Ok here is mine. I was in Newport RI in the summer of 1974 in dental officer indoctrination. Which was somewhat unnecessary as I had 7 years of Army ROTC and had interservice transferred to the navy. My dad mailed me my ACDU orders which had come to my house and they said the 3rd Marine Division at Naha. I asked the CDR who was teaching the class about it I was thinking "Naha, California" had a ring to it. He laughed his ass off and informed me I was headed to Okinawa "...out with the troopies." My assumption was I was sent to the Marines because I was an ex-Army 2Lt. Okinawa and the Cambodia and Vietnam evacuations and the making of many great USMC friends came and went and my next assignment was to be "Navy Jax" in Florida, normally considered a plum. But I liked shooting so I wrote the detailer Captain Wilkie and asked for Camp Pendleton. He agreed, writing me back and recalling we had met at Admiral Vaughn's home in Dallas when he had come out to meet the Navy seniors at Baylor Dental.

He reminded me that I had brought a collection of 1/1200 waterline ships and displayed them. He wrote: "When I saw those ships I knew you were the right man for the 3rd MarDiv!"

Go figure.