Part 15  March 22, 2002 1 PM

My Ships:

USS Piedmont  AD 17  Destroyer Tender
USS Floyd B. Parks  DD 884  Destroyer
USS Dixie  AD 14  Destroyer Tender
USS Albany  CG 10  Guided Missile Cruiser
USS Sperry  AS 12  Submarine Tender
 
 

     The following image proves what can happen to you when a Division Officer decides to "go after you".  Too bad he wasn't my Division Officer.

      How could I receive (in this order), 1) the letter of sub standard performance, 2) the 4th Good Conduct Award, 3) and the above Letter of Commendation?  Thanks to the efforts of a man who's name I can't recall, I was transferred out of the influence of LT Brownhill.

     This map is a little misleading in that the road from the Gaeta marker to S7DIR (a distance of about 2 km), is not as straight as it looks, and is closer to the water than it appears.  There is a stop sign at that intersection, but you don't want to stop there unless there is a car coming from the North.  If you do stop when there is no traffic on S7DIR the Italian driver behind you will probably rear end you; this stop sign is treated as a YIELD.  One of my shipmate's wife was stopped by the Caribinarie <sp> (Italian Police), and given a tongue lashing for stopping there!

     While I was aboard the USS Albany CG-10 (August 1976 to May 1978), they dug up that street to lay a new sewer line, and it is probably still not filled in.  Under the pavement they found ruins from a time when the Mediterranean Sea was much lower.  These buildings would be under water if it were not for the fact that they were covered up with dirt (who knows when), and the pavement.

     Gaeta is a very old city dating back to the Roman Empire days.  It has been a summer resort city for centuries.  The population is about 10,000 in the winter month, but jumps to 50,000 in the summer.  In the photograph above (above my Good Conduct Award), you can see a number of apartment buildings on the hill side.  Most of these are unoccupied in the off season.  The climate is similar to that of San Diego, CA.

     Most of the buildings in the parts of Italy that I saw are built of stone or brick because there are so few trees.  Single family dwellings are few.  Telephones, closets, central heating, and refrigerators are uncommon.  The electricity in Gaeta is 220 V ±40-50 V, usually 50 Hz.  The radio DJ's talk over the music to prevent people from making "clean" tapes of the songs they play.  This insures that people will buy records, tapes, and CDs.  The Italian FM band does not go above 104 MHz, and the US Armed Forces radio stations in Italy are required broadcast above 104 MHz.