Dave Amos:  

Updated in 10MAR2026 Happy New Year -- Thanks for the visit. For you A.C. Davis High School alumni wondering why you don't remember me, I attended Davis High School in Yakima for about 3 months fall of 1969 before moving to Kirkland/Juanita on the NE end of Lake Washington placing me in Redmond High School. I did 3 years at Franklin Jr. High prior to becoming a Pirate at Davis. Yes, I went to the old building where that monument now stands near 19th and Bell. After 1972 Graduation I continued to work for Skaggs Drug Store in Juanita, then ended up managing the local warehouse distribution center near Issaquah for products sold at all the Skaggs store around the King Co area. Moved to Vancouver, WA to work at Western Electric. I wired telephone central office equipment. Working the swing shift, was able to earn enough $$ to by a 73 Vega Wagon, a dirt bike, a street bike (Easy Rider Dave). Spent many weekdays hill climbing in East Clark County. Then in late summer 1974, I met my best friend and life partner to be. Dot worked at Western Electric doing the same thing but on the day time shift. She led me to JESUS before we were engaged. It was a pronounced physical experience as the weight of worry instantly left me. Truly eye opening what GOD had in store for me. After 50+ years, I am still a work in progress. When the Western Electric plant closed in February 1975, we were both out of work. Military and Marriage I joined the Navy and my bride-to-be went on a 6-month solo trip through Europe and eventually ending up working on Kubutz in Israel. All she carried was a passport and a backpack. This trip was her number one item on her bucket list long before I met her. Dot never landed in the first plane she ever went up in. She pulled the ripcord and parachuted to the ground in Canada near the college she was attending. We were separated for nearly 8 months until the day we were married [50 years ago] -- which was one day after our original planned date due to snow delay at Chicago O'hare. Finally, taking off a day later, diverted to SEATAC late at night due to fogged in Portland. My uncle, cousin and brother drove up from Vancouver in the middle of the night to pick me up after they attended the wedding reception that I missed. It worked out because all the congregation was invited to the delayed wedding that Sunday after church service. The pastor even mentioned this event in a book he wrote years later. The day after Christmas, we drove back to Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, in Dot's Vega sedan (we left my Vega Wagon in Vancouver to be sold). We packed all our worldly possessions -- leaving just enough room for us in the front seats. A 4-day trip through snow storms and below freezing cold. And so began our life together. A studio apartment in Zion, IL for 10 months where we called home. Navy Adventure: I started with 11 weeks of basic in San Diego where I learned lots of things including many new words. If you watch "Full Metal Jacket" you will get a picture of the same thing I went through. After a week of Leave, flew into Groton CT for submarine school. After that, I was suppose to go to Dam Neck, VA to become a missile tech eventually ending up on a "Boomer" (ballistic missile sub) but I had experienced a collapsed lung so that ended any chance of submarine duty. The Navy sent me to Electronics Technician School in Great Lakes, specializing in Radar repair and maintenance. Then, a need for Satellite Communications diverted me to the communications side of repair and maintenance. Back to San Diego for 5 months. During that time, I asked for anything but a carrier so a carrier it was. USS Ranger CV61 was in dry dock 6 in Bremerton. Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Dirty and noisy are the words to describe yard life. I did get a chance to walk underneath the carrier while it was in dry dock. The ship needed someone trained to repair a certain crypto device so, off to Mare Island Submarine Base I went because that was where the closest crypto school was. Then a break in between schools allowed me to return to Bremerton just in time to cruise on Ranger to home port San Diego. Leaving Bremerton, we drove our Chevy van onto the carrier, the elevator lifted us from the hangar deck to the flight deck. We parked it and the airdales latched it down to the deck like a plane. Family members got to ride the carrier for 4 days down the left coast to homeport Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego. Dot stayed in some unused berthing along with all the other wives and kids. I took my younger brother along and he slept in an empty rack in my berthing. One woman decided to have her baby during the journey. I wonder what is written on that birth certificate. After reaching San Diego, I returned to finish crypto school. At the time, my uncle and aunt lived in Oakland. He was a dentist with is own practice across the bay south of San Francisco. I would go to their place during the weekends and he let me use the 65 Chevy that once belonged to my Grandad to make that trip back and forth. Life Aboard A Carrier: My job was maintaining a satellite based communications system as well as various crypto equipment and radio receivers and transmitters. This was my first introduction to computers and cryptographic equipment. My clearance allowed me access to all spaces throughout the carrier and I was privileged to watch the guys in the Combat Information Center (CIC), Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW), Carrier Air Control (where the guys worked that talked to Maverick and Goose) and Intelligence Center (IC), Electronics Warfare (EW) as well as visiting all the engineering spaces (hotter than hades) where they boiled seawater and used it to power the 4 screws as well as provide steam for the catapults, steam for electrical generators and fresh water for the crew. I never went near where certain classified weapons may or may not be stored ("I can neither confirm nor deny" was our standard line) and that area was guarded by the marine detachment. I greatly respect members of all service branches but I still call them fly boys, jarheads, grunts and coasties. Flight Ops: Many times on "vultures row" watching fight ops: F14s, F4s, A4s, E6s, A7s, Helicopters taking off and landing. The flight deck is a very dangerous place to be when aircraft are moving about. We lost an F14 at night due to a catapult failure but recovered the Pilot and RIO out of the Pacific. Another time we lost an EA6B, recovering only one of 4 souls. Sad. We had a memorial service on the flight deck and honored those lost by tossing a wreath overboard for each of the three that perished. A couple times, I was ferried out to the carrier in the twin rotor CH47 heli and launched one time in a COD twin prop mail plane. It was a stomach-in-throat experience. In-n-Out When Ranger was not deployed on a 9-month cruise, she did not stay in port much. We would be in for 2 days out for 2 days in for a week out for 3 days in for 2 days out for 10 days -- depending on the training or testing of systems. I was on a 12 / 12 shift at sea. In port, I had to stay on the carrier for a 24 hour period every 4 days. It is called "duty". With 24 hour duty every 4 days, we had one full weekend out of four (Friday afternoon until Monday morning) away from the ship. I was able to qualify watch standing on the brow where the sailors walked from the ship to the pier. Sometimes, I would go on "shore patrol" to help ensure inebriated sailors made it back to their ships without incident. WESPAC Deployed on USS Ranger (CV61) on a WESPAC for 8 months visiting Hong Kong, Thailand, Mainland China, Japan, Korea, and of course, Subic Bay, Philippines -- where many sailors found alcohol and romance. Of course a visit to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the way over and back. We headed into the Straits of Malacca destination was Mombasa, Kenya. One early morning at 0400 hrs. We were awakened by the collision alarm. Twenty seconds later, 80,000 tons of carrier, aircraft and 5000 humans came to an abrupt halt -- "T boning" a 100,000 ton super tanker. Items not tied down flew everywhere. Soon, the "GENERAL QUARTERS" alarm was given and for the next 16 hours, we were at ou...Expand for more