A Room in the Philippines

[the mingo]

the room was the best part,
her on top
giving me my money's worth

- and there, over her shoulder,
i could see the ceiling
where geckos
dashed back & forth,
hunting upside down

& never missing a beat

[saw]

Navy ?....merchant marines ?

had a few similar visits, San Juan etc. etc......enjoyed the economy I've become used to

https://www.google.com/search?q=sweey+p ... 8&oe=utf-8

[the mingo]

Navy

[saw]

I sailed on the DE, the USS Roberts briefly...then 2 sub tenders.....The USS Bushnell ( the burning bush) nicknamed for its on-board fires....We decommissioned that ship and send her into to mothballs in Philly.....my last ship was the USS Gilmore...out of Key West Naval Base

The base is gone...sold to investors...there is still a Naval Air Station at Boca Chica, in Key West....

fun fact....i had a Captain's Mast for spray painting anti war slogans on my car one night when I was drunk, then driving it on the base the next morning....nothing came of it really except a scolding and a mandate to repaint the car....in the end I had an honorable discharge

[the mingo]

saw,
first ship was the USS Hector out of Long Beach Ca and then changed homeports to Oakland - was on her from ''70 to ' 75 - did a two year stint of shore duty at Alameda NAS due to "complications" arising from service in Vietnam - then assigned to USS Niagara Falls ' 77 - ' 79

[saw]

[mnaz]

Jesus, two-thirds of everyone I've ever met was in the Navy at some point. I guess that Cold War was a pretty big deal. They tried to recruit me (a few years after the draft). Wanted me on one of those nuke subs. I guess they thought I was smart or something. I remember some TV commercial about waterskiing behind an aircraft carrier, though maybe I never really saw that. Memory is a funny thing. Brain can play tricks on you and all ...

I like how the gekkos just keep doing their thing right in the same room as we keep doing our thing in this one.