Thread: Military Service

Some of the guys from my plt during the last months of our deployment in Afghanistan. I'm bottom left, 249 gunner/minehound(point man during patrols with shitty metal detector)/driver entire time. Mustve fine at least 30-40 patrols in the lead with that damn minehound and SAW.

Haha, brother 2 ID is who we RIP'd with. And no kidding, this was the best RIP I've ever had. Really smooth. You boys did a great job. Small Army brother, small Army... Hell, we may have even shared a smoke at the RSOI during the transition. Anyways, since you're back there now, and I'm still here, do me a solid and throw back a Blue Boar for me. I haven't been able to get my hands on any Henry's for years since I left the NW. Enjoy a couple weekends for me, just not near Bremerton... nothin' against the squids (my brother is there), I've just seen the women around there... kinda scary... lmao

Where were you based in afghan? My plt was in the ahrgandab moved around to multiple fobs its is seriously likely we did have a smoke together haha

Not where I was, where I am... KAF... our boys now are living in your old room... or rooms (depending on how many times you moved). lol On a good note, the season is getting late, and in a couple months here should really settle down... (as I knock on wood, throw salt over my shoulder and any other supersticious stuf to make it happen). Working closures while still putting wood to a** is enough to really wear you out. lol.

Oh I know the feeling, we were pulling dismount patrols while closing out a couple fobs. Stay safe out there man

Ketsco, those overly large, scary women yoy speak of a called bremalows by the squids up there. I know because my only active duty ship was home ported in Bremerton at psns

My wife was a MA in the navy she wad stationed up at kitsap

Originally Posted by karlej

U.S. Navy Masterchief Petty Officer. 23 years service. Retired 1993
HAL-3 Seawolves - Binh Thuy, Viet Nam 71-72. You feel old when you see your old squadron on the History Channel.

I have big respect for you Navy guys! My Father was a machinist on the USS Bunker Hill in WWII. He recently passed away at the age of 87 and the Navy Chief of Staff arranged to have him buried at sea in a ceremony on the current USS Bunker Hill, a modern guided missile cruiser built in 1985.

World War II
1943–45

Reporting to the U.S. Pacific Fleet in the autumn of 1943, Bunker Hill participated in carrier operations during: the crucial carrier air raid on the major Imperial Japanese Navy base at Rabaul, along with the USS Essex and the USS Independence on 11 November 1943; Gilbert Islands operation, including support of the landings on Tarawa Atoll (13 November – 8 December); the air raids on Kavieng in support of the amphibious landings in the Bismarck Archipelago (25 December 1943, 1 January, and 4 January 1944); air raids in the Marshall Islands (29 January – 8 February); the huge carrier air raids on Truk Atoll (17–18 February), during which eight I.J.N. warships were sunk; air raids on the Marianas Islands (Guam, Saipan, and Tinian) (23 February); air raids on Palau, Yap, Ulithi, and Woleai in the Palau Islands (30 March – 1 April); air raids on Truk, Satawan, and Ponape in the Caroline Islands (29 April – 1 May); raids in support of the U.S. Army landings around Hollandia (21–28 April); combat operations in the Marianas in support of the amphibious landings on Saipan and Guam (12 June – 10 August), including the titanic Battle of the Philippine Sea, just west of the Marianas.


USS Bunker Hill under attack, 19 June 1944.
On 19 June 1944, during the opening phases of the landings in the Marianas, Bunker Hill was damaged when the explosion of a Japanese aerial bomb scattered shrapnel fragments across the decks and the sides of the aircraft carrier. Two sailors were killed, and about 80 more were wounded. Bunker Hill continued to fight, with her antiaircraft fire shooting down a few I.J.N. warplanes.
During this Battle of the Philippine Sea, about 476 Japanese warplanes were destroyed, nearly all of them shot down by Navy F6F Hellcat fighter planes, such as were carried by Bunker Hill

During September, Bunker Hill carried out air raids in the Western Caroline Islands, and then she and her task force steamed a long way to the north to launch air raids on Luzon, Formosa, and Okinawa, through early November.
On 6 November 1944, Bunker Hill steamed eastward from the forward area, and she was taken to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard, for a period of major overhaul/upkeep work and weaponry upgrades, as all warships must undergo periodically. She departed from the Port of Bremerton on 24 January 1945, and then she steamed westward back into the combat area in the Western Pacific.
1945

During the remaining months of World War II, Bunker Hill fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima; the 5th Fleet raids against Honshū and the Nansei Shoto (15 February – 4 March); and the 5th and 3rd Fleet raids in support of the Battle of Okinawa. On 7 April 1945, Bunker Hill's planes took part in an attack by the Fast Carrier Task Force of the Pacific Fleet on Imperial Japanese Navy forces in the East China Sea. The superbattleship Yamato, one light cruiser, and four destroyers were sunk during this Operation Ten-Go, as it was called by the Japanese Navy.

On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the invasion of Okinawa, Bunker Hill was struck and severely damaged by two Japanese kamikaze planes. Suffering two kamikazes strikes in 30 seconds: An A6M Zero fighter plane emerged from low cloud cover, dove toward the flight deck and dropped a 550-pound (250 kilogram) bomb that penetrated the flight deck and exited from the side of the ship at gallery deck level before exploding in the ocean.[3] The Zero next crashed onto the carrier's flight deck, destroying parked warplanes full of aviation fuel and ammunition, causing a large fire. The remains of the Zero went over the deck and dropped into the sea. Then, a short 30 seconds later, a second Zero, piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, plunged into its suicide dive. The Zero went through the antiaircraft fire, dropped a 550-pound bomb, and then crashed into the flight deck near the carrier's "island", as kamikazes were trained to aim for the island superstructure. The bomb penetrated the flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place. Bunker Hill lost a total of 346 sailors and airmen killed, 43 more missing (and never found), and 264 wounded. She was heavily damaged and was sent to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard for repairs. She was still in the shipyard when the war ended in mid-August 1945.




Thanks to all you Navy guys!

WP34

US Army Medical Corps 1984 - 1992. My Father-in-Law told me in '84 (he swore me in) -- "Just remember that it ain't MASH."
It wasn't. If it had been I might have put in 20. Chain of command drove me nuts. Just couldn't get used to answering to idiots. Common problem for a lot of soldiers, I think.

US Navy 1986-1992.