HS-5 Berthing Department: AIMD Author: Jake Era: 1982 Date: 05/22/06 I was reading these last few stories and had to add this one. When the airwing left the ship all of us in AIMD were responsible for thier spaces as far as zone inspections and sweepers etc... Anyway our shop was in charge of HS-5 berthing on the 01 level just above the tunnel.well as soon as the airwing goes they turn this space over to us, man there was more of those "pens" and screw books and other assorted crap but what really blew my mind was that just above the top racks in this space was a ventilation duct and the guys that took the top racks knew this, anyway these guys must of used a nail or drill bit or something to make about a dozen or so little holes in this duct no bigger than the diameter of a quarter, there had to be at least 20 of these in this particular berthing area,they were smoking weed right in thier racks and blowing it out this duct, probably on its way to some other space! I've made my fair share of those little pipes but never had the balls to light up in a berthing space!

Newport News Department: Ops Author: Arch Era: 1986 Date: 05/25/06 Part VII - The Quasar I was thinking the other day of the one time I was so freakin' high / drunk, I couldn't even work the remote control for the TV. Drew and Pagey, and eventually me included, went into a uncontrollable laughing jag as I stumbled and tried in vain to change the TV channel - but I was utterly unable to do so. We ended up on our backs feeling like the wind had been knocked out of us. We laughed so hard at my incompetence, there were tears running down our faces.

Newport News Department: Ops Author: Arch Era: 1985 Date: 05/25/06 "Frampton Comes Alive" spun almost non-stop in our apartment. If the tape happened to end at 5:38 a.m. after a crazy party had died down, rest assured that someone in the room would have gotten up off the floor, flipped the tape, pressed play, then fell back onto the floor. Drew turned me onto Frampton; Billy Thorpe ("Children of the Sun"); Gary Wright (the whole "Dream Weaver" album rox); and Pink Floyd (I dug them of course, but he was Floyd obsessed). I turned him onto Robin Trower, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Boston and Jeff Beck. Other visitors turned us on to Triumph, and deeper cuts from both Yes and Deep Purple. One night, Drew and I were lost on the freeway and ended up cruising totally stoned toward the 20 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel complex, with Steve Miller's "Fly Like an Eagle" blaring. We asked the toll taker, "Uh, is this the bridge that costs $18 to go over?" "Yes". "Uh, we wanna turn around". "OK".

Newport News Department: Ops Author: Arch Era: 1985 Date: 05/26/06 Part VIII (prior Frampton post) and IX - Rock and Roll Man, I cannot belive I forgot this during the last post. The little things that come back after all these years. The Frampton "Comes Alive" tape, one side of the plastic window on the cassette had a pot seed hole burned through it. It must have popped out of a joint or bowl and landed on the cassette when it was on a table - nobody saw it happen. But we noticed it later. Miraculously, the tape itself was utterly unaffected. A true sign from God. ;-)

Newport News Department: Ops Author: Arch Era: 1985 Date: 05/28/06 Part X - Bozo I swear to God this is a true, but dull, story. Drew and I had pulled out of NOB, going along Hampton Blvd. and then mergeing onto the freeway (I-64 I assume). I think we were headed toward Chesapeake, where a good local - and cute - smoke connection named Gwen lived. We got stuck behind some joker in the slow lane, and after about a minute I told Drew, "Blow around this clown ... ". As we passed him in the fast lane, we looked over, and the guy was dressed as a circus clown. We practically had to pull over in laughter, due to this guy going to do his gig at a child's birthday party or whatever. As we pased, he meekly waved at us. Man, that was funny.

snipes ? Department: Ops Author: Ron Eureka Era: 1985 Date: 05/30/06 How did the machinist mates or nukes get that nickname ?

another day at sea Department: Air Author: jerimie Era: 1998 Date: 06/01/06 we was doing JTFZ quals when all the sudden a bird didn't shoot off the deck right so it went into the water this was with in my 1st month on the ike si u was amazed the shiped stoped and we all went to man over board and the chopper was in the air and did a quick recoverey the reason i'm posting this is to let my son read about the sea stories and find out how dangerous me and other shipmates job was working on the flight deck it was a fun but dangerous time in my life and i would never change it

MIS-HAPS AT SEA Department: Engr Author: larry Era: 1988 Date: 06/01/06 I remember one time while we were out to sea and this guy was walking through a hatch from the island to the flight deck on the John F. Kennedy (CV67) and a E2C Hawkeye was turning. Well when the guy turned to close the hatch he stepped right into the propeller! Shredded meat!! We had safety stand down that day with nothing going on. So yea it is dangerous out there if you dont pay attention!! Thinking back now, its amazing how many stories i have from my time on Ike. Anyone remember when we sunk the greenpeace boat just outside venezula? That was a great port visit by the way. And man those fire hose's are pretty powerful from the flight deck to the water. We used them to keep the green peace kodiak boats away so they could not paint the ship. Good Times!!

Snipes Department: Engr Author: MM2 Sol The Bull Era: 1996 Date: 06/01/06 Why did they call us Snipes? I think (hope I am wrong) that it has something to do with the fact that it is a term to describe someone of low character. For one mans take on the meaning use the website below. http://oldsnipe.com/SnipeBegin.html For a more flattering side of the story read "The Snipes Lament" at the website below. http://home.bendcable.com/navysnipe/snipes.htm

Nukes with Guns Department: Rx Author: Anon Era: 2006 Date: 06/06/06 At this moment, there are nukes walking around the Mighty Dike with 9mm guns. They've been assigned to Security Division. After reading all of the stories on here, and knowing so many nukes personally, doesn't that make you wonder? There's even stories of a couple of them standing their proficiency watches in their cammies...