There and Back: An Experience of a Lifetime
Seeing a helicopter being pushed off the side of a ship was a sight of war that the Navy crew members never expected to see. On October 18, 1974, at the age of twenty-one boatswain's mate, James Jump was departing for the second time from the Naval Station in San Diego. The USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) a command and communication anti-war ship was once again heading towards White Beach, Okinawa, "it's home away from home," (Dooley 3). Before leaving the safe waters of the United States, the Blue Ridge stopped at Pearl Harbor for a day of re-fueling and supply runs. The men did not know as they sailed past the remains of the USS Arizona, that they would soon be in a combat type action thousands of miles to the west. Hawaii was not the only stop that the Blue Ridge made that year. The ship also stopped in many overseas ports such as Yokosuka, Keelung (Taiwan), Manilla, Hong Kong, and Subic Ba
There were eleven different job divisions aboard the Blue Ridge. The divisions included every job from being a personnel man to a ship's serviceman. While on deployment Jump was a part of the First and Second Division, as a Boatswain's mate. " I basically did ship maintenance and things like that. Oh, we also had to stand watches on the bridge which were usually for four hours at a time, sometimes longer," remembers Jump about some of his duties. Along with ship maintenance, the boatswain's mate also had the jobs of painting the ship, preservation of the ship, boat operations, and anchoring. " I enjoyed my tasks because I was mainly outside working or was up on the deck. So it really was not that bad of a job," (Jump). Everyday was a working day onboard the US Navy ship. Some days were busier than others, bun none were completely quiet. The ship was underway for Vietnam on Easter Sund
Some common words found in the essay are:
Blue Ridge, Division Boatswain's, Jump Jump, Philippines Jump, , Jump Everyday, Subic Bay, Vietnam Easter, USS Arizona, Beach Okinawa, blue ridge, subic bay, boatswain's mate, ship maintenance, uss blue, uss blue ridge,
Approximate Word count = 601
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)
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