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USS Pueblo
- Thread starter Catmando
- Start date
I seem to recall an SBU guy along with the SEALS when I went in 89 but it may be the sound of "boots" is interferring with the memory.
Terrible flashback. Thanks!
Boots - boots - boots - boots ...
I was a Senior Chief Cryppie on COMSEVENTHFLT Staff when the USS Pueblo sailed out of Yokosuka, Japan that dreary day, Jan 5, 1968. I had volunteered for the 2 month mission as I thought, as a brand new platform, they needed some help. COS refused to let me go. Thank you, Captain.
When they returned I was a Master Chief on COMNAVSECGRU Staff. I was assigned to the CDAT (Cryptologic Damage Assesment Team), lead by a couple of NSA folks, Chuck Finley and Dick Lord. Old timers (and maybe not so old) NSA folks will know who they are.
The assessment was going badly for the Navy. The Navy, insisted on covering up the terrible security hole the incident produced. I refused to go quietly and detailed the outrageous amount of material aboard, with no destruction facilities, no hope of destruction. Intact 99.9 % fell into NK/SOVIET/CHICOM hands.
First the Navy tried to pull me off of the CDAT, Dick Lord refused to let that happen. NSG then took my SCI/TK/P clearance away from me. NSA did give me a letter of commendation for the effort.
So guess I to was a casualty of the Pueblo mission after all.
Side notes:
A. Bucher was not a SWO, rather a sewer pipe sailor. Pueblo was his first surface command.
B. Sere training: Back then SEER was a joke (compared to today), at least the session that I attended. I would guess about 1/3 of the folk on the Pueblo had been through SEER.
C. The photo shows some intersting gear ; Think it is the Brigand prototype that had been developed for the mission. Oh, Brigand = Bistatic Radar Intelligence Generation and Analysis Display
Sometimes it is better to just sit quietly in the corner; other times one must speak out.
When they returned I was a Master Chief on COMNAVSECGRU Staff. I was assigned to the CDAT (Cryptologic Damage Assesment Team), lead by a couple of NSA folks, Chuck Finley and Dick Lord. Old timers (and maybe not so old) NSA folks will know who they are.
The assessment was going badly for the Navy. The Navy, insisted on covering up the terrible security hole the incident produced. I refused to go quietly and detailed the outrageous amount of material aboard, with no destruction facilities, no hope of destruction. Intact 99.9 % fell into NK/SOVIET/CHICOM hands.
First the Navy tried to pull me off of the CDAT, Dick Lord refused to let that happen. NSG then took my SCI/TK/P clearance away from me. NSA did give me a letter of commendation for the effort.
So guess I to was a casualty of the Pueblo mission after all.
Side notes:
A. Bucher was not a SWO, rather a sewer pipe sailor. Pueblo was his first surface command.
B. Sere training: Back then SEER was a joke (compared to today), at least the session that I attended. I would guess about 1/3 of the folk on the Pueblo had been through SEER.
C. The photo shows some intersting gear ; Think it is the Brigand prototype that had been developed for the mission. Oh, Brigand = Bistatic Radar Intelligence Generation and Analysis Display
Sometimes it is better to just sit quietly in the corner; other times one must speak out.
Was just a little too junior to be aboard this one:
19 JAN 60 - P4M-1Q Mercator, Buno 124365 (JQ-16), Squadron VQ-2,
staging from Incirlik AB, Adana, Turkey. Crash site 41 NM from Incirlik AB.
Crashed into ravine on mountain top.
Fatalities:
Lcdr. Franklin B. Moore,
Lcdr. Warren J. Hampton,
Lt. Thomas H. Edgerton,
Ltjg. Donald C. McIntyre,
Ltjg. Robert E. Ogden,
ATC John M. Boling,
AD1 Joseph A. Cote,
AT1 Marvin A. Radtke,
AE1 Murph J. Martinez, Jr.,
AO2 Richard C. Nuzum,
AT2 John M. Criswell,
AT2 Harold L. Berg,
AQ2 Richard D. Crittenden,
AT3 Francis E. Tomkousig,
AM3 Rex Gregory,
AN Billy C. Sullivan...knew them all.
NavCad selected out of the squadron...and on my way to VT-30 Corpus (Advanced - A1s) for this one:
22 MAY 62 - WV-2Q (EC-121) Super Constellation, Buno 131390 (JQ-15).
Squadron VQ-2, based at Rota, Spain; staging out of Wiesbaden, West Germany.
Fatalities:
Lcdr. Conner M. Petrie Jr.,
Lt. Jack L. Duvall,
Ltjg. Marvin R. Armstrong,
Lcdr. Charles A. Patschke,
Ltjg. Robert Poole,
ADRCA Eugeno George,
ADR2 Michael Kostiuk,
ATCA Jared M. Rose,
ATCA Thomas E. Young,
AT1 Gene P. Bartram,
AM1 Martin J. Brennan,
AMH1 Gerhard K. Heimerl,
AT2 Donald R. Ballard,
AT2 Gerald R. Carlton,
AT2 Jamos W. Tyler,
AT2 Ronald P. Wajda,
ATR3 Edward N. Hawkins,
ATS3 Orville R. Malone,
AE3 Timothy D. Steward,
ATN3 Lee P. Strong,
ATR3 Joseph H. Watkins,
ATRAN Gilbert J. Austin. ARMY Fatalities:
SP5 F.L. Breshears,
SP5 R.J. Hoos,
SP4 E.M. Mcgreal,
SP4 R.A. Lewis...
I would have had a 33 1/3 % chance of being aboard this one! Flew many missions with LCdr Petrie...
Originally Posted by insanebikerboy
So that makes me wonder, do SWO's/other non-aviation/non-high-risk-capture folks get any kind of SERE intro, maybe a few briefs/etc?
Middle 1960's SERE...had "close order drill" (LOL!!) with a junior enlisted type (one off a DD) on either side of me...each required a little assistance from the "enemy" to get him through...
Goddammit!
I actually grew to love that clip for some sick reason. Anyone actually have an audio clip of it? I've scoured the interwebs with no luck finding it.
You too? I thought I was the only one that sick....
You are not knowing, American pig! Your brain-ball must be very small!
My scouring of the internets has turned up the fact that the audio recording of boots we all recollect so well was actually recorded by a SERE instructor, so you won't be finding it anywhere. Maybe go back to your beloved FASO building and ask them politely for it?
"Theres NO DISCHARGE IN THE WAAAR!"
Seafort
Made His Bed, Is Now Lying In It
Yeah, because JAG is such a representation of the way the real military works . . .
That was my point. They could have made something up. So why drag the real incident out?
Interesting, the story one of the instructors I talked to said it was actually kipling reading it and they had it on a really old cassette tape (and wouldn't give me a copy).
Close, but for anyone who's heard the other version knows it's a lots more intense of a reading than that one!
CDR Lippold was not hung out to dry by the Navy and from what I saw was not largely blamed in the subsequent investigations. With procedures in place at the time it apparently could have happened to almost any ship, especially in Yemen. This was highlighted by the subsequent discovery that a planned attack on the USS The Sullivans only 10 months earlier failed only due to the terrorists overloading the attack boat, which sank at launch.
The Navy actually tried to do what it thought was right. CDR Lippold was selected for promotion by the CAPT board and his name was on the CAPT list that was submitted to the Senate for confirmation. The snag came from the Senate, where Senator John Warner (R-VA) refused to let the list be approved with CDR Lippolds name on the list. This happened several years in a row with ADM Clark, the CNO, submitting his name with the CAPT list every year (he didn't have to). After a few years of this CDR Lippold finally was hitting HYT and retired.