Ship Story:
I want to relate a short story about those Navy days…When I got out of boot in 1968, I was told I was going to be a Sonarman with on-the-job training. When I arrived at my first assignment, the USS Utina, I was asked what my job assignment was and I said “Sonarman - on-the-job training.” I have never heard so much laughter in my life. I asked what was so funny? I was told “You are a Deck Ape.” I said “No…I am a Sonarman.” After all the laughter had settled, I finally found out that there was no sonar on the ship. You see, the USS Utina was a fleet tug with 63 men in the crew. We didn’t even have a radar.
Eventually, I was able to acquire an assignment to an “A” school for Radarman. My assignment after “A” school was the USS Seattle. I arrived just before the first shake-down cruise and first med cruise. It was amazing, after the first med cruise, my wife got pregnant with our first and only child, as did about 1/3 of the ships wife’s, as many of you know…and that was the story of how it all started for me.
