---

At Long Beach, California, I reported aboard USS O'Brien (DD725) as a Seaman Apprentice and was assigned to the Deck Department. One week later, being the least senior in the division, I was once again assigned to mess duty. That didn't set well with me and feeling put upon, I proceeded to get in to even more trouble. I seemed to attract extra duty and I may have set the record for Captain's Masts. The greatest display of my hard headedness was going AWOL for eleven days with a friend off of a sister ship. Made it as far as Klamath Falls, Oregon. The local Law enforcers noticed us and one thing led to another. We turned ourselves in and waited eight days in their facilities before being released on our own recognizance to return to our respective ships. My story was, "I didn't have a clean set of whites for the Captain's Inspection sceduled for the coming weekend." Now there's an interesting and mature line of reasoning. Luckily I only received a "Forfiture of Pay" and "Hard Labor Without Confinement for 45 Days". But I was determined to push the envelope. I finally screwed up enough and got to spend eight days as a reluctant guest of the MarDet (Marine Detachment) at the Naval Brig in San Diego. That marked a turning point. I began to get my "stuff all in one sock" (I paraphrase) and started squaring myself away. While aboard O'Brien I saw a lot of the Western Pacific, numerous ports in Japan including, Sasebo, Yokosuka, Amori, Imabari, and Kobe; the Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Okinawa, and Hong Kong. Along the way I left the Deck gang, joined 3rd Division and began striking for Gunner's Mate. Via on the job training I started accumulating knowlege about 5"/38 and 3"/50 gun mounts, small arms and other Gunner's Matey things. I became Ship's Armorer and set the mold. At all commands to follow I was the small arms "expert".

After approximately four years onboard, I left the O'Brien as a GM2 (Gunner's Mate Second Class).