2003 Guest Book Page 01

VAQ-136 Gauntlets
2003 Guest Book Entries

January ~ April 2003

Sunday 04/20/2003 11:01:33pm

Name:

Mike Manlove

E-Mail:

azzmarkm@aol.com

Location:

Chandler Arizona

Comments:

I was assigned to VAQ-136 from June 1974 to June 1977. I made the second Kitty Hawk Cruise and the first Independence Cruise. I worked for Senior Chief Anders and Chief Smith in maintenance control.

Saturday 04/05/2003 8:56:02am

Name:

Malcolm LeCompte

E-Mail:

mlecompte@astrovision.com

Comments:

Thought you might find this interesting.

I have attached a photo taken during the 1974 WESTPAC cruise (USS Kitty Hawk, CV-63). The photo, a PR stunt to highlight the oil and fuel shortage in the states, includes the skipper and pilot, CDR Don Kentopp pilot, his ECMO-1, LCDR Ted Meserve, ECMO-2 Lt(jg) Malcolm LeCompte, and ECMO-3 ENS John Dorsey.

You might be interested to know, some obscure facts about VAQ-136. It was the first VAQ squadron who enthusiastically embraced and actually trained for the end-to-end escort role for which the aircraft was designed rather than the much safer stand-off Jamming role that had been the norm until that time. It was the first squadron to fly the EA-6B with the Higher thrust P&W
P-408 engines and the first to be equipped with the Martin Baker rocket ejection seat with a zero speed -zero altitude capability.

Perhaps most unusual, it was the only squadron in VAQ history to employ enlisted aircrew as electronic warfare system operators. These men were all very senior (black-shoe!) electronic warfare rates of at least E-6 rank, and while primarily assigned to the 4th (communications jamming position) seat, actually were trained to occupy and perform every role on the aircraft serving as navigators and command EW system operators. The officers were frequently embarrassed by the superior knowledge of EW system parameters shown by these flying EWs.

The Kitty Hawk's air wing, CAW-11 , was constituted and the ship equipped as a total warfare (CV) platform when other big deck carriers were still designated as CVA (A for attack) carriers. For this reason, only two VAQ aircraft were typically embarked.

I have other photos from that cruise if you are interested in posting in flight EA-6B photos from its first deployment when VAQ-136 was attached to CAW-11.

I appreciated your web-site very much. Nice job. However, I have to tell you that we were operating in the Indian Ocean in 1974, on the first cruise. In 1973 the Oriskany was the first (modern era) USN carrier to operate in the IO, but of course had no EA-6Bs.

Hope you found this interesting and helpful. If I am mistaken in any aspect of this I apologize in advance but that is my memory of our first deployment.

best regards,

Malcolm LeCompte, CDR, USNR (ret)
Line Division Officer and Comm and Schedules Officer. VAQ-136: 1974.

Tuesday 04/01/2003 1:01:48pm

Name:

Gary Tentler

E-Mail:

SOH81004@allstate.com

Comments:

Hello,

As you take great pride in serving with the Gauntlets, I congratulate you. I also served. I was a standard bearer back in 1973. Commander Davis was the first CO with Commander Kentopp as the executive officer. As you well know the Navy threw together about a 138 men and boys and said go get them. That first 10 weeks were hectic. We went on a mini cruise called RIM-PAC 73. It was off of Hawaii with the British, Australians and who knows who else. After returning we were off on our first cruise west. You may or may not know that Boiler room 4 exploded on our way to the Philippines. As a young (I'll use the word boy) was on the flight deck that night. Flight ops were suspended. I was sitting out over the bow, turned my head and saw sparks flying out of the stacks. I asked a Third Class what he thought. His reply was nothing A little later flames were shooting out. Then smoke rolled out of the bow of the ship back over the flight deck. We went to general quarters, but the only problem was the boatsman of the day stuttered and you couldn't here where the fire was. My duty station was ready room 5. By the time I got to the hanger bay they had sealed all hatchways. I weaseled my way to a forward compartment that we had. Phone lines were down so I sat for two hours listening to my name being called. By god I wasn't moving until they gave the all clear. We spent 28 days in Olongapo City. I was begging to get back out to sea. Ran out of money and my health was draining.

