Comments

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  David W Morris June 10, 2011 at 7:31pm

  If you actually looked up what the ribbons are for you would realize that they are easy to get. Deployment ribbons, gun quals, most deployments get ribbons on top of ribbons. Sea service with Asian Pacific, with armed forces expeditionary, blah blah blah.
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  Jim Decota June 10, 2011 at 5:58pm

  Jim, you didn't get caught either? LOL

  These days with the things that pop up in the news, they are going to have to replace the "Good Conduct" medal with the "Best Video" decoration!

  You are so right on those points about your uncle! Each time I am on board the Slater and get the chance to talk to the WW2 guys we still have, I am still awed by what they faced. There is no comparison where courage is concerned between manning a 40MM with a Zero coming straight at you and pressing a button to launch a missile 200 miles away.
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  Jim Decota June 10, 2011 at 3:20pm

  MY poor little NDS ribbon looks so lonely on my dress blues! I vote for the old strict interpretations of things! For my tmeorary duty assignment on a ship that was still on VN tour, nothing! Some of us corpsman had to make an unscheduled and hush hush trip to Da Nang to accompany the POWs back. For that, nothing! Good conduct ribbon, forget it! NO way! Maybe it was the times!

  The guys that were "in country" deserve every bit of bling they could catch! We are in 2+ wars! So, I think anyone that earns it should wear it! But, there aren't that many sea battles going on in these wars. I do believe that the guys on CVN-70 that sent Osama over the side should get a special ribbon! Let's call it the "Navy's shark feeding contribution" medal!
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  Jim Decota June 10, 2011 at 1:32pm

  I think I remember an old salty Chief once saying "it's a young man's Navy now"!                                                                            

  Then there is the line I remember from "Fiddler on the Roof"! "Where would we be without traditions"! Probably right about where we are now!
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  Jim Decota June 9, 2011 at 5:01pm

  That's really cutting it close in years! I'm not sure about the "age" requirement. But to make Chief one has to be in 11 years and to make Senior Chief you have to be in rate for 3 years. So if he enlisted at 17 and made e-4 on an accelerated basis, he would have had to be 28 to make Chief and then 3 more years before Senior Chief. So, I don't see how that adds up.
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  William R Batten June 9, 2011 at 10:19am

  My name is Russell.I have a question that has bugged me since Oct/Nov of last

  year,and since I don't live in or near a naval base,I have just been quiet about it.

  At what age should sailors be advance toE-7,if they make the cut?A man who lived

  about 30 miles from me was killed in the war last year.Here is my question:he was

  was 30yrs old and already a senior chief.I felt that he was too young to be an E-8.Maybe it's me,but at that age when I was in the Navy(the 1980's)usually you were E-5 or 6.So when did the age barrier drop?
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  Jim Decota May 23, 2011 at 8:11pm

  Speaking of McHale's Navy! I just watched a video made last year by Petty Officer Ernest Borgnine! Gotta love that man! 94 years old and still going! I have to try to post that video!
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  Jim Decota May 23, 2011 at 7:16pm

  Jim, That's because they stopped buying $500 toilet seats and $100 hammers! I remember in 73 we had an old gray econoline van with a bubble on the top for an ambulance and now they have the right picture! However, it is a new century and should expect progress!

  
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  Jim Decota April 10, 2011 at 2:39pm

  Welcome to the mess Diana! Grab a tray, a drink and have a seat! Got a gripe or have a memory to share, shout it out!
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  Jim Decota March 24, 2011 at 10:04am

  You just reminded me of something I heard often while in the Navy! "Don't ask why?" Which, in this day and age that saying has been transformed to three little letters, WTF!

  I used to receive an awful lot of free samples in the mail that had me wondering! It seemed that once a month I was getting free "Sanitary napkins". They worked great for absorbing the dripping oil under my truck!