Yes, that’s exactly what M Division berthing on Forrestal was like. (Not)
My first ship had laced canvas racks, and the Forrestal had Hollywood racks. Quite the step up in comfort and when I transferred from Forrestal to the DD-714, it was a long step backwards.
I was talking to an army vet a while back and he was going on about the comfort in the Navy, I told him that it wasn’t like he thought, and sometimes I couldn’t get the air conditioning vent in my rack to be exactly the right temperature, and further more, every once in a while the lobster was a bit rubbery, and the cooks made my filet mignon medium rare, even though I had asked for rare.
Then I stared blandly at him while he turned bright red.
Good times.
Moving the bunks together was a nice touch.
It is an imaginative approach. And like John in Philly said, above, it’s a long long way from the laced canvas racks on the DD715.
Hey, the film editor got the Air Force facilities mixed up with those of the Navy!!
I used to hate TDY to Navy, but htis looks better than we had it USAF.
Like a cruise liner.
Nobody will ever do this for the AF missile crews. On the other hand, there are songs about missiles on YouTube, by the Groobers, from F.E. Warren AFB,WY, from about ’73 or thereabouts.
The coffee spew hit the far wall – a new record for Internet humor. Tom asked the question that first came to mind. Good job on the video!
Having been on a few of the 60/70’s era carriers, CVA-59, CVA-62, CVA- 63, and then having to ride a WWII DD-864 with the DASH program, I’ll agree that it was a huge step to the rear! On top of that, me and my crew of intrepid aviators lived in the hangar right next to our two drones, even in the RED SEA. This, where the temp was in the 100+ degree range and NO AC at all except the ten to twenty mph hot air going thru with man door open up forward ; and the Hangar door up back aft! The most miserable 2 years of my 22!
Everett. When were you on Forrestal?
Hi John, I wasn’t ships company, but was on board every carrier that came to the Med from December 59 till Feb 61. I was with the target tow plane out of NAF Naples. I’d come out to the ships in my trusty AD5N Skyraider and zoom around letting all those black shoe gunners shoot at me! Hell I was about 21 then and thought that was great fun!
That was a bit before my time.
I joined her as ship’s company in mid summer of ’74 and transferred off mid summer of ’75.
I spent two years in # One Auxiliary Machinery Room.
I saw a picture of her in NY Harbor I think was. It had been decommissioned ,stripped of all the good stuff and was waiting to be towed to somewhere in the Far East to be cut up! Made me want to cry. Least they could have done was slice her up where she was built, and use the steel on the new ones! What? The DOD doesn’t practice recycling???
Push the beds together…..
That was great.
“Of course you can have sprinkles!”
True story. Back in the mid ’60’s I was in the AF and stationed at Key West NAS (the long range radars were operated by a USAF squadron). We had a new squadron commander take over. He was a colonel in the USAF reserve and his real job was VP for Schenedy Industries.
Anyhoo he came on board and after about a week went over to the base navy mess hall, had one meal, went back to his office and drafted a letter to the base commander advising him that the all personnel in his squadron were being placed on separate rations until the food in the mess hall came up to his standards.
Side bar: I didn’t care. I was already on sep/rats as I was a married AF E-3 living off base.
We almost always got sep rats when visiting a Navy or Marine base.
Rota and Lejeune being the exceptions.
On Lejeune we were placed in condemned barracks they didn’t put jarheads in.
Rota, the MAC guys got the treatment, but we got the triple high racks.
The struggle was real.
All- Yeah, we ‘know’ the truth… The USAF would turn down those quarters as unsuitable… sigh…
Posted from my iPhone.
I was an Airman in the Royal Australian Air Force, ’71-91, G-A-G comms was my job, and one time at RAAF Base Darwin during Exercise Pitch Black, late 80’s, we had a lot of visiting Yanks, driving A6’s ought of Hawii Hawaii, nice blokes. Towards the end of the first week, everyone was pretty much ‘settled in’, work (drinking) rosters running well, all’s good. I’m in the Mess (chow) line one lunchtime, crowded but moving smoothly, so I’m checking the menu board and saw Coral Trout and 1/2 Lobster as one of the four main choices. Yes, it’s the Enlisted Mess, but there was a LOT of private fishing done every day at Darwin so it was not unusual to have something like this, but not very often though. Anyway, I tapped the shoulder of the Aussie in front of me, he looked at me as I winked at him, ‘follow my lead’, he smiled. I said in a voice able to be heard by about 20 or so in the line, “Ah crap, bloody lobster and trout again”. The Aussie in front said without looking back, “Yeah, they’re getting a bit lazy, second time this week”. I finished with, “Ah well, what can a bloke do, just gotta eat it again I suppose”. The silent stunned looks on the Yanks faces still raise a smile even now.
Oops, insert Hawaii, and delete the two wrong ones please.
22 Years in and never aboard ship, always with planes too big to land on the boat. Looks like I missed out…
We had engine trouble flying from Ft. Sill to Ft. Riley and landed at an Airforce base (don’t remember which one).
We had to stay overnight while repairs were being done.
I was STUNNED the next morning at breakfast when the cook in the chow hall asked me how I wanted my eggs. It took me a few seconds to even understand the question. Best meal I ever had in the .mil.
Our barracks at Ft Gordon for AIT were WWII wood frames that had been mothballed for years. The rain blew through the closed windows and formed puddles that froze during the night. We shoveled coal into the furnace in the basement to keep kinda-sorta warm.
The Marine contingent in our group had not been issued field jackets coming from Camp Pendleton. They ran everywhere not only to show how tough they were, but also to keep warm.
Good times.
What a great video, but who’s responsible for the weird blue pixelated camo on the sailors? So, if they jump into the sea playing Minecraft (popular with kids) they’ll be invisible?
