A Veteran's Journey

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)

1. Who said, “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”?
2. In what movie (and who said it), did we hear, “Every man dies, but not every man really lives.”?
3. In what song (and what movie), did we hear the following?
   Near, far, wherever you are
   I believe that the heart does go on
   Once more, you open the door
   And you’re here in my heart

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Boot Camp

What can I say that others haven’t said about “Boot Camp?”

I joined the Navy at the tender young age of 18 and attended a “truncated” 6-week boot camp at Orlando RTC (Recruit Training Center) in July 1973. Why only six weeks? I don’t have a clue. Perhaps the Navy was trying to send as many sailors as possible out into the fleet, even though the Vietnam War was “winding down.” Of course, back then, nobody knew how long the war would actually last.

The first week of boot camp was typically called “Hell Week.” From what I eventually came to understand, the primary purpose of this first week was two-fold: one, to breakdown individuals (everyone had a personality and many of us had an ego), then rebuild the entire company into a team.

Cause that’s how it is in the service: a group of individuals who don’t know each other, but must function as a team.

The second reason was to weed out those who couldn’t make it, either physically or mentally.

If memory serves, we had one guy go “over the fence,” (i.e., AWOL) and two others who were “sent back” to another company a week or two for disciplinary actions, thus extending their time in boot camp.

Our Company Commander caught one guy smoking a cigarette in the wrong place at the wrong time and sent him back a week. Geez.

After that first week, though, we buckled down and continued physical training as well as learning how to be a modern-day sailor. Then, it was onto “A” School. For me, that would be Aviation Boatswains Mate-Handler school in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

We were also introduced to a few “choice” Navy terms; some I’d heard of… most I didn’t. A few I won’t mention in this family friendly post. This was more than the “sailors” colorful language. In fact, as part of my Navy memoir, “Three Years, Eleven Months, and 29 Days, But Who’s Counting,” I created a “Glossary of Navy Terms.” They’re on my website, free to download.

Dog Tags

My dad had dog tags during WWII. They’re still mounted in the Shadow Box my mom made for him. The two met after he returned from the war… on a blind date. He was in law school, but that’s another story. The dog tags issued to us in Boot Camp weren’t that much different from his.

• Dad’s: Full name, ASN (Army Serial Number), Name of Next of Kin, City, State
• Mine: Full Name, SSN, Blood Type, Religious Preference

Most people know that the military issues two dog tags; I wore mine on a standard-Navy-issue chain necklace. Why two? If something happens (KIA), one tag remains with the body, the other is passed along for burial record keeping.

I know many Vietnam veterans who wore one around their neck and laced the other dog tag in their boot. Why, you ask? Gruesome as it may sound, if you’re blown to bits, well… at least they’d hopefully find your boot and could identify you.

Dog tags are usually made from a corrosion-resistant metal. The ones I had were silvery tin. In addition, I had a red medical ID tag. I still have them. I believe Special Operations troops are issued black dog tags.

“A” School

Navy “A” School is where many sailors go after graduating boot camp. Since I was an ABH, my two primary job functions were Aircraft Director & Handler (a “Yellow Shirt” on an aircraft carrier flight deck) and an Aircraft Crash & Rescue Firefighter (a “Red Shirt” on the flight deck).

ABH A School was, at the time, a 6-week course. When I first arrived in Lakehurst, we didn’t have enough ABH wannabees to make up a full class. I spent the first two weeks working with others to renovate old WWII barracks. My job was to hang false ceilings. That was also a “first” for me. But it was boring as hell.

Another first for me—before our class began… I discovered the Enlisted Men’s Club, “up the hill” from our barracks. Even though I was still 18 years old, the drinking age was 18. I didn’t care for beer or alcohol when I was growing up… well, except for that ONE time.

Back then, you could “stack” drinks, meaning you could order as many drinks as you wanted before finishing any of them. That “one time” at the EM club, I had about 7 rum & cokes sitting in front of me.

I finished them all and vaguely remember leaving the EM club with a buddy. It wasn’t late nor closing time, but I don’t remember climbing into my rack. I woke up the next morning in plenty of time for chow, but I wasn’t feeling that well.

Surprise, surprise.

No bumps or bruises, so I must’ve been able to walk and not “roll downhill” to my barracks.

That was the first time I’d been so drunk I wasn’t aware of what was happening around me.

That was also the last time I’d been so drunk I wasn’t aware of what was happening around me. Well… except for that ONE other time.

I became a Crash Firefighter at A School and I would spend most of my short Navy career as a firefighter, both in Guam and aboard USS Kitty Hawk.

After the Navy, I joined the City of Gainesville Fire Department, a natural progression for me. I’d be a city firefighter for 2½ years, before resigning and returning to college full time.

Beer from Vending Machines

After “A” School, my orders read to report to NAS Agana, Guam. First, I had to figure out where Guam was—I knew it was out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but that’s on the other side of the world. I’d only flown in an aircraft once or twice in my life, but this would be a 35+ hour long trip.

“Where American’s Day Begins” is one of Guam’s mottos. It’s true… Guam is on the “other side” of the International Date Line. One day ahead, but nine hours behind. I’m an engineer and I still have trouble figuring out what that means.

In Guam, I was assigned to the Crash & Rescue Division. Our “home” while on duty was the Crash Barn, located just off the tarmac, alongside the airport’s two parallel runways. We worked 24 hours on and 24 hours off for the 15 months I was stationed in Guam. I’ve written several blog posts about what we did during work hours.

