The USS BENNER was a destroyer of the 2250-ton Gearing class named in honor of Second Lieutenant Stanley Graves BENNER, USMCR, who won the Silver Star Medal posthumously in 1942. Second Lieutenant BENNER was killed in action on 27 October 1942, while displaying courageous determination in leading his platoon against repeated assaults of enemy forces greatly superior in number at Pt. Lunga, Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands.

As Built (20 Nov 1944) - Gearing Class Destroyer

After FRAM II (1960-1961) - Frank Knox Class Destroyer

After the FRAM II refit program, Benner was reclassified as a Frank Knox Class Destroyer

[click the link above to see the specs]

(see http://www.gyrodynehelicopters.com/frank_Knox_class.htm for more info )

Home port: Long Beach Naval Station, California

This is one of the two ships I served on. I made a Vietnam cruise aboard her. This is how the Benner appeared just prior to decommissioning in 1970. Notice the raised area behind the after stack. The short mast area contains various (*1)ECM antennas and just below that is the hangar deck for the (*2)DASH. The small DASH flight deck is just behind it. At mid-ships on either side were located torpedo tubes. Forward from there at the same level as gun mount 52 were hedgehog mounts on either side. The gun mounts are 5 inch 38 twin mounts. The CIC is located just behind the bridge. We have SPS-10 (surface search) and SPS-40 (air search) radars. SONAR control is on the starboard side from CIC. Our berthing space (Operations - Radarmen, Radiomen, ETs, Sonarmen) is immediately below gun mount 3 next to the loader carousel, and above the aft magazine. During gunfire support missions in 'Nam there was no way to sleep in our bunks so we brought our pillows and slept on the deck behind the plot boards in CIC. Our mess deck was located below and just aft of mount 51. On the fantail where other DDs had depth charge racks we had a towed sonar array called a Variable Depth Sonar (VDS). I have no idea what the AN/xxx designation was. This was supposed to allow us to search for subs hiding below a thermal layer in the water.

Up on the signal bridge, was located the optical and radar gun director used for target ranging the three gun mounts. The gunfire computer on Benner and other ships of this era was crude by current standards. It was a mechanical computer with servos to control the gun mounts. Once calibrated it was accurate enough and when correction data was entered we could usually drop rounds wherever our spotter over on the beach wanted them.

We had a ships mascot, a dog named Beno (like bean-O). He was treated like royalty and he knew he was something special. He was as mixed breed with some border collie and who knows what else. At decommissioning I lost track of who took him. I have a couple of color slide pictures showing Beno. I have them posted in the snapshot section that can be accessed by clicking on the Benner Patch (or this Benner Photos link).

During our Vietnam cruise (1969-1970) on Benner, does anyone remember the swift boats that tied up along side while we were on our gunfire support phase of the cruise. One was PCF-88 (no hull number shows on the other in the photos) and I have a few snaps of the boats tied along side. If any of the swift boat crews remember this time, "Hello and Welcome". I am looking for the identity of the other swift boat and who served on both boats at the time. Another little memory jogger... does anyone recall the helicopter that came aboard and landed on the DASH deck just before we went out to unrep? I have a few snaps of that too. They are be posted!

We had a day when we did a little clay pigeon shooting and other recreational stuff too. The musicians aboard had their guitars out and were pickin' and grinnin'  The weather was great and we needed a little "At Sea" R-n-R!!!

Sometime during our cruise after a Japan visit, we turned north and went up near Korea. It was COLD outside because we are in the northern hemisphere and it is winter time. Memory is fading and I do not recall exactly when, why or any particulars. One shipmate has written in email that his service record shows a decoration for this time but mine does not, so who knows. I was glad to return to the much warmer climate down south. During this cruise we visited Hong Kong and spent a bit of time in Subic Bay, the sailor's home away from home.

[For the hundredth time, I wish I had kept a journal!]

=== [notes]

(*1)ECM - Electronic Counter Measures - AN/WLR1 - They were state of the art at the time, but would be considered quite crude now. When I reported aboard Benner, I was the only sailor aboard who had been trained in its use, so I stood quite a few long watches there in the little closet space off CIC where the equipment was located. I attended the Radarman C school in training for this at Great Lakes, Il. I was only a RDSN at the time. Since that time the rate has split. The radarman rate is now called Operations Specialist and the Countermeasures are handled by the Electronic Countermeasures Specialist. I wonder if OSs still use a maneuvering board just to stay in practice. 

