NTTC Corry Station

sorry - - was up with the grandkids over the week-end - - and last week was kinda busy for some unusual reason...

naval technical training center, corry station, pensacola florida - 1970! here's a link to a page that will show you an old wwII map of the base and give you a bit of the base history. although it was no longer an active air base by the 1970s the runways and the hangars and other buildings were all still there...Corry Station Pensacola, FL

what a wonderful place! corry station was an old WWII air station. the classrooms and labs were all in the old hangar buildings - they had been closed up and outfitted with classrooms and the necessary office spaces for curriculum development and all that good stuff.

there was a row of these old hangers - - along what used to be the runway - seems to me it was 3 and then the quarterdeck (which used to be the old control tower bldg) and then 3 or four more of the hangars/classrooms.

after checking in i was taken over to the common building - a big open type building with racks (beds) stacked up. this was like a holding area when you stayed while waiting for your classmates and start date for your school. i was only there for 3 or four nights. then we were assigned to rooms over in the barracks. these were old wooden WWII barracks that hadn't changed much since that war!

there were four guy in a room. simply furnished - two sets of stackable beds - one on either side of the room. desk in the middle - two lockers at the end of each set of racks. each room had a window - fortunately - there was no air conditioning in any of the barracks.

we weren't allowed to wear "civvies" - uniforms only until we made it through what they called the basic training part of the school. since it was spring/summer, we wore our whites most everywhere.

at first the class i was in was for communications technician "r" - or intercept operator. mostly because it was in my record that i knew morse code. which i did - still do matter of fact. without meaning to brag, i can still stick copy 25-30 gpm. sorry - that means pencil and paper and copy about 25-30 groups per minute of code. believe it or not, it's a useful skill.

when i found out though that they expected me to spend hours and hours a day copying code, i said...no that's not how i want to do this. so i sort of failed out of the class (more or less intentionally) and was changed over to communications technicican "o" - or communications operator school.

this was much more to my liking! we learned how to type on the old teletypewriter machines. in fact we had to type a particular speed in order to get out of the first part of the training and move on! then we learned how to read paper tape. when you typed on the teletype, it cut a paper tape with 5-level baudot code...

Mod-28 teletype set

as you can see it has a printer. then on the left side in the glass enclosure is where the machine is that cut a tape of what you typed. on the far left is what's known as the td (transmitting distributor). you used the td to send the type you just made.

the following link is to a site that let's you see what a typed baudot tape would look like. you need java to make it run - - just click in the green section and then start typing - - like type your abc's.....you'll see what they look like on tape. baudot tape link

anyway we spend a few weeks learning our way around the keyboard and tape reading. we had to be able to type over 50wpm to move on and we had to read tape with no more than one error in order to move on.....happy to say i'm still proficient at both of those things! lol

part of the reason for them spending the better part of the first month teaching us these things was that a lot of us were still waiting on our security clearances! we could learn these parts of the training without necessarily having your full clearance.

once your clearance was finalized, you were indoctrinated as to what type of clearance you were being granted and had to sign all kinds of papers - then the training actually started.

communications techs were taught literally how to communicate. our job was to take messages, type them up, check them for accuracy and transmit them to the intended recipient. we also learned how to setup transmission lines, circuits, cryptographic equipments - how they worked and which ones were best for which use, radio transmitters and receivers for audio, digital and analog use.

here's a couple of links to some of the crypto devices we became familiar with:
this one, this one, and this one are just some example. by the way, that's an excellent website if you take the take to peruse......

of course, we marched everywhere - to and from classes, to and from the barracks, to the chow hall and back. plus there was lots and lots of cleanups - rooms inspections, id inspections. it was a pretty intense couple of months. plenty of memorizing and study work to learn all the receivers, how they worked, what you could and could not tune in. i think we spent most of our days with headphones on - lol - i think i spent 20 odd years with headphones on! it's no wonder i'm mostly deaf nowadays (i hear static - like radio static constantly in both ears)...

so much for business - - next time i'll post about the liberty, the motorcycles, the drag racing and the girls!!!!

history of me part 2

my girls are getting a kick out of this - - i don't think they've ever heard this part and really have very little idea of what i do for a living....(not that it's at all exciting!)

