Comments

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  James r Fugate November 5, 2011 at 9:46am

  VA-44 68to decom 5-1-70 anybody else?

   
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  Ronald Earl Bereman II September 20, 2011 at 11:51am

  I hear you Chief, I lived in Jacksonville from 63 to 95 then moved to South Florida.  I went back to Jacksonville in 2003 and couldn't believe it.  Try double the traffic.  I lived in an apartment on Firestone Rd near the base for many years but never went back to the base except to take the kids to an air show.
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  Peter C. Ward September 20, 2011 at 8:03am

  My main complaint about Jax was the traffic.  Awful.  Haven't been there since 1990, but I bet it hasn't gotten any better.  Staying on the West side wasn't too bad, unless you drove to Orange Park during the holidays.  Nothing but a moving parking lot.  I liked NAS Cecil Field.  It was just everything outside the gate!
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  Ronald Earl Bereman II September 20, 2011 at 7:59am

  Chief Ward:  When I got to Jacksonville in 63 it was a Navy town.  Shore Patrol Headquarters downtown, SP's walking two by two, slop shoot bars, pool halls and tattoo parlors.  Shops that sold custom made blues and "seafarer jeans",

  I loved it so much I stayed after I got out, bought a house in Riverside had four kids lived there for 30 years and retired from the City.  I guess a city is what you make of it.
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  Peter C. Ward September 19, 2011 at 6:34am

  I was at NAS Cecil Field from 1981 to 1990.

  VA-15 (81-84)

  VFA-106 (84-87)

  VA,VFA-83 (87-90)

  I liked NAS Cecil Field a lot.  Made CPO in 87, and loved the CPO club.  It's all gone now.  So sad.  I hated Jacksonville itself though.  Wouldn't live there if you GAVE me a house.  Awful city.

   

  AMEC(AW) Peter C. Ward, USN, (Ret.)
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  Ed Murray August 15, 2011 at 6:14pm

  I was stationed at Cecil with VS-31 from May 78 - Jun 80 ..I was one of those idiot Beacon Club Wild Bunch guys ,,,ha. Whats really strange is that I went back to Cecil 15 yrs later as a DoD contractor and of course it was pretty vacant by then...but I did get a chance to stop into the Beacon Club again ...my god empty except for me and the bartender...but the most astonishing thing was that the bartender used to be my favorite waitress in my stay there...what a blast from the past.
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  Ronald Earl Bereman II July 6, 2011 at 8:07am

  Bert, I was at Cecil in 1963.  There was one liberty bus into town and one coming back at 10:00 P.M. if you missed that bus then you had to ride a Grayhound at 2:00 A.M. that let you off at the gate and you had to walk in.  We had the Chow Hall and a Movie on base but that was it.  I stayed in JAX after I got out and went to the base a few times before they closed.  They had a McDonalds and I think a Taco Bell on base!
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  Bert Perkins July 5, 2011 at 4:34pm

  Sea Duty assignment to NAS Cecil Field, VA-82 1974-1978. Worked as a Plane Captain and later moved into the Airframes shop. Many good times and many good friends. Still remember the beer machines in the barracks, deployments to PR, workups in Gitmo, and Med cruises. Not to mention driving 50 miles RT to Taco Bell downtown Jax.
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  B.A Mann June 5, 2011 at 10:28pm

  I WAS WITH VS32 GOT THERE RIGHT AFTER A SCHOOL  DEPLOYED ON USS AMERICA BECAME A SHELL BACK DID MED  AN INDIA NORTHEN WED..  AROUND AFRICA  WOW  SO MUCH MORE  WAS A GREAT LEARNING  EXP.. I WAS ON  GOING ON 19  SO MUCH MORE TO SAY    WILL ADD MORE LATER
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  Paul LeBlanc April 30, 2011 at 4:25pm

  I was at Cecil Field with VS - 28 from dec 82 till july 86 then left for nattc lakehurst