Lt. Paul Am__a: "Mr. A" was our division officer. I’m not sure when exactly he left the ship but it was probably shortly after the ’86 Wespac. Mr. A. is a very hard man to describe since he was more-or-less only a figure head in the division by the time I got there (he was so short). By then we hardly ever interacted with him, except when he came down to the RE office to sign things that weren't already forged with his name. I remember he stood his watches down in 2-plant and I had to stand many an LRPT (Log Recorder/Phone Talker) watch with him during my nub days. When I stood watch with Mr. A he usually had no idea who I was even though I was in his division.

EM2 "Flash" Ay__a: "Flash" was a short timer by the time I arrived in RE. In fact, he was kicked out of RE berthing the day I arrived so that I could take his rack. (By then he was working in Tech-Pubs.) His nickname "Flash" was meant to be sarcastic since he was so slow. He was considered by the division bigwigs to be a no load and when he got short, his productivity really diminished. I’m not sure if Flash really was as bad as they say he was. People sometimes earned reputations in RE division that they didn’t really deserve.

EM2 Mike Bowden: I met Mike in Reactor Training division (RT).  Mike had already been assigned to RE division before the cruise but had been sent off the ship for medical reasons in 1985. When he returned he was reassigned to RT since he had never qualified RE. Mike was killed in April of 1986 while working on the steam generator inspection team. The story of Mike’s death is a painful one to those of us who knew and worked with him. He was without a doubt one of the most-liked guys in the whole department. I will write more about Mike’s tragic death later is this narrative.

EM2 Mike Bowman: Mike was in RT division during the beginning of the cruise and showed up in RE division before most of us other nubs. He was a 3 planter from New Jersey.  For years our racks were located across from each other (after RE division was moved in 1987) and we were great friends. Mike and I put away a lot of beers together.

EM2 Greg Brazier:  Greg (or "Hair Bear" as he was sometimes called due to his excessively hairy back) was a great friend of mine and we served together for many years. He was the 2-plant LPO when I first joined the division. When the aft group supervisor ("Wheels") left the navy Greg took his place in the main office. Greg was then the aft group supervisor until he left the navy around 1989. Greg was probably one of the most respected REs on the whole ship.  

EM2 Mark Bryant: Mark was a 1-planter and had been on the ship for a long time (I believe he made both the ‘82 and ‘84 cruises). His nickname was "Snivel Bear" because he was an avid complainer about the Enterprise and sea life in general. He was a great guy and I got along really well with him. He left the Enterprise shortly after the 1986 world cruise to join the newly commissioned USS Lincoln (the newest nuke carrier at the time).

EM3 David Bo_____mp: "Bo-Jo," as he was called (after the Filipino drink, "Mojo") was a fellow 4 planter. He was extremely lazy and I don’t recall him ever doing anything that was in the least bit productive. There were many times when we 4 planters had to spend all morning fielddaying while Bojo slept soundly on the switchgear room floor. (We usually had to roll him over to sweep under his lazy sleeping carcass.) I remember toward the end of his enlistment he was sent to Captain’s Mast and de-nuked for dereliction of duty. (By then Bojo only had about 3 months left in the navy!) He was the only RE to ever to be sent to Captain’s Mast and be de nuked while I served on the Enterprise. There were many duty days that I recall seeing his name as my relief on the watchbill and knowing damn well that he was going to bag me. (He was notorious for leaving the ship on duty days and not returning for his late watches.) Perhaps the funniest thing to happen to Bojo (to us, not necessarily to him) was when he was caught sleeping on the SWGR room floor by the captain. Our chief got word that Captain "Rocky" Spane was headed down to inspect 4 plant and ran down as fast as he could to make sure we all looked busy. When the chief found Bojo sleeping on the floor (as he usually was) he screamed at him to get up and get to work. Bojo just ignored him and went back to sleep. A few minutes later the old man walked into the SWGR and the rest of us were too far away to save poor Bojo. We heard Captain Spane scream: "HEY SON ARE YOU ON WATCH?" Bojo then told the old man that he wasn’t (which was fortunate) and then he tried to explain his slumber by saying, "Well sir you see I was out late last night partying...."  Before Bojo could finish his lame excuse the Captain yelled, "WRONG ANSWER SON!" Our chief was called and as punishment Bojo was assigned an all Saturday EMT that required him to scrub the MMR and CTG flat decks with a toothbrush.

