He's British. Be glad he didn't call it a "bonnet".

That's a badass looking ship. Bigger than it looks, too. 600' long.

Admiral Zumwalt was very popular and let us grow mustaches and our hair longer. He relaxed a lot of rules so we didn't stand out so much to the civilians that hated us at the time. Glad to see this class of ships named after him.

he's dead, jim.
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I remember when I was in, all the old farts spoke fondly of him. :)

:LOL: I bet they were old by the time you got in.

:D He became well known in a hurry with all of the freedoms he gave us. Most sailors couldn't name another Admiral, but EVERYONE knew who Zumwalt was. He allowed us to wear dungarees off base, a severe no-no before he changed it.

I was in in the mid-late 80s. Especially when I first got in, most of the chiefs and older officers had been in during the height of Vietnam.

You just know Kirk is a steely eyed, womanizing badass.

I could have retired with 20 by then boot! :D Well almost(68-73) He was literally the best thing to happen to the Navy, ever, IMO. At that time it was, "Sailors and Dogs Keep off of the grass!"

I could have retired with 20 in 2004, and I deeply regret not doing so now.

yeah, I'd be 3 years away from retiring if I stayed in. Sometimes I wish I would've, but man.....I was SO ready to get out after 4.

though my sea/shore rotation for my job was 4 at sea, 6 on shore.

I hear ya Tim, it would sure be nice now!

Yeah, I could have done it in 88 myself, as I had already put in 5. But at the time, it was so unpopular that I wanted nothing more to do with it.

Heck, they were offering almost a years pay as a bonus to re-enlist, instead I got out with a young family and got a job for $3.26 an hour at Beechcraft.

I think my re-enlistment bonus back in 2000 was $36k.

Holy crap! :wayne: Of course it was probably about the same to turn that down as it was $8,000 in 73.

If I could have gone to a normal ship, I might have considered it - I was six months from going up for E-6 when I got out. But I was due to go back to sea, and for my rating that meant a carrier, and I had no desire whatsoever to be on a ****ing carrier for three years.