My Naval Career 1961-1981 - Armchair General and HistoryNet >> The Best Forums in History

FTCS · #1 13 Mar 10, 08:30

Jan 1961 Recruit Training USNTC San Diego
1961 FTA and FTC School USNTC San Diego
1962-1965 USS Princeton LPH-5
1965-1966 FTB & C School USNTC Great Lakes
1966-1969 USS Oriskany CVA-34
1969 FTC School USNTC Great Lakes
1969-1971 USS Blakely DE-1072 (Plank Owner)
1971 CPO Academy Pensacola FL
1971-1973 FTA School Mare Island CA (Instructor)
1973-1975 FTC School USNTC Great Lakes Il (Instructor)
1975-1981 USS Kinkaid DD-965 (Plank Owner)
1981 Retired (SCPO)

Jose50 · #2 13 Mar 10, 08:49

Thank you for your service, Senior Chief...

***Slug*** · #3 13 Mar 10, 10:50

Hello Senior Chief.
Jose, myself, and others would like to know if you were in any enlisted men's or above clubs that you enjoyed, or found interesting.
Or mess halls that were pretty good?
Can you tell us a story?

***Slug*** · #4 13 Mar 10, 10:52

I like navy gravy.
That white stuff, with the meat in it.

FTCS · #5 13 Mar 10, 12:26

As far as meals go I always liked SOS and foreskins on toast. Toward the end of my career the chipped beef became too expensive so foreskins on toast became a real treat. The skipper on my last ship had to tell the Chief in charge of the galley to cut down on the meals (everyone ate the same food, no separate galley for officers) everyone was putting on too much weight.

As far as "sea story's" go; and this is no shi*.

On my first enlistment we pulled 9 months in WesPac deployments. We pulled liberty in Hong Kong at least 2 times a deployment. One year 5 of us took leave in Hong Kong and stayed in a hotel in Kowloon. We were sitting in the hotel lobby when this "round-eye" walked up to the youngest member of our gang (first cruise) and ask him to escort her up to her room. As he left we all made comments about the lucky SOB (we had been in WesPac for about 8 months). After a few minutes he showed back up and of course we asked him what happened. Can't remember his exact words but went something like this "She opened her door and told me to shut it behind her, so I did and came on back down."

Really enjoyed my career, my last WesPac was a South Pacific goodwill tour. Fiji, New Zealand, Australia (3 different ports), New Guinea, and Guadalcanal. I will say I was single during my career and didn't get married until 1986. Wasn't as hard on me as a lot of the married ones.

Dan M · #6 13 Mar 10, 20:39

Ernie,

I can decipher everything about your career with the following exceptions; FTA, FTB and C, and FTC.

And does your nom-de-guerre 'FCTS' have something to do with your service?

I feel dumb asking but it's the only way I'll know.

Cheers,
Dan.

FTCS · #7 14 Mar 10, 00:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan M

Ernie,

I can decipher everything about your career with the following exceptions; FTA, FTB and C, and FTC.

And does your nom-de-guerre 'FCTS' have something to do with your service?

I feel dumb asking but it's the only way I'll know.

Cheers,
Dan.

The only dumb question is a question that is not asked. For your questions:

1. FTA is Fire Control Technician "A" school which is the basic school for Fire Control Technicians.
2. FTB is Fire Control Technician "B" school which is advanced electricity and electronics. Equivalent to a Associate Degree in electronics except no other courses
3. FTC school are schools instructing in a specific Fire Control System which in my case were
MK 63 GFCS (gun fire control system), MK 56 GFCS, Mk 37 GFCS, MK 6 TDS(target designation system), Mk 68 GFCS, and MK 86 GFCS
4. The nom-de-guerre is FTCS which is FireControl Technician Senior Chief

Hope this answers your questions.

Dan M · #8 14 Mar 10, 16:44

Ern-meister,

Thanks. May I ask another?

Did you serve a tour in South-East Asia while you were on the Oriskany?

Cheers,
Dan.

FTCS · #9 14 Mar 10, 17:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan M

Ern-meister,

Did you serve a tour in South-East Asia while you were on the Oriskany?

Cheers,
Dan.

Yes I reported aboard the "Big O" right after she came back off the line after she caught fire. I made 2 WesPac tours on her, never was so glad to leave one ship. Not that she wasn't a good ship, just that I wanted into any DESRON (destroyer squadron). That is where a Gun FT belongs

Bass_Man86 · #10 16 Mar 10, 15:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by FTCS

Jan 1961 Recruit Training USNTC San Diego
1961 FTA and FTC School USNTC San Diego
1962-1965 USS Princeton LPH-5
1965-1966 FTB & C School USNTC Great Lakes
1966-1969 USS Oriskany CVA-34
1969 FTC School USNTC Great Lakes
1969-1971 USS Blakely DE-1072 (Plank Owner)
1971 CPO Academy Pensacola FL
1971-1973 FTA School Mare Island CA (Instructor)
1973-1975 FTC School USNTC Great Lakes Il (Instructor)
1975-1981 USS Kinkaid DD-965 (Plank Owner)
1981 Retired (SCPO)

Welcome aboard Senior, nice to have a Brother here.

V/R
OSC(SW)

CCS-HFB · #11 06 Apr 12, 21:33

Hi there,
I saw from your posting which came up on a Google Search that you where an instructor at FTC School during my first stay at Great Lakes. I (Helmut Hufenbach, FTG PO1) was in the class for the MK68 SPG53 Radar system together with two other German Sailors.......

Any idea how to get a hold of that graduation picture?

Best regards

Helmut

CaptnAndy · #12 12 Jul 12, 18:59

Thanks for your service Chief. I went to A school in San Diego in 62, followed by a 56 C school there also. I then went to Missile school at White Sands (AN/SPG 49 the tracking radar for Talos). I then went to the CG12 & CG11 for the balance of my "kiddy cruse."

One of the main characters in the Ebook I just published (BB-39) is an FC (Fire Controlman) on the USS Arizona.

WWIIWWIpilot · #13 15 Jul 12, 21:44

Must have been stressful! With the Cold "War" going on!

skiplc · #14 16 Jul 12, 02:49

The job Senior Chief Smith performed could certainly be stressful. These are the men that insure a bullet lands where it's supposed to land and lives often depend on it. You need to understand though, these are highly trained well practiced sailors.

That all said, Naval Gunfire is a team effort. If some grunt need us, he'll contact the ship and talk to an OS like me or Mario. We'll take target location etc. and start passing that data, ship's exact position, ship's course & speed, blah blah down to gun plot. The FT's enter that stuff and much more (even humidity) into their fire control computers. With a solution to some point on the planet, the GMG's can then load and fire.

This blather is a serious over simflication of the process. Everyone involved has a job and all just do their job. Usually, from the time a call for fire is received, only two or three minutes will pass until the first round is in the air. On a destroyer size ship, probably talking about twenty or so men directly involved in getting that first round out of the rifle. All this data is constantly updated until the fire mission is concluded

Deal is, when you think of the stress the guys on the ground are under our jobs aren't so bad after all.

Another critical thing to remember about the Chief and Senior Chief is the levels of training they provide to a bunch of dopes who can't propery mop a floor in January then turn us into a nearly flawless team by June.

They could however, spring for more beer than they do. Oh well, nobody is perfect (but a Chief will never admit to it).