During that 28 days we had one Officer that was a hoot. His handle was Dirty Harry. For the life of me I can't remember his last name but he had a big old handle bar mustache. To get his hours in he would fly into the gorges and herd water buffalo, and skim the waters trying to get the fisherman to bail out of there bonka boats. Hell no wander we got kicked out of there.

By the way The Gauntlet's emblem was made by a man named Michael McDonald. He is a postmaster now in Yankton, SD. During the commission phase the skipper put out a contest to name our squadron and to come up with a emblem.

We also won the flag football base championship when we returned from the cruise in 74. The squadron should have a trophy still hangin around for that. I remember Commander Kentopp wanting that very badly when we started winning. He gave us time off to practice and anything else we wanted. Then we lost in the regional championships to the Bremerton marines I believe. Then it all went back the same as it was.

If you would like to share some stories or would like to know more about those early days please fill free to e-mail me at gtent@prodigy.net or GaryTentler@allstate.com.

Hope you receive this thanks for letting some memories come back

Have a great one

Gary Tentler

Monday 03/31/2003 7:45:42pm

Name:

Paul "The Beanster" Bean

E-Mail:

paulbean7@hotmail.com

Location:

Morristown, TN

Comments:

I served as the "OPS YN" for VAQ-136 during "Desert Storm". It was a great tour aboard the MIDWAY.

Thursday 03/20/2003 2:54:029m

Name:

Randy Butler

E-Mail:

rsbutler298@sunflower.com

Comments:

Nice job on the website, shipmate. I served w/ 136 fm '93-95. From your webpage it appears we both had the "pleasure" of working for Larry Stack. Looks like things are going well for you now - also, looks like the boys are hard at work once again in the Gulf. I think we'll finish the job in an appropriate way this time around. Best wishes in wintry MN.
randy butler

Tuesday 03/18/2003 12:02:22pm

Name:

Rusty Crain

E-Mail:

alcrain2001@yahoo.com

Comments:

Hello, my name is Rusty Crain. I am a plankowner of VAQ-136, commissioned on 6 April 1973 at NAS Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor, WA. I was separated on 10 May 1975, leaving rated and ranked AK3. I am interested in more info on squadron history such as members, the first Kitty Hawk cruise, etc. Here's a little info for you - do you know that the squadron won the base 7 on 7 football league in 1974? That the music group "Bread" played in a concert in Seattle the night of the commissioning - seven of us went to the concert!! That the backup band was "Steely Dan"? I'm interested in finding photos and info on that squadron's first few years - do you have access to that or know what site I might find anything?

My Reply:

Hi Rusty,

Thank you for your letter and for telling me a little about 136's early years. Unfortunately, the only other web sites about VAQ-136 are the squadron's official homepage and a couple of defense sites with very brief histories. My site is the only one about VAQ-136 on the whole Internet with this kind of detail.

I put this site together a couple of years ago and have been scouring the net and other sources for any scrap of information I could find. I have been in touch with the current Admin Dept. and they have helped as much as they could. It's basically down to former Gauntlets to contact me and let me know what happened in those years. I hope to someday have more early history and pictures posted. I am currently in-work on a huge batch of photos of the squadron, but they cover the 1989~1991 time period from when I was there.

I do welcome submissions of information and photos from anyone and I give full credit to the person who submits it. Hopefully this section will be as big and thorough as my Midway section.

