Randy Tatum:
CLASS OF 1981
Plymouth Canton High SchoolClass of 1981
Canton, MI
East Middle SchoolClass of 1977
Plymouth, MI
Fiegel Elementary SchoolClass of 1974
Plymouth, MI
Will Rogers Elementary SchoolClass of 1974
Redford, MI
McDonogh 45 Elementary SchoolClass of 1974
New orleans, LA
Randy's Story
Military
I went to boot camp at Great Lakes, Ill. Oct 82. I was in company 305. A friend, Paul Peacock and I tore a $1 bill in half to be spent when we finally got back together. Following bootcamp, was school. NTC Great Lakes, with the last month in Philadelphia at the GS hot plant. Thats where it was back then. Sep 83 I made it to my first ship USS Taurus (PHM-3) homeported in Key West, Fl. In Oct 83 we went to Grenada. There was a lot of drug ops for the rest of the time I was there. Oct 86 I transfered to the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) (No higher honor). I checked in on 5 DEC 86, after a bunch of leave. The ship was in Portland Maine for PSA. We were the best ship in GTMO for our work ups prior to deployment. We went to the Persian Gulf to escort tankers. on 14 Apr 88 we hit a mine while at GQ. When we entered Dubai, the Battle Ensign was flying. What a lump in the throat. Only 30 crew was onboard for the drydocking, 30 onboard for the undocking, and only 30 onboard for the transit back to the US on the Mighty Servent. The rest were "cheese eaters". The USS Vincennes was to be our escort out of the gulf. They were called to assist shipping in the Straits of Hormuz, This is when the Iranian Air Bus was shot down. I left the Navy in Oct 88 and went to work for BIW in Bath Maine in new c...Expand for more
onstruction, building the USS Normandy (CG-60) (BIW hull 422). I got bored and re-enlisted 6 months later, and was assigned to the USS Normandy for Pre-Comm. It was commissioned in Newport RI. Where the SBR was home ported. Shortly after commissioning we rescued the USS Conyngham (CG-17) which had a major fire in one of the enginerooms. Several of our crew were awarded NAM's. We went to the Red Sea for Desert Shield, and threw many T-hawks into Bagdad. After returning to the US, we marched through the Canyon of Hero's in NYC. A few short months later we returned ot the Persian Gulf. In Haifa Isreal, I was notified of the birth of my daughter Erin. March of 93 I transfered to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to the SIMA there. I worked in P&E. In Aug 95 as SIMA GTMO was closing, I transfered to NRD Michigan. I spent a month in Pensacola, Fl for school. I then transfered to the USS Halyburton (FFG-40), where I was incharge of the Oil Lab almost the whole time I was there. We made several cruises, to the Persian Gulf, again, and to the west coast of South America, for drug ops. The ship was homeported in Portsmouth Va when I checked aboard in May of 98, and shifted home ports to Jacksonville, Fl in 2000. I left that ship in Oct 2003 and went to Naval air station Key West, Fl where I retired April 2003.
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