whalen then, as QM2(SS), and now, with COMCIVMIDWEST
I reported to the USS Thomas Jefferson (SSBN618) in the winter in 1968. She was in the yards for overhaul in Newport News VA. Everything was new and exciting! Then one morning after quarters, as were getting a cup of coffee in the galley of the crew barge, the local TV stations began broadcasting recalls for crews of ships in nearby Norfolk. All eyes were glued to the set and silence fell as we learned that the Scorpion was overdue. I thought of my two subschool classmates onboard her. I still do. Shipmates, rest your oars.
I did four patrols with the gold crew on the TJ -- two out of Scotland and two out of Rota. My last year "in" was spent onboard the USS JALLAO (SS368). As head of the QM gang, I was the assistant navigator. Actually found Bermuda once using only one LORAN(A) line and a sextant. (The celestial fixes were right on, the alpha line was only to assure my boss, the XO.)
Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Home of JALLAO, home of the MIDWEST BASH!
I am now retired from the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) where I was a Technical Information Specialist. I was the manager of the Midwestern Regional Office at Dayton. If you are involved in research and development, you can still get in touch with me -- I can help you get some of the kajillion dollars a year DoD spends on R&D.
After getting out in 1972, I completed college, earning a Masters in Library Science from the University of Rhode Island.
I worked for a while at Electric Boat, as a material "expediter" -- helping build the USS Ohio (by stealing parts from the other boats). I clerked at the "Yellow Front" package store just outside the EB gate -- and I tended bar at the "Green Door" down by the railroad station in New London. I'm sure that in those jobs I ran into most of the bubbleheads who had EB "new construction" in the 1970's. I also worked in Navy and Air Force technical libraries (from the Underwater Sound Lab in New London to Scott AFB, IL to Holloman AFB, NM to Wright Patterson AFB, OH).
If you staggered in here because of a connection to the old TJ, you might want to check out this page: