Veterans What was your best assignment/duty?

[FishInTx]

1973: CTF-77/Commander Carrier Group Five Staff, Leading Radioman. Stationed at Subic Bay Philippines.

Although stationed ashore in Subic Bay (which was a fun place) we routinely rode the Carriers that came into our Operating Area (Vietnam): USS Oriskany, USS Ranger and USS Constellation.

I was on the USS Ranger cv-61 for 2 years. Marine Detachment 1985-1987. I hated being on the boat but loved every stop on the west/pac loop. Hawaii, Korea, Japan, Philippines. We were stationed at North Island in San Diego, that wasn't too bad. As a grunt I spent 6 months in Okinawa. Great group of guys, we made the best of it. LOL

[sawdust]

SP duty, Olongapo City (adjacent to Subic Bay Naval Base).

Exciting.

[gilligan]

I was at Clark AB in the Phillipines in late "80s to early "90s. It was the wrong place to send a fresh 18 y/o from Sourlake TX, but I survived.

I also spent about 9 years living on Okinawa (Naha, Kadena, and another place I cannot remember) as a military brat. In the summer, my best friend and I would ride our bikes out the main gate (Kadena) and go snorkeling on a fabulous live coral reef.

The worst was the yearly TDY's to Korea for the big exercise (forgot the name of it).

The best was the TDY's to Thailand and Alaska.

This thread brought back a lot of memories.

[beefmobile]

The place i enjoyed the most (ironically) for me was Afghanistan. I had been itching to go to war since i was about 15 years old. That's all i wanted to do. In fact, i was disappointed when my recruiter told me it would be 6 months before i could get into a combat zone. Turns out, i wouldn't be boots-on-the-ground for three more years. When i got my chance, i enjoyed every bit of it. From the time we dropped into Helmand Province in the middle of the night, until i got out of the hell hole 6 months later on a C-130. I went all over that country and met lots of interesting people. Some of them were the enemy and were greeted with cordial incoming fire, but, hey, everybody gets a fair welcoming.

My least favorite has to be Camp Johnson in Jacksonville, NC. I was stationed at Camp Lejeune for most of my time and was very, very dissapointed when i got my orders there. Eventually, i got over it and ended up liking the base and area. Heck, every once in a while, i miss it.

[2farnorth]

Best location: 316 Tac Airlift Group, Yokota AB, Japan.
Best duty: 1131 SAS at a classified location in S.E.A.
Worst: A TUSLOG Det in Erhac, Turkey during an arms embargo on Turkey and Greece

[n5wd]

Feeling a sort of "homesickness", reliving the various bases and ports...

For me, the best TDY station was CDI Karamursel, just across the water from Istanbul, Turkey, n 1973. It was a joint American/Turkish air base, but all you'd see if you went there were Americans, including the 200 or so high-school kids from around the various bases in Greece and Turkey. I worked at the AFRTS station there, TDY from the home network station at Incirlik, to fill in the evening shift while they were getting their new body in. My wife, who was back at Incirlik and working for DOD Schools, managed a three-week TDY to Karamursel, so we got to live on base and travel around the area extensively. It was great duty, a fun job (who would guess that the armed forces had disk jockeys?), and spending half of the TDY with my wife along was great, as well.

From Turkey, we PCS'ed halfway around the world to Clark AB (Angeles City, Philippines) , where I worked at the American Forces Philippines Network station. Heaven on Earth! Mild weather year round, except for the monsoons (you quickly learned that getting wet wasn't bad, when you went into the A/C, you'd dry off quickly) and during the typhoons (one of the worst memories was trying to cook a turkey on Thanksgiving with Sterno cans - typhoon's eye went right over Clark and we were without power for a couple of days). Again, my wife was working for DOD Schools, teaching adult education classes, and she got to go to a couple of bases that I didn't, so it made the tour good for her. She had family in Manila, so we got down there quite frequently, and up to the family home in Bagio, up in the mountains. Rare was the weekend when we stayed on base. I was all set to extend my enlistment and stay at Clark for another year when I ran afoul of a top-sergeant that took a dislike to me, and wound up headed back to the states to go back to college. Ah well, all good things had to end.

Least favorite posting: Grand Forks AFB in Grand Forks, ND. PCS'ed there after Vietnam. Filled out my dream-sheet for anything near the water on either coast of the US. Instead, they give me a land-locked base in the geographic center of North America. Not only was it dry, it was cold! There was still ice on the roads when we left in April! And, clearing the snow off of ICBM launch silos had to be the worst augmentee duty possible, though they do eat well out there in the missile fields.

[{TEX}Hawaii 99]

6 Months in the Sinai before the war on terror. Great training and an even better time.

[terryg]

Best location, Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Oahu Hawaii.

Best time: C-School training in Moffett Field, CA. My MOS was FLIR Systems (Forward Looking Infrared Cameras) on F/A-18 aircraft. Trouble was, the fleet was just getting them in '88 and so they didn't have a school set-up for them yet. So they sent us to IRDS System (Infrared Detection Systems) school for the P-3 Orion with the Navy at Moffett Field for 6 months.

We were the only three Marine Student at the whole facility. In fact, they sent our records to a local reserve unit in San Jose - so we had zero Marine SNCOs or Officers in our chain of command on the base. We would line up for inspection with the Navy boys and girls and get a quick glance over by the chiefs. There were lots of WAVES in our barracks (but I don't think the Navy refers to female sailors as WAVES any more).

We were actually on per-deim, so we paid for our space in the barracks and our meals at the chow hall. After the 6 months was up and I arrived at my duty station, I was surprised to get a check for about $4k in remaining per-deim.

[WildBill]

Best time: C-School training in Moffett Field, CA.

Did you ever happen to go to St. James Infirmary?