EM2 Brian Bonner: This fellow got out of the navy prior to my arrival in RE division. He was a 4 planter like myself and was notorious for doing things that others [afraid of punishment] would never think of doing. I’m not sure if my memory is correct but I believe he was the 4-plant LPO (Leading Petty Officer) until his departure. One tale I recall hearing about this "daring" individual was one that involved his escape off the ship during a fast-cruise. Fast-cruises were "pretend" cruises that were done by the ship previous to any deployment following lengthy in port periods. (This was a drill to ensure all the sea and anchor details were set correctly.) During this exercise the after brow and quarterdeck were closed and no one could leave or board the ship. Bonner was relieved late from a watch prior to such a fast-cruise. As he ran to exit the ship the brows were secured. Without skipping a beat Bonner jumped over the barricade blocking the way and ran down the pier to his freedom. Since no one was allowed to exit the ship no one could chase after him.

EM2 G. C___n: He was another 4-planter that got out of the navy a few months before I joined RE so I never actually met him. He was often used as the "bad example" in many a "don’t do this" lesson. Perhaps the saddest story I ever heard about C___n was the one that was used to teach [us] nubs about not sending money to Filipino hookers. C___n, like many a lonely-hearted sailor, fell madly in love with his Filipino "hook." She gave him the old song and dance about not wanting to be a hooker and told him that the only reason she did it was to "help support her family." C___n sent huge sums of money to his girl and she in return assured him that she had "quit the streets." (This girl undoubtedly had several other sailors doing the same thing.) C___n and this girl were engaged and he couldn’t wait to bring her back to the States to be his loyal and loving wife. Everyone who knew C___n pleaded with him to abandon this foolish idea and stop sending his hard-earned money to the woman. Finally C___n decided that he had waited long enough. He took leave, purchased a ticket to the Philippines and planned to delightfully surprise his fiancée. He arrived unannounced and found to his horror that she had another man living in her apartment. What was worse, this fellow, a marine, was her husband. They laughed at him as he stood in the doorway crying. As the door slammed in his face the marine shouted: "Thanks for all the money you’ve been sending to us over the years." C___n, of course, got no sympathy when he returned and shared his sob story with his fellow REs.

EM2 Dave Conklin: "Big Red" [or "Big Dave"] was this guy’s nickname. He was huge! Before joining the navy he spent sometime playing football (linebacker) for MSU. Big Dave and I got along pretty well. He was a 1 planter and we were in the same duty section for many years. He left the navy about 1989 and went to work for an electrical contractor in Arizona. I used to go to the "Big E" gym with Big Dave and was amazed at how strong this guy was. He used to bench press upwards of 400lbs! My favorite memory of Big Dave was one that occurred at a bar called the US Festival in Olongapo City. Somehow, some foolish person actually had the audacity to steal Big Dave’s camera while we were sitting at a table soaking up a few pitchers of Mojo. Upon discovering his camera missing Big Dave commenced to rip the tables out of their cement bases and throw them across the bar until one of the bar girls just so happened to "find" his camera and return it to him.

EM2 Dennis Doyle: Dennis was from Downey, CA. One day I discovered he was from my hometown and I asked him if he knew some of my old friends and he did. (In fact, he was in my sister’s kindergarten class!) When we returned to Alameda following the ’86 cruise he applied for duty on the newly commissioned USS Lincoln. I really liked Doyle and we had many fun times together. His 1987 bachelor party is still talked about by many RE division alumni, who survived that ordeal.

