-in-rate qual. (Forget that the Big E was unlike any other nuke surface ship in the navy.) Thus, REs were pulled off SRO quals and instructed to qualify Load Dispatcher (no easy feat I assure you). Then began the era of "sign my qual card and I'll sign yours," when the EE30 types were forced to qualify RE and we RE types were forced to qualify LD. I remember John "Happy" Hanson and MTW (aka BD) were the first two REs to qualify LD (they actually busted their asses and did it in 6 months). There's a cartoon drawn in the '88 RE04 dopeybook showing MTW at his "in shop" load dispatcher board, where "Happy" Hanson, Garvin and "Zippy the Pin Head" are the featured panelists.

Are all Big E nuke EMs still required to qualify LD?

The Great Requal!!!

Does anyone remember when the powers that be in Nuc Admin decided that we hadn’t been steaming in such a long time that everyone (at least in RM-Div) had to requalify all of their current watch stations? I am not sure whose incredible idea that was, it probably came from Skeletor, but he may have been gone by then. I think it was after the “Purge of ‘88.” A quote from our chief at the time, “If it isn’t on the original plans boys (from 1961), it has to go!” I know that a lot has been made of the purge, but it was such a phenomenal event it deserves rehashing. Things went overboard that would curl the environmentalist’s toes. Not to mentions the $$$$ in equipment that went over the side. It was rumored that some of RC-Div threw out several SGWLCC drawers, I don’t think it was proven, but don’t doubt it. We threw out ALL of our tools and had to make the trek back to RM-3 (RM Tech now) to plead for a stupid wrench.

The requal was a joke in itself. One MM2 in our division could hold 3 pens at a time and sign his name (as he had been blessed to be a qualifier and not a qualifyee) and he could get everyone of his signatures on the right line. That MM2 has been on the Critical Thinking site as MMC, will wonders never cease.

Kevin Kucifer
RM 14 87-89
RM03 89-91

From what I understand, "the powers that be" paid dearly for the Great Purge of '88. Someone told me that Skeletor pretty much lost his upward mobility afterwards. What a waste! I can't tell you how painful it was to throw stuff overboard that I knew we'd desperately need later. The RC and RM types were the hardest hit and found it almost impossible to repair anything afterwards since they had nothing left to work with. Those of you who have spent some time looking over the RE04 dopeybook highlights will undoubtedly reflect with laughter when seeing HME's cartoon showing the soviet sailors (that seemed to follow us around everywhere) delighting in finding our tools, chairs, manuals and spare parts at the bottom of the sea during that great purge. According to the cartoon the Ruskies were finally able to do all their overdue PMS with rx dept's tools and manuals.

As far as the great requal goes I can't remember if RE was affected. If we were I'm sure our qual cards were likewise masterfully signed off.

14 Books of EM22 Lore?

Here is an FYI that I just remembered. In the late '80's the MPA, on one of his infamous in plant tours/inspections, confiscated the entire collection of EM22' nub-books. The C'ENG in his infinite wisdom and knowledge told MM2 Edward 'eddy munster' Everette to throw them over the side. As you know the enlisted always followed the requests of the Zero's. So if anyone knows how to get in touch with him, please do so. I'm sure they would make very good reading. I think he had Otto's Kid is Broke, and Otto's Kid is Still Broke copies. But I think we should just ask if anyone knows how to get in touch with him, and not the reason why we want to get in touch with him. He departed the "E" for the carrier base in Washington state by pugent sound. Rhett brown (MM2 type) went to the Theodore Roosevelt CVN 71 and got de-nuked by one MMCM (new construction commando) Dahl. I haven't heard if MM1 Reynolds who transferred to prototype in Idaho has gotten out of jail yet.

Tom Holzwarth

The Party

I remember a party that was held at the house of ET2 Houston. I can't remember what the party was for (I think it might have been a going-away party), but like I said, it was at Houston's, who had on-base housing. The party was pretty much put together by another ET, last name Stevens (I think that was his last name. He was a big guy and at times like Christmas, he'd bring a cooler full of egg nog and soda into EOS with him when he stood SRO). One of the activities he had planned was a photographic scavenger hunt. Each team was given a Polaroid camera and a list and sent out into unsuspecting Alameda to get shots of the stuff on the list. I'm surprised no-one got arrested! The team that I was on consisted of Billy-Bob Scoggins, Mike Schaeffer, Mikey Sheets, Bob "Geek-Fuck" Gaston, and myself. I might still have some of those old Polaroids laying around. If I find them, I'll try to get them scanned and send them in. Later in the evening, a stripper showed up--no pix :(( Does anybody else remember this party?