so we ended bootcamp and went into our extra four weeks of fun, most of the guys in my company were getting orders - lots of ships, lots of schools, couple guys were accepted into sub school - they were all excited about that.

i didn't get any orders - - in fact, i was the only one without orders until the middle of our four week fun time. but my orders didn't get posted up on the company bulletin board - i was called back over to that same building again and told that my orders were in the envelope i was signing for. once i opened and read them, i was to tell no one about it but i could say that i had received orders to a school for approximately 4 months. and i had to attend one last briefing the day before i was to leave bootcamp to go home on leave.

now you gotta remember here - - i was an eighteen year old kid - - the vietnam war was pretty much reaching a high point. guy that i graduated with, or were friends with had already been drafted and were already there in country. to me, this was like exciting!

so we finished up our training and i attended that final briefing over in that now familiar bldg. i finally learned a bit about what was going on. i was told that i had been granted a security clearance on a temporary basis - long enough to get me through the school i was to attend. i was going to a communications school and would be learning about different types of communications. they really banged hard on the security clearance thing - - how important it was and how my behavior would affect my clearance. on and on i heard that. and while i was ok that i told people i was going to school in florida, i wasn't supposed to divulge what kinda of school or anything like that.

so when i went home on my first leave near the end of april 1970 - i told the folks and my friends i was headed to florida to attend a communications school in pensacola. just like i had been told....

my grandparents lived down in clearwater, florida at one of those senior citizen places that were popping up all over that end of florida at that time. they had driven up to ohio to visit while i was home and we worked it out that i would ride back down with them and they would take me over to pensacola when i needed to report for school.

i had a good time for 3 or four days down there with all the old folks! then grandma and grandpa drove me up to pensacola - we spent the night at place downtown and grandpa dropped me off at the gate the next morning. seabag in hand - in my dress whites i walked through the gate - waved goodbye to my grandparents and headed for the quarterdeck building (501) to report, orders in hand.

this is kinda fun! maybe in a couple of days i'll do a segment about some of the things we did while there in pensacola. it was a great time!!

historical information!

ya know i seldom blog about my work. in fact, i can't think of a post about my work! i suppose there's no particular reason - - it's something i've never done!

let me tell you how it all started - - when i was in boot camp in chicago back in 1970 - january until april - - let me tell you how cold it was! we shoveled lots and lots of snow while i was there....anyway



one day early in bootcamp - during an exercise period i believe, i was suddenly called by by name by the company commander. this was unusual to say the least and - in my mind anyway - was probably going to result in nothing good!

instead he just growled at me and gave me a piece of paper and told me to report to this office in this bldg right now. no more explanation - just another growl - so i high-tailed it out of there quickly....

a few minutes later, i found the numbered bldg that was on the paper and the office that was listed also. i knocked and was told to come in. of course, i snapped in and did the seaman recruit so-and-so reporting as ordered, sir bit....

the little guy sitting at the desk was in a suit - civilian type suit - and told me to knock off the military stuff and sit down - which i did.

he then proceeded to tell me that my name had appeared on a list of possible selectees for a security clearance and a job in a classified activity. it was his job to do my initial screening for whatever this was all about.

in my mind, i remember saying to myself - this guy's nuts - this must be some kinda test or something. so i told sure sounded interesting to me.

he pulled out some papers and proceeded to tell me lots about myself - school, friends, where i had worked previously, that i had been a boy scout - - stuff that wasn't necessarily on any navy papers i had filled out! so after this i figure out that the guy must be mostly for real - - so i start paying attention.

he tells me that if i pass this interview there will be one more, and if i pass that one, i'll get a set of order to a special school after bootcamp and follow on orders to a classified location after the school is completed.

we chatted for about an hour if i remember rightly. he told me the only way i'd know if i'd make it further in the process is if i was contacted for the next interview. the guy actually said to me, if you don't hear anything further from us, enjoy your navy time.

wow!! so i went back to my company and sheeesh, the company commander was all upset. i was literally hauled into his office and chewed up one wall and down another. nobody in my companies has ever been pulled for this kinda #^%$!!! don't know what kinda crap you're pulling here - but yada yada yada.....fill in the salty language of your choice....it went downhill from there.

