Got tattoos, drank too much, just plain wore myself out. But was blessed to hit a lot of ports in Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Australia, Thailand, Israel, etc. In a way I still feel like I'm in the service after working in a shipyard repairing Navy ships over the past 16 years.
I always used the mile and a half there and a mile and a half back = 3 mile rule and the big sky principle.....PS
I was a green shirt on the USS Midway, 1984-86 working on the last active duty F-4J/S (VF-151) out of Japan (Yokosuka and Atsugi). I was an AT (Comm / Nav / ECM). Forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan for my first sea duty billet fresh out of AFTA. Japan was great. When I arrived, the ship was out of port, and there was almost nothing for me to do. Show up for muster, and "see ya later, son", so I got to explore Japan. Beautiful country, great people. Many strange and wonderful things they do. 
Hi Dave, thanks for serving and thanks for sharing, quite an adventure!Uncle Sam's Yacht Club, Airborne Division.
Once the USS Neverdock got back to port, we got down to business though. Closest we came to being shot at was doing donuts in the Indian Ocean during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Funny listening to pilots talk about tactics and maneuvering against Cessna 172s and Piper Cubs loaded with dynamite. (Consensus was low and slow over the top, light the burners and pull up...) Or call in the A-7s with the mighty Vulcan.
Work was hard, but we were good, so we didn't get hassled by the chiefs too bad. Working shifts was 12 on, 12 off, 7 days a week, with Steel Beach picnics every 90 days or so. I have a million sea stories. They all start like this "This is no shit..." LOL
Got to see a lot of places in the Far East up close and personal. Japan, The Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Australia, Guam. Got to experience two catapult launches and two arrested landings. (In the mail bird, and an S-3) Did a Trans-Pac to deliver 6 fresh fighters from Miramar, CA to the Phillippines. They flew them across the Pacific, doing round-robin refueling from a KC-10. I felt sorry for the poor bastards having to sit in the Phantom for all those hours. Us maintenance pukes got to ride in a regular airliner (think it was a DC-9, but I don't remember exactly) Miramar to Pearl Harbor, to Wake Island, to Guam, to the P.I.
After they retired the Phantoms, I came back stateside to the A-6 Intruder training squadron VA-42 and worked on one of the strangest aircraft I'd ever seen, the TC-4C. They are all in The Bone Yard now along with the Phantoms. Fun times. Learned a lot.
I appreciate all who served, whether you saw combat or not. Always honor the ones who gave it all.
The F-4’s saved my life on many occasions..Uncle Sam's Yacht Club, Airborne Division.
Once the USS Neverdock got back to port, we got down to business though. Closest we came to being shot at was doing donuts in the Indian Ocean during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Funny listening to pilots talk about tactics and maneuvering against Cessna 172s and Piper Cubs loaded with dynamite. (Consensus was low and slow over the top, light the burners and pull up...) Or call in the A-7s with the mighty Vulcan.
Work was hard, but we were good, so we didn't get hassled by the chiefs too bad. Working shifts was 12 on, 12 off, 7 days a week, with Steel Beach picnics every 90 days or so. I have a million sea stories. They all start like this "This is no shit..." LOL
Got to see a lot of places in the Far East up close and personal. Japan, The Phillippines, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Australia, Guam. Got to experience two catapult launches and two arrested landings. (In the mail bird, and an S-3) Did a Trans-Pac to deliver 6 fresh fighters from Miramar, CA to the Phillippines. They flew them across the Pacific, doing round-robin refueling from a KC-10. I felt sorry for the poor bastards having to sit in the Phantom for all those hours. Us maintenance pukes got to ride in a regular airliner (think it was a DC-9, but I don't remember exactly) Miramar to Pearl Harbor, to Wake Island, to Guam, to the P.I.
After they retired the Phantoms, I came back stateside to the A-6 Intruder training squadron VA-42 and worked on one of the strangest aircraft I'd ever seen, the TC-4C. They are all in The Bone Yard now along with the Phantoms. Fun times. Learned a lot.
I appreciate all who served, whether you saw combat or not. Always honor the ones who gave it all.