R.F.

I don't remember that party but I do remember Stevens. He was huge! He was probably the biggest guy in rx dept at the time (even bigger than Big Dave Conklin). Stevens was a nice guy and had a big heart to match his big size. I remember he was always bringing on Subway sandwiches to sell to the duty section guys. He could sell every sandwich he brought on so he crammed his cooler full of them.

I also remember right before Wog Day '86 a bunch of nubs rifled through the old sea bag locker, trying to find shoes to wear so as not to destroy their boondockers. One guy found a huge pair of cowboy boots--probably size 15 or so--and took them. A few weeks later I remember hearing Stevens say something about not being able to find his cowboy boots, which he had stored down in the sea bag locker. The culprit lived in fear that Stevens would find out that he was the one who stole them. I think the guy finally fessed up to Stevens and Stevens was cool about it.

As far as RC parties go there was one that lived in infamy. It happened in the 86-87 timeframe. I won't mention the place (the participants are KP site regulars); but this party got out of control. One poor unfortunate RC22 guy passed out and was subjected to unnatural harassment. When the police arrived to break up the party they were very troubled to find the RC22 person on display in the living room. I'll let someone else write in and describe what the police saw.

Short Timers Attitude Once a Month!

I submitted my name and email earlier without first reading some of the stories. I now feel I should submit one. Things have not changed. Sea stories are all the same, except the dates and people’s names change. My rather innocent story in comparison deals with MMC Kevin Parker (RM-14 LCPO) back in 1984.

Prior to Westpac ’84 and the fire in the Marine Det berthing within 24 hours or so into the deployment, in San Diego a group of us went to Disney Land. When in Disney Land I purchased a small (2” diameter or so) Donald Duck patch. I sewed this patch onto the pocket of my coveralls and wore it for about two months before anybody noticed. MMC Parker asked me (didn’t tell me) to remove it. After all, ORSE was coming up.

My best memory of MMC Parker is when I saw him a few years later in Bahrain. He was a MMCS and I was a LT. Yes, I had a brain seizure and went to Officer Candidate School. I promptly walked up to him and told him that I should have followed his advice. MMC Parker tried to convince me not to go to Officer Candidate School.

With that note, I promptly got out of the Navy when my time ended. As a Navy Enlisted Nuke, I used my math degree more than I did when I became an Officer. As an officer, I became a paper pusher and became part of the BS that I used complain about. I am in the reserves now and will retire soon. Why the Naval Reserves? Where else can you go to be abruptly reminded why you got out and to develop a shorter timers attitude once a month?

W.M.

An 80's Alum

How to begin!!! It took about 15 years before I could even laugh about most of the horrors we have endured. I have some pictures that are probably not authorized, so I thought I'd send a sample one to ask about it. Do you recognize the "Instrument Alley" below??!!??

Probably so! However, since you are much more experienced at posting this type stuff, and have some people who monitor your site, I'd leave it to your best judgment. Write back and let me know if this is "too hot" for the site, so that nobody gets into trouble over it. Keep me anonymous for now....

The one and only ... Arrgh!!
RC-14 1980 - 1983
(accept NO imitations or Dirtbags)
everyone know that "DB sux"

As far as photos go, I'll post anything that doesn't show classified numbers or specs. Since photos of switchgear rooms, EDG rooms, CERs, and other machinery places appeared regularly in cruise books I have no problem posting them here. (I remember we were all amazed at how many photos from the plant wound up in the 89/90 book.)

I remember there was a tradition among my peers back in the day to have oneself photographed atop the RX either naked or in skivvies. Obviously those photos can't be shown here. I also remember a few RC types posing in their altogether in front of their panels during their last watch. Again, I'll probably avoid those too. But, ... just about everything else should be okay. If the current leadership of RX and ENG DEPT find fault with this or any other thing shown on this website please instruct and I will follow your guidelines.

