Popeye's Sea Stories

Boot camp story. The USN & USMC call basic training boot camp..ask me why...

Those of you thinking of joining the military because you think it will be all fun and games are sadly mistaken. Remember this you >>> can't quit because you "Don't like it".. You gotta stick it out...Otherwise you'll have a tough road to hoe..8 years worth..4 on active duty and 4 as a reserve.

Tired of school? Then stay away from the military. Boot camp/basic training is about half class room.. And oh yea..there are test..which reminds me..

I remember our first written test in boot camp. Not about what was on the test but what happened in the class room. The instructor an old Black CPO I'll call Billy Badass..And he was.. He was a salty old dude with about 24+ years on active duty. He was a B'son mate Chief. Dang near a God..

Before the test he said there would be no breaks for anything during the test and raise your hand to ask a question and it had better be important. During the test this kid raised his hand to ask;

"Sir, May I have a drink of water?"
"Whatcha you say boy?"
"Sir, May I have a drink of water?"
"You real thirsty boy?"
"Sir yes Sir!"
"Well boy swallow some spit!" "Then drop and give me fifty four count!"(Push-ups)!
Next he says, with evil in his eyes .."Eny you maggots and worms got any more dumb ass questions??
Our reply in unison. "SIR NO SIR!!"

No foolin'!!

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When I was in the Nimitz I was LPO of AIMD night Check..They called me "Sea Pappy" Why? Because I was so salty I hadda have a boot camper walking behind me sweeping up the salt..aarrvv..

Sailors have many knicknames

When I was on the Kennedy my division called me Lightning..Don't ask why..

Sailors have nicknames..many
Monk
Bozo
Tricky Dick
Big Daddy
Tijuana Ted
Mack
Sparky
Boats
Cat Steam
Swoop master
Khroneclone
Willie O
Mess Crank
Crank
Chrome Dome
The Boss..(I could not stand that dude..)
Ricky Recruit
Boot
Saunders..(the mans name was Sanders but everyone called him saunders after Sgt Saunders on Combat)
Harry Dog
Buck (the Drunk)
Alkey
Lipps
Anal Heck
Zorba (She did not know it)
Rags
Moon
Ruff Russ
Double Ugly
..and many more...

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When I was changing my rate in late '82 into '83 I went to PR "A" school in Lakehurst NJ..We called it Lakeworst. I hung around with this Marine named "Mongo". He was a Sgt. in the class in front of mine. He was tough. He had made about three floats(cruises or deployments on ships) and he knew the Navy lingo. We would use that language all the time in public just to confuse people.. aarrvv. Wasn't that nice of us?

I found the pictures below of me on line in a German site that loves the USN. navysite. These pictures are from "cruise books" Kinda a year book for a ships deployment.

On the JFK in '72 they took no crew photos. In '73 on the JFK they took group pix..I missed that same thing on the Midway. I missed it because I was on the flight deck. Oh well I did manage to find three.. they are small and I don't know how to make them any larger for display here.

popeye 1975 USS Hancock

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popeye 1981 USS America

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popeye 1991 USS Nimitz

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bd popeye said:

I found the pictures below of me on line in a German site that loves the USN. navysite. These pictures are from "cruise books" Kinda a year book for a ships deployment.

On the JFK in '72 they took no crew photos. In '73 on the JFK they took group pix..I missed that same thing on the Midway. I missed it because I was on the flight deck. Oh well I did manage to find three.. they are small and I don't know how to make them any larger for display here.

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You are a handsome lad back than Popeye. So was your final rank in the Navy was as E-5 (Petty Officer 1st class)?

Thank you.. nope, I was a Petty Officer First class. That is an E-6 with the US Navy not an E-5.



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On the America CV-66 while at anchor in St Thomas US Virgin Island in February 1981 VS-33 launched one S-3A from a waist cat (don't know which one) while at anchor. I know because I saw it with my own eyes. I was assigned to VS-33. And S-3A had a lot of wing span with a lot of lift.

It was aircraft 700..the bird was stripped down. No avionics except NAV & COMM..so she did not weigh that much. Her mission was to fly to Rosey Roads PR pick up some mail and cargo that needed to go to the the FID i.e Forrestal and Then fly back to the America with our mail. Just as we got underway the America was overflown by two F-4 Phantoms from the mighty FID!!! See we were having the old war games against the FID.. So they got the jump on us. Buzzing Miss "A" like that..they should have been ashamed of themselves...Showing off with those old smokey Phantoms.. why we had Tomcats....VF-114 & VF-213.

