Coming Home Safely
Welcome home to the officers and crew of USS Springfield (SSN 761), who returned to Groton yesterday after a six month deployment to the CENTCOM AOR. Here's a picture:
Some more pictures of the homecoming can be found here. As we celebrate Veteran's Day, we honor all those who have served our nation, whether they returned home safely like the men of Springfield or if they were not so fortunate. How can we, as a nation, best honor our veterans and their families? Alternately, why did you join the military? (My story isn't very uplifting -- it was the old "got involved with the wrong girl and stupidly threw away a lot of chances, and looked to the Navy as a way to restart my life" tale. I'm hoping some of my readers have better narratives.)
While you're pondering, here's a teaser for an upcoming CNN report on veterans of the Submarine Service during the Cold War.
posted by Bubblehead at 8:27 AM
37 Comments:
Welcome home, Warriors.
11/11/2011 9:12 AM
You can probably sum up 90% of nuke enlisted in one of the following categories:
- Smart but lazy
- Smart but broke
- Smart but lazy and broke
Happy Veteran's Day. Remember those you served with who have passed, whatever the circumstances.
11/11/2011 10:11 AM
I was always enamored with the military, and as corny as it sounds, I felt that I owed a debt to the USA for the benefits to which I was privy. Couple that with me knowing that I wasn't mature enough to go away to a large university without "adult supervision" to do what needed to be done, and hello U.S. Navy. I did six years as a nuke, got out, went to work in nuclear power, got my BS, and have been happily employed ever since. I even met my wife six months before I got out.
People often ask if I enjoyed the Navy, and I tell them some, but not so much. However, when asked if I would do it again, I say, "Without hesitation."
Thanks to everyone else who anted up.
BTW, leaving Groton when it's cold in May and returning when it's cold in November has got to suck. Precisely why I went to San Diego.
11/11/2011 10:13 AM
Good to see my old shipmate Rick Panlilio bring his boat home safe and sound. Good job, skipper!
As for why I joined, my dad joined the Navy in 1945 when he was 16. He did 9 years, got out as an E-6, then made chief in the reserves (where he was as I was growing up). When I started talking to him about using the military as a way to pay for college, he said "Don't be an idiot like me, son. Make them pay for your education up front, and go in as an officer."
Since I'd grown up with a CPO telling me what to do, I thought it would be great to tell them what to do. (Little did I realize that when you're an officer, you still have chiefs telling you what to do...) I applied for an NROTC scholarship to pay for my college.
I had no intention of making it a career, figuring I'd do my four and get out. Somewhere along the way, that four turned into twenty...
11/11/2011 11:07 AM
You get a lei, even in Groton? At least there wasn't a broom, as far as I could see.
11/11/2011 11:50 AM
Hooters (for one) is offering 10 free wings with a drink purchase. Sounds like win-win for me.
Veterans are more respected now than post-Vietnam, and even since 9/11. Current respect, both from employers and almost all citizens, is fine- as long as being a veteran isn't used to justify bad behavior (i.e., the Hawaii Safeway sandwich stealer- some are mad at Safeway for being "anti-pregnant veterans".
I was a Navy brat and typical nuc enlistee per the 1011 anon. There was a lot of unnecessary BS, but the experience was overall a positive. I'm currently encouraging my goddaughter to take the ASVAB and see what's available- she is certainly smart and "unmotivated".
11/11/2011 12:13 PM
To anon @ 10:11 ...
Thank you for you generous and unsolicited opinion of us. I am sure the enlisted personnel whom served with you are equally enamoured with your contribution to the defense of our great nation.
GYF SIR, you sound like a real douche bag prick O' ganger.
11/11/2011 1:05 PM
@SparkyWT - Actually, when I was at the first assembly when I started enlisted Nuke School (Class 8406), the CMC said a very similar thing. I doubt that commenter was an officer, but he may have been.
11/11/2011 1:58 PM
Nice finishing touch on a successful deployment - Rick Panlilio selected for Major Command yestrday. Congrats!
11/11/2011 1:58 PM
My dad was a WWII vet. Was CO of a destroyer in Tokyo Bay at the end.
He was called back to service during Korean War and stationed in New London aboard USS Witek (EDD-848). There I fell for the submarines!
He persuaded me to enlist in the reserves as a path to fleet appointment to USNA but I didn't pass the physical. Where was Lasik surgery when I needed it?
Went to Sub School and A school then to active duty.
Discharged RM2(SS). You bet I'd do it again.
11/11/2011 3:56 PM
Joined the Navy and submarines because I read a lot of WWII stories about the boats and their exploits. I enlisted into nuclear field and it was the right fit. It was tough duty, but rewarding and my crewmates were the best bunch of guys I can remember in my life. I enjoyed going to sea and seeing foreign places. Being in homeport sucked because we were usually cleaning or fixing things that broke, but it was the best experience a young, tech-savvy person could ask for. I had a very rewarding 6 year enlistment because I made the best of each day and assignment that came my way.
11/11/2011 4:33 PM
I enlisted to keep from moving back to my parents house on a more permanent basis. I am an Air Force brat, but was a Navy NJROTC geek when I was in high school so I always knew I was going into the service.
I thought I would go into the Air Force and be a meteorologist but when I walked into the recruiter's it was a Navy guy sitting at the desk and not the AIr Force. I went and spoke with the Air Force guy who said that I could go to basic and get a job there, to which I replied no thank you and I went to talk the Navy recruiter.
He said, "Have you ever heard of the Navy nuclear power program?" It was history from there.
I would do it all over again given the choice. I met my husband in A-school, and when he was commissioned it was a easy for us to decide that I could not stay in if we wanted a family. I do miss it. I really miss being on the water and not being able to see any land. I always made a point to go look at the water a few times a week. The darndest thing I ever saw was flying fish. Those things are really cool.
