Best Friends Johnny Miller / Dave Casbon / Lester (Lima Lima) Lyons / Chris (Dough Head) Doughtery
Best Moment Flying the Admiral and his staff back to Andrews Airforce Base (AAFB) so that he could attend meetings at the pentagon. The flight crew was on stand-by (liberty) until it was time to return to Italy or wherever the Admiral needed to go next. AAFB was 60 miles away from my home in Pax, so I would return home and visit with the family all while drawing per diem. It was during one of these return visits when my wife and I concieved our daughter Molly.
Worst Moment Assignment of the new Commander Flag Pilot. We never got along.
Finding out my request for early retirement had been denied... Shortly after arriving at Sig the Navy put out a message requesting folks in certain ratings to retire early. Now I had been hoping to retire early ever since leaving VP-23 but due to either my NEC, Rating, or Paygrade, had never been within the eligibility parameters. FINALLY the latest early retirement message did not exclude me. I immediately submited a request to retire. There was a radioman CPO who lived in the barracks with me who also was a geo-bachelor and he decided to submit a request as well even though his rating was not eligible. He requested a waiver for rating. Wouldn't you know it, his request to retire was approved and mine was denied.
Other Memories This was a 3 year accompanied duty tour but due to having a home in Pax River, MD, it being what I thought would be my final tour, knowing about the quality of life in Sig, and knowing that I would rarely be at home base, I elected to leave my wife & daughter back at home in the U.S. Consequently It became a 2 year unaccompanied tour.
As I came to the end of my 2 year tour I could either accept orders to go to a VP squadron (with a minimum additional 2 years of duty) or extend for a year in Sig, in order to complete my 3 yr sea duty obligation. I extended but would be leaving sooner than expected.
After a falling out with the Flag Pilot it was determined that him and I could not safely be in the same cockpit together. I was offered the choice of accepting orders to shore duty or remaining at Sig in a administrative capacity until my Sept. 2000 PRD / retirement date. I chose P-3 Flight Engineer orders to PAX which put me back at home in Feb 2000 and in time for my daughters June 2000 birth! Sometimes things just have a way of working out. Thank You Commander!
