Posted by Ron Charest This was my very first underway onboard the Scamp. I picked her up in Pearl Harbor, fresh out of "C" School. Midway across the pacific we had the mail buoy run. I was placed "In Charge" of the mail buoy detail as the "senior petty officer." We dressed out in Anti-C's and life jackets. I was sent down to the wardroom, crew's mess, and CPO quarters to pick up outgoing mail. The XO and several chiefs thanked me for doing this mail buoy run, telling me how important it was for crew morale, etc, etc... We surfaced, Don Rich and I were sent up to the lower bridge while the OOD and lookout went up. As we waited, one of the RMs came up with his message board. He looked at me and asked "are you in charge?" I said "yes." He went up to the bridge, then came back down and showed me the message. It was stamped "secret," and stated another submarine had damaged the mail buoy a week earlier, and it was no longer usable. We were sent back down below. The XO came on the 1MC and announced to the crew what had "happened," and how proud everyone was of us for trying to get mail. I felt real proud - for three days until someone finally told me we had been had... I think I still have some pics from this event, as well as other events during my tour from November 1974 to January 1980. I'll look through my scrapbook and send them along. Regards,
on 1/4/2004, 1:05 pm
66.82.48.107
I just took a look at the Scamp Image Library No. 10 , and saw this pic "Don Rich and ?? preparing for mail bouy run, 1976 West Pac". The other person was me, Ron Charest (AKA "Radar"), ET3 at that time. (Being a newby on NQP aboard)I was the focus of this mail buoy run. This occurred during the transit from Pearl Harbor to San Diego, after the yard period, sometime early December 1974.
Ron Charest
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