Durable (WMEC 628) - Naval Cruise Book

Text from Pages 1 - 56 of the 1992 volume:

. ! i ! F TRADEWINDS1992 April 18 to June 5, 1992 FORWARD Opportunities like Op TRADEWINDS ' 92 come along once in a life time. I ' m pleased that your hard work dedication made it such a success. Your professionalism has made a lasting impression on each country we visited. This was the highlight of my DURABLE tour I can ' t think of a finer crew to have done it with! Commander R. W. Batson, Commanding Officer HH65 6547 Let me get this straight, you ' re grounded in Port of Spain because you have a flat tire? ... Air Station Houston AVDET: LT Dave D ' Angelo, LTJG Bob IVIoore, LTJG Frank Gerehardt, Chief Wayne Taylor, and Petty Officers Jim Portock and, of course, POTTS ! r.m U. S. COAST GUAM) USCGC BARANOF Commanded by LT Kevin Quigley, BARANOF made sure the trip got off on the right foot. BARANOF and her crew helped train in Nassau andjj Jamaica before going back to Miami. USCGC NANTUCKET Commanded by LT Dave Newton, NANTUCKET met DURABLE in Port of Spain, Trinidad and stayed for tfie duration of tfie operation. Being based n Puerto Rico. NANTUCKET fiad a wealth of knowledge about the local areas throughout the islands. DA BOYS IN NASSAU! Below: LT Emrich shows off his sporty new Right: QMS Connett shows-off his manly cap. Are those ears for real? form. Like I said RIGHT! SN Bonner, SK3 Lunsford and SN Famiano [-• hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil. t Hey, Famiano - how ' s about a cream sickle, ▼ y r rmi JAMAICA - No Problem, Mon! far left: QMCS White and the Jamaica CPOs trade tokens of appreciation (Not to mention a few Red Stripes!) Near Left: SN Famiano meets with some of the local citizens. He ' s thinking of buying an Ice cream truck route! Below Left: On final approach to the Jamaican Coast Guard Base near Kingston. Bottom: BM1 Burrough gives a big thumbs-up to somebody for something! Although we didn ' t all make It Into Kingston, Jamaica was a good stop. A lot of training was done - especially damage control and flight operatlons holsts. The JDF were great hosts and took excellent care of us all! vamm- xi ' ST ?S r . MAY 4 - 6: PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD Trinidad marked the start of the long north- ward trip up the Lesser Antilles. It also marked the arnval of CGC NANTUCKET. Our Chaufer in Trinidad was Jeffrey - or was it Ivlr. Jeffrey at any rate he drove us all over town, showed us discos, the embassy, and took us for roti and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Trinidadians are a culture com- prised of a blending of Cahbbean, Spanish, and Indian peoples who came to the beauti- ful islands. Above: It doesn ' t matter where you are. Right: ENS Phillips hams it up for the cam- awards must be given out! era. i: 13 f MAY 7 - 9 THE GRENADA INVASION Grenada, the Spice Island. Even the National flag features a nutmeg (make sure it ' s pointed up!). The island was very quiet and relaxing. All around there were reminders of the Cuban occupation of the early 1980 ' s - a junk Cuban jeep here, some old Spanish labeled bottle there. There were also reminders of the U.S. invasion; Thank God for U.S. and Army Airborne Caribbean Heroes of Freedom and KGB Behave scrawled on the walls of buildings. Both DURABLE and NANTUCKET moored at the municipal pier in the downtown district. Water taxi into town cost $4 EC. (East- ern Caribbean Dollars), a water taxi ride to the local hotel beach for a game of volleyball cost $10 E.G. POD excerpt: Kudos to those who worked on the community proiect in Trinidad! It was a great |ob! Center: FN Rosati reels a big one! Left: Pro-American Graffiti from early 80 ' s. GRENADA CANDIDS Right below right; Sucking JELLO through a straw ... what these guys won ' t do for fun ... or was it training???? YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!!! Far Right: Just another $%ec day in paradise. RENADA U.A 1 Above: ENS Stout tries out the PB. MK3 Carroll to MK3 Baike ... Say WHAT? A snipe family photo - except fc SK3 Lunsford MAY 10- 13: BARBADOS This gem of an island is the most easterly location we visited. The beaches ... the volleyball ... the stewardesses! NANTUCKET showed their world-class form on the volleyball court, AIRSTA Houston showed their world-class form on the dance floor, and DURABLE showed their world-class form at dinner with the ladies of UNITED! Top left: ENS Ford shows us that NJ beach boy style. Top right: SK3 Lunsford goes high for the spike EAT SAND NANTUCKET! Middle left: CDR Batson and LCDR Bechtle becoming Bronze Gods. Middle right: SN Knight shows his champion service form. QM3 Wheeler shows his .... Bottom left: NANTUCKET returns the favor to DURABLE ' s spik- ers.  n 18 r 20 THE OFFICERS (Well, some of them anyway) Left: Commanding Officer, R W. Batson Below left: Student Engineer, ENS Ford Below center: XO, LCDR Jon Bechtle (He ' s the one on the right) Below: 1st LT Mike Smith does coke. Above: OPS EO, LT Brian Eddie Munster Emnch discuss haircuts with some locals. fVbove: OPS BOSS, LT Woody Voodrlng. ' ! 