Kinda sad tonight...

P.S. it was funny today, had a boot sailor sitting next to me at thelocal seafood restaraunt telling his parents ALL about the Navy.. I remember the same convo I had with my parents back in 84... Talking about so and so that ended up going to captains MASS (mast) article 80 something for the army guys, I forget, 82 I think...

He was so young, dumb and full of c%m it was funny... But it was a trip to the past for me.,.. thinking about when I was that young.....

Especially when I had the chance to congradulate him on graduation and told him I was a Corpsman for 12 yrs... his parents asked him what a corspman was and he sat there for a sec and then answered "I think he was Army mom"

Just wait till his skinny white b^tt gets on ship... he'll know "Doc" intimately...

haha john, no disrespect... but I imagining that as a Saturday Night Live sketch.... Chevy Chase sitting there having to refer to the clocks as he spouts the evening news... (that dates me... the Chevy Chase thing...)

It can be a pain, especially when we can only call-back during specific hours, our work comes to us via internet and phone. Job was M-F 8-5. now is 24/7/365, my part of banking has really changed. We do have the clocks on the wall read eastern, central, etc.
John
helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submisssion

yeah thats right! I forgot yall dont do DST... I used to think that was cool.. but I guess it would be hard to coordinate your day around other places if you worked in the business world... almost like an international business.. but instead you would have clocks on the wall with the letters "Chicago" and "Los Angeles" instead of Moscow and London haha

Understand about being busy, time change can be a pain to. We don't change here, but every six months have to recalulate the changes. We do business in all 50 states and D.C. My parents always have trouble keeping it straight and knowing the difference half the year between me and my sister. We both live in the mountain zone.
John
helicopters don't fly, the beat the air into submission

I think I saw the same video John... it was kinda scary... no I haven't talked to my dad yet (re: BB's)... been kinda busy lately and going to bed early. This daylight savings thing is hard to get used to haha...

I'll let yall know if I do the diorama thing.. it sounds like I might enjoy the build...

Doc
Reminds me of the picture's I saw in an avaition magizine in the mid-70's of a Huey.
First one showed a Huey attached to platform engine running, blade's turning, missle approaching the engine from the rear(shoulder fired SAM), second picture missle exploding, thrid picture engine gone not much left of the blades and tail boom falling away. Sad to watch and scary too, was still flying then and knew what it would have done to the crew.
I had watched a demo firing of the old Redeye system in Germany in 1970, six shots, six hits. I don't like SAM's, no chance in a helo to escape from them.
Every find out about the Iowa class?
If you do a diorama post the picture's, would like to see.
John
Helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission

PS Have the FS numbers for lime green and flamingo pink, sounds like a good camo job for my next Huey build(laugh the enemy into submission)

Not the most detailed pics... but a few of her going down.. (Guam)










sorry to all you on dialup.... they had the whole series including some shots by a missile as it came close then penetrated near the superstructure, some shots from a helicopter etc... almost like the Romans in the colliseum...

Actually it gives me an idea for a diorama... with the 1/700 resin LPH from JAG. one of her sinking modelled from these pics... with the qoute I got from Alenam I believe about the sinking of Nelsons ship...

QUOTE: Originally posted by Daprophet The picure of the Caron on here really bothered me much more than I would have thought. I served on the USS Obrien DD-975 from 90-94. I have found out the Obrien was decomissioned in Sept of this year. I have searched the web for more info but cant find anything. Anyone know where I may be able to find something about her fate?

yeah that's how I felt when I saw the Guam... like a hollow feeling.. I found a site of one of the guys on the escort cruiser that stood by while the sub sank her, that has pics of the entire sinking of the Guam... it's almost like watching someone die...

Here's a link to some info on the Obrien, apparently she hasn't been sunk yet...

http://navysite.de/dd/dd975.htm

here's another:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2004/05/mil-040503-nns01a.htm

evidently she just made it back in May to the states, probably gonna sit in the yards for awhile while they dismantle of all usable parts... then???

go on google and do a search with: uss obrien 975 thats what I used and came up wit a lot of sites on her...

David
Might try
www.navy.mil
but chances are she is in the yard either being stripped of usable gear or getting ready to be put into the reserve fleet or sale to a friendly power. Other then that web searching is the only other thing I can think of.
John
helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission

The picure of the Caron on here really bothered me much more than I would have thought. I served on the USS Obrien DD-975 from 90-94. I have found out the Obrien was decomissioned in Sept of this year. I have searched the web for more info but cant find anything. Anyone know where I may be able to find something about her fate?


