OT Blind Man's Bluff

For all you spooks, BMB is on the History Channel tonight at 9:00 EST.
Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html

"Dave LaCourse" wrote in message
...
For all you spooks, BMB is on the History Channel tonight at 9:00 EST.
Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html


Thanks for the reminder, Dave. I saw it. Cold chills at the discussion of
those things. Didn't see any folks I recognized, though. I talked to my Dad
in some detail a month or two ago about the subject, and I was amazed that
some of my comments to him about contingency orders, the real story not yet
having been told, and other things, were said almost verbatim by some of the
people in the program. Just shows that many of us probably think pretty much
the same way.

hotbunking beside a torpedo; 12-hour watches; kicking the RM out of his
radio room and locking the door; three or four people in a radio room space
not much bigger than the front seat of my car; bi-weekly showers. Using a
25-lb box of TNT as a chair (never really thought about what 25 pounds of
TNT could do to a sub). Movie strips comprised of spliced nude scenes from
every film that came on board (Barbarella!). Endless supplies of rabbit
meat. Bug juice made with confectioners sugar with powder in it that never
dissolved. Water-soluble paper - not compatible with coffee!

On long transits across the Pacific we had nothing at all to do, so it was a
good time to read, work on correspondence courses, etc. I still have a
water-stained economics textbook and assignments that I typed on the IBM
Selectric we had.

Anyway, I guess maybe we done good, buddy.

Bob

Bob Patton writes:

Thanks for the reminder, Dave. I saw it. Cold chills at the discussion of
those things. Didn't see any folks I recognized, though. I talked to my Dad
in some detail a month or two ago about the subject, and I was amazed that
some of my comments to him about contingency orders, the real story not yet
having been told, and other things, were said almost verbatim by some of the
people in the program. Just shows that many of us probably think pretty much
the same way.

hotbunking beside a torpedo; 12-hour watches; kicking the RM out of his
radio room and locking the door; three or four people in a radio room space
not much bigger than the front seat of my car; bi-weekly showers. Using a
25-lb box of TNT as a chair (never really thought about what 25 pounds of
TNT could do to a sub). Movie strips comprised of spliced nude scenes from
every film that came on board (Barbarella!). Endless supplies of rabbit
meat. Bug juice made with confectioners sugar with powder in it that never
dissolved. Water-soluble paper - not compatible with coffee!

On long transits across the Pacific we had nothing at all to do, so it was a
good time to read, work on correspondence courses, etc. I still have a
water-stained economics textbook and assignments that I typed on the IBM
Selectric we had.

Anyway, I guess maybe we done good, buddy.

Bob

d;o) It was 44 years ago for me. The first one there were three of us, so it
was four on and eight off. Ya never really got a good sleep, and hot bunking
didn't help. I still have my purloined gen-u-wine submarine laundry bag that
snapped onto the bunk.

I too didn't see anyone I recognized. I figured they would surely have Capt.
Ed. Beach.

Bi-weekly showers? Man, you had it tough. We showered every day. The thing I
remember best is eating the floor. All the canned goods were stored in the
passage ways and you could tell how long you'd been at sea by the the floor
"disappearing". I don't remember the rabbit meat, but our first two or three
days at sea we ate lobster (east coast sailor d;o) ). I remember getting
hooked on mocha - a bag of cocoa dissolved in a cup of coffee. When we pulled
into a port in Germany and finally had some fresh vegetables, I can remember
removing a green worm from my salad just before I began chomping down. Great
steaks and surprizingly good mashed potatoes. Oatmeal. Lots of oatmeal. The
meals inbetween meals were called "soup-down" and you had soup, sandwiches,
cheese, and usually a good movie.

And the smell of your clothes. You didn't realize you smelled until you went
top-side and breathed fresh air. When we returned to Groton after ops were
secured, we played games with the Brits, acting as a radar picket. On the
surface for several days in rough weather in the North Atlantic. Nearly
everyone aboard, include Beach, were seasick, many with a size 2 can tied
around their neck to vomit into. But, everyone did their jobs. Unbelievable.

