I'm a nice guy,who loves the outdoors,part blackfoot and cherokee indian!I had a grandma from Oklahoma,she was right off the reservation,full-blooded cherokee!I was researching my family crest,it has wolves in the family crest! Something interesting,my mom told me that my great grand father, powers{was alive when I was 7 years old}took his wife,my great grandmother to Kittyhawk,North Carolina. It was for a picknick lunch at the beach to watch some guys named the wright brothers try to fly a flying machine. They got to see them fly it,so cool!I was in the U.S. Navy,was a 2nd class petty officer. I worked down in the engineroom,also repaired air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment. I was also responsible for ensuring that all the ship's drinking water was safe for the crew,along with other duties.I got to go on a world cruise and more. I even got to go biking on the French Riviera with my schwinn world sport bike. I rode on about a 56 mile{roundtrip} bike ride from Cannes to Nice,France! It was awsome,I passed some old castles,just followed the coastline! When I got to Nice I pulled into a cafe at the local marina,ordered a nice chocolate shake! Funny, I can't speak french, so I had to point on the menu for what I wanted. But they figured it out! The next day I went up into the french alps,via the highway next to the Var river! I found this cool,old village while on a tour. I had to walk across a bridge that crossed the Var river to a walled town. High above the town was a huge castle up on the cliff above. There was a stone path leading up to it. They said I could take pictures up there. So I ran up the path,almost got to the castle. Then looked at my watch,the bus was leaving in about 10 minutes,dam! I ran all the way down that mountain,thru the town,across the drawbridge,and made it in time,close,but got on the bus for a futher trip up into the french alps!I rode the bike in Naples,Italy too,a italian taxi driver stopped near me and said,"how much for your bike,I buy your bike"! I told him it wasn't for sale,it was a high-end schwinn bike. The French Alps, to some alpine villages and more!!!The Italian Riviera was cool too!We played some baseball at the Nato base there{Naples,Italy}.When We were in Madras,India,we had a soccer game against the Madras Police there! I hate to admit it but they kicked our ass! But we still had a lot of fun,met some nice people,and do some awsome sightseeing there! I got within 6 feet of a live cobra,that was close enough! When I was in South Korea, I went on a trip up into some mountains to a real Shalin Temple! Like in the tv series "Kung Fu",played by David Carradine! I was also in the 1st gulf war! While operating in the gulf,all the crew members had to have a gas mask on them,worn in a pouch on your hip,in the event of a nerve gas attack! WE were told if the alarm for a gas attack sounded,{on nerve gas} we have 9 seconds to don the mask or could face death! I could pull mine out of the bag,put it on my face,strap it on,test for a proper seal,in 4-5 seconds! Hey, when you life is possibly at stake, you find you can do things very quickly!! We had to stop Iraqi oil tankers to check for weapons shipments.There was one Iraqi tanker that refused to stop!The ship's loudspeakers told them to stop,they kept going! This was repeated several times,no reply! We aimed our big gun (USS Reasoner) in front of them and fired a few shots in front of them. They refused to stop! The Australian navy came up on their portside,it fired machine guns at their bow,sparks flew off the bow from the shells of the guns!They still refused to stop! Another US navy ship behind them,a amphipious assault ship,launch 2 chinook helicoptors from their flight deck filled with marines! They descended onto the tanker from ropes or hoses! The ship was secured and came to a dead stop in 15 minutes! I heard later that one of the iraqi crew members swung a fireaxe in their engine room at one of our guys! No,he didn't get hit! When on a westPac cruise{western pacific}there was a supply ship operating with our battle group. They had 2 chinook helicoptors for delivering food supplies and other materials. Here's the good part,all military pilots have callsigns,nicknames they call themselves.Well one of that supply ship's chinook helicoptor pilots,was a very hot,blond,female pilot! Guess what her callsign was,"Hot Tuna",I'm dead serious!Dam she was a fox!We did some shore bombardment at a target range{a island near the phillipines}once. The ship shook every time a round was fired off that big gun! But then the battleship New Jersey had it's turn! Those 16inch guns when fired moved their ship sideways from the very large blast of those massive guns,the sound was very loud and I had hearing protection too! There is a initiation that the crew go thru when we cross the equator. You become what they call a "shellback". All that haven't crossed the equator are nothing but "slimy pollywogs"! The captain dresses up as King Neptune! All honorary shellbacks dress up as Pirates,yes some even have a patch over one eye,aye! They have special crew members going around to keep it safe and not get out of hand,lots of fun! The cool part was,that the ship,the USS Reasoner,was flying a real jolly roger,skull and crossbones,pirate flag from it's mast too! Imagine a passing ship looking