Getting Out of the Military, Nostalgia

[mso489]

It was 1972, and I was stationed at Milwaukee Navy recruiting after boot and tech training in San Diego, a year aboard "my" minesweeper off Vietnam and ported in Subic Bay PI and Long Beach Cal., and Midway Island mid-Pacific. I'd signed up for four years. I'd walked up the block to Marquette University to take the Graduate Record Exam and had gotten accepted in a masters degree program in N.C.

Suddenly the Navy came up with a program that allowed sailors getting into an academic program to get out in time for the beginning of the fall semester, rather than living in their parent's basements maybe getting stoned. So rather than early October, I got out in early August, like early retirement from a career.

The Navy didn't call it that, but it was essentially like the demobilization after WWII, when the military had masses of unneeded personnel and wanted them back to work or school in the civilian world and off their payroll.

As U.S. vets know, you don't get out with a discharge. Most one-hitch guys have an inactive reservist obligation, so they only get separation papers, with the discharge coming along once the reserve obligation ends.

When I got to UNC Greensboro, I sat down on a big soft sofa in the student union and watched the students come and go, like I'd just woken up from a long nap. The next morning ordering breakfast at the student union, I realized I had to slow down the cadence of my speech from my Yankee talk, so the breakfast cook could understand my order. It was a whole new life.

 

[bullet08]

It was 1972, and I was stationed at Milwaukee Navy recruiting after boot and tech training in San Diego, a year aboard "my" minesweeper off Vietnam and ported in Subic Bay PI and Long Beach Cal., and Midway Island mid-Pacific. I'd signed up for four years. I'd walked up the block to Marquette University to take the Graduate Record Exam and had gotten accepted in a masters degree program in N.C.

Suddenly the Navy came up with a program that allowed sailors getting into an academic program to get out in time for the beginning of the fall semester, rather than living in their parent's basements maybe getting stoned. So rather than early October, I got out in early August, like early retirement from a career.

The Navy didn't call it that, but it was essentially like the demobilization after WWII, when the military had masses of unneeded personnel and wanted them back to work or school in the civilian world and off their payroll.

As U.S. vets know, you don't get out with a discharge. Most one-hitch guys have an inactive reservist obligation, so they only get separation papers, with the discharge coming along once the reserve obligation ends.

When I got to UNC Greensboro, I sat down on a big soft sofa in the student union and watched the students come and go, like I'd just woken up from a long nap. The next morning ordering breakfast at the student union, I realized I had to slow down the cadence of my speech from my Yankee talk, so the breakfast cook could understand my order. It was a whole new life.

Was never in a military. Plan was to get out of HS, go to Citadel, and go into Army. But living in N.C., I had chance to get to know a lot of vets. They all suggested not joining up. Mostly WWII vets. Army Aviation guys. Pilots, bombardiers, few medics.. And Vietnam vets who didn't say much but "fuck Marine." Also knew ROK Vietnam vets who lost good number of their appendages. But what made the decision for me was hanging around Ft. Bragg getting drunk every weekend. Realized what I saw wasn't what I wanted. I have a healthy respect to all the vets, but the life I saw wasn't what I imagined. Of course, I met younger vets too. My age. They were much happier and loved military more. I guess those who have been to a war or two or three, didn't think it was something they could recommend. Sometimes, I wonder how different my life would if I joined.

 

[mso489]

Of course, I wonder what it would have been like if I had spent those years in my twenties in the civilian world. By the time I got out of the Navy and out of grad school, my two major career options had dramatically declined in terms of available jobs.

People who'd been out teaching had their foot in the door and had a shot at tenure. But newcomers pretty much needed a Ph.D. I didn't want to do. Print media journalism was on a long decline, and though I was offered a job at a paper in a small city, I was a big city kid and didn't think that would work.

First I got a job as a veteran's benefits counselor so I could join the middle class, and later I did get a job that involved writing, editing, and a pleasing variety of other duties that I was suited to doing. But I've often wondered what it would have been if I'd gotten a fast start out of the chute.

People are more prone to help you fast-track on a career when you are younger and less threatening. Perhaps like many, I've always felt a few years behind the pack.

 

[Grangerous]

If you know, you know.

 

[BarrelProof]

It was 1972, and I was stationed at Milwaukee Navy recruiting after boot and tech training in San Diego, a year aboard "my" minesweeper off Vietnam and ported in Subic Bay PI and Long Beach Cal., and Midway Island mid-Pacific. I'd signed up for four years. I'd walked up the block to Marquette University to take the Graduate Record Exam and had gotten accepted in a masters degree program in N.C.

Suddenly the Navy came up with a program that allowed sailors getting into an academic program to get out in time for the beginning of the fall semester, rather than living in their parent's basements maybe getting stoned. So rather than early October, I got out in early August, like early retirement from a career.

The Navy didn't call it that, but it was essentially like the demobilization after WWII, when the military had masses of unneeded personnel and wanted them back to work or school in the civilian world and off their payroll.