Yep, we done pretty good, buddy. I sure as hell wouldn't wanna do it for a
living, though. d;o)

Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html

"Dave LaCourse" wrote in message
...
//snip//
d;o) It was 44 years ago for me. The first one there were three of us,
so it
was four on and eight off. Ya never really got a good sleep, and hot
bunking
didn't help. I still have my purloined gen-u-wine submarine laundry bag
that
snapped onto the bunk.

January/February and April/May 1971, for me. I had one of those laundry bags
too but lost it in a move, along with my poopie suit.

I too didn't see anyone I recognized. I figured they would surely have
Capt.
Ed. Beach.

Triton? Twin reactors, biggest boat the US ever built. I remember reading
about its round-the-world-submerged cruise in National Geographic when I was
a kid. Probably one of the reasons I volunteered. So it's partly your
fault!!!

Bi-weekly showers? Man, you had it tough. We showered every day. The
thing I
remember best is eating the floor. All the canned goods were stored in
the
passage ways and you could tell how long you'd been at sea by the the
floor
"disappearing". I don't remember the rabbit meat, but our first two or
three
days at sea we ate lobster (east coast sailor d;o) ). I remember getting
hooked on mocha - a bag of cocoa dissolved in a cup of coffee. When we
pulled
into a port in Germany and finally had some fresh vegetables, I can
remember
removing a green worm from my salad just before I began chomping down.
Great
steaks and surprizingly good mashed potatoes. Oatmeal. Lots of oatmeal.
The
meals inbetween meals were called "soup-down" and you had soup,
sandwiches,
cheese, and usually a good movie.

At the end of my first trip in 1971 on the Barb we docked in Yokosuka, and I
still remember looking up through that round hatch at the brownish-blue
Yokosuka sky and thinking how great it was to see it again.

And the smell of your clothes. You didn't realize you smelled until you
went
top-side and breathed fresh air. When we returned to Groton after ops
were
secured, we played games with the Brits, acting as a radar picket. On the
surface for several days in rough weather in the North Atlantic. Nearly
everyone aboard, include Beach, were seasick, many with a size 2 can tied
around their neck to vomit into. But, everyone did their jobs.
Unbelievable.

Yep, we done pretty good, buddy. I sure as hell wouldn't wanna do it for
a
living, though. d;o)


Lots of the people I met in SecGru and on the boats were truly remarkable
people. I think guys like us had the best of both worlds - we could go on
really interesting trips on the boats, but weren't part of the crew, didn't
have to do all the grunt work, and could return to our "normal" lives in
places like Kamiseya (suburb of Tokyo/Yokohama) when the interesting work
was done.

Bob

Bob Patton writes:

Lots of the people I met in SecGru and on the boats were truly remarkable
people. I think guys like us had the best of both worlds - we could go on
really interesting trips on the boats, but weren't part of the crew, didn't
have to do all the grunt work, and could return to our "normal" lives in
places like Kamiseya (suburb of Tokyo/Yokohama) when the interesting work
was done.

Bob

I was in Kamiseya for two years. The Willie Victor crews flew out of Atsugi
NAS across the rice paddy from our tunnel. Great liberty town, Yokohama.

The only thing I didn't like about the trips was if there was trouble. we would
be the first to go - if'n ya know what I mean. I look back at those days and
have no regrets. Glad I did it. I got on the Trident her first deployments
after the around the world trip. Helluva nice bunch of guys. Crazy as loons.

SecGru has an organization, btw. U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association.
There is a membership list (around here somewhere), so if you have any names
and wonder where they are, let me know. Their website is
http://www.usncva.org/
They publish a news letter every quarter. It's a great source to find out
who's died. d;o(


Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html

Bob and Dave,

Any more of us in this group?

Crusty

USS Aspro SS309. USS Segundo SS398 (I'm a little older than you.


"Dave LaCourse" wrote in message
...
Bob Patton writes:

Thanks for the reminder, Dave. I saw it. Cold chills at the discussion of
those things. Didn't see any folks I recognized, though. I talked to my
Dad
in some detail a month or two ago about the subject, and I was amazed
that
some of my comments to him about contingency orders, the real story not
yet
having been told, and other things, were said almost verbatim by some of
the
people in the program. Just shows that many of us probably think pretty
much
the same way.

hotbunking beside a torpedo; 12-hour watches; kicking the RM out of his
radio room and locking the door; three or four people in a radio room
space
not much bigger than the front seat of my car; bi-weekly showers. Using a
25-lb box of TNT as a chair (never really thought about what 25 pounds of
TNT could do to a sub). Movie strips comprised of spliced nude scenes
from
every film that came on board (Barbarella!). Endless supplies of rabbit
meat. Bug juice made with confectioners sugar with powder in it that
never
dissolved. Water-soluble paper - not compatible with coffee!

