Med Cruise 79

Before meeting the ship I was assigned boilerman schooling in Great Lakes, IL. One thing I remember well as I was walking to class one morning, a digital display as you see on banks and such, said, -33 have a nice day. After my schooling I went home on leave and then caught a flight out of Philadelphia on a large Air Force plane (C4 I believe). we were in seats bolted to the bottom of the plane, with the cargo. What a cold and noisy flight, my first taste of military flights to come.

I spent a week at the navy base in Rota, Spain waiting for orders to meet the ship. Rota was a neat place, tropical, so there were Palm trees. It was a relaxed atmosphere there, work loads were light, we were just sailors in transit, so we had plenty of time to relax. I called home one time while on a night watch, a good surprise for my mom. In the bar they showed movies, a kind of neat thing as I was to see at many military bars. Off base though the town of Rota was a surprise for me, a boy from a small, American town. The town stunk as the people of the town just threw their garbage onto the street. There were a line of bars there and other, common for Navy port towns, anything and everything were available for a price, so needless to say I had to watch my back.
I received orders to meet the ship in Bahrain, a small island off the coast of Saudi Arabia. This was also the time American hostages were being held in Iran. After I met the ship we spent several weeks in the Persian gulf as it was unknown if there would be military action taken against Iran because of the hostages. As it were our ship didn't see any hostile activity so we proceeded to the Red Sea then the Suez canal. All of us aboard the ship were awarded the Expeditionary Medal for the time we spent in the Persian Gulf. It was interesting going through the canal because there was Egyptian artillery pointed at our ship the whole way through the canal. Another kind of laughable incident; a small boat tried to tie up to our ship with the intention of selling us souvenirs. Our deck officer told them to untie, they wouldn't so he turned the fire hose on them.

We got through the canal and our next port was Naples, Italy. Naples is a beautiful very old Italian city. It was here that I got my first large view of beggars and looters. In Rota, Spain there was some of that but not to the extent of Naples. A guy on our ship was beat up and mugged one night going back to the ship. But on the other hand some of the jewelery and trinkets that the vendors were selling were really nice. I got my mom some mother of pearl jewelery there. Most of the old city of Naples was near the harbor so thats what I saw mostly, very tall mortice type structures and narrow cobblestone streets. I fortunately didn't have any problems in Naples as all of the people there treated me really good. We found a small cafe on an excursion to Mt. Vesuvius one day. My first real italian pizza, made in an authentic brick oven, a little different than american but still very good.
After Naples it was a short trip to Athens, Greece. Just out of the harbor, I remember all of us had to take a Malaria pill and then we had swim call, a chance for anyone to go swimming actually at sea. I remember the water was so clear and blue in Greece. Athens is a huge, very beautiful city, having over 3 million residents with the old city of Athens, The Acropolis, at the center. The old city is a wonder in itself and the modern Athens is a busy, crowded city as many others in the world. There was a military base there, so it was convenient for us. I bought a Pioneer stereo system there and had it shipped back home. The city of Athens also had tourist trap type bars, and such, places to stay away from, but similar in all large cities.
In all of the ports we stopped, our work days were 8-4 and unless I was assigned watch I could leave the ship until the next morning. But many times as soon as we arrived in port all but the people on watch could leave immediately. Sometimes our whole time in port only people on watch were working even during the day. We were in port to have fun (and of course show the world that the Navy was there)so the attitude on the ship was high spirits and a holiday atmosphere. This made it nice, no worries until time to get back to the ship. I've noticed now that many young people are nervous about military service. Thats understandable of course, but really military service is a just a job with extra demands but a lot of perks, how else could a young guy (or girl) see over 20 countries in a very short period of time.