Subj : Bebopping to the beat of the Breem, a sea story
To   : Carol Shenkenberger
From : Ruth Haffly
Date : Sat Feb 24 2024 12:19:39

Hi Carol,

 CS> Anyways, on the Essex, like all ships even today, the junior enlisted
 CS> crew perform for periods as assistants with the galleys.  Food Service
 CS> Attendants or 'FSA' is the general term.

Interesting, never heard of that with any of the other services.

 CS> That young man was a natural cook!  Today my daughter says FSA's

Makes you wonder why he didn't enlist as a cook to begin with. BTW, I
presume Charlotte is still active duty? Our daughter in the National
Guard hit her 20 (active) last summer but was asked to stay on longer to
help the unit train up for a deployment; she doesn't have to go,
however.


 CS> He proceeded to show some outstanding soups and fast skillet type
 CS> foods based on his Latina Mother then use the grill top to make us
 CS> stir fry dishes over Hispanic rice blends with curried rices.  He was
 CS> simply gifted at making the best with whatever we had.  His own
 CS> Department Chiefs saw it all and he went off with recommendation for
 CS> conversion to what was the MS rate, now CS rate. He left the Fort
 CS> Mchenry off to the A school to become a Navy cook.

Sounds like he made a good move and did well for himself.


 CS> He came back to Japan though while I was still there.  Smile, MS3 on
 CS> the Essex.  He served in the Chief's mess then the Officers stole him
 CS> for the Officers mess.  They in turn had him stolen for the Flag
 CS> Officers mess when embarked. When I left he was MS2(E5).

 CS> I had one final encounter with him 11 years after I retired.  I was
 CS> helping out a fellow GS who handled all the beginning entry training
 CS> for Navy enlisted.  I called a a CSCM (E9) with only his first name
 CS> and a reference that he was the POC for training.  Yup.  It was not
 CS> only him, but he remembered me!

 CS> Now how's that for cool!

Quite so, and just goes to show that it's a small world in the military.
When we got to Fort Hood (Steve's first duty station), he was assigned a
different unit than the one he'd been initially told he'd been going to.
He met a soldier who, with his family, became good friends with us. A
couple of years later, he went to Germany, assigned one place but was
moved to where we would be assigned a year later. Long story short, we
moved on, eventually settling at Fort Huachuca. He and his family were
assigned there 6 months after we got there. They retired out there, and
yes, we've kept in touch.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


.... ... Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans-J. Lennon

--- PPoint 3.01
 * Origin: Sew! That's My Point (1:396/45.28)

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