I could do 100+ posts about being in the Navy.
Here's a few of the highlights...

About 40 years ago, I took this oath...

I, Dave Akins, do solemnly swear that
I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;
and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States
and the orders of the officers appointed over me,
according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
So help me God.

That's why I'm so interested in politics nowadays.

• There a LOTS of enemies of the Constitution, both foreign AND domestic...

Lies the recruiter told me

• Nuclear Power will provide over 90% of the electricity in the US by the time you get out of the Navy.
  • In 2016 they produced a total of 805.3 terawatt-hours of electricity, which accounted for 19.7% of the nation's total electric energy generation. Source: Wikipedia
• You will make $60-75k/year at your choice of nuclear power plant.

Stationed at

• Orlando, FL
  • Boot camp
    • Education Petty Officer
    • Mail Petty Officer
    • Honor Recruit
• Orlando, FL
  • Basic Electricity & Electronics
• Great Lakes, IL
  • Electronics Tech School
• Mayport, FL
  • USS Voge Wikipedia
    • decommissioned August 23, 1989
      
      Image Source
  • Ports
    • Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
    • US Virgin Islands - Saint Thomas
    • Puerto Rico
    • US Virgin Islands - Saint Croix
• Orlando, FL
  • Nuclear Power School (book learning)
• Naval Reactors Facility (NRF) located 52 miles northwest of Idaho Falls
  • book learning + hands on operation of a nuclear power plant
• Pearl Harbor, HI
  • USS Cavalla SSN 684 Wikipedia
    • decommissioned March 30, 1998
  • Ports
    • Maui, HI
    • Subic Bay, Philippines
    • Perth Australia
    • Mombasa, Kenya
• After about 6 years, I got out to go manage a campground in Minnesota on Leech Lake.

Vacationing in the Navy

Mayport, FL
My first cruise ship was a bit late out of overhaul.

• They painted the fresh water tank with lead paint! OOPS!
  • So I got to vacation in Mayport, FL.
    • Some of the best chow of all Navy ports!
    • Jacksonville was close by. Backgammon was popular in the bars. That's where I learned to play.

Norfolk, VA
I stepped through Norfolk, VA to catch a flight to Cuba.

• People actually had signs, "Sailors stay on sidewalk."

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

• Cuba had a pretty cool beach.
  • We always saw this 3 foot ???dragon??? of some kind on the bus ride there.
  • One of the Filipino chefs harpooned and BBQed a puffer fish.
    • Tasted like bubblegum. Very chewy.
    • If you don't properly clean these, I guess they can be poisonous. I waited until a couple of other people tried it first! haha

St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
RUM!!!

• I never had tried rum before.
  • My first rum drink was a Pina Colada. Yum!
• A retired Navy Chief caught me and a friend walking around. He worked for the phone company and had access to a 4 star resort there. He volunteered to get us in.
  • Amazing place.
    • Parakeets flying around.
    • Snorkeled the ocean for the first time. I was amazed at the coral and tropical fish.
    • Did you know if you fall asleep in the shade of a palm tree for awhile, you could be in full sun when you woke up? Yuppers! Luckily the bar tender told me to go break a leaf from the huge aloe plant and rub that on. It worked. I didn't peel and the pain went away almost immediately.
    • Did you know you should only have 1 'Sorry Bitch' drink? That's 5 different types of rum in a very tall glass and a swig of Cola to give it a bit of color. Whew!!! Drinking 2 made it VERY hard to walk!!! haha

Idaho

• Jack rabbit and gopher hunting fun!
  • Jack rabbit jerky isn't all that great...
  • Friend Joe Petch's dad was a gun dealer. He had a Tommy gun complete with the barrel clip.
    • He liked to catch rattle snakes...

Orlando, FL

• Buddy Greg Harrison's dad (CIA guy) had a near the beach cabin south of Melbourne Beach.
  • Nearly every weekend...
  • Neighbor caught a 12' hammerhead shark one weekend.
    • hmm, It didn't slow us down swimming...
  • His future father-in-law (FBI retired) caught us buckets of crabs. The picnic table was heaped before we got our fill...

Philippines

• Interesting food.
• Good bands...

Australia

• Saw kangaroos in the wild and koalas in cages.
• They had some sort of dark syrup in a small glass you would drop in a pitcher of beer to make it stronger. ???
  • They liked last pocket pool.
• Coming back, they had bought a lot of quail and lobster tails. They weren't USDA inspected, so we had to eat them all before getting back to Pearl Harbor. Dang the bad luck, right? YUM!

Hawaii

• Got married before going there.
  • Ship was at see, so they put us up at the Hilton for about 2 months and made us eat out. Dang the bad luck, huh? haha
• Oldest son was born there in the big pink hospital.
  • They had to induce labor. I got bored so went and got a Reader's Digest. The wife did NOT find it amusing about the one story that made me LOL. Apparently this woman had just been to the Dr. complaining of back pain. Later that day she had a baby in the parking lot of a grocery store. She did not even know she was pregnant!
• Bought back my '69 cougar convertible before heading there. It was the perfect car for Hawaii!
  • It caught fire when they went to load it to bring it back to the states. I ended up with a Monza fastback 4 cylinder from the check they gave me. If it weren't for bad luck...
• Haunama Bay had beautiful snorkeling!
  • Watch out for octopus!
• Air Force cottages were awesome!
  • Watch out for the jelly fish.

Kenya

• The sign saying 'Beware of lions' on the way to that one bar, didn't slow down a bunch of sailors walking down that dirt highway...

Random Musings

• Is it a sign of lack of intelligence to volunteer for a ship designed to sink?!?!?
• It was an adventure!
• Homemade bread every night when out to sea for awhile! YUM!
• We had a great chef on our sub. One birthday dinner he made chicken cordon bleu and baked alaskan!
• I got some great schooling.
• Made a lot of great friends!
• I am a Golden Shellback. (Crossed the equator at the International Date Line)
• Got to see lots of cool places...

Are you a vet?

Do you have a post about your service?

• If yes, please post a link...
  • If not, share a bit of your story...

Who I am @WizarDave	The KEY to Life!