Yankee Station: Gulf of Tonkin RVN.
This is where we spent most of our time sailing...and we did definitely do some sailing. On an average line period, we would start out a little bit north of Saigon and sail north up toward Hanoi. During this little "cruise" we would gleefully bomb the crap out of the Viet Cong, the Ho Chi Min trail and whatever other targets happened to be chosen by whoever was running the war at the time. When we would sail as far north as we were going, then we would turn around and sail south again, and once again bomb the crap out of anything and everything including well who knows what? It was a truly inspirational time with lots of action on a daily basis. Plus there was the gourmet food served 21 hours a day...mystery meat in four flavors...yumeee....mouthwatering, especially when you got to wash it down with sterilized milk which tasted a lot like baby formula. If you didn't go for the milk then there was always "bug Juice" which in reality was watered down cool aid... memories ..ah yes it's all still alive somewhere inside my head..
A typical WESTPAC Cruise lasted for 8 or 9 months (depending on what was going on) and we did this sailing routine for weeks on end. One time we did it for 54 days straight. Talk about a crew getting cabin fever! 54 days is a long time to pass the time watching the flying fish and counting the sea snakes... not to mention trying to avoid the EMO (electronics material officer) and that brood of chiefs in the back office. During the hours that our squadrons weren't flying and bombing and when all the electronics was working and we weren't re-arming the ship with bombs ...then we had time on our hands to talk about how we had forgotten the simple comforts of home. . Fortunately, we were lucky enough to have closed circuit TV on the Oriskany....so we got to watch some movies to pass the time. If you weren't a movie fan, there was always a card game somewhere...and there was always sleeping, and dreaming about the girl back home.