to identify that military ship massing near,only to discover,it was flying a real pirate flag from it's mast!We once flew a battle flag from our mast,it's a american flag on steroids! I mean a us flag of giant size requiring special rigging just to fly it!We even pulled into Muscat,Oman for a port stop. We parked right next to the Sultan of Oman's Yacht! It looked like a small cruise ship,with 2 nice ski boats on the upper decks. On the side of the yacht was a Omanian emblem,2 jewelled crossed daggers,made of gold! It was quite hot there,130 degrees in the shade,luckily the hotels and shops were air conditioned! There were some of the sultan's guards on the pier,very big and tall! They were wearing very large arabian swords on their hips,whoa! Some buddies and I went to the Sheridan hotel there for some ice cold Foster's lager beer! Lot of guys were buying some frankencense and muir,I got a real arabian turbin,like the old king of Jordan wore,for a souvenier. Not many know the year before the gulf war,Iran declared war on the U.S.! I was in the gulf then,aboard the Reasoner! While operating in the upper persian gulf,our radar showed a iranian sam-missle friggate was closing on us fast! They were going to try to engage us in a sea-battle! I was in the engineroom and we received a emergency ahead flank speed bell! We pushed that ship so hard,the steam lines in the engine room were shaking! I think the ship set a new speed record that day,we were humming thru the water like a high speed torpedo! It was intense! We called our buddies on the aircraft carrier to take care of our problem! They launched some attack bombers and they dropped some laser guided bombs on them! It almost sank that ship! It was a burning mess!I got to see a picture of it later,wouldn't want to be on that ship! The scariest time Of my navy enlistment,was deep in the upper persian gulf! The entire ship was required to go to general quarters,this means,all hatches and scuttles secured{battle stations}. I was wearing a OBA{oxygen breathing apparatus} on my chest,along with a gas mask in a pouch on my hip! We were transisting a area known as the "Silkworm Vulnerability Area". This means,and area of the gulf where we were in range of Iran's silkworm anti-shipping missles{a chinese made anti-shipping missle}! It is capable of litterily splitting a ship in half or worse! We close all the hatches and scuttles to increase our survivability! We sat there quietly at our statiions,no information was passed to us of what was going on,which is probably bad, as your mind starts thinking if your going to be ok or go home in a bodybag! But we later learned that the aircraft carrier in our battlegroup were on high alert,they had some fighter aircraft patrolling the skies for missles our enemy aircraft.If any enemy missles or planes came too close they would shoot them down! I got to go christmas shopping in Hong Kong one year. One of the shopping plazas was playing the christmas song, " I'll be home for christmas", dam that made me homesick! But, boy did the family love the awsome gifts I got from Hong Kong! I even found the bottoms up club,the bar that was in the james bond movie! Another year I got the opportunity,of christmas shopping in Japan! I bought some beautiful Noritakie Vases! Got my mom a very nice emerald & Pearl ring. She thought of course, that I was the best son in the world!One of my navy buds on board was stationed in japan,we went to the house where he stayed off base,the lady was still there at that house that he knew. I got to go inside,taking my shoes off at the door as your suppose to do there.She was very nice and even offered my friend and I Sharpei pups for free.I thanked her ,but couldn't bring them aboard ship,she understood. Actually, I have been on 3 ships! The first,the USS Coral Sea CV-43{Midway class aircraft carrier},2nd, The USS Carl Vinson CVN-70{Nuclear Powered aircraft carrier},and finally the USS Reasoner FF-1063{Knox class Friggate}. I have also been out to sea in 2 hurricanes! The 1st was on the USS Carl Vinson CVN-70. It has a hurricane bow,meaning, it cuts right thru those big waves! I only took 13 degree side-to-side rolls on that ship in that storm! The Friggate,The USS Reasoner FF-1063,was however a different story! The bow went completely under water! Then rose rapidly upward,creating a bulge in the water,before the water escaped it's decks! We took 33 degree rolls,side-to-side! You could almost walk on the walls!!! I spotted a big tornado out at sea once{called waterspouts at sea}.It was a big thunderhead and the twister was like a big vacuum cleaner,increasing the size of the already large thudercloud! I told the bridge and they altered course to avoid it!One warm night,after watch,I went to the catwalks behind the stacks{Uss Coral Sea}. This was in the middle of the Indian Ocean,I saw more stars there, then anywhere else in my life! I even saw a red shooting star travel from horizon to horizon! While inport in Cannes,France,we had a live show in the hangar bay of the USS Coral Sea,french can-can girls kicking up their heels,whoa,nice! Kind of like a little Moulin Rouge aboard ship! I had a small shortwave radio,and was listening to it one evening in the Indian Ocean. I was trying to pick up a american rock&roll music station! Well, I found one,I thought it was "radio