Shortly after my becoming an AEAN (E3), AE1 (E6) Paul Cunio was promoted to Chief Aviation Electrician's Mate (E7). That's the goal of every career enlisted man. Not everyone attains it. Chief Cunio sends me to Electronic Countermeasure Operator School and eventually to aircraft LK 10 as the crew electrician and ECM operator. Being assigned to a flight crew is lot of work! All it's electrical problems are primarily mine, the crew washes and fuels the aircraft, assists in loading weapons and stores, plus going flying in it! Way more work than being a shop electrician. The pay increase to $155 a month from $100 is some compensation. Maybe even a lot of compensation! Most of all it's fun and enhances your status in the squadron.
On the first flight, the experienced crew members teach you the basics. How not to walk through a spinning propeller. How and where to hold the fire bottle in case of fire when the engines are started. How to safely remove the metal pins from the nose and main wheel landing gear struts before taxiing the aircraft. Removing and inserting the tire chocks. Safe aircraft refueling practices. Avoiding jet engine intakes and exhaust. One will suck you in, the other will blow you over. Last, they teach you where to crouch in the takeoff and landing position inside the aircraft. The electrician and ordnanceman do not have seat belts like the other crewmembers so they sit you in a small compartment curled into a ball for takeoff and landing. Do NOT touch this handle! That handle is a failure on my first flight.
On takeoff the aircraft blasts down the runway, AN Gatch, the ordnanceman, and the electrician, me, are curled into a balls waiting for the pilot to tell us we can leave our takeoff station. After takeoff we hear, "Secure from takeoff stations." Reach up, grab the do NOT touch handle, it jettisons from the aircraft and hangs up on the outside of the plane necessitating an emergency landing. Embarrassing. No repercussions, just answer some questions, and a flight safety report is filed.
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Friday, December 23, 2016
First duty station. VP-26 Entry 1
After graduating from Aviation Electrician's Mate "A" School my first duty station in May 1959 is to Patrol Squadron 26, aka VP-26, located at Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Maine. VP-26 flies P2V aircraft and their main mission is anti-submarine warfare.
An E2 Airman Apprentice is as low rank as a person can have other than an E1 recruit. Being a designated AEAA rather than just an AA has it's advantages. Instead of doing three months of barracks cleaning or serving food in the chow hall they assign me to the AE aircraft maintenance shop. AE1 (an E6) Paul Cunio is the Shop Supervisor. He introduces me to AE2 Plecinoga, AE2 Gene Balog, AE2 Jim Gettle (E5's), AN Bergeron, an undesignated E3, and AE3 (E4) Sydney Damstra. My very first job in the shop is to carry Syd Damstra's toolbox and hand him the tools he asks for while he works on an aircraft.
Interesting that 18 years later AEC Curtis Lambert will relieve AEC Sydney Damstra, for his retirement, at Helicopter Squadron 85 at Naval Air Station, Alameda, CA. Quite a coincidence.
After a few weeks I'm assigned my first job to do without supervision. I 'm told to replace an instrument in the cockpit and warned to be sure not to drop the light bulb while removing the front of the instrument panel. "You just unscrew the lights from the panel and remove the panel to access the the instrument mounting screws." When the first "light" is unscrewed, it turns out that isn't the light. It's the light holder and when it is pulled out of the instrument panel, a little tiny 327 light bulb falls out of the holder and down into the center console! Shit! First lesson. When they assign you a job, make sure you ask questions about what to look out for! It takes several hours to find that damn light bulb!
Pretty soon AE1 Cunio sends me to P2V Electrical Systems School, Autopilot School, and MF-1 and G2 Compass School. Four more weeks of school. Plus there was three correspondence courses that were required to be completed for advancement to Airman (E3) and AE3 (E4). Most of the first year is spent in school. I must be doing something right because on June 3, 1959 I'm promoted to AEAN (E3) after passing the written exam. That results in what at that time was a significant pay raise to $100 a month!
An E2 Airman Apprentice is as low rank as a person can have other than an E1 recruit. Being a designated AEAA rather than just an AA has it's advantages. Instead of doing three months of barracks cleaning or serving food in the chow hall they assign me to the AE aircraft maintenance shop. AE1 (an E6) Paul Cunio is the Shop Supervisor. He introduces me to AE2 Plecinoga, AE2 Gene Balog, AE2 Jim Gettle (E5's), AN Bergeron, an undesignated E3, and AE3 (E4) Sydney Damstra. My very first job in the shop is to carry Syd Damstra's toolbox and hand him the tools he asks for while he works on an aircraft.
