I have gone to other vet websites to try and use them and locate my past shipmates, and I also have tried to help a lot of others to locate their buddies and past friends and shipmates and such. I have been doing this for well over fifteen years now.
I helped a lot with the USS Hector website ( www.usshector.com ). I did not start it, but I helped round up former shipmates and I have even held a "MINI-REUNION" here in Wasilla, Alaska for those Hector Shipmates that live up here and could make it to the reunion. It has been a lot of fun and has been a very warm and rewarding time for me.
The other "vet" websites I have found and tried to use, for one reason or another, just didn't seem to be what was what us Veterans wanted. Due to the layout, log-in requirements, COST, or some other thing or another, they just lost my appeal and I did not want to go back to them.
Those sites that let in ALL branches were very crowded and confusing, were cross referenced to names that were the same spelling, but un-related, and it was a big mess.
Now, THIS SITE, NAVYVETS, operated by Doug Karr, has my blessings and has proven to be a real good place for us old farts to come and spread our sea stories, post pictures, hook up with past shipmates, find a reunion, share our past memories and relive them as well.
I commend them and those who seek to keep this site going and allow us old salts to drop the hook and stay a while.
David W. Asche
Comments