[CW] A Radiomans Dream

[Chris Bouck]

I got drafted in Dec 1967. Enlisted in the Navy just before I had to 
report to the Army. I wanted to be a CB. My scores were too high. They 
made me an EM (Electricians Mate) I ended up spending 4 years on ships 
in the engine room. I got to see a lot of the Pacific Ocean and Vietnam 
on an ammunition ship.

73 Chris KB4CMF


On 4/13/2018 8:10 PM, Rick Dettinger wrote:
> I wanted to join the Navy in 1964, to avoid the Draft.  Too color blind.  The Army didn’t care, I got drafted later that year.  They said that I passed the written tests high enough to get Radio school.  After Basic, they sent me to Cook school instead.  They lied!!
>
> 73,
> Rick K7MW
>
>
>> On Apr 13, 2018, at 5:02 PM, <w9oj at indy.rr.com> <w9oj at indy.rr.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I was a 20 WPM ham when I joined the Navy in 1971.
>> They put me in the engine room.
>>
>> 73 de Mike W9OJ
>>
>>
>> ---- Radio K0HB <kzerohb at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Some of you old USN RM’s will enjoy this.  For the rest, imagine what you
>>> missed.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> <http://forum.goatlocker.org/post/printadd?id=9712038&pid=1303877556>1
>>> <http://forum.goatlocker.org/post/show_single_post?pid=1303877556&postcount=1&forum=108044>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> A Radioman's Dream
>>>
>>> By: Anonymous
>>>
>>>
>>> You awake with a start to the 3rd Class's shake,
>>> Feet hit the deck before you're awake.
>>> Out of your rack and into your dungs,
>>> Then crawl up the ladder, rung by rung.
>>>
>>> Onto the mess deck with lights too bright,
>>> Grab a horsecock sandwich to last through the night.
>>>
>>> Sip a cup of Joe, drag on a butt or two,
>>> Then off to the shack, your duty to do.
>>>
>>> You climb to the Oh one deck through salty spray,
>>> While dark clouds sweep past in their ugly dress grey.
>>>
>>> White water amidships, bow goes under green
>>> Water swirls aft, washing weather decks clean.
>>>
>>> You enter the hatch, fresh coffee you smill,
>>> Along with the slosh in the new man's pail
>>>
>>> Transmitters emit a hot bees wax odor,
>>> Aging capacitor growl like outboard motors.
>>>
>>> Two outgoings are pending, NHY is not there.
>>> We lost him on twelve, faded into thin air.
>>>
>>> Eight was tried without success,
>>> Four's no better, atmospherics a mess.
>>>
>>> Five hundred is alive and noisy with code.
>>> Dyess tried to relay but lost her M.O.
>>>
>>> The Chief will be up at quarter to six
>>> To copy press and publish the Daily Mix.
>>>
>>> With the watch relieved and gone below,
>>> I adjust my key, sending real slow.
>>>
>>> Searching for a station to get rid of the traffic,
>>> Hearing nothing out there but that damned static.
>>>
>>> Fired up the TBL and started transmission,
>>> Braced myself, wedged in the position.
>>>
>>> Ship rolls to port, then lurches ahead,
>>> Banging into a wave, she seems to stop dead.
>>>
>>> Shuddering up, shaking her bow,
>>> Ridding herself of the water somehow.
>>>
>>> Through all of this with coffee cup balanced.
>>> I've spilled not a drop to foul the Chief's palace.
>>>
>>> On the eight get a call, the signals come throug,
>>> I tap out the SITREP, and another message or two.
>>>
>>> The silent period over, you type in the log,
>>> Quite proud of yourself, you're a lucky dog.
>>>
>>> Your watch draws to an end, how long has it been?
>>> You think of the wife, and start to grin.
>>>
>>> For it's day twenty on station for you,
>>> You'll head for port, when it's over and through.
>>>
>>> Underway watches leave little to be done,
>>> When homeward bound from the Med, "Ol' Son"
>>>
>>> But suddenly you wake, to find you've been dreamin'
>>> Of Ocean Station days, your youth's past is streamin'.
>>>
>>> No more station in the middle of a grid square,
>>> Nor a Radioman to be found, not one anywhere.
>>>
>>> A key of brass, an Underwood mill,
>>> Are all in the past, all over the hill.
>>>
>>> The mission's still there, waiting to be done,
>>> The challenge has been accepted by the newer ones.
>>> -- 
>>> 73, de Hans, K0HB
>>> --
>>> "Just a boy and his radio"™
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