(*2)DASH Drone Anti Submarine Helicopter There was a small flight control station on the forward port side of the flight deck. The flight control officer controlled the take-off and landings from there. In CIC we had a duplicate set of control and could track/plot DASH so it could be flown out of sight of the ship. The gun director radar was used to lock on and track DASH. We could usually see it on the SPS-10 radar too. Once when the gun director lost lock, the surface search was how we brought it back. DASH could carry two bloodhound torpedoes. There was a plot table in CIC that was servo linked to SONAR, the gun director, and ships gyro. Thus we could track a sub-surface contact and the flight officer could maneuver the DASH right on top of it to drop its load of torpedoes.

DD 789  USS Eversole

USS Eversole underwent FRAM I and was thus equipped differently than Benner. Eversole had mount 52 removed and replaced with a practice loader. At midships, she had ASROC installed, which makes her a formidable ASW platform. According to FRAM documentation she also had DASH but the pictures do not seem to support this. Any EVERSOLE crewmen from the 60s-70s who happen to read this, please drop me a note and clarify this.

USS Eversole was in our destroyer squadron and made the 'Nam cruise with us. Notice that she is equipped a little differently. She was another of the sleek, fast, gray ladies, ready for war!

I wish I could remember the names of the brand new DEs that were in the destroyer squadron. Anyone with that info please drop me a line and I will try to obtain pictures of them. Our squadron commander was C.O. of one of them. They were single screw ships and definitely NOT as fast as Benner or Eversole but they sure were pretty! Benner and Eversole were twin screw driven with superheated steam boilers.

CGN 9  USS Long Beach

The USS Long Beach was one formidable SOB. She was a missile cruiser and was armed to the teeth. During our 'Nam cruise we did some North SAR station duty with her. Once when our planes went into North Vietnam on an air strike and returned to feet wet status I saw (on radar) a second group of planes in pursuit, not squawking IFF. We went battle stations. I peeked outside at Long Beach. It was impressive. She had her launchers filled and ready. The MIGs turned around before coming into range.

USS Ranger CV 61

We spent a lot of time looking at the backside of this ship as we plane guarded from 1000 yards astern. For a conventionally powered carrier, she was very fast. When she had to get wind down the angle deck for flight quarters there were times when Benner was hard pressed to keep up. Occasionally, the Russians had one of their intelligence trawlers out at YANKEE station to try to disrupt flight ops by suicidally maneuvering into the way of the carrier to try to make it turn. These trawlers had names like PROTRAKTOR.

Ranger and the carrier battle group

As 1970 drew to a close, USS Benner DD 807 was decommissioned in Bremerton, Washington and joined the ghost fleet there.

My ORDER OF THE MOTHBALL card from USS Benner DD807

(to view large ORDER OF THE MOTHBALLS, right click and choose SAVE LINK TARGET AS... to download it)

I had filled out my dream sheet, looking to transfer to a ship on the east coast. I wanted to make a Med Cruise before I got out. To make it easier for BuPers to do this, I put in for any ship, any port, east coast. Typically, they assigned me to a ship out of San Diego. Looking back I am glad for this turn of events...

At this time in history, Admiral Zumwalt is C.N.O.  Remember the Z-Grams?

USS Thomaston LSD 28

Home Port:  San Diego Naval Station, California

I have a link to a crew roster of Thomaston  Muster List

After spending a wonderful few weeks of leave at home, it is time to report to my new duty station. I fly in to Lindbergh Field and take a taxi out to the navy base main gate. After showing my orders to the guard, we are directed to the pier where Thomaston is tied up. As we approach, she looks HUGE. Remember, I am coming from the tin can navy. She has 3 inch gun mounts in various locations and looks very much the navy warship, but not the type to go looking for a fight like Benner.

