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.
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.
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.
We have defended America ever since.
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.
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.
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.
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. It is that simple.
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.
As time goes on, I hear this said by a lot of people; "Question everything!".
But I heard it first from my buddy Jim Rockford, played by James Garner in The Rockford Files: Season 5, Episode 4 "White on White and Nearly Perfect" (20 Oct. 1978). He was talking to another PI named Lance White, played by Tom Selleck before he became Tom Magnum, a spin-off of the Rockford Files (1974-1980) as Magnum PI (1980-1988).
Jim Rockford: "You have to question things. You find out the answers to those things and then you start moving fast and crooked. You go through door sideways and low, at odd angles. You look for the Big Lie. Question everything!"
A FEW GOOD QUOTES:
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life". ~ Winston Churchill
"A dream you dream alone may be a dream, but a dream two people dream together is a reality". ~ John Lennon
That the automobile has practically reached the limit of its development is suggested by the fact that during the past year no improvements of a radical nature have been introduced. ~ Scientific American, June 2, 1909.
In 15 years, more electricity will be sold for electric vehicles than for light. - Thomas Edison, 1910.
It certainly seems to be a reasonable conclusion that the possible maximum for automotive passenger cars cannot exceed one to every family. ~ Forbes Magazine, November 24, 1923.
Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves. ~ Albert Einstein.
The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers. ~ Dave Barry
New Scientist magazine reported that in the future, cars could be powered by hazelnuts. That's encouraging, considering an eight-ounce jar of hazelnuts costs about nine dollars. Yeah, I've got an idea for a car that runs on bald eagle heads and Faberge eggs. ~ Jimmy Fallon.
I think that cars today are almost the exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals: I mean the supreme creation of an era, conceived with passion by unknown artists, and consumed in image if not in usage by a whole population which appropriates them as a purely magical object. ~ Roland Barthes, "The New Citroen," 1957.
If the automobile had followed the same development as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year killing everyone inside. ~ Robert Cringely.
The buffalo isn't as dangerous as everyone makes him out to be. Statistics prove that in the United States more Americans are killed in automobile accidents than are killed by buffalo. ~ Art Buchwald.
Americans are broad-minded people. They'll accept the fact that a person can be an alcoholic, a dope fiend, a wife beater, and even a newspaperman, but if a man doesn't drive, there is something wrong with him. ~ Art Buchwald
"Anyone who will lie for you, will lie to you". My version: "Those who would lie to themselves would lie to anyone".
"The more you know, the less you don't know".
"The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it". ~ Dudley Moore.
If you think Abraham Lincoln became famous for inventing the town car, it is time to spend a few hours on history. ~ Bo Bennett.
"You are what you leave behind". ~ Steve Loomis (gee, maybe I should have worked for the Park Service)
"Get a trade, something you can always fall back on. Then go and do whatever you want". ~ My father
"You can do anything you want in this world. But you can't do everything. Pick something and then do it well". ~ My father
DARN MINI BLINDS... I used to be able to see into my neighbor's windows. Then, one day a blind man sold them a 'stop watch'. ( I just made that up ) ~ Steve Loomis
"Oh my, yes. My life is just one long round of whoopee!" ~ Fred MacMurray as John Sargent in Remember the Night. 1940.
"You can have your eggs scrambled, over easy, sunny side up or hard boiled... It's your choice". ~ Steve Loomis
"The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not." ~ Mark Twain
"If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success." ~ James Cameron
"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives." ~ William C. Dement
"Don't worry, I only judge based on results, not promises" ~ S. Loomis
"CONSIDER THIS . . . IF YOU'RE BROKE, MY MONEY WON'T FIX IT" ~ S. Loomis
I am comfortable with my opinion, which is: "God is in the Mind of Man. Space is Infinite, and would take forever to explain". ~ S. Loomis
This was in a dream I had recently . . . "Now that you've put everything into the fight, lets see what you get out of it". ~ S. Loomis
"Believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see." ~ Benjamin Franklin ~ or ~ "Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear." ~ Edgar Allan Poe
"God, I'm bored". Dying words of Jack Philby (aka Harry St John Bridger Philby CIE (3 April 1885 - 30 September 1960), also known as Jack Philby or Sheikh Abdullah, was a British Arabist, explorer, writer, and colonial office intelligence officer.
Lately I am reminded of this quote: "...there is, even now, something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgement of Courts; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice." ~ Abraham Lincoln, January 1838
And now for something completely different . . . When is " @#$% " or " @#$%ing " Acceptable?
There are only 11 times in history where the "F" word has been considered acceptable for use.
Hold on to your ditty bag, in DESCENDING order, they are:
11. "What the @#$% do you mean, we are sinking?" ~ Capt. E.J. Smith of RMS Titanic, 1912.
10. "What the @#$% was that?" ~ Mayor Of Hiroshima, 1945
9. "Where did all those @#$%ing Indians come from?" ~ George Custer, 1877
8. "Any @#$%ing idiot could understand that." ~ Albert Einstein, 1938.
7. "It does so @#$%ing look like her!" ~ Picasso, 1926
6. "How the @#$% did you work that out?" ~ Pythagoras, 126 BC.
5. "You want WHAT on the @#$%ing ceiling?" ~ Michelangelo, 1566.
4. "Where the @#$% are we?" ~ Amelia Earhart, 1937
3. "Scattered @#$%ing showers, my ass!" ~ Noah, 4314 BC
2. "Aw come on Monica. Who the @#$% is going to find out?" ~ Bill Clinton, 1998
"AND THE WINNER IS" . . .
1. "There is no @#$%ing way Trump will ever become President" ~ Hillary Clinton 2016