[jingram058]

Originally Posted by jingram058

Yes sir. A couple of cold San Miguel beers on Magsaysay in Olongapo City before heading out to Gaines Beach in Barrio Barretto. The girls became a lot prettier after a few beers, and away from the Olongapo sailor traps. It was something like 47 pesos to the dollar, and a cold bottle of San Miguel was, what, 20 p's? Pretty reasonable for good beer. Add some lumpia and pancit noodles, naked girls, and...well, you know how it is.

Then we would go back out and go in circles, cyclic flight ops between the carrier and Cubi Point Naval Air Station, before heading up to Hong Kong, then Sasebo, Japan on the island of Kyushu, where we would offload missiles and bombs, then fly off the air wing to Atsugi Naval Air Station before we pulled into Yokosuka, our home port. These were 3 month cruises around the South China Sea. When we went to the Indian Ocean, we would hit these same places in reverse going out, and hit them again coming back, but also stopping in Singapore and Pattaya Beach, Thailand. We also went to Mombasa, Kenya.

When I was on USS Independence CV-62, after Desert Shield/Desert Storm, we traded places with the Midway, and Indy then became the forward-deployed carrier. Same liberty ports, but one cruise we went to Sydney, Australia. And that is a story in itself...

You really haven't lived until you've done 3 and 1/2 months on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean, going in circles off the entrance to the Gulf of Oman, without seeing land of any kind.

And Wog Day (crossing the equator on a Navy ship, where, if you've never done it before, you get transformed from being a lowly pollywog to a trusty shellback) on an aircraft carrier is something to truly behold. Visiting the Royal Barber, before appearing in front of Davy Jones and Neptunus Rex, and getting a proper shellback haircut. The Royal Barber is usually something like a Chief Machinist's Mate. "Don't worry son, it'll grow back out by the time we reach Singapore."