After serving in the tin can navy, this is luxury! Big WIDE roomy bunks. A huge chow hall, great food, HUGE movie screen and movies every evening for ships crew. This is almost like Tender Duty. Thomaston has electrical, carpenter, welding, and other shops aboard and can serve as a tender for smaller ships in a pinch. We actually have a Sick Bay aboard. Not quite a hospital but it sure beats the space we had in the tin can navy. CIC is much more relaxed too. No air search radar. Only the SPS-10 surface search. I've finally been promoted to RD3 and have my own underway watch section. Z-13-CC exercises are set up with other ships in our amphib squadron while we are underway. These are maneuvering board exercises using the secure voice circuit and are conducted on Thomaston by myself and RD3 Wilson and are usually scheduled for the mid-watch. Midrats are usually good. SOS becomes my all time favorite breakfast. Navy french fries (made from mashed potatoes) become my least favorite meal. They made me start dreaming of McDonalds french fries. One of our ships cooks is a pastry chef. We have fresh bread, cookies, donuts, cakes, etc. EVERY DAY! Thomaston's chow hall is GREAT! I am the COMTAC PUBS petty officer. Our Ops officer is Ltjg Shmikler. Hmmm there is a name I have not thought of in ages. Hello if you happen to read this. Our CPO is Chief Creech, and our RD2 is Bill Joest. During my first Vietnam Cruise on Thomaston, we get inducted to the the realms of King Neptune and become Shell Backs. Our initiation was fun and a learning experience. Who was the "Royal Baby" on this cruise? I have located some pictures of one of the initiations, not sure which. They are color slides so I have to get prints made and then I can scan them onto the server here. Anyone remember BM1 Bean and that coffee cup he always carried? That wasn't coffee in that cup! I wish I had kept a diary during my time in the navy. So many memories and they are blurring, mixing between ships, and just generally fading. Was it Ensign Jensen that told one of the boat crew that he could not fish off the wing wall during amphib-ops? I think there was another new Ensign assigned to Thomaston to deck division but I can not recall who it was. Someone had a name for him... ummm ... "Drifto Mephisto"! He was a Coca Cola fanatic. Cases of it in his stateroom! Anyway, back to the story...The crewman was using a PRC-10 (or 25?) radio with the long antenna to talk to one of the boats during the exercise (Mindoro Phiblex???) and our hapless ensign thought it was a fishing pole. 

During this cruise, I renew my Michigan Drivers License by mail from the waters of Vietnam. I know... it is valid until I next return home, but I did it anyway. I get a new license in the mail and where the photo is supposed to be it says "VALID WITHOUT PHOTO"... Oh boy am I going to have fun with this!

My Shellback Card - May 4, 1971  crossing the equator at 106 East aboard USS Thomaston LSD 28.

I was looking through the slides I have and I took out a few of the ones showing Neptune and his Court including the Royal Baby getting his belly kissed... those are now posted!

LPH-11  USS New Orleans

New Orleans is a baby flat top, too short for anything but fling-wing aircraft. She carries a large contingent of marines and is the primary support ship for those troops. During May or June 1971 (darn I wish I had kept a diary) we participated with New Orleans in a war training exercise doing an amphibious assault on the Philippine island of Mindoro. Thomaston is the Primary Control Ship for the landing. 

Some of the other gator ships we served with are...

LST 1183  USS PEORIA (now decommissioned)

LPD 2 USS VANCOUVER (now decommissioned) Check out how long the flight deck is compared to the Thomaston.

LPD 6 USS DULUTH (Still In Service and going strong!) Duluth was still a new ship when we cruised with her.

The LPDs are equivalent and actually superior to the LSDs because they have many or maybe all the capabilities plus additional equipment we didn't have on Thomaston, such as air search radar for air craft control which we could not do.

We have a SEAL detachment aboard Thomaston. These guys are  gung ho. They are on the flight deck every day for their calisthenics. 

We visit Japan with the rest of the squadron... there is some racial unrest in the fleet and elsewhere (but surprisingly not on the tomcat). Well, we don't have a huge number of blacks aboard. In Japan, blacks from the New Orleans go ashore and kick ass in a few bars and then take over one for themselves. A few of the SEALS go and retake the bar...hmmm some real badass guys in SEALS! Everything is hushed up. I have the watch duty this weekend, I am equipped with a M1911 45 side arm and put on pier watch. WHOA! We load up on stereos and cameras here. You should see the fancy stereo setup we have going. Next we visit Taiwan. With all this stereo equipment, amps and tuners, reel-to-reel tape decks, turntables, speakers, we have a very impressive sound system... we are looking for stuff to play and listen to. In Taiwan, they have 33 rpm albums CHEAP! They are pirate albums pressed on VERY cheap plastic. Some had bubbles in the plastic and other are warped. Oh well, cheap enough to go get another copy! One play and they already sound scratchy. We load up on all the music we want and then tape 'em all on the reel machines. I bet that there are thousands of those el-cheapo albums on the bottom of that harbor. We couldn't bring them back through customs so we decided to see how far they would fly from the wingwall/fantail. 

