Before leaving on my first Med. float we performed a practice run that lasted about 10 days. We performed a mock evacuation and since my platoon was ships platoon we had security on ship. It was interesting and the Marines (both male and female) that acted as the evacuees did a realistic job. As part of ships platoon we worked with the Navy in storing equipment and supplies. I even worked in one of the ammo holds. We were on a LHA and to get to the hold was a nice climb.
Before leaving for the actual float my platoon, 1st Plt. Alpha Comp. 1/8, went to Norfolk Naval Base early to help finish loading the ship. A few of the members of my platoon were mad that we were only allowed base liberty. I ended being sent to work on the flight deck instead of below decks. There was a GunnerySeargent in charge of the Marines that worked the flight deck. He was stationed aboard the ship. I didn't know that Marines were still aboard ships other then aircraft carriers. (Who knows that might be different by now.) As we left port on deployment I was sent on an errand to the machine shop to get a b one r d (b1rd). Needless to say everyone had a good laugh at that. After picking up the rest of the MAU (Marine Amphibious Unit) and heading out again the air wing flew in. The air wing was mostly the CH-46 helicopter. We headed south and cruised by Puerto Rico and stopped by St. Thomas. I had never imagined seeing such clear sea water. We stayed there for a few days of liberty before starting the crossing of the Atlantic. The last day of liberty before leaving there was a man overboard alarm. Seems one of the sailors off the ship missed the last liberty launch and was swimming back to the ship.
We left St. Thomas and started across the Atlantic and during the crossing encountered 25 foot swells. Thankfully the LHA was not rocked as bad as the other ships in the convoy. While out on the catwalk I watched 1 of the other ships. You wouldn't see it, then you would see the bow, then the whole ship, then the aft end and then it would disappear. I later talked with someone from that ship who told me it was cold cuts for all of the meals till that weather was behind us. It didn't seem to take long before we were across and entering the Med. We passed the Rock of Gibraltar during the day so I was able to see it.
The ships flight deck allowed us to pt. For you civilians it physical training, exercise. The flight decks non skid surface made some of our exercises quite uncomfortable but we did them without to much gripping. Our first stop was the Naval Base in Rota Spain for supplies. We were also allowed base liberty there. After leaving Rota we went to Sardinia, a small Italian island for training. After helping everyone else get off the ship my platoon also went ashore. I was an grenadier at this point in time and get to fire the M203 using the quad sight. I loved using the quad sight, the Lt. running the range complimented me on my accuracy with it. While ashore we were bivouacked on the top of a hill and a bad thunder storm came in during the night. My platoon commander had us move during the storm because he didn't want us to get struck ny lightning. There was a lot of wet people and gear.
Going back aboard ship was a mess. Everyone was trying to get their equipment dry. Since we had been ashore we weren't able to help the Navy when everyone was coming aboard. The Captain of the ship wasn't happy about that. After this training exercise we went to various ports in Spain, Greece and France. Then we headed south and passed through the Suez Canal. While passing through the canal the entire ships compliment took turns running laps on the flight deck. Every 4 laps on a prescribed route on the flight deck was a mile. The ship had set a new record by the time we got through. Now we were in the Indian Ocean.
We headed south in the IO and I got to go through an initiation called Shellback. Until I went through the initiation I was just a pollywog. The initiation was for crossing the equator. It was all in fun. Before we got to the equator though I got promoted to Lcpl. After the official ceremony I got the unofficial ceremony of getting my stripes pinned on. Nothing like I saw on tv, no blood, just some black and blue spots on my arms.
After all of this we stopped in Kenya for liberty and training afterwards. My platoon by this time was no longer ships platoon. While ashore, a Captain in the Kenyan Army thanked us for bringing the rain with us. It was the middle of their dry season. When it rained it would be a heavy downpour for about 15 minutes and then it would stop, the sun would come out and have everything dry in 10 minutes.
After leaving Kenya we went back through the Suez, but it was at night. We floated around awhile and stopped for liberty in Israel. This was probably the nicest liberty port the whole float. The people here were friendly and things seemed to be fairly priced. After leaving Israel we floated around some more, did some more training at Sardinia and liberty at some Spanish and French and Italian ports. Seeing as at the time the US was still recovering from the fuel shortage we were spending more time in port then out floating around.
Before heading back to the States we once again stopped at Rota for a big cleaning known as desnail. All the equipment was taken ashore and cleaned to make sure we weren't taking any foreign insects back to the States with us. After completing this we headed home. We left in January and returned in July. It was good to be home.
One of the things I noticed while on this deployment was the way people were referring to themselves. Before we left I heard people say "I'm French" or 'I'm Italian" and even "Afro-American" or what ever nationality their ancestors were. While we were overseas though everyone refereed to themselves as Americans. Since this time I have always refereed to myself as an American when ever someone asked what I was, referring to my nationality.
Semper Fi Marines!!
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