Sunday, February 08, 2009

Gathering of Old Eagles

Judy and I drove down to Galveston yesterday to have lunch with an old Navy buddy from back in an earlier life while in the Philippines. We were stationed together at USNAVCOMSTAPHIL (US Naval Communications Station Philippines) near a little coastal village called San Miguel. We were about 30 miles west of the huge Naval base, Subic Bay.

By all standards it was considered a great assignment. Only they screwed up my assignment because once there the Navy would not recognize my Army training and I ended up in sort of a "man overboard" status. It pretty much stayed that way until I got out.

Meanwhile, as with any military unit, a few of us hit it off and hung around each other to the point where we were pretty much family.

Although I got out and became a real person again Hank stayed in, eventually making a career change to the Army and remaining there until he retired. He and a few of his cohorts from then meet up each year for a cruise somewhere. This year they sailed out of Galveston.

It was fun seeing him again after forty-two years. We immediately picked up where we left off and told the same stories we told four decades ago. We were all in the Army Security Agency, the Army's version of the National Security Agency. Very hush-hush group back then. So we had plenty to talk about.

Anyway, it was a fun gathering and I'm sure our lives will cross again somewhere and we will re-tell the same stories. Somebody's got to do it...

Here's some shots of us.




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