Dutch, didja' know that the Nimitz (CVN 68) turned 40 years old over the weekend?

Pop

 

I heard it was decommed, and that was the only way I could see to fix it as it was when I last talked to the crew.

 

Dropping into say hi everyone. USMC - Parris Island Class of '96

 

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Military life in a box

 

I never actually got one of those - my plan was to just slide out the door without anybody noticing.

One fine day on my last week aboard USS John C. Stennis (JOHNNY REB!!!) the ADO tapped me on the shoulder and said "Petty Officer Jacobs, I need you to come to the front of the shop..."


When I got there, I saw the DIVO and everybody lurking in wait, and I spun around and said:

"SON OF A BITCH! IT'S AN AMBUSH..."

My last words at that impromptu retirement ceremony to all the troops was:

"Friends don't let friends drive - Japanese Motorcycles!"


~My way of saying LIVE LARGE, BE PROUD - we are AMERICANS!


And do you know the best thing anyone said to me for as far back as I could remember was when a female second class PO told me I was the best supervisor she ever had?

It was coming of age day, the end of my career, but hers was out in front of her. I remembered well the advice of the man who talked me into serving to begin with.

"Keep your nose clean, keep an eye on the next step up the ladder, but also keep an eye on who will fill your shoes..."

 

Naaa, refueled, and now sails out of Everett.

Are you thinking of the Enterprise (CVN-65)? She's only "inactivated", but not decommissioned.

Pop

 

My dad told me "never miss an opportunity for advancement", and "always leave a unit better than you found it".

 

I only get vague rumors now, the last time I saw the Numbnutz was when it was parked next to us (Johnny Reb) at NORIS back in '04.

At the time I talked to a few crew members and they told me the morale cancer was worse than ever.

It was described to me from the start as a little piece of the east coast on the west coast, and I was warned that there are cliques that form in the norwest.

~That if you ain't part of them you are screwed...

 

That always starts and ends at the top.

Pop

 

Saw the Penny parked at the pier when I was assigned to the ATG in Everett

 

I'm trying to remember who it was that once told me that the reason future Marines sent to Parris Island are given so many immunization is not because they could be sent anywhere in the world, but because unless they had so many shots that they turned their fingernails yellow the mosquitos there would surely give them SWAMP ROT.

A wonderful vacation site, that place...

 

BINGO!

And the XO was the hold-over...

 

USN 1962-1972; Naval Aviator; VP-4, NAS Barbers Point, HI; USN Postgradschool, Fleet Operations Control Center Pacific (FOCCPAC), Kunia, HI, and USS John F. Kennedy, CVA-67. Proud to have served.

 

Welcome, and thank you for your service!

 

circa 1974: At 21 years old I decided to enter service. I scored high on my whatchamacallit test and was being pursued by all services at the shared recruiting office. For me, Army & Marines were out. Plan "A" was to join the Navy with Plan "B" being the USAF. For both Services, Induction / Boot would be very early February.

When I asked the Navy recruiter where I would be headed...San Diego or Great Lakes...He responded with and I quote "Great Lakes".

That's when I entered the USAF.