Interesting that 18 years later AEC Curtis Lambert will relieve AEC Sydney Damstra, for his retirement, at Helicopter Squadron 85 at Naval Air Station, Alameda, CA. Quite a coincidence.
After a few weeks I'm assigned my first job to do without supervision. I 'm told to replace an instrument in the cockpit and warned to be sure not to drop the light bulb while removing the front of the instrument panel. "You just unscrew the lights from the panel and remove the panel to access the the instrument mounting screws." When the first "light" is unscrewed, it turns out that isn't the light. It's the light holder and when it is pulled out of the instrument panel, a little tiny 327 light bulb falls out of the holder and down into the center console! Shit! First lesson. When they assign you a job, make sure you ask questions about what to look out for! It takes several hours to find that damn light bulb!
Pretty soon AE1 Cunio sends me to P2V Electrical Systems School, Autopilot School, and MF-1 and G2 Compass School. Four more weeks of school. Plus there was three correspondence courses that were required to be completed for advancement to Airman (E3) and AE3 (E4). Most of the first year is spent in school. I must be doing something right because on June 3, 1959 I'm promoted to AEAN (E3) after passing the written exam. That results in what at that time was a significant pay raise to $100 a month!
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Aviation Electrician's Mate "A" School
In January 1959 a new class starts at Aviation Electrician's Mate "A" School located on Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida. What a nice surprise to get off the airplane that flew there and find it is humid and warm! A big contrast to the cold, icy, freezing weather in Norman, OK. The wind in Norman didn't come sweeping down the plains like it says in the musical, it comes SCREAMING down the plains! Oklahoma ceased to be my favorite musical! In Norman, you often had to lean your upper body forward when walking into the wind or it would blow you backwards. Warm moist air seemed much more preferable! The new favorite musical is South Pacific with Mitzi Gaynor.
After reporting into the school office we are assigned to a company where we will march to the chow hall for meals, the school for classes, and to and from our barracks. That feels completely normal after Boot Camp and Aviation Fundamentals School. "A" School is 15 weeks. Boot Camp was 10 weeks, Aviation Fundamentals School was 10 weeks, and now 15 weeks of Aviation Electrician's Mate School. Sure didn't expect this much classroom work in the Navy!
The first few weeks of school were math. Starting with the instructor testing us to determine how much math we already knew. Then they started with simple solving for one unknown with Ohm's Law. V= IR . Voltage = Current X Resistance. Pretty simple stuff but we spend at least two weeks on simple arithmetic and basic algebra. I'm already bored.
Next we are learning about electrical power generation with generators, alternators, and inverters. By now I've figured out how to manage my $80 plus a month income and therefore am taking the bus downtown to have fun and checkout the pretty girls. And promptly fail the test on electrical generation. The star student fails the test. They are annoyed and I am assigned to three hours a day of night school study hours in addition to eight hours of regular classroom droning. For a week. Not fun. No liberty. After the week or so of extra study hours and passing the tests, they return me to regular school hours. It is so elating it's time to go back to town and celebrate! And fail the next weeks test. They are FURIOUS this time. Going to can me from "A" school and assign me to the fleet to perform manual labor, The Chief of the school calls me into his office to have my new orders prepared. "What the fuck is the matter with you???" "Do you WANT to be shitcanned from school and sent to the fleet?" "No Chief I don't, I'm completely in the wrong here and I PROMISE that if you keep me I'll will not screw up again and I'll attend night school or whatever you want me to do to stay here." "I won't go to town until after I know I passed the Friday test. Promise." The Chief let's me stay and on May 15, 1959 I graduate from Aviation Electrician's Mate "A" School and am designated as an AEAA. An Aviation Electrician's Mate Airman Apprentice. It's a good thing to have a Navy career job specialty.
My orders are to VP-26, Patrol Squadron 26 at Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine. Before they fly me there, the Chief who has been our Company Commander all during A school tells me, "You should consider making a career of the Navy because somebody has to. Somebody has to be here to lead the guys who only do one enlistment. You should think about it."
Ten months in the Navy and one Chief steers me to the best specialty for me and a second Chief thinks I can lead other men someday. Both of them put me on the path to have a Navy career.