Fear not.. While aircraft 700 was aboard the FID her aircrew stole something from VS-30 ready room that was beneficial to the up coming war games. Special radio frequency & other info for use during the wargames. Guess what? VS-33 was able to score hits on the "Orange" forces with that info.. However the America was "sunk" during the wargames by a Canuck missile hit or torpedo..imagine that?!.

Aircraft have nicknames beyond the norm..

When I was in HC-11 we called the CH-46s.. Greyhounds or "da' Dog"

In VS-33 we called the S-3s "Hoovers" because of the vacuum sound of the engines when they turned up.

In HSL-31 the S/H-F2 Sea Sprite was called the "Hooky Two". I don't know why.

A-4 Sky Hawks were long know as "Scooters"

Tomcats you ask??.."Turkeys"..because the way their exhaust flexed..just like a Turkey.

And the A-7 Coarsair II.."People Eater" and "SLUF" Short Little Ugly F**ker".

No foolin'!

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My second oldest son served from 1998 to 2007 on active duty. Pretty sure he got out because of his then fiance, now wife, wanted him to.

He's very smart..in fact he was offered nuclear power. I talked him out of being a nuke .. I told him simply when I was on the Nimitz when we were going on liberty the Reactor Dept. was mustering in the Hangar deck for an inspection & had only port and starboard liberty while we had 3 section liberty... And, they as well they should, had constant drills in port and at sea. And.the school was in South Carolina..And..so on and so forth..He opted for advanced electronics and became an STG with multiple NECs..Before he went to the reserves he was an master instructor at the ASW schools in San Diego.

Very honestly I would not want to be a nuke. Even if I had the brains for it. From what I saw on CVN-68 being a Nuke looks like you get a double helping of the usual BS..

When I was aboard the USS Hancock CVA-19 in late '74 we were in port as usual at NAS Alameda CA having a m RAV.Restricted Availability..Yard work in other words a minor re-fit .

Enywhoo we had the yard birds from Hunters Point in San Francisco on the ship. They worked for AAA shipyard. These guys were a mess. And our new skipper Captain Fred "Feild Day" Fellows did not like them. They were messy, unprofessional and lazy..One day Capt. Fellows was observing some of those yardbirds working on the flight deck from the bridge in the island. Welding or something. He noticed one of the yard workers smoking a cigarette on the flight deck. He went down there and and told the yard workers to stop smoking on the flight deck. The yard bird promptly threw his cigarette butt on the flight deck. CO Fellows told him to pick it up and get off his ship. He did not and cussed the skipper out as he left the ship.

The very next day Capt. Fellows was on the bridge again and saw some more yard birds smoking in the cat walk this time. But they were smoking weed as he discovered when he got down there. He had them removed from the ship and arrested. He informed AAA that they were fired from working on the Fightin' Hanna..Don't think that went over well with COMNAVAIRPAC..never the less they never did return. In less than a weeks time another group of shipyard workers took over their duties.

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I had a kid that worked with me at HSL-31 in the late 70s. I'll call BM..BM's was always talkin' about his dad who served in the USN from '40 til '60. Seems his pop was an Air Traffic Controller. In fact he was also a Federal controller who missed gettting fired by Pres Reagan in 1981 by a few months. He retired from that federal service. The man is a triple dipper! Soical Security doncha know! Not sure if he's still among the living.

Enywho BM would tell tales of the weird stuff his day ate because he grew up in the depression. In the summer of '80 his dad flew out to San Diego to see his son and tour the modern navy. One day BM invited me over to his place to have a few beers with he and his pops. BM dad made a sandwich with..white bread, onion, mayonnaise, salt and pepper and Lard. He just sliced the lard like it was a block of cheese. sprinkled a little salt an pepper on it and ate it...yuck.. He said that was his favorite lunch. Seems he grew up in the depression in Chicago and that was his chow ..many a day...He said sometimes when he was a kid if he was lucky he'd have sardines to put on his lard sandwich! Yummy!

On board ship many announcements are made over the 1mc.Translation PA system. 1mc stands for First Means of communication..

Here's a few from my memory;

Now go to your stations on the special sea and anchor detail.

All hands remain clear of the fantail while recovering aircraft.

Now muster the Charlie working party abreast deck edge elevator number four with Thomas C-S-2.

Now set material condition yoke. All divisional DCPOs lay to DC central.

The port quarter is open.

The port quarter is closed.

Sweepers , sweepers man your brooms! Give the ship a good clean sweep down fore and aft. Sweep down all upper and lower deck ladders and passageways. Take all trash to receptacles provided for on the pier. Now sweepers!

Roach Coach on approach.

Now muster all restricted men abreast deck edge elevator number one with M-A-1 Davis.

Man overboard! Man Overboard port side! Duty motor whale boat crew man the port motor whale boat. This is not a drill!

