October 5th, 1965

[Garden Valley]

Sukey -

I was watching "How It's Made" tonight and they were in Scotland at a food processing plant that makes haggis. Just watching it being made was revolting. Beef fat, lamb lungs, lamb liver, oatmeal, and "secret" spices, all nicely packed in beef intestines. Yuk! Unlike recruiters, I don't believe you ever spoke with forked tongue about haggis.

[sop2510]

I was set to follow my Dad's footsteps and join the Air Force in July '63, but the Navy recruiter called and told me about the submarine nuclear power program. If I passed all the tests, I'd spend almost two years in training and then go to a nuclear sub. There was a catch though, I'd have to commit to a six-year enlistment. I signed on the dotted line and the Navy gave me what they promised. After seven years, I got out and entered the commercial nuclear industry where I've been ever since. It's been a good career that has kept a roof over our heads, food on the table, and plenty of tax revenues for the government.

[Rick]

To do what you did you had to test in the top 1/2% of all the men in the Navy. Then to be able to mentally handle being a Nuclear Submariner truly put you put you in a very elite group of men. Glad it worked out for you. I'm sure the Navy hated loosing you and offered a very good bonus to entice you to ship over.

[sop2510]

I'm sure the Navy hated loosing you and offered a very good bonus to entice you to ship over.

Interesting that you brought that up. Back then the Navy had what they called a variable reenlistment bonus, which was designed to entice personnel with certain skills to reenlist. I forget what the amount was for my job code (Nuclear Machinist's Mate), but what a lot of us did was reenlist for three years when we reached the four-year mark. Now that I think about it, I believe I received $5,000 before taxes, which I pissed away in about three months. (There is sometimes a large gap between intelligence and maturity).

The enticement to reenlist was shore duty at one of the nuclear prototypes. I was selected for instructor duty at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. What that entailed was a 50-mile bus ride each way, mandatory 60-hour weeks, and having to stand underway watches while sitting in the middle of the desert. What I really wanted was to go to air conditioning and refrigeration school or welding school. The Navy said they needed instructors more than AC&R repairmen or welders, so I opted to get out.

[Griff Murphey]

I wasn't recruited into the Navy but after my experiences at the Vietnam Village at Fort Sill I was ready to change over to the Navy when a Navy Captain uncle suggested it. There was some irony, then, in getting assigned to the USMC, and eventually being assigned as an infantry battalion dental officer with 1-4 on the RVN/Cambo evac. You might assume that they sent me there because of my Army training (I assumed so). When I finished with 3rd Mar Div I was going to be assigned to NAS Jacksonville, FL. A great assignment! BUT... I wanted a USMC base where I could continue to shoot, Pendleton or Quantico. So I wrote the detailer of the Navy Dental Corps, Captain Noel Wilke. I recently found the note he wrote back to me in 1975. He said in the letter that he had met me when he came to Dallas to meet the Baylor dental students who would be going on active duty soon. At that meeting, I brought some of my collection of 1:1200 waterline ship models (similar to the WW2 ID models, but, I had a small "fleet" of modern US/Russki types). In his letter, Captain Wilke said: "When I saw your ship models, I knew you were the right man for the 3rd Mar Div."

So you see sometimes your hobbies can get you typed as gung-ho and can influence where you get sent....