David

I'm trying to remember.. it seems like it has been a millenium since I was in...

I'll have to check up on it.. for some reason I remember at one point there was a PLAN to activate all 4... can't remember if it ever happened though.... I'll ask my dad he'll know for sure (was still serving as an HT then...) He had orders to the New Jersey immediately after the Beirut bombing but he and the group deploying to her were met in the airport by a liason telling them to stand down... (the New Jersey was sailing short on HT and MM crew and had to activate some shoreside sailors)

Al
Thought they re-commissioned all 4 of the Iowa class during that time period, but I don't remember for sure. Still would have been a sight to see.
John
helicopters don't fly they beat the air into submission

Doc,

Don't think it could have been the Missouri you saw. I seem to remember that the only two battleships we had at the time were the Iowa and the New Jersey (though someone may correct me on this). I remember that New Jersey was at least temporarily attached to 6 Fleet around the 82-83 period, in support of the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (and some folk in the Shuf Mtns were the recipients of some of those VWs).

Al

Remember seeing a photo of a Bear taken by us, someone was holding something up in one of the waist blisters, when blown up it showed one of the crew waving a Pepsi bottle. Wondered for years why no one did it in 1/72nd scale, finally Trumpeter did. Good looking model, goes good with BUFF's and BONE's.
Ships are an impressive sight to see, my son took me along the piers at Norfolk and Little Creek and we tried to get into San Deigo but security was tight. Actually got on the Prise in Newport News(in the yard then). Wish I could have seen a battleship, they had to be impressive also. Reagon was right about them, still think we made a mistake by retiring them. Thought they should have kept at least two in commission.
My son hasn't heard anything from "Jackson", but we will keep trying.
John
Helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission
P.S. Anyone else reading this thread, please e-mail Trumpeter for us and ask for a 1/350 USS Guam, Thanks

yeah it was kinda scary sometimeswhen we were out.. one time we had a AH-1W hovering a few feet above the deck of a soviet "fishing trawler" that had more antenna on it than the entire state of Rhode Island..pointing that 20mm at anything that dared move across the deck... they wouldn't back off and were getting within our perimeter...... another time it was the F-14's up there "playing" with the Migs... cut to a scene fromTop Gun.. but the agressors in this shot were wearing the REAL red stars... you could tell when it was getting hot, a plane would hit afterburners and roll out hard and down... we kept waiting for something to go wrong...

once they (USSR) lifted their leg and marked us, we went through the rest of the op un-harrassed... (like a dog pee'ing on a tree almost... had to harrass us then they let us be) thing was we were just the amphib fleet... but 100nm or so behind us was a carrier battlegroup... AEGIS cruisers and destroyers well within range of anything we were up against...

One of the most awesome sights I ever saw was the Iowa or Missouri (depends on who you asked) out with us.. way out on the horizon... but it was BIG... and looked mean.. I think Reagan was right... the sight of that ship off your coast was a big deterrent.. especially when it started hurling Volkswagen sized shells with a 3 meter accuracy at you! second most awesome was a Bear... flying over taking pics I assume... an awesome looking plane...

Heard they played rough at sea, have to ask my son about any re-in's he had, but the Soviets weren't as active then. Only problems he ever talked about were all the small boats that liked to cut in front of them when they were leaving port. the Capt. had to use the PA and told them to move since it was easier for them then it was for him.
We had a North Korean Mig-17 buzz our airfield once(we were the northern most airfield in Korea). He didn't stay long, headed north before our fighters could respond.
Some unlucky ADA Bn CO lost his job for not shooting it down.
John
Helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission

yeah, in Palma Mallorca Spain was usually 3 to 4 Soviet cruise ships in port everytime we go there.... somehow one time we were pierside in between two of them... lot's of folks with binoculars... it was obvious on the smaller cruise ship in front of us, I dont think we saw one woman topside the two days it was there...

the wierdest thing to happen was when a roll on/roll off cargo ship(not sure who it was registered to but everyone was saying it was soviet) ignored warnings and horn signals and came right in between us and the oiler we were underway refueling with... had to do an emergency breakaway and a bunch of people got pretty hurt either by flying hoses or JP-5 spraying all over on them...

