Veterans Day

Log in

SmokingPipes.com Updates

Watch for Updates Twice a Week

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

Drucquers Banner

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

PipesMagazine Approved Sponsor

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
OverMountain, everywhere I served has been decommissioned. I feel like the angel of death for Navy facilities. The San Diego boot camp closed. My ship (U.S.S. Gallant, MSO 489) was decommissioned and given to the Taiwan navy and is now decommissioned by them. My home port at Long Beach, Ca., was decommissioned and is now a major commercial port for ships to and from Asia. The Naval base on Midway Island was decommissioned and is now administrated by the Department of Interior and you can't even go there as a tourist. The Clark Air Force Base where I flew in to catch my ship, and its base overseas at Subic Bay Philippines have both been reclaimed by the Philippines. Even the recruiting station, my last duty station, has decamped to a strip mall somewhere from snazzy office space in a downtown office building in Milwaukee. Change is the only constant.
 

pipestud

Lifer
Dec 6, 2012
2,010
1,749
Robinson, TX.
Thank you, Streeper541. I have a brother who served 22-years in the Navy. Another brother who served 8-years in the Air Force, and my 19-year old youngest son is currently serving in the Army in the intelligence field at Fort Lewis/McChord in Washington. Finally, thanks to real nice letter from then President Richard Nixon, I was inducted and spent two years in the army 1972-1974. And believe it or not, the attached photo is of me right after graduation from Basic Training. Don't I look happy?
 

Attachments

  • 6.jpg
    6.jpg
    97.9 KB · Views: 3

Streeper541

Lifer
Jun 16, 2021
3,043
19,228
43
Spencer, OH
I've got quite a robust military history in my family as well @pipestud

I served 9 in the USCG and another 3 in the TXSG. My wife retired from the USCG w/20. My little brother did a hitch in the Army. Two of my uncles served; one a Marine the other in the Navy. Two cousins were both Naval aviators. Both of my grandfathers were Navy men, one continued on as a Merchant Marine.

IMG957740~2.jpg
This is us last year at her retirement ceremony.
 

OverMountain

Lifer
Dec 5, 2021
1,296
4,689
Western Caccalack Hinterlands
Thank you, Streeper541. I have a brother who served 22-years in the Navy. Another brother who served 8-years in the Air Force, and my 19-year old youngest son is currently serving in the Army in the intelligence field at Fort Lewis/McChord in Washington. Finally, thanks to real nice letter from then President Richard Nixon, I was inducted and spent two years in the army 1972-1974. And believe it or not, the attached photo is of me right after graduation from Basic Training. Don't I look happy?
The Army doesn’t want happy soldiers. I’m convinced the constant friction and hoops of garrison create irritable (but conditioned and controlled) fighters ready to let all that angst out after S1 kept losing your leave or promotion packet. 🤣
 
Dec 3, 2021
4,791
40,288
Pennsylvania & New York
Thank you, Streeper541. I have a brother who served 22-years in the Navy. Another brother who served 8-years in the Air Force, and my 19-year old youngest son is currently serving in the Army in the intelligence field at Fort Lewis/McChord in Washington. Finally, thanks to real nice letter from then President Richard Nixon, I was inducted and spent two years in the army 1972-1974. And believe it or not, the attached photo is of me right after graduation from Basic Training. Don't I look happy?
If someone told that young man back then, “Someday, you will be known as Pipestud,” would he have believed it?
 

OverMountain

Lifer
Dec 5, 2021
1,296
4,689
Western Caccalack Hinterlands
I've got quite a robust military history in my family as well @pipestud

I served 9 in the USCG and another 3 in the TXSG. My wife retired from the USCG w/20. My little brother did a hitch in the Army. Two of my uncles served; one a Marine the other in the Navy. Two cousins were both Naval aviators. Both of my grandfathers were Navy men, one continued on as a Merchant Marine.

View attachment 180857
This is us last year at her retirement ceremony.
The Coast Guard is a great service! Only bested in their small size by the Space Force now.
 

georged

Lifer
Mar 7, 2013
5,491
13,919
49 years ago for me.

I actually considered re-upping, but the Vietnam wind-down was underway (so most MOS's weren't taking re-ups), and I discovered WHY they were pushing so hard to find pilots for the first-gen Harrier jets... Thanks, but no thanks.

So, back into the civvie world I went.

P2056285 copy.JPG
 

kcghost

Lifer
May 6, 2011
13,140
21,407
77
Olathe, Kansas
My father served on a naval destroyer during WWII. He claims they were just positioned of Ireland and didn't see much action. After I got older a did a little reading on the War, I realized he must have been pulling my leg. I did three years in the Army during Nam, but I was lucky enough to be stationed in the European theatre of the war.