musicians Department: Rx Author: Charlie Era: 1983 Date: 02/13/05 A lot of us thought we were musically inclined because we could scream out Springsteen songs or blow a tune (sort of) on a harmonica. We did have some truly talented musicians on the Ike in the early 80's. Ward Hawes and Paul Monfils could play classical guitar and Ward could even play bluegrass. "Vinnie" Barbour used to constantly play his bass through his headphones. But Wags and Tom A really stand out as guitar players. In fact, both are still using that talent today. I really envied those guys and even bought Tom's old guitar when he got a new one. Wags and Tom patiently tried to teach me something that came so natural to them. I practiced a lot but only got callouses. Once, I played a song for Tom and he diplomatically said it sounded all right, but would probably be much better if I tuned the guitar. I knew right then it wasn't my karma to be a guitar picker.

Hey Joes Department: Rx Author: Peter Era: 1982 Date: 02/14/05 In the early 80's every time IKE pulled into Naples the "Hey Joes" would take over the aft mess decks and turn them into a friggin bazaar. - In the post-9/11 Navy, I can just picture the Special Service Officer... "Hey Cap'n, here's a neat idea... why don't we let all these foreign nationals aboard with their huge boxes of shit, and they can set up right in the middle of the ship..." - Christ, I can't believe how naive we were back then... One of my favorite "Hey Joe" items that I recall, and I kick myself for not buying it then, was the world's cheesiest painting. A sailor holding onto the ships wheel, steering the ship through a tempest... and standing by his side with one hand helping guide the wheel was a ghostly Jesus Christ. Obviously, the painting was meant as a metaphor - but I can just picture some bonehead thinking to himself, "Gee, maybe Jesus really is helping steer the Ike.."

Nicknames Department: Rx Author: M. Matthys Era: 1988 Date: 02/14/05 This is regarding nicknames -- someone mentioned MM1 Shaw. When I was on Ike, MM1 Shaw was MMCS Shaw or "Freddy". I always liked Chief Shaw as he was a no bullshit kind of guy. That is funny he was called "Gnome" -- that is definitely a fitting name. We had a Vietnames guy in RM Div. named Al Smith (I know -- how un-Vietnames a name is that?). Anyhow, Chief Shaw used to give him shit all the time regarding Vietnam. He would say, "Smith, you little VC motherfucker"...and then continue his tirade. As a result, Al Smith became "VC Al". He didn't care though, and started calling himself that.

Berthing Department: Rx Author: M. Matthys Era: 1991 Date: 02/14/05 After our 1990 med cruise, we went into Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for awhile. While we were there, Rx Berthing got "re-habbed". Of course, the Khaki bastards could not leave well enough alone and came up with a brilliant plan. To make it easier to locate (stab) people, the one planters would sleep in a forward berthing that we took over and the two planters would remain in the aft berthing. A few months before I got out, I became an office bitch and wasn't assigned to a plant. Rx Department still had the small RC Berthing space near the forward mess decks and an RC guy that was getting out offered me his rack. Since I wasn't assigned to any one plant, I accepted graciously. Oh man, I felt like I died and went to heaven. There were 18 guys living in the berthing and it had been designated a "no smoking" berthing. We lived like kings.

Detailer...part 2 Department: Rx Author: M. Matthys Era: 1989 Date: 02/15/05 continued... So, a few months later this MM1 is a detailer and is sitting at his desk and some names with orders come across his desk. One of the names is ET2 Starbaby Whistleblower and he has orders to go to a shore facility in Norfolk for the coveted "shore duty." My friend the detailer decided that this young man needed a little more sea time and changed his orders to another Nimitz class carrier that was preparing for a med cruise. The poor guy had just come back from the Med a few months earlier and was now headed back -- poor bastard. Like I said, I don't know how true the story is but the detailer himself told it to me.

Don't piss off a detailer Department: Rx Author: M. Matthys Era: 1991 Date: 02/15/05 Ok, I'm going to tell this story but take it with a grain of salt. The detailer in the story had been an MM1 on Ike and I spoke with him after we both got out. He told me this story and I have no reason not to believe him. First, some background: We all know that gambling in the Navy is forbidden and if caught, the "gamblers" are often punished. Well, one night (or a couple of nights) a few guys got this little poker game together. I guess the stakes were pretty high and a couple of guys lost a lot of money. Word got around that the khaki regime had caught wind of this game and started pulling guys in for questioning. One RC star baby was taken in for questioning and sang like a canary. He named names, times, etc...the MM1 (later MMC) detailer mentioned above was implicated. The guys involved got some bullshit punishment -- I can't remember what it was...but they were all pissed at the whistle blower.

Waterhead and Mikey (part 2) Department: Rx Author: Kevin Newman Era: 1984 Date: 02/15/05 So while Waterhead is out taking logs Mikey wanders into Charging Station and wraps the wire once more around the pipe and disappears. A few minutes later Waterhead comes back and waits for Mikey who shows up a few minutes later. Waterhead starts giving him some story as how he can't take it anymore and is gonna get out of the Navy if he has to kill himself, climbs up on the Charging pump puts his head in the noose and steps off. Needless to say it didn't go as he planned and he started gasping and grabbing for Mikey, who stood there smiling at him making cutting motions with a pair of wire cutters he just happened to have with him.

Waterhead and Mikey (part 1) Department: Rx Author: Kevin Newman Era: 1985 Date: 02/15/05 Don't remember if this was underway or at anchor, but the incident is still faily vivid. Jim Adams (aka Waterhead) was on watch in One plant RRLL (Charging Station), and Mike Davidson (aka Mikey) was either CGUL or LL (you could never tell with Mikey, since he was never on station, but wandered as far as the aft messdecks) Waterhead and Mikey were always trying to get the best of one another, Mikey usually won (you'll see why in a minute), so Waterhead decides he's gonna freak Mikey out and gets some of that blue shipyard wire and wraps it around some pipes above one of the Charging pumps themn fastens a noose in itleaving it just long enough so that he could put his head in it with his toes touching the pump foundation. Unbeknownst to Waterhead Mikey was watching the whole thing from Feed Pumps (FSLL).

IKE Merry go round Department: Engr Author: Peter Era: 1982 Date: 02/15/05 A favorite sport of the M divvers standing watch in #2 engineroom (lower level) was to grab hold of the shaft when we were just doing 15 RPM. They would then strap themselves to the shaft and ride it like a merry go round... It would have been a rude awakening for them if we'd suddenly gone to ahead flank.

Vrooman's Train Ride Department: Rx Author: Kevin Newman Era: 1984 Date: 02/15/05 We were in Lisbon, Portugal for a visit that culminated in the Ike participating in the D-Day 40th anniversary observances off of Normandy (the one where Ronald Reagan spoke). One night on the way back to fleet landing this nuke EM by the name of Vrooman (don't remember his first name) had had too much Mateus, and decided to have a little fun at a train crossing. The train had just gone by and the aluminum crossing gate was going back up, so Vrooman decides to see if he can go up with it. He grabs the end and gets about 8 feet up in the air and the crossing gate snaps in two. Vrooman lands on his ass, and before you know it the locals had him pinned down and the police carried him away. He never talked about it much after that, and I'm not sure who got him out of jail (probably cost a few Escudos), but he made it back to the ship before we left.