22 23 •I Ain ' t we cute? P02 Portock, LTJG P02 Potts demonstrates just tiow Chief Wayne demonstrates tiow the fashionable aviator wears his hi Gerehardt, LT D ' Angelo he ' s come so far so fast. 1 f BM2 Milmoe handles colors while Guns strikes a nautical pose. SMILE! USCGC BARANOF CREW IN ACTION The XO strikes a casual pose with his Boris. Hey, where ' s Natasha? kipper, LT Quigley barks out DAS BOATS 3me commands. Hey, Boats, are ya comfey? REDSAND: IN YOUR FACE! NANTUCKET ' S Championship Some of those awesome athletes who were part of the World-Wide VoJ Team leyball Tourney St. Vincent Botanic Gardens entrance. MAY 14 -16: ST. VINCENT From the 14th through the 16th of May, we en|oyed the pleasures of St. Vincent the Grenadines, The island featured such interesting attractions as La Soufriere (the sulfer in French) an active volcano which dominates the island ' s topography. The crater is one mile in diameter and 1 600 feet deep. Several of the crew climbed the sleeping giant and lived to tell the tale - and what a tale it was. PA3 Epperson put his silver quill to work and penned a tale worthy of Shakespeare. His story told of the brave knights of DURABLE who conquered the mountain, La Soufreier. Other points of interest included the St. Vincent Botanic Gardens founded in 1765. The gardens feature many of the island ' s indigenous species of plants and a few imported varieties as well. French Restaurant ; Pardon me. do you have any Grey Poupon? Who says you have to go to France? tS0litM MAY 14- 16: ST. VINCENT While in St. Vincent, we enjoyed a sport day with the local Coast Guard. Needless to say. they taught us about soccer, but ET3 Lofaro showed them Brooklyn B-ball and Mr. H gave lessons in intensity. WOW Yo homeboy, let ' s party S N Cesulka tries out some of his world-famous pick-up lines on some locals. NOT! SN Bonner Mattis enjoy reception. ST. VINCENT CANDID SHOTS ENS PHILLIPS ENS BULL STOUT, ARE GUYS FOR REAL? : ! ■ Hey, Bonner, did ya pour that bot- tle of booze in the punch? 31 32 LT Woodring prefers driving THIS ET3 Lofaro, PA3 Epperson. QM2 Webster, SNBM Smith, SN Hardy, boat. LTJG Barlz, MK2 Milllgan, and ET3 Stiappley, DA Boyz! DOMINICA DURABLE spent the afternoon, NANTUCKET spent a few days. May 21 -23 NANTUCKET moored at the sugar dock - where ' s DURABLE? Relaxing in ANTIGUAi DOMINICA Eyy J H j m i_m_ Hi 1 i v ' -4 ■ H - . - i I I A Caribbean shopping spree! Wanna buy a boat? Cheap? 37 r MAY 22 - 27: ANTIGUA Quick - in one word do you say Honey, I need some money. Please run down to Western Union, ..Did you say ANTIGUA? If so, you win. Sorry we can ' t give you a prize, we spent all our money here! What a place! Casinos (some of us actually MADE some money), beaches, sand, sun, volley- ball ... Oh, yeah, we did do some training too. Some of us lucky guys even got to fly over to St. Kitts and spend the night board- ing a cargo ship! 2i 1 Where the pier ends, the casinos and shops MICKEY! Where ' s you dreadlocks, Mon! begin! kNTIGVA -1 i MAY 28 - 30: ST. KITTS The island of St. Kitts Is actually 2 islands: (crewman talking to a tourist girl) - We ' re oft St. Ctiristopfier Nevis. tfie smaller cruise sfiip. V Tfie beautiful scenery of St. Kitts was just too mucfi for SS3 Banker to behold. You can ' t really see it, but there are tears rolling down his face as he gazes toward the beach ... or did he just dice an onion. t IK1 Hartlove was so taken by the beauty of St. Chnstopher Nevis he didn ' t stop watch- ing until the island was out of sight. You don ' t suppose it had anything to do with that topless beach do you? ST. KITTS The MAIN road Good thing you squared your hat away, here comes a Chief! ALMOST GOT IT ALL CLEANED Hmmm, I wonder how muci UP, FINALLY! weight this ' ll r HOMEWARD BOUND! June 2, 3, and 4 we transited to tiomeport. The plan of the day Included brunch, movies, more brunch, more movies, a freshwa- ter washdown, filling out Customs forms, more brunch, and who could forget the uniform of the day; the TOTALLY RELAXED UNIFORM! Here on this page we see various renditions of the totally relaxed uniform. Some of us like SN Rivera |ust couldn ' t break the military tradition of wearing a ship ' s ball cap. He man- aged to put a little relaxation modification into how he wore it. Hey, LOOK! We got a shot of SN Bonner actually doing some work!!!! And, look what else - we actually captured 0M3 Connett AND the radar at the same time, we still can ' t get him to use it for his fixes, but at least he ' ll look in it to see St. Petersburg there at 24 miles! II r BBet v 45 JUNE 5th, RETURN TO HOMEPORT IN ST PETE It was a cool, overcast day, but St. Pete never looked so good. Most of the crew had loved ones waiting on the pier, those that didn ' t impro- vised. The van says It all Pl T UUMrii The Ericksons share a tender ' Hey, Boats ... Jeremy ... are you guys trying to tell us something??? jrcoA The Bartz family Oh, and IVIike;| too. ! ' i HOME AT LAST MK1 Harllove family say hello. iEE YA MIKE! ... SEE YA KAREN! Mike Adrienne are all smiles! SSC Hanrahan says HI to Mau- 3 5s of the Woodring Clan: Woody, Adam and Kim reen kids 48 m Vatistfotih Pi4bUs jing Cotnpany Marceline, Missouri 64658 USA Barry Brown, Janaf Office. Suuc 201 Norfolk, VA 23502 (804)466-7575 n 1 11 I