Dirtbags Department: Rx Author: Mike Matthys Era: 1989 Date: 02/22/05 The Navy seems to attract it's fair share of dirtbags...and Reactor department was no exception. There was this star baby (I'll call him Joe) who was one of the biggest whiners in RM division. Not only that, but the guy was not the cleanest individual. Like in a previous story, this guy never washed his sheets and ignored the people around him when they demanded he wash them. So, taking justice into their own hands, the guys who slept near this dirt bag took a spray bottle and filled it with half water / half piss. As soon as the dirt bag went on watch, one of the guys would spray down his mattress with this diluted piss mixture. I think the poor guy slept on the piss mattress for a couple of months before the stench got to him.

Some more info Department: Rx Author: Tim Palange Era: 1984 Date: 02/22/05 Hi Guys, I've had a few good chuckles reading all the stories. That Rx officer who picked his nose (and his ass) all the time was Cdr. Russell Reddoch - he was the XO of nuc school when I was there in 1980. He drove an old Buick that was covered with red and white reflective tape. And you thought I was a dork...His relief was Cdr. Bo Lindfors, one of the best Rx officers the Ikeatraz ever had. One time I was on #4 throttle watch when Cdr. Lindfors remarked to me, "There is a lot of vacuum on that condenser! Why do you suppose there's so much vacuum?" with a half grin on his face. I couldn't think of anything intelligent to say...but that's nothing unusual for me...MMCM Bob Amante later provided me with the correct answer: "Because this ship sucks!" In '83 or so, some of us from RE Div. were wandering around Pisa when we ran into the Noodles. As usual they had a good package going. We all got onto the bus back to Livorno to get on the ship, without tickets (as I recall the Italian intercity buses ran on the honor system). We were all whooping it up and having a good old time. When we got back to the fleet landing the Noodles, having picked up some dago red while the bus was stopped, decided they wanted to sing a song on the liberty boat. So, they did their famous rendition of "God Bless America," figuring that no one amongst the khaki lackeys would stop them...some of the guys at the quarterdeck said they could hear the Noodles singing about a mile away. Later the same trip...I think...I was out with the Noodles in Sorrento. We were having a good old time as usual. By this time I'd become the unofficial Noodle photographer. We were on the train back to Naples when Wags had the urge to puke. Those trains were similar to subway trains - no windows, nearly airtight. So he went into the vestibule, pulled back the weatherstripping between the doors, and launched a stream of vomit out that slid down the next car's windows. Too bad I was out of film.

Vomitation Department: Rx Author: Peter Era: 1983 Date: 02/22/05 I was on that train when Wags blew chow out the sliding doors. It was so great - Initialy the vestibule was jam packed with locals and Noodles. As soon as Wags started heaving, the entire vestibule cleared out. Another train story.. One of our port visits (I think Spain) a train load of IKE sailors got a bit too rowdy and ended up destroying an entire train car. Before leaving port, IKE's special services officer got handed a bill for several $100,000s. It was also in Spain that IKE had to bail a couple of pilots out of jail... Turns out these guys didn't realize it was against the law to urinate on a Spanish flag. And speaking of flags and vomit - I remember watching one sailor vomit over the side of a liberty boat and then use the flag at the stern to wipe the vomit off his mouth...

Another Use For Money Department: Rx Author: Kevin Newman Era: 1984 Date: 02/22/05 One of my first port visits on the Ike was Lisbon Portugal. I took the train into Estoril with an M-Div buddy. On the way back we were waiting for the train and the Mateus and all of the other Portuguese delecacies were starting to work on my system and I needed to take a crap really bad. I found the toilet, but as is normal in a lot of those European heads there was no shit paper. All I had were a few thousand Escudos (worth about 5 bucks), so I put them to good use. I'd like to think that the janitor made a good tip that night.

