Revving up the retro rockets of tech, tunes, tire treads, and trade paperbacks
Puka shell necklace, bucket hat, Birdwell Beach Britches… quintessential late 80s/early 90s beach attire. I think that’s my Tag Huer I bought over in Hong Kong that I wore to death. Petty Officer Small… just a sailor doing sailor stuff.
I have no clue. There’s a door behind me over my right shoulder, I believe that’s my Aviation Ordnance Space (the Ordy Shack) on the USS Kitty Hawk. If memory serves, the Aviation Fire Control Techs (AQs, they work specifically on the radar systems) shared a space with the Aviation Electricians (AEs, they worked on all the OTHER electronic systems – except weapons systems – on the plane) so this was probably taken by my best friend at the time, Mike Stover, who was an AE. I can only guess they were troubleshooting something going on in a pilot’s helmet… but you never know.
And yes, I was “Small-slice”. Augie Dog Hamilton wrote that on my float coat when I got to the ship.
I randomly ran across this on the internet this morning. I’m about 99% certain I’m the sailor on the far right. The sailor on the far left is Greg “Soupy” Campbell, next to him on the right is Craig “The Boz” Bosley, and between us is an AD (engines/powerplants) whose name I can’t recall… but I’m about 99.99% certain I’m the one on the right, and this was taken in Hong Kong on my first cruise in the VA-165 Boomers onboard the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk (CV-63).
We lived life like you’d expect us to, way out there and 100 mph at all times.
Whether I wake up in Thailand, or Norfolk or Guam or wake up in Subic with half my stuff gone. wake up in a hot tub, butt-naked and drunk, lord, let me find my way back to my bunk