Looking at the photo above I can't help but reminisce about a favorite sleeping spot of mine that was often fought for (first come-first serve) during those needless work days imposed upon us by that tyrant Cmdr Samules (the XO at the time). Just behind the 4B I&A panel and under one of the chiller pumps was a small area that one could squeeze into. It was comfortable and warm. One had no trouble falling asleep there. (Us REs usually had a meggar nearby so that if we were caught we could pretend we were meggering the chiller motor or something.) Another good place to sleep was in the AMR under the 400HZ generator. Except, of course, when the generator was running. People often complained about "weird LSD-type" dreams when the MG set was running. People looking to "trip out" often sought that spot during long and boring at-sea periods. Ah, the good old days!

Lt Sugar Booger

Perhaps the Hippo remembers this guy ... I can't recall his name ... only his nic ... LT. Sugar Booger. An Officer and a Gentleman. I don't think he was conscious of doing this ... or if he was ... it was so natural that he gave it no thought. He picked his nose. And would then examine his trophy from various angles ... perhaps admiring how it shimmered in the light ... and then pop it into his mouth and eat it. Seemed to savor and enjoy each one. A real connoisseur, if you will. Some nights he could locate six or seven of these gems. He also drank coffee with about 8 teaspoons of sugar per cup. Not sure if he liked his coffee that way or just did it so that he could enjoy his favorite dessert ... he would get ahold of a nice big booger ... extract it ... roll it between thumb and forefinger ... and then use it to scrape off a good layer of sugar from the bottom of his cup ... slip it between his lips ... and ease back in the EOS chair in complete and total ecstasy. Boy would have made a good RE. Lt. Sugar Booger. We bread-from-the-beard pickin' RO's had nothin' on this guy !!!!

Steamer

Thanks for the story Steamer..... Yeah, I guess he would have made a good RE. One awful memory emerged when I read your story. It had to do with boogers. Normally I wouldn't share such a story but since you kicked off the topic I'll oblige. One morning I awoke late as usual for muster. While all my division mates were scurrying for their dungarees and hats I discovered my stuff was missing. Normally my pants were one of many stuck on a hook near my rack but that morning they were gone. It was normal to steal someone's hat off a rack but now I was forced to steal someone's dungaree pants. I grabbed a pair off [this person to remain nameless]'s rack and ran up to the hangar bay. While standing at muster I stuck my hands in the front pockets and pulled out a wad of boogers. Both pockets were filled with boogers! I almost died!

(The above picture was sent in by an anonymous person. All meters are blurred and no set points can be seen. I don't think there's a problem putting this photo up but if someone feels it should be removed contact me. Since the RPCP, EPCP and throttle panel of a trident submarine are currently on display at the Smithsonian I believe the panel layouts are unclassified. See Link.)

A Short Yarn from Arrgh!

Remember the first time you went below the second deck into the bowels of the Big "E"? Oh, I remember it well...

I was a nub during the shipyard period in 1980 while the E was in Bremerton. I arrived just after she came out of the drydock. As a nub, I was assigned to the training spaces, temporarily located by the A & B crane on the 03 level. I decided to get some checkouts, so I studied for "Main Steam" and gathered all of my gonads together, and headed for the steam side of 1MMR.

They can smell it on you, ya know. That "I'm a nub and this is the first time I've ever been in the MMR" smell. I'm sure my eyes were all poppin' out, and my uniform was too new, etc. But somehow they knew. I came down next to the turbines, and two old salts came toward me with knowing smiles on their faces. One said, "Hey, I'll bet you need a checkout! First time in the Engine Room?" I said something profound, like: "Yeah, I guess you can tell, huh?" He looked at my crow and said, "Hey, you're a twidget! I bet you're here for a Main Steam checkout, right?" They both laughed, then the short guy with the seafarers that were so faded they looked white got a funny look on his face and said, "Whooaahh!" He started making some strange faces, kinda moving his face and nose around, then he did a farmer out of one nostril. For you city boys, that means he put his finger over one nostril, and blew a big honkin' booger out of the other one. I don't know if I was being set up or not, but I swear he blew a 3 inch long stringy green booger out, leaning forward a little so it kinda wiggled around, then whipped his head to the side, and the booger laid up along his upper lip. He must have had a sinus infection, judging by the color of it. Then, he licked it off his lip and smiled at me. The guy with him was turning about six shades of blue and green. Being the verminous wretch that I was, I started laughing as hard as I could, and said "I bet you can't do that again from the other side!"

