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War time at sea!! 18 y
Destroyers are the back bone for the fleet.. That means that we were usually the first to the fight or fame... This was the first time I served under wartime conditions... General Quarters " Set Condition Zebra!!"
This is the logo for the USS Furse.
DEFCON DEFense CONdition
In the event of a national emergency, a series of seven different alert Conditions (LERTCONs) can be called. The 7 LERTCONs are broken down into 5 Defense Conditions (DEFCONs) and 2 Emergency Conditions (EMERGCONs).
Defense readiness conditions (DEFCONs) describe progressive alert postures primarily for use between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commanders of unified commands. DEFCONs are graduated to match situations of varying military severity, and are numbered 5,4,3,2, and 1 as appr ... read more A piece of life of some sailors on the road of life... 18 y
Life is one continuous trip... These were some exciting times on the road of life... If you don't move things get dull...
Just another story on the road of life... Lets get on the road, again....
1) One time while at the Jax Naval Station, a couple of guys, and I decided to thumb into town.... Well this guy stopped, in a Red Ford convertible, and offered us a ride... Being desperate swabbies; we jumped in, the top was down so I took my place in the back behind the driver... (Safety first, no seat belts, so back seat; BTW: I don’t really know what it is about those red Ford convertibles, but they seem to have played an important part&nb ... read more Hitch Hiking and some other things we did while in the Navy.... 18 y
Life is full of opportunities, and I had my share... Lets look at some...
Well back to my Navy days.... Most of the time I was stationed a good distance from my original home, in St Petersburg, FLA.... At first it was Key West , FL then Charleston, SC both of which were about 500 miles away....
This will be about some of the adventures and happenings while hitch hicking...
The pic is Nov 2005 Kermit (me) in hat between two nephews Chas 16 on left, and Matt 8 on right; on an island off FLA... We got there on my brother’s boat...
Have not hitch hiked in some years, but ... read more The recipe box in the cupboard... 18 y
Upon looking at the odd assortment of receipts in the cupboard; it struck me that this was really just a part of my road of life...
Recipes we have all seen them, but what are they really??
Well as I stood alone in the kitchen Sunday morning alone, looking at a small metal 3 X 5, filing card box, full of many old and odd recipes... Then it struck me that this was actually a time capsule ...
As I looked through the box sorted by my wife into different categories, I pulled up the different pieces of paper... one at a time, there were about two hundred items! Some were cut or torn from packages of food containers, some were typed, some were hand written, some had the ... read more Cruiser Destroyer Force Atlantic Fleet 18 y
Life in the Armed forces, can be traced to certain patches of the different commands and groups in each service...
This is the patch for one of my experiences!!
All the patches are identified with the different Navy Commands, and have been provided by the person named under the patch.... Thanks to these people for allowing us to see them....
This was the command under which I served on all four ships, while in the US Navy... I was in other commands, and we will look at them in the future also... We will look at others, and go back and post some on previous posts, that apply... Check back and review past posts which will soon be updated...
See ... read more Interesting happening did while in the fleet... 18 y
The world as viewed from the sea is truly something to be hold... But there are a lot of shore actives that go along with that... Some not so pretty!!
Some thing to see!! This is the coast of Corsica, in the Mediterranean Sea.. Beautiful!!
The third destroyer I served on, as I had said before was a steaming mother!!
Many of the things in life; were brought to a sharper and clearer definition through my service in the US Navy... One of the important facts was that people, are generally lazy and will continue to do the same stupid things even though they know it is wrong ... BTW: This is one of the things we need to learn to get over in our life!
I saw guys, when they got paid, {we were paid twice a month in ... read more The New Year 2006; brought a beginning & an end in my life..... 18 y
All things change; some for the better some for the worse.... An important chapter of my life ended with the advent of 2006...
1959 Studebaker Truck
This is a piece of my history, on my road of life.... With the advent of the New Year; one chapter ended while another began... And so it is with all life; it has been said " The the only thing that does not change is GOD and change itself... "
So true!! Life is a constant change, ready or not.... DUH!
Well part of the change in my life began years ago, when I was a teen ager... I had always known about cars, as I had helped my uncles work on them in my sing ... read more Oh where did I leave off?? 19 y
Lets see where we were on my road of life... Oh ya, on a Navy destroyer on station, some where in the world...
Sorry for the delay.... Life goes on and we try to reflect on where we have been, and some of the Ys of life... will get on with my saga so stay tuned for details ... Some more neat pics too...
Hey; I have it scanned and gotten it down to the wonderful size for download to CZ.... Or you can see it by going to http://biggerbetterblog.blogspot.com/ another blog I write....
In the photo this is the bow of the destroyer as it moves into some heavy weather... Looking on the ... read more A jump forward.... 2005 19 y
Will get back to the Navy sea stories later... Mean while, as I travel, these days some things strike me as weird!!
