FTG3 Robert M. Miller

This Month’s Sea Story – June 1972

Even though I was not a Brown Shoe sailor, like AW3 Chip Akins and the rest of Helo-Det from Lakehurst, I will never forget the show of togetherness that the Airedales displayed upon our WESTPAC deployment in 1972. I got to know some of them because their damn helo always was spitting oil down on the top of the BPDMS on the failtail and of course the top was painted white. Chet Sobotka, Dave Robinson and George Benesch would remember trying to keep it white?weren’t shy about giving them some crap about the Helo. Well on to the sea story.

First you have about 15-20 aggravated Brown Shoes being deployed on a destroyer escort and on top of that an XO (Ltcdr. Topp) who treats the crew in his own special way (That will be another sea story about the adventures of PRECOM in Newport) and he just so happened to have a “Chrome Dome”. Well after the arrival of the aircrew and our departure from Newport, the Helo and Pilots meet us at sea. Lot of puckered butts that day. After a couple of days at sea and the Helo Det getting used to Topp’s Tin-Can Navy, the complete Helo crew, including the pilots, appeared with shaved heads??.And who do you think went ape-shit?of course the XO. Orders were given to the ship’s barber, no more skin heads allowed. Ha! Did that stop the Rotor-heads, NOPE. First stop was Pearl Harbor and a trip to exchange where a set of electric clippers was to be had?Once again, more skinheads abound?Even some of the Black Shoes got in the fray..I seem to remember that STG3 Jay Alm and STG2 Al Grider cruising with no hair for a while. More Helo stories to be told, especially cruising Subic with them and their buddies from Cubie Point and of course, the US Mail that wound up in the Gulf of Tokin….Oh Boy!!!!!

Another sea story is a brewing for January 2001.