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I served with Kerry--on the USS Gridley
Hat tip: LGF. Edited for brevity.When I read "Tour of Duty", I became concerned because the material on Kerry's time on GRIDLEY appeared in many instances to be exaggerations and in some cases figments of an overactive imagination. Here are my observations on the sections that bothered me: 1. Kerry never talked about his time on GRIDLEY. He says on page 74 that it is because "nothing much of note" happened while he was onboard. He uses words like monotony and tedious, when, despite being a boot ensign he was given every opportunity for responsibility by Captain Slifer and Commander Kelly (XO). He came aboard designated for Electrical Officer (80100), a grunt position in the Engineering Department and spent four months in that position. He was assigned duty as First Lieutenant, as Commander Kelly recalls, because of his knowledge of seamanship and his experiences with small boats and sailing. Besides being responsible for the decks of the ship, the First Lieutenant is also responsible for the ship's small boats. He also was assigned collateral duties as Public Affairs Officer. Despite all the responsibilities he was given, he gives the impression that serving on GRIDLEY was somehow beneath him. He certainly had less of an opportunity to collect "gongs" there. 2. Page 78 — "motivate 400 swabbies" — The First Lieutenant is responsible only for the personnel of 1st Division, not the entire crew. 1st Division had a roster of about 30 in 1968. To the extent that other divisions had responsibility for deck space, their officers would have been responsible for motivating them. List continued at link. Posted by: Dar 2004-08-30 |
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