Had an interesting ad hoc dinner last night with a few old friends, with folks in town for various and sundry reasons. I think it was probably the first time in 6-8 years all six of us were actually in the same place at the same time! The talk turned to where we’d come from over the years, and what has happened in the intervening years…
In a way it’s kind of funny, how specific things tend to ‘stick’ in one’s mind. We’d all flown together back in the 70s out of Hawaii, and one of the guys brought a few pics.
First it was the Cubi deployment, and all that went on then; including the fall of Vietnam, the Mayaguez, chasing the “Phil Sea Phantom”, close calls, and wives…
A look at the runway at Cubi on a practice missed approach…
One of the pics our crew took of the Mayaguez off Koh Tang (interestingly, since all the photos we took were processed at Utapao, the Air Force took credit for ALL the photography). The two Swift boats tied up alongside were in fact manned by the Khmer Rouge, and had been shooting at us on EVERY pass… Thankfully they were piss poor shots!
Our crew picture after returning from the ‘Circuit’ that included ops on the Mayaguez. Three of the five officers on the crew went on to command Squadrons, and three of us enlisted pukes ended up commissioned. Not too bad for a bunch of “baby killer/war mongers”…
Being married during that era, and being in the military were pretty much mutually exclusive… Out of something like 100 folks in the squadron married, there were 52 divorces during/after deployment. Years later we found out one of the officers who had married a Vietnamese “refugee” a couple of years earlier had in fact married a North Vietnamese “spy” who’s dad was rather high up in the NVA…
And of course there were the submarines we chased…
Recce question- What is this one???
Hint- It’s NOT one of ours…
Two of the guys are still flying as senior airline captains, two of us are still working, and the other two are retired and enjoying NOT punching a clock (damn their hides)…
We toasted those we’d left behind, and the ones from the crew who’ve passed, and called it a damn good night!
Sub = Older Russian Kilo class?
Nope, too ‘fat’… and the sub pic is only about 25 years old, not 40. But you did get the manufacturer right!
Akula?
sounds like a great evening
I’m thinking Typhoon.
Mark
Might be a Kilo class, but the hump after the sail wasn’t original. Maybe added by the Chinese?
Kind of looks like a Yankee class.
A great grand dinner gathering, bread-breaking communing of a “Dirty Half-Dozen” of your “Skinny Dragons” Crew 2 mates and you. Such intersections of individual “Rabbit (or Rat) Trails” are a wondrous temporal gifts from The Fates, when they mischievously pull the puppet strings to make them happen. In my minds eye, I have a vivid Last Supper-esque picture, with J.C. at table center, and all his Maritime Patrol, Reconnaissance & Surveillance Apostles tableside around him swapping air-sea stories. The larger question is…Who picked up the check? 😉
Regarding your, “Years later we found out one of the officers who had married a Vietnamese ‘refugee’ a couple of years earlier had in fact married a North Vietnamese ‘spy’ who’s dad was rather high up in the NVA…” I flew with that fellow “Skinny Dragon” for a short time. His wife may well have been ‘a North Vietnamese spy,” as well, I do not know. However, she is better known for later being an American spy/counter-spy for the CIA, FBI, and NSA, when she worked with those Three-Letter Agencies to help bring down a communist Vietnamese subgroup and recruit members in the U.S. and Europe.
In late 1995, she self-published her autobiography, “A Thousand Tears Falling: The True Story of a Vietnamese Family Torn Apart by War, Communism, and the CIA (1995)” (publisher Longstreet Press, Atlanta, GA). The book recounts her life growing up in the midst of the Vietnam War, as well as her life in America as a spy.
It is a good “Airline Read.” You might want to consider checking out a “FREE” copy at your local library or obtain one on Amazon (New: $37.62, Used: $14.75) to edify and entertain you on one of your next long “On The Road Again” business trips.
Memories.
Oscar-class!
Red October!
Oscar class?
Yep, OSCAR class SSGN for the win.
Way cool pics.
WSF- Nope, too fat
Julie- it was FUN!!!
Navy91- Not THAT big! 🙂 But you’re getting warmer
Don- See above!
Skul- Close
Joe- I was NOT at the center, and we all threw money at the waitress till she smiled 🙂 (not really, but she DID get a good tip!)
And you are correct on Krall, and I’ve read it…
Hank- yep!
Anon- Yea! FINALLY!!! You are correct! 🙂
ED- Not quite LOL…
Raptor/Rodney- You are both also correct Sirs!
Andy- Thanks!
An hour later, after reading up on the Mayaguez..
Cool stuff man, being part of history. Never even heard of it until now.
Heath- Thanks, and if you read the Wiki, it’s not quite correct…LOL BUT you do get the general idea!
Here’s tae us
Wha’s like us
Damn few,
And they’re a’ deid
Mair’s the pity!
My dad flew in the Mayaguez search flights as well. He was a navigator in F-111s during that time, doing recon over Laos/Cambodia.
He also told me of the small arms fire from the boat during their passes on the boat.
Stretch- Amen!
John- LOL, if he called 50cal small, then I gotta wonder what he called BIG! We were the night crew, since we had IR, and we were the original crew that found it.
Oh man, I came by here way too late! That can only be an Oscar SSGN!
When I was in the basic officer sub school class, our favorite class was “Soviet recognition.” FINALLY a *real* class as a reward for completing a year of nuclear power training. They didn’t have a big collection of photos. One of the Chop Ensigns in my class had been a PH1 on a P3 and had taken some of the pictures they used in our class. I remember a lot of unknown stuff in those pictures too, a lot of what we “knew” was educated guesswork.
Imagine my amazement last year when I stumbled across a video tour of the inside of a Typhoon, bow to stern. Including pics of some reactor stuff (no mistaking that, no matter who made it).
Interesting times.
What do the Ensigns see in sub school now, Chicom recognition?