Herb and Elmo Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1982 Date: 05/29/05 Elmo's story about Mombo reminded me of another guy that everyone called Herb. He was on the Ike when I got there and he worked in 1 Plant. I had called him Herb for 2 years, when out of the blue, he said, "My name's Bob, not Herb." Coincidentally, he looked amazingly like the guy named Herb on the Burger King commercials of the late 80's. Regarding Elmo, it was a while before I realized his name was Mike. He was drunk one time in the Med and introduced himself as Elmo when someone asked him his name. I don't know if I was there when he named himself Elmo, and if I was, I was too drunk to remember.

Rubberhead's Statue Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1982 Date: 05/29/05 In the early 80's there was a 1 plant MM we all called Rubberhead. He was kind of artsy, playing the classical guitar and going to art galleries and such. In Athens in 82, we were all in Plaaka getting hammered at our favorite outdoor cafe with our usual assortment of international derelicts when Rubberhead appeared carrying this green statue of a stick-man. He was very proud of it and spoke very highly of this "rare antiquity". Dan Reighard was especially "praiseful" when we all examined it. We didn't have the heart to tell Rubberhead we had just seen a whole bunch of them at a "Hey Joe" market around the corner!

Waterfights Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1984 Date: 05/30/05 It was customary to have a big waterfight when someone was having their last steaming watch. Unfortunately, my Dad died unexpectantly while we were off the coast for a couple of weeks and I flew off to Jacksonville and then home. I met the ship back in Norfolk a few days later and found out we were going out the next day on one of those wonderful Dependant's Day Cruises (on a Saturday, no less). Since I was determined to have a water fight and wasn't on the watchbill, I relieved the CRW and took everyone by surprise. It turned out to be several other people's last watche also, so we had a very large time. I think the only time we had a wetter plant was when Ron Weaver set up a hose on the discharge of the Reserve Feed Transfer Pumps and dared us all to take him on. I hope this tradition has lived on.

Last watch Department: Rx Author: Mike Era: 1991 Date: 05/31/05 When I left Ike in November of 1991, the ritual of water fights on your last watch was still practiced. Regarding shooting the shit on the MF-501's, we also solved a lot of the world's (and the Navy's) problems while sitting on those valves. Mentioning Feed Control made me remember the "Hagan cabinet." We had a senior chief (Senior Chief Torres or "Taco"). He had been to Hagan school and fancied himself an expert on this system and was always tweaking it. His success at fixing Hagan could be seen on a scoreboard written inside the Hagan cabinet. It read: Hagan:2 Taco:0 Taco allowed us blueshirts to call him "Taco". I remember being on the mess decks one day when a Filipino Mess Specialist chief heard one of us call him "Taco." I thought the guy was going to give himself a stroke he was yelling so much.

Waffles & Things Department: Rx Author: Gary Era: 1985 Date: 06/02/05 Charlie, your story about the Resin discharge procedure made me laugh really hard cause I remember doing dry runs. I also remember a favorite breakfast joint on the stip called Waffles & Things. I recall it being a great place for coffee to nurse a hangover after an all nighter, but I can't remember what the "Things" were. We always got a laugh from the name and I'm sure many noodles blew chunks over most of the parking lot. Cal T. impressed me the most after you with his ability to puke on demand. On a different note, I havn't seen any tales of Capt. Macke, only Clexton. Macke was the CO that made RADM and then forced into early retirement cause of something he said about sailors that got into trouble in Korea while on Liberty. I remember when Macke was the old man on Ike. We actually tried to buy him a drink in Italy one night, but he refused 'cause it wouldn't be right for one of his crew to be buyin the skipper drinks. So we finished our beers and ate at a seafood buffet.

Macke Department: Rx Author: Michael Greaney Era: 1987 Date: 06/02/05 STATEMENT BY DEFENSE SECRETARY WILLIAM J. PERRY REGARDING ADMIRAL RICHARD C. MACKE, U.S. NAVY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, U.S. PACIFIC COMMAND Admiral Macke acknowledged that he made a serious mistake today in his comment about the defendants in the Okinawa rape case. This evening, Admiral Macke and I discussed the comment and its impact on our valued relations with Japan and Okinawa. We decided that his lapse of judgment was so serious that he would be unable to perform effectively his duties as Commander-In-Chief of U.S. Forces in the Pacific. As a result, Admiral Macke offered to retire, and I accepted his early retirement. This was a difficult decision for me and for Admiral Macke. He has served his Navy and his country with distinction during a 35-year career. Admiral Macke realizes that he made an error and has apologized. But the obstacles he faces in working effectively with the government and the people of Japan in the future left no other choice.

Macke Cont. Department: Rx Author: Michael Greaney Era: 1987 Date: 06/02/05 Admiral Richard C. Macke will retire early as Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command, as a result of remarks he made about the kidnapping and rape in Okinawa of a 12- year-old school girl by three U.S. servicemen. In a meeting with reporters late last week, ADM Macke said, "I think it was absolutely stupid. I've said several times, that for the price they paid to rent the car, they could have had a girl." Just do a Google search for Adm Macke

buying the skipper a beer Department: Rx Author: peter Era: 1980 Date: 06/02/05 I was much too stingy to ever buy a beer for the skipper (however I was quite happy to buy drinks for the mademoiselles at the piano bar). But in Singapore, we were sitting two tables away from some Admiral and Will P. sent a beer over to him. The guy was quite gracious and came over to thank Will. The place where we were was Bougis (sp?) street. - what a bizarre place! - Transvestites would parade up and down the street and you would pay them $10 to get a picture taken with them sitting in your lap. - Also, kids would roam around, trying to hustle you at tic-tac-toe. They'd challenge you to a game and winner gets a dollar.

more singapore Department: Rx Author: peter Era: 1980 Date: 06/02/05 In Singapore, we took a rickshaw ride. The driver didn't speak a lick of English but instead passed back to us a homemade booklet written in English, each page offering to take us to a different place. I leafed through the booklet and each page was directed to a different class of clientele. - Seniors would be asked if they wanted to go to a museum, couples if they wanted to be taken to the mall, families to the park, etc...,and one page offered to take the passengers to a house of ill repute. I'll let you guess which page the booklet was open to when he passed it back to us.

WINS & WAVES Department: Rx Author: Gary Era: 1984 Date: 06/02/05 In Orlando while I was at Nuke school they had Women in Naval Service (WINS) barracks there. It just so happened that I had a relative joined the Navy before I did but our career paths never crossed until we both wound up on Ike at the same time. She was with a squadron of F-18s that temporarily flew aboard while we were doing work-ups off the coast of Pensacola. I think she was an aviation electonics technician or something. The whole ship was lectured about conducting ourselves around the women. I guess they thought all us poor sex starved bastards would jump them, so they put the girls up forward and had the MARDET guarding them most of the time which may have been a good idea considering some of the guys on board. Consequently, the only time she and I could visit was on liberty cause each time we'd get together for a family chat on the ship, everyone thought I was hitting on her. Nobody knew I was her uncle. She later switched to the Marines and retired a Gunnery Sgt.