In response to A#1's questions, here's part one of a two part answer (since it's too long by itself)... ------ >OK Parson.. >I see, like me the Nav had it's "effect" >on yee<G> The thing is that for me it was >a brief tour.. and I am amazed it took you >12 years to have yur fill... Would have stayed longer, but I didn't like where Clinton took the establishment.... >I'm looking back over 29 years amigo, can't >remember a ding-dang thing of High School but >am "haunted" by fan sounds and the smell of >foam green pain and old spice<G> I have the same lack of memory from high school compared to the Navy. You certainly got to smell the fine scent of animal fat fire fighting foam. My era got the pleasures of the better smelling AFFF. (Aqueous Foam Forming Foam). Though I will never forget fighting a fire with a hose. when my entire hose team abandoned me in the space with no way out except through the flames by me lonesome. (needless to say, they got their heads handed back to them promptly upon my exodus from the space). Raining shells on Iranians was also a stressful but unforgettable memory. gun boats firing at us, us firing back at them with the big guns. blowing their oil rigs out of the water as they dove off to save themselves. hollering "batteries release" as the CO's 1JA talker for every shot fired. (handed out lots of Bibles those days. they just wanted to have one in their pockets.) ..and the great cookies sent over by the supply ships during Unreps. (Since I stood next to the CO during every evolution, I always got the goodies). me we almost didn't make the 'emergency break away' . they zigged, and we zagged, so we snapped some lines but missed the other ship only close enough to shake hands with the other ship. while gallons of sweat washed off the deck afterwards. >Here's a few questions from 'ole -=A=- > >1. Was the civilian economy so shot that the > Navy looked better, when you came to re-up? I was too much of a sea duty sailor and did not enjoy life on the outside back in 1989. I had a decent job, but then Desert Storm came along and I got recalled. I was only to do 1 year in Washington, DC to process folks back from the Storm, but they told me it would be unaccompanied. I didn't want to spend an entire 12 months away from my wife and 1 year old boy. so I wandered down to the real recruiter's office and put my hand up again for another hitch. My punishment for that was to be sent with the family from California to Norfolk, VA on a "gator freighter" called USS Nassua (LHA-4) that had just returned from the Gulf War. Since I was in Personnel, I came onboard to the entire office on leave, and a stack of nearly 6 months worth of records to process. which I managed to do in 3 weeks. I spent 4+ more years on that ship, then got a hitch at NAS Oceana where I went absolutely bananas. hated shore duty. different politics, and no 'hook ups' unless you ran into a sailor from your old ships (which I managed to do a few times). I decided to either terminate my shore duty and go back to sea, or get out. After a long 12 month debating, my wife and I decided that our kids needed to know their grandparents (who lived in California), so we decided to call it quits on the Nav. I moved her out with the 3 kids about 6 months ahead of me getting out to get established and lived in the barracks in the mean time. I got out and pastored a small church for a while, all the while job hunting for 'real' income. I found a job in the SFran East Bay with a software company as their IT Director an stayed their for 5 years until I got laid of this last January. I've been unemployed since. and boy is it getting tight! At any rate, Getting out turned out to be the best decision we'd made back then, as was going back in back in 1990. My full term was from 1985 thru 1996, with only a small break of reserve time in-between in 1989. to be continued... _______ To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit http://rangernet.org/subscribe.htm http://rangernet.org Autoresponder: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