i had permanent head cleaning duty ("head" is bathroom in navy speak). i had every midnight to four watch that i could be assigned.

about a month later - - i got called out of formation again. same thing - slip of paper - bldg number, room number - go there now.

different guy - still civilian suit type. bit more friendly. he explained to me that i had passed the initial background investigations and was eligible for this assignment if i was interested. since i had no idea or clue what assignment or how or anything - - and the company commander guy sure wasn't gonna tell me anything! i figured what the heck.....let's go for it....

so i told the guy i was all for it. let's do it. he smiled - and handed me a large manila envelope with a stack of papers in it. musta been inch or so thick...told me that there was a geedunk pass in the envelope along with some phone chits so i could use the payphone there. (geedunk is navy speak for cafeteria/breakroom/game room).

i had 10 days to fill out all those papers and turn them in at the bldg/room marked on the front of the envelope.

in my mind i'm saying - ah S%&t;!! here we go again - - the company commander really gonna flake out over this one. and of course, he did. just to top off the thing - we had a horrible snow storm the next couple of days - - i shoveled snow on the parade grounds all night that night! and then was assigned the watch from 0600 to 1000 that next morning!!! plus i was left on the head cleaning duty!!!

and on top of all that i still had all those papers to fill out! and they wanted names, addresses, phones of all kinda relatives, friends, references, places i had worked, people i had worked with or for, if i owned a car, where i bought it, how much i paid or owed, girlfriends (was i serious with them or just friends?)!!

it was amazing - - i was glad for the geedunk chits and phone credits! i spent a lot of time on the phone with my folks figuring out who lived where and when and all that stuff.

bootcamp officially ended in april - - my company spent four extra weeks in what they called combat training. we learned about weapons, used the firing range, qualified as shooters, learned about grenades and some minor hand-to-hand stuff. mostly fun stuff!

i think i'll do this in sections - - i'll post another segment in a day or two...

movie meme

saw this over on dee's blog - sounded interesting so i figured i'd copy it. knew she wouldn't mind.....tks dee!

Movie meme
The rules are simple:

Using the Entertainment Weekly list of the top 100 movies from the last 25 years:

- Bold the movie if you’ve seen it.
- Put asterisks next to the movies you’ve seen and liked. four stars is great, three is good, two so-so, one eh-ok.
- If you saw a film and hated it, cross it out. (I don't know how to cross out so I just wrote hated it in parentheses)

Here goes:

1. Pulp Fiction 1994
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy 2001-03****
3. Titanic 1997 (hated it)
4. Blue Velvet 1986
5. Toy Story 1995***
6. Saving Private Ryan
7. Hannah and Her Sisters 1986
8. The Silence of the Lambs 1991
9. Die Hard 1988****
10. Moulin Rouge 2001****
11. This Is Spinal Tap 1984
12. The Matrix 1999****
13. GoodFellas 1990****
14. Crumb 1995
15. Edward Scissorhands 1990**
16. Boogie Nights 1997
17. Jerry Maguire 1996
18. Do the Right Thing 1989
19. Casino Royale 2006
20. The Lion King 1994
21. Schindler’s List 1993
22.Rushmore 1998
23. Memento 2001
24. A Room With a View 1986
25. Shrek 2001****
26. Hoop Dreams 1994
27. Aliens 1986***
28. Wings of Desire 1988
29. The Bourne Supremacy 2004
30. When Harry Met Sally****
31. Brokeback Mountain 2005
32. Fight Club 1999
33. The Breakfast Club 1985****
34. Fargo 1996
35. The Incredibles 2004****
36. Spiderman 2 2004
37. Pretty Woman 1990****
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 2004
39. The Sixth Sense 1999
40. Speed 1994
41. Dazed and Confused 1993
42. Clueless 1995
43. Gladiator 2000***
44. The Player 1992
45. Rain Man 1988
46. Children of Men 2006
47. Men in Black 1997****
48. Scarface 1983
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000****
50. The Piano 1993
51. There Will Be Blood 2007
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad 1988****
53. The Truman Show 1998
54. Fatal Attraction 1987***
55. Risky Business 1983
56. The Lives of Others 2006
57. There’s Something About Mary 1998*
58. Ghostbusters 1984****
59. L.A. Confidential 1997
60. Scream 1996
61. Beverly Hills Cop 1984****
62. Sex, Lies and Videotape 1989
63. Big 1988
64. No Country For Old Men 2007
65. Dirty Dancing 1987****
66. Natural Born Killers 1994
67. Donnie Brasco 1997
68. Witness 1985
69. All About My Mother 1999
70. Broadcast News 1987
71. Unforgiven 1992****
72. Thelma & Louise 1991
73. Office Space 1999
74. Drugstore Cowboy 1989
75. Out of Africa 1985
76. The Departed 2006
77. Sid and Nancy 1986
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991***
79. Waiting for Guffman 1996
80. Michael Clayton 2007
81. Moonstruck 1987***
82. Lost in Translation 2003
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn 1987
84. Sideways 2004
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin 2005
86. Y Tu Mamá También 2002
87. Swingers 1996
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery 1997
89. Breaking the Waves 1996
90. Napoleon Dynamite
91. Back to the Future 1985****
92. Menace II Society 1993
93. Ed Wood 1994
94. Full Metal Jacket 1987***
95. In the Mood for Love 2001
96. Far From Heaven 2002
97. Glory 1989
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley 1999***
99. The Blair Witch Project
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut 1999***