I also enjoyed it when the planes were flying. My dad used to fly on C-130s and KC-135s and living on Air Force bases, we got to see a lot of airplanes. I never really got tired of watching them.
11/11/2011 6:02 PM
Late summer 1959 was invited to leave. Seventeen, about to start senior year in HS. Didn't know what else to do; so... That's when the adventure began.
No regrets about that decision, do regret a few made since though. No matter though. Had a fruitful 28 year Navy career, met and married the best young woman ever born in Utah, and had a very rewarding career after retirement from a the Navy.
11/11/2011 6:02 PM
Was sick of school and wanted independence from my parents. Have always been patriotic & knew from a young age I would serve in one branch or another. Didn't like the idea of humping a pack or catching bullets. Mom & Dad were Air Force so wanted to forge my own way ahead.
11/11/2011 9:24 PM
I jopined the USAF to Honor my Dad who was US Army Air Corp.I had wanted to join the Navy,but after the battle royals we had I decided that I would honor him and Go Air Force.I always wondered if I would have stayed in had I went Navy.
11/11/2011 9:47 PM
I joined the Navy 27 years ago this week, to get out of trouble and see if I could make somethng of myself, more than what I saw around me. The huge recruiting push and benefits of a Nuke career didn't hurt either. I was neither lazy nor broke, but I was smart enough to stick it out and apply for commissioning. What I think we often miss is that this career is much more difficult for our families than it is for us. Don't forget to thank them this Veterans Day.
11/12/2011 6:35 AM
I always say I enlisted because I had good grades but not good enough to make up for my lack of money...but I think I really just wanted to get away from home.
11/12/2011 6:23 PM
@SparkyWt - dunno why you have such a problem w/anon@1011. I was an enlisted nuc, and he was spot on, and since I still work in the program, it is still true. I don't have a problem being honest and standup about the circumstances of my enlistment, and most of my peers would say the same. I have to ask, "Who the fuck are you?"; I wonder if you have ever been on a submarine - you certainly don't seem to have a clue about the guys who've served on the boats.
11/12/2011 9:46 PM
I was kicking around, on track to barely pass my senior year, when Aaron Stephens ( who had graduated. Few months earlier) showed up at the high school in his mom's van with a new haircut. He was in the nuke program and "he was being trained to be a nuclear engineer in just 6 months"...that sounded awesome and I rolled into the recruiters office. it's been 18 years...
11/13/2011 12:38 PM
Me mother was a mermaid and me father was King Neptune. I guess you can say was born a squid.
11/13/2011 5:26 PM
@FastAttackChief
"All me bloomin' life, sir! Me mother was a mermaid, me father was King Neptune. I was born on the crest of a wave and rocked in the cradle of the deep. Seaweed and barnacles are me clothes. Every tooth in me head is a marlinspike; the hair on me head is hemp. Every bone in me body is a spar, and when I spits, I spits tar! I'se hard, I is, I am, I are."
Ah, plebe year...
11/13/2011 9:40 PM
GYF SIR, you sound like a real douche bag prick O' ganger.
And YOU sound like you take yourself waaaaaaaaaay too seriously.
The only nukes not in those three categories I listed (smart/lazy, smart/broke, smart/broke/lazy) are the stupid ones. Is that where you fit in?
11/14/2011 1:15 PM
Oh, and PS....I am a former 8 year enlisted nuke EM1/SS.
11/14/2011 1:16 PM
And oh by the way, what the hell is "GYF" - go yourself fuck? What are you, Shakespeare reborn as a 20-something malcontent?
11/14/2011 2:55 PM
In other pulling in to port news: the Texas looks like hammered sh!t coming alongside the Land in Subic:
http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=110339
I will give them the benefit of the doubt they were doing god's work against the communists, and in the heat of the moment got run over – but I did the same deity's work and got run over, and I didn't look half as bad.
-LT L
11/14/2011 6:32 PM
The retarded comments on the Texas are just that, uniformed and retarded.
Morons.
hagar,
Those that know me know me.
11/14/2011 10:56 PM
I joined to pay for college.
Best way to honor vets is to improve the VA medical system.
11/15/2011 8:02 AM
hagar,
What is a uniformed comment? Did you mean uninformed? You may want to check your spelling before calling someone a retard or a moron.
11/16/2011 2:08 PM
LOL,
That was a good catch! But I can
admit to not being perfect, I'm an
a'gangr, just read it in a critique.
My surfaces equal my number of dives
for a reason.
hagar
11/19/2011 12:45 AM
I like this post! Thanks a lot.
12/09/2011 5:32 AM
Thanks for the article. Very interesting.
12/21/2011 6:00 AM
Hats off! to all officers. article was so good, pictures are also very amazing.
2/17/2012 6:16 AM
Congratulations! In returning back home officers,you guys are so amazing its a long time to live inside water.I really appreciate you its not so easy to live in water.Great post!
2/25/2012 2:04 AM
Thanks for sharing all of the six months experience which you get under water,i enjoy to read your giving article.
3/07/2012 10:26 PM
Welcome back at sea shore after a long long time you guys looking very happy or its a moment to became happy, i also like navy so much but because low marks i didnt get admission but no problem there is always good plan behind every failure.
3/24/2012 7:27 AM
Hey whats dis its a great news you guys posted here,wow a read i found here its amazing news i really find this type of news from so many days and finally i found this on your.Like everything here you described it so easily no difficulties i understanding.
4/13/2012 3:47 AM
Hi, this is first time i am visiting your site and happy to see such a great article here, so many things new i came to know by your article. Thanks for all your efforts you made here for us. Will back soon for more updates.
4/18/2013 2:23 AM
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