After reporting into the school office we are assigned to a company where we will march to the chow hall for meals, the school for classes, and to and from our barracks. That feels completely normal after Boot Camp and Aviation Fundamentals School. "A" School is 15 weeks. Boot Camp was 10 weeks, Aviation Fundamentals School was 10 weeks, and now 15 weeks of Aviation Electrician's Mate School. Sure didn't expect this much classroom work in the Navy!
The first few weeks of school were math. Starting with the instructor testing us to determine how much math we already knew. Then they started with simple solving for one unknown with Ohm's Law. V= IR . Voltage = Current X Resistance. Pretty simple stuff but we spend at least two weeks on simple arithmetic and basic algebra. I'm already bored.
Next we are learning about electrical power generation with generators, alternators, and inverters. By now I've figured out how to manage my $80 plus a month income and therefore am taking the bus downtown to have fun and checkout the pretty girls. And promptly fail the test on electrical generation. The star student fails the test. They are annoyed and I am assigned to three hours a day of night school study hours in addition to eight hours of regular classroom droning. For a week. Not fun. No liberty. After the week or so of extra study hours and passing the tests, they return me to regular school hours. It is so elating it's time to go back to town and celebrate! And fail the next weeks test. They are FURIOUS this time. Going to can me from "A" school and assign me to the fleet to perform manual labor, The Chief of the school calls me into his office to have my new orders prepared. "What the fuck is the matter with you???" "Do you WANT to be shitcanned from school and sent to the fleet?" "No Chief I don't, I'm completely in the wrong here and I PROMISE that if you keep me I'll will not screw up again and I'll attend night school or whatever you want me to do to stay here." "I won't go to town until after I know I passed the Friday test. Promise." The Chief let's me stay and on May 15, 1959 I graduate from Aviation Electrician's Mate "A" School and am designated as an AEAA. An Aviation Electrician's Mate Airman Apprentice. It's a good thing to have a Navy career job specialty.
My orders are to VP-26, Patrol Squadron 26 at Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine. Before they fly me there, the Chief who has been our Company Commander all during A school tells me, "You should consider making a career of the Navy because somebody has to. Somebody has to be here to lead the guys who only do one enlistment. You should think about it."
Ten months in the Navy and one Chief steers me to the best specialty for me and a second Chief thinks I can lead other men someday. Both of them put me on the path to have a Navy career.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Aviation Fundamentals School, Naval Air station, Norman Oklahoma
This is basic aviation training. We are divided into two groups. One group is for the mechanical people. That is mechanics, sheet metal, hydraulics,and pneumatics. The other group is electronics and electrical. Both groups get the same training for the first two weeks. This is the front of the plane, fuselage construction, this is a main mount and tire, a propeller, a nosewheel, tailwheel, etc. Much of it is pretty obvious but also interesting because they taught the details of how it all developed. The first aircraft we all worked on was an A1 Skyraider.
After the first two weeks we were went to our specialty groups for the next six weeks and were housed in separate barracks dorms with our respective groups. So we could "study" together. We in the electronics group were taught basic skills such as how to solder wires together, into connector pins, and electrical and electronic theory, Morse code, and pertinent math skills used to solve basic math problems as they pertained to electrical work.
After four weeks we were given two weeks leave for Christmas. Norman Brigandi and I hitchhiked from Norman, OK to Boston, MA wearing our dress blues. It was amazingly easy. We'd get out of one car and another would stop and pick us up! Often they were long distance travelers who had us drive while they slept in the back seat. It only took three days but it was tiring and there was some uncertainty. The uncertainty motivated us to take the train back to Norman, on the return trip. On the return trip the train had many many problems and frequent breakdowns. The whole train was all military personnel and we were all AWOL due to the train problems. Hitchhiking might have been better! The adventure of this trip really appealed to me. The new places, the restaurants, the people you met! How exciting! It ignited the fire in me to go places and do things.
Back in class for our final weeks before heading off to our specialty schools. I'm slated for Aviation Guided Missile Tech school. By now I've noticed the guys in my barracks talk to each other in Morse code while I'm out drinking beer with the mechanical guys. Maybe super-tech school is not for me? In a few days I discuss this with an instructor who sends me to a Chief who sends me to the Chief in charge of the school. The School Chief hears me out, asks me a few questions, and says, "There's one school that teaches a specialty that works with ALL the other specialties. A go-between between the mechanical skills and the electronics guys. That might be perfect for you. What do you think about that? It does sound perfect and he changes my specialty from Aviation Guided Missile Technician to Aviation Electrician's Mate. And I'm off to Jacksonville, Florida for Aviation Electrician's Mate "A" school. It would be great to remember that Chief's name. Graduation from Aviation Fundamentals was in January 1959.