guess i've only seen 28 of the top 100! course there's a lot of movies that should have been on that list that ain't and some of those that did make their list would be questionable in my mind as "greatest 100 movies"....

an article i can agree with....

please take a couple of minutes and read the following article -

Commentary: Liking Obama, opposing his policies

i don't know who john feehery is - never read anything by him before. but as i read this one i found myself nodding in agreement.

i have a hard time with "hatred". i cannot "hate" obama - it just goes against my nature. i don't like his politics, i don't like his associates, i find most of his nominations to be undeserving of the post they're up for and most of them (nine at last count) haven't been properly screened, or lied about their background (taxes, experience). and they should be prosecuted appropriately - as i would be if i lied about my taxes, didn't pay my taxes or lied on a job application. but i simply cannot hate obama.

one of the things i learned in the military is that it's never proper to blame the guy you relieve for things that happened on his watch. for one thing, you weren't there, you don't know the circumstances and armchair quarterbacking is against most everything taught in the military! i get extremely irritated at all this 'it's bush's fault' stuff. my usual response is, yeah so what? he did what he had to do and what he thought was right for the country at that particular moment in time. get over it. change it if you like - that's your privilege as the new guy. but leave the blame game somewhere else.

the other thing that feehery mentions is that it's not wrong to be opposed to obama's politics and policies. stop telling me i don't have the right to disagree. i have every right to disagree and voice my disagreements as i see fit.

i'd like to think that the economy will turn around based on things obama has instituted. but experience and a couple of basic economic courses tells me while we may say some short term (1-3 years) improvement, long term just isn't going to be successful.

oh yeah - one more thing - the secretary of the treasury - timothy geitner is completely, without a doubt the dumbest person in a position of such power i have seen in a long time. he is the LEAST deserving of obama's appointments.

i'm having a real hard time relating to my fellow republicans at the moment. toooo much talk of out-and-out "hatred" - we need to get back to introducing policies that we believe it. we need to stand up to the policies being forced on us and say these aren't right - we're not going to vote for them. granted the ruling party gets through what they can - but doesn't mean we should buckle and vote with them every time! the handful of republicans needs to get their act together and start acting as republicans.

saturday already!?

so i've fallen behind in my blogging. it's been a busy busy couple of weeks.

view from the front

when we first toured this house, the previous owners had put those new energy light bulbs in all the lights - there's ceiling fans in every room and they all have light fixtures on them - and they had those fancy light bulbs in all the lights. we remember commenting on that fact to the realtor.



welllllll on moving in we discovered that the previous owners actually took all the light bulbs with them! and left in their place the old bulbs - some burnt out, some simply missing. to top that off, in trying to remove on the old bulbs, it came apart in my hand as i tried unscrewing it!! ((hate it when that happens)) so i had to break out the needle-nose pliers and spend an hour trying to get the bulb base out of the socket!!!!



just little things that are a pain......



but there ARE things that make it worth the hassles! nice pool,eh? :)