18 year old Maggot.

mud

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Forty-six years ago today, this 18 year old 118 lb. MAGGOT entered USMC Bootcamp.
"Were gonna make a man out of you boy".
 
I spent about two and a half years in and out of the air station at Beaufort S.C. They would send us to Paris Island to re-qualify on their rifle range.
A very erie feeling place.
 
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I spent fourteen months on two cruises on an aircraft carrier ( as you might know ), and all the Navy personal I came in contact with were good people.
Had a Marine VFA squadron (VMFA251), Marine VAQ squadron (VMAQ3), and a Marine detachment on board. All good men. I remember the pilots of 251 were my favorite to direct on the flight deck. Very professional. all branches have their rivalries but in the end we are all brothers.
 
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I got mixed feelings on the new catapults. I do remember the days when we did a lot of flying and the steam catapults would use up so much water we weren't allowed to shower. Having the steam on deck was nice in the North Atlantic but sucked in the Red Sea. Those damn things were always breaking down too.
On my first cruise aboard the USS AMERICA, our sleeping quarters seemed to be directly under the arresting gear. All day or night long, the sound of a jet hitting the deck and then stretching out the arresting cable, and then the sound of the cable being wound back.
I also remember being in the middle of a shower, and the water would shut off, while they changed systems.
That was forty-four years ago ??!!
 
On my first cruise aboard the USS AMERICA, our sleeping quarters seemed to be directly under the arresting gear. All day or night long, the sound of a jet hitting the deck and then stretching out the arresting cable, and then the sound of the cable being wound back.
I also remember being in the middle of a shower, and the water would shut off, while they changed systems.
That was forty-four years ago ??!!
I slept as far aft as you could go one deck below the fantail. The engine shop would test engines off the back of the ship but had to wait until flight ops were over and we were sleeping. Basically a jet engine dyno on the ceiling of my berthing
 
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On my first cruise aboard the USS AMERICA, our sleeping quarters seemed to be directly under the arresting gear. All day or night long, the sound of a jet hitting the deck and then stretching out the arresting cable, and then the sound of the cable being wound back.
I also remember being in the middle of a shower, and the water would shut off, while they changed systems.
That was forty-four years ago ??!!
Needless to say I am proud of you both for your service. OF COURSE I WAS IN THE AIR FORCE, mid 60's, P.I. then state side mostly TDY, x Ogden Utah. Mud, that was not your last shower, was It. :poke:
 
Needless to say I am proud of you both for your service. OF COURSE I WAS IN THE AIR FORCE, mid 60's, P.I. then state side mostly TDY, x Ogden Utah. Mud, that was not your last shower, was It. :poke:
And I am proud of you for setting the example. It's kind of a shame that it's a lot harder for a young man to enter the military these days. It's really a good start in a young persons life.
The second cruise I went on aboard the USS AMERICA was to the western pacific, or West Pac. The favorite port of mine was Subic Bay P.I. The city outside the base was Olongapo. My Olongapo girlfriend and I even rode a bus together to Manila one weekend. Years later at Roadway we got a new supervisor. He was an ex Naval Officer. One day his wife came to pick him up from work. She looked just like my little Olongapo P.I. lady.
 
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And I am proud of you for setting the example. It's kind of a shame that it's a lot harder for a young man to enter the military these days. It's really a good start in a young persons life.
The second cruise I went on aboard the USS AMERICA was to the western pacific, or West Pac. The favorite port of mine was Subic Bay P.I. The city outside the base was Olongapo. My Olongapo girlfriend and I even rode a bus together to Manila one weekend. Years later at Roadway we got a new supervisor. He was an ex Naval Officer. One day his wife came to pick him up from work. She looked just like my little Olongapo P.I. lady.
Great memories, the supervisors wife, well that made you smile. Priceless. I grew up fast in the Air Force, I do believe all young men and women should still be subject to the two year draft. Just my opinion.
 
Great memories, the supervisors wife, well that made you smile. Priceless. I grew up fast in the Air Force, I do believe all young men and women should still be subject to the two year draft. Just my opinion.
I don't know if bringing the draft back would be a good ideal. Maybe in a time of war.
I went into USMC bootcamp in 1969. Marine recruiters were taking anyone they could find. My bootcamp platoon had a young man with a forth grade education. Another fellow recruit who showed me how to put my M14 rifle back together, was border line retarded.
Back then I did my four years and was glad to get out. For years I had nightmares that I had reenlisted. Years later when I bought my first house with a VA mortgage, I started to realize perhaps the eighteen maggot wasn't so dumb after all.
 
All you guys that got drafted or enlisted on your own back in the day have stories to tell, no doubt. I did what was required by law way back then, and that as one month before my 18th birthday, go and register for the draft. My dad had to take me, and believe me, he didn't want to.

But we were not rich, so college was out, and I never gave thought to going to Canada. The troops were being pulled out of Saigon I believe, was it Nixon that ordered that..???

I was never drafted, maybe that pull out ended the immediate draft, I don't know.

I had actually wanted to go Air Force and fly, but a cousin of mine told me only college edumacted people get to do that, I'd end up in the motor pool, since I was a wrencher already.

I don't know, did any of you make long life friends..?? I think so.

Did any of you hate the service..?? I think maybe so, but you still went and did your duty to God and country. And some of you even REINLISTED too..!!

All I have is the countless stories of vets that are still alive when I meet them at the barbershop, and even one by one, they are dying off. I miss some of those guys as their stories are timeless insights and feelings from the heart. Some of which, have a purple one at that.
 
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