After the first two weeks we were went to our specialty groups for the next six weeks and were housed in separate barracks dorms with our respective groups. So we could "study" together. We in the electronics group were taught basic skills such as how to solder wires together, into connector pins, and electrical and electronic theory, Morse code, and pertinent math skills used to solve basic math problems as they pertained to electrical work.
After four weeks we were given two weeks leave for Christmas. Norman Brigandi and I hitchhiked from Norman, OK to Boston, MA wearing our dress blues. It was amazingly easy. We'd get out of one car and another would stop and pick us up! Often they were long distance travelers who had us drive while they slept in the back seat. It only took three days but it was tiring and there was some uncertainty. The uncertainty motivated us to take the train back to Norman, on the return trip. On the return trip the train had many many problems and frequent breakdowns. The whole train was all military personnel and we were all AWOL due to the train problems. Hitchhiking might have been better! The adventure of this trip really appealed to me. The new places, the restaurants, the people you met! How exciting! It ignited the fire in me to go places and do things.
Back in class for our final weeks before heading off to our specialty schools. I'm slated for Aviation Guided Missile Tech school. By now I've noticed the guys in my barracks talk to each other in Morse code while I'm out drinking beer with the mechanical guys. Maybe super-tech school is not for me? In a few days I discuss this with an instructor who sends me to a Chief who sends me to the Chief in charge of the school. The School Chief hears me out, asks me a few questions, and says, "There's one school that teaches a specialty that works with ALL the other specialties. A go-between between the mechanical skills and the electronics guys. That might be perfect for you. What do you think about that? It does sound perfect and he changes my specialty from Aviation Guided Missile Technician to Aviation Electrician's Mate. And I'm off to Jacksonville, Florida for Aviation Electrician's Mate "A" school. It would be great to remember that Chief's name. Graduation from Aviation Fundamentals was in January 1959.
Boot Camp aka Recruit Training at Great Lakes, IL
The flight from Boston arrived in Chicago late at night. A Navy bus was waiting for us and we were loaded on it and and taken to Great Lakes Naval Station. As soon as we arrive we are screamed at, "Line up and shut up!" We are lead to a room where they REALLY aren't nice to us. "Take out your wallets and put them on your desk." These are school type desks. We pull everything out of our wallets and they take out all girlfriend photos and rip them up. Generally it's just harassment but it wouldn't be a good idea to laugh.
Next we are "marched" to a building where we are issued fart sacks, mattress covers to civilians, a blanket, a pillow cover, and then to a barracks where we learn to put the fart sack over the very thin mattress that lays on a wire bed frame and hop into bed. Four hours late we are woken up with lights on and and loud noise. The noise is the instructor banging on a full size metal trash can. It's unbelievably loud! Up, dressed, marched to the chow hall, and then we meet our company commander Chief Torpedoman's Mate Bruno. He will lead us all through boot camp, counsel and guide us, teach us to march and to work as a team.
Boot Camp wasn't hard. It was mostly tests and classroom work. Of course there was marching and physical fitness. The tests they administered were to determine what specialty training you were suited for. I did notice that the tests we took with questions about electricity had logical answers. They noticed that too. Since I was preselected for aviation training most of the tests didn't affect my specialty training. My scores on the electrical tests did have some effect because they scheduled me for aviation electronics training after boot camp. The marching and close order drill helped us mold together as a unit. All phases of boot camp had a purpose whether we were aware of it or not. I just kept my mouth shut (a miracle), did what we were told, did my best at everything, and consequently breezed through it all. Boot camp was 10 weeks and we graduated Oct 29, 1958. High school graduates are automatically promoted to E2 upon completion of Recruit Training. In boot camp your are a E1 Recruit. In my case, an Airman Recruit. Now my rank is Airman Apprentice and the pay goes from $74 a month to $85 a month.
Next we are "marched" to a building where we are issued fart sacks, mattress covers to civilians, a blanket, a pillow cover, and then to a barracks where we learn to put the fart sack over the very thin mattress that lays on a wire bed frame and hop into bed. Four hours late we are woken up with lights on and and loud noise. The noise is the instructor banging on a full size metal trash can. It's unbelievably loud! Up, dressed, marched to the chow hall, and then we meet our company commander Chief Torpedoman's Mate Bruno. He will lead us all through boot camp, counsel and guide us, teach us to march and to work as a team.
