scotty's view

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Scotty's View

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My 1969 Plymouth Road Runner

More 69 Runner pictures

MORE 69 RUNNER PICS COMING SOON

My Thoughts On Surviving Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma

A Tribute to the Super HILAC

In memory of one of the greatest atom smashers of all time

A Tribute to the USS Oriskany CVA34

The USS Oriskany CVA 34 aka:The Mighty "O" of Korea and Vietnam. -was an aircraft carrier that was stationed at the Alameda Naval Air Station in Alameda, California. I was fortunate to have served aboard this heroic navy vessel. I reported aboard, in late 1969 when I was still a green seaman who was trying to become an ET. The first person that I met in the ET Shop (electronics shop) was ET Chief Tanaka. He seemed like a nice little chief ...at least that was the case until he found out that I was still a seaman because I had not done especially well in Branch 2 of Electronics School. I learned that very first day, that Chief Tanaka had once been the head of the ET "A" school, and he expected the best from his crew. That was the beginning of some interesting times for me and Chief "T".

I spent most of my first months on the "O" Boat in port doing some compartment and head cleaning, and standing many watches walking around a dumpster for 4 hours in the middle of the night. This introduction to carrier life was only a temporary thing, and eventually we did go out to sea for a very long time. I spent most of 1970 and 1971 floating in the waters off Vietnam. I never really agreed with the political reasons I was there in the service of my country instead of being back in California going to college. In the end my questioning the war really didn't matter, but my being there wasn't a total loss. I made a bunch of new and interesting friends while I was in the Navy. I still stay in touch with some of them today :-)

That time that I spent floating around Vietnam and in the Philippines definitely changed me forever. It took a few years for the whole experience with the Vietnam war to settle in, but those days that I spent in southeast Asia made me come to understand just how lucky I was to live in the country that I live in. We in the U.S. have so much in our everyday life that we take for granted. Others in this world are not so fortunate. I have seen-and smelled-the third world and I am grateful to have come home from it alive. Without my tour of duty on the Oriskany I would have never seen the world or learned what I did about life. It was hard to be in the Navy-when I didn't want to be - when I was young... but I look back now and remember the good and forget the bad. But then, isn't that the way most of us are in our latter years?

Sadly, the Mighty 'O' is no more. In May of 2006 she was sunk off the coast of Pensacola Florida and became the largest manmade reef on the ocean floor. Gladly the Mighty 'O' was not salvaged and turned into razor blades. Instead, she sits proudly on the ocean floor where the fish and plankton are now her new crew. Her sinking was a fitting tribute and respectful end for this heroic navy ship that served and protected this country for so many years.

Some Oriskany Links

Gerry Benner's USS Oriskany Homepage Vietnam Era