Underway..shift colors.

This is not a drill! This is not a drill!! General Quarters! General Quarters! All hands man your battle stations. Move up and forward on the starboard side of the ship . Down and aft on the port side. This is not a drill!

Kennedy expects to go along side USS Seattle at time 0800 to take on fuel and stores.

The smoking is out through out the ship while taking on fuel from the USS Mississinewa.

Now mail call! Mail call! All divisional mail clerks lay to the post office to pick up mail.

The smoking lamp is out from frames 68 to 88.. 165 to 195 second deck and below while handling ammunition.

All hands stand clear of all weather decks, the flight deck and gallery decks while encountering high winds and heavy seas.

Stand by for the evening prayer.

Nimitz expects to moor at time 0800 at Alava pier Naval Station Subic Bay Republic of the Philippines.

Now liberty call! Liberty commences for sections 1 and 3 to expire on board in accordance with the plan of the day.

Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire in compartment 2-00-68 the forward mess deck. Away the Flying Squad away!

From the flight deck..

All hands stand clear of the bow cats while firing no-loads.

All hands proceed to the bow for FOD walk down.

Plane captain two zero one..man your aircraft!!

All hands now standby by for the 0800 launch. Base recover course will be one-eight-zero. Get your helmets on, goggles down . Chin straps buckled. Check chocks , chains , tie downs all loose gear about the deck. Check intake, tailpipe and rotor clearances. Now standby to start all engines. Now start em' up! Start em' up!

AAArrrvvvv!

bd popeye said:

When I was aboard the USS Hancock CVA-19 in late '74 we were in port as usual at NAS Alameda CA having a m RAV.Restricted Availability..Yard work in other words a minor re-fit .

Enywhoo we had the yard birds from Hunters Point in San Francisco on the ship. They worked for AAA shipyard. These guys were a mess. And our new skipper Captain Fred "Feild Day" Fellows did not like them. They were messy, unprofessional and lazy..One day Capt. Fellows was observing some of those yardbirds working on the flight deck from the bridge in the island. Welding or something. He noticed one of the yard workers smoking a cigarette on the flight deck. He went down there and and told the yard workers to stop smoking on the flight deck. The yard bird promptly threw his cigarette butt on the flight deck. CO Fellows told him to pick it up and get off his ship. He did not and cussed the skipper out as he left the ship.

The very next day Capt. Fellows was on the bridge again and saw some more yard birds smoking in the cat walk this time. But they were smoking weed as he discovered when he got down there. He had them removed from the ship and arrested. He informed AAA that they were fired from working on the Fightin' Hanna..Don't think that went over well with COMNAVAIRPAC..never the less they never did return. In less than a weeks time another group of shipyard workers took over their duties.

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I had a kid that worked with me at HSL-31 in the late 70s. I'll call BM..BM's was always talkin' about his dad who served in the USN from '40 til '60. Seems his pop was an Air Traffic Controller. In fact he was also a Federal controller who missed gettting fired by Pres Reagan in 1981 by a few months. He retired from that federal service. The man is a triple dipper! Soical Security doncha know! Not sure if he's still among the living.

Enywho BM would tell tales of the weird stuff his day ate because he grew up in the depression. In the summer of '80 his dad flew out to San Diego to see his son and tour the modern navy. One day BM invited me over to his place to have a few beers with he and his pops. BM dad made a sandwich with..white bread, onion, mayonnaise, salt and pepper and Lard. He just sliced the lard like it was a block of cheese. sprinkled a little salt an pepper on it and ate it...yuck.. He said that was his favorite lunch. Seems he grew up in the depression in Chicago and that was his chow ..many a day...He said sometimes when he was a kid if he was lucky he'd have sardines to put on his lard sandwich! Yummy!

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Eeeewww...eating pure lard on a sandwich? Than again I can't blame him for growing up during such hard times where people to survive on what's available to them. My grandfather told me stories about how people in his village ate tree barks and roots by boiling it over for days to soften them during the post WWII period of hunger in China.

Equation, thanks for responding in this thread.

Yep when your hungry you eat what is available.

This old Filipino I worked with told me that during WWII in the Philippines under the Japanese occupation the Japanese stole all the rice they could from the Philippines. Forcing the Filipinos to eat sweet potatoes and other roots instead of rice.

bd popeye said:

Equation, thanks for responding in this thread.

Yep when your hungry you eat what is available.

This old Filipino I worked with told me that during WWII in the Philippines under the Japanese occupation the Japanese stole all the rice they could from the Philippines. Forcing the Filipinos to eat sweet potatoes and other roots instead of rice.

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Wow...those poor people. At least the sweet potatoes has plenty of vitamins and nutrients to sustain them.