What they say is true "once a Marine, always a Marine, I've had several friends who were Marine's, all good people. Marine History in WWI is little known, which is a shame, again another high point in their long history. And they do take care of their own.
Doc, no wonder those KGB cruise ship guy's where eyeing you, almost knocking on their side door.
All for now, it's been a long week and it's not over for me yet, have to be up early for work tomorrow.
John
Helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission

Well with so many Marines in the family I originally wanted to join the MArines, but was worried about my flat feet getting in the way. Talking with my dad he told me about hospital corpsmen and how THEY also go with the Marines... beng I liked science and had already took 2 yrs of anatomy and physiolgy in HS I thought this might be the way to go... so I did it! Didn't go straight FMF though, I ended up getting assigned to a rapid deplyment team instead that was the best of both worlds.

Oh and as far as we knew, the guy who ate the dehydrated beef patty got a medical discharge from the Corps... go figure, if I would have only known it was that easy! (not easy, he lost some of his stomach in the process)

I'll have to see if I can locate that movie John... I am not sure if I have seen it or not, sounds familiar but I don't remember any details.. but definitely going to give it a try!

LAter yall! gotta go feed the dogs and myself...

Doc,

You're Dad was a Marine and then became a "snipe", so you became a sailor hanging out with Marines.

My Grandfather was a Marine (WWI, yes One not Two) and Dad was a sailor. So I end up being a Marine with my last duty station being a Navy Command.

See it all works out in the end.

Semper Gumby! (Always Flexible)

Carl

God, I bet his stomach hurt. Guess he never did that again.
Missed MRE's, they came after I left, we made due with C-rat's, some weren't to bad especially if we had some beer to wash them down with.
Read your story on the Marauder's, sad but true no thougth of the future, Navy did the same with the PT boats at the end of the war, beached them, then burned them. Still I got to see the nose of "Flak Bait" at the National Air and Space. Visited there with my son when he was stationed at Norfolk. It had always been on our list of things to do.
Seen the movie Al recommended, if you haven't seen it try to sometime.
Would like to see your tribute when it's done.
I have also liked this post.
Still hope you get your model and will do what I can to help.
John
Helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission

QUOTE: Originally posted by alenam PS The Chicken ala King??? I wouldn't feed that to a dog I hated. But then people thought I was crazy cause I liked the dehydrated beef patty. My fave though was the franks. Actually, most of the guys in my unit used to hump out an extra ten pounds or so of "pogey bait" like cans of chili, ramen noodles, snack pack pudding (when it still came in cans). Then there were the guys who somehow derived all their nutrition from cigarettes and coffee.

LOL! that reminds me of another Marine story... we were up in the Black Sea doing amphib ops near Izmir and we got a call about an incoming casualty... long story short the guy was hungry, decided he couldn't wait to rehydrate and warm the beef patty so he ate it like a candy bar... couple this with strenuous excercise on an op and not drinking enough water... you get the pic... that thing was like a sponge... his belly was like a basketball by the time we got him on a chopper back to ship...
I've included a reenactment here...

Doc,

Your mention of the destruction of the Marauders reminded me of a great movie, made in 1946, if I remember right, called The Best Years of Our Lives. In my opinion the best movie about returning home from war ever made. I don't want to spoil it for you if you haven't seen it (and believe me, you should see it). It focuses on three returning veterans, a sailor who has lost both hands, a bank manager who became an infantry sergeant, and a guy who was a loser in civillian life who became a B-17 bombardier. If you see the movie you'll see why I'm bringing it up.

Al

PS The Chicken ala King??? I wouldn't feed that to a dog I hated. But then people thought I was crazy cause I liked the dehydrated beef patty. My fave though was the franks. Actually, most of the guys in my unit used to hump out an extra ten pounds or so of "pogey bait" like cans of chili, ramen noodles, snack pack pudding (when it still came in cans). Then there were the guys who somehow derived all their nutrition from cigarettes and coffee.

Ironic John (Sr.) I was thinking about you and came back to post this and you had your reply.

My great uncle who I never met (he died in 1962) was a tail gunner on the B-26 in WWII and I found a site tonite describing the feelings of the marauder men as they learned their 'chariots' were being burned at the end of the ETO war...

http://www.billsb-26marauder.org/epilogue.htm

about food... yes I did my time in the desert.... sleeping the best I could... freeze dried MRE's (the chicken ala king was best in my book) waking up in the morning with a goat sniffing your nether regions... actually had a Marine almost court martialed over shooting a goat.. it quickly escalated to international incident scale... (seriously) the Turkish feel strongly about their goats evidently...

sometimes we didn't have time to throw up our hooches (rapid deployment my a$$) and just dug a depression in the sand and their we layed... sand fleas and all...

no mistake.. in retrospect I loved every single second of it... especially since I was in the unique position to sample several branches... while remaining in my own... I loved my time in the field.. and I love the USMC... they are definitely a 'band of brothers' ... they take care of their own even after discharge... (job lines, charity orgs etc..) and they always took care of doc...

the USAF was great, not because of the food, but because it was funny walking down the street and saluting an officer the "right way" (I had spent time with the corps already, my roomate and travelling partner was 101st airborne) and have them thank us because no one has saluted them like that before.. haha...

