Share Your Military Service Stories & Photos Here

[macadamia9]

I thought we could have a place to share stories and photos (that meet with the guidelines for the forum, of course) of the time spent in the military. This can be a first hand account or a story or photo you'd like to share of someone you knew in the military.

[macadamia9]

I was in the US Navy from July 1985 to June 1990, and stationed aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68) from July 1987 until I got out. Here are a couple of photos I found online from the cruise book from when I was on Nimitz. Oh, boy, was I so young and thin back then...

The first photo is of Damage Control Central, facing the mimic bus of the two electric plants. Each of those lamp bulbs represented a breaker in the ship's electrical systems and were normally off. (They had us turn them all on for the photo...) The way the lamp worked was if the breaker's position (actual) and the breaker switch position (requested) were the same, the lamp was deenergize. If there was a mismatch, the lamp would energize, giving the Load Dispatcher (the enlisted crew member on the far left) immediate and positive indication there was a problem with the electrical system. I forgot about this, but that is me on the left. And, the enlisted crew member on the far right was one of my best friends and my roommate at the time, David Beaulieu.

The second photo is of me literally pointing at a spec of cracker that the division officer was eating just prior to the photographer showing up for the "action" shot in our division office. I'm in the middle of the top row, incase you have not figured that out yet... (-:

The third photo was at one of the 1988 Olympic Games soccer games in Pusan, South Korea. If you look at the dude in the black shirt to the right of the upper left hand inset photo, that's me, badly in need of a haircut... It was a fun trip, run by the USO. There, I learned what squid jerky was and what it smelled and tasted like. It tasted much better than it smelled...

If anyone is interested, check out the link where I got these photos. I have no idea what I did with my copy of the cruise book.

https://www.navysite.de/cruisebooks/cvn68-89/index.html

[EezyBeezy]

Tagged.

Currently work with a mix of salty vets of different branches from different wars dating back to NAM and those still serving. I must say, the stories shared are PRICELESS and love hearing them; stories you won't hear anywhere else and majority more likely not suitable for the rest of the civilization LOL. They're are too good that I will not do any just justice telling them.

[macadamia9]

Originally Posted by EezyBeezy

Tagged.

Currently work with a mix of salty vets of different branches from different wars dating back to NAM and those still serving. I must say, the stories shared are PRICELESS and love hearing them; stories you won't hear anywhere else and majority more likely not suitable for the rest of the civilization LOL. They're are too good that I will not do any just justice telling them.

There must be at least one you can share... Just change the names and places to protect the guilty...

[3.0L]

I served in the US Army from 1967 to 1970. Spent my last 12 months in the 25th Infantry Division Artillery, Vietnam.

One night our FSB (Fire Support Base) got hit with mortar fire. Everyone pulled on their boots, grabbed their weapons and scrambled for the sandbag berm line in preparation for a possible ground attack. Parachute flares started popping outside the perimeter, then an AC-47 "Spooky" gunship arrived, circling our camp with lights out. I don't think radial engines ever sounded so good!

On about the 2nd pass, Spooky popped out a big parachute flare, illuminating a big area just north of our camp. On the next pass, all hell broke loose when the AC-47's side-firing miniguns opened up.

The ground attack never happened. As things were winding down and we started to take a breath of relief, I noticed that my feet were really uncomfortable. At that moment, another hand-launched parachute flare popped just outside our perimeter. I looked down at my feet in the dim light. My boots were on the wrong feet!

[EezyBeezy]

Here’s one for now.

This was around late 2007 during the worst San Diego wildfires we’ve experienced. The XO of a helo squadron was running flight operations while the CO was on leave. Fighting fires In San Diego yet alone California is a big deal due to contractual jurisdictions and political motives, unfortunately the US Navy did not have much say or any say in this particular matter.

Long story short, the wildfires around San Diego were getting out of hand in multiple counties in San Diego, the XO had birds turning & burning on the flight line ready to make water drops, but all he needed was the green light from the CO, however the CO ordered him stand down. Welp, XO could not take NO as a answer and absolutely do nothing. XO made a BIG D@$K decision to get the birds airborne and help fight wild fires. Unfortunately, the decision was bitter sweet as trying to do the right thing and defying orders can damage careers, i’m sure most here get the idea.

[Yapakanichi]

phishing for information....nice try ISIS