On long transits across the Pacific we had nothing at all to do, so it
was a
good time to read, work on correspondence courses, etc. I still have a
water-stained economics textbook and assignments that I typed on the IBM
Selectric we had.

Anyway, I guess maybe we done good, buddy.

Bob

d;o) It was 44 years ago for me. The first one there were three of us,
so it
was four on and eight off. Ya never really got a good sleep, and hot
bunking
didn't help. I still have my purloined gen-u-wine submarine laundry bag
that
snapped onto the bunk.

I too didn't see anyone I recognized. I figured they would surely have
Capt.
Ed. Beach.

Bi-weekly showers? Man, you had it tough. We showered every day. The
thing I
remember best is eating the floor. All the canned goods were stored in
the
passage ways and you could tell how long you'd been at sea by the the
floor
"disappearing". I don't remember the rabbit meat, but our first two or
three
days at sea we ate lobster (east coast sailor d;o) ). I remember getting
hooked on mocha - a bag of cocoa dissolved in a cup of coffee. When we
pulled
into a port in Germany and finally had some fresh vegetables, I can
remember
removing a green worm from my salad just before I began chomping down.
Great
steaks and surprizingly good mashed potatoes. Oatmeal. Lots of oatmeal.
The
meals inbetween meals were called "soup-down" and you had soup,
sandwiches,
cheese, and usually a good movie.

And the smell of your clothes. You didn't realize you smelled until you
went
top-side and breathed fresh air. When we returned to Groton after ops
were
secured, we played games with the Brits, acting as a radar picket. On the
surface for several days in rough weather in the North Atlantic. Nearly
everyone aboard, include Beach, were seasick, many with a size 2 can tied
around their neck to vomit into. But, everyone did their jobs.
Unbelievable.

Yep, we done pretty good, buddy. I sure as hell wouldn't wanna do it for
a
living, though. d;o)

Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html

I'm always impressed when I hear what you guys in the sewer pipes put up
with. Living with explosives, being continually dirty and smelly, bad food,
and personal risk of injury and death are common to many of us who served.
But to do it in a confined space that never allows you to see the sky or
breath fresh air when you need it most is devotion to duty.

We all had some part in the Cold War but some of us gave more than others
and you guys in the boats were heroes.

--
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Dark Star

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

Stev writes:

bad food,

NO. Food was excellent (for military food). You just had to hope that the
Commissary Chief knew how to pack the reefer because you ate your way thru it.
I remember having steak for dinner four or five nights in a row, which meant
that somewhere down the line you were going to have pork, or ham, or veal for
several nights. I lived off of sandwiches and soup during "soup-down" the meal
served inbetween the normal three meals, and again at 9 pm, midnight, and 3 am.
Dave

http://hometown.aol.com/davplac/myhomepage/index.html

Dave:
NO. Food was excellent (for military food).

Right, Chief. It was Bob who was bemoaning having to eat rabbit. I'm still
waiting for the reasoning behind that. I was never fed rabbit in a mess
that I knew of. I have eaten sufficient water buffalo that I developed a
contact allergy to the hides.

I've read about the use of passageway deck space to store canned goods.
Must place a premium on being short at the beginning of a cruise.


--
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Dark Star

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

"slenon" wrote in message
news //snip//
Right, Chief. It was Bob who was bemoaning having to eat rabbit. I'm
still
waiting for the reasoning behind that. I was never fed rabbit in a mess
//snip//

It really tasted pretty good, and it wouldn't have been bad once or twice.
Or maybe once a week. Actually, it was probably like Dave said. It was the
easiest stuff to get out of the freezer, so we had it very frequently for a
while. I haven't eaten rabbit since, and it's been over thirty years.
Bob