The army was great not only for the experience, but a different way of life, my classmates and I... including the whole Navy detachment learned a lot during that 1 1/2 yr school... mostly respect and friendship... including the corporal that told me (as an E-5) to do pushups for walking on the grass.. (my second day on post) (LOL!) his first seargent explained the situation to him and actually after that we kinda became friends...

This has really been cathartic John... talking with you and all the other vets and non-vets... thanks so much! I have the webmaster where I work working on a fiting tribute to the Guam... including either your shakespeare qoute from Henry V, or Alenam's qoute from trafalgar... I will post the result when I am done... this guy is great at what he does and it will be a befitting tribute for my office wall... whether or not trumpeter does (which I doubt) release any scale kit...

Doc
Guess all services have their good and bad points. Food seems to be a universal though, best food I had was when a friend(he was in the Air Force) picked me up at Ft. Lewis when I was headed for Korea and took me to McCord AFB right next door. Got there at midnight and ate in his messhall(3 choices for dinner). Spent the night in his room(2 person), remember this was 1968. Techincally I was awol but I never left military property.
Also would have hated to have been the mess sgt in Germany the night after the Bn CO ate dinner(unannouced) in the mess hall we used. BADD!! meal. Within two months it was up for best mess in Europe.
Got the impression, correct me if I'm wrong, you spent some time playing with the Misguided Childern. Two hours sleep on a rocky hillside wrapped in a poncho, soaking wet with temps near freezing when we had to play infantry wasn't my idea of fun.
Long hours went with the job though when needed. Spent my share.
My son said the same about the stars at sea though, he had a spot he would go when he had free time at night and no flight ops. Said there was no way to really describe it.
"Air Force life, now that's the lfe for me, said Banicile Bill the sailor" the other service I told my son to join. Eleven year until the oldest is old enogh. Like I said, hope it's a safer world.
My son hasn't modeled much since he got out of the Navy, between work, school and the 3 kids, he doen't have much time, but he has expressed an interset in getting back into it, thinking about ships, he did cars mainly some planes and even a chopper or two.
John
Helicopets don't fly, they beat the air into submission

QUOTE: Originally posted by desertrat65 I agree, see my dad's been talken about me, sent an e-mail for you the snipe John

I appreciate the help John! thanks a lot!

I agree, see my dad's been talken about me, sent an e-mail for you
the snipe
John

Thanks again John... you've been more than helpful.. and as far as the grandchildrens lineage and future in the military, that's a wide spread so don't be surprised when they go Air Force or something!

As far as being at sea... It was both miserable and wonderful at once... 12 to 24 hour work days, 6 days a week... 8 to 24 on Sun depending if you had watch or not. Bad food if you were unlucky and got assigned to the wrong ship. (Lost 40 lbs eating fruit and salad only, 3 times a day on the Austin) We bunked stacked 4 high both times I was deployed, if you got the top rack it could be a rough ride in heavy seas... and you could only hope youdidnt fall.. it was a long way down..

The flip side was visiting all the different ports.. meeting a lot of really great people all over the world. (I kept in touch with some for yrs after I came back stateside) At night you saw more stars than you could comprehend... you can actually see the depth of the star field out there too.. as in you can tell some stars are further away from you than others. Not just that they look smaller but they are 3 dimentionally farther away... If you lay on the deck and looked at them it could make you dizzy, almost felt like you were falling UP! You could see more satellites than you could shake a stick at!

---Tom---

Never been to sea, sometimes I wonder what I missed, talked with my son some about it. My dad was an Army cook(no joke) WW II, my ex's mother was a WAVE (WW II), me Army(only service that would give me a choice back then), my son's wife was a grape ape on the Teddy. Wonder what my grandkids will be(hope the world will be a safer place then.) Maybe Navy rotorheads? They say that blood is mainly saltwater.
The snipe said he would e-mail "Jackson".
John
Helicopter's don't fly, they beat the air into submission