by w.m. worry, usnr
'67 was a helluva year, wasn't it? i guess you people know that we set a flight record in september of this year. during that month we flew a total of 1,123 hours with crew 5 the high time crew---198 hours. course, all this would be alot more difficult if we didn't have the very latest equipment and aircraft. That's one of the great things about the navy---the best and latest equipment always on hand.
another great thing about the flying we do here is that we always fly in ideal conditions---right! can't you imagine what some of these guys look like since they're mean enough to make us fly in this crap we fly in? i figure they kinda have to get in the mood for it. first their wives cut them off, then, they have a flat going to work and it builds and builds from this stage...they walk in the office thinking, "now, who the hell can i get back at for all that has happened, then they think vw-1! why did i think of that before now? i figure it goes something like this... they find charts of all the bad things in the world, i'll bet you didn't know that they had bad thing charts, did you? they look at all these bad thing charts and then they pick the weather in the western pacific. then, they pick a crew in vw-1. the crew is one that has just finished their deployment and is loading in the p.i. to come back to duva. they (did you ever wonder who these people "they" are? actually, they pick a new group of "theys" every ten days so you can never find out. i think my name was on the list once--prerequisite is that you have to have at least two years of school) find the most terrible weather in westpac then, they send real strong thought waves to get this crew coming back from deployment to fly back and forth, back and forth, thru this weather for the next 14 hours. oh, they also make damn sure that everyone has a hangover before they get on the plane.
here's something that cracks me up. the people will work their cans off in the squadron for maybe two ro three months, and finally get some sort of r&r. when they finally get out on liberty they order their first beer, give all the girls a big hug and then, they all get in a huddle and talk about the squadron for several hours--happens everytime, doesn't it?
a fellow awhile back said, "don't you just love to fly?" i said, "hell, no!!" and he said, "good god, why, i thought all you people were just wild about the adventure of flying." well, i sorta explained to him why i wasn't too crazy about it sometimes. i said that i wasn't really a pilot, i did something else in the aircraft besides fly it. i told him that it would be like if you had something on the ground that they could use to simulate a flight. they probably would use an old freuhauf aluminum trailer, get the inside up to about 150 degrees, have you put on some old mechanic's coveralls, then they send you inside that hunk o' metal, and you strap yourself down and then, they shake it like hell until you throw up all over yourself. after you do this for about 14 hours, how in the hell do you expect anyone to say, "oh, boy! i was just up for 14 hours and barfed four times...loved every minute of it!"
when i first came to vw-1, they told me that i was going to have to stand watches. course, this was a long time ago but i never will forget some of the instructions they had for me. one of the most important things is to read the message boards to see if there is anything important and if there is, be sure and tell the codo. the first time i looked at one of those messages i didn't understand one damn thing--looked like chicken scratching. i asked this guy who was giving me the indoc what the hell it said and he said, "i don't know but, you'll learn to tell if it's important." he was kinda right. in my time here, reading these messages, i've learned one big thing--ruhba gets a helluva lot of messages. course, to this day i've never met the guy. for a guy who gets as many messages as he does he doesn't get around too much. i don't even know whether he's officer or enlisted.
i know you've heard people talking about the dollar just not going as far as it used to. well, all i got to say to these people is that they just don't know what the hell they are talking about. seems to me that it's going a lot more places than it ever has before. vietnam, that's 13,000 miles right there. this is not to mention brazil, panama, india, taiwan, japan, israel, saudia arabia and numerous others. seems to me it goes so far it's the number one traveler today.
talked to gage hartman awhile back and he said that he would like to have his name in the paper, so......gage hartman.
i'm taking this simplified, electronics course from Vasser and through this course i have developed a whole new theory on light and light bulbs. you see, we've all been wrong these many years. everyone thinks it's understood that when you turn on a light bulb it gives forth light--not so! when you flip the switch to a light bulb it quickly sucks up all the darkness. i figure that's why all the power lines are black. brother dave once said if you look at something in the right light, you aint going to find no darkness. figure that out.
i'm writing this article before christmas and i can't get my mind off of presents. it's got to be better than last year. all i got was one of those wood-carved fingers from the philippines. course, i didn't make a lot of friends in some of these countries we go to. i know one boy who got fish from the philippines and a stalk of bananas from taiwan.
i guess he made friends with a lot of people.
this is another one out of the way. i just kinda waded through this one as you can see. maybe if this one gets as far as the "eye", i'll try my luck next issue.
You'll need it, worry!---Editor.
The tally's in. We now have the total number of fixes, broken down by crews, for the year 1967:
Crew 5 - 53
Crew 4 - 47
Crew 7 - 42
Crew 2 - 41
Crew 8 - 34
Crew 1 - 33
Crew 6 - 30
Crew 3 - 22
The squadron really outdid itself this year. Our 1967 total was 356!
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICERS
LTJG Fesmire
LTJG R. D. Golding
LTJG J. D. Sibley
EDITOR*TYPING*JOURNALISM
ATR2 E. L. McCaul (calligraphy and Logo art work)
ATR3 D. F. Campbell
SN D. "Bee" Barnes (the "voice" on Guam AFRTS radio)