EM2 Mike "Space Daddy" Engel:  Mike was another 4-planter. He took over the LPO job when my sea dad Paul Smith left the navy. Engel was promoted to forward group supervisor about a year later and then finally transferred off the ship about 1989. Mike was a great guy! I’m not sure where he went when he transferred off – maybe to teach at nuke or EM-A school in Florida. During the 1986 cruise Mike’s wife gave birth to a daughter and Mike couldn’t see her until we finally got home. I remember he, his wife and daughter were on the front page of every local newspaper. The captions all read: "Welcome Home Daddy."

EM1 Richard Ewell: This guy was very short when I first came down to RE, in fact he had only a few months left in the navy. His nickname was "Ewell-sless" (pronounced "useless") and he was treated very poorly by the division bigwigs. I’m not sure if he really was useless or just had a falling out with the chief (there were many differing opinions on the subject).

EM2 Scottie French:  Scottie was a great guy. He was the SPO (Supply Petty Officer) when I first joined the division. He also left the Enterprise to join the USS Lincoln after the ’86 cruise. Scott French was most remembered in RE folklore for a party that took place at his house following the ’86 cruise. During this party the AGS drove his car off a cliff and landed in a tree (if the tree wasn’t there the car would have flown off the cliff and into a ravine killing everyone inside). The AGS was in a panic because he thought he had killed all the others in his car. After he had freed himself from the wreckage and climbed out of the tree he wandered back to Scott's house very dazed and confused. The others, whom all arrived back at the house before him, tried their best to persuade him that they were all still alive.

EM3 Mark F__er: "Fireman" F__er, or "Goldylocks" as he was often called, was a truly unique individual. He came down to 4 plant toward the end of the cruise (or maybe even after we arrived in Alameda) and was totally broke-dick (an expression used in the seafaring literature to describe someone totally incapable of anything). Goldylocks was one of my roommates at Hunter’s Point and we were pretty good friends. I’ll have to devote more than a paragraph to describe this fellow so let me dispense with this description for now. More about this guy will follow at a later time, this I promise!

EM2 Dave Fulmer: Dave was a great guy. He was the 1-plant LPO when I arrived in RE. All the senior guys used to call him "Russ" so one day I made the mistake of calling him "Russ," too. He got very upset and told me that nubs weren't allowed to call him Russ. I learned later that it was considered a derogatory nickname in RE Div because there was once a fellow named Russ down in 1 plant that was a complete moron. Calling someone "Russ" in RE division was akin to inferring that they, too, were a moron. Dave and I did a lot of stuff together off the ship (mostly going to concerts and Blues bars). He left the navy in 1989 and went to work for an electronics firm somewhere in Idaho.

EM2 Mark Goodman: Mark was a 3 planter. I don’t remember much about this guy except that he was pretty funny. The love of his life was a Ford Mustang, that he always seemed to be working on.  He got out of the navy about a year or so before me.

EM2 Chuck T. Gr___n: Chuck was a 2-planter that was usually pretty cool. He was pretty senior by the time I arrived and got out of the navy soon after the ’86 cruise. He was known to "fly off at the handle" every once in a while. (I remember during Dennis Doyle’s bachelor party he actually choked me for missing a pool shot.) There was something odd about this fellow’s eyes (they always seemed to be crossed). He was often drawn in dopey book cartoons with this affliction grossly exaggerated, which caused his ire to really flare up.

EM3 Joe Gyolia: "Q," as he was known, was one of my best friends (and still is). He came down to RE a few months after I did. We worked together for many years (both in 4 plant and in the office when he was the supply petty officer). We were roommates after the ’88 cruise and then again in college from ’90 to ’92 while we were students at Cal Poly, SLO. He was one of my groom’s men when I got married and I was his best man when he got married. We still keep in touch but not nearly as much as we should.

