A Veteran's Journey

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)

1. Who said, “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.”?
2. In what movie (and who said it) did we hear, “Tosh! Name a shrub after me. Something prickly and hard to eradicate.”?
3. Which song (and who sang it) contains the following lyrics?
   Well all day long while I’m working in town
   Time slows down to a crawl
   When I’m not thinking about you
   I’m checking the clock on the wall
   Then it’s goodbye factory and hello loving
   There’s a smile across my face
   ‘Cause I’m back in the arms of your sweet love
   Where my thoughts have been all day

Photo: PACIFIC OCEAN (April 11, 2008) Sailors assigned to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) enjoy a clear night from the bow of the ship during a pause in flight operations. Lincoln and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 are on a scheduled seven-month deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class James R. Evans.

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I was never a fan of working nights, especially when at sea aboard USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63. I preferred the daily challenges and action on the flight deck during flight operations. I served aboard Kitty Hawk from March ’75 through the end of my short 4-year enlistment in July ’77.

Prior to reporting aboard Kitty Hawk, I spent 15 months at NAS Agana, Guam, working with Crash & Rescue. We worked 24 hours on and 24 hours off (Port & Starboard sections). Toward the end of my tour on Guam, we had enough crew members to provide an extra day off, about every 8 weeks. We called those “Kelly days.”

Why “Kelly days”? I don’t know. Unfortunately, Professor Google was of no use this time, trying to find the origin of the term.

When you work a 24-hour shift, you’re expected to work nights … part of the job. I really didn’t mind. At the tender age of 18, I enjoyed my time on the Crash trucks. After a few months, I began learning how to drive them. I’d eventually drive all the Crash trucks: Oshkosh MB-1s (Units #1 & #6), Oshkosh MB-5s (Units #2 & #4), the American LaFrance, and the tanker truck.

Loved driving them all, but my favorite was Unit #5, since it was a stick shift.

The Hot Spot—Guam

During our 24 hours of duty, our “home” was the “Crash Barn.” Even though we were on duty, we had crew rooms of bunk beds (one room per crew), where we’d sleep at night if we weren’t out on the Alert Spot.

The Alert Spot, often called “the hot spot,” was located out on the airfield between the two parallel runways, about halfway down. We’d rotate crews, 4-hours on, 8-hours off.

So, if you had the 1200-1600 (noon to 4pm) shift on the Alert Spot, you’d also have the 0000-0400 (midnight to 4am) shift. NAS Agana, Guam shared the same runways as the civilian airport, located across the field. That basically meant if there was an emergency on a civilian airliner, we’d be the first to respond.

I thank the good Lord that during my 15 months in Guam, we never had a crash, Navy or civilian. But I’d heard stories before and after my time there.

Guam is close to the equator, so, yeah, it was hot, especially when out on the Alert Spot. However, Guam is also a tropical island, so there was almost always a steady breeze, which made it bearable. Keep in mind, I grew up in North Central Florida, so I was used to heat and humidity.

Nighttime out on the runways was totally different, for lots of reasons. For one, it was more boring than during the day. Fortunately, the guys in Tower Control would let us stand down, return to the Crash Barn in-between flights. And you can imagine, if you’ve got the “dog watch” (0000-0400), there’s not a lot of air traffic.

Besides housing the Crash trucks and crew berthing compartments, the Crash Barn also had a pool table, a ping-pong table, and a couple of dart boards. We’d also spend our time playing various card games, including poker, though I was never any good at that—lost too much money too many times.

So, we’d find things to keep ourselves busy during those in-between times on the night shift.

City Firefighter

When I left the Navy, I joined the City of Gainesville (Florida) fire department. But instead of one day on, one day off, we had three shifts, “A”, “B”, and “C”—I worked the “C” shift. One day on, two days off. Again, we’d “live” at the fire station, taking calls during all hours of the day. Back then, in the late 70s, we had six fire stations covering the city.

Similar to my 24-hour shift on Guam, our “normal” work day was from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. After that, we’d be on “holiday routine,” meaning we could do whatever we wanted as long as we stayed at the station.

I was in college full time, so I studied most of the time while the rest of the firefighters read, watched TV, worked out, or just took it easy. Many were married, so their wives (we only had men firefighters back then) and/or girlfriends would stop by for a visit; they had to leave by 10p.

But we were on call and being in a college town (University of Florida … Go Gators!), it would be rare to get a full night’s sleep without getting a call.

USS Kitty Hawk

As I mentioned when I began this blog, I didn’t really like working night shifts on the carrier. I was a Crash firefighter and later, a Yellow Shirt Director. All the flight deck action typically happens during the day, during flight ops.

That’s where I wanted to be. That’s where I belonged.

We had about 80 sailors in V-1 Division. Normally, we’d muster at 0730, making sure everyone was aboard and ready to work. We’d do this whether we were at sea or in port. When in port, we didn’t need a night shift, though we did have roving “fire watches” in the berthing compartments.