As U.S. vets know, you don't get out with a discharge. Most one-hitch guys have an inactive reservist obligation, so they only get separation papers, with the discharge coming along once the reserve obligation ends.

When I got to UNC Greensboro, I sat down on a big soft sofa in the student union and watched the students come and go, like I'd just woken up from a long nap. The next morning ordering breakfast at the student union, I realized I had to slow down the cadence of my speech from my Yankee talk, so the breakfast cook could understand my order. It was a whole new life.

Ah Subic Bay. I was there a few years back. I’m beyond positive it’s much different than when you were there!

 

[Streeper541]

GAS! GAS! GAS!

Ahhh... how fond the memories are of Club Neptune in Subic Bay. And truthfully, Federal Island in Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor as well. I was fortunate enough to get housing at the AF Fort Macarthur in San Pedro and not at NWS Seal Beach.

There are days I miss the service, other times not so much.

 

[kcghost]

I thought I got DD214 as soon as I was discharged. Maybe i didn't but 54 years later I don't really care.

 

[captpat]

I entered the Navy after they paid for my last year of college in 1977. I remember a few years after that when Operation UPGRADE was kicked off. It was designed to rapidly rid the Navy of drugees, and malcontents who joined in order to avoid Viet Nam. This was also about the time that urinalysis started to be accepted -- it was widely employed with a one-strike and you're out policy. It was amazing to see how fast the ranks changed. That was really the turning point to a professional force. I stuck around for 28 years, I received a DD214 on retirement day, and I knew I'd be subject to recall if the need arose.

 

[pappymac]

Being 18 in 1971 and really not able to afford college, I made the decision to enlist in the Coast Guard. At the time, according to the recruiter, there was a six to eight month waiting list before reporting to basic training. For me the wait was about one month for some reason.

My plan was to serve for four years, learn everything I could about marine engines and get out and go to college. Well, that didn't happen as planned. I did 28 months on an icebreaker, 9 months at a LORAN-A station and somehow managed to have the Coast Guard switch me to photojournalist/public affairs specialist. The four years I had planned turned into 21-years, nine months before I retired in 1993.

I found myself burned out and not really liking where I saw the Coast Guard was heading. Rather than taking to steps to get promoted to Master Chief, I retired. I will admit to being one of those who did not encourage young people to join the military for several years.

 

[Elric]

View attachment 211247
If you know, you know.

Cattle car!!

 

[RustiePyles CPG]

When I seperated the Navy was trying to thin out the middle heavy overmanned rates. They came up with a program called Preform To Serve (PTS). When you were up for reenlistment you were entered in a lotery, if your number was picked you got to reenlist in your rate. If it was not picked you were given a list of options to reenlist in a new rate with your time in rate carrying over.

I was an Engineman (EN) billeted as the HT (welding) shop LPO at an amphibious construction battalion (Sea Bees). My number was not picked, I was offered PC (postal clerk) or MS (cook). I called my detailer to see If there was any way to get an assignment a little closer to my skillset. We laughed and laughed and laughed, I separated.

Several months later I got call from a Navy recruiter, he said that he was calling recently seperated E5 & E6's on behalf of the navy offering a huge re-sign bonus and saying that Navy realized it had fucked up with PTS and gotten rid of everyone who knew how to do anything. Some admiral had to go before congress and explain why readiness had ceased. I asked the recruiter if he could match my current civilian pay and make me E7 board eligible, I then laughed at him the same way the detailer had laughed at me.

As I understand it almost nobody who was PTS'ed out accepted the re-sign and most told the Navy to kick rocks. Some bean counter somewhere had made a big boo boo and the Navy was fairly crippled for about 5 years.

 

[Streeper541]

I retired in 1993.

I found myself burned out and not really liking where I saw the Coast Guard was heading.

I was medically discharged in 2010. My wife retired in October 2021.
You ought to see it now! Semper Paratus Senior..

 

[Grangerous]

 

[pappymac]

I was medically discharged in 2010. My wife retired in October 2021.
You ought to see it now! Semper Paratus Senior..
View attachment 211372

You mean the Coast Guard where even office workers wear the same basic work uniforms (what the other services call BDUs) and walk around outside without their covers on? Or the one that was more interested in how you physically looked than in your ability to do the job you were trained for?

Hell, I don't even know if the Coast Guard has a PA-rating any longer.

 

[Navy Chief]

Ah Subic Bay. I was there a few years back. I’m beyond positive it’s much different than when you were there!

I can confirm that present day Subic bay is not even closely related to the Subic Bay I knew when the Navy Base was still there.

I was there at the end when Mt Pinatubo erupted, participated in evacuating service members families and ultimately transporting shiploads of equipment out when the base was closing.

 

[Zack Miller]

I served two years at the Sub Base in Groton in the mid seventies. I was called back for Desert Storm at the beginning of 1991 and sent to San Diego. It was strange beyond belief as I felt like I had never left.

 

[Elric]

I served two years at the Sub Base in Groton in the mid seventies. I was called back for Desert Storm at the beginning of 1991 and sent to San Diego. It was strange beyond belief as I felt like I had never left.

