It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum
Welcome Visitors & New Members => Newbie Central - Introduce Yourself! => Topic started by: oldcoastie6468 on September 26, 2013, 08:52:57 PM
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An old-time US Coast Guard veteran checking in. I look forward to visiting here often. ::beertoast::
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::beertoast::
Welcome and thanks for joining us.
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Thank you! This looks like a good place to visit! ::thumbsup::
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Werlcome, and fair skies to you, sailor!
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welcome
glad you're here
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Welcome, jump on in, you wont find a better group of people on the interwebs.
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THANKS, EVERYONE!
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Welcome aboard! I'm an old squid so another briney member is more than welcome!
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Welcome aboard! I'm an old squid so another briney member is more than welcome!
Thanks!
The CG put me where they needed me, which resulted in 4 years without sea duty and 4 years in the USA, 2.5 of which were in GROUP Charlevoix, MI. I was a Yeoman, which in the CG can also be assigned duties as Storekeeper, Watch Stander, Boiler Tender, Radioman, etc., and I was the Operations YN at CGAS/STA/GROUP San Diego and had nothing to do with personnel. I also had a 40' boat coxswain qualification. That would NEVER happen in today's "improved" CG.
If I had reenlisted, I would most certainly have gone to some icebreaker, a 327 or 255 footer or to Viet Nam. But enlisted service people were paid poverty wages back then, and I got out.
And to think the lifers back then always referred to the "Old Guard"!!!!!
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I got to go to sea (2 full cruises, one WestPac & one Magellan) and some workup stints, was attached to a PhotoRecon squadron and then a fighter squadron, first detachment on the Kitty Hawk, second on the Coral Sea. And it was well before ships went co-ed. 90 days of continuous operations in the Persian Gulf keeping the Ayatoola in his sandbox and guys got a little irritable. I worked in the squadron maintenance office and would get bored (especially if I ran out of new books to read, which I boxed up and mailed home...I had a lot of books when I got out!) and help pull engines, bleed hydraulic lines...scrounge for parts. Just a 4 year hitch for me, got out and went to college and became just another overeducated working stiff.
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I know the feeling.......
I got what I wanted out of the CG. I saved the lives of 2 women, which are mirror images of the situations, one in the Pacific and the other on Lake Michigan.
A pleasure boat called in with an SOS, I responded with the 40 boat and crew, and pulled 5 survivors out of the water and onto the boat. But one person said that they were missing someone. So I circled the 40 boat and saw someone under the water. I stopped the engines, went back, reached over the side and into the water (the 40s had only a 18" freeboard), grabbed the woman's blouse, and pulled her up out of the water and flipped her onto the engine hatch. (I was much younger and stronger back then! ::rolllaughing:: ) In both instances, the ladies looked into my eyes; I had saved their lives.
That's something that sticks with you for the rest of your life. At least it does with me. That's why I joined the CG; saving lives was more important to me than taking them.
Thank you for letting me spout off about my favorite military service.
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Thank you for letting me spout off about my favorite military service.
::USA::
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Hello!
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Welcome aboard!
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Hey Coastie:
I spent the summers of my youth being a pain in the ass to the bored young coastguardsmen serving at Caffeys Inlet Lifeboat Station, on the outer banks of North Carolina. (Station decommissioned in the mid sixties)
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Hey, CG. I got here as fast as I could. But my butt is draggin'.... ::USA::
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LOL. Good to have you.
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Thank you for the welcome, everyone. I am humbled..... ::exitstageleft::
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CG, it's me, the zombie ! Fair winds and following seas !