I lived in the old, renovated WWII barracks, sharing a room with three others in Crash. Down the hallway was the rec room, complete with a couple of pool tables and ping-pong tables. We also had one of each at the Crash Barn. I’d grown up with both a pool table and a ping-pong table in my house. So I played a lot of pool & ping-pong while on Guam.

The rec room also had three vending machines: one for snacks, one for sodas, and one for beer.

Yep, you heard me right, a beer vending machine. Twenty-five cents for a can of beer. A variety of Coors, PBR (Pabst Blue Ribbon), Old Milwaukee, and Budweiser… all for a quarter. That was a first for me—a beer vending machine.

And yes, several of us tried to empty it more than once. That’s when I learned (another “first” for me) that you don’t really buy beer, you only “rent it.”

Funny thing… there were always plenty of sodas in the machine, but the beer and snacks were always running low.

Flight Deck

After spending 15 months on a paradise island (I did a lot of scuba diving and I learned how to fly, receiving a Private Pilot license), I reported aboard Kitty Hawk. She’d be my home for 2½ years. It was obviously far different than Guam. I’d been assigned to the V-1 Division / Crash & Salvage crew.

Since I learned to drive all the Crash fire trucks on Guam—we had six units—I drove the MB-5 Oshkosh truck on the flight deck many times. It was a much smaller space than a full-size airport. But, like anything else thrown my way, I learned to quickly adapt.

I’ve also written a lot about my time on the flight deck, both as a Crash firefighter and a Yellow Shirt director (after the Bremerton Shipyards). The excitement of working on the flight deck during flight ops is hard to describe. But like many Navy internet memes state, “once you’ve done that, there’s nothing else like it.”

Sense of Purpose

I don’t know when it struck me… perhaps while I was on Guam, but definitely while aboard Kitty Hawk. There’s a term I use—it’s not mine, but it certainly helps me explain my internal being. It also answers the question (for me), “Why am I here?”

I recently read somewhere that “people who have a deep sense of purpose in their lives have lower mortality rates and longer lives.” I don’t know if that’s true or not. But in the long run, to me, it doesn’t really matter.

After my wife went through her cancer scare last year (she’s fine now, all clear, and back to normal routines), I underwent a sort of… mind shift. It’s hard to describe, but one thing I began to do more of was volunteer work—some through our church, some through other agencies. These include being a part of an Early Response Team, where a small team of us deploy to areas damaged by natural disasters (like hurricanes, floods, tornadoes). Our goal during those three days is to “help those who need help.” I wrote about one of those deployments in the past.

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[Additional late notice] Just received an email from ERT – we’re deploying a small team to Tallahassee tomorrow (Wednesday) for a one-day cleanup at a sister church. Apparently, tornadoes hit the area, lots of trees and debris down.

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I’m also part of a “Rebuild” team, where several of us may help someone in need to rebuild part of their house, add on a porch, or add a handicap ramp.

My first “rebuild” project involved building a handicap ramp. I didn’t know what I was getting into, nor did I know the person or the circumstances. It didn’t matter. I enjoy doing these types of projects.

Long story short, she was a retired 30-year Navy Radioman (woman?). Her son was a Marine… in a San Diego veteran’s hospital. She needed a handicap wheelchair access ramp for him, so the VA could transfer him back to Florida. It didn’t matter what or why. But after talking with her, well… let’s just say I felt there was a reason I was there at that particular house at that particular time.

And that, my friends, is one way to describe my current “Sense of Purpose.”

I know there were many other “firsts” for me during my short 4-year Navy career that I didn’t bother to describe here, such as visiting other countries during Westpac ’75, seeing snow for the first time while in Bremerton, driving down the Pacific Coast highway back to San Diego after the year in the shipyards, and on and on.

There’s only so much room for a blog post. Perhaps another post later to continue the “firsts.”

One more…

And… Happy Birthday to my sister, Anne. Her letters to me while I was stationed in Guam and aboard Kitty Hawk meant more than I could ever convey. She’s a year and half older (I’m the “baby” in the family) and spent her career in public schools, as a teacher, as a librarian (media specialist), and as a mentor. She may not realize it and I probably don’t tell her enough, but she has always been a true inspiration.

Happy birthday, Anne!

Until we meet again,
Andy

Answers

1. Theodore Roosevelt.
2. Braveheart (1995), William Wallace (Mel Gibson).
3. My Heart Will Go On (Titanic, 1997), Celine Dion; written by James Horner & Will Jennings.

Previous blogs mentioned in this post:

• #4—From Civilian to US Navy
• #35—US Navy “A” School (ABH)
• #68—Flight Ops: Another Find Day in the Navy!
• #67—Flight Ops: A Day in the Life of Crash & Salvage
• #48—Not Just Another House Fire
• #53—You Always Remember Your First
• #59—The Night We Foamed the Airport Runway
• #25—“Livin’ the Dream:” Life Aboard an Aircraft Carrier
• #30—USS Kitty Hawk @ Bremerton Shipyards, Part 1
• #128—Into the Aftermath

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Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (’73-77) and the author of several books. His newest novel, NEVER FORGET, is the story of A Vietnam Veteran’s Journey for Redemption & Forgiveness. NEVER FORGET is FREE (eBook, PDF) for all veterans and their families. Download your FREE copy HERE.

If you’ve had the chance to read NEVER FORGET, I would greatly appreciate if you might take a few minutes and leave a (hopefully favorable) review on Amazon. Here’s the direct link: https://www.amazon.com/Never-Forget-Veterans-Redemption-Forgiveness/dp/1736387804/