O.K. here goes. We hit Melbourne and I remember talking with good ole Harry B. (Richard Harris Alabama crazy man) about how we were gonna get off and have a beer or two. So after restricted muster at 9:30 we jump into some civilian clothes and over the side we went. Now you have to keep in mind I am only 17 years old at the time from a very small town in central Arizona and hadn't seen a whole lot in life yet, even though I sure thought I had. We found this club, pretty big in size and figured no one would catch us here so we went in and sat down at a booth and had a couple of beers. I had to take a leak so i headed for the bathroom and there was a line of about 8 or 10 guys in it, but no line to the ladies. I had stood there for about five minutes now so there was a few guys behind me too when all of the sudden the older gal (maybe 50) and what appeared to be her daughter walk right up to me and the older one grabs me right in the crotch. I was up against the wall so I couldn't even move, I looked around but all the guys acted like this happened every day, now I don't want to just push her away and have everybody looking at me cause after all I had jumped ship, so I moved toward her and she is saying "your an american ain't you" so moving toward her is not working on her death grip on my privates I grab her arm and say "please" and she lets go, I say "yes I am" and she tells her daughter who looks about 25 "I knew it, let me buy you a drink" at first I was scared and said "no thanks" but she kept after me till I finally gave in. It was my turn by now so I go in take care of my business, taking as much time as possible thinking maybe they would be gone but when I came out there they were, so I went over to their table and here are these two big ole mean looking guys at the table and I was thinking this ain't no place for me so we talked for a bit and I drank the beer as fast as I could telling them that my friend was waiting for me and we should get back to the ship. I go walking back over to the booth where Harrys' at and here are these five girls sitting at the booth too. Now i am saying to myself this is more like it. My levy jacket was laying on the back of the booth a girl was sitting on the inside and my spot was open with my beer there on the table so I sit right down next to this gal who is wearing this mesh type shirt that you can see right through nipple and all. Being out to sea and on restriction at that left this a well to be spot for this youngster. I remember I couldn't help but stare. We are all having a casual conversation when this guy comes up and asks me if I would like to have my picture taken with the lady and thinking I didn't have much for money I said "no" and he said " this one is on me mate" and so I agreed. We went on talking for quite awhile forgetting all about the picture, the gent walks up hands the girl the picture and whispers in my ear "they're dudes" I said "what" and he was walking away laughing, well i'm thinking this can't be possible I can see right through this persons shirt and they sure look real to me. Now coming from a small town and only being 17 I hadn't run across anything like this before in my life so I can only imagine the look on my face as I am starting to think with the other head for a change and I do notice that their was something strange about those ladies and it hits me so I kick Harry right square in the shins and he gives me this dirty look cause I think I kicked him harder than I wanted to, and say "they"re dudes". Grabbing my jacket I tear ass out of there and then I hear these footsteps behind me thinking them bastards are after me I start running and I hear this "wait up dammit, I don't belive it they were dudes". Never before in my life had I ever run across such a thing and let me tell ya I was scared. When I got back to the ship I stowed my jacket in my locker and didn't use it again till after I got off the Cochrane. When I got to San Diego it was chilly one evening so I put my jacket on and headed for the E.M. club and while I was having a beer I was searching through my pockets and found this picture of me and this whatever you want to call it person from Melbourne. Now I hadn't told a soul of this experience and I thought of throwing it away but I thought what the hell and stuck it back in my pocket. I still have the picture today and am very thankful for it for it is one of the only keepsakes I have of this once in a lifetime voyage. I hope I didn't bore you compleatly to death but thats my story and i'm sticking to it. Thanks for you time.

RUSSELL SEAMAN MMFA 2X U.S.S. COCHRANE DDG21 '78 TO '80

Russel, my man, That was a great story! Thank you for sharing. I can just see the look on your mug when you found the photo in question!! I made a simillar mistake in San Diego. I used to be an avid motorcyclist then, and this bar I used toride by on my way to Sonar school every evening usually had several cool bikes out front- Nortons, BMW's, etc. I stoped in forabeer one night, and after 1.5 beersm realized that not only are there alarge number of women there, ...I am the only one there who is NOT female. Finishing my tasty brew, I then flew! That bar was called Diablo's. Dont know why I remember that name so plainly, but if its still there- brother- BEWARE!!<img src=icon_smile_blush.gif border=0 align=middle> Yall be good now, ya hear!!!??

Marc Tuton STG3,Uss Cochrane jan 74-sept 76- "The pearl of the Pacific" STG2 USS Glover, nov 76-nov79,"The Cow Killer"

