I joined the Navy in Dec 1978, I went active in Jan 1979 Boot camp in San Diego, CA.
Then on to Great Lakes, IL. for MM"A" School
From there I reported onboard the USS ST. Louis (LKA-116) San Diego, CA. I saw a lot of the world onboard that ship... (Hawaii, Philipines, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Austrailia, Guam, Korea, Mombasa Kenya Africa) The St. Louis was forward deployed to Sasebo Nagasaki Japan in 1983, That became our Home port.
I Left the St. Louis in 1986 to go to Navy Security Guard school in Lakehust, NJ. That is when I was forced into getting my GED. Can not be an MP without it.
I then Reported to Security Detachment, Fleet Activities Sasebo Japan for Military Police Duty.
I was there for 2 weeks when they advanced me to watch captain for Bravo section.
In this picture I was standing in front of the last Official Japan sail ship in the Japanese Navy, this day was the day that the Japanese de-commisioned her from active Duty.
The worse experience I had while I was an MP in Sasebo is when they made us stay in the Marine Barracks during a typhoon while our Families were out in town during the storm.
The second worse experience I had was during Desert Storm, We had ships in port and got a call from the club and when I responed I was talking to the kid that had caused the problem, he was scared to death to go to desert storm and wanted to go home... he started struggling with me and he was able to get my weapon from the holster, that is the first and only time during my MP Duty that I slam danced with anyone, I was always able to talk them out of their mood and get them to the ship, not that night with that kid.
I made 1st Class Petty Officer while in Sasebo and I re-enlisted there for another 6 years.
My Re-Enlistment cake was a horseshoe, they called me cowboy Hohl or most of the Japanese Guards called me Crockodile Dundee.
When I Left Sasebo I went to San Diego, Ca. I was shore Patrol on the Tijuana Border, That was the worse Duty I ever had, I'm glad it was only Temporary Duty.
I reported to the Outside Machine Shop (38-A) Sima San Diego, CA. in 1990.
I went to the USS Mount Hood (AE-29) in 1994, that ship was like walking into a U.S. Navy Musium, there was nothing automatic about that old ammunition ship.I did not like this ship at all, the only good thing about it was the personel they assigned to me in my Valve Maintenance shop, they were great to work with and they were easy to train because they were willing to learn.
I retired in 1996 and have done just about everything you can think of since then except work in what I was trained in... (Power plants in the Civilian world won't hire Military because we have experience, but no degree) what was my 18 years in service for? And to top it off you get this BS that your over qualified, I told one company that there is no such thing as over qualified when you need to eat.
If you got this far on my Blog, thank you for taking the time to read it, I did leave out a bit but I will try to fix it later, I will try to figure out how to make it better and put more in it later. Thanks Again... MM1 Gary D. Hohl
