Bob - The Navy Years, Chapter 8

Settling In

Life on a military base is much like Civilian Life.  I worked an 8-5 workday, with weekends off.  We did pull 'Duty', took our turn to be on call, as our turn came up.  I can't remember, but I think we were on 'Duty' a week at a time, and it came around about every 6 weeks.  This meant we were confined to base, because we had to be available at a moments notice. I was only called in once when I was on Duty, but it was a major event. This happened after I was stationed there for awhile, maybe 8 months or so. But our Captain, Cmdr J. A. Endicott, was killed.  All the officers in the squadron were fighter pilots. Even when assigned to a land base, they still had to log required flying time. This included Aircraft Carrier take-offs and landings. While many accidents happened the 2 years I was stationed there, usually to young, inexperienced pilots, this was shocking because it happend to someone I knew well and worked with everyday.
In the Navy the leader of your group is 'Captain'. Whether you are on a ship or on land, no matter what that person's rank is, he is 'Captain'.  Commander Endicott, one rank below the Captain Rank, was our Captain.  He was killed while taking off from an Aircraft Carrier.

 For those unfamiliar with Aircraft Carriers, they have a very short runway for the jets that use them.  When you take off, you are shot off the end of the carrier by a catapult, allowing you to be 'up to speed' to get airborn.  When landing, you have a hook on the back of the plane that must catch an arrest wire to help stop you.  This cable has some 'give', but brings you to an abrupt stop. When landing, you must be going slow enough to catch a cable, but also fast enough to take off again if you miss the cable or it breaks.  Captain Endicott was taking off, but got off a 'Cold Cat', which was to say the catapult didn't get up to speed and his plane, when reaching the end of the ship, went straight down into the sea.
So, as Duty Yeoman, I was called in to do a lot of typing.  Messages needed to be sent, Death Certificates needed to be typed up along with many other official documents.  Busy night.
I'll stay with the 'Accidents" theme for a little bit.  As I said, many accidents happened during my stay at Lemoore.  Pilots are often killed in the service, not just in combat.  These are young men, learning to fly the fastest planes in the world, and learning to fly them in all conditions.  They spend a lot of hours flying. Accidents happen, not just from pilot error or inexperience, but from mechanical malfunction.  Pilots also learn to fly by instruments only, in case of fog or other sight restrictions, and learn what to do in case of many different emergencies that may come up. They practice these emergencies, not just casual flying. Every once in awhile, a pilot would fly into the side of a mountain. They don't survive.  One thing they do is 'touch and go' flying, just making a loop around the field, touching down as if landing, but once their wheels touch rev the engine and take  right back off again.  Usually 4 or 5 planes would be in the loop.  Once, when taking back off again, a pilot's plane rolled over unexpectedly. He ejected.  Straight down into the runway 30 feet below.
These type accidents happened with regularity.  I saw many pictures of plane crashes. Most of them were just charred "V" formations in the ground cluttered with debris.

Barracks life was not bad.  I lived in a cubicle with 6 other guys.  We had a 'Day room', where there were lounge chairs and a TV.  We could watch TV in the evening and football games on Sunday.  Some guys had little TV's in their cubicle.  I played a lot of cards.  Many an all-night poker game.  Usually $1 limit games.  I usually won because I, not to brag, was a pretty good poker player, for I'd played poker all my life.  I also played pinochle and pitch with friends.  We'd have the same partners, and even though we didn't play for money, the games were pretty intense.  Pitch is similar to Euchre.
The base had a movie theatre.  A different movie each week.  They weren't first run, but second run. Fairly new. Between playing cards and going to movies, writing letters and doing laundry, and hitting the chow hall 3 times a day, that pretty much occupied all my time. That's one thing I need to mention here.  The Navy has very good food. That's one thing that prompted me to join the Navy.  I knew, even if I was on ship, I'd have good food and a warm bed to sleep in each night.  We did have a laundry room with washers and dryers.  No, we didn't have to wash our clothes in a bucket like Boot Camp.  I think they all operated on a quarter, just like all laundromats.

Working in the Captain's Office, I knew before anyone else what was going on. All the latest news, or 'Poop', as we called it in the Navy. As in "What's the latest Poop?".  While I stayed working in the same area, over the course of the 2 years my job changed a few times. That's coming up next.

to be continued............