new member

[uss oriskany/vf111]

hello crew!

request permission to come aboard!

ex sailor from 1965 to 1969 serving aboard the uss oriskany as an avaition ordnanceman in fighter squadron 111,and also in the same capacity on the uss hancock and uss bon homme richard with fighter squadron 24.
27 month member of the tonkin gulf yact club,working on the flight deck crew as a gun crew leader and missle crew leader during the tet.
many fond memories about liberty in places like hong kong,tokoyo,subic bay,yokosuka,sasebo,and hawaii.

also the proud dad of NavyCook14(also new on here),who has just finished A school and is headed for carrier duty on the uss harry s truman.

john
uss oriskany/vf111

[Lynette]

Welcome to our growing family!....this is cool.....do you by any chance know NAMVET?

[Retired Navy Chief]

Welcome aboard !!! I have a very good friend, Gene "the Ol' Troll" ... who was also on the Big O. I'll have to ask him about the years he served on there ... he told me but I don't recall. Said something about being on there during a big fire casualty.


Were you able to go to the ship's reunion and sink-ex ??

Cheers,
PISTOL

[KYmom]

Welcome,
Glad to have you aboard. It's always nice to have the ones that have been there and done that around to help guide the young deppers.

[dallasnavywife]

Welcome!

I am pretty new myself...and have found this forum to be a wonderful place so far!
My husband leaves for GL in Feb, and he is going to be AO also. any suggestions?

Thanks!

[NavyCook14]

this would be my father here, I joined this site minutes after he did, which he introduced me to this site too and was the reason I joined the Navy.

[KYmom]

this would be my father here, I joined this site minutes after he did, which he introduced me to this site too and was the reason I joined the Navy.


That means you had a good example to follow and we expect greatness from you ! ! ! !
ha ha .. . .

[uss oriskany/vf111]

Welcome!

I am pretty new myself...and have found this forum to be a wonderful place so far!
My husband leaves for GL in Feb, and he is going to be AO also. any suggestions?

Thanks!

great lakes in feb.....ah,the memories!
standing in line for the chow hall in single digit temps....
doing push-ups in knee deep snow......
nothing like wintertime in north chicago!


being an AO was quite the experience.....back then our A school was at nas jacksonville in fla, and just like in boot camp,we lived in ww2 style barracks and all our classes were in ww2 type buildings.its all changed now,im sure!
best advice i can give from my experiences is to be heads up at all times......navy/shipboard life in general can be dangerous at any given time,and the AO rate is no exception.life in a flight deck enviroment can be real interesting,and its no place to have ones head up their keester.flight deck activity has often been described as controlled chaos.
good luck,and hang in there.....


john

[namvet]

hello crew!

request permission to come aboard!

ex sailor from 1965 to 1969 serving aboard the uss oriskany as an avaition ordnanceman in fighter squadron 111,and also in the same capacity on the uss hancock and uss bon homme richard with fighter squadron 24.
27 month member of the tonkin gulf yact club,working on the flight deck crew as a gun crew leader and missle crew leader during the tet.
many fond memories about liberty in places like hong kong,tokoyo,subic bay,yokosuka,sasebo,and hawaii.

also the proud dad of NavyCook14(also new on here),who has just finished A school and is headed for carrier duty on the uss harry s truman.

john
uss oriskany/vf111

hey there. I was on an ammo ship in Nam. 1966-70 we unreped them all. including the oriskany. im a tonkin gulf member to. here's the club: club (club) I assume you worked out of Subic. welcome aboard. Vet

[namvet]

Welcome to our growing family!....this is cool.....do you by any chance know NAMVET?

well we were in the same club

[uss oriskany/vf111]

hey there. I was on an ammo ship in Nam. 1966-70 we unreped them all. including the oriskany. im a tonkin gulf member to. here's the club: club (club) I assume you worked out of Subic. welcome aboard. Vet

i was high-lined from an ammo ship onto the uss hancock on the 22nd of january in 1966....the day i turned 18.
steamed out of subic and rode around the ocean for almost a week until i turned legal age before they could put me in a combat zone.
rode around,eating their chow,and soaking up the sun playing acey ducey.....all the comforts, im tellin ya! lol!

my squadrons(vf24) base was nas miramar,outside san diego.....the ships home was alameda,up near frisco.
after my first cruise on the hancock i was assigned to vf111 on the oriskany to replace one of the men killed during the big fire on their previous cruise.
i was also on station the morning the uss forrestal had their bad fire and assisted with the evacuation of many of their killed and injured. it was a sobering event for a young lad such as myself.....too many picture remain in the album in my mind to ever be forgotten.

subic bay.....what can be said about the bay......muddy streets,flashy painted jeepsters,hot,muggy,the parties at the enlisted mens club whenever we were in port.....and who can forget them young kids perched on them wooden poles sticking out of shiit river that dove into that sewage water to retrieve the coins we tossed off the bridge that connected the base and the beginning of the city.

it was 40 plus years ago,but still fresh in this old mans mind.



john