But at sea, the night shift (at least for Crash) would report to the flight deck an hour before flight ops ended and remain until muster the following morning. After that, the night crew could head down to the berthing compartment and sleep all day, if they wanted.

I may be exaggerating a tad, but that’s how I remember it.

My good friend, Gary Borne (R.I.P.), whom I’d also served with in Guam (he taught me to drive all the Crash trucks), loved working the night shift. And since we were the only two third-class petty officers in Crash during the Westpac, he gladly took the night shift.

The few times I worked nights were, in a word, boring as hell.

Kitty Hawk had one TV station and three radio stations: KROC, KSOL, and KRAL (Rock, Soul, & Country, respectively).

I’ll mention that I was also a radio DJ while at sea: “Country Chet Adkins,” and my radio spot was 0600-0800 on the country station, KRAL. That was always fun, spinning tunes for the crew.

But, I digress …

Night Shift at Sea

The TV station mostly showed B-movies and while they helped pass the time, it was hard for me to sit still. I read, I wrote letters to my folks (I still have all those letters, too, as well as the letters my dad wrote home to his parents during WWII), and I’d play my guitar (hence my nickname, “Chet” Adkins).

The reason we needed to have a night shift at sea was simply because there was always activity on the flight deck, even when there was no aircraft flying. The squadron personnel would work maintenance both on the flight deck and the hangar deck, and there were always fuel leaks here & there. Nothing major, but if something did happen, then we’d be up & ready to tackle any emergency.

I will tell you this, though. When you’re at sea in the middle of the night, and you happen to take time to go outside and look up, there is such an awesome wonder as to just how many stars are in the sky. With no ambient light to disturb the darkness, and if the water is calm enough, you can’t tell where the sky ends, and the ocean begins.

If there’s a moon out and hanging near the water, it’s almost like a lighted path, guiding you to wherever you want to go. It’s truly amazing and breathtaking.

I still get chills when I’m at sea (on a cruise) or on a dark beach or if I’m driving across an area with a lot of visible sky. Those are some of the more memorable “moments” I have at sea.

The USO “Miss America” Show

Maybe one reason I disliked working the night shift was I missed out watching a Miss America show.

Sometime during Westpac ’75, the USO flew several Miss America out to the Hawk on a Greyhound C-2. I was working the night shift, so while I was able to get a photo of them deplaning (I was on top of the Crash truck), I missed their show. From what I heard, it was great, but the only photos I have are from the Westpac ’75 cruise book.

Bummer.

Civilian Night Shift

My wife, Becky, is a retired nurse and worked in ICU for many years. I don’t think she minded working the night shift … “less administrative crap.” But she also got to focus on her one or two patients and not have to deal with constant interruptions.

We met in a karate class. “She threw me, and I fell for her …” is our standard line.

But there were times when she worked the night shift, and I’d just come off a 24-hour shift and we’d meet with several from her night crew for pancakes and beer. Yeah, I know what that sounds like, but after putting in long shifts, well, it was one of those things to do.

There’s really no comparison between what a nurse does and what a firefighter does, other than we respond when needed.

Nurses are constantly busy, monitoring patients, taking vitals, assisting with numerous tasks, not to mention dealing with doctors who know it all and patient families who don’t know enough and count on you (the nurse) to help them through a difficult time.

Firefighters basically sit around waiting for something bad to happen, partially hoping it’ll be a boring night. But when the fire alarm goes off, the adrenaline rush kicks in.

Back when I was with the fire department (’77-‘80), I was 22 years old, making about $9,600 a year and living high on the hog.

But hopping into my boots, pulling up my trousers (with red suspenders, of course), donning my jacket and helmet, then jumping on the tailgate (that’s where I rode on the truck), hauling butt out of the fire station, sirens blaring, and watching cars move out of the way … yeah, I can still feel it. And … when you get close enough, you can smell the smoke. You pray that everyone got out okay, but you never know. Then you get to the house, jump off the back of the truck, grab the hoses, and charge in to put out the fire, working with a close-knit team of other firefighters whom you’ve learned to trust with your life …

… yeah, some of those days I miss.

I’m approaching 70 years on this earth; my mind is still young enough to remember. The body … not so much.

Until we meet again,
Andy

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Andy Adkins is a US Navy veteran (’73-77) and author of several books. He is currently enjoying his latest “gig” … retirement, and lives with his wife in Gainesville, Florida.

Previous Blogs mentioned in the Post:

• #94—Flight Deck Operations: Aircraft Launch
• #53—You Always Remember Your First…
• #48—Not Just Another House Fire
• #68—Flight Ops: Another Fine Day in the Navy!
• #39—Good Morning to ya, Kitty Hawk!
• #47—Memorable Moments,” Part 1 – The Flight Deck

Answers

1. Cynthia Ozick
2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Capt. Jack Aubrey (Russell Crowe).
3. Daydreams about Night Things (1975), Ronnie Milsap; written by John Schweers.