[C-dub]

SP duty, Olongapo City (adjacent to Subic Bay Naval Base).

Exciting.

Been to Subic Baymany times. I bet your job was fairly exciting.

[C-dub]

1973: CTF-77/Commander Carrier Group Five Staff, Leading Radioman. Stationed at Subic Bay Philippines.

Although stationed ashore in Subic Bay (which was a fun place) we routinely rode the Carriers that came into our Operating Area (Vietnam): USS Oriskany, USS Ranger and USS Constellation.

I was on the USS Ranger cv-61 for 2 years. Marine Detachment 1985-1987. I hated being on the boat but loved every stop on the west/pac loop. Hawaii, Korea, Japan, Philippines. We were stationed at North Island in San Diego, that wasn't too bad. As a grunt I spent 6 months in Okinawa. Great group of guys, we made the best of it. LOL

Were you around when they were filming Star Trek IV? I understand they used the Ranger as a "stand in" for the Enterprise for that movie.

[C-dub]

Best location, Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Oahu Hawaii.

Best time: C-School training in Moffett Field, CA. My MOS was FLIR Systems (Forward Looking Infrared Cameras) on F/A-18 aircraft. Trouble was, the fleet was just getting them in '88 and so they didn't have a school set-up for them yet. So they sent us to IRDS System (Infrared Detection Systems) school for the P-3 Orion with the Navy at Moffett Field for 6 months.

We were the only three Marine Student at the whole facility. In fact, they sent our records to a local reserve unit in San Jose - so we had zero Marine SNCOs or Officers in our chain of command on the base. We would line up for inspection with the Navy boys and girls and get a quick glance over by the chiefs. There were lots of WAVES in our barracks (but I don't think the Navy refers to female sailors as WAVES any more).

We were actually on per-deim, so we paid for our space in the barracks and our meals at the chow hall. After the 6 months was up and I arrived at my duty station, I was surprised to get a check for about $4k in remaining per-deim.

Your dates might be a bit off, or not if you're referring to the Marine Corps. For the Navy,the first F/A-18's started hitting the fleet in 1980. My Carrier Air Wing (14) was the first to sail with F/A-18's on a full West-Pac deployment in 1985 on the Constellation. VFA-25 and VFA-113. The insignia used on Ice Man's Tomcat in "Top Gun" was actually VFA-25's. The fist holding a lightening bolt. They did filming for this movie while we were out and they used my squadron's hanger spaces since we shared our half of the hanger with Top Gun. The other side of the hanger had VF-1 and VF-2 at then NAS Miramar.

Anyway, my confusion is regarding your statement about the schools not being set up yet. All the schools I went to for avionics were Navy and Marine and they were well established when I was in those schools in 1983-1984. My Tomcat's didn't have FLIR back then, but the Hornet guys sure knew a lot about them in 1985. Of course, we learned plane specific systems from the training squadrons at our respective bases.

[terryg]

Best time: C-School training in Moffett Field, CA.

Did you ever happen to go to St. James Infirmary?

I did not. Should I have?

[terryg]

Your dates might be a bit off, or not if you're referring to the Marine Corps. For the Navy,the first F/A-18's started hitting the fleet in 1980. My Carrier Air Wing (14) was the first to sail with F/A-18's on a full West-Pac deployment in 1985 on the Constellation. VFA-25 and VFA-113. The insignia used on Ice Man's Tomcat in "Top Gun" was actually VFA-25's. The fist holding a lightening bolt. They did filming for this movie while we were out and they used my squadron's hanger spaces since we shared our half of the hanger with Top Gun. The other side of the hanger had VF-1 and VF-2 at then NAS Miramar.

Anyway, my confusion is regarding your statement about the schools not being set up yet. All the schools I went to for avionics were Navy and Marine and they were well established when I was in those schools in 1983-1984. My Tomcat's didn't have FLIR back then, but the Hornet guys sure knew a lot about them in 1985. Of course, we learned plane specific systems from the training squadrons at our respective bases.

Well, I can't speak to the experiences of your peers. I can tell you that after leaving boot camp in San Diego, in May 1988 I headed to NCAS Memphis for Avionics Basic training with all the other Sailors and Marines. But when my C-school started in November of 1988, I learned all about the P-3 IRDS system as a substitute for the FLIR system. The heart of both systems - the actual infrared detection unit was completely identical - but much of the rest of the system was different.

When I arrived at MCAS Kaneohe Bay, I was the first 6466 billeted Marine in the I-level shop. We didn't have any test gear for the FLIR system yet, so we did most of our troubleshooting in the cockpit using service codes.

But then, you have to remember, the Marines always end up doing more with less - including the other branches left overs.

Edited to add:

[C-dub]

Well, I can't speak to the experiences of your peers. I can tell you that after leaving boot camp in San Diego, in May 1988 I headed to NCAS Memphis for Avionics Basic training with all the other Sailors and Marines. But when my C-school started in November of 1988, I learned all about the P-3 IRDS system as a substitute for the FLIR system. The heart of both systems - the actual infrared detection unit was completely identical - but much of the rest of the system was different.

When I arrived at MCAS Kaneohe Bay, I was the first 6466 billeted Marine in the I-level shop. We didn't have any test gear for the FLIR system yet, so we did most of our troubleshooting in the cockpit using service codes.

But then, you have to remember, the Marines always end up do more with less - including the other branches left overs.

You were I-level, cool. Always thought I might like that side, but really liked the flight deck. Makes me wonder where the Hornet guys I sailed with learned about the system and what they did when one went down at sea. If our shops at sea were able to repair them I don't know why you wouldn't have been sent to the same school. Or maybe you were.

Maybe the Marines didn't get the Hornets until 1988 and wanted to set up their own shops. I guess they would need to, so they wouldn't have to send everything to the Navy to be fixed.