I had a similar experience while only visiting Fort Benning some years ago.

 

[mso489]

There isn't even a radioman rating in the Navy anymore, though I think they still have journalists. I held both ratings, one at a time. Radio is now computerized and I think the rating is something like communications tech. All of the places I was stationed have been completely eliminated or changed. There is no Navy boot camp at San Diego, though I think they still have some of their tech "A" schools there still.

My ship was decommissioned and sold to South Korea, renamed and refitted for their navy. The home port at Long Beach Cal. is now a major commercial port mostly for shipping from China. Midway Island no longer has a Navy base and is operated as a research station by the Dept. of Interior, with about 40 people, and tourism was suspended years ago.

Navy recruiting in Milwaukee has moved from a fine old office building near the lake shore to more cost efficient space. All that is just the turn of time, but there is virtually no aspect of my Navy years that could be revisited.

On a business trip, I visited San Diego and the waterfront with the refurbished Star of India square rigger I'd seen when I got off base, then joined by some other vintage ships and boats as a maritime museum. That was an interesting visit in the way-back machine.

On business trips to Seattle, I visited the U.S.S. Missouri where the surrender of Japan was signed, before I was born, and on a different trip I visited the DD Turner Joy, one of the destroyers involved in reporting torpedo attacks by Vietnamese gun boats that ignited the Vietnam War, later disputed on various scores by historians. It was fun to climb around inside it and remember how a ship looked below decks.

The U.S.S. Missouri was later moved to Hawaii as part of the Pearl Harbor memorial. The hull of a battleship is so incredibly armored, it feels and sounds like a geological formation like Mammoth Cave more than the hull of a vessel.

This year I think Vietnam will beginning exporting Vietnamese made automobiles to the U.S. Whatever nations are adversaries of the U.S. eventually end up selling us cars.

And yes, during Desert Storm I kept having dreams about getting called back into the Navy and being put aboard a minesweeper suspiciously less shipshape than MSO 489.

 

[Navy Chief]

There isn't even a radioman rating in the Navy anymore, though I think they still have journalists. I held both ratings, one at a time. Radio is now computerized and I think the rating is something like communications tech. All of the places I was stationed have been completely eliminated or changed. There is no Navy boot camp at San Diego, though I think they still have some of their tech "A" schools there still.

My ship was decommissioned and sold to South Korea, renamed and refitted for their navy. The home port at Long Beach Cal. is now a major commercial port mostly for shipping from China. Midway Island no longer has a Navy base and is operated as a research station by the Dept. of Interior, with about 40 people, and tourism was suspended years ago.

Navy recruiting in Milwaukee has moved from a fine old office building near the lake shore to more cost efficient space. All that is just the turn of time, but there is virtually no aspect of my Navy years that could be revisited.

On a business trip, I visited San Diego and the waterfront with the refurbished Star of India square rigger I'd seen when I got off base, then joined by some other vintage ships and boats as a maritime museum. That was an interesting visit in the way-back machine.

On business trips to Seattle, I visited the U.S.S. Missouri where the surrender of Japan was signed, before I was born, and on a different trip I visited the DD Turner Joy, one of the destroyers involved in reporting torpedo attacks by Vietnamese gun boats that ignited the Vietnam War, later disputed on various scores by historians. It was fun to climb around inside it and remember how a ship looked below decks.

The U.S.S. Missouri was later moved to Hawaii as part of the Pearl Harbor memorial. The hull of a battleship is so incredibly armored, it feels and sounds like a geological formation like Mammoth Cave more than the hull of a vessel.

This year I think Vietnam will beginning exporting Vietnamese made automobiles to the U.S. Whatever nations are adversaries of the U.S. eventually end up selling us cars.

And yes, during Desert Storm I kept having dreams about getting called back into the Navy and being put aboard a minesweeper suspiciously less shipshape than MSO 489.

Good to run across a fellow RadioMan, I started my career as one and was part of the transition from RadioMan to Information Systems Technician.

 

[mso489]

The cattle car photo reminds me of flying from Hawaii to Clark Air Force Base PI in a cargo plane fitted with a passenger deck. It was like an airliner inside a warehouse. They could slide out the seats all bolted to a metal deck and slide in cargo containers or tanks. It wasn't the friendly skies, but it was more spruced up than the cattle car which looks like the subway to hell.

Navy Chief, I was in when they still had a "C" school for Morse Code, and I got sent there because I looked studious and had a work ethic. But Morse Code is a gift, like being able to play the trombone. Some guys just heard it like someone whispering letters and number to them. I struggled for weeks, and I suspect I finally passed with a social promotion. Luckily, I never used it aboard ship, but my lead enlisted radioman was speed key qualified, and was a gifted radio guy anyway, a refugee from the lumber camps of the northwest. He'd trying going back to that, but it was just too hard compared to his Navy tech work, so he re-enlisted.

I really have admiration for so many of the guys I served with. We were every ethnicity, region, social class, educational level, personality type, and so on. There weren't any angels aboard, but a lot of community.