Spent 4 years on this beast... She was a great ship... (yes there are 2 identical coins) And a bonus picture of me painting the beast I'm the lil dot on the floating scaffold
Usualy took the whole of deck dept (about 25 guys) a week to paint it properly, but twice we did it in a single day (NOT FUN) both times for photo ops This pic was on a Saturday me and my friend (the one that sent me the coin) had extra duty that day.. he is actualy in the pic too... bottom left corner of the scaffold, he was painting the waterline..
Great photos. I only spent 4 years in. 2 ships AS-11 & DDG-4, both long gone. Thank You for your service.
I say 4 years, but it was 3.5 on the Pcola then 3 on her sister ship the USS Portland (LSD 37 also in the pic) then I got broken or i probably would have done my 20 at least... I still miss sleeping on a ship
My son went from the Plymouth Rock to the brand new Carl Vinson. Big change for him or anyone. He was name Sailor of the Quarter on the first cruise.
When I left the Pcola I was offered a choice... the Portland (where I already knew half the crew) or the almost brandy new USS Wasp LHD 1 on the West coast... Honestly it was a tough choice but in the end, i liked little creek a lot so the Portland won and I'll put this out here once... it is not something I generaly talk much about... I served on 3 ships... My 1st ship I was on a bit more then 2 months... I met her in Baharain (sp) in march 1987... The USS Stark FFG 31 and was "reassigned" in late May to the USS Pensacola. Not a great start to a military career...
OS yeah at least 15 years I don't think you guys know one end of a roller from the other So says a BM2 who ran the ships paint locker lol PS I was e-3 e-4 in this pic, E-5s don't paint nuttin lol
I don't think our outside spaces added up to a 1,000 square feet. When we went in the yards we had to chip and paint it. I got out 10 months later and they were still working on it.
The Captain didn't like needle guns-- too noisy. Most of the chipping was with hammers. Or maybe that was just the excuse they gave us to keep needle guns from us. We didn't exactly excel with hammers either. They kept getting "lost."
Refueling from the Can Opener. You should've seen the squirrel show in CIC with that monstrosity so close to us.
Unreps were never fun, everyone seemed to get their panties in a wad. I served from 76 to 80. Three and a half westpacs. I was an FTM. Here is my coin.
