Fresh out of George Washington High School in San Francisco, I was stuck in a job that was less than challenging. Attending City College of San Francisco in the morning and a warehouse job in the afternoons for minimum wage, I decided that I needed out.
One day I was staring out the warehouse window and I watched a guy dig a basement vault for a bank with a 955 Cat. I made up my mind...SEABEES. I knew about them because of their historic background in WWII . My mom was a Yeoman with Bureau of Yards and Docks, Facilities Engineering Command for the Pacific (Seabees) and had primed me about her Navy Wave years and brought home pictures of the "bees" when I was a kid.
So, in February of 1966 I joined the Navy, left home and went to San Diego boot camp and from there to 31st Naval Construction Regiment in Port Hueneme, CA where I worked in Military Training. I typed a lot of dog tags and Geneva Convention Cards and hauled guys to the rifle range at Pt. Mugu and Conejo grade etc. I was dying of boredom in the office. Finally, my boss, PN1 Brenner, gave in and saw the torture he was putting me through and had orders cut to Equipment Operator "A" school . He saved me. School was a blast and I did well however it was the next stepping stone to Viet Nam and a Battalion assignment.
MCB 4 (Fab Four) was my new home. Two tours to country in 67-68 and I returned to be sent to NAVMAG Guam in '69.
While I was a SEABEE, they taught me to operate all sorts of construction equipment and was given a lot of opportunity use that training. I got to see life in other places and I saw how we live. I am a different person from this experience. I have a lot to be thankful for and I feel privledged to have been a SEABEE. I met and worked with a lot of great guys and I salute them.
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U.S.NAVY
U.S.NAVY
SEABEES
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MCB 4 - "A" Co. Heavy Crew - Camp Evans, RVN 1968
