We had a great time in Las Vegas!!

We didn't do much gambling (just some slots!) , the main reason to go was that I was meeting up with some friends that I was in the Navy with, we were all on the USS Waddell together!

Nicole and I met up with Randy (Dave) and his wife Donna at the El Cortez hotel in the old Downtown area, and Karl and his girlfriend Kelly came in late Friday night to the Plaza so we all met up on Saturday!

Karl and Kelly stayed the weekend and headed back to Arizona after we hung out at the Hoover Dam on Sunday. Randy and his wife met their friend Jackie in Vegas and they all drove to the Grand Canyon and then flagstaff and were heading home to Georgia on Friday. Nicole and I stayed until Tuesday and then drove home.

It was great to see them and we all had a great time talking, drinking and people watching (Las Vegas is great for that!) oh, and if you get the chance, eat a fried twinkee you'll love it!!

Nicole and I drove from Antioch to Las Vegas in about 8.5 hours (Getting good gas mileage from the Prius!), the drive home took 9.5 hours as there was some construction plus we started home the wrong way for 45 minutes!! Ouch!

I got out of the Navy, after 5.25 years of active service, the day the USS Waddell was decommissioned October 1st, 1992. I was able to get out early, I was signed up for 6 years active, due to the reduction in force put into effect by George Bush after the Gulf War.

Randy got out in 1991 and Karl got out in 1992 as well (I Believe!?).

Now for something funny ... Here are 2 links from our 1990 USS Waddell Cruise book!

We were all Fire controlmen, so we worked in the Combat Systems (CS) spaces, the F is to denote our old division name Fox (for Fire Control).

Page 25 CSF0, CSF1, CSF2

Page 26 CSF3, CSF4

Randy and I worked on the missile systems and Karl was on the gun systems.

CSF0 = Target designators

CSF1 = the surface search radar (MK39)

CSF2 = Missile Computer center (MK 152)

CSF3 = Missile Tracking Radar (MK51)

CSF4 = Gun Computer/Radar Center (MK ??? I don't remember!)

So check out these pictures

CSF2: (I am on the left and Randy is the next in)

CSF3: (Randy is in the back row and 3rd from the left)

CSF4: (Karl is the second from the left)

We all look so young, and that was 1990, I was 21 years old and already in for 3.25 years!

Here is us all now, live from the Vegas Strip:

I finally broke the 130 pound barrier, ha!

We had a great time seeing Randy and Donna, and Karl and Kelly!!

I will have a separate post with some Vegas stories, we saw some interesting stuff!

tracyv

8^P~~ ~ ~`

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