The prodigal N. Carolinian

[ncgreg231]

Greetings from Chicago! To be more exact, I am currently at the Great Lakes Naval Training center, a few miles north of Chicago. It's cold here! For anyone that has never heard of Great Lakes, it is basically a big training center for the Navy. I'm only here for a few weeks (I hope) before I head down to San Diego for my "A" school (Sonar Technician). I will update this thread as I get the chance and/or have new info to post.

BTW, hey Shariff, I washed the gold car on Friday!

 

[87GNSteve]

Ha! I just left there in Nov. (I was on the Hospital side) Well so far your lucky, I understand they are having a "mild" winter up there....but still cold as all get-out if you ask me.

 

[ghall]

Sounds nice--can you give more details?

Good luck!!!!!


Geoff

P.S.--you should have the car 3 years ago- :biggrin: :tongue: :biggrin:

 

[turbopete]

Surface ships (targets) or submarines (steely eyed killers of the deep)?

Made your choice yet?

 

[seeyabye]

Greetings from Chicago! To be more exact, I am currently at the Great Lakes Naval Training center, a few miles north of Chicago. It's cold here! For anyone that has never heard of Great Lakes, it is basically a big training center for the Navy. I'm only here for a few weeks (I hope) before I head down to San Diego for my "A" school (Sonar Technician). I will update this thread as I get the chance and/or have new info to post.

BTW, hey Shariff, I washed the gold car on Friday!

I'm not sure I beleive that. I was under the impression that the dirt is what held it together. :biggrin:

 

[ncgreg231]

I'm not sure I beleive that. I was under the impression that the dirt is what held it together. :biggrin:

Then why were you implying so strongly that I SHOULD wash it?

Sounds nice--can you give more details?

I've been here a week now. First week was spent being processed and going through damage control training. I am expecting to be finished and on to San Diego next week (hopefully) "A" school is for general knowledge on a specific job field -referred to as a "rating" (could be aircraft maintenance, propulsion technician, supply, etc etc etc) and varies in length depending on the job field. The job fields themselves are named specifically, and also given letter designation that usually match the name. I am going to be a Sonar Technician - surface (there is separate rating for sonar techs assigned to submarines) and the letters for my rate are STG. STS would be sonar tech submarines, I think STG was originally sonar tech/guns in reference to earlier sonar equipment, I'm not 100% sure...

Not sure if those were the details you were looking for?

Ha! I just left there in Nov. (I was on the Hospital side) Well so far your lucky, I understand they are having a "mild" winter up there....but still cold as all get-out if you ask me.

yup, I was up here 12 years ago in the winter. Definitely more mild so far, and the sooner I am out of here, the better!!!

Surface ships (targets) or submarines (steely eyed killers of the deep)? Made your choice yet?

If they offer subs I will take it, but otherwise, it's surface... :frown:

 

[turbopete]

If you ask for it...

If you request submarines, can equalize pressure in your ears, and are not claustrophobic, you will be in there...
I am a retired submariner, having served on both surface ships and submarines. The submarine force is by far a more prideful and professional group. Life would not initially be easy with qualifications, etc. I hear that advancement is tight for the rating in subs.
All things being equal, service in the submarine force is tough, but very rewarding. In the Navy, you will not find a tougher, hard working bunch than "bubbleheads".
Get some good advice from someone you trust before making such a big decision as volunteering for submarines.
Good luck with your service.
Peter Bailey
QMCS(SS), USN , Ret.

 

[blackbird]

Welcome aboard!

Too bad you werent there when i was. I worked at the range a year ago. It would have been nice to have another GN around. Check out chitownracing.com there are alot of good guys up there that will help you out. As for sub service, my buddy is an ET and he loves his job, for myself, i wouldnt want to be on them. Im on PC's right now and they suck too but at least i can jump off if its sinking!! Whatever your decision, remember that you volunteered for it and its only as good or bad as you make it.

 

[ncgreg231]

Update:

I am now in San Diego learning about Sonar. I might be here till May if I do just the basic sonar course, or up to 18-24 months if I stay for the longer maintence/repair "pipeline" I've asked about subs and have been told "no" but maybe I've been asking the wrong people? (Hmm, that's a thought...)

more details later...