Just an fast forward.... Life in 2005!!
This is me w. the hat, and both of my youngest brother’s sons; Chas 16 & Matt 8; Nov 2005, on an island in Tampa Bay Fla....
As I travel, though life, not knowing wither the things I see and do are normal or some rare happening.... I had always thought everyone had such experiences as myself; but then when other were amazed at my exploits, I never knew if I maybe just gifted in some ways... This is the reason for this blog...
You will remember that one of m ... read more Refuel on the Deep Blue sea... 19 y
Life on the high seas is something to experience... Check it out...
Rep on the High seas This is how it is done!!
Most of my time in the fleet was spent on steaming destroyers, ”so have been there done that” or ”Any place Any time,” was our motto....
Click on the photo and it will blow up.... What you see is underway refueling.... The ship between the Carrier and the other destroyer is a Fleet tanker... It could be an Ammo ship or Other supplies as needed.... If you look hard, you can see the rep lines and hoses....
The Guided Missile Destroyer directly behind the carrier is standing ”Plane Guard” that is when there is a CAP { ... read more NASA... Prime recovery team!! 19 y
The FURSE was one of the original ships the could track the satellites, therefore we were sent out as primary recovery for the first space shots... The Mercury Project...
USS Furse returning from an open sea assignment...
This will be an account of the happening during this historic series of events... We were stationed out of Charleston SC... All of the original Space shots were set down in the Atlantic Ocean... It was later transfered to the Pacific Ocean...
BTW this was what was happening at the time of the movie ... "The Right Stuff" You know John Glen, Scott Carpenter, and the other guys in the original seven astronauts program....
We would Head for ... read more Other High Seas Events.... 19 y
I have had the opportunity to see many different and interesting things during my years before the mast on the high seas...
This is the USS Furse underway at 16 knots on a fair sea.....
It was on this ship I learned what it meant to face death, work long hours of toil, and yet maintain a purpose of duty.... We have been there and done that so to speak!
Life is much more alive once you have been jerked up by your bootstraps; to see the REAL WORLD!! This is what happened to me during my service aboard this fine destroyer... Lets look at some more events that not only shaped my life but went down in the pages of history...
I will continue , soon... stay tun ... read more Wonders seen at Sea ... 19 y
The world at sea offers sights not normally seen by land lubbers... The sea offers new experiences and many wonders of the world... See what we mean....
Sunset @ sea! O ne of the most beautiful sights..
Many times at sea we were able to see many of the wonders of nature... Most of the time when you are out of sight of any land, for days upon end.. If the weather was good we could see the stars and even the satellites in the heavens.. Since most of the time we ran darkened ship.. That meant that we only had the red nite lites on the bridge... All outside doors were closed and the port holes were covered, and if there was navigation, the mast head and range lites were on, plus the Port / Starboard and Stear ... read more Ready set GO!! 19 y
What ever you missed or messed up on is gone and done with so just get on with your life.... There is nothing we can do about it now, and you must be prepared to go out and live your life friend....
Life in 2005 Here I am, ready or not!!!
We must be ready to live our life as it unfolds... It will always changes, if you do not believe that, just wait and see... Get ready for your next steps into the future!! DUH!! We need to move forward, and though we may have regrets and wish some how we could go back and change somethings; It is just like Willie Nelson sings ” there is nothing I can do about it now...”
We can’t do anything about what has happened, so lets focus on the here and now...
I, hike, bike, work as an Electrical Engineer, have been messing with ... read more Navy duty; rescuing people floating out on the high seas.... 19 y
What we see in this life can be a shock.... But then life is not just a cake walk folks... It is real and sometimes unpleasant and dangerious...
After completing the Riot duty in Haiti, the FURSE proceeded north; back toward Charleston, SC... We were headed north toward the Straights of Florida, and were off the Turks & Cacaos Islands, ...
It was about noon time, we spotted a small boat, out on the high seas... The weather was fair so at least the three people in the small row boat were not in imminent danger of being sunk... Though there were sharks cruising in the near by waters... There were two men and one woman aboard the small craft... we stopped close by and&nbs ... read more Haiti riots and off shore patrols... 19 y
While operating out of Gitmo... We were called upon to assist in supporting riot torn Haiti, and this is how it was...
It seems like only yesterday when the USS Furse along with two fleet Destroyers were dispatched to riot torn Haiti.... It was a quick three hour, passage across the Windward Passage to the Golfe De la Gonave...
We took up station, three miles off Isle De L a Gonave; which is just off Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.... This Island is about the size of Grand Bahama Island, it has a large flat top mountain, which is called the "Table of the Devil".... We tracked @ three Knots, in line, @ 500 Yd intervals with the Furse ... read more Underway, ship to ship, fleet operations, steaming.... 19 y
We were underway, most of the time, our ship was a destroyer Flotilla, command ship, we carried a commodore,
(A one star Admiral)... So steam we did ....
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