I enlisted in the U.
S. Navy on my 17th birthday. Within four months I finished basic training,graduated from data processing school and reported aboard the USS Ranger (CV-61), an aircraft carrier domestic ported out of San Diego, and California. The ship was scheduled to deploy on a Western Pacific cruise (WEST-PAC). The “itinerary” included 12 great port calls. It was so impressive that one would have thought that I was stationed aboard the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship,instead of an aircraft carrier. On the fateful day of 15 July 1983, it was time for the ship to depart. The ship... Read the rest of this entry »
Source: navalhistory.org