 

[turbopete]

They said no

You may be in the surface pipeline, so change to subs at this point may not be allowed. If you can get the maintenance/repair pipeline, TAKE IT! Even if you get out, the training will pay big dividends in the future.
Get all the training and schools on the Navy tab.
Good luck.

 

[ncgreg231]

Update:
Mid august I leave San Diego for Norfolk VA: USS Ramage (DDG-61) will stop and stay as long as I can while I pass through NC!

 

[kh440]

Congratulations, Norfolk/Va Beach isn't that far a ride from here. When you get a better feel for when you'll be here we'll try to get the gang together.....

 

[ncgreg231]

quick update, I'm in Norfolk now. And I am going on deployment in like two weeks, for like seven months!!!

yup, I said it would be a quick update, I hope to post more soon...
-Greg

 

[ncgreg231]

Greetings from far far away!

Currently, I find myself in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. My ship is in port for a few days and finally I have a chance to get onto a computer with acceptable download speed (off of the ship) - besides that I actually have some time to sit back and type out a message. Well, that's pretty much it for me!

 

[ncgreg231]

Back from Deployment!

Update:

I am now back in Norfolk from my ship's deployment to the middle east! I was terrified what I might find when I got my cars out of storage, but in the end, I am quiet surprised!

The WE4 so far has shown no adverse effects (yet) to 7.5 months of storage!

The T-type (on the other hand) was not quite so fortunate. This car was brought out first and seemed to be running pretty good, but by the time the WE4 emerged, it had stalled out and was refusing attempts at restarting. The battery was old anyway, so a new battery was purchased. It seemed to run fine for the rest of the day.

The next day, I was running some errands (cell phone reconnected, etc) and the fuel pump **** the bed! So a call to AAA for a tow to the auto hobby shop. A rollback arrived, and as the 86 was being pulled onto the truck, I noticed a pretty decent leak from the rear passenger axle seal. Remembering back, I had noticed the leak when I was in San Diego. In a way, I am glad the fuel pump quit, because I was about to drive the 86 to NC, and I would probably have driven it until the rear diff seized up due to lack of lube oil!

The pump and the rear diff seal have now been replaced and lower boost level (11~12psi) passes encourage an increase in boost to pre-deployment levels. More updates to follow...

 

[ncgreg231]

test posting

Greetings

what?

 

[kh440]

Welcome back Greg! When do you plan coming down for a visit??

 

[TurboDave]

Welcome back Greg!! How do you like the Ramage? That's one of the new Burke class DDG's isn't it? I served 23 years in the Navy (Electronic Warfare), and the VAST majority of that was spent in Norfolk aboard Spruance class destroyers and Nuc. Cruisers.
I loved the surface Navy, and lived in Va Beach. Really liked it (except for the outrageous taxes).

 

[ncgreg231]

Welcome back Greg! When do you plan coming down for a visit??

It's always hard to tell...I will keep my eyes on the forum and drop by when the schedule allows! I *did* make a brief visit to EastGateBP about a week ago, but I didn't have enough time to hang out for very long...

 

[ncgreg231]

Welcome back Greg!! How do you like the Ramage? That's one of the new Burke class DDG's isn't it? I served 23 years in the Navy (Electronic Warfare), and the VAST majority of that was spent in Norfolk aboard Spruance class destroyers and Nuc. Cruisers.
I loved the surface Navy, and lived in Va Beach. Really liked it (except for the outrageous taxes).

Thanks Dave! The Ramage (DDG-61) is "okay". It's pretty much identical to the previous ship (USS Stout DDG-55) that I served on. I don't consider the Burke class to be "new" but that's probably because of the age difference between us...I consider "spru-cans" to be old, but many STG's I've talked to say that they were great ASW platforms. I think the majority of my fellow crewmembers have no idea that there use to be Nuc cruisers - or even that there were so many different classes of cruisers (like Leahy's, Belknap's, etc). All they know of is Ticonderoga's, and supposedly they are going to be replaced in the not-to-distant future (10~15years), or so has been reported. The next "new" ship is the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) - lot's of the basic info popped up with a google search, it looks to me like these will replacing the Perry FFGs if they get around the development hiccups.