YOUR military experiences

Sorry the chopper photo still missing but to be honest, we got double the wages compared to Finland, the government gave us houses, clothes and Food, and $70 per day Money that was not taxed every day. We were happy until we heard the Norwegians got it triple. ***** Norwegians. And btw we got our main training in Finland except I who joined straight from the military Service. Happy I did. Kph

 

..that was a reply to Half Track's pic

 

Oh, my bad.
I hope I answer the right question. Sure we missed our girls but we never were away more than a couple of months.

 

...we went through the Straits.......I think that's where we saw a destroyer...silent and still near an ''overhang''/cove'' ...
..but the best scenery was the Chilean Inland Waterway....snow capped hills/water falls/etc...sometimes the shores were very close....
...here are some pics....in one, you can see a village in the middle of nowhere below snow capped hills.......in 88, we got there in the evening when it was foggy/etc--very ''mysterious''/etc......these pics are in 89' when it was a beautiful morning and our ship was in the shade of a tall cliff ......we traded with the villagers--I think it was oysters--which I did not like .....

you can see the villagers in their boats--bottom right of the pic


at the bottom of the pic you can see the remote village

 

one more pic where you can see the Waterway, ships, and snow caps

 

My absolute favorite?

As a first classman at VMI, in my company, when our TacOfficer, a Marine Corps Major, had the duty, we ate in the officer's mess with him. It was nice, made you feel real grown up, all the big kids and he who shall be obeyed. One night, at one of these, as we were leaving the Officers Mess, one of my classmates, whose USMC commission was not so far away, picked up the Major's cap and was giving it a close look just as the Major came through the door. Asked the Major good naturedly "what are you doing Mr. XXX, putting butter in my cover?"
Good Navy Junior type as I was, I could not resist, and answered for my classmate, "Oh, yes Sir, it makes it easier to screw on." The Major smirked and then glared at me and intoned, "I'll get you for that." And in truth, though he had many an opportunity, right up to the night before graduation, he never did, as I accrued not a single demerit that last semester. What do you know, 'Skull' really did have a sense of humor.

 

The Chopper photo. I´m on a Blackhawk towards destination....Yours truly in the middle.

 

Wonderful, glad to see it!

 

It w

It was s a great feeling flying with some three blackhawks and two Apache heliicopters.

 

...I flew in huge CH53s and the CH46s --46s have been retired for some time
...one time we did an exercise with the Army being the aggressors, and they had an Apache for support.....it was an eerie feeling seeing the Apache in the air, thinking about it being the enemy--knowing it could blast the hell out of us
..I was on the USS Inchon--we did many helicopter exercises
..we wore earmuffs--did you? I don't see them...?

 

A good life in the barracks requires a well stocked refrigerator, with a little bit of beer, mostly Heineken, courtesy of yours truly………..GTMO forever,1968….Bay Hill Galley and barracks, CS3 E.M. Molloy and cooks only.

 

And I would cook you anything, well…………not quite anything, and I was a little tough……..that’s the galley behind me, the chief petty officer’s barracks in the distance.

 

And I was very good at this too……..

 

We had our own little patio and picnic table, occasionally a little green lizard would stop by.

 

And finally, “Tiger”…………..

 

were down to Cuba for fleet training and available for weekend liberty to either Haiti or Jamaica with the crews and extra berthing availability. I went when I could go.

 

My little galley where I was stationed for a year on the U.S. Naval Degaussing Station in the middle of the Elizabeth River, Lambert’s Point, Norfolk Virginia………not me of course in the photo……….

 

The degaussing station, been there since after World War II…………I spent 1967 here, the photos are from two different time periods. A 50 foot launch provided a way to and from the station,