Getting out Department: Rx Author: Mike Era: 1991 Date: 04/26/05 Man, I remember leaving Ike like it was yesterday. The pig was in the Persian gulf. We had left Norfolk the end of Sept. and I left Ike the middle of November. I flew off the pig to Bahrain and we had to wear civilian clothes because of "tensions" in the region. I flew off Ike on November 18th and spent my birthday (November 19th) in Bahrain. I then flew to Philadelphia and spent two weeks at that shithole for processing. All E-5's and above had to do was muster in the morning -- no workday.

Getting out part 2 Department: Rx Author: Mike Era: 1991 Date: 04/26/05 When I was checking out of Philadelphia, I had to go over to admin while my DD-214 was typed up. So this female army paper pusher hands me my paperwork to sign and as I am reading it, it says NEC 0000. I asked her what that was as I had earned an NEC. I guess my personnel file was fucked up and on one of the pages, my NEC was listed as 0000. I told her, "I'm not signing this paper until that NEC is changed. I have an NEC." She says, "How do I know that?" I told her that it was written in more than once place, and I wanted it changed. She said, "I don't know what you did in the Navy." I told her, "Look at my fucking evals! Nuclear operator, Nuclear training...what do you think I did?" She said, "Well, I was trained in a job in the army that I never did, how do I know you did this?" I said, "Get your supervisor out here right now, because I am not signing this until this NEC is changed."

Getting out, part 3 Department: Rx Author: Mike Era: 1991 Date: 04/26/05 So, this lady is still fighting me on this when a PN1 comes out. He asks what the trouble is and I tell him the whole story. He says, "You better change that. That NEC is pretty important." She still wouldn't change it. Finally, some senior chief comes out and makes her change it, and she is grumbling and complaining the whole time she is doing it. What the fuck was it to her?? I couldn't wait to get out of that shithole. The Philadelphia base was scheduled for closing and they obviously didn't give a shit about it's condition. The barracks they had us in was like a slum. As a matter of fact, they had an electrical fire in one of the rooms on our floor and we all had to move to another (even worse) barracks for a few days. I actually wrote a letter to the guys getting out and told them that whatever they do, do not go to Philadelphia.

Getting out Department: Rx Author: Bisonhead Era: 1988 Date: 05/03/05 In July 88 we got on a plane from Naples to Siganella?Spain.Stayed there overnight and caught a leased commercial jet to......you guessed it...Philadelphia. Spent 2 weeks there waiting to get out. On the Wed. before we left they had a P.I. by some female Lt Commander. I was told afterward to get new uniforms. Yeah right. Then, on our last day ( there were about 5 of us getting out) ,they hand us discharge certificates from the USMC. I said "Do I look like I am in the Marines?. We had to stay overnight while they corrected the problem. IDIOTS! If they had ever spent any time at sea, they would probably do a better job knowing how frustrating it is when other peoples jobs screw you over.

After getting out Department: Rx Author: Bisonhead Era: 1988 Date: 05/03/05 When I finally made it home after getting out, I promptly laid out my dress whites in the driveway and drained the oil from my motorcycle on them. Then it was into the trash! On our very first day of freedom, Mr. Schener and I stuffed our work uniforms and boondockers in an outdoor trash can as we walked to the parking lot to drive off the base for the last time. Don't remember what happened to the dress blues.

Hard drinking shipmate Department: Rx Author: Mike Era: 1988 Date: 05/03/05 Hey -- I remember Mr. Schener. You guys must have left Ike just after I got there. (April '88). Anyhow, I had a friend on Ike that I had gone through boot camp, A school, nuc school and prototype with. He was a great guy, but trouble always seemed to find him. I think he made 3rd class twice and 2nd class twice. But I digress. I had been around this guy (I'll call him Joe) when he was drinking, but never really noticed anything different about him. His roommates used to tell me that once Joe started drinking -- couldn't stop. Then, he would get this look in his eyes and it was like he was "in another world." He usually got in some sort of trouble when he reached this state. So, Joe asks me if I want to go out with him in Toulon and grab a few beers. I said "sure"...what could happen? So, we head out, find this little bar with a great band, grab a table and start drinking. Joe drinks about 3 beers to my one but seems to be handling it.

Drinking shipmate part 2 Department: Rx Author: Mike Era: 1988 Date: 05/03/05 The band finishes up and it is getting late, so we decide to head back to fleet landing. Joe decides he wants to call his wife, so I figure I'll call my family. I go to a phone booth and Joe wanders down the street to another one. I get done with my call and go find Joe -- he is talking to his wife and drinking one of those big french beers. Where in the hell did he get that?? He finishes up and we start walking towards fleet landing. We see the shore patrol walking towards us -- Joe hides his beer behind his back. As the shore patrol walks by, Joe drops the beer and the bottle shatters all over the sidewalk. They turn and see us, and tell us that we need to go with them. They hall us down to this french navy building near fleet landing and start telling us that we're in trouble, we are going to lose our liberty, etc. I am doing all the talking, and Joe can barely put two words together. They finally decide that I am sober and allow me to "take custody" of my friend.

Drunken shipmate part 3 Department: Rx Author: Mike Era: 1988 Date: 05/03/05 I got Joe back to the ship with no problems. The next day I asked him about it and he had no memory of what had happened the night before. As I am writing this story, I remembered that we roomed together in Sigonella before we flew out to Ike. The night before we were to fly out, Joe got so drunk that I couldn't wake him up in the morning. I had to drag him out of bed and put him in the shower. He was hurting... Luckily, our flight was cancelled that day. One other thing -- have any of you ever seen what happens to a guy's face when he gets thrown out of a bar by a bouncer...and doesn't put his hands out to break his fall? This happened to Joe one night. We were out at a club and at closing time, we couldnt' find him. We finally see him outside, and he is a mess. Picture a guy with a two inch wide strip of blood down his face from where his face hit the pavement and broke his fall. He had the nastiest scab I have ever seen -- mostly on his chin.

"Shipmate," etc. Department: Rx Author: Tim Palange Era: 1986 Date: 05/07/05 Kinda OT, but when I was on the Carl Vinson the word "shipmate" became a pejorative. We would all put emphasis on the word "shipmate" in every sentence, and the guys we hated (mostly khaki lackeys) the most would be called it at least a dozen times a day. Just a bit of hidden dissidence. When I was on CVN70, Capt. Clexton was the admiral in charge of the Vinson's battle group, Capt. O'Brien (ex-CVN69 XO) was the Vinson's CO, and MMCM Barney Scott, MMCS Joey Tamondong, MMC Cliff Baker (all ex-Ikeatraz RM-div. guys), plus EMC Tom Pluim and EM1/C Don Grove (both ex-69 E-1 div. guys) all followed me to the Vinson.

Rumble at the Shillelagh Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1984 Date: 05/09/05 One night at the Shillelagh, an Airedale and I had a discussion on Middle East policy. Having just returned from "peacekeeping duty" off Lebanon, I was kind of disgusted with the whole situation while this Airedale was really gung-ho about it. After several hours of drunkenly and loudly arguing, we decided we weren't going to change each other's opinion, so we shook hands and thanked each other for the opportunity to have such a spirited debate. The Airedale had a mouthy buddy who just couldn't leave well enough alone and got in my face and tried to pick a fight with me. This prompted Pete R to intervene, saying, "You can't talk to my friend like that, you wimpy douchebag!" The Airdale and I separated them, and then Billy the DJ started playing David Allen Coe's "You never even called me by my name", which meant it was closing time. When we started out the door, Mouthy was waiting and cold-cocked Pete with a ring that cut Pete right above the eye.