Shutter Bug

A Photographer’s Mate’s Life aboard the CV-63 Kitty Hawk from 1972-75

De: D Walkaboutdude Moss

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

I was given two pages needing dept initials for my check-in. We visited the library, gym, and the chaplain and medical division. We met with the Master of Arms (MAA), the ship’s police force. The dept First-class petty officer did not share the gung-ho attitude I previously met but instead had a peaceful demeanor. With a big smile, he welcomed me and explained their role was ship-wide security and enforcing the skipper’s rules. Then he wrote me a violation chit for a haircut. I must have looked perplexed, and he casually remarked haircut chits were more common than camel fleas. So, this was how I discovered we had a barber shop and completed my official welcome—Navy style.

I kept a journal aboard the CV-63 Kitty Hawk from 1972-75 as a Photographer’s Mate. My story is only one of a thousand stories of young sailors and may differ from their experiences, but our challenges were the same. We were men traveling to distant shores to discover who we were in a world we hardly understood.