Bo Lindfors Department: Rx Author: Kevin Newman Era: 1987 Date: 02/22/05 Hey Tim, After I left the Ike I eventually landed on the Theodore Roosevelt (as an M-Div'er) and Capt Bo Lindfors was the Chief Engineer. I have to agree that he was one of the best Nuke officers I have ever met. As luck would have it I bought a house off of Harpersville Rd in Newport News right next door to Capt Lindfors. Occasionally when we would carpool in I'd go up the officers brow with him, and at the end of the workday (provided of course I wasn't on duty) I would leave the same way. I never stayed past 1500 because he never did. And none of the kahki said anything about it either. I also wrote a few articles for the ship's paper. Capt Lindfors liked my writing style and had me do the drafts for his JO's fit-reps. When the Engineering Chiefs and Zeros found out I was writing their evals, there was nothing I couldn't get from any of them. Two of them even stood up for me at Captain's Mast and got my ass out of a sling. It's true about Who you know, not what you know.

Pete...are you sure that happened in Spain? Department: Medical Author: John Era: 1982 Date: 02/22/05 Pete: Wasn't it actually in Greece that those two pilots got into trouble for drinking too much Ouzo and then peeing on the Greek flag? I don't think they would've cared much in Spain, but they tend to be very nationalistic in Greece, and this caused a stir.....especially after all those warnings they gave out over Ike TV before we got into port. John

John Vrooman Department: Rx Author: Tim Palange Era: 1983 Date: 02/23/05 Hi Kevin - That RE-Div. guy was John Vrooman, I remember him as if it was yesterday. He was seriously into punk music. Funny guy...his wife was nice, they had 2 or 3 kids. Think he came from upstate New York. Scariest time I ever had in Tidewater was when John drove me across the bridge from NN to Norfolk in his new VW Rabbit at over 160 kph (100 mph).

D-Day 1994, 2004 Department: Rx Author: Tim Palange Era: 1994 Date: 02/23/05 ...oh, and speaking of D-Day observances, aside from being on the Ikeatraz for the 40th, I was at Normandy for the 50th anniversary, on another ship but not in the Navy. For the 60th anniversary I was on yet another ship within about 200 km of Normandy, just passing by on the way to Copenhagen. But those stories are for another time.

Nicknames Department: Rx Author: Mike Matthys Era: 1988 Date: 02/23/05 I was just thinking back on some of the nicknames we had for guys during my "era" on Ike. Here are a few: Wingnut, Juice, Slickster, Elmo, "Will Robinson", Sara Conner, Coondog, Elvis, Stick, Boo, Taco (Senior Chief Torres), Nipple Head, Bug, Sgt. Shipmate, Piece o' shit, Tar baby, Moon Racker, Rack, Hymie, Johnny Fresh, Scoop, Hatchmo, Pound Puppy, Hard Times, VC Al, Lumbee. I'm sure there are others...

Another T-Bear/Joe Scullion/Roger Claycomb story Department: Rx Author: Tim Palange Era: 1983 Date: 02/24/05 Sometime in '83...maybe it was '85...we pulled into Taranto, Italy during a Med trip. On the first day I got off, a bunch of us RE-Div. sleazebags went ashore in the mid-afternoon. Who did we see at the fleet landing but John Vrooman, who was five sheets to the wind, so out of it he couldn't even speak coherent words. We poured him into the liberty boat and off we went. We walked up the hill and down the "promenade." Looking back on it, Taranto was a classic southern Italian city, full of history modern and ancient. We ran into the Noodles and other assorted nucs at a bar overlooking a steep embankment that ended down at the sea. The bar didn't have a toilet, so if you had to take a leak you just went around to the back of the place and pissed down the hill. My old pal Joe Scullion went out back; when he didn't return after a few minutes I went looking for him. Turns out he lost his footing and tumbled down about 10 meters of piss-soaked Italian red earth before running into a bush...but since he was so drunk he was no worse for wear. T-Bear was there. I don't recall seeing him puke that day, but he did get so blind drunk that he stood up by his table, whipped it out and started pissing on the sidewalk...in front of hundreds of the locals. I don't speak a word of Italian..but I could tell exactly what they were thinking: "Fucking squids!!" Didn't T-Bear wind up getting de-nuked? Roger Claycomb the ELT got the idea in his head that we all needed to get laid. So he went looking for the local "soiled doves." Of course he found them, and insisted on dragging us all out there...when I saw the Carabinieri approaching, I managed to persuade everyone in their drunken stupor (even Roger, who was very hard to persuade) that it was time to get the hell out of Dodge. More stories to come...as I remember them... (PS Brother Wags!! Brother Charlie!! What the hell are you guys doing with your lives??!!)