Washington Island Military Archives Douglas Huffman Born: Period of Service Viet Nam Santa Clara Navy Died: Sources: Himself Entered service April, 1969. Released April, 1975. See attached interview for the Military Archives of the Library of Congress. Page 1 of 1 VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT Preserving Stories of Service for Future Generations Interview with Douglas B. Huffman Conducted by Mr. John Gay July 20, 2010 This project sponsored by the Indian Prairie Public Library in partnership with the Library of Congress Mr. Huffman: Today is Tuesday, the 20th of July. I‟m Doug Huffman, and we‟re here at my house along with John Gay, my interviewer. Mr. Gay: And that house is at 1463 Mountain Road in Washington Island, Wisconsin, 54246. And we’re here to ask Doug about his experiences going into the service, what he did prior to that, his services experiences, and finally how it affected him and what he did thereafter. Life Before Entering Military Service Doug, what we need to find out now is what you did prior to service, and how you got into service. Mr. Huffman: I graduated from Santa Clara High School in Santa Clara, California, where I was raised, in June of 1966. The following school year I went right into college at San Jose State College. I wasn‟t old enough to be going to college, so a couple of years later my draft board sent me my greetings from the United States government. But that was in the Vietnam area. I knew I didn‟t want to be a draftee, so the same day I got my draft notice I was down at the Navy recruiter and joined the Navy. Mr. Gay: What year was that? Mr. Huffman: This was April of 1969. Basic and Secondary Training Mr. Gay: Where did you take your basic, or boot camp? Mr. Huffman: Boot camp was at San Diego, California – the Navy Recruitment Training Center, right over the fence from the Marine Corps Recruit Training Center. They had fun pointing at the fence between us and saying if we wanted to hop the fence that‟s one to hop, and when they were finished with us we‟d be sent back to the Navy and be glad to be here (both chuckle). Mr. Gay: I have a grandson who went through all that with the Marine Corps. So you were in boot camp for eight weeks? Mr. Huffman: No. It was longer then – thirteen weeks, or maybe even sixteen weeks. Mr. Gay: Was life different from what you expected? Mr. Huffman: Boot camp was easy for me, and it‟s easy for sailors. The experiences I hear other guys tell about their boot camp training in the other services are nothing like what I went through. It was easy for me. 1 Mr. Gay: After that, you were assigned to what? Mr. Huffman: I‟m trying to think of when I did get my assignment. Commonly, early in your military career you fill out your dream sheet of what you want your job to be. I had vague ideas about following in my father‟s footsteps and being a gunner‟s mate. I think I probably mentioned the small boat Navy off of coastal Vietnam on my dream sheet. By the time I was out of boot camp they had a chance to analyze all my entry test stuff and they decided I was way too smart to do that kind of stuff. I was assigned as an interior communications technician – which, in civilian talk would probably be some kind of a telephone man. My insignia on my sleeve was a telephone, and I went to basic electronics school and from there to school teaching the basics of telephones and gyroscopes and switching networks and instrumentation. Mr. Gay: Where was this? Mr. Huffman: This was in San Diego – in the same place. Mr. Gay: And that lasted …? Mr. Huffman: Probably three months, I would guess. Mr. Gay: So this was your secondary training and you were an instructor as well? Mr. Huffman: No. I was on the receiving end of the training. That was the basic professional school. Late in my time in this basic professional school – I had pretty good grades – they offered me nuclear power and I accepted the offer for nuclear power training and extended my commitment for two more years – for a total of six years of committed service. Mr. Gay: When you were in the instructional school, was there a lot of military environment there or was it more academic? Was there a lot of marching and so forth? Mr. Huffman: Even in boot camp we didn‟t march very much. You‟d march to get someplace, but you didn‟t march to practice walking (chuckles). That‟s kind of what I was talking about – the Navy boot camp apparently is nothing, then, like what I hear about nowadays from the other services. Interim Assignment Mr. Gay: So after you were finished with the secondary school, you were assigned to what? You had the nuclear training. 2 Mr. Huffman: Right. I had committed to nuclear power training. My nuclear power school class convened in the second quarter of 1970, and so to fill the time up I was assigned to the USS Paricutin, AE18 – Auxiliary Ammunition ship, hull #18. It was a converted liberty ship, I understand. I was told that my mother was a grinder during the war, and that she remembered the name of the ship and that she had ground plates for the ship I was on. I was aboard the Paricutin for two or three months. Mr. Gay: Sailing on it? Mr. Huffman: Yes. We went up and down the coast of California. The old ship – it was very old both in condition and age – was preparing to make its last operational cruise to Vietnam as an ammunition ship. As it turned out she never got to go. They tried to get her to cross to Southeast Asia, and the ship broke down in the middle of the ocean somewhere. This was after I was off it – this was one of the stories I heard later. They lay dead in the water for a long time before somebody came out and rescued them. They dragged them back. It was home-ported in Port Chicago, near Vallejo, California. Mr. Gay: You were there for three months on the ship. What did you do on the ship? Was there anything in particular you had to do? Mr. Huffman: On this particular ship I was fresh out of this interior communications school. So I was most freshly trained on gyroscopes and telephones. The machinery that was in my area of training, if not expertise, was my responsibility. I had a non-rated kid who was a helper. I had an electrician‟s mate for a boss who didn‟t know anything more than he had to know about a gyroscope. It was an old, old, old ship and things broke all the time. I just did my best to keep … Advanced Training Mr. Gay: I think I remember when that ship was being made back in World War II! So you had an assignment to nuclear power. How did that progress? Mr. Huffman: The ammunition ship was home-ported near Vallejo. Mare Island Naval Shipyard is also near Vallejo, where the academic part of my nuclear power training happened. I was there for six months. Mr. Gay: Is it an actual island, or is it a peninsula? Mr. Huffman: I imagine it depends on how carefully you slice the definition. It‟s an island, but there‟s a causeway between there and downtown Vallejo. Mr. Gay: How long were you there? Mr. Huffman: The classroom part of nuclear power training lasted six months. 3 Mr. Gay: What part of the year are we now? Mr. Huffman: The class convened in the second quarter, so that would have been early 1970. Mr. Gay: What was it like to get your degree in nuclear physics? Mr. Huffman: For me it was life changing. When I was in high school – remember new math? I was one of the first classes to get exposed to new math and it didn‟t work. I was trying to make the transition from traditional math education to new math to the point that my textbook was stapled together (chuckles). Mr. Gay: Now the new trends are going back the other way, I think. Mr. Huffman: So I didn‟t do well in math in primary school. The Navy, with the discipline and more traditional teaching methods – I really enjoyed my training. We learned math through simple calculus; physics, metallurgy, chemistry, a little bit of atomic physics … Mr. Gay: You got a college degree in science! Mr. Huffman: I wouldn‟t call it a college degree, but later on they made it count toward a college degree. I don‟t remember how many hours it was generally worth – something like thirty to fifty hours toward a degree in physics. Mr. Gay: So you spent eight hours a day in school, practically. Mr. Huffman: Eight hours a day in class and some level of after-hours study – either voluntary because you knew you should, or unsupervised in the classroom if your grades started to sag too much. If your grades got too low, then you had supervised after-hours study. Mr. Gay: Was there a big washout of personnel? Mr. Huffman: There probably was, but I wasn‟t aware of it – certainly not, again because when I was in the Navy was struggling with a lot of drug problems; this was early in the drug era and the San Francisco Bay area was where you were really exposed to it.