Oops!Zencastr was unable to start because Javascript is disabled
To fix this problem, check your browser's settings and enable Javascript

Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!

00:00:00

00:00:01

What we do to sell a product (Deception Underway)...

S1 E1 · World's Finest Strike Podcast

18 Plays3 months ago

In this inaugural episode of The World’s Finest Strike Podcast, host Patrick Riley sits down with longtime friend and former shipmate Rob Clements, a seasoned Fire Controlman who served on four different Navy ships across both coasts of the United States.

Together, they revisit their shared experiences aboard the USS Hewitt (DD-966)—affectionately known as the World’s Finest Strike Destroyer—and reflect on the unique bond formed at sea. From watchstanding and weapons systems to liberty calls and the unspoken codes of Navy life, this episode kicks off the series with heart, humor, and salty sea truth.

Rob shares stories from his East Coast and West Coast tours, offering insight into the differences, challenges, and unforgettable moments from both fleets. It’s a raw and real conversation between two veterans who lived it, and now relive it for listeners who’ve served—or just want to hear what life underway was really like.

Subscribe and listen as we launch this journey to capture the voices, stories, and spirit of sailors past and present.

Deception Underway is available at Amazon and www.underwaybooks.com

Transcript

Introduction to the World's Finest Strike Podcast

00:00:00

Rob C

Thank

00:00:07

Patrick Riley

Cool, welcome to the first podcast ah for the world's finest strike podcast. We took that name basically because of the USS Hewitt, which my guest today is ah him and I served together on the USS Hewitt. So ah Rob, like to welcome you.

00:00:23

Patrick Riley

to although the very first podcast.

00:00:23

Rob C

like you

00:00:25

Patrick Riley

I did start with Voices of the Sea, but unfortunately, somebody else had that on Spotify and i'm like, darn it, I'm not you know dealing with that. So it's still the same art.

00:00:37

Patrick Riley

I just kind of, I have to make it a little bigger to say it's it's the world's finest strike podcast. So

Promoting the Host's Book and Entrepreneurial Ventures

00:00:45

Patrick Riley

um i I created this basically to really help sell the book.

00:00:45

Rob C

Right.

00:00:49

Patrick Riley

I've got the book We can publish, you know, I can

00:00:51

Rob C

Right.

00:00:52

Patrick Riley

go out and say, hey, buy the book, go to UnderwayBooks.com. um It's on Amazon, BarnandtheNoble.com. It's everywhere. And ah Rob, thank you again for joining me on this first podcast.

00:01:05

Patrick Riley

ah

00:01:05

Rob C

Oh, no problem.

00:01:06

Patrick Riley

Could you introduce yourself?

00:01:08

Rob C

Well, my name is Robert Clements. Pat and I served on the USS Hewitt in Japan. I've been out since 93. Been a minute. um I'm a serial entrepreneur. I'm a 10X business coach.

00:01:20

Rob C

I have, um I guess, four or five businesses running right now. One of those is Salish Ledge Coffee, which is kind of a pun on the gourmet coffee that I sell because the coffee in the Navy is anything but gourmet.

00:01:35

Rob C

So that's me. Well, born and raised in Atlanta. I still live in northwest Georgia. That's about it, I guess.

00:01:42

Patrick Riley

Excellent. Well, thanks. Yeah. um and And this coffee's great. I do have the hat. It's also embroidered with the USS Hewitt DB966. And always have to watch out whenever I talk about, you know, just the the letter destinations for the ship because my first ship was the Towers DDG-9.

00:02:03

Patrick Riley

So it was an Adams-class destroyer where we had a Bruins class with the Hewitt.

00:02:04

Rob C

right

00:02:08

Patrick Riley

So, um yeah, we...

00:02:09

Rob C

So the people that don't understand that, that's like the difference between getting automobile and getting a 1955 V8 Chevrolet Bel Air.

00:02:17

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:02:23

Rob C

I mean, it was a total different era in the type of ships they were and the armament and the electronics. And crew cult, I mean, and just the comfort for the crew, I don't even want to imagine what y'all had to sleep on there.

00:02:36

Patrick Riley

Yeah, it was pretty bad on the towers. um And I just remember just pulling myself up into the upper rack because I had a nice big pipe on one side and the handles on the other. And I swung my legs up and it was it was horrible. And when I walked onto the Hewitt, just nice big open alleyways where...

00:02:55

Patrick Riley

I didn't have to worry about that. And you kind of had to hit a step to get into that third rack.

00:02:59

Rob C

but

00:03:00

Patrick Riley

If you had up to go up that high, I think I probably, um, right at that point went middle rack and I was good to go for that whole year. And like you said, exactly.

00:03:08

Rob C

Yeah, the Hewitt was like a Hilton.

00:03:10

Patrick Riley

And we had air conditioning in the racks.

00:03:13

Patrick Riley

So yeah, when we were in the ah middle East, it was so much easier. So.

00:03:13

Rob C

Yeah.

00:03:17

Rob C

Oh, yeah, because the ship that I came from before I went to the Hewitt, was um 80 18 uss sierra it its kill was late 39 commissioned in 44 and it was miserable i mean it'd been rehabbed three or four times and and we just got finished rehabbing the burling compartments before our trans before our transferred and i actually was in charge of the burbing the refurb and my rack was truly customized like with I had an outlet and all kinds of stuff, and it was still nowhere near what I got had on the Hewitt.

00:03:50

Rob C

It was definitely the Hilton compared to ah ratty Motel 6.

00:03:53

Patrick Riley

and It was. It was just incredible. So...

Choosing and Joining the Navy

00:03:57

Patrick Riley

cool. So let me find out a little more about why did you go in the Navy? Because I kind of look at this podcast as being something um that will help say new sailors, people that might be looking at going to the Navy.

00:04:09

Rob C

right

00:04:11

Patrick Riley

You know, once we get into those sea stories, people might be really interested in joining the Navy.

00:04:15

Rob C

No

00:04:16

Patrick Riley

ah That's part of the reason why I went into the Navy and just kind of to tell everybody what I i went through. um yeah I didn't know what I wanted to do in the military or actually after high school, I decided to go into the Navy because for one, ah the Air Force, I didn't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

00:04:34

Rob C

no

00:04:35

Patrick Riley

Minot, North Dakota didn't sound good to me. Omaha, Nebraska didn't really sound great to me or you wouldn't even be on Omaha. You'd be out in the middle of Nebraska somewhere. And then the Army, I really wasn't big into camping outside.

00:04:48

Patrick Riley

And the Marines, I didn't want to storm a beach.

00:04:48

Rob C

Right.

00:04:52

Patrick Riley

So I thought, Hey, how about the Navy? Because the Navy bases are close to beaches. So I was stationed in Pensacola beach, Virginia beach, and then Tokyo, which we did have Kamakura beach that was close by.

00:04:58

Rob C

Right.

00:05:06

Patrick Riley

Um, but yeah, uh, why did you look at joining the Navy versus other services?

00:05:12

Rob C

So if we go back and think about stuff that I enjoyed when I was a child, I grew up on a lake. But I grew up watching McHale's Navy, Mr.

00:05:21

Patrick Riley

yeah

00:05:21

Rob C

Roberts, all those good stuff, movies and TV shows.

00:05:23

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:05:25

Rob C

My dad was in Korea. Our next door neighbor on the lake was in World War II, and he was in the Navy. My dad was in the Army. They would go back and forth all