Prepping for my first year of college, and thanking highest heaven I had escaped the public school system! =^^=

Oh yeah, but you made it.

Nothing interesting. But my 21st birthday was my first day of basic training.

Ah, Basic, hated it.

Wasn't bad for me.... then again it is much nicer then it was back then. Mostly just a dumb mind game.

A birthday well spent.

It was on a Saturday, so I came home from college for the weekend to celebrate with my family.

Great way to spend a birthday!

My goodness, we are only 3 years apart. I was doing similar but as a gunnersmate in the Coast Guard...

V.

Gunnersmate
Sometimes it’s difficult to get across the idea that in the Navy, and to some extent the Coast Guard, that anything with a bore less than 3” is ‘small arms’.

*laughs... so true...

V.

19th? Honestly, I have no idea. I try not to think about that time as it was not pleasant.

What vessel or type of vessel?

It was the USS Mt. Baker (AE-34) a Kilauea-class ammunition ship. For some reasons the Navy always named ammo ships after volcanoes.

I was on board from Oct 75 to May 76 as part of a detachment from helicopter squadron HC-6.

Cool! My Dad was a crew chief on Hueys in the Army. :) We went to Fort Rucker in Alabama to the Army Air Museum and found his helicopter. He still remembered the VIN. OK, not really a VIN but the only other term I could think of was social security number. Anyway, he was telling me about this bullet hole and that one. Etc.

Two of my maternal uncles served aboard the USS Forestall, the aircraft carrier. Yes, when it caught fire. I didn't know Bernie that well as he didn't associate with the family much, plus he lived out of state. Billy, on the other hand, only ever spoke of it once and it was graphic. Blood and guts don't bother me much - I work in healthcare - but when it's someone you know... that's a whole other world.

The Forestall was a bit before my time, but we were there for the Belknap Kennedy collision. The Mt Baker and HC-6 did the ammunition salvage and took on the Belknap crew afterwards. Kept us pretty busy at the time.

Oh yeah. Forestall was way before your time.

Just read about the collision and the Mount Baker. Really neat history. Glad there weren't all that many casualties. Sounds like it could have been hellasious had not there been the other vessels about. You can say you're a hero!

Lol: I made a lot of sandwiches that week.

Oh! LOL! Running joke in the family is that Billy survived the Forestall because he was far below decks doing KP. I don't think that's true. He worked as a mechanic on the ship. Bernie was an aircraft mechanic. Don't know where he was or how he survived either.

Hero sandwiches!