He laughed and said, "I like you! You're not one of those DORKY twidgets!" He started signing off my qual card, and I had to take it from him before he signed off the whole thing in one day, which no one would have believed was gundecked, right?

Arrgh!

More memories from Arrgh!

Since I found this site, I have been having memories of old friends I haven't thought about in nearly 20 years! Each e-mail address leads to 2 or 3 more old names, and hundreds of more stories! So much to tell, so little time.

Lipps of 4 plant (early 80's version) dopey book fame was none other than Mark Tietsort. He was a really good operator, and pretty cool. His nickname came from the nasty habit he had of become wasted by drinking 4 beers. He really wanted to hang with the big boys, but he was a total lightweight. The phrase was "He's really on his lips now!" which meant he was in a drunken stupor. I really liked Mark, but we were merciless in the dopey book to him. There was one cartoon in particular showing him lying under a table drunk, and some statement of how he had sniffed a bottle cap, or something like that. By the way, does anyone actually HAVE the old dopey books? Can you imagine the priceless sketches, etc that would be revealed there?

I once wrote a parody song to Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" called "Wish I Weren't Here" in the dopey book. Every line in the parody rhymed with the original song. It was awesome, but I can only remember parts of it now.

Wish I Weren't Here...
adapted by Arrgh!

So, so you think you can tell,
How to answer a full bell?
How to calculate strain....

Can you tell a flux field,
From a DP cell;
This place from Hell?
Do you think you can tell?

I can't remember the rest, but you get the idea. I sure wish I had the words somewhere, it was too cool! Did anyone in the last yard period ever take the hinges off the back of the RCPs in 4 RCER? There are "Arrgh!"s drawn under some of them with the date of placement. They'll probably never be seen until they decommission that iron pig.

I have forwarded links to the site to some old friends. They will certainly be able to add some wonderful memories from the olden days of gory. Naw, glory wouldn't quite get it, it was more of gory.

Anyone recall old Chief Frank Davies? He was a great big guy with a scar on his face. He told me he got it from fighting a fire when he was a civilian. One day, I was drinking in a bar in Silverdale, WA not far from Bremerton. I was alone, because somehow I had gotten off the cycle of duty days with my regular drinking buddies. I saw this guy that I knew was a squid, and I knew that I recognized him from Nuc School, but couldn't quite place him. No matter! A drinking buddy is always welcome! We drank and danced with some of the local chicks to a live band for a while. When they took a break, the guy asks me if I wanted to go out and check out his car. This was normally the "code" for "let's go burn one". I know you guys that came along after the piss testing never partook of such evils (yeah, right). He shows me his car, which was a 1957 T-Bird. Nice, I said. After there was no joints produced, I asked him if he wanted to go "burn one" with me in my car (exact words here). He declined, so I did the deed alone, and went back in to continue our drinking, etc. He left a little while later.

About 2 or 3 days later, I was in the Div Office because I got sucked into being the Division DCPO. I was looking at some PMS schedule (boy, didn't they name that appropriately!) and here come the guy I had invited to burn one with me. Horror of horrors, it's... Chief Frank Davies!! He stared right through me while I was introduced to him; my new division Chief Petty Officer! He was my chief the rest of my tour on the Enterprise. Somehow, I knew we wouldn't be getting along...

Arrgh!

Bongo Bill Remembers the Schmegma House:

Arrgh! mentions drinking in a bar in Silverdale which reminded me of another bar in Silverdale ..... the notorious Stables Tavern. It had above it a former house of ill repute with about 8-10 rooms in it, two sitting parlors and a kitchen. Yes, I'm talking about the infamous Schmegma House.

Those rooms were filled with Rx dept types and a party was virtually going nonstop with new supplies of people coming in at all hours from their various shifts. A few jam sessions went on featuring resident Randy Hermscum Hermatz, Denver D. and others. I even sat in on a few when I wasn't too wasted. I used to have an Epiphone that I just left out in Rx berthing. It had great action but was pretty banged up. It disappeared shortly after we got to Bremerton. I wonder what happened to those Schmegmans. Thrill Ball (Bill Thrall), Carl Walker ... I ran into him in Alameda, seems we were dating the same girl except I was driving up from San Diego and he was either back in Alameda or driving from Bremerton, Brad Davis..... I think some of them went to work at Palo Verde.

Bongo Bill

Coming soon to a website near you...the Adventures of Lasing Kabayo