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Favorite Commands

My Favorite sea duty command was a frigate, the
U.S.S. W. S. Sims (FF-1059)

This scan is of a Christmas card from 1978.

This little ship was primarily an antisubmarine warfare platform but was also used for a lot of other missions.

I served on the Sims from 1977 to 1982. This included several Med cruises, an overhaul that lasted a year, a Mid east deployment(Persian Gulf) as well
as local operations in the Caribbean Sea. While on board I filled billets as needed, starting as a First Class Machinist Mate , Leading Petty Officer for A-Division and ending up as a Machinist Mate Chief, Leading Chief for
M Division. I was initiated to the Chief Petty Officer brotherhood in 1979 while the ship was in the yards at Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine.

Not a big choice in favorite shore duty commands, I went to the same shore
command for both of my shore duty tours. My favorite shore duty command was at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Illinois.

I spent a total of seven years there and loved every
minute of it. The day to day challenges encountered while training recruits
are totally different than those I encountered in other tours of duty. Many of these young men were away from home for the first time so this was a new experience for them as well. I enjoyed training the new sailors and years later found that quite a few had chosen to make a career of the Navy. I know that all the other recruit training facilities have closed, leaving Great Lakes the only recruit training facility for both male and female recruits. I believe the people that made that decision chose the best.

Email
benware-mmcs@verizon.net