Previously Held NEC SR-0000-Seaman Recruit
SN-0000-Seaman
SN-9740-Seaman - Other Technical and Allied Specialists
IC-0000-Interior Communications Electrician
I retired on the last day of June, 2011, the month I turned 61,
and took my Arizona State pension, then Social Security at 62.Â
I spent my post-navy life as a photographer and media manager.
The Navy gave me gypsy feet, and I've enjoyed them all my life.
As a result, traveling was not just a bucket list item for me.Â
With the way things have gone, it was a good investment.
I'm a direct descendant, tenth generation, of Joseph Loomis.
The Loomis Family arrived in the New World on 17 July, 1638.Â
We have defended America ever since.Â
Other Comments:
"Service included boots-on-the-ground in Viet-Nam"
[ One year, 365 days, 24/7 -- 7 June 1970 to 7 June 1971 ] U.S. Naval Advisory Group, Vietnamese Naval Shipyard, Saigon RVN.
I am also a Plank Owner and Shellback, USS Harlan County (LST-1196).
During my 4 years of active duty, 3 years were credited as foreign or sea service.
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Technically, I was on Active Duty, USN, 3 years, 11 months and 16 days. However, I was in the Naval Reserve before that and after that, both Active Reserves and Inactive Reserves. So N/TWS has credited me from April 1969 through April 1983, 4 years active USN plus 4 years USNR and 6 years inactive Naval Reserves, and that is why my profile may occasionally show three hash marks. 1983 was my final Inactive Naval Reserve discharge date. Also, because I worked overseas, I never managed to take the 2nd Class Exam. So, actually I never wore more than one hash mark on my dress blues. And yes... there is a "V" on my Navy Achievement Medal even without having a Combat Action Ribbon because that's the way it was awarded. For more information click on the NAM w/V ribbon in my ribbon rack.Â
I am glad, proud, to have been born an American.
I voluntarily joined the armed forces, and for that
matter I volunteered for duty in Viet-Nam.Â
What I had hoped for was to not bring the violence,
the lack of value of a human life that I experienced
in Viet-Nam, back to America. Â It is that simple.
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During my civilian career I spent over ten years as a hospital/medical photographer, two years in Saudi Arabia with Lockheed, and then two and a half decades as the media specialist and manager for a 9,000+ student public school district in Phoenix, Arizona. I feel fortunate to have retired without ever having a single unemployment or welfare check.Â
This ain't the worst story, just one of those stories? I never built any houses, but the CBs did. One day I was sent along with a duece and a half full of men, over the Saigon River to a village where the CB's were building small concrete block houses for Vietnamese families who had their village burned to the ground by the VC. My job was simply to hand out clothing from the boxes we had brought along. The Vietnamese women had sort of lined up behind the truck, and about the third thing I pulled out of a large box was a long, red evening gown. I looked at this tiny little Vietnamese woman and she looked at me. At that point I think both of us were wondering, who in the *fuck sent this stuff to Vietnam? So, I simply waved to them to help themselves. At least that solved MY problem. (*dickens . . . there, can you still say that? You will have to pardon me, I WAS IN THE OLD NAVY)
Chain of Command
The shipyard was established in 1884 with the dry dock construction starting in 1886.
And my situation there would have to qualify as a one-off assignment.
I was in-country for one year, to the day and I never took an R&R. Mainly, because the subject never came up.
As odd as that sounds, I didn't have a 'normal' chain of command. On my fourth day in Viet-Nam I was sent TDY to the Vietnamese Naval Shipyard there in Saigon and was given a job that lasted my entire tour. Most of the people I went through SERE training with were sent to SeaFloat/SolidAnchor located near the bottom of IV Corps. However, I was assigned to the Naval Advisory Group in the shipyard where I reported directly to the Planning Advisor, LCdr. Robert Teague. His tour ended about half-way through mine and his replacement inherited me. So, possibly due to that timing, and the fact that I was in a department of two, and that on average I was fifteen years junior to the rest of the Naval Advisors.
Most of our 22 enlisted were E6 and above. The 12 officers were Warrents, LDO's and senior... such as the OX, a full Commander, and our CO, a full bird Captain. However, I've never felt slighted, because I spent my entire year there in Saigon and I had access to a jeep when I needed a vehicle overnight.
Not bad for a twenty year old E2. They gave me full Seaman, E3, a month after I arrived and that's how I left.
Other Memories
I was a wash-out from a ballistic missile program, and so I requested river patrol duty in Viet-Nam. Ten days later I was in SERE training and landed in Saigon as an undesignated E2. After a month my pay went up, they had made me an E3, Seaman 1st, and a year later that is how I left with orders to another Class A school. I didn't make E4 until I got to the fleet. No problem, but as I understood it, if you were in the Army and in Viet-Nam you were automatically made a Spec 4 or equivalent. Personnelly, I made out with duty in Saigon in the shipyard. I was having the time of my life. No regrets. We would occasionally have Spooks in and around the yard, so I was told. Actually, I was told to avoid anyone packing a 9mm, rather than a 45. Whether that was true or not really didn't matter to me. However, several of my room-mates (6 of us to a room) at the Capitol Hotel BEQ in Cholon were CB's, or claimed to be. They were hot shit about being over into Cambodia, it must have been late June or early July of 1970. They were claiming to be one of the first over the border. . .blah blah blah. . . and don't tell anyone or we'll have to kill you. All that kind of crap. You all know, some stories are more believable than others, and some are almost too good to be true. The following took place sometime between my being a two digit midget, and not giving a shit, and a one digit with paranoia. - Toward the end of my tour I'd gotten to know Saigon pretty well. I have a good sense of direction and had driven most major streets and half the alleyways by then. Anyhow, about then we had gotten a new Yeoman, PO1, and he and I went out on the town. The drunker we got, the squirrelier he got with his talk of being a CIA undercover spook. To me, it sounded like a bunch of bullshit, you know, Sea Story material. But, pretty soon we were doing stuff like front door back door in and out of bars and hotels. I will admit, he knew the alleyways and fire escapes as we would go in the lobby and out the second or third floor back to a bar for a drink and he was off again. We had managed to cross half the downtown of Saigon when we hit TuDo Street. By then, I was getting tired and just wanted to get laid. This was one of those parts of town I knew like the back of my hand and told him it was time to part. The last time I saw him he was getting into one of those blue and white Renault cabs. The next morning I showed up at the shipyard which was about a half mile off TuDo. He never showed up. Ever. The word I got was that he had his wedding ring finger cut off in order to steal the ring and rob him. There wasn't much I could say or do. He was twice my age and after all, we seemed to be living his big adventure, not mine. At least I got laid.