BARRERA-RAFAEL

 Joined the Navy April 14, 1962 and completed a twenty-one year active duty naval career June 1, 1992.  I completed Navy Basic Training at San Diego, California and was promoted to Seaman Apprentice.  My first orders were to report aboard the Air Craft Carrier USS Yorktown (CVS-10) for my first command.  I was given a bus fare voucher for round trip travel to my home of record, Lubbock, Texas, and two weeks later a return bus ticket to my new command at Long Beach, California.

 

THE USS YORKTOWN (CVS-10) "THE FIGHTING LADY"

The carrier USS Yorktown was designated anti-submarine and carried a squadron of fixed and folding wing air craft.  Its aircraft complement included helicopters with sonar sensors and short range bombers.  The ships mission was to find and destroy submarines.  The ship was a floating city and had all the services needed to operate extended periods of time while at sea with replenishments of provision and fuel.  The ship served as command center for its task force which consisted of four to six Destroyers.  The accompanying smaller ship's mission was to serve as a shield around the aircraft carrier in case of attack.  This allowed the aircraft carrier's line of defense to be extended for hundreds of nautical miles.   

August 14, 1962 I reported aboard the USS Yorktown (CVS-10) and was assigned to the 3rd Division Deck Force.  As the name indicates "Deck Force" we did the ship's maintenance which are too numerous to list here.   Doing ship cleanliness, painting, standing watch, and constant training took almost 18 hours a day 7 days a week at sea.  While in port, we followed a modified schedule which allowed shore leave daily except on duty days

The first year and a half on board the ship I did the required deck seamanship and mess cook duties.  I was promoted to seaman and allowed to strike (apprenticeship) for Radioman a communications specialty.  The specialty did not live up to my expectations and I transferred back to the Deck Division.  I was promoted to leading Seaman of 3rd Division until opportunities presented themselves for further promotion.  I was promoted to Boatswain mate Third Class and later Boatswain mate Second Class through a Navy wide competition exam while at this command. 

Most memorable time during this period in time was the constant travel and dealing with people of different cultures.  During these four years, the ship deployed for three tours of duty from Long Beach, CA. to Hong Kong, (now China) and back.

During this time the Navy, in efforts to expand its frontier, ordered the Yorktown to sail to Kobe, Japan.  The USS Yorktown was the first Military ship to sail to this Japanese Port in northern Japan.  There were protests and civil unrest because of our visit and their misconception that the USS Yorktown carried Nuclear weapons.  We were escorted by the Chinese Military on their coast as well as a Japanese military escort on their coast.  During our stay there, we saw daily anti-nuclear demonstrations by Japanese students.  During my pier watch, I was required to walk up and down the pier, the length of the ship.  I had a student demonstrator walk beside me the entire four hours I was on watch.          

The USS Yorktown (CVS-10) is now a museum at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, Mount Pleasant, S.C. 

               

NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY SAIGON, VIETNAM

After intensive survival training, I reported to Naval Support Activity Saigon, Vietnam on June 4, 1966 for a year.  The first six month I was there, I was the Navy ATCO at the Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon.  My job was to indoctrinate new arrivals at the airport and find a place for them to stay until they joined their unit.  There were two of us that did the indoctrination at the airport and each worked a 24 hour shift. 
The airport was under constant attack and the fire fights on the flight runways would be seen every night.  We were instructed to stay out of the way of Air Force Security Personnel. Consequently, I spent a considerable amount of time under a metal desk for protection.

I was injured while working at the airport but it was not a result of combat.   I was medivac to Yokosaka, Japan for treatment at a Naval Hospital.  I was released after a month and a half and was given the option of going on a ship or finishing my tour of duty in Vietnam.  I chose to finish my tour of duty in Vietnam and was release to my unit.

Upon returning to my airport duties, I found that the indoctrination process was consolidated under the Army MAC-G command.  Shortly, there after I requested to be transferred to a river boat unit in the Mekong Delta.  This set up what seemed to be a string of never ending temporary assignments until I got to my final destination.  There was the YRMB-16 NAVSUPPACTDET TAN CHOU, a Navy  Barge, on the Mekong River that provided assistance to River Patrol Boats.  Then the NAVSUPPACTDET at TAN CHOU that provided River Security to the Army 101 Airborne.  We were outside the Army's camp next to a battery of M-107's that would start firing without notice and keep us awake almost all night.  Of course, the Viet Cong was always firing rounds at the 107's trying to put them out of commission.  We also transported the Army troops to locations on the river in our utility boats and picked them up after they finished their operations.  The most dangerous operation for us was when we had to sweep the area between the river and our watch bunkers at dawn.  We were never sure if we would get shot at by a Viet Cong or a sleepy Sailor in a perimeter bunker. 

My final destination was YTM Dong Tam a barge at the end of the Mekong River near the Cambodian border with Vietnam.   The barge's bottom was filled with fuel and ammunition for the River Patrol Boats (PBR).  At the top level were the sleeping, machine shops and cooking spaces.   Needless to say, I don't think I got any sleep in the three months I was there.  Intelligence reports almost nightly placed Viet Cong in our area and attacks were imminent.  When this happened, we had to detach our PBR's and fire flares the rest of the night.  When it came time to leave, it was the longest trip of my life because I had a gut feeling I was not going to make it out of the country.  It was a slow trip up the Mekong River with stops at just about every Navy Detachment along the way to Saigon.             
 
