M14 Forum

MackR

Talk about one very isolated duty station--Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory. Did my tour there from Apr 1980 to Apr 1981.

kevin

I was there June - July 1986 with KILO 3/7 1st MARDIV.

We did two days guard duty, two days training, then two days off for a month. I liked it there on the days off; nice beach, warm water and cheap booze.
I can only recall one bad memory - the time the company CO had the bright idea of haveing us don our NBC suits and gas masks and "attack" a position on the other side of the atoll. I was platoon RO with a PRC-77 strapped to my back while trying to keep up with the PLT LDR through that thick brush.....

Longeyes

Hey Senior,
I did a 2 week stay there in 82 right after they decided that dodge no longer qualified for an expeditionary ribbon then did a six month deployment with VP-9 in 83. We were the first P-3 unit to do a full deployment there.

dirtbag

Stopped there for three days, in 1977.
USS Stein, FF 1065.
Picked up fuel from the hose on the bottom of the lagoon, and loaded 3000 coconuts to take to the relocated natives at Rodriguez island,,
Oh, Yeah, we drank most of their fresh beer shipment!
Nice place to visit, but not to stay...

pendennis

Never had to go, but I knew of two Seabee battalions that were deployed there in 1969 and 1970.

Most everyone who was deployed called is Diego Where?

Later, in the early 1970's, while attending Navy Reserve meetings, we were briefed on what Diego Garcia was to do.

The first Gulf War made Diego's mission extremely clear.

TripleM

I was there in 2004, with VP-40. Wasn't too bad, it could be worse lol, like being on a sub, or a ship, or in the desert! It was rough eating fresh coconts everyday, getting paid to workout and catch a tan

AT1(AW)

XUSNORDIE

AHHHHH Yes!...."The Footprint of Freedom"....Diego Garcia.......

Stale beer....lotsa sand......don't kick the chickens or mess with the crabs! Those Brit MP's were VERY sensitive about the critters.

Great fishing!....you could catch baracuda all night long from the beach. Wasn't much else to do. Spent a week or so there waiting on a S-3 ride to catch the Connie as she snuck around the Straight of Hormuz.....

Diego was a vacation compared to Masirah!!!!

20mmsixshooter

was there not sure when 88, 89, 90, getting old was on the USS Curts brought back a gallon bucket of red coral and some of those sea shell in the sand that look like a deers eye nice stop
Golden shellback

45.308

I have a few days on that paradise during our BOB (Bay of Bengal) would tour in 94.

We billeted in the condemned barracks across from the little food cafe. Had troops put legs through the floor just walking and we finally had to place beds, chairs and stuff over all the holes for safety. Bunks would break during sleep.

We stole the Marine detachment big red and yellow sign on their fence one night.

We had Marine security patrols as the Brits would not allow us to have weapons in our possession, we did not get dip clearance. Two Marines walked their post day and night, in the heat and the down pours during the day. One day we kept hearing this click and finally noticed one of the Marines dry firing at things, I was told he covered one of us with his weapon as it went click but did not see it, radiod in to our commode post and a few minutes later some Gunny pulled up, asked a few questions, grabbed that Marine releasing him of his weapon, another Marine took over his post and we heard the Marine was up for court martial.

Got in a huge disagreement with the Navy in the club. Got very nasty quickly over a, called the whole club to silence for a toast! Bad bad scene!!

Snorkeled in Turtle Bay, that was really cool and saw some small sharks too.

Checked out the plantation too.

Chow hall had fresh doughnuts around 0500 and we would eat them by the dozens.

Took a tour of all the ships there full of war supply.

Limited DSN lines, after 15mins on the line the line went dead.

The one bank on the island and the Navy could not handle all the pay we required so we went quite a long time without pay.

Made a lot of noise while there and not too many wanted us there and glad we left.

Most of all I remember all the crabs.

equipment operator 2nd class

1979-1980 As part of NMCB 5 all in all a good deployment, in the true SEABEE Tradition. Nothing but Donkeys, Coconut Crabs, Brits and SEABEES

MackR

Wasn't NMCB 5 relieved by NMCB 40 on Diego Garcia in 1980?

howardhughes

Hay Chief...flew into there 1979 to 80 to test harpoons on the p-3...its a all beef $hithole.