Boot Camp wasn't hard. It was mostly tests and classroom work. Of course there was marching and physical fitness. The tests they administered were to determine what specialty training you were suited for. I did notice that the tests we took with questions about electricity had logical answers. They noticed that too. Since I was preselected for aviation training most of the tests didn't affect my specialty training. My scores on the electrical tests did have some effect because they scheduled me for aviation electronics training after boot camp. The marching and close order drill helped us mold together as a unit. All phases of boot camp had a purpose whether we were aware of it or not. I just kept my mouth shut (a miracle), did what we were told, did my best at everything, and consequently breezed through it all. Boot camp was 10 weeks and we graduated Oct 29, 1958. High school graduates are automatically promoted to E2 upon completion of Recruit Training. In boot camp your are a E1 Recruit. In my case, an Airman Recruit. Now my rank is Airman Apprentice and the pay goes from $74 a month to $85 a month.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Enlistment day In Boston, MA
At the enlistment center in Boston, MA there's a whole bunch of us there. Somewhere around 80 or so young men. Here we will get a physical, answer a bunch of questions, and sign a bunch of paperwork. A stack of forms that looks like it's a half inch high. They gave a short explanation of each form, encourage us to read it, which no one does, and then sign each one. Our minds are made up and so sign we do.I'm a little under the minimum weight for a 5 foot 9 inch man. The medical person said they would feed us lunch and for me to drink a LOT of water and they would re-weigh me before we are sworn in. At the re-weigh, my weight is a few tenths over the minimum.
Now we all stand up, raise our right hand, and repeat after me. "I do solemnly swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America etc." After being sworn in they aren't nice to us anymore. No surprise. Didn't think that they would be! "YOU GUYS WILL CLEAN THIS ROOM FROM TOP TO BOTTOM! That includes waxing and buffing the deck. It's a deck, not a floor. Those are bulkheads, not walls. GET BUSY!" For two hours we have 80 guys scurrying around trying to think of everything we can clean. After we are done, one of the uniformed Navy personnel comes out and pulls on a pair of white gloves and you realize he's going to find something. He goes straight to a window, wipes a finger along the top of it and the finger is dirty. We have to clean the whole room all over again two more times before we get it right. Actually they probably just ran out of time to hassle us because we were loaded on bus, driven to Logan International Airport and flown to Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago, IL for recruit training. They aren't nice to us when we get there either.
Now we all stand up, raise our right hand, and repeat after me. "I do solemnly swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America etc." After being sworn in they aren't nice to us anymore. No surprise. Didn't think that they would be! "YOU GUYS WILL CLEAN THIS ROOM FROM TOP TO BOTTOM! That includes waxing and buffing the deck. It's a deck, not a floor. Those are bulkheads, not walls. GET BUSY!" For two hours we have 80 guys scurrying around trying to think of everything we can clean. After we are done, one of the uniformed Navy personnel comes out and pulls on a pair of white gloves and you realize he's going to find something. He goes straight to a window, wipes a finger along the top of it and the finger is dirty. We have to clean the whole room all over again two more times before we get it right. Actually they probably just ran out of time to hassle us because we were loaded on bus, driven to Logan International Airport and flown to Great Lakes Naval Station near Chicago, IL for recruit training. They aren't nice to us when we get there either.
Friday, December 9, 2016
Talking to a Navy recruiter
At seventeen and about to graduate from high school, it's time to go to the Navy Recruiting Office and see what they have to say. Since I'm a minor my mom has to be with me when the recruiter talks to me. Twenty-one was the legal , said age. They tell me that early enlistment enables me to graduate from high school six months early. With a less than stellar high school career, I don't trust the school to grant me the six months of credits, choosing instead to attend classes and ensure the credits are earned. The Navy can wait until graduation is achieved. Graduation is June of 1957. The recruiter informs me that joining BEFORE my 18th birthday for four years, I'm only required to serve three years to earn the four. A year is a longtime if you don't like it. And only four year enlistments were available. It made sense to go for the Kiddie Cruise as it was called. My enlistment date was set for August 19, 1958, seven days before my 18th birthday. Kind of like, "If you give me $3 I'll give you $4 back."
In typical Curt fashion I found a job for the summer washing dishes at a girls summer camp located at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. A hundred or so teenage girls and seven teenage boys. It was a fun summer!