Oh well... back to the war!

Thomaston made some shuttle runs to a couple ports in Vietnam and we transported various items back to Buckner Bay.

Does anyone remember the deep submergence mini-subs we transported on the flight deck? Did those go back to Pearl Harbor? I have forgotten. Another casualty of passing time and the ageing process.

I am starting to feel like a short timer. I am even keeping a short timers chain now! We return to CONUS from WESTPAC  and spend a little time doing some repairs and refitting. I ship my stereo stuff home.  I am getting short and do not want to have to worry about it in a few months. One of my brothers (3 brothers and 2 sisters at home) decides the reel-to-reel is his and he makes off with it, saying I sold it to him. I should have been a little clearer about the handling of my stuff when I shipped it home. All I really have aboard now is my sea bag of uniforms and some civvies. Back in San Diego, I have a Honda motorcycle as my personal transport. I have a base sticker so I can park it in the small motorcycle parking area. I bought it at Guy Urqhart motorcycles in downtown San Diego, just across the side street from the armed services YMCA. On the subject of the YMCA, do you remember the slot car tracks that were there? I had two slot cars that I used to run there. I had a small side business rewinding armatures for those with a bit heavier wire. They had to be coated with a high temp epoxy afterward because they turn extremely high rpms.

January 1972

The new year and I am SHORT! I sell off my slot cars and all the associated tools and stuff I had accumulated for them. I start looking for a buyer for my motorcycle because I do not want to ship it home. RDC Creech to the rescue. He buys my bike for his son. One more thing out of the way in prep for getting out! At the YMCA was the slot car track where I ran my cars.

Downtown San Diego YMCA (in 1970) Slot car track photo (it is BIG, the photo and the track). You can see the edge of the second, smaller track to the left too. I spent a lot of time down there. I also had a little Honda motorcycle that I had bought for my transportation around southern California. I bought it at Guy Urqhart Motorcycles which was across the street from the YMCA.

Back to WESTPAC with a twist... Liberty Cruise

The word is passed that we are going back to WESTPAC but this time it will be mainly a liberty cruise. The Seabees who had been passengers on the last WESTPAC started scrambling to try to join ships crew. They were ALL turned down. They missed a great cruise!

The well deck gets a full load of construction equipment for the Seabees at Diego Garcia. Where the hell is Diego Garcia. A trip back to the OI office to look for it on our copy of charts. The QMs have the official chart set but we pretty nearly duplicate everything they have. 

The flight deck is covered with farm equipment for delivery to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). 

I am getting very SHORT!!! I try for a 6 month early out. No luck! Looking back I am glad! 

This was the dream cruise that I always wanted and makes up for not getting to make a Mediterranean Cruise!. We visited Tauranga New Zealand, Sydney and Freemantle Australia, Colombo Ceylon (where we offloaded the farm equipment as a state department good will thing), Diego Garcia (where we offloaded all the Seabees construction stuff we had been toting in the well deck), and it gave me additional chances to visit Singapore and Hong Kong before I got out. Each of the ports we visited has a story and I bet there are a lot of great memories that other shipmates have too.