~ Troy

Follow-up:

Wednesday 03/19/03 6:14:17am

Hi, Troy -

thanks for your response- a little more on the history of the squadron from my memory. Kitty Hawk left San Diego the day before or the day after Thanksgiving of 1973. About three weeks later, about 11 Dec, a huge fire and explosion in Main Engine Room One occurred, killing 6 sailors- one 19 years old, four 18, and one 17. In those days, our squadron flew the Grumman EA6-B, a four place aircraft that carried no ammunition, just jammer pods that were designed to intercept missiles launched from the ground. One member of each four man flight crew was an enlisted man, a newly created rate called Electronic Warfareman. All four of our EM's were former Seals- bad dudes, man! One of them, EMC Wade Moore kind of took me under his wing during the squadron formation period and into the cruise itself. I was welcome into his home at Whidbey, got to know his wife and daughters, in fact I dated his oldest for a few months before the cruise! During the fire, we went to General Quarters, and since our ready room was about 10 ft from the hatch that led to the Main Engine Rooms, we were ordered to report to the Flight Deck. Chief Moore requested to be allowed to help in the evacuation below. At the end of the cruise, he was awarded the Medal of Valor for personally carrying the burned remains of two of the sailors killed in the fire. He simply put the bodies in a bag and carried them over his shoulder up the four decks of ladders to the Main deck. A scene out of a movie, I know, but it's all true. When he got his medal from the Skipper of the ship, he cried and apologized to the shipmates- he didn't get there in time to save their lives!! I'm confident the guy was the original Rambo! He was a hero, he just didn't acknowledge it. We arrived in Subic Bay, Philippines on my 20th birthday, 14 Dec 1973. During that cruise, we visited Singapore, Hong Kong, Mombassa Kenya, and Australia. When we crossed the equator, we experienced the infamous ceremony of being transformed from pollywog to shellback!! There were 6500 sailors on that cruise, 3700 of them already shellbacks- it was a long day and night!! We returned to San Diego in middle of July 1974. There's a verse in the Bible that says, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I behaved as a child; when I became a man I put away my childish ways." I left San Diego a 19 year old boy, and came back a 20 year old man. It wasn't the age, it was the cruise. Talk to ya later.

Sunday 03/16/2003 0:23:17am

Name:

Aundre D. Nash

E-Mail:

SHOOBEDOO_98@YAHOO.COM

Location:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Comments:

Was an AZ in VAQ-136 from 89-92.

Friday 03/07/2003 10:38:19pm

Name:

RANDY T. EATER

E-Mail:

REATER@COMCAST.NET

Location:

Harrisburg, Pa.

Comments:

A-J SQUARED AWAY GAUNTLET. SIGNED GUESTBOOK TO UPDATE NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS. LOOKING FOR YN1 DAVID CARLSON. I OWE HIM A SAPPORO. LATER...

Tuesday 02/04/2003 9:15:22pm

Name:

David R. Reed

E-Mail:

reed_d@sbcglobal.net

Location:

E-mail

Comments:

This is a great site. Good job.

Concerning your picture of a wave crashing over EL 01. This is the 2nd time that I know of that this has happened. You think we would have learned something. I was aboard the Midway with VAQ-136 from '83 - '86. We hit a typhoon somewhere around the P.I. There was an A-7 sitting next to Ironclaw 604, the elevator went down to bring up an A-7. 604 was along for the ride. The wave came, snapped the chains on the A-7 and slammed it into our plane. We almost lost it and the PC since he had to ride brake. (that was policy). Both planes were trashed. Both 604's canopys were smashed and cockpits filled with sea water. Every piece of equipment, including the ejection seats, had to be removed and replaced. The reclamation on this was very time consuming and tedious. Needless to say, the plane did not fly again until we got back to Yokosuka. The plane was started and flew low speed, low altitude, and stiff legged to Atsugi by the C.O and M.O. I'll never forget seeing the C.O. in the right seat giving a thumbs down while CB were popping and the M.O. in the pilot seat giving the thumbs up. At the cat stroke, the plane disappeared briefly from sight and began to gain altitude slowly as if we were watching one of those old WWII movies. Needless to say, as soon as 604 arrived in Atsugi, it went immediately to NIPPI for overhaul.

David R. Reed
AME1 USN (RET)