When I applied for voluntary recall I was assigned as assistant CIC officer in USS Okinawa, a helicopter carrier. The justification was that the CIC officer, a pilot on his first shipboard qualification tour, was expected to be conversant with aircraft procedures, but might need help in matters connected to surface warfare. In this particular … More I learn to be a safecracker
I applied for graduate school to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I was accepted. But classes started only in June so I had almost 6 months to wait. The Student Zionist organization, of which I had been a member , was looking for a regional director for the Middle Atlantic States area. I got the … More A Busy Summer – 1966
My maternal grandparents escaped from Ukraine, then part of Czarist Russia, in 1905. At some point after arrival they, along with many other Jewish families, applied for a land grant under the provisions of the homestead act of 1862. The Bureau of Land Management records show that Harry Weisman was granted a 160 acre farm … More A Piece of Paper + A Piece of Land = A Piece of History
The news media keeps reporting about the Syrian Army, with Russian support, is recapturing the area near the borders with Israel and Jordan. The pictures show a lot of urban destruction. Well, we just spent the last weekend in some little cottages in the Israeli side of the Southern Golan Heights. I want to tell … More Surprise – 50
Once out of the hospital at Great Lakes I was available for reassignment. The Bureau of Naval personnel began casting about for where to send me. In the meantime, I was temporarily assigned to the staff of Ninth Naval District with headquarters in Chicago. It was a rotten job. During the short time was there … More Temporary duty – Ninth Naval District
Mrdevac is a short form for medical evacuation. I learned about it first and by being the subject of one. Here’s how I remember it. When the Valley Forge was assigned to the Seventh Fleet in the Far East the Captain wanted his best trained people on duty. The CIC (combat Information Center) watch was … More Midway Medevac
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
Joining the Navy? When I graduated from the University of Michigan in 1962 there was still a law in effect, called the Selective Service Act. That law required men to register for military service with their local draft board, and the local draft board would select individuals to be sent to perform service in the … More Joining the Navy
Wetherhorn 