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Why I Miss The Cold War or...........

E

Emil Frand

Charter Member
maybe Im getting old.
Went to bootcamp in Orlando, its now condos and parks with some of the barracks being used for drug rehab, not much else left.
Sent to the Saratoga, its now in Rhode Island, IF they get enough money raised they want to make it a museum, if not its slated to become an artifical reef along with the Forrestal sitting beside her.
Stationed at Cecil Field,Fl. Its now an industrial park
Went to Aviation Boatwains Mate A School at NAS Lakehurst, the school is now in Pensacola.
Stationed on the John F Kennedy, its now in Philadelphia, saw it last year, being stripped, fate undetermined at this point.
Finished up my hitch at Philly NS helping redo the Intrepid for the 76 bicentennial, Philly NS now all but closed, Intrepid in NY as a museum.

Did a week on the second Lextington CVT16 for training, its a museum in Texas.

My squadron VA37 lives on. They turned in their A7E's which they got new when I was there in 73 for F/A18's and are now VFA-37.
 
...Would that every weapon of war was turned into a museum...interactive, of course!!
 
Emil Frand said:
maybe Im getting old.
Went to bootcamp in Orlando, its now condos and parks with some of the barracks being used for drug rehab, not much else left.
Sent to the Saratoga, its now in Rhode Island, IF they get enough money raised they want to make it a museum, if not its slated to become an artifical reef along with the Forrestal sitting beside her.
Stationed at Cecil Field,Fl. Its now an industrial park
Went to Aviation Boatwains Mate A School at NAS Lakehurst, the school is now in Pensacola.
Stationed on the John F Kennedy, its now in Philadelphia, saw it last year, being stripped, fate undetermined at this point.
Finished up my hitch at Philly NS helping redo the Intrepid for the 76 bicentennial, Philly NS now all but closed, Intrepid in NY as a museum.

Did a week on the second Lextington CVT16 for training, its a museum in Texas.

My squadron VA37 lives on. They turned in their A7E's which they got new when I was there in 73 for F/A18's and are now VFA-37.
Click to expand...

Man don't come near me. I am not ready for that final museum. ;)

I know what you mean. I went to pilot training at Craig AFB in Alabama. It is now closed and some sort of overgrown local airport. Flew out of A Couple of other bases I flew out of were later closed. It is like seeing the house you grew up in torn down.
 
Emil,
We're not old, just "well traveled". :icon_lol:
Most of us old salts can recite similar histories of our duty stations.
I enlisted in the reserves at NAS Glenview, IL in 1965. It's completely gone now except for the tower portion of the main hangar building, everything else replaced by upscale houses and condos. I fear that the Sara and JFK will end up as artificial reefs or SinkEx targets rather than museums. Any preservation group has gotta have deep pockets to maintain a carrier in any form: museum, casino, whatever. I'm glad I can at least visit one of my old ships, the Midway in San Diego.
BTW I made the 78-79 Med cruise on JFK. I was in VFP-63 Det 2, RF-8 photo birds.
 
I went thru basic at Fort Polk in 1974,there were only 2 brick buildings on the entire base.

Then on to Fort Knox and to Erlangen Germany,I just hate to see the old M60A1 used up for targets,but fair is fair.We shot up a bunch of M47's in excellent condition.


My dad watched his ship get sunk in the Falkland Islands war by the brits...man he was mad.Good old CL-46.:USA-flag:
 
Sometimes it is better to think of the present than of the past. Having 'been there' and 'part of it' I would not long for the Cold War days anymore, to be honest. I bet that period was a lot more 'comfortable' in the States than it was here 'on the ground' ;-)

Nearing 60 myself I can of course relate to 'having memories' of things that ain't anymore. But life is change, no way around it.
 
Interesting subject. I don't miss it a bit. I was a child in the early sixties and I'm still grateful to the adults of that period for finding ways to keep the cold war from becomming a hot armageddon.

Had that come to pass, and if you were somehow fortunate enough to be among the survivors - you'd be missing a lot more than your old barracks or your first ship. You'd be missing the world as you knew it and continuing a struggle for daily survival. It would have been the fastest way to push the human species back into the animal kingdom.
 
I don't miss the nuclear alerts I pulled. Days underground studying photos of lands I was preparing to vaporize. Sure am glad it never came to that.
 
Well I didnt at first mean it to be taken seriously but personally I think the world as a whole was a safer place during the cold war. It wasnt great for the eastern block countries under soviet control, being occupied isnt freedom and I understand that. But in the big picture lines were clearly drawn, all sides basically played by some sort of rules in general and both sides realized a nuclear war was a no win for anyone.
Now look whats happened since the soviet collapse, terrorism is rampant world wide, soviet nukes and material being sold or tryng to be sold to the highest bidder along with whatever weapons are made available. How many wars have there been in ex-soviet block countries, Bosnia and others, some of the most horrific stuff since ww2. Soviet mobs expanding world wide, white slavery of women along with drugs, extortion and weapon sales. Theres an endless list most of which can affect the world as a whole. The soviets kept a lid on their pissant dictators and puppet governments and once the lid was off all hell broke loose.
I watched the wall come down, it was a great day, Germany reunited, warsaw pack countries free to govern themselves, finally the world is on the right track and hope springs eternal once again but all it did was open a pandoras box of other problems.
 
Emil Frand said:
Well I [snip]... The soviets kept a lid on their pissant dictators and puppet governments and once the lid was off all hell broke loose.
I watched the wall come down, it was a great day, Germany reunited, warsaw pack countries free to govern themselves, finally the world is on the right track and hope springs eternal once again but all it did was open a pandoras box of other problems.
Click to expand...

Well my friend, you have just explained why religion will always exist. Human nature will always screw up the best of intentions. Utopias are doomed to fail. Pride, avarice, sloth, envy, gluttony, lust, and anger (what use to be taught as the Seven Deadly sins) always get in the way of utopias.

A belief in a God who is above all of this is what keeps hope alive in much of the world. It has been that way since time immemorial and I am sure it will always be so.
 
Emil Frand said:
It wasnt great for the eastern block countries under soviet control, being occupied isnt freedom and I understand that.
Click to expand...

It may have been bad by western standards, but it wasn't as much of a hellhole if you were there and never got much of a glimpse of "the other side".
 
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