I think I heard music from “Victory at Sea.”
Yes, that’s exactly what M Division berthing on Forrestal was like. (Not)
My first ship had laced canvas racks, and the Forrestal had Hollywood racks. Quite the step up in comfort and when I transferred from Forrestal to the DD-714, it was a long step backwards.
I was talking to an army vet a while back and he was going on about the comfort in the Navy, I told him that it wasn’t like he thought, and sometimes I couldn’t get the air conditioning vent in my rack to be exactly the right temperature, and further more, every once in a while the lobster was a bit rubbery, and the cooks made my filet mignon medium rare, even though I had asked for rare.
Then I stared blandly at him while he turned bright red.
Good times.
Moving the bunks together was a nice touch.
It is an imaginative approach. And like John in Philly said, above, it’s a long long way from the laced canvas racks on the DD715.
Hey, the film editor got the Air Force facilities mixed up with those of the Navy!!
I used to hate TDY to Navy, but htis looks better than we had it USAF.
Like a cruise liner.
Nobody will ever do this for the AF missile crews. On the other hand, there are songs about missiles on YouTube, by the Groobers, from F.E. Warren AFB,WY, from about ’73 or thereabouts.
The coffee spew hit the far wall – a new record for Internet humor. Tom asked the question that first came to mind. Good job on the video!
Having been on a few of the 60/70’s era carriers, CVA-59, CVA-62, CVA- 63, and then having to ride a WWII DD-864 with the DASH program, I’ll agree that it was a huge step to the rear! On top of that, me and my crew of intrepid aviators lived in the hangar right next to our two drones, even in the RED SEA. This, where the temp was in the 100+ degree range and NO AC at all except the ten to twenty mph hot air going thru with man door open up forward ; and the Hangar door up back aft! The most miserable 2 years of my 22!
Everett. When were you on Forrestal?
Hi John, I wasn’t ships company, but was on board every carrier that came to the Med from December 59 till Feb 61. I was with the target tow plane out of NAF Naples. I’d come out to the ships in my trusty AD5N Skyraider and zoom around letting all those black shoe gunners shoot at me! Hell I was about 21 then and thought that was great fun!
That was a bit before my time.
I joined her as ship’s company in mid summer of ’74 and transferred off mid summer of ’75.
I spent two years in # One Auxiliary Machinery Room.
I saw a picture of her in NY Harbor I think was. It had been decommissioned ,stripped of all the good stuff and was waiting to be towed to somewhere in the Far East to be cut up! Made me want to cry. Least they could have done was slice her up where she was built, and use the steel on the new ones! What? The DOD doesn’t practice recycling???
Push the beds together…..
That was great.
“Of course you can have sprinkles!”
True story. Back in the mid ’60’s I was in the AF and stationed at Key West NAS (the long range radars were operated by a USAF squadron). We had a new squadron commander take over. He was a colonel in the USAF reserve and his real job was VP for Schenedy Industries.
Anyhoo he came on board and after about a week went over to the base navy mess hall, had one meal, went back to his office and drafted a letter to the base commander advising him that the all personnel in his squadron were being placed on separate rations until the food in the mess hall came up to his standards.
Side bar: I didn’t care. I was already on sep/rats as I was a married AF E-3 living off base.
We almost always got sep rats when visiting a Navy or Marine base.
Rota and Lejeune being the exceptions.
On Lejeune we were placed in condemned barracks they didn’t put jarheads in.
Rota, the MAC guys got the treatment, but we got the triple high racks.
The struggle was real.
All- Yeah, we ‘know’ the truth… The USAF would turn down those quarters as unsuitable… sigh…
Posted from my iPhone.
I was an Airman in the Royal Australian Air Force, ’71-91, G-A-G comms was my job, and one time at RAAF Base Darwin during Exercise Pitch Black, late 80’s, we had a lot of visiting Yanks, driving A6’s ought of Hawii Hawaii, nice blokes. Towards the end of the first week, everyone was pretty much ‘settled in’, work (drinking) rosters running well, all’s good. I’m in the Mess (chow) line one lunchtime, crowded but moving smoothly, so I’m checking the menu board and saw Coral Trout and 1/2 Lobster as one of the four main choices. Yes, it’s the Enlisted Mess, but there was a LOT of private fishing done every day at Darwin so it was not unusual to have something like this, but not very often though. Anyway, I tapped the shoulder of the Aussie in front of me, he looked at me as I winked at him, ‘follow my lead’, he smiled. I said in a voice able to be heard by about 20 or so in the line, “Ah crap, bloody lobster and trout again”. The Aussie in front said without looking back, “Yeah, they’re getting a bit lazy, second time this week”. I finished with, “Ah well, what can a bloke do, just gotta eat it again I suppose”. The silent stunned looks on the Yanks faces still raise a smile even now.
Oops, insert Hawaii, and delete the two wrong ones please.
22 Years in and never aboard ship, always with planes too big to land on the boat. Looks like I missed out…
We had engine trouble flying from Ft. Sill to Ft. Riley and landed at an Airforce base (don’t remember which one).
We had to stay overnight while repairs were being done.
I was STUNNED the next morning at breakfast when the cook in the chow hall asked me how I wanted my eggs. It took me a few seconds to even understand the question. Best meal I ever had in the .mil.
Our barracks at Ft Gordon for AIT were WWII wood frames that had been mothballed for years. The rain blew through the closed windows and formed puddles that froze during the night. We shoveled coal into the furnace in the basement to keep kinda-sorta warm.
The Marine contingent in our group had not been issued field jackets coming from Camp Pendleton. They ran everywhere not only to show how tough they were, but also to keep warm.
Good times.
What a great video, but who’s responsible for the weird blue pixelated camo on the sailors? So, if they jump into the sea playing Minecraft (popular with kids) they’ll be invisible?