EM2 John "Happy" Hanson: John was a pal of mine from way back. We first met in EM-A school. John was a very squared away guy and was teased left and right by just about everyone in the division for being a "lifer." (I never met any guy in my life so "gung-ho" about being in the navy.) He arrived in RE division very early in the cruise (he was probably the first nub down) and quickly established himself as a fine, outstanding, type of guy. Even though he was theoretically still a nub he didn’t act like one. Many of us other nubs resented the fact that he was allowed to skip all the grueling duties that we other nubs became enslaved in (such as laying tile in the RE passageway, painting the RE head, cleaning RE berthing, etc.) because he was the official ORSE LRPT.  He and I spent many a wild time together overseas during the ’86 and ’88 cruises. He eventually got orders to be an instructor at EM-A school in Orlando (this was considered to be Utopian duty) and continued on into a glorious naval career. I have no idea if John is still in the navy but if he is, undoubtedly, he's a Master Chief or officer by now.

EM2 Scottie Hayes:  Scottie was a 1-planter and a very nice guy. He was another nub that showed up during the cruise. Perhaps the most memorable thing about Scottie that most REs remember is a party that took place at his house about 1987. I won’t go into details but it involved a whole lot of drinking.

EM3 Mike He____orth: This was the infamous "MTW." What can I say about this guy? He was a great pal of mine from the moment we set foot on the pig together. I could spend hours writing about this guy so I’ll limit this paragraph and say that he and I both showed up in RE div about the same time (within a day of each other). By some twist of fate were both assigned to 4 plant. The last time I saw MTW was the day he left Cal Poly, SLO to attend graduate school.  From what I hear he is quite a respectable fellow these days – married and all. I bet his wife has no idea about his lewd life on the seven seas.

EM3 Terry Hickey: Terry was another nub that showed up in the latter half of the cruise. Hickey was a 2-planter and a pretty good friend of mine. I remember that he was very squared away and one of the brightest guys in the whole division.

EM2 Rich Hordyke: "Dick-O," was and is still one of my best friends. We both showed up in RE division about the same time. Over the years Rich and I spent countless hours together in port and at sea. I will mention him countless times in my narrative about the '86 cruise.

EM2 R. Khun: I have no idea who this guy was. He was gone by the time I arrived. There were many interesting stories about this guy. (Interesting but forgettable since I can’t recall any.)  

EM2 Jeff La___n: Jeff was a super slug. He arrived in the division about a month or so after I did. Jeff was extremely lazy and he made no attempt to disguise that fact. During the ’86 cruise when we nubs were tasked with many grueling activities Jeff was a hard man to find (he was lucky enough not to live in RE berthing). I liked Jeff; he and I got along great. He was a re-enlistee and made 2^nd class petty officer before any of us other nubs.

EM2 Joe L____d: 1 planter Joe "Love Rock" was a unique individual. Even though Joe joined the division before the ship left Alameda he was still considered a nub because he wasn’t qualified Reactor Electrician (RE) until late in the cruise. Joe, however, considered himself too senior to do nub work and so he, too, was hard to locate during the big projects. Many of us nubs disliked him because he was always trying to scam us into standing his LRPT watches so that he could stand UI (under instruction) RE watches. Most of us nubs did what we could to help him until we realized that he was full of crap and just wanted people to take his watches so he could kickback and watch TV. Anyone who lived in RE Div berthing during the ’86 cruise will remember Joe’s stinky socks and his foul smelling protein shakes. I forget where he eventually transferred off to (he might have been one of the guys our chief conveniently got to apply for duty on the brand new USS Lincoln).

EM1 Terry Macky: Terry was a bastard (or so we thought while we were nubs). He was the "coop chief" in charge of RE berthing and all RE spaces that weren’t actually in the plants. When we were nubs we were assigned to him and he kept us plenty busy. He was pretty short and got out of the navy about 6 months after we returned to Alameda in 1986. Shortly after the ship returned home he threw a party at his house. He was very explicit in his invitee list: no nubs allowed!

