Aloha

[Pipelady20]

Aloha!

 

[--dante--]

Welcome from the 'Burgh! (Pittsburgh)

 

[Jack the ripper]

SeniorAMG, I started in the Navy as a radioman, trained first then sent to the DMZ off Vietnam on a minesweeper, USS Gallant MSO 489. Long patrols, underway replenishment, liberty ports at Hong Kong and Taiwan. Wangled an unheard of change of job designation and ended up on Midway Island doing a primitive multi-lith "newspaper" the readers loved -- their kids' softball teams, a little about base operations, rescues, etc. Mind blowing place, like getting to heaven, both weird and exalted, lots of wildlife, sea life, a million albatross and other birds. The Navy closed its base in 1993. Tourists can't get there. The Fish and Wildlife of the Dept. of Interior has a limited operation, research and contractors. It may all be submerged in twenty years or less, all gone. Now it is surrounded by the plastic garbage patch. It is, or maybe was, just gorgeous, like a dream of a Pacific atoll. I'm honored to have been there, for the nature. Now it is a diminishing club of people who remember it that way. Thank you for asking!

Sounds kinda like Indianapolis....

 

[SeniorAMG]

Howdee from ...

I knew Army folks used their fingers and toes to count... Had no idea they used their hands to spell!


I don't miss the uniform at all. The people, of course. But I much prefer this side of life.

Aloha.
-Aaron

 

[SeniorAMG]

SeniorAMG, I started in the Navy as a radioman, trained first then sent to the DMZ off Vietnam on a minesweeper, USS Gallant MSO 489. Long patrols, underway replenishment, liberty ports at Hong Kong and Taiwan. Wangled an unheard of change of job designation and ended up on Midway Island doing a primitive multi-lith "newspaper" the readers loved -- their kids' softball teams, a little about base operations, rescues, etc. Mind blowing place, like getting to heaven, both weird and exalted, lots of wildlife, sea life, a million albatross and other birds. The Navy closed its base in 1993. Tourists can't get there. The Fish and Wildlife of the Dept. of Interior has a limited operation, research and contractors. It may all be submerged in twenty years or less, all gone. Now it is surrounded by the plastic garbage patch. It is, or maybe was, just gorgeous, like a dream of a Pacific atoll. I'm honored to have been there, for the nature. Now it is a diminishing club of people who remember it that way. Thank you for asking!

Fascinating. Truly. And jealous of your time there. Sounds like a once-in-a-lifetime gig.

I can't imagine a deployment on a minesweeper. Hats off to you folks. And you old crusty shipmates who paved the way for us. I'm sure many of the safety trainings I received over the years were thanks to you guys.

They don't even have Radiomen anymore, sadly. Like all things in the military, change is constant. But I miss the old rates. My old shipmates who were Radioman (then Data-Processing Techs, then IT's) still refer to themselves as RMs.

 

[mikethompson]

Welcome from Ontario Canada!

A lot of members here complain about shipping times on their packages. Does Hawaii have a longer shipping time?

 

[Civil War]

Welcome to the forums.

 

[SeniorAMG]

Welcome from Ontario Canada!

A lot of members here complain about shipping times on their packages. Does Hawaii have a longer shipping time?

Actually, before COVID shut so much down and limited inbound flights, our shipping was fairly good. With the usual frequent flights, we we're on par with other places. The larger the package, the longer the ship-time of course. Especially if something has to be palleted or crated. Amazon is usually pretty fast. Smokingpipes.com is awesome with timing (unless i choose the free UPS ground). For example, I ordered a pipe on June 4th - and it arrived on the 7th!

 

[newportpipe]

Aloha from the mainland (SoCal)!

 

[SeniorAMG]

Aloha from the mainland (SoCal)!

NB? I was born at Hoag Hospital.

 

[newportpipe]

NB? I was born at Hoag Hospital.

Yep. We’re near Newport Center.

 

[SeniorAMG]

Yep. We’re near Newport Center.

small world. we lived down off B street. I went to newport elementary - along with my wife.
long, strange story - but we lived next door to each other as kids. But she's five years older than me, so was friends with my older sister and brother. never recognized each other when we 'met' 30 years later at a bar in Long Beach. Took us six weeks of dating to figure out who we were.
Had pictures of each other in our family albums. So weird.
Anyway... most of my family is still spread across OC. We like visiting - but will never go back.

We were just reminiscing about our favorite mexican restaurants around there.
Was always a split between El Matador or Mi Casa. It was always like the pepsi versus coke rivalry with our family and friends. ha

 

[newportpipe]

small world. we lived down off B street. I went to newport elementary - along with my wife.
long, strange story - but we lived next door to each other as kids. But she's five years older than me, so was friends with my older sister and brother. never recognized each other when we 'met' 30 years later at a bar in Long Beach. Took us six weeks of dating to figure out who we were.
Had pictures of each other in our family albums. So weird.
Anyway... most of my family is still spread across OC. We like visiting - but will never go back.

We were just reminiscing about our favorite mexican restaurants around there.
Was always a split between El Matador or Mi Casa. It was always like the pepsi versus coke rivalry with our family and friends. ha

Mi Casa and El Matador - depends on what you‘re after. El Mat has a more traditional feel to it but, when you feel like overdosing on cheese, Mi Casa is the way to go! Grew up here and OC is changing quickly. Must be nice to be on Maui!

 

[SeniorAMG]

for sure. much of it unrecognizable from the 70s-80s. it's not all bad, of course. but the traffic and the parking i can definitely do without.
if you grew up there, i imagine our circles of separation are quite small.
may i ask how old you are?

you nailed it about mi casa. that's precisely why my wife loves that place. we go there at least once whenever we're in town, despite my grumblings.
kind of like joe jost's for me up in long beach.

 

[indoeuro]

Welcome!