Why did you want to become a ham?

[KK6CRP]

Still serving, currently on board DDG 86 USS Shoup. Deployed right now, 5th fleet.

NEC's are Navmacs, SRC-58, (LOS and Satcom) and the SPS-73 and SPS-64 radars. Dont remember the numbers, sorry, I just look em up when I need e'm. But I work on both radar and comms gear here as I have been to both schools and hold NEC's for both.

I dont hold NEC's for our HF system, but I maintain and troubleshoot nonetheless regularly on those systems. Pretty much ET = Everything Tech, especially on a destroyer where we only have a dozen ET's on board total

The only radar school I attended was in ET school which was the SPS-10, never had a chance to work on any of the systems. I ended up going to C-schools via the US Army and AF which locked me into type 3 duty stations in remote areas around the world. We did a lot of NSA stuff along with the CT's and some NATO DCA Joint Commands. It was interesting duty except for the Iraq Persian Gulf tours. Some of my areas I was stationed or operated from were: Navcams Eastpac Hawaii, Clark AFB, Philippines. Diego Garcia BIOT, Pearl Harbor HI, Guam, Persian Gulf region Iraq, Australia. No CONUS duty stations except for school.

Things will be pretty tough right now for you serving on AD with the war tolls, drawdowns, budget cuts, poor leadership at the top levels (Obama Admin and SOD) Just hang in there until retirement or start researching what university you want to attend when you get out. One of the best benefits (for now) is the GI Education Bill that you can use after service. Many of us did that to launch our second careers.

73's

Richard

[K0KXF]

The only radar school I attended was in ET school which was the SPS-10, never had a chance to work on any of the systems. I ended up going to C-schools via the US Army and AF which locked me into type 3 duty stations in remote areas around the world. We did a lot of NSA stuff along with the CT's and some NATO DCA Joint Commands. It was interesting duty except for the Iraq Persian Gulf tours. Some of my areas I was stationed or operated from were: Navcams Eastpac Hawaii, Clark AFB, Philippines. Diego Garcia BIOT, Pearl Harbor HI, Guam, Persian Gulf region Iraq, Australia. No CONUS duty stations except for school.

Things will be pretty tough right now for you serving on AD with the war tolls, drawdowns, budget cuts, poor leadership at the top levels (Obama Admin and SOD) Just hang in there until retirement or start researching what university you want to attend when you get out. One of the best benefits (for now) is the GI Education Bill that you can use after service. Many of us did that to launch our second careers.

73's

Richard

Doesnt sound like a bad haul of places to work and see! Been to everywhere on your list except the Philippines. My ship was asked not to come back to Diego Garcia after last deployment... But thats a story of its own.

Believe it or not, I think I sort of enjoy the radar world a little better... Its a little more... Challenging. I can usually seem to troubleshoot and get the parts on order that I need for comms gear relatively quickly, but the radar issues are always more of a puzzle.

Oh believe me, I feel the crunch of all of our issues on a daily basis, everything from not getting the things we need due to budget to not getting tasking due to high-upper chain having their heads in their asses... Ha. It really isnt fun to deal with. Heck, there was a few weeks we couldnt MOVE... Literally. Because they wouldnt approve the funds to refuel our ship. Its THAT ridiculous right now.

I'm not staying in until retirement, I actually only joined for the G.I. bill, already had 2 years of college when I joined, San Jose State University, but couldnt afford it anymore so I dropped out... Wanted to finish but couldnt work AND go to school, it had to be one or the other... So, military sounded like good alternative. 4 years down now, 2 more years to go on my contract. Then its back to school for me.

[KK6CRP]

Doesnt sound like a bad haul of places to work and see! Been to everywhere on your list except the Philippines. My ship was asked not to come back to Diego Garcia after last deployment... But thats a story of its own.

Believe it or not, I think I sort of enjoy the radar world a little better... Its a little more... Challenging. I can usually seem to troubleshoot and get the parts on order that I need for comms gear relatively quickly, but the radar issues are always more of a puzzle.

Oh believe me, I feel the crunch of all of our issues on a daily basis, everything from not getting the things we need due to budget to not getting tasking due to high-upper chain having their heads in their asses... Ha. It really isnt fun to deal with. Heck, there was a few weeks we couldnt MOVE... Literally. Because they wouldnt approve the funds to refuel our ship. Its THAT ridiculous right now.

I'm not staying in until retirement, I actually only joined for the G.I. bill, already had 2 years of college when I joined, San Jose State University, but couldnt afford it anymore so I dropped out... Wanted to finish but couldnt work AND go to school, it had to be one or the other... So, military sounded like good alternative. 4 years down now, 2 more years to go on my contract. Then its back to school for me.

Cool, I do not blame you for not wanting to stay. You should see how some of the Vets with severe disabilities are treated at the local VA here. The retirement is not what it is supposed to be either, I feel the only thing keeping the military from falling apart under the current poor admin is the dedication of those that serve. A very poor economy helps too.

I finished my BSEE degree while on active duty with a broken service period. So you can apply the 2-years at San Jose towards a BS/BA program and use your benefits to keep going for a Master's degree. In my case I started with a MBA on Active Duty before I left, then used my benefits for a CS program and later MAEd programs. I ended up teaching overseas at a few different universities and came back here. Enjoyed the travel doing these things. The Philippines shut down Clark in 1992 when the volcano erupted and base agreements were shelved. Most of the really excited remote areas are now all shut down from the end of the Cold War and budget cuts.

You have the opportunity to get into a second career after you leave the Nav.

Your ship must have really raised heck to get kicked out of Diego Garcia !! haahha.. I loved the first 6-months there almost extending, but we ended up getting a jerk as our new CO. I think we ended up working something like a 1-1-1-32 Watch standing work schedule.

Day-Mid-Eve - 32 hours off. During the day-mid you had the usual BS with the 32 hours off doing GMT crap. They even played marching music over the PA system all hours of the day while you tried to sleep. I guess this is how the Chain of Command dealt with the issue of boredom- just keep you from sleeping doing nonsense stuff all day long.

I guess the island is very beautiful if you can escape the tedious stuff.

Richard

[KB3ZGV]

I figured ham radio would become useful after the communications infrastructure starts to run down and become unreliable.