Comments

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  Thomas Collier May 7, 2013 at 8:33pm

  Daniel, the older we get just being "UP RIGHT," can be a blessing, except for the pains. Checking the "OBITS," every morning can also be a plus if your name isn't there. All kidding aside, like you I have not ran into many of my mates either. I saw one at Bangor Wash at the ammo docks about 8 months out of NTC. That is the extent of it.Sad but reality it is.
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  Daniel J Chesley May 7, 2013 at 8:22pm

  I actually traded a few EMails with my CC a few years ago. Turned out he lived about 80 miles from me. But like most of you guys I've not ran into any of my boot camp shipmates. Did trade EMails with a couple of guys from A school, and trade christmas cards with a few guys from other duty stations. My generation of sailors are showing up more and more in the obit section of the paper. Guess getting old is just part of the deal.
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  Thomas Collier May 7, 2013 at 1:49pm

  Gentlemen, if we wrote a book.....how many chapters would it take and how many years would it take to read it.?
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  Pat Henderson May 7, 2013 at 1:42pm

     A group of six or seven of us from Oregon flew down from Portland to San Diego on 16 December 1970, but Lindberg Field was socked in, so we went back up the coast to land at L.A. where we were put on a bus or in a van to be driven down to R.T.C.

     Arrived about midnight, so missed all the usual reception. A couple of hours sleep in the R&O building, then the usual banging of trash cans and the same kind of receeption described in previous posts.
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  Pat Henderson May 7, 2013 at 1:31pm

     I found a surplus place that somehow came into posession of a box of those utility caps from the 1970 era. ( All 6-3/4 size.) I bought a few of them as momentoes, even though they don't fit my pumpkin head. They are like no other hat I've ever seen, even hunting hats. When you look at them closely, they really are well-made.
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  Thomas Collier May 7, 2013 at 10:04am

  Thanks Bob. I think we were given choices for editions of the Anchor, could be wrong and they may have included the record. My company was 040 and some where in our moves, my Anchor disappeared. Found fellow on ebay that had some but not my company. Found printer for the Anchor and they had none either.I have been a history buff and studied the civil war in college. It is a shame how the "past," fades away.
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  Bob Coombs May 6, 2013 at 10:28pm

  Thomas, thanks for the rifle/piece description from your son. That's just what I was thinking. And I had a look at my '67 edition of The Anchor and the first 17-18 pages are in color, with the rest of the book in black and white. They even included a cheaply pressed 33 1/3 record titled "Bluejackets on Parade".

  I still have the graduation program for the 824th Recruit Brigade Review. I didn't realize my company (66-745) was the next to last in the brigade, which included company's 727 through 746. I wonder if my boot training was a couple of weeks shorter than the earliest company, since companies were formed as recruits reported for training. I do remember company 760 was the last of 1966, then they started over with 67-1 in January.
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  Bob Coombs May 6, 2013 at 10:19pm

  No planes or trains for me; I hopped on the Greyhound the day Walt Disney died for a 90 mile ride to the induction center in Los Angeles for a physical and swearing in. That evening we took another bus down to San Diego, but it was haze grey and arrived in front of that famous building pictured in "The Anchor" with the sign over the entrance stating:

     WELCOME ABOARD

    You are now men of the

    UNITED STATES NAVY

   The tradition of the service

   demands your utmost effort

  Give it cheerfully and willingly

  We arrived well after midnight, and grabbed an empty rack for a good night's sleep. After a couple of hours of trying to doze off, some rude jerk came into the barracks about 4am and kicked the shitcan so hard it went bouncing down the walkway between the rows of racks, and he then proceeded to run a nightstick around the ridges inside the surviving trash can. We were given a generous couple of minutes to fall out for muster in front of the building. It seemed to be all downhill for the next few days, then we started getting used to the routine of constant harrassment.
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  James W Ward May 6, 2013 at 10:13pm

  That should have been 3 AM.. not 3 pm.. we had all our physicals and tests before getting on the bus and yes there was the bend over and smile..

   
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  Alan Ray Baugher May 6, 2013 at 9:55pm

  Joined in Sept. 62 Went by train from Kansas City. Pullman to boot. Boy I enjoyed the trip. We did not get ball caps and we wore our watch caps to fire fighting school on base. Went to camp Elliott for small arms training. Bits and pieces.