Date: Sun, 20 May 2001 13:17:09 -0500
Reply-To: Holly and Chris Mills <scmills@tntech.edu>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Holly and Chris Mills <scmills@tntech.edu>
Subject: Re: Van/squid connection... SEA Stories too...
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Just wished I had gotten around to owning a Westy back when i was
travelling all over the place!!!
Sleeping in a CR-X just isn't the same (or half as safe...) ! Cheap was
important but I could of/should of bought a Westy in 1990 when I joined.
Most of all what I lament is the many weekends I spent in Virginia when
lived on that damn ship (LSD-48 USS Ashland) with no where to relax and get
some peace. Unfortunately I was stationed on a ship full of hyper-active
officers that would grab anyone they could when they want something fixed
or cleaned. You quickly learned to head out when they called liberty or get
stuck wasting your free time on your division officer's pet project. Our
division officer was hated by the CO and got all sorts of special duties
which he graciously shared with us about the same time they were calling
liberty. E-DIV was always last off the ship.
The last week of my time with the Navy our ship headed for South America on
a cruise and I was temporarily left in the care of our sister ship - USS
Whidbey Island. While we spent most of our time at sea, they spent most of
their time in port. Our captain was newly divorced and had nothing to be at
home for so he volunteered us for EVERYTHING. Where our 1MC was running
full time in port or out of port, the Whidbey's seldom ever passed
announcements. Where our ship worked TDY's hard, the Whidbey didn't even
bother waking me up at revelry! When I did report the first morning
atWhidbey's Quarters, the Chief asked if I had anything I needed to do
with a 'tone to his voice' which said get out of here. I did and didn't
report but once a day until my week was up. I had things to do - ready my
car for the trip home and maybe catch a movie or something...
Man sea duty would have been a completely different experience with those
folks - work hard, and play hard.
Our ship's method was work hard, stay late and finish repainting the
passageway for next weeks inspections, and then about 9 PM we'll cut you
loose if the Division Officer didn't have anymore chores... <grin>
Of course our ship looked a hell of alot better!!!
Sometimes I miss the Navy - miss travelling all over the place. Would have
stayed in except for low pay, lack of liberty time (function of my ship's
CO), too much stress for too little pay, homesickness for TN and it's
green mountains, and the struggle to figure out it's new role in the
post-Cold War, politically correct, Clinton led America really screwed up
the military when I was in 1990-1996.
Got tied of those damn sexual harassment classes we all had to take. Think
women are great, think they are capable of anything a man is but the Navy
culture wasn't capable of dealing with them on a ship. Lots of busy broom
closets once we were out to sea for a while- marriage vows or not... <grin>
Sorry for rambling.
Loving this list and all you good folks!!!
At 01:26 PM 5/18/01, you wrote:
> On 17 May, Holly and Chris Mills wrote "Also spent 3 years in Italy where
>we always had a few unregistered cars on the road. That's life with $14K a
>year Navy pay."
>
> On 18 May David Beierl wrote "But a couple fellow sailors in Pensacola back
>in '70 did that and got mugged, and if my foggy memory is correct, the
>muggers went off with their car, leaving them with the broken one. Of
>course that may have been a sea story to escape the consequences of being
>late for duty; I knew the people but not the circumstances."
>
>I myself did 11 years in the US navy (submarines). Is there some connection
>between Westfalias and ex-squids? Maybe it's wanderlust...or the constant
>maintenance...or maybe just living in a confined area... Any ideas? How many
>of you are out there?
>
>Happy Friday! Long weekend in Canada...
>Mike Pedersen
>'88 \X/ Westie GL Automatic
Chris in Mid-TN
ICQ# 5944649
1978 Volkswagen Westfalia
1965 VW Beetle with a Type IV power (perpetual project)
1999 Honda CR-V (wife's ride)
1981 Honda CB900 Custom moto-sickle FOR SALE $2250
several used felines (2 shiny black, one in primer)
1997 Wife named Holly
2000 model son named Zane
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