Re: Fav CAG story (was Re: US Navy nose cone colours?)

On 03 Dec 2003 00:22:11 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Gordon) wrote:


>Beats my first encounter with him.  I was a pup, not old enough to
>drink/shave/vote/etc., and our first portcall was the Bahamas.  
Ah Nassau, my first port and introduction to the reality of port
visits -- they ain't cracked up to be like the travel posters would
have you believe.... 
>Remember the Playboy Club?
*ahem*  Not that I would admit to in public ;)
>To show how much of a kid I was, I honestly thought CAG
>and the Air Boss were the same guy - and I was used to the Boss bellowing for
>me by then. 
Chimp Head!  Yea, we *all* recall him fondly (not)...rumor had it one
of the tower monkeys got so tired of his bellowing that one overnight
period a box of grease pencils was used to color out all but one small
square  of the window in front of his chair (he was a Viggie
RAN)...then there was the flyoff from hell (well, most all of 'em were
the fly off from hell come to think of it...), but the best one was
the *one* flyoff that I was in the cripple (no backend, marginal nav,
marginal port engine (just reset the damn circuit breaker...), one
radio (out of 5 installed), well, you get the picture.  I'm listening
on land/launch when one bright light pipes up (after another of his
rants) "see ya later Chimp Head"  ... me, sitting in the back suddenly
sat up right thinking "did I hear what I think I heard????"  Two
heartbeats later came the Cardinal Sin ... "Who called me Chimp Head?"
Just as I'm thinking "geez, I'm only a JG and even I would never do
that..." came the gleeful chorus of "104, negative on the Chimp Head
Boss...202, negative on the Chimp Head boss, 012, negative on the
chimp head boss..." and so forth.  Another Ike/Hallmark moment :)
>
>Will, have you ever written it all down?  I bet you could put together
>something with a career like yours.  
I don't know, has the statue of limitations run out yet? :D
>If you need pix of Ike, let me know - I
>took hundreds on that cruise (already looked - I have a couple good shots of
>one of your birds on the cat at readiness, but unforch its a bit soft focused).

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind...for reference, there turned out to be
a certain symmetry between IKE and I.  After serving time on Alcatraz
(East) (aka IKE in the early 80's) w/VAW-121, went on to JFK (VAW-126,
and boy, do I have some stories from *that* deployment), Coral Maru
(VAW-127) and finally VAW-122 (they got rid of FID before I had a
chance to decom her...) and then, back to IKE as the Gator.  Got to
know a whole lot more of her than I ever imagined whilst in the air
wing.  One hasn't truly experienced the bulk of a carrier until one
has crawled/hobbled underneath one to the centerline/amidships doing a
hull inspection before coming out of dry dock. 

Will Dossel
Last of the Steeljaws (VAW-122)

P.S. It's threads like this that I really enjoy about this NG :)