Photography Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1982 Date: 03/27/05 We never had much luck with cameras. It's a miracle any of us had any pictures. In Athens, I "took" a roll of film all over town, only to find out there was no film in the camera. I had to retrace my steps and took a lot of flak over that one. Of course, Cal was the king of camera screw-ups. He got his film snatched out of his camera by the police in Lisbon when he was taking a picture of the Gut. Some German sailors we were hanging out with nearly got us all arrested when they started screaming at the cops about our rights. Then a few days later, Cal left his camera on the train between Portsmouth and London. When he went to look for it, of course it was gone. He bought another one and ended up leaving it in a cab on the way to the Norfolk airport after the 82 Med. That was when I told him, "Maybe it's just not your karma to own a camera, Cal."

Great Lakes Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1978 Date: 03/27/05 I went to the most miserable place in the Navy from Nov 78-Jan 79. This was the coldest and snowiest winter on record for Chicago up to that time. Being from SC, I had only seen one 12 inch snowfall and a few up to 4 inches. We had 119 inches fall when I left in mid Jan after a major blizzard had shut down the base. On top of that, I was in the 330 barracks. There was no heat in the room I shared with 3 BT's. The ice on the inside of the window was about an inch thick. On the 3 floors, there were only 2 showers that worked. Of course, the ET's and Iranians and Saudi Arabians going to school had much better accomodations. It just made me more determined to get the hell out of Dodge, because sunny Orlando was on the horizon. MM school was self-paced back then, so it was a major incentive to get through quickly. Of course, I still managed to have fun drinking that 3.2 beer with my old buddy Dan Jenkins, who would have made a good Noodle, but became a bubblehead after Prototype.

New Photos on Images Page Department: Rx Author: Peter Era: 1982 Date: 03/27/05 New photos thanks to Terry Pristas. Featuring a shot of the "Number One Piano Bar"!!!!!!!

Capri Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1982 Date: 03/28/05 Capri was one of the better places I went to in the Med. I went there both Med cruises. In 82 a bunch of us went over together and had a really great time. This was when the cliff jumping took place. Pete W, Major Mike, and Will were trying to keep up with the locals. The rest of us were content to stick with the smaller cliffs. One touristy thing to do was take a gondola ride in the Blue Grotto. Instead of paying for the boat ride, we all swam in there instead, pissing off the locals again. Then there was the big rock concert. I don't even know who performed, but I heard John Mellencamp was there and maybe Frank Zappa. We brought along a whole bunch of wine and sat on a hillside to watch the show. Bobo got a little wobbly and wiped out a bunch of Italians that were in front of us. I also remember eating shrimp at a fancy restaurant. We put all the heads in a big pile and then watched T-Bear eat all the eyeballs from them.

Big Jim Department: Rx Author: Larry Era: 1981 Date: 03/28/05 One day in RL Division, our Chem-RadCon Officer (Martin Moody) called a meeting. At the meeting he started to berate us and tell us we were getting EMI (extra military instruction) for something he didn’t like. Moody started picking on Jim Bacquet for some reason I don’t recall. When he finished picking on Jim, Moody asked “And what do you think about that Petty Office Bacquet.” Jim didn’t even blink; he looked at Moody and said, “I think you just want me to punch you out Mr. Moody.” Moody kicked all the rest of out and for about ten minutes, Jim and Moody shouted at each other. When Jim came out, he had a big smile on his face. Jim was our hero after that.

The Piano Bar Department: Rx Author: Peter Era: 1982 Date: 03/28/05 First, can I direct your attention to Priestas.htm again... There's now a new picture of the Piano bar as it stands today (Thanks Charlie Camp / Dave Parker). I was in the Piano bar one night and saw a drunk sailor throw up all over a prostitute. The gal had been trying to entice him for some time. She then got distracted and while she was turned away I saw the sailor's head bobbing in the pre-heave motion (sort of like a chicken head thrust). It was almost in slow motion that I saw him projectile vomit all over this poor slut's back. Incredibly enough, all in a matter of minutes - she ducked out of the bar, changed clothes, and was back on duty. I can just imagine what a delightful aroma she must have given off to the next sailor(s) that boffed her...

Brother Pete Wentworth's Departure Department: Rx Author: Noodle Era: 1984 Date: 03/28/05 The last time I saw Pete Wentworth was in a U-Haul heading west from Noodle Central. It seems as though the Navy compensated you for moving yourself and Pete came to Noodle Cental on the beach and loaded up several drums with sand. This was also around the time that Tom Abbott was discharged and sold his old car to Cal (to take the place of what Charlie liked to call the El Camino -- the "yard orniment" -- because of some minor electrical problems. Funny because Cal never gave him grief about driving the "Farah Fawcett car")

Pete and Tom's discharge Part II Department: Rx Author: Noodle Era: 1984 Date: 03/28/05 Anyway, Cal replaced the radiator with a $50 radiator he bought at a junk yard in VA Beach. The transmission started going out and really went out when Walt drove it over to the adjacent Army base and ran it into a couple of dumpsters. Anyway to make a long story longer, Cal called the junk yard and asked how much they would give him for the piece of junk and they said $35 if he drove it in and $25 if they b rought a tow truck out for it. (Have I just gave away the story?) The Noodles first removed the $50 radiator, the battery, the tires that had a recognizable tread, and anything else that might be salvagable; and then auctioned off swings of Charlie's boy scout ax (which came in handy at Sugar Mtn). Nobody wanted to pay for a swing so we gave them away. You should have seen the look on that tow truck driver's face when he came to pick up Tom's old Chevy. I wonder if he was related to Mr. Haney (see Shady Acres Mobile Home Community for background on Mr. Haney)?

Fun Sanctioned Celebration Department: Rx Author: BadAss Shellback Era: 1980 Date: 03/28/05 How many remember the 14 cases of Hepatisis B from the Wogs crawling across the non-skid flight deck and scraping up their knees and then crawling through the raw garbage that happened to have some germs in it? It was sure great to have adult supervision, wasn't it? Of course, they deserved it for violating whatever it was. Also remember the first time across to the I.O. tying up that really plump Master Chief DuPu or whatever his name was in a laundry bag and tricing him up in the rack. How long was he there? Boy, was he mad! Good thing there were only 500 shellbacks and there were 5500 pollywogs on the way over.

Bummer Ed's Big Adventure Department: Rx Author: Born to Live on Sugar Mtn Era: 1982 Date: 03/28/05 Surprised nobody has mentioned Sugar Mountain and the fun times had by all (excepting Alice and the neighbor kids Jim and Charlie threw dirt clods at). Sugar Mountain was in the Shanendoah Mts and was a plot of land that an Admiral that Cal's brother worked with in the Pentagon hoped to build his retirement home. The Noodles made several trips there betwen 80 and 84. After the weekend they would stop in a cafe in Rutgersville for Sunday mornign brunch and pick the ticks off them and put them in the ashtray. Anyway, one time we took a van out there (was it Major Mike's or Mombo's) and Bummer Ed called shotgun -- now what the hell did he do to deserve such an honor? It seems as though he was a retired hippy-- while attending community college in New Jersey, he had sat in a lawn chair in his Mom's front lawn and watched the cars heading up to New York. One thing I can say about Bummer Ed--after the breakup he didn't side with the Un-Noodle Gang.