EM2 Dick Marsh: Dick was a 3 planter, who was a great guy.  He got out of the navy about a year or so before I did and returned to Southern California to finish college (CSULB). I kept in touch with him for a while after I got out of the navy.

EM3 Bernie Martin: Bernie was a 3 planter who was about six months senior to us [nubs] that joined during the cruise. For the most part he was lucky to gain non-nub status relatively early in his RE tour of duty because so many other nubs arrived after him. Bernie and I got along great.  We drank many a beer together.

EM2 "RJ" Martin: RJ was a pal of mine for the entire time I was on the ship. He was among the last of the nubs to show up in ’86 and wound up going to 1 plant. RJ was nicknamed "Poot-Poot," which he didn’t find it the least bit amusing. I can tell you many amusing stories about RJ because he was really quite a character – but they’ll have to be included in stories about the ’88 and ’90 cruises.

EM2 D. Matatall: "Meat" was this guys nickname (watch the movie Porky’s and you’ll know why). He was pretty short by the time I arrived in the division and left the navy within a few months of returning to Alameda. Most of us nubs didn’t like him because he was pretty rotten to us. I actually got along pretty well with him and remember once that he had to carry me back to the ship in the Philippines because I was too drunk to make it back on my own.

EM2 Vinny Mellado: I never met this guy (he was gone by the time I arrived). He was pretty infamous and often referred to in RE folklore.

EM3 Gil Miltenberger: Gil was one of the greatest guys I ever met. He was in 4 plant for many years and was regarded highly for his technical expertise and hard work. Gil had a huge sense of humor and was a prolific writer in the 4-plant dopey book. During the ’88 cruise, his dopey book name was "Kid Pillow" and he, like me, added dozens of hard-hitting cartoons to his "ruthless slams." (Gil was very religious but you would never have known it reading his lewd cartoons and/or dopey book slams.) Gil got out of the navy right before we deployed in 1989 and went to Cal Poly, SLO to study civil engineering. 

EM1 M. Ohrstrom: Ohrstrom left the navy before I joined RE div. He was the 3-plant LPO and was very highly regarded by his men and coworkers. For many years after his departure he was referred to when something was really screwed up and no one could figure it out. The words, "Ohrstrom would have been able to fix this – he could fix anything!" were said in such cases.

EM3 John Pea___n: John was a great guy. He was an avid body builder and slept in the rack above me in old RE division berthing. He was a nub that came down to RE toward the end of the cruise. We served together in Hunter’s Point working in the dry dock. I thought he was a very funny guy and we used to joke around quite a bit. He scammed the navy and got a "gay" discharge in early 1987. He was actively pursuing a career as a model while in the navy and a few years after he got out one of us actually saw him on the cover of Muscle Magazine. (I guess he made the big time!)

EM2 Dan Raya: "Rock n’ Roll" Dan was another great guy. He was the RE Representative in RT division and was actually the first RE any of us [nubs] met. I’m not sure how he got the nickname "Rock n’ Roll" Dan; it was probably more of a joke name than one that had any significance. Dan was pretty short and left the navy less than a year after arriving back home in Alameda.

EM2 Jeff Rich: Jeff "Dragon Daddy" Rich was the 3-plant LPO when we all first arrived. He was a real nice guy and we always enjoyed his sense of humor. He was nicknamed "Dragon Daddy" because of his fondness for a Webster Street bar called The Dragon Palace. Jeff left the navy about a year after we returned to Alameda.

