Games of Interest: I just have 4 words for you...

[NOCajun]

Fly the W

YEAH, YOU RIGHT!!! That game was a definite upset. Army was a heavy favorite in that game.

[NOCajun]

Some ships have a 'cruise song.' As the ship is being towed from a harbor or anchorage, the crew is typically manning the rail in dress uniform. When the ship drops the lines to the tug boats, the command is given, "Underway, shift colors." The screws begin turning, the flag is lowered on the fantail, and a larger one is raised on the main mast.

At that point, some ships will play music. The USS Ranger was, appropriately enough, the William Tell 'Overture,' (for you youngsters, it was the theme for The Lone Ranger). The USS Kitty Hawk was 'The Pink Panther.' I was on a repair ship, the USS Samuel Gompers; we didn't have one, but I suggested to some officers that we consider 'The Flight of the Bumblebee.'

The best I ever heard or saw, however, was the USS Long Beach. I tried to find a video of it, no luck.

When the command, 'shift colors' was given, the fore and aft rocket launchers became active (couldn't find a video of that, either... so this is all from 40 year-old memory). But as I remember, the launchers were rotating columns with stubby pivoting arms, and behind them was a sloped bulkhead with two sets of double-doors. In arming, the doors popped open, the arms tilted into position, a track extended through the open doors and connected to the arms, and the rocket zipped up the track to load the launchers. Then the rails withdrew, the doors snapped shut, and the rocket launcher rotated and tilted the rockets into dramatic angles. This all took place in under 10 seconds.

At that point, the cruise song began: 'Thus Spake Zarathustra,' better known as the theme from '2001.'

Gave you les frissons.

OMG, I had orders to the Gompers back in 1992, after I had finished a pharmacy tech nician "C" school in Portsmouth, VA. I took 30 days of leave after the school, went home to Metairie, and spent time with my parents. I bought a car, and, with 7 days leave left, I packed my things and took off for the ship, which was based in Alameda, CA. I got to the ship the day I was scheduled to report aboard. I got signed in, and a corpsman from the medical department brought me up to see the department chief. I walked into his office, and this senior chief looked up and said, "Well, Knauer, you made it, huh? I said, "Yes", and he said, "I hate to tell you, but you're not going to be staying here." I freaked out and the senior told me that a pharmacy technician I was supposed to replace had orders that were somehow messed up, so he wasn't leaving, and they didn't have another billet for me, so he told me he was going to put me up aboard ship overnight and he would make some calls in the morning. In the morning, that senior chief came up to me and said he had my orders augmented to "Oak Knoll". I said, "WHERE??", and he told me Naval Hospital, Oakland, CA. So, I just had to cross the Bay and go up I85 aways, and that where I spent my last 2 years in the NAVY!!

THAT'S my lone sea story from when I was in the NAVY.

#cULture
#WeAreLouisiana
#GeauxCajuns
#BEATtcu

[Boomer]

OMG, I had orders to the Gompers back in 1992, after I had finished a pharmacy tech nician "C" school in Portsmouth, VA. I took 30 days of leave after the school, went home to Metairie, and spent time with my parents. I bought a car, and, with 7 days leave left, I packed my things and took off for the ship, which was based in Alameda, CA. I got to the ship the day I was scheduled to report aboard. I got signed in, and a corpsman from the medical department brought me up to see the department chief. I walked into his office, and this senior chief looked up and said, "Well, Knauer, you made it, huh? I said, "Yes", and he said, "I hate to tell you, but you're not going to be staying here." I freaked out and the senior told me that a pharmacy technician I was supposed to replace had orders that were somehow messed up, so he wasn't leaving, and they didn't have another billet for me, so he told me he was going to put me up aboard ship overnight and he would make some calls in the morning. In the morning, that senior chief came up to me and said he had my orders augmented to "Oak Knoll". I said, "WHERE??", and he told me Naval Hospital, Oakland, CA. So, I just had to cross the Bay and go up I85 aways, and that where I spent my last 2 years in the NAVY!!

THAT'S my lone sea story from when I was in the NAVY.

#cULture
#WeAreLouisiana
#GeauxCajuns
#BEATtcu

…..Guys I thank all of y’all for your service and excellent reporting of the historical events of the above mentioned….and to you Doc Fun a question…..WHATis the service song of the newly created Space Force???? Fly me to the moon….I like Sinatra’s version…..but perfect words! Caught many on this since I thought it up!

[NOCajun]

FLY ME TO THE MOON. That would be cool...

[BeauCajun]

FLY ME TO THE MOON. That would be cool...

Or anything by Starship.

[R1Letterman]

There is also a "breaking away" song, when an underway replenishment ends and the fuel lines "break away" and the two ships are no longer connected. On USS Boxer we had a song from Rocky

[CajunFun]

…..Guys I thank all of y’all for your service and excellent reporting of the historical events of the above mentioned….and to you Doc Fun a question…..WHATis the service song of the newly created Space Force???? Fly me to the moon….I like Sinatra’s version…..but perfect words! Caught many on this since I thought it up!

