Petty Officer Gonzales (whom we called Gonzo) was one generation ahead of me in linguists. He was probably 24 when I first met him. A very old man in the circle of linguists. When interoffice memorandums were passed around, we were supposed to put our "chop" on them, our signature or initials, to demonstrate that we had read them. Gonzo would always bite the memorandum as his "chop." So, if it was a memorandum with teeth marks, Gonzo had seen it.
Gonzo had a storied history at sea. He (and another linguist named Tom S.) were aboard the USS Stark when it was struck by missiles in the Persian Gulf (the same kind of missiles that I described to you before...French made Iraqi Exocets launched from Mirages.) He, along with the rest of the crew, wound up fire fighting to save the ship. (All sailors go to firefighting school. They put us in a room with dummy munitions and light the place on fire and you learn to stand and fight it with fire above you, behind you, to the sides of you. They are natural gas fires.) Thirty-seven brave sailors were killed when the Exocets hit the Stark. Few political ramifications were imposed upon Iraq as a result of the attack.
That's not the only Gonzo story. Gonzo was also aboard the USS Vincennes when it shot down the civilian Iranian Air AirBus in the Persian Gulf. Aboard the ship, Combat radio'd down to him inquiring whether he was aware of an inbound Iranian F-14. He replied (up sorry....probably classified response.) Just as he was making his reply, he felt the missiles leave the ship. Decisions were made in the heat of the moment in combat situations. Those decisions have been highly criticized subsequently. The rest is history, but that's a little tidbit you won't get in the history books. Sadly 290 civilians including 66 children were killed in the Iranian Airbus. It was a great tragedy, not of Gonzo's making.
Anyway, the one time that I went to sea with Gonzo (1989), we first went to the USS LaSalle, the command ship for the Commander of Middle East Forces (COMMIDEASTFOR). Within the hour, the flood decks of the LaSalle were, in fact, flooded, with thousands of gallons of Jet fuel (or a similar fuel used in helicopters). In a couple of days, we went to the USS Fife. Literally, we had enough time to salute the flag, pick up our bags and begin to descend the ladder when the whole ship lurched to the side. Another ship had just rammed us and put a 16 foot hole in our ship!
I have to tell you. You don't want to go to sea with Gonzo.
USS Mobile Bay (CG-53)
USS Stark (FFG-31) after she was struck by Iraqi Exocets in 1987.
More Info at: link
US Navy Fighting School
USS Vincennes (CG-49) A noble ship, a brave crew, a very sad incident. Among the 290 Civilians Killed were 66 children. Rest in Peace. (More About the Vincennes Incident and analysis at: link Also see link
USS Fife (DDG-991) More Info at: link
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