Tauranga, NZ then Sydney and Freemantle, Australia

As a member of Neptune's Court and a loyal trusty Shellback, we now have the duty to initiate the new shipmates into the briny realm, including new ships officers. They get to stand bridge watch in diapers. The officer hat has the outer white cloth shell removed so it is just a wire skeleton. This is fun being on the other side of  the initiation. We remember some of the stuff we pulled and make sure that this crop of polliwogs can not do the same. Life is good!  Our first liberty port of call is Tauranga, New Zealand. After sea and anchor detail secured, the quarterdeck was set up with OOD, POOW and Messenger and liberty call was sounded "Now Hear This... LIBERTY CALL!"  A delegation of locals came aboard and asked the OOD if there were any ham radio operators or anyone interested in ham radio. I raised my hand. After looking around, I discovered that of the more than 100 sailors waiting to go ashore, I was the ONLY ONE with my hand raised. I left the ship with them and had a great time. Someone from the radio club came by every day we were there to pick me up. New Zealanders are a very friendly lot! I didn't get my ham license until after I got beck to the states and got out. We visited a lot of other hams. Also we went to the rugby playoffs to see which team was going to go against a team from Australia. None of this cost me anything. I collected some QSL cards of hams we visited. Next port of call, Sydney Australia. We drop anchor in Sydney Harbor not far from that odd looking opera house that looks like stacked sea shells. Before going ashore we are all warned about anti-USA protestors. Sydney is a big city and seems to think of itself as the New York or maybe Boston of Australia. It is time to move on. Next port of call, Freemantle Australia, on the opposite side of the country. As we are steaming down around the south side we hit some stormy weather and have water spouts pass to port and starboard of the ship. We tie up pier side in Freemantle and are informed that people here are friendlier. We take a tour that includes a stop at a wildlife park. I get to see a kangaroo close up. One of my shipmates feeds a pint of Fosters to a 'Roo through the fence. It was also feeding time for the Koalas. They sure do move SLOOOoooow! Then it is time for us to move along to our next liberty port!

Colombo, Ceylon

After arriving and tying up pier side, the farm equipment (Ford Tractors, plows, and other associated hardware) is offloaded. Next before we are allowed to leave the ship is a Dress Whites Inspection and a equipment hand-over ceremony with the Ambassador and the local high Grand Poobah. I watched my spit shine on my shoes wilt in the hot sun. Several sailors are overcome from the heat. Finally this torture is over and we hear "Liberty Call". Lucky natives... it is so damn hot and they all are wearing loin cloths while we have to wear our tropical white liberty uniforms. We go in search of icy cold beer. While we are sitting in the shade drinking cold drinks we are shown trays of star sapphires and other  gem quality stones. Prices are CHEAP...

Diego Garcia

We visit all these great liberty ports. We have more liberty than money. What a dilemma! Diego Garcia is really different. The Seabees there say we are the first strange faces they have seen for months since the last ship visit. The base is just being constructed. The EM club is really just a pole barn. There is an out door movie screen set up with fixed benches next to the club. The Seabees are in a buying mood and keep us supplied with beer. (Drink M----- F-----!) Fishing is GREAT in the atoll harbor where we are anchored. Many of the crew check out poles and tackle from the ships recreation locker. Red Snapper and other game fish seem to be abundant! We walk around the island and see some of the wild donkeys. I wonder if they are still there today? Diego Garcia looks like it could be a great shore duty station. We are anchored out, in the middle of the atoll harbor. A Mike boat is our transport back and forth and there is a published schedule of arrivals and departures. One evening when I was returning to the ship, I climbed aboard the Mike boat. The hatch to the engine compartment was open and I put one foot down the open hatch. OUCH!!! I had a black and blue scrape from my knee to my crotch from the water tight knife edge of the hatch. I was so drunk that I didn't feel it much at the time but the next morning I was in pain!

The Homeward Trip For A Short Timer

We begin the swing towards home, back up through the Straits of Malacca past Singapore. We cruise up and take a detour through Vietnam waters and pick up a small temporary pay boost.  Next port of call - The "Sailors Home Away From Home" in WESTPAC, Subic Bay Naval Station and Olongapo City! 

Subic Bay Naval Station http://www.subicbaypi.com/ 

[Here is an interesting web page about the Philippines that I found: Tourist Bob's potent backpacker tips ]

[...and another that brought back some memories: Bar List - Olongapo  Do you remember your favorite club?]