This is heresy, but I prefer Julie London's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeLVCeErypY

As for a service anthem, meh.

[CajunFun]

There is also a "breaking away" song, when an underway replenishment ends and the fuel lines "break away" and the two ships are no longer connected. On USS Boxer we had a song from Rocky

Oh jeepers. I was seasick once all my years in the Navy.

It was my summer active duty rotation when I was at UL and had been transferred to the USNR, probably about 1980. I was on a WWII destroyer, and for our underway replenishment I was assigned to the firefighting team. I was high in the superstructure, and we had to stay inside so that, if there were an explosion, we would be protected and be able to go out to fight the fire.

You know how unreps go, the two ships have to keep moving in parallel, and a trough is created between them. But when one is a tiny destroyer, and the other is humongous oiler, it creates and deep trough which means the little one bobs side to side rather dramatically. If you're up in the superstructure, the movement gets wild.

As I noted, this was a WWII ship... hence, no AC. We were in the tropical Pacific, it was hot inside the ship, and where I was it was swinging back and forth 30 or 40 feet.

I had to lie down on the deck. I didn't lose my cookies, but I came close...

[CajunFun]

This is heresy, but I prefer Julie London's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeLVCeErypY

As for a service anthem, meh.

Trivia:

1) Name the TV show London appeared on years ago.

2) Name her connection to one of the male leads.

3) What was the original name of 'Fly me to the Moon'?

4) Who was the legendary music producer who changed the name, and changed the style to make it the classic it is today?

[CajunFun]

OMG, I had orders to the Gompers back in 1992, after I had finished a pharmacy tech nician "C" school in Portsmouth, VA. I took 30 days of leave after the school, went home to Metairie, and spent time with my parents. I bought a car, and, with 7 days leave left, I packed my things and took off for the ship, which was based in Alameda, CA. I got to the ship the day I was scheduled to report aboard. I got signed in, and a corpsman from the medical department brought me up to see the department chief. I walked into his office, and this senior chief looked up and said, "Well, Knauer, you made it, huh? I said, "Yes", and he said, "I hate to tell you, but you're not going to be staying here." I freaked out and the senior told me that a pharmacy technician I was supposed to replace had orders that were somehow messed up, so he wasn't leaving, and they didn't have another billet for me, so he told me he was going to put me up aboard ship overnight and he would make some calls in the morning. In the morning, that senior chief came up to me and said he had my orders augmented to "Oak Knoll". I said, "WHERE??", and he told me Naval Hospital, Oakland, CA. So, I just had to cross the Bay and go up I85 aways, and that where I spent my last 2 years in the NAVY!!

THAT'S my lone sea story from when I was in the NAVY.

#cULture
#WeAreLouisiana
#GeauxCajuns
#BEATtcu

You weren't on board long enough to learn the ship's nickname: The FAT Sam.

Sure, she was big and bulky, but that's not the reason for the nickname. The Gompers was the only repair ship (a 'tender' for you land lubbers) sent into the war zone during the Vietnam war. Which was ridiculous: We were over 600 feet long (more than two football fields), and for weapons we had one— count 'em, one— 50 mm cannon.

In an emergency, we could mount a second one.

Now, the Gompers was also a supply ship, and it was rumored we had nukes on board (I never found out either way). But the joke was that we had no way to launch them.

We would just have to heave them overboard and hit the accelerator. Hah. Hah.

Anyway, that's how the ship got its nickname: Fast Attack Tender.

[NOCajun]

You weren't on board long enough to learn the ship's nickname: The FAT Sam.

Sure, she was big and bulky, but that's not the reason for the nickname. The Gompers was the only repair ship (a 'tender' for you land lubbers) sent into the war zone during the Vietnam war. Which was ridiculous: We were over 600 feet long (more than two football fields), and for weapons we had one— count 'em, one— 50 mm cannon.

In an emergency, we could mount a second one.

Now, the Gompers was also a supply ship, and it was rumored we had nukes on board (I never found out either way). But the joke was that we had no way to launch them.

We would just have to heave them overboard and hit the accelerator. Hah. Hah.

Anyway, that's how the ship got its nickname: Fast Attack Tender.

Nope. I was on board about 13 hours. If I had gotten to stay aboard, I would've been running their pharmacy, BY MYSELF.

#cULture
#WeAreLouisiana
#GeauxCajuns
#BEATtcu

[ZoomZoom]

Any of you Navy guys ever read “ Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the Mount Hood Tragedy?”

My dad was stationed on the island when it happened. The things they had to do afterwards are unbelievable. He never spoke of it, read it in his unit’s notes from their reunions decades later.