SwiftVets.com

jwb7605

Whenever anybody asks me, I tell people "I was over there 3 and a half times, and never even saw the shore". That is a completely true statement, since I was on an aircraft carrier (CVA-19, VF-24). I did draw "combat pay", "hazardous duty pay", and so forth because I was officially "in a zone" as far as the Navy is concerned, and being a plane captain (I found out from watching TV after I got out) was a particularly hazardous job. I just thought it was a lot of fun, and would make the same decisions again, for the same uninformed reasons I made back when. I used to look forward to the extra pay, because I had more money to spend on cool stereo equipment when we went to Japan. I was glad I was a plane captain because I got to go out in the fresh air every day and enjoy the sun. The food was superb. I learned how to make some of the best coffee, gallons at a time.

It just seems like, especially now, people are assuming I got shot at, wore camoflage, and things like that "because I was in VietNam". In fact, I wore a canvas 'skullcap', a brown jersey, strapped pilots into airplanes, pulled arming pins out of ejection seats, did a visual pre-flight before the launch, and reversed the procedure when they came back in about 90 minutes. What I got from that were some really cool stories I can tell, some of which do involve people getting killed, but most don't.

What I'm getting at is that yes, I felt the wrath of the anti-war groups (my last cruise, they lined up and dropped eggs on us from the Golden Gate Bridge), that wasn't prevalent at all when I got back to Nebraska, but I saw a whole lot of stuff on TV and heard a lot of things on the radio that made me ask "what the hell is that all about, anyway"? I actually may have been listening to Kerry, and paid no attention to who he was and gave no thought to why that might be important in the future.
All I really did was stumble across a fun way to avoid the draft. I never wanted to be a war hero, wasn't a war hero, and I get really uncomfortable when somebody gushes on about "how I served my country". That was just something you did, and (back then, at least) that's where the sentence ends.

So, for the several thousands of us who were in the same situation, what is a good way to explain things?

air_vet · PO2 Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 374

ALMOUNT

Hueygunner · Lt.Jg. Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Posts: 127 Location: Kentucky

jwb7605

SwanLady · Seaman Apprentice Joined: 20 Aug 2004 Posts: 95

SwanLady · Seaman Apprentice Joined: 20 Aug 2004 Posts: 95

btw.. a better forrestal site:

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/histories/cv59-forrestal/forrestal-fire.html

McCains' website:
http://www.friendsofmccain.com/about/

Snipe · Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2004 8:13 pm Post subject:

Every time you raise your hand and are sworn in to any service, there's
no gaurentee that you are putting in for something safe. You are joining
the Armed Forces. Only afterward do you get to look back with 20/20
hindsight. The only thing that matters is that you were where you were
supposed to be and doing what you were supposed to do.

The morning of 29 July 1967 was a really nice day in the Tonkin Gulf.
I was thinking that it was just after noon chow when things hit the fan.
We were plane guarding Oriskany when we got the bell for ahead flank
make turns for 27 knots. Real quick burner change and off we went.
Then we got orders to jack up the fire main pressure. I put a high
pressure hose on #1 emergency feed pump discharge side and rigged
it to the discharge side of the fire & bilge pump. Jacked the pressure up
to 250 psi. I got lucky. Didn't blow any gaskets out of the fire main which
normaly maintained 150 psi. After a bit, the word came down to return
the fire main to normal. I unrigged the high pressure hose from both
pumps and went back to the superheat platform of the forward fire room.
We secured from general quarters soon after that and were steaming
along at about 12-15 knots - standard speed. When I came up on deck
there was this huge carrier on fire. I was told that we had been under
the angle deck with a 2 1/2" fire hose lashed into one of the forward 5"
mounts and were using the gun barrel for a nozzle which was why we
needed the jacked up firemain pressure. We stayed behind and a bit off
to the side of Forestall for the rest of the afternoon. Articles say that
we were over the horizon from the coast. So where did all of those
Vietnamese bum boats come from. The whole ocean seemed to be filled
with them picking up anything that they could from the carrier.

Anyhow, I think it was the winter of '80/81 when I saw this picture in
I believe it was Naval Aviation News of a can alongside the Forrestall
shooting a stream of water through a 5" gun barrel. Hull number 870 -
Fechteler. Damn, we WERE alongside. I haven't been able to find that
picture since and kinda kick myself for not asking for that copy of the
magazine. I'd sure like to scan that puppy and send it out to some former
shipmates.