We arrived in Subic Bay and I get off with the outgoing mail on the boat that delivers the harbor pilot. I am now officially detached from Thomaston and report aboard NAVSTA Subic Bay for transport back to CONUS and separation from active duty. I chose to have Treasure Island as my processing out station. I am temporarily assigned to transit barracks ashore for a week. Some jackass there tries to assign me a duty section. I inform him that I am !!!SHORT!!! and do not give a damn about his duty section crap (in much stronger, more sailorly, salty language). I do not make any friends in the barracks. Who cares, I am SHORT! The barracks has a BEER machine that also dispenses Cokes and a couple other types of soda. My last visit over in Olongapo City is kind of bittersweet. Going into town you go out through the main gate, cross a bridge over a dirty little river we called the $#!T river. Looking over the side of the bridge, there are kids swimming in that dirty water. YUCK! Toilets in town dump directly into that water! The swimmers yell for sailors to toss coins. One enterprising sailor has a few flat washers that he tosses, laughing his A$$ off. He gets a good cussing in Tagalog when the divers surface. Next, after crossing the bridge you come up to the money exchange booths and the first wave of shoe shine boys, pick pockets, monkey-meat-on-a-stick booths, bar girls waiting for the boy friends who are aboard the ships that just pulled in, and other hangers on. Looking down the main street you view bars on both sides of the street as far as you can see. At night, with the bar signs lit, it is colorful. In daylight it is depressing. The only colorful things here are the jeepneys. They look like small circus wagons or something. They are old military surplus jeeps (from WW II?) that have had frames extended and have bench seats, covered top, open sides and very colorful paint jobs. They are the taxi services here. 

Jeepney Pictures

After a few drinks I decide that I would rather spend my time at the base EM club and do not bother to look up my PI bar hog. She was not waiting for me at the gate anyway.  I do not see any Thomaston shipmates. Thomaston made a short visit, liberty call, refuel, replenish and then left for Japan. I check out some of the other on-base amusements. There is a go-cart track where you can rent a cart to race around the track. FUN with large bold capital letters! I have not yet developed the golf habit at this time so that was not on my fun time radar screen. Finally, my travel orders are drawn!

In Transit... Clark Air Base, Philippines... Yokota Air Base, Japan... Travis Air Base, San Francisco...

 I get my travel orders to proceed to Clark Air Base for transportation home. After arriving , I find out "No flight today"! Any method of transport is acceptable to me right now. Lots of other guys waiting for a homeward flight too. I fantasize about a flight in the RIO seat of a ferry flight of a F4 Phantom or F14 Tomcat. No luck...just a fantasy after all! I sleep in a chair at the terminal, feet propped up on my sea bag. The next morning a flight is announced. It is a Military Airlift Command DC-707 with the first class partition removed. One BIG coach-class flight.  We fly to Yakota Air Base in Japan, refuel. We are allowed off the plane because this is taking longer than expected. My sinuses are acting up so I buy an antihistamine to keep them open and my ears pressure equalized. My ears were hurting from the pressure all the way from Clark.  We are told to reboard the plane. After we are in the air, the pilot announces that we will be going direct to Travis AFB.  The pilot announced that we would be getting to Travis well ahead of schedule because we are not taking the great circle route via Alaska. A favorable jet stream and we are closer to home! I see the sun go down behind us and come back up in front of our flight. SHORT NIGHT! We lose a day crossing the date line. 

The Final (temporary) Duty Station, Treasure Island NAVSTA, San Francisco

After reporting aboard NAVSTA Treasure Island, San Francisco, CA and being assigned a transit barracks, I have to go through the final medical checkout and another re-up chat before  final travel orders home and separation pay are issued. After all these years I've regained ownership of my body from Uncle Sam, two weeks early from my four years of active duty... YEEEHAW! A few other short timers stayed with the ship and they are getting out in San Diego. I am glad that I took this option. No hooks in my ass holding me here. I take a bus from the base to the airport and catch the first flight I can get on to Grand Rapids via Chicago.

Home and FREE at last!!!

One of my first acts upon returning home was to go to the package liquor store to buy a bottle of Kessler's Whiskey to have a drink or three with my dad to celebrate my homecoming. The store clerk says "Can I see come ID"... heh heh heh remember that drivers license "Valid Without Photo"? I had to show my reserve ID. The store clerk wanted to know how I got an ID like that. This happened a few more times at bars too. Somewhere around this time is when Michigan briefly dropped the drinking age to 18 before sanity re-asserted itself. Too many highway fatalities of 18-20 year old drunk drivers.

 I remember the New Zealander ham operators  (call sign prefix ZL) and visit a friend who is a ham radio operator. I get my novice class license. The license issue date is August 15, 1972 and is good until that date in 1974. During the two years as a novice, I never hear anyone from that part of the world... lots of Europeans worked though.