EM2 Ralph Rivera: Ralph was a 1-planter, who was notorious for being up to something. Ralph was also a bona fide skater. My fondest memory of Ralph was when he was selected by our division to be the RE wog queen during the 1986 crossing the line ceremony. At first he refused. Then, a few days before wog day he so infuriated someone (an EE30 guy, whose name I now forget) that this guy threatened to beat him senseless. For some reason Ralph used to love to piss this guy off, knowing damn well that the guy couldn’t do anything to him (lest be punished UCMJ style).  Ralph pushed this guy too far one day without realizing that wog day was right around the corner.  This was bad for Ralph because Ralph was a wog and this other guy was a shellback.  (This was back in the days when wog days were less politically correct than they are today and a shellback could literally beat the living hell out of a wog if he so desired.) When the EE30 guy told Ralph that he would be looking for him on wog day Rivera’s heart skipped a beat. As soon as Ralph was off watch he volunteered to be the RE Div wog queen to escaped his "painful" fate. He even shaved his arms and legs just to make sure he won the beauty contest so that he could sit at King Neptune’s side and avoid the "pain" of being a common wog at the mercy of all the other shellbacks out there that were out to get him.

EM2 K. Robinson: Robinson was another good friend from 3 plant. His rack was right across from mine in old RE berthing and so we often talked about stuff late into the night.

EM2 Lee Schaaf: Lee was the wizard of 4 plant. He could fix anything! Anytime something broke in the plant and it couldn’t be fixed, Lee was called and it would be troubleshot and fixed in a matter of hours. I tried to learn as much from Lee as I could but his talent never seemed to rub off on me. Lee left the navy about a year before I did.

EM2 Keith Shiver: Shiver was another nub that came down during the cruise. He and I knew each other all the way back in nuke school. He was a great guy and went to Cal Berkeley when he finally got out of the navy.

EM1 Paul Smith: Paul was a very dear friend of mine. He was my "sea dad" when I was a nub. (A sea dad’s responsibility was to take a new guy under his wing and teach him the ropes.) I was very lucky to get Smith as my sea dad when I first came down into the division because he was a terrific guy and taught me many things. Smith was the LPO of 4-plant and so I asked and was allowed to go to 4-plant when assigned to a work center. Paul Smith was a very quiet and shy fellow. He had a good sense of humor I recall and his dopey book name was "Rice Man" because he was half-Japanese. He remained the LPO of 4-plant until the beginning of the ’88 Westpac when he got out of the navy and returned to civilian life as a college student at Arizona State University. For reasons unknown to anyone Paul Smith took his own life a few months after getting out of the navy. Those who knew him best thought him to be a genuinely happy person and his suicide was a complete mystery to all of us back on the ship. I remember feeling a terrible pain in my heart when I learned of his death.

EM2 Randy Sn__k: Good ol’ Randy Sn__k! A few years ago I wrote a short yarn about this fellow so you should read that if you get a chance. Randy’s nickname was Tweety Bird (because he sort of looked like one). I always enjoyed Randy and he was always nice to me. He left the navy about a year after we returned to Alameda and would up fulfilling his dream of being a papason in the PI.

EM3 Brad Stevens: Brad was another nub that came down from RT at the same time I did. He and I were in the same nuke school class and were good friends for most of our time in the navy. He was a truly unique fellow that can’t be described in a few sentences.

EM2 Mark Thompson: Many interesting things can be said about this 2 planter but I recall only a few of them. (And they certainly aren’t suited for this work.) Thomson was notorious for paying large sums of money to anyone willing to take his duty on the spot. Often, on his weekend duty days, he’d call reactor berthing early in the morning (before muster) and ask for any RE that was around. If the fellow answering the call wasn’t in that day’s duty section Mark would offer him an un-Godly amount of money to take his duty for that day (sometimes as much as $200). Thompson was usually in Reno when he made the call. One story about Thompson I recall (that isn’t too bad) was how one morning he woke up in an alley in Manila. He was lying in the gutter wearing nothing but a pair of skivvies. All his worldly possessions were gone except for a few pesos clutched in his hand. He stumbled up out of the muck and walked to the street. Spying a cab he showed the driver what money he had and asked: "Is this enough to get me to the [whatever hotel he was staying at]." The cab driver took the money, told him to hop in and then drove approximately 10 ft to the entrance of the hotel.

