Muster Up: Wardroom, Goat Locker & Crew

Thank you, very much appreciated.

Welcome to the community @moregrip

Retired Navy Chief here. 20yrs, 96-16. Contractor now and enjoying retirement-ish.

@Michele I thought the conversation was funny too. Nothing wrong with a little inter service rivalry. And I didn't even start in on the crayon eaters or flyboys.

Scorpian8, never said that the Army ships were as big as Navy ships because they aren't. Now going by total size/displacement yes the Navy fleet is definitely bigger. Now if you just go by the number of ships then the Army has/had more at least into the 1990's. I don't know what they have now days.

And it was actually a Navy vet that pointed out to me that the Army has/had more ships.

The Army hasn't operated anything big since the Vietnam War. At that time they has their own hospital ships along with some WWII aircraft carriers. The old carriers were reconfigured into floating maintenance depots.

I worked with all branches and other NATO allies when I was stationed in Europe. And that is how I ended up getting most of my sea time. Plus the trip down to Chile.

I'm sure the sailors aboard the transport ships in 5th Fleet hated the Army during the early 90's. When we deactivated a lot of Army units in Germany (92-94) we took all the vehicles and equipment down to Italy and loaded them up on the transports. Those ships would float around for 6 months and then pull back into port so we could do preventive maintenance on everything. It was way cheaper to do that then ship everything back to the states.

😂😂 You two are a hoot. Careful sapper u may get blown outta the water 💦😂🤣

And the Army still has current MOS's for watercraft operators.

https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/career-match/support-logistics/transportation-inventory/88k-watercraft-operator.html .

https://transportation.army.mil/maritime/mqd.html .

Along with two different schools.

https://transportation.army.mil/maritime/mtd.html .

The Army would not have specific MOS's if they didn't have the ships to operate.

I finely decided to read and reply to this thread.

I was a combat engineer than a machinist while in the Army. I spent plenty of time on joint missions and working with all branches. I even have more sea time than some 20 year Navy vets.

And I am probably one of the few soldiers that is a shell back. I was in Central America in 1989 and a Navy ship transporting Army helicopters to Chile was suppose to pick us up on the way back to the states. But the Captain decided to pick us up first then head to Chile. And the Master Chief made sure all of us soldiers were on deck to participate in the ceremony.

Except that my ships are all either artificial reefs now, or the FFG is in service in the Turkish Navy. Almost every command was a cold war-era thing and the Navy ain't what it used to be.

Checking in. USN from 1978-1983 (NROTC) then active duty 1983 - 2003.

USS HAYLER (DD-997) E, then A, then MPA division officer

COMPHIBRON 12 Assist Material Officer N41 and Engineering Away-Team

USN Post-graduate School Monterey, CA -- MS in Mechanical Engineering

USS ESTOCIN (FFG-15) Chief Engineer (CHENG)

COMOPTEVFOR Norfolk Assist for Gas Turbines and Aux Mach

COMUSNAVAK Juneau, AK Ops/Plans N3/N5 at a Joint Command.

Retired in 2003. Yep, I can actually say I got exiled to a (~kinda') radar station in Alaska, and yet no Admiral's daughter was involved.

@MekongVet welcome aboard

Welcome to the MGB crew @MekongVet glad to have u aboard. Another CA. Patriot to add to our ranks. Thanks for the run down on your service. Looking forward to seeing your 1st build.

Looks like mostly Navy here, so I might as well pile on!

Joined the Navy in December of 1966 and exited back to civilian life in June of 1970, so six months short of the four years I signed up for thanks to ship cutbacks and an early out. I left as a PO2 (E5 to you ground pounders).

Went to boot camp at NTC San Diego, which sure beat the lousy weather I would have experienced at Great Lakes (Great Mistakes) in Illinois.

First duty station after boot was a year with ACB-1 (Seabee's) stationed at the Coronado Amphibious Base in San Diego. Playing Marine complete with beach landings out on the Silver Strand was certainly not what I was expecting as a sailor, but I sure liked the shore duty that counted as sea duty. I thought I was already in the military, but the Seabees put us through what they called "military training" where we shot our trusty M-14's and learned how to throw grenades, plus an extra dose of PT. The M-14's were supplemented with brand spanking new M-16's in mid 1967, so of course we had to be trained with them, too.

