Tag Archive for: Seabees

One of My Favorite Jobs

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Over the years I’ve had lots of jobs, some of them great, some not so great.

I started babysitting when I was 10 and continued on through high school, I did housework for neighbors, cared for the bedridden, worked in an auto parts store, took inventory in a department store all before I was 18.

After I was married, hubby was in the Navy and I went home to live with my parents while he had tours of duty out of the country. During this time I worked in the office for the telephone company and then became an information operator. This was in L.A. That office was fairly modern since the Information calls came in through a headset and all you had to do was look up the number in several phone books, or on charts with the most frequent called numbers. (Remember, this was a long, long time ago.)

When hubby and I moved to Oxnard, I went to work for General Telephone. That office was a bit more backward as you had to use a switch board to get the calls. I also had to learn how to be a long-distance operator, a bit more complicated than finding phone numbers for people. At this office we were told if we knew the answer to any question, we could give it. People called and asked what the weather was like, and I’d look out the window and tell them what I saw. If they asked how to cook Chili I told them.

Long distance was more fun. We sat at a long switchboard and took the calls as they came in. There were a lot of movie stars living in nearby Thousand Oaks and we took care of all their long distance calls. I must confess that we listened in to a lot of them. Guess what, their conversations were about as exciting as any of ours.

I worked at that telephone office between babies. Hubby would come home from war–or wherever he happened to be–I’d get pregnant, work until they wouldn’t let me anymore, have the baby, stay home with the kids. I’d go back to work, Hubby would leave for a tour of duty, come back home, I’d get pregnant and so on.

Fifth baby, we broke the cycle. Hubby retired from the Seabees and I got a different job.

I was reminded of all this when I visited our little museum. One of the women who helps with the museum and has lived in Springville her entire life, used to work on the first switchboard when she was a kid–because it was in her house. She and her mother were the operators. That switchboard is now one of the exhibits in the museum.

Marilyn
a.k.a. F. M. Meredith

Veteran’s Day from a Veteran Wife of a 21-yr. Navy Man

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Lousy title, I know–but it more or less sums up what I have to say.

Though my husband was in the Seabees for 21 years and proud of his duty served all over the world, Spain, Cuba, Greenland, Alaska, and three tours in Vietnam during the war, he never goes to Veteran’s Days Parades–nor does he talk much about his service except to other vets. No, he doesn’t belong to the VFW or other veteran’s organizations and hang out. He does belong to the Fleet Reserve but again, goes to no meetings.

Being a wife of a Seabee was difficult at times–mainly when he was gone, and downright scary when he was in Vietnam. By the time his 21 years was up, we had five kids and guess who did most of the raising?

During the war, we lived near enough to the Pt. Hueneme Seabee base to do our shopping on base and use the hospital facilities–great savings for families who hardly made any money at all. Usually I had some kind of job to help out, either full or part-time, and divided whatever pay I got with the babysitter.

The pay then was so poor that we could have received welfare, though we never did. I bet there are places today where service families qualify for welfare.

And of course, the country wasn’t nice to the men when they came home from Vietnam. (Thank goodness, that’s changed.) No one ever thanked my husband back then–more apt to spit on him–now if he happens to be wearing his Seabee hat, strangers thank him for his service.

It was tough being a service wife–I had to make all the decisions when hubby was gone, then when he came home, he expected to be the boss. Being me, I told him once he might be the Chief in the Seabees, but I was the Admiral at home. Helped a bit.

All the crises happened while he was gone–of course. He wanted to stay in for thirty years, but by that time we had a houseful of teenagers and I said, “Nope, I’m not doing this alone anymore.”

In his retirement, things have gotten better. We no longer live near a base so we don’t go shopping or to the doctors there. However, we have great medical through hubby’s retirement and can go to the doctor of our choice. Something the government finally did right.

I have a granddaughter who is married to a Sergeant in the Army, getting ready to go to Iraq. She has two little kids. She came home to be near her mom in order to have some support. I feel sorry for her. The separation is not good for marriages or for kids.

Make an old vet feel good–thank him or her for his service and while you’re at it, thank his or her spouse.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Veteran’s Day from a Veteran Wife of a 20-yr. Navy Man

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Lousy title, I know–but it more or less sums up what I have to say.

My husband was in the Seabees for 21 years, and served on both coasts and all around the world: Cuba, Spain, Greenland, Alaska, and three tours in Vietnam during the war. (I never went with him out of the US because his tours were to short to take family.)

We lived close to Port Hueneme Seabee base for many years and were able to use the commissary, Navy exchange and base hospital which certainly helped financially. We made so little money that we could have gone on welfare. (I bet it’s the same for some of the service families today, depending upon where they live.) Most of the time (when I wasn’t having a baby) I had a part-time or full-time job so we could eat–sharing half my pay with a babysitter.

During the Vietnam War, civilians were ugly to service men. No one every thanked my husband for his service–more likely they spit on him. Things have changed–now when hubby wears his Seabee cap, people stop and thank him for his service. The wives ought to be thanked right along with the men.

We had five children, and while hubby was serving the U.S., guess who raised the kids? Guess when all the crises happened? Guess who watched the news about the war and when hubby’s base was hit, wondered if she still had a husband?

None of these separations are good for marriages. While hubby was gone, I made all the major decisions, took care of everything–when he came home he wanted to be the boss. Finally I told him he might be the Chief in the Seabees, but I was the Admiral at home.

He wanted to stay in the Seabees for 30 years, but by this time the kids were all in the teens, or nearly there, and I put my foot down. It was time for him to give up his uniform and become an active duty dad.

Because we no longer live near a base, we don’t shop or go to the doctor there. Fortunately, the government has come up with a medical plan for vets that works and we can go to any doctor of our choice.

Hubby never attends Veteran Day parades or hangs out with vets. He does like to talk about how wonderful the Seabees are and watch war movies.