AGCM Department: Ops Author: Ron Eureka Era: 1986 Date: 09/04/06 Does anybody remember the retired AGCM that did the weather on the local TV station (probably WAVY Norfolk) circa the mid to late 1980's ? He mumbled and guffawed and it was kinda like "The Emperor's New Clothes" - this guy did the local weather forecast, but nobody could understand him ! But he was all business as he dutifully delivered the day's weather. I guess I was already desensitized / used to him, but shortly after the wife moved in with me, she said, "Nobody can understand this guy !". I said, "He's a retired Master Chief, man. You can't f#ck with him ... ".

Newport News Department: Ops Author: Arch Era: 1986 Date: 09/04/06 Mad Dog On Easter Sunday of 1986 we were set to go, with plenty of beer, and a ham cooking in the oven. Of course, it takes quite a while to cook a ham, and over that time, we all got plenty drunk. I remember looking at a cook book (what a cook book was doing in our apt., I have no idea) and it stated to "add some wine" to flavor the ham. Now, they meant like a glass or maybe two of fine sherry or whatever. Arch was drunk, and proceeded to pour half of a bottle of MD 20/20 Grape into the almost ready to consume ham. I specifically remember the potatoes turned purple, and nobody except me would even sample our dinner for that evening. No surprise - it tasted pretty horrible.

Walking around Europe Department: Rx Author: Dan Fuqua Era: 1988 Date: 09/05/06 1) There was one time that we pulled into Livorno, Italy, and I wanted to go to Pisa. Well Ike had set up a bus to take us to Camp Darby, so we could go to the exchange. I bought a map there, and started walking to Pisa. After walking for a while I found I was walking along an expressway. Some cops picked me up, and drove me the rest of the way to downtown Pisa. The next morning I found some guys I knew from Ike, who told me how to take the train back to the ship. 2) Once we pulled into Cannes, France. I wanted to get away from the other squids, so I walked to the town of Nice, about 10 miles away. 3) Upon pulling into Haifa, Israel, I wanted to get as far away from the rest of the squids as I could, so I took of on foot, going up the mountain, only to find the USO at the top with all the squids there.

Looking for some old friends Department: Rx Author: Daniel Fuqua Era: 1988 Date: 09/05/06 I was looking for some old friends, that I knew from RM division, around '86 to '89. Does anybody know what happened to any of them? 1) MM1 Jake Hemby - I think he served on the South Carolina before coming to Ike. 2) MMC Fenske 3) MM1 Glenn Jackson I have kept in contact with a few guys, from 1 plant RM div from the late 80's if you need information.

More pictures? Department: Rx Author: Flounder Era: 1985 Date: 09/06/06 Hey Dr. John, you promised us more photos! You were on board during my era - c'mon, cough up! (pun intended)

military weatherman Department: Rx Author: Joe Brown Era: 1980 Date: 09/07/06 Ron, I grew up in Va Beach in the 70's and early 80's. I remember the weatherman you mentioned. His name was Joe Foulkes. He was on ch 13, the ABC affiliate. He would sign off with his trademark salute which included inserting his pen into his shirt pocket.

The hill in Haifa Department: Engr Author: MM2 Sol The Bull Era: 1996 Date: 09/10/06 Daniel, I too walked up that hill,er mountain in Haifa. Climbed, and climbed some more,then just when you get to the crest, damn a USO full of rowdy squids. We jumped on a bus and left town at that point. That was my nondrinking, keep walking until you get lost cruise. I am sure there was some bus at the peir that could of taken us up that giant nasty hill, oh well. That AGCM was not doing the weather when I got there. However my first night there I happened to be near a TV when the weather report was on. This guy came on and you could tell he was in a panic. I will never forget what he said "ok guys do not panic....uh it will snow tonight with some ice,,,maybe ice....I do not know...hell I do not know how much snow let alone the damn ice. Just at this minute you need to make sure you have all the milk, bread, and eggs you need for a few days..uh just in case." so that night there was like an inch of snow. Being from north Ohio I knew from then on I was in a different world.

2 plant gets soaked Department: Rx Author: The 2 Plant RMO Era: 1988 Date: 09/11/06 Once, while we in port Norfolk shutdown, after the med cruise, but before we went into the Norfolk naval shipyard, I was the RMO. I was on the phones to EOS doing a charge to the primary. I get a call from the shutdown rover, that the RPFW day tank was getting low. I told him, that since I was on the phones, I needed him to open the fill valve, and I would turn on the reserve feed pump, so he could fill it. Apparently he left the area of the tank, while the valve was open, because about 2 minutes later, EOS calls out "RPFW tank high level alarm." About 30 seconds after that, the PPWS, and I start to see water running down the front wall of charging station. The PPWS runs up 2 flights of stairs, to shut the valve. 4th deck was flooded, and much of the lagging on RAW was soaked. A few days later, the rover went to mast, and had a stripe taken. The C.O. wanted to know why I was "running EOS from charging station", but LCDR Dorsey defended me, and the captain dropped the question.

floating cow Department: Ops Author: Ron Eureka Era: 1985 Date: 09/14/06 One of the scope dopes in the CIC told me at one point during Med '84-85, radar indicated a small surface target. It was assigned a status of red, or potentially hostile. Turned out to be a dead bloated cow, floating around the Mediterranean.

Almost ran over the McCandless (FF1084) Department: Rx Author: Dan Fuqua Era: 1982 Date: 09/14/06 I was talking to a coworker about our times in the navy, and he told me the story about how the Ike nearly ran over the McCandless. He said that during war games in the Caribbean, in 1982, Ike was refueling the McCandless. He was on the McCandless' refueling team. He said that in the middle of the operation, there was an emergency break-away, where everyone was sprayed with JP5. When the refueling team had wiped their faces so they could see, they saw that the side of Ike was just inches away, and the refueling team on the McCandless all ran over to their starboard side, and prepared to jump overboard, because they were sure they were about to be run over.