Phil Grebner
BTC, USN (ret)
_________________
Tin Can Sailor

Hueygunner · Lt.Jg. Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Posts: 127 Location: Kentucky

Aristotle The Hun · PO1 Joined: 18 Aug 2004 Posts: 488 Location: Naples FL

So why, for God's sake, does he stick up for Kerry?[/quote]

I agree, I don't understand why John McCain is sticking up for a dud like John Kerry. It sure beats the pants off me![/quote]

I felt sadness MCain's behavior. I can't get a grasp on it either. I read the discussion about James Stockdale. Can anyone get the real facts in front of John McCain? If we know that McCain is fully inofmed and he still defends Kerry I will need to sit down for a long time and think about John McCain.

Sam
_________________
Deportè Monsieur Kerrè

Rich Hanson · Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2004 11:59 pm Post subject: Vietnam Vet?

I would say that it was a privilege to serve my country, and an honor to perform the duty I was selected for.

I served as an advisor and covert operative in the Mekong Delta, earning a Silver Star and a Purple Heart in 1970. Today I tell those who ask the same thing. History frowns upon that War, as it does that entire time in U.S. History. Nonetheless, many of us served then - and by serving, fulfilled a commitment to help defend our Country.

Those of us who served deserve respect and dignity for our service, whether common grunts, spooks, sailors, airmen, or whatever!

While not a Kerry fan, I loathe and despise those who took the "easier, softer way", using wealth, power and family connections to avoid service in harm's way.
_________________
Served at the "pointy end of the stick."

air_vet · PO2 Joined: 08 Aug 2004 Posts: 374

baldeagl · PO3 Joined: 07 Aug 2004 Posts: 260 Location: Texas

jwb7605, how many pilots would have died if you hadn't checked the ejection seat pins?

Every man has a job to do. Yours was making sure I flyboys got back in one piece. That's just as honorable as the grunts who carried a weapon and faced the enemy at 60 feet. It's just not as dangerous.
_________________
antimedia
USN OST-6 68-74
http://antimedia.blogspot.com/

roughfun · Lt.Jg. Joined: 17 Aug 2004 Posts: 105 Location: California

Rich, don't be so hard on how other people served. Dont forget none of us would have our ribbons/mdeals if a clerk hadn't put it in our SRBs'. If you tell me GWB lied about his Guard Service then thats diff. Semper Fi.

AMOS

[quote="jwb7605"]Whenever anybody asks me, I tell people "I was over there 3 and a half times, and never even saw the shore". That is a completely true statement, since I was on an aircraft carrier (CVA-19, VF-24). I did draw "combat pay", "hazardous duty pay", and so forth because I was officially "in a zone" as far as the Navy is concerned, and being a plane captain (I found out from watching TV after I got out) was a particularly hazardous job. I just thought it was a lot of fun, and would make the same decisions again, for the same uninformed reasons I made back when. I used to look forward to the extra pay, because I had more money to spend on cool stereo equipment when we went to Japan. I was glad I was a plane captain because I got to go out in the fresh air every day and enjoy the sun. The food was superb. I learned how to make some of the best coffee, gallons at a time.

It just seems like, especially now, people are assuming I got shot at, wore camoflage, and things like that "because I was in VietNam". In fact, I wore a canvas 'skullcap', a brown jersey, strapped pilots into airplanes, pulled arming pins out of ejection seats, did a visual pre-flight before the launch, and reversed the procedure when they came back in about 90 minutes. What I got from that were some really cool stories I can tell, some of which do involve people getting killed, but most don't.

What I'm getting at is that yes, I felt the wrath of the anti-war groups (my last cruise, they lined up and dropped eggs on us from the Golden Gate Bridge), that wasn't prevalent at all when I got back to Nebraska, but I saw a whole lot of stuff on TV and heard a lot of things on the radio that made me ask "what the hell is [i]that[/i] all about, anyway"? I actually may have been listening to Kerry, and paid no attention to who he was and gave no thought to why that might be important in the future.
All I really did was stumble across a fun way to avoid the draft. I never wanted to be a war hero, wasn't a war hero, and I get really uncomfortable when somebody gushes on about "how I served my country". That was just something you did, and (back then, at least) that's where the sentence ends.

So, for the several thousands of us who were in the same situation, what is a good way to explain things?[/quote]

I wasn't in the same situation, but maybe this will give you more "ammo". The F-14's or F-whatevers you were carrying saved our grunt butts more times than I can remember. If our situation wasn't too bad, we could watch them do their "thing". What fun! Awesome is the only word to use. The same is true with the Huey gunships. I also learned to appreciate the Medivac concept. I have often wondered how those guys did it in WW II and Korea without the support like we had in V.N. The cases of PTSD's would be way more. But then if we hadn't had LBJ as CinC, we could have fought a conventional war with a different ending. That's another story. I need to take this opportunity to thank ALL pilots and their support crews. A special thanks to those who made the strong coffee for the pilots to keep them "wired" so they could do a good job of "defoliating" the hillsides. LOL.

Semper Fidelis.

Amos
USMC