to rts39. just read your sea story, I just want too say
I too also had a similar fate but this one took place in Thailand
it was on our west pac 74 75 it was dec and I remebering it was
dec 22 hooked up with some brothers from deck div Wasson. Jackson,
Prime, Arndt and couple of GM's one of the boats had a brother stationed at camp sammesan an army base,so we all decide too party at
his barracks well you know the story beer booze and thai women after
about 6 hours of partying me and my running partner a boats from texas his name was reynolds, decided too head back too the cochrane
as we were going out the main gate, 2 lovely ladies of the approached
reynolds and the they started too hold a small conversation the next thing I know me, reynonlds and the 2 ladies are in a cab heading to a small hamelet called kilo 10 this is wherew one of the girls lived, one thing led to another and one says to me lets go down stairs and leave your shipmate with my girlfriend hey I says I am game, now mind you all boozed up and everything else that we inhaled and drank, now the room is dim and as I am sitting on the edge of the bed she says I will be right back about 3 mins later she is dressed in a towel and she lays on the bed, as I turn around low and behold she is or should I say it was laying there with the towel open and a flag was at full
staff, my fricken eyes just about poped out of my head, man all i can remeber was that I said too her was I will be right back have too grab a smoke, I ran up those stairs like a rocket just as I cameinto the other room all I could hear was a scream, Reynolds must have found out because he was drilling that katoi right where it hurts I said reyonlds these freaks are katois he yell back no shit I all most went down on the bitch, we both went running out of that hooch, as we
were running out of there they were throwing everything at us across the square there was a open bar hut a about 8 mean looking thais were watching the whole thing next think these thais are after us now these bastardsa not only had a couple of long looking knives but a few of them where also toting a couple of aks, I thought me and reynolds were both going too die, all of a sudden trhis cab rolls up
and the door opens and an americian voice yells out get the f.....
in here as we were driving down the road those so called thais with the aks started to pop off a few rounds at us well this guy in the cab asked what the hell were you two guys doing there, we told him you don;t want too know, well he stated you both are lucky because that so called vill you where in , it is also a visiting ground for the khmers, all I said too that guy was take me back too the Cochrane.

stehan toth sh3 cochrane 73-75

stephan toth

hay russell, I do rember some of the times we all had in perl in a place called THE GREEN DOOR do you still rember the place? and some of the places on our south pack of 79. I remember going down town in sydney and seeing alot of nice looking weman so i thought wene saying hi to them i remember that their voices were deeper than mine. boy was that ever a shok to me that is were the saying heshe came from am sure.

Well Russell, I had to share an experience that happened in Waikiki. I joined the Navy with two buddies from my hometown. John Maguire and Kelly Martin. Well these two guys were pretty rough when we were growing up. We were downtown at Kalakau and Lewes at the original O'pehrs and Montes for the famous $2 High, all you can drink 2 hours for $2. This was before they opened Lil Orphan Annies. (that's a whole different story)

Well I decided I needed some fresh air and walked out front of the bar and was sitting there when this really fine looking blonde walks by and says "Hi". Of course I had to respond. I told her she looked like a girl from my hometown. We talked for about 15 minutes and she asks me If I would like to go have a drink with her, Hell yes, I said. So off we went. As we are walking along Lewes, my two buddies drive by in John's car screaming crap and tell me they will see me at Cathy's Lounge on River Street (Shit Street).

The young lady tells me she has to stop at Denny's to talk to a friend and would I wait. I said sure. I waited about five minutes and then she came back and we started walking again. She was really fine. I couldn't tell her I was a sailor so I told her I was going to Med School at the University. We kept taking and then she says something I will never forget. She says "I'm really a guy". In disbelief I said" Look I can handle screw off a lot better". She says can't you tell.

She is wearing those jeans that used to zip all the way from front to back. I couldn't tell. I'm thinking she must just be drunk. Then she says, "Want to come over to my place?" Smoke a joint?, Sure said. I figured this was going to be interesting and I'm 20 years old, liked to fight anyway. So what the hell.

We walk to her apartment, we go inside, I can hear people in the back bedrooms. She lights up a joint and proceeds to do strip in front on me. Tells me what ever I do to her she can do to me. I'm not agreeing to anything just watching. Off comes the top, and the telephone rings. She says "This is Christine gramma". She is sitting on the couch next to me so I'm looking at her breasts and they look real. Now I'm thinking she is just a freak.

She finishes her call and tells me she uses heroin and asks me if I want some. I said "no thanks, I'm trying to quit!" She then proseeds to tie herself off ands asks me to inject her, refer back to my B.S. that I was in Med School. Now I have to tell you that I am paranoid of needles to begin with. I skipped out on most shots in boot camp until I got caught, then they gave me a shot of every disease they could at once. The Navy calls it inoculation. Thats a bunch of crap. The day after the shot your sick. (continued below)

(Continued from Above)

Anyway I help her do her thing with the heroin, Almost faint. Then she is back to dancing in front of me she starts to unzip her pants and pull them off. Then off come the panties. Looks like a girl...I look real close and son-of-a-bitch if something doesn't drop. To this day I am not sure what I saw but just about the time that thing dropped someone knocked on the door. I opened it up and there stood the smallest and strangest looking freak I ever saw, he looked at me and turned around and ran, I chased him down three flights of stairs, grabbed him and said "Was that a dude or a chick?". I will never forget the look of terror he had. His eyes were wide open and he says "I don't know, I don't know."

By then "Da Bus" had stopped running to the base so I ran all the way to Kathy's Lounge in Honolulu. I found my buddies at the bar. I tell John Maguire, my buddy from high school, some I trusted, "Hey John, I think I was with some dude!" What does he do? He stands up and yells "Hey Velto was with a dude." (thanks John)

Well we all laughed about that one. I never saw that Girl/Guy again.