The next two years I served aboard LST-1166, USS Washtenaw County, which was home ported in Yokosuka, Japan but spent much of her time in and around Vietnam. None of us new it at the time, but she was destined to become the most highly decorated ship of the VN War. We were attached to all three of the brown water task forces at various times, but spent most of our time with the Mobile Riverine Force. Never heard of the MRF, well a San Diego production company is busy producing a documentary due out in 2022 that should appear on PBS stations, but they have already put out a 4 minute teaser anyone can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=pDdt1prUEF4&feature=youtu.be Yours truly just might appear in there somewhere!

Next was a few weeks aboard USS Mobile, LKA-115 in San Diego, then my last three months was spent decommissioning USS Pickaway, LPA-222, also in San Diego, then off to civilian life.

For over 20 years now I've been part of a volunteer crew working aboard the Coronado Amphibious Base building and maintaining the Vietnam Unit Memorial tribute to all of the Navy and Coast Guard fallen we lost to the Vietnam War: https://www.mrfa.org/memorials/vietnam-unit-memorial/visiting-the-vietnam-unit-memorial-monument/map-to-vietnam-unit-memorial-and-small-boat-display

I served from 1988 - 1991. Officer ranks.

First duty station was Naval Station San Diego. After one year there, I moved to the USS Independence CV-62, which was home ported at North Island (San Diego, CA). We didn't spend much time in our home port (only 90 days total in 1990).

We (the "Indy") were the first response to the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, which became Operation Desert Shield. We went 118 days (but who was counting?) without seeing land or a female while in the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf.

Got my Shellback, of course. 😎

I spent 2 years aboard the Indy and then separated from the Navy. My last 6 weeks were in Yokosuka, Japan. The Indy moved its homeport there right before I separated.

Sadly, the Indy was decommissioned and has been dismantled for scrap. I got some of the pieces, which were auctioned off on eBay by the shipbreaking company. Pretty cool.

No regrets. Was glad to be out of the Navy, but I'd do it all over again.

EMC Ret. Served Jul 1958 - Oct 1978

Retired 02 Oct 1978 after 22 years for pay purposes and would do it all over again.

USS Leyte CVS32

USS Otterstedder DER 244

EM A School

US NAVSTA Orange, Texas

EM B School

US COMSTA Wahiawa, Hawaii

US COMSTA Adak, Alaska

Armed Forces Courier Service Rota, Spain

USS John F. Kennedy CVA 67

USS Francis Marion LPA 249

USS L Y Spear AS 36 (Ship Supt. for USS Hamerhead SSN-663)

NAVSPECWARGRU TWO Little Creek, VA.(Command Career Counselor)

Shell Back

Blue Nose

US Navy Career Counselor

@Tarawa I'm glad I didn't have to stay on a LHA. I was on the LHDs and those have a level of suck built into them already.

Welcome to the community Sir ! Enjoyed reading the abbreviation of your career. Interesting 🙂 Look forward to seeing photos of your builds in the near future 🇺🇸

- LCDR here!!!!!!!!!!! Great Mistakes for boot, Seaman Apprentice School, then, off to the Witchita (AOR-1) as an undesignated Seaman- needle guns, zinc-chromate, harness, and Kapock babby. Left active 2 years later as BM3.

- Returned after 8 years (College and dental School) as a Dental Officer. USS Tarawa (LHA-1) and USNS Mercy. On Tarawa I was a Department Head- stateroom, wardroom, and most importantly a parking sign. One of 1% of Navy dentists to earn the SWO patch. Once CO found out I was prior BM I became part of Damage Control Training Team, ect.

Thanks, Michele! I like the looks of the strike industries upper/slides. Will need to grab when they get back in stock.

1993-1999, CH46E crew chief and mechanic. Just bought my first 80 type glock frame and figured I would stop in and say hello.

Semper Fi, bitches.

@Scandroid Welcome to the community! Great story, I can imagine the fun you had blowin stuff up with the EODS👍🏻👍🏻. There are a couple army engineers around here that love to blow stuff up too. Glad to see you aboard. Now go build that piece of freedom 🇺🇸