Kenneth "Ken" Baker

"Hey Ski, Sorry I'm just getting back to you. Yeah, I drove for the Chief of Staff at AirSouth. There was only one AF guy in the MP, think his name was Langston, he drove for the Commander AirSouth. I took over from MM2 Blanton when he left…"

"Lot's of great memories at the Flamingo Club. I remember those times when we were short on funds and would stay in the barracks playing cards. The odd men out would make the beer runs to the club.
Also remember when the put the above ground pool…"

"Hello Ski, don't know if you remember me but after MM A School we were both assigned to the International Motor Pool at AFSOUTH along with five others. I remember that there were a bunch of us who arrived on the same day, they guys we were…"

Ken,

I remember you being in the group of us that went there from "A" School in Great Lakes. I didn't realize at the time that you also went to RTC San Diego. We may have been in the same Division as I was in Company 309 which started in June '65. My CC was a Radarman 1st by the name of Miller. I remember the hot days in San Diego and the freezing days in Great Lakes all too well.

Yeah, you are the second person from AFSouth that posed the question about me putting in 30 years. I ran into Jim Richcreek in Longbeach on year when I was up there checking on a ship from the squadron that was being overhauled. He was in the Chief's Club when I went in to get a beer. He was a Chief at that time and I was a Senior Chief. He didn't believe that I stayed in either.

We did have some good times while we were in Naples. If I am not mistaken, you were the driver for the Air Force General who was in Air South or whatever they called his section. Isn't that correct? I know that I spent about a year or so as Adm. Kidd's driver then went back to the Motor Pool. I went through a couple of cars while I was there, the first was a beat up VW Bug that had half of the right rear fender cut off. Then I bought the '59 Chevy from one of the Seabees that was leaving followed by the '64 Ford Falcon that I had shipped back to the States when I transferred.

I, like you, have a lot of great and fond memories of the Flamingo Club. Hell, there for the longest time that was the first place we all went after work, before we even went to the barracks down the hill to change out of our uniforms. It seemed that we spent more time in the Stag Bar then we did at work sometimes. But, only pulling in about $27 a payday, we really didn't have too much money to spend, unless you won some on the slots. I do remember that the price of beer was dirt cheap at the time.

Well, I re-enlisted for O2N2 school and went there in July '68, one month after you left. That was a mistake on my part because it kept me glued to Aircraft Carriers. I couldn't seem to get into the O2 plants on the ship, always went to the engine rooms with a promise of going to the plant after a year or so. Well, no one ever made the promise good. After the Coral Sea CVA43, a year in language school for Vietnamese, and a tour on the Franklin D Roosevelt CV42, I went an taught MM "A" School for a few years, both the 600 PSI and the 1200 PSI. While there I made Chief. After leaving Great Lakes (again) I went to the staff of Commander Destroyer Squadron Seventeen in San Diego. At the time we had all of the ships home ported in San Diego that were going through overhaul. That had me visiting ship yards all up and down the West Coast. After most of those ships were coming out of the yards, they made us a deployed squadron. I made three deployments under three different Commodores and finally went back to shore duty after 5 years at sea. That is when I went back to RTC San Diego as a Company Commander/Division Adjutant. I also got married while on this tour. Twenty years in the Navy and still single till then. I made Master Chief there and went on to become the Command Master Chief of the USS Bagley FF-1069 out of San Diego. Three years later I found myself back at RTC as the Command Master Chief and three and a half years later they shut it down and I retired. Well, that is my Navy history, for what it is worth. Four ships and four duty stations in 30 years with one year in school.

Hey, I'm not in touch with anyone else that was there while we were there. I did run into John Enbock and at the time he had a similar position in COMDESRON 13 that I had in COMDESRON 17 a few years earlier. He wa

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Lawrence "Ski" Gorski November 13, 2014 at 4:01pm

Ken,

I remember you being in the group of us that went there from "A" School in Great Lakes. I didn't realize at the time that you also went to RTC San Diego. We may have been in the same Division as I was in Company 309 which started in June '65. My CC was a Radarman 1st by the name of Miller. I remember the hot days in San Diego and the freezing days in Great Lakes all too well.

Yeah, you are the second person from AFSouth that posed the question about me putting in 30 years. I ran into Jim Richcreek in Longbeach on year when I was up there checking on a ship from the squadron that was being overhauled. He was in the Chief's Club when I went in to get a beer. He was a Chief at that time and I was a Senior Chief. He didn't believe that I stayed in either.

We did have some good times while we were in Naples. If I am not mistaken, you were the driver for the Air Force General who was in Air South or whatever they called his section. Isn't that correct? I know that I spent about a year or so as Adm. Kidd's driver then went back to the Motor Pool. I went through a couple of cars while I was there, the first was a beat up VW Bug that had half of the right rear fender cut off. Then I bought the '59 Chevy from one of the Seabees that was leaving followed by the '64 Ford Falcon that I had shipped back to the States when I transferred.

I, like you, have a lot of great and fond memories of the Flamingo Club. Hell, there for the longest time that was the first place we all went after work, before we even went to the barracks down the hill to change out of our uniforms. It seemed that we spent more time in the Stag Bar then we did at work sometimes. But, only pulling in about $27 a payday, we really didn't have too much money to spend, unless you won some on the slots. I do remember that the price of beer was dirt cheap at the time.

Well, I re-enlisted for O2N2 school and went there in July '68, one month after you left. That was a mistake on my part because it kept me glued to Aircraft Carriers. I couldn't seem to get into the O2 plants on the ship, always went to the engine rooms with a promise of going to the plant after a year or so. Well, no one ever made the promise good. After the Coral Sea CVA43, a year in language school for Vietnamese, and a tour on the Franklin D Roosevelt CV42, I went an taught MM "A" School for a few years, both the 600 PSI and the 1200 PSI. While there I made Chief. After leaving Great Lakes (again) I went to the staff of Commander Destroyer Squadron Seventeen in San Diego. At the time we had all of the ships home ported in San Diego that were going through overhaul. That had me visiting ship yards all up and down the West Coast. After most of those ships were coming out of the yards, they made us a deployed squadron. I made three deployments under three different Commodores and finally went back to shore duty after 5 years at sea. That is when I went back to RTC San Diego as a Company Commander/Division Adjutant. I also got married while on this tour. Twenty years in the Navy and still single till then. I made Master Chief there and went on to become the Command Master Chief of the USS Bagley FF-1069 out of San Diego. Three years later I found myself back at RTC as the Command Master Chief and three and a half years later they shut it down and I retired. Well, that is my Navy history, for what it is worth. Four ships and four duty stations in 30 years with one year in school.

Hey, I'm not in touch with anyone else that was there while we were there. I did run into John Enbock and at the time he had a similar position in COMDESRON 13 that I had in COMDESRON 17 a few years earlier. He wa

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