America". The Police were playing the song"Every Breath you Take"! It was "Radio Moscow",playing american rock&roll for their young russian teens!I had a buddy from Ecuador on the ship,could speak spanish very well.While in Panama,everybody was paying $6.00 for cab fare to go to downtown Panama City.He was like my interpeter,we paid 25 cents to go downtown on the city bus,but the catch is you have to speak spanish. One evening on the base in Panama, I looked across the grounds and saw something that made my jaw drop! Some strange wild animal,it had the face of a rodent,sat up like a jackrabbit,only it was as big as great dane{dog}! There is jungles nearby,I have no idea what it was,but I wasn't going near it! I wish I had a camera at the time,dam,that would have been the picture! On the Reasoner, We even went on drug enforcement ops, with the Coast Guard,and DEA agents, off the coast of Columbia! That's right, we hunted down drug smugglers! We caught somebody,it was a very large bust,but can't say more! They installed a new weapon on our ship for that, a 20mm,laser-sighted,chain-gun! This was one bad-ass gun! I got to turn the laser on and look thru the laser gun sight,it made a humming noise as the gun was up and ready for action! I asked the 1st class gunners mate if I could shoot it,of course the answer was no. But I got to pop off a few burst of one of our 50-cal machine guns,what a rush! One of the 1st class gunner's mates on the reasoner was into blackpowder rifles{like the Daniel Boone type}! He let me shoot a 54 calibur Hawkins,blackpowder rifle,that was like shooting a hand-held cannon! The USS Reasoner,being a ASW Ship(anti-submarine warfare),had a policy that if any crew member spotted a sub,you got a steak & lobster dinner! Well, guess who saw one 1st! I was talking with a buddy on the signal bridge when I looked out to sea and then,.....there it was! I saw a periscope! I pointed it out to the watch,he didn't see it or believe me! Ha! Just then the sub surfaced! It was one of ours! " I told you!", I said. Well I got my steak and lobster dinner!The USS Reasoner won a award 3 years in a row for being the best ship of it's class at hunting down and finding subs on the west coast! We did some operations north of the artic circle too,near the Aleutian Islands,very cold. There was lots of ice covering the outside machinery! On the helicopter deck{USS Reasoner} there was a artic owl pearched on the landing gear of the helicopter! The ocean was 27 degrees there,don't fall in,you would die of hypothermia in minutes! I even had a secret security clearence once,required for the duties I was performing. But we can't go into that! But It was cool to have one,makes you feel kinda James Bond/CIA. We once did some military exercises,under the cover of night,with a navy seal detachment. The navy seals are some bad-asses. They were wearing black wet suits,had auto-matic weapons,combat knifes,and black grease paint to hide their faces,so they could sneak ashore,in a all black zodiac inflatable boat with a small motor and oars when getting close to shore! On the USS Coral Sea CV-43,I was on that ship when hollywood filmed the movie,"The Right Stuff"! There was a real Mercury space capsule on our flight deck!! When I was in Diego Garcia{a coral atoll}I picked up some fresh coconuts off the beach and broke them open to eat,very good. But you have to look out for the coconut crabs,they can crack open the coconut with their large claws! I was going to go snorkeling in the beautiful lagoon there,but was warned that a certain very large great white shark like to hunt for food there! Okay,I'll pass! I got to get shot off the catapault on the USS Coral Sea's flight deck in a mail plane,0-90 mph in 2 1/2 seconds! What a rush!!But not as bad as some of those fighter jets! They launch at around 0-150mph in 2 1/2 seconds! The pilot actually blacks out for a few seconds from the g-force of all the blood rushing to the back of his head! He wakes up in the air,wow!I got to ride one of the coral seas helicoptors once,they put a gunners belt on me.It was a steel cable attached to the back of it and secured to the helo. The door was wide open,we were flying at about 300 feet above the water.I was sitting cross legged in front of the door. The pilots decided to have a little fun with me,they did a sudden high bank turn! The only thing that kept me from going out that door,300 feet above the ocean,was that gunner's belt I was wearing! Needless to say my eyes got big and,whoa! The pilots were smiling,HA!HA! Yeh you got me,had my adrenelin pumping alittle!Countries & PLACES I've been to- [Pusan}South Korea,{Phuket & Pattaya]Thailand,Singapore,Hong Kong,{Sasebo & Yokahama}Japan,{Penang}Malaysia,Indonesia,{Madras}India,{Mus cat}Oman,{Cannes & Nice}France{also the french alps},[Naples}Italy,{Rota}Spain,{Augusta Bay}Sicily,{Subic Bay}Phillipines,Guam,Guatamala,Mexico,Canada{British Columbia,Alberta,Vancouver Island},Diego Garcia(coral atoll in Indian Ocean},Java,Panama, Panama & Suez canals,oh,and Hawaii too! States I've been to...Washington,Oregon{of,course},California,Utah,Nevada,Ari zona,Hawaii,Montana,North&South Dakota,Wyoming,Colorado,Texas,Oklahoma,Virginia,Idaho,New Mexico,I think that's it! Myspace Graphics
Myspace Layouts
Myspace Contact Tables
MySpace Codes
Contact Box Generated from SurfCodes.Com