Well, almost free! 

In 1974 my total 6 year enlistment finally expired. Somehow the recruiter at the reserve center sweet talked me into coming in and sticking my name on the dotted line once again. The rating had changed from RD to OS so now I am an OS3. I had a recommendation from my previous CO for promotion to second class. I'd completed all my practical factors, Petty Officer 3&2, RD 3&2, etc. but now they say I have to do it all over again... Bull Hooey! Attending monthly meetings is okay I guess. It provides a little extra cash as I am not making that much at the phone company yet. I've only been at Ma Bell for a short time. I have had a couple ACDUTRAs, all at Great Lakes training center. I am assigned to USS Pharris FF1094 but I have never seen her. This class of ship was called a DE when I was on active duty, and the DEs in the destroyer squadron were of this type... well armed but not fast!

USS Pharris FF 1094

She only looks fast and is a single screw driven ship. Pharris is at least 5 knots slower than Benner was. From my research, Pharris was sold to Mexico in 1999. Do they drop anchor for siesta in the Mexican Navy? Hmm Do they use this to patrol the Rio Grande, and protect illegal immigrants on their way northward?

I never did report aboard Pharris. She was home ported at NAVSTA, Norfolk VA. My Reserve enlistment expired and now I am truly free.

Many years later... 

Subic Bay NAVSTA is GONE along with Clark AFB. (Philipines info , One for the former Navy Base, and here is a bar and business list of Subic Bay)  For other military installations in the PI check this page. At the insistence of factions in the Philippine Government, the USA has pulled out, abandoned its bases, and returned them to Philippino control. Each base had a large number of locals who were employed on the bases. I imagine that the towns surrounding the bases have disappeared. In many cases the locals who were employed on base were women who had married a serviceman. A sizeable number of them have come to the US with their husbands. More than a few sailors retired in the Philippines. This is one of the hazardous places to live now because of the various terrorist rebel factions. They were active while I was there but stayed pretty much away from US bases and personnel because of the fire power we could activate on very short notice! 

The Y2K freak-out has passed without any end-of-world scenarios coming about. The computers had not been programmed to say 2000 instead of 1900 but this did not bring on the doomsday that was predicted. The power grid did not fail, air planes did not crash, nukes did not launch! My one little preparation for Y2K was the self powered, wind up radio that I bought, no generators, no extra flashlights and no stockpile of batteries.

 If I had to go back and choose a service, I would go Navy again!

 I survived a mild heart attack a few years ago (in 2001 I think it was). I quit smoking, cold turkey, about 14 years ago. Remember the scramble to get to the ship store when we would go to sea and cigs were really CHEAP! Who would have ever dreamed that the tobacco nazis would get the price of cigs jacked up to where they are today along with all the strange anti-smoker laws. Here in Michigan they extort over $4.00 a pack from the suckers who still smoke.

Ahhh well... now I can wake up and enjoy not lighting up that first smoke of the day!  ;^)

Now I am retired from the mutant child of what was left of Ma Bell (Michigan Bell/Ameritech/SBC). I had 31 years of service when I decided to pull the plug on December 30, 2003.

More phone company news... 

Looks like my old company is re-assembling Ma Bell 

Humpty Bell sat on a wall.

Humpty Bell had a great fall (pushed off by Judge Green)

All the kings horses and all the kings men 

could not put Humpty Bell together again!

But SBC is sure making a valiant try at it!

SBC is purchasing and absorbing AT&T, which is great news for SBC stock holders, and brings the combined AT&T/Cingular wireless and long distance company to SBC. This makes SBC a major player in long distance and cellular services.

SBC is now the new AT&T...

It is now February 2005 as I write this. Retirement is great! Not much money, but it is great! I dream of a big lottery win or a visit from the Prize Patrol. So far...nada!

Below is the Marine Emblem and a few other things. I post it as a tribute to the Marines! We transported them around WESTPAC and they were ready to do their duty at all times! 

To see more...

Semper Fi! 

HOOYAH!

Force Recon - HOOYAH!

The Tin Can Sailors Association -  http://www.destroyers.org/

The USS Benner DD 807 Web Site - http://www.destroyers.org/uss-benner/