U.S.S. Kawishiwi AO-146

I came aboard the K in Oct of 1960 as an ET3. In Aug of 1961 I was transferred off to the USS Boxer LHD-4, on the east coast when Kennedy did his big show of force because of what was going on in Berlin. I was an ET2 then. I managed to 'escape' the Boxer 10 months later and none to soon. Talk about a zoo! Was an experiment by the Navy and Marine Corp... had both marines and sailors as ships-company.

Went from there to crypto school in Portsmouth, then to Rota Spain. While in Rota I became a plank owner of NavComSta Rota. We comissioned it around April or May of 1963. I made 1st class at that time.

In Sep of 1964 I was transferred to NavComSta San Francisco, and they assigned me to the transmitter station
at Vallejo. Great duty.

I was supposed to be discharged in Dec of 1965, but they froze everyone for 4 months because of the 'Nam buildup, so when the exams where held in Feb of 1966 I took and passed the chiefs exam. (That was before the days of the selection board for chiefs). Was supposed to be advanced in Aug of '66, but my discharge date was to be Apr 29, 1966. Being 25, knowing all that was worth knowing, I got out. Didn't know that I was dumber than a post!

Went into the reserves and got the chiefs promotion, but after a while the reserves and my life didn't seem to get along, so I dropped out. Another dumb move.

In Feb of 1989 I checked with the reserves and after a lot of paper work and stuff, they got me an age waiver and I was in the Navy again! As an SN permanent, ET3 temporary. Had to do all the courses for seaman and ET, then was made permanent 3rd class. ET not being a critical rate anymore, I was able to climb back up to 1st class by 1995. When I hit age 60 in 2000 they told me to go home and retired me as a chief.

August 18, 2004