Hi.....My name is Wenda, I'm 33 years
old and
a major part of my adult life was
dedicated to
serving in the US Navy. I would be
happy to share
some of my experiences with you......
I enlisted in October
1984
and ended my active duty service in June
1995.
I joined the Navy's Delayed Entry
Program (DEP)
while still in High School in 1983, and
trained once
a month to prepare for Boot Camp and
what lay
ahead (or so that is what I was
told...lol)
ENC Ronald Underwood was my recruiter
and my
friend. He, and my father (who also had
prior
military time), pumped me up to fear
hearing the
words "Boot Camp", but I made it through
with little
problems. I was a flag bearer for my
company #K003.
I carried the "Torch" flag, which was
awarded to
our company for outstanding results on
our physical
training tests. I attended Boot Camp in
RTC
Orlando,
FL,
after there, I went to NATTC Meridian,
MS for AZ
(Aviation Maintenance Administrationman)
"A"
School..The name held true, my job in
the Navy
included everything from A to Z as long
as it
pertained to an aircraft. My job,
actually, entailed
doing all the paperwork and keeping
records for
aircraft flights and any inspections or
maintenance
performed. I also did all the required
paperwork for
receiving new aircraft in to the
military system
and for any that were lost through
mishap. Luckily,
I never lost any friends or shipmates in
any
aircraft crashes ...(Thank You God!)
From "A" School I went to my first
duty
station....Aircraft Intermediate
Maintenance
Department(AIMD) Naval Air Station(NAS)
Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba.
I was terrified at first but I made a
lot of great
friends and learned my job quickly. The
base housed
the UH-1N helicopter and the last
C-131F aircraft
left in the Navy. This was
also where I learned
how to hand feed an Iguana. I was there
for a year
and upon returning to the good ole' USA,
when I got
off the plane, I knelt and kissed the
ground
(asphalt actually). A year in a foreign
country is
hard on an 18 year old.
Next duty station was Naval Air Test
Training
Center (NATTC) AIMD NAS Patuxent River,
MD, where we
supported P-3 aircraft. They would do
experimental
crash tests on airplanes and then we
would get the
broken parts to repair.....a vicious
cycle. This
was my first experience of living in the
north...I
loved it. Here is where I learned to go
out at
midnight with a Coleman lantern and a
piece of raw
chicken tied to one end of a string and
catch
Maryland blue crabs. We would steam them
by the
bushel and put a keg of beer on ice and
have some
great parties. I was only 45 minutes
from
Washington DC, so I got to visit the
Smithsonian and
the surrounding areas, a great two
years.
Next, I was off to the world's largest
Naval base,
Norfolk, VA. I was assigned to a
helicopter
squadron, HM-12. We supported the
RH-53D, CH-53E
and
MH-53E helicopter. (Those are the big
ones that
can carry tanks in the back of them.)
My first
re-enlistment took place here and I was
committed
for
another four years...like it or not!!!
Well I did like it and I soon left
the Norfolk
area to go to a P-3 squadron, VP-10, in
NAS
Brunswick, ME. I only thought I was in
the north
when I lived in Maryland. Brrrr.......
There was a
saying about the weather in Maine..."We
don't have
summer...just three months of bad snow
skiing"....it
was true. I saw the most beautiful snow
(and the
most) I had ever imagined. I learned
that in Maine,
their alphabet has no R...(just
kidding)....but it
did take some time to get use to the
accent there.
Of all my duty stations, the local
people here had
to be the friendliest. I was only an
hour from
Portland and 30 minutes from L.L.Bean,
spent alot of
time on the beach watching the seals
play in the
water. I even visited Stephen Kings
home...(scarey
looking place). I met a wonderful man
there, who I
married a year and a half later (still
got him
too!). While in Maine I did most of my
overseas
travel... I went to Rota Spain for seven
months, a
wonderful place, loved every minute of
my time
there. I also got to visit Munich
Germany for four
days, I highly recommend that if you
ever get a
chance to go to Germany....do it. I was
also lucky
enough to spend one month in Bermuda,
yes they have
snow white beaches and crystal clear
water.
Well. after all my travels and time
in Maine, I
got to follow my hubby to Navy
Recruiting District
Little Rock, AR. There I was a
processor/statistician for people just
joining the
Navy. To put it mildly, that was a very
interesting
job. My hubby retired after 21 years of
Naval
service while we were here. I chose to
stay in a
little longer and re-enlisted again.
When my time came to move on...I did
and left
hubby in Little Rock for 14 months while
I went to
(what we call Gilligans' Island) a small
Island in
the middle of the Indian Ocean. Diego
Garcia...it
is an atoll within the Chagos
Archipelago and is
only 14 miles long and at its
widest point only 1 mile wide. An old
Navy saying if
you get lucky enough to get orders there
is..."Who
did you piss off?"
There is a reason for that saying, as
there was no
civilians allowed there and the phone
system were
not of
any quality and mail took 2-3 weeks to
be
delivered or
received. (I was soon to find out that
this was
actually..."The Navy's best kept
secret")
The temperature averaged 95-105°
during
the day and 80-85° at night with 100%
humidity year
round. But after you became
climbatized, it was a
tropical island. Because there were so
few people,
it was like a big family. I worked at
AIMD and we
supported deployed P-3 squadrons. Made
some great
friends here and got a great tan. This
Island was
/is owned by the British and is known as
BIOT
(British Indian Owned Territory). There
were many
British on the Island and they are some
funnnnny
people. They love to party and get
naked...honest!
After I had spent nine months here, I
got to come
home to the states and see my hubby and
family, well
I guess I did more than see hubby, cause
after I
went
back I found out I was expecting our
first son. (hee
hee). I made a choice to end my Navy
career and
start my family in one place.....my home
town of
Ringgold, Georgia.
I was honorably discharged from the
Navy, June 01,
1995 and since then have given birth to
two
beautiful baby boys and have managed to
keep hubby
around.
I do miss the travel and meeting
people in the
Navy, but I love being a mommy and full
time wife.
I would not trade my time in the Navy
for anything,
it was a growing, learning and wonderful
experience.
Thank you for reading and sharing such
an
important time of my life with me!!!
Here are some
interesring links...(you might enjoy
visiting)
*Navy
Enlisted Aviation
Ratings Insignias
*Navy Enlisted
Rank
Insignias
*Navy Hymn (Eternal
Father)
* A locator list of my Navy
friends!
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me...
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