New Members ( Introduce Yourself)

You're in the same group Andy we all wore dog dishes, neckerchiefs and bell bottoms once . So thank you for YOUR service.

Cheers,

Doc

 

Same here! Submariner and later Intel. Worked with SDVT 2 out of Little Creek back in the day.

 

You're all quite welcome. I remember calling the enlisted cover a 'Dixie cup.' I still have some of my uniforms, in one of Dad's old Seabee footlockers in storage.

 

Its still a Dixie Cup Andy.

 

At least I missed "Salt and Peppers," and "ocean digital camo."

 

I retired before the switch to the digital camo uniform, thankfully. "Blueberries" I think was the name squids gave them. I don't know about you, but if I fall in the water the last thing I want is to be camouflaged to blend with the water, eh?

As far as salt and peppers they had just been fazed out in 83 when I first joined. I want to say beards went away in early 84 as well.

 

That's exactly what Dad said--you-d want to be found, but I pointed out that dungarees have the same problem, along with the vastness of oceans.

 

I said something very similar to the MCPON at a Chief's forum, let's just say it didn't go over well and my CMC was slightly less than pleased with me for saying what we were all thinking. That said the Digi Blues went mandatory in Sept 09, you were paid to get them in Jan 09. I retired in July 09. Needless to say, I don't own any.

Cheers,

Doc

 

My dad said it was a matter of following the money.

 

Well I dunno who sold the Navy the bill of goods on the Digi Blues but IMHO the navy digi greens are an off shoot of the Multi-Cam stuff that the SPECWAR bubbas were sporting and quite frankly pretty damn good camo. The MARPAT's were good in both shades but couldn't be used outside of the environment. I thought the Air Force digi tiger stripes were cool but too dark. The Army "Grey" never worked anywhere and the Army's penchant for patches meant that you had to pick them all up after you slung on your rattle battle. I haven't laid hands on the new Navy stuff yet but hope they incorporated the big knee pockets of the MARPAT, you could shove a "mouse pad" in the knee pocket for a bit of aid to your knees. Not good for garrison but awesome in the field. My only down check to Stormin' Norman was that because of the news briefings during Desert Storm everybody had to have a "club patch" so the news could figure out who was who.

Cheers,

Doc

 

My son is now in wearing all the variations you are describing. He just returned from a Westpac. He can't wait to take the new 72 for a spin. He and I looked at a 69 with a big block but it had a salvaged title and I just didn't feel great about it. It was a sweet car but kinda expensive for a salvaged title. It was local though so we took it for a test ride. 390 GT, fun stuff. I'm thinking I'll enjoy the 4sp 72 once I get it back up to 375 hp as the ford gods originally intended before the smog goods one out.

 

It comes down to the money, like Andy's dad said. Cost less to issue the blueberry uniforms and I believe they also used the same vendor as the other services when they procured them. I held a 9549 (I think that's it, too lazy to go upstairs and look) and got to see a lot, too much really, of how the procurement process works. It always starts with some great ideas but inevitably comes down to cost. You guys all know the joke about stuff being supplied by the lowest bidder I'm sure.

I also got the money for the blueberries but never had to purchase any. A gift, as it were, from my rich Uncle Sam.

 

Not only the lowest bidder joke, but Gus Grissom's 'Lemon Command Module.' It's one thing to be a good steward of taxes, it's another to be 'Penny wise and Pound Foolish.'

Oh, and Judd Hirsch's line from Independence Day, when the President asked where the base got extravagant funding: "You don't really think we'd pay $600 for a hammer, do you? $1200 for a toilet seat?"

 

Hi to all the Ranchero lovers,
My name is Fred and I have a 1974 Ranchero Squire which I am doing a frame off restomod.
My third Ranchero build over the years, only got 80-90% with the other two and life got in the way .
Am of good faith that this time I will enjoy it for years to come.
Thanks for a awesome forum.

 

Welcome Fred!!! Post pics if you got 'em!

Cheers,

Doc

 

Welcome Fred! Beautiful Ranchero, my second favorite year, although all models are great. I just have an affinity for the 73 and 74.

 

I had a '74 Squire years ago; I know who bought it (he had a '73 500 ATT), and I've been debating going to see him, see if he still has it or parted it.

 

Wow Hi everyone, new member in SD county SoCal. Nice to see there are so many Navy Vets here, I enlisted in Dec '84 and to cbolt I think it was late '84 or early '85 that the Navy did away with beards because that is why I choose the Navy and by the time I was out of basic...no more beards. I became a Nuke EM but was selected for an officers program and eventually became a helo pilot out of North Island. I was released in '94 because peace broke out under Clinton...go figure.

Hey well onto the current...I recently purchased a '73 Ranchero 500 sight unseen from an ebay ad. The reason for the purchase was a kit car to get my boys involved in restoring the car that they would drive when they got their licenses. The seller said it had a 351C which by the VIN it was suppose to have, it was running extremely rough. When I got it the first I noticed is that the oil was extremely thin and smelled like gasoline. Draining the crankcase I had 10 quarts of gas/oil, so I took the top plate off the carb and saw that the bowl was empty and figured that the bowl was draining into the manifold after the engine was shutdown. Rebuilt the carb, all new ignition components and still the engine is not firing on 3, 4, 5 & 7 cylinders. So after researching come to find out that sometime in past someone had changed out the Cleveland for a Modified from '78...needless to say I was not happy. Changed the wiring to match the firing order of the M and it fires up right away. I never planned on restoring to factory specs but to have an M as opposed to the C was pretty disappointing.

Okay so that is my sob story, it is running great now, concentrating on brakes, steering and exhaust next, trying to make her a daily driver. The interior needs a complete overhaul as does the exterior but will get there eventually.

 

Welcome to the site!

 

Welcome aboard shipmate! No helos, no heros, right?

Sounds like your 73 is headed in the right direction. We would love to see pics when you get a chance.