EM1 Dave Vernier: Dave was the forward group supervisor when I first showed up in RE. He was a great guy and very well liked by all of us in the division. He left the navy a few years later (probably right before the ’88 cruise) and was replaced in the office by Mike Engel.

EM1 Gerry Wh__er: Gerry was the aft group supervisor when I first joined the division. (Both the 2 and 3-plant LPOs worked for him.) Before I joined the division I heard through the grapevine that "Wheels," as he liked to be called, was a real hard-ass, so I, like all the other early nubs, asked to go to the forward group. Wheels actually wasn’t that bad of a guy and I never had any problems with him. He had a very marginal sense of humor and was often victimized by us naughty nubs, who loved pulling pranks on him (but he really was a deserving victim). One gag we used to continuously pull on him was to yell his name anytime we spotted him passing through the mess decks. The mess decks were usually packed with up to 600 noisy sailors and it was near impossible to spot us when we screamed out his name (and then ducked below the table). Every time he gave up the search and began to walk away we’d scream his name again. ("Wh__r! Hey Gerry! Over here!") Again he’d stop dead in his tracks and gaze from one end of the room to the other with a blank look on his face and scratch his head. It became such a novelty with the crowd that even guys who had no idea who he was would yell his name (and that really confused the matter). Wh__er got out of the navy about 2 years before I did and went to Cal Poly, SLO to study electrical engineering. We were in many classes together. 

EMC Jim Whitsett: Chief Whitsett was the RE division chief for many years. He left sometime during (or right before) the 1988 cruise. I was very fond of chief Whitsett and he was always very good to me. He was the king of RE Div. The DO, Mr. A, as mentioned before, had no real control function in the division – all the big decisions were made by Whitsett. Whitsett was very clever in the way he ran the division. He kept all high-ranking outsiders out and only allowed people to assume leadership positions from within. Many a first-class electrician in RT was blocked from entering RE so that Whitsett’s handpicked second-classes could take the LPO and Group Supervisor jobs in the division. (As a result E-Div was often glutted with useless EM1s.) Whitsett accepted a commission and returned to the fleet as an Ensign when he left the Enterprise. I have many favorite stories about Chief Whitsett and I will include them in the narrative about the ’86 cruise.

EM2 Kevin W__y: Kevin was an unusual character from 2 plant. His nickname was "Chicken legs" because he had an enormous muscle bound body but tiny little legs. He was an avid weight lifter (chest, arms and back only). No one was quite sure why he neglected doing leg exercises. Kevin was the TPO (training petty officer) in RE when we first showed up (he was in charge of monitoring our training and qualification progress). It didn’t take us long to figure out that he didn’t give a rat’s ass about our qualification progress (he was so short) so many of us (myself included) pretty much skated on the whole training issue. Kevin was selected as Sailor of the Quarter (more than once) to the confusion of most nukes. As a result he was hand picked during the ’86 cruise to eat lunch with [then] Vice President Bush. The reason most of us were confused about his Sailor of the Quarter selection was that he was a known "pot head." Kevin made no secret about his wacky weed ways. (Most agreed that Kevin was just lucky because he never got caught.) Once I remember hearing a story about him that was pretty funny. Unknown to him one day a drug sniffing dog was stationed on the after brow. As Kevin walked through the checkpoint the dog went crazy when it caught a whiff of Kevin’s pants. (He didn’t have any dope in the pockets; it just so happened that he had been "smoking" a few days earlier and had wiped his hands on them.) The guards grabbed Kevin and one or two others that were near him in line (even though the dog was jumping all over Kevin). Nothing was found on Kevin but the poor sap standing behind him was caught with a bag o’ weed. Kevin was let go and the other fellow carted off in chains.