It was a requirement to take and pass the Armed Forces Entrance Exam to determine what type of Navy job you could train for. When the recruiter saw my test results he said, "You can go to any school you want to." "Be trained in any specialty, those are some of the best scores I've seen." Not much of a high school student but that didn't mean the information didn't sink in! I choose Naval Aviation with the specific specialty to be decided on after Basic Training and Aviation Fundamentals School.
In typical Curt fashion I found a job for the summer washing dishes at a girls summer camp located at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. A hundred or so teenage girls and seven teenage boys. It was a fun summer!
It was a requirement to take and pass the Armed Forces Entrance Exam to determine what type of Navy job you could train for. When the recruiter saw my test results he said, "You can go to any school you want to." "Be trained in any specialty, those are some of the best scores I've seen." Not much of a high school student but that didn't mean the information didn't sink in! I choose Naval Aviation with the specific specialty to be decided on after Basic Training and Aviation Fundamentals School.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Navy TV Advertising in the 1950s the guy was wearing a sailor unifrom
In 1954 I'm 14 years old and the Navy ran recruiting ads on TV all through my teenage years. The other services probably did also but the images of the Navy ads stuck in my brain. The ads showed a man walking along wearing a suit and a fedora hat. "Are you stuck in a rut?" A rut would open up and the guy would walk down into it and all you could see was the fedora hat bobbing along in the rut. When he came up out of the rut the guy was wearing a sailor uniform and a jingle would play, "Join the Navy and when you retire you'll only be 38!" That made sense to me. Why didn't people do that? Work for 20 years and then retire.
Well I didn't know how old Dad was but the Grandpas were certainly over 38 and working all the time. At the time I was only vaguely aware of World War II but was somewhat aware of the Korean War. My dad and grandpas didn't have answers about why people didn't serve for 20 years. Most likely protecting me from my ignorance.
We lived in tiny Weston, MA. Tom Scott wanted to date my younger sister. Tom was a Petty Officer Second Class Aviation Aircraft Mechanic in the Navy for four years. Now he was taking flying lessons and working as a cab driver to pay for the lessons and eyeballing my sister. Tom was way older than us by too many years and Mother told him he must wait until Florence was at least two years older before he could maybe date her. Tom and Florence eventually married and Tom went to work for American Airlines as an aircraft mechanic.
Those are the three influences that had me thinking that the Navy was a possible career path for me. I certainly didn't want four more years of brain torture attending college. Little was I aware the Navy would have me in school for a little over a year! The photo below is Second Class Aviation Machinist Mate Tom Scott. Tom is one of the reasons I joined the Navy.
Well I didn't know how old Dad was but the Grandpas were certainly over 38 and working all the time. At the time I was only vaguely aware of World War II but was somewhat aware of the Korean War. My dad and grandpas didn't have answers about why people didn't serve for 20 years. Most likely protecting me from my ignorance.
We lived in tiny Weston, MA. Tom Scott wanted to date my younger sister. Tom was a Petty Officer Second Class Aviation Aircraft Mechanic in the Navy for four years. Now he was taking flying lessons and working as a cab driver to pay for the lessons and eyeballing my sister. Tom was way older than us by too many years and Mother told him he must wait until Florence was at least two years older before he could maybe date her. Tom and Florence eventually married and Tom went to work for American Airlines as an aircraft mechanic.
Those are the three influences that had me thinking that the Navy was a possible career path for me. I certainly didn't want four more years of brain torture attending college. Little was I aware the Navy would have me in school for a little over a year! The photo below is Second Class Aviation Machinist Mate Tom Scott. Tom is one of the reasons I joined the Navy.
People tell me "You should write a book!"
Many many people have told me that I should write a book because of my career in the U.S. Navy, the many countries and states I've been to, and the 500,000 miles or so of motorcycle adventures. SO HOW ABOUT A BLOG INSTEAD? Seems so much easier!
This blog will be my memories from as far back as I can remember and will probably develop on it's own as it gets worked on.
A few years back, I posted on my Facebook page a short post about people I was grateful for and why I was grateful for them. As the post developed I noticed it was a synopsis of how I became who I am. That learning experience made me realize that maybe I should "write a book." This blog will have to be that book.
This blog will be my memories from as far back as I can remember and will probably develop on it's own as it gets worked on.
A few years back, I posted on my Facebook page a short post about people I was grateful for and why I was grateful for them. As the post developed I noticed it was a synopsis of how I became who I am. That learning experience made me realize that maybe I should "write a book." This blog will have to be that book.
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