One rainy Sunday afternoon I found myself browsing Ebay for anything of interest. Much to my surprise, I discovered a listing for a cruise book from the maiden voyage of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson from 1983, of which this author happened to be part of the crew attached to Electronic Warfare Squadron VAQ-134.
I had no recollection of any such book while stationed aboard the carrier and curiously wondered whether it included any photos of me. I placed a bid and waited several days for the auction to end. The following Friday, I received an email indicating that I'd successfully won the auction. I eagerly arranged payment and waited for the book to arrive. When I arrived home from work one day the following week, a package sat on my doorstep. I removed the packaging and skimmed through the book reminiscing about places we visited like Monte Carlo, Casa Blanca, Abidjan, Nairobi, Perth, Singapore, Hong Kong and Manila.
After searching the majority of the book, I saw no mention of any aircraft squadrons and assumed that the book had only been intended for crew members permanently assigned to the ship itself. Then I noticed in the very back of the book, listings for each of the aviation squadrons participating in the cruise, and lo and behold on page 426, I spotted a photo of a younger, scrawnier version of yours truly!
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