Jimmy Stewart Department: Air Author: Simon Era: 1983 Date: 10/22/05 I was also onboard Ike when Jimmy Stewart visited the ship in 1983. I stood right beside him in Flight Deck Control. I was FDLCPO for night ops. That was one skinny dude but nice as can be. I also gave Peter Jennings a tour of the roof during night ops in 1983. He was just a regular guy and also very nice.

The Big Run In Naples Department: Air Author: Simon Era: 1983 Date: 10/23/05 When I was stationed on the Ike, I was known for running & jogging. ABH2 Roger Benoit, who worked for me on the roof, was always talking smack to me about how he could beat me in a long distance run. While we were in Naples in '83, I challenged Benoit to a run around the flight deck. The loser would be the one who'd stop first. Old Benoit made one lap and almost passed out. After one lap, I wasn't even sweating. I even started running backwards and making circles around him. I wrote a little story about our run and how I dusted him. I posted copies throughout the Air Dept. Of course he came behind me and ripped them down. So if anyone out there knows the whereabouts of Roger Benoit, tell him that ABCM Simon still has copies of the story and I'm still ragging on him.

Time warps Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1980 Date: 10/24/05 With the end of Daylight Savings Time next week, I was reminded of a real bummer from the IO Cruise. I got stuck on the 4-8 Feed Pump Watch coming back (my first ORSE, no less). We set our clocks back one hour due to time zone changes about a dozen times at, you guessed it, 0600, so we lucky stiffs on the 4-8 watch got stuck with 17 hour days. But of course this was quickly forgotten when we finally got back to Norfolk after our 8 months in the Twilight Zone.

Another time warp Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1980 Date: 10/24/05 On the way home from the IO, a movie came out called "The Final Countdown". In it, the Nimitz was time-warped back to the Pearl Harbor attack. At the time a psychic was predicting a Nimitz-class carrier was going to time warp 20 years into the future while passing around South Africa. I guess that was supposed to be us since the Nimitz was in Norfolk and the Vinson was still being built. Some folks were actually talking about the back-pay and retirement checks we would get. Anyway, WIKE-TV showed that movie and there was standing room only in berthing. That's the biggest crowd I ever saw watching TV.

Uniforms Department: Engr Author: BT2 Dupler Era: 1999 Date: 10/25/05 I recently found my old unifroms and remembered all the times I had to quickly prepare for an inspection. After 98 or so you had to have a nametape with your name embroidered onto it sewn onto your uniform, no more ink stamps or just writting it on. One time when I had no thread to sew my name on to my pants I had just bought at the exchange, I used gasket sealant to afix the nametape to my pants. Everything went well, and by the next morning it was dry and I wore them to the inspection. Everything was going well until a chief noticed an orange spot on top of my nametape. Luckily it was after the DO had passed because he picked and picked at it until he noticed it was not sewn on. During an inspection with the XO I had used scotch tape folded over to hold the name on my Shirt. Right before the Xo came up, a guy reached over and acted like he was going to rip the name off of my shirt, only problem was that it did come off, he did not know about the tape. I got it back on and it stuck.

Personel Inspections Department: Rx Author: peter Era: 1978 Date: 10/25/05 Actually this isn't an IKE story - it hapened when I was at protptype - but... Every time we had an inspection my roommate had to jump through so many hoops to pass - his crow would get stuck on with bubble gum, pants hemmed with a stapler, neck hair trimmed with a razor, shoes painted black, and chalk rubbed over anything that was white to cover over the stains. He expended twice the effort that he would have had he done everything right. And while on IKE, I was sent to a 3 day school "Steam Plant Maintenance" school once in Norfolk. On day 2, I failed the personel inspection and got kicked out of school. That ended up giving me a 2 day vacation! - unfortunately it was winter and really crappy weather so I just pretty much spent those 2 days in my rack. I then reported back for duty after class had "ended". I also listed that school as completed for my evals that year.

Final Countdown Department: Rx Author: peter Era: 1982 Date: 10/25/05 The last scene of the movie has the hero drving away from the IKE in a limo. This was shot at Pier 12. Only trouble, when you look at the direction the car was headed, they had him driving off the end of the pier!

Final Countdown Department: Rx Author: Flounder Era: 1980 Date: 10/26/05 Hi Pete - I remember that movie...the dog runs out of Medical straight onto the 03 level...I was in nuc school when that came out, and remember thinking, "Boy, I sure don't want to wind up on one of THOSE huge pig-boats!"

more uniforms Department: Engr Author: BT2 Dupler Era: 1996 Date: 10/26/05 I wish I would of thought of the chalk for the dress whites. Anyway, I was not always unprepared for personnel inspections, however when you have been to sea for 5 months and never had one and then they want to have one, sometimes you are not prepared. On one cruise I ripped my inspection dungurees on the ladder going up to the hanger bay, so I went the shop, got an alligator clip and clipped the pants back together. Luckily the rip was on the side so I rigged it so it very naturual if I stood up. I was very proud of that quick fix. I never really got any hits on inspections other than dirty fingernails. FRICKIN DIRTY FINGERNAILS. Come on with all the dirt and grease and grime and rust we had to deal with everyday, this lifer chief wants to hit half the division for dirty fingernails!!!!!!

another uniform story Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1984 Date: 11/01/05 On the 84 North Atlantic Cruise, Clexton decided the uniform for England would be Dress Blues, even though it was early June. I still had an MM1 crow on mine since my mast was in late April, so Wags and I traded jumpers since he made MM1 about the time I made MM2 again. I still have Wags' jumper. As for the dungaree shirts, I just wrote "VOID" over the third chevron, making my shirts very unique. I ended up giving them away when I got out.