USS INDEPENDENCE (CVA-62) "The Indy"

The USS INDEPENDENCE (CVA-62) is designated as an attack aircraft carrier.   The Indy carried several squadrons of attack aircraft, rescue helicopters and two AWAC's.  The Air Division is more than half of the ship's complement of crew.  The Indy's Task Force consisted of up to eight Destroyers and a Cruiser with the Flag Staff on the Cruiser.   The ship houses more than four thousand sailors and is a floating city with all the services found ashore including radio and television programming.  To show the size of this ship compared to the Empire State Building in New York, NY.  If you can vision the aircraft carrier standing on it's stern next the Empire State Building.   The Independence would dwarf the Empire State Building         

I reported on board the USS INDEPENDENCE (CVA-62) at Norfolk, VA on July 10, 1967.   I was assigned to the Master-at-Arms Force then on to Assistant Division Petty Officer and Career Counselor.  I was responsible for the ship's Life Boat crew.  The Life Boat was manned 24/7 out at sea and while air operations were conducted.  I did one Mediterranean cruise on the Indy and went from Norfolk, VA to France and everywhere in between.  My most vivid recollection is that while out at sea and sailing in international waters the Russian Navy was out there as well.  The Russian Navy did not have Aircraft Carriers and would do anything to test our ship's maneuvering abilities.  They would play cat and mouse with us and see what we would do in an emergency.  Often while I was the Boatswain mate of the Watch, I had to take over the wheel (steering) to execute evasive maneuvers to avoid collision with a Russian Trawler.  This was especially true during aircraft launches and recovery operations.   That is until the Commanding Officer got tired of the games and kept going at them and not changing course.

The Independence was decommissioned September 30, 1998 at Bremerton, Wa.

USS JOHN R. PERRY (DE-1034)

The Destroyer Escort USS JOHN R. PERRY (DE-1034) is light ship.  So light in fact that the ship's super structure is aluminum and has only one propeller.  Most Destroyer Escorts are assigned as observation ships and shadow other naval vessels.  The Perry was out of Hawaii and shadowing Russian Missile Ships was our game.

I reported on board the USS John R. Perry (DE-1034) October 11, 1968.  I became Division Petty Officer, Career Counselor, and ship's boat coxswain.  Duty on this ship was difficult because it was on a twenty four hour standby.   Short on crew and the crew had to be on constant contact with the ship in case of recall.  The only saving grace of this tour of duty was that it was in Hawaii. 
What stands out in my mind about this duty is that of we had to be off the ship on a small fiber glass boat in bad weather.  Once I had to take, a crew out in seas with swells of 6-8 feet.  When we were on a swell's crest and the ship was on the bottom we would be looking down at the ship and when swells went down the ship seemed to be about ten feet above us.  It was so frightening that an Officer who went out with us this one time lost his composure and cursed at the Captain for sending us out in bad weather. 

Other times we had to put up with Russian long boats trying to ram us.  Can you imagine a large wooden boat trying to ram our small fiber glass boat?  But, their long boats were so slow that we had completed our mission and slipped away before they got to the spot where we had been.
One time I even had to rescue another DE's Life Boat that had gone dead in the water and couldn't restart the engine.  Good thing we had been called on to be on standby in the area.  Seems there were three Russian trollers on this operation and that was too many ships for one DE to keep under observation.  The unfortunate crew of the stranded Life Boat got drenched by the time I towed them along side their ship. 

      

U. S. NAVAL RESERVE

Disillusioned with the Vietnam War, I, like many other servicemen decided to leave the Military service.  I had a family now and did not want to leave them behind for long periods of time for any reason.  But a couple of years later I missed the adventure and decided to join the Naval Reserve and become a Citizen Sailor.  The next ten years I served two weeks on a Naval Ship and did monthly weekend training.  Some commands I served in were:  IRU 811 Corpus Christi, Texas, USS Barbey (FF-1088), USS Rogers (DD-876) and Naval Reserve Recruiter, Lubbock, Texas.

U. S. NAVAL RESERVE (TRAINING and ADMINISTRATION of RESERVES)

While Recruiting I learned of the Training and Administration of Reserves (TAR) program.  My Commanding Officer talked me into joining the program.  I enlisted on August 1, 1980 and was sent to NTTC Meridian, MS for training as a Personnelman.  I completed the school in record time and graduated honor student.  My first command as a (TAR) was Naval Reserve Center, Houston, Texas.  While in NRC Houston, I was assigned Reserve Classifier and went to school in New Orleans. La.   My next duty station was at Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center, San Antonio, Texas in the Personnel Support Detachment and was in charge of Reserve Records Section.  My third duty station was Naval Air Reserve Center Denver, Buckley ANG Base in Aurora, CO. as Administrative Department Head.  I supervised production of three persons and maintained 650 active and reserve personnel records.  I conducted the center Classifier's duties in support of the Recruiting Department.   My fourth and final command was Naval Marine Corps Reserve Center, El Paso, Texas I was the Reserve Personnel Officer and Classification Coordinator.

 

Reference: 

The USS Yorktown (CVS-10), Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, Mount Pleasant, S.C.

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/histories/cv10-yorktown/cv10-yorktown.html

 

The USS Independence (CVA-62), Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility, Bremerton, Wa.
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/histories/cv62-independence/cv62-independence.html