"Hey Brian, I really don't have many stories that would mean much to anyone but me.. only one "there I was, thought I was gonna die" story. Got lots of shooting stories. From 45 pistol to the 3"50, my favorite. Boom…"
A Social Network for Navy Veterans of the United States of America
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Brian O'Connor
- Male
- Powell Butte, OR
- United States
- Blog Posts
- Discussions (5)
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- Commands (8)
- Photos (4)
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Brian O'Connor's Commands
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USS Constellation CV-64
51 members
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USS DURHAM LKA-114
10 members
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Oregon Navy Veterans
20 members
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USS McKee AS-41
6 members
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USS Mount Vernon LSD-39
4 members
Brian O'Connor's Page
Latest Activity
"Roger, I'm putting together a book of stories and sea stories and could use some of yours if you like. Let me know. Thanks"
"Whew, finally got my plate carrier straightened out and workable, balancing ammo and everything is such a pain!!"
"Funny how things come back around sometimes.
I was active '75 - '95, and have a good friend who was a cannoncocker and the ships armorer. We did a lot of shooting together. He taught me a lot of stuff, small arms related, that paid off in…"
"I got off active in Nov of '76 and at that time scuttlebutt was saying that El Paso was going back into the yards (she came out of a refit in '74) to have the aft mounts replaced with BPDMS, but at the same time scuttlebutt was also saying…"
"Yup, DURHAM, LKA-114, Additionally served in MT. VERNON, LSD-39, also armed (at the time I was there) with four twin 3"/50's. Shortly after, they started pulling one forward and one aft mount off most of the Gators. I'm guessing NGFS…"
"Looks like you served on one of the sister ships to the gator I served on, USS El Paso LKA-117"
"I went to bootcamp in '75. it was 12 weeks. Then later some high ranking moron decided that bootcamp should be fun. After that we had a rash of major disciplinary problems Navy wide and they wondered why. Gee ya think it might have been because…"
"Published (Self Published) my first book in 2016. IN REPOSE - Diving on the USS Arizona with the National Park Service. It's about my time as a Navy diver and NPS volunteer diver/researcher.
My second and third books are anthologies of Navy…"
"The proper thing would be; Jane Doe HM3 USN"
"They were just government pens, you know; Pen, Ink, Ball Point, Black, 1 ea., NSN 7530-00-222-2735 (or something like that! Used to pick them up by the dozen at Servmart. And actually, if you took the silver cap off the clicker, there were colored…"
"Heck no, nothing is fun there anymore. That's why we got out !!!
Actually a lot of the guys I knew when I was in played; Backgammon and Acey-Duecy was big too but a lot of that has changed."
Profile Information
- Rank
- Petty Officer First Class
- Enlisted Rating
- Machinist's Mate
- Where were you or your family stationed?
- West Coast / Hawaii
- Veteran of Foreign War
- The Cold War, Iran
- Current Status with the US Navy
- Retired
- Start date of your service
- October 16, 1975
- End date of your service
- October 31, 1995
Brian O'Connor's Photos
Comment Wall (6 comments)
- At 11:15am on March 29, 2019,
Roger Varo said… Hey Brian, I really don't have many stories that would mean much to anyone but me.. only one "there I was, thought I was gonna die" story. Got lots of shooting stories. From 45 pistol to the 3"50, my favorite. Boom M_____F____ Boom! LOL! Up front 90% of my service time was boring or BS. But the 10% was exhilarating, magical abosolutely priceless. If you get hard up I can help you out. But my stories will probably be pretty ordinary. Looking back on some of it, man this farm boy was stupid. Good luck with the book
- At 1:39pm on March 18, 2019,
Bernhard W Behling said…
I got off active in Nov of '76 and at that time scuttlebutt was saying that El Paso was going back into the yards (she came out of a refit in '74) to have the aft mounts replaced with BPDMS, but at the same time scuttlebutt was also saying she was going on a North Atlantic cruise, which is what actually happened. She went in the yards after that and a forward and aft CIWS added but kept the forward mounts. I believe one of the aft mounts was eventually demiled and put aboard the Intrepid museum ship in NYC. When I was in NYC with my wife in '08 we went aboard and I swear the 3"/50 on display but roped off was my old mount 34 because of some distinctive marks on it. We had a recoil spring shatter in '75 while doing NGFS training with our Marines and it left a gouge in the steel of the barrel. Not enough to warrant replacing the barrel but enough to be noticed from a distance. I'm almost certain I saw that gouge on the Intrepid mount but couldn't get close enough to be sure.
- At 4:28am on March 18, 2019,
Looks like you served on one of the sister ships to the gator I served on, USS El Paso LKA-117
- At 8:57pm on February 12, 2019,
David De Rooy said…
Thanks for the reply Brian. I'm looking forward to reading your second book when it comes out. Memories from the days in blue are what I like.
- At 2:48pm on February 11, 2019,
Welcome aboard Brian. Glad to have you along. It looks like you've got a good start on sharing. Keep posting, we like that.
- At 11:37pm on February 10, 2019,
Emmet Molloy said…
Welcome aboard Brian!
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