Aryeh Wetherhorn is a graduate of the University of Michigan. He served as a Naval Reserve officer in the Vietnam War, earning a Naval Achievement Medal for his performance of duty in USS Okinawa. His biography appears in the Marquis edition of “Who’s Who in the World” in 1998, 2002, and 2003 editions. He has written several full length articles on naval history that appeared in the Polish magazine “Okrety Wojenne” (Warships).
Today is the first of May. For socialists it’s a worker’s holiday. For people associated with aircraft (and shipping) it’s a cry for help. This last interpretation comes from the French, m’aidez. It means that someone is in a crisis, It is the way I feel after listening to Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu describe … More Mayday
A scratch built model is one that is not built from a kit nor purchased already complete. The maker must find or create a plan and build up the model from whatever materials he has. Because of the work involved and the level of detail available from commercial model makers today scratch building is not … More My First scratch built model
A new officer often encounters situations for which his previous experiences did nothing to prepare him. I had one of those cases when I tried t get men from my division ready for the examinations for advancement in rank. The navy at that time had a system for trying to promote the best men in … More First duty Assignment 3
When I finished my intercept control course I headed for California to join my ship, the helicopter carrier USS Valley Forge. The ship was in drydock, undergoing a major refit. There wasn’t any space available in navy housing ashore, so I lived on board. It wasn’t a great experience. The whole ship was filled with … More First Duty Assignment – 2
First Duty Assignment – 1 Just a bit before the students at OCS completed the course and received commissions the Navy Bureau of Personnel interviewed each one. We were asked if we wanted to serve ashore or afloat. Everyone was cautioned that we were, after all, naval officers. As such we were expected to select … More First Duty Assignment
When I was serving in USS Valley Forge I had my first encounter with navy specific hazing. The Navy, like many other semi-closed societies, has a vocabulary all its own and has ‘entry rituals’ that are performed to bring in new members. One of the most common is to assign new sailors who have never … More Navy Hazing
This week, according to the Jewish calendar, is the 70th anniversary of Israeli Independence. One item that has been mentioned caught my attention because I live in Israel. According to a UN survey measuring “happiness” of residents of 160 countries Israel was ranked 11th. That was ahead of the US and the UK. There are … More Israel @ 70
OCS Adventures – 2 I hate making beds. I was never very good at it. At OCS everyone had to make up his bed every morning. The sheets had to be so tight that an inspecting officer who came through in the morning could drop a twenty five cent coin on it and the coin … More OCS Adventures – 2
It was more than 50 years ago when I first made alterations to a commercial model. I always collected models on the basis of each model representing a specific actual ship. Using that criteria I had acquired 3 models of the Midway class aircraft carriers from Comet-Authenticast. They were all identical. The US Navy began … More Making changes in a model
OCS Adventures – 1 US Navy Officer Candidate School was located in Newport, Rhode Island. Flying there in 1962 was a new experience. The Newport airport didn’t have a long enough runway to handle the jet aircraft that were in use the. I flew to NYC and changed to an older, propeller driven, aircraft. Almost … More OCS Adventures – 1
Wetherhorn 