A Blast from the Past

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Yeah! Go figure!!

Lets retire one of the most feared, butt-kickin' planes ever developed!! Geez!!

A bit on the "slow" side, but by the time the bad guys get a bead on her, the ordinance is on it's way
to the ground!

R.I.P, you a**-holes!! Hah!! That's what you get!!

Mess with the best-die like the rest!!

CG

Hard to hold that bead when you know there is several hundred pounds of high-velocity U-238, already loosed, about to hit you square in the kisser.

M

[Sublime]

Air-Force pussies! Only state-room I had was on an ammo ship while briefly aboard as a TAD Diver doing a survey job. What a life: you had your own room, and the Steward would bring in a menu every morning -- it was a MSLC type ship. Those guys had it made!

OBSERVATION ISLAND. I understand that when it was not working for NASA it had Spook's aboard gathering electronic intell. You a Spook, Sublime? We used to host that type whenever we took the TRUTTA to Cuba -- three CT's and an over-see'er. We would go down, the ECM mast would go up, and they would stay in the pump-room with the receivers and tape-recorders till we pulled into Guantanamo.

No time to work models on the diesel boat (too busy drinking in the off-hours), and any off-gassing paints or other solvent bearing consumables were a no-no on the Boomer (not that that stopped the XO -- he was a model building machine). So, no modeling aboard the boats for me. However, while I did my nine-patrols on the DANIEL WEBSTER, I did a lot of model building off-crew, while doing R&R and team-training at Hawaii. Did a lot of model building on the YOSEMITE, VULCAN, and RECOVERY while filling a Diver's billet though. I actually took 30-days leave toward the end of my career so Ellie and I could rig the miniatures for a film we worked on in Kansas.

M

I always pictured you in your Navy days sitting on your bunk with a little set of needle files hand shaping scale brass propellers or something. The USNS Observation Island is headed for the Ghost Fleet in the James River. She's been replaced now with something smaller and more modern. Our ship was about 568 ft long and had a beam of about 90 ft. We had room to spare with a combined USAF/Contractor and MSC crew of about 160 people if I remember. It was like having your own yacht. I shouldn't tell you this because I'm sure this is the equivalent of Navy Heaven. I had a cabin steward that cleaned my cabin, private head and office, plus closed circuit TV that the contractors kept a library of VHS tapes for. Racy stuff on TV after midnight. Yes, I tipped him very well because I did not want the Steward to spit in my water glass or worse. I was not really a Spook as our mission was officially recognized by the SALT Treaty. I was the Technical Operations Manager for two Missile tracking radars and a bunch of other equipment. I guess my biggest claim to fame is getting nuked by the Russians over 20 times. The closest reentry vehicle landed about 200 yds off our beam. The dual shock wave traveling through water and air, along with a 200 ft tall column of water could be very exciting. I guess we always did wonder if they took the nuclear materials outta those things.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

That is so NEAT! You guys were working out if those things were ballistic or steered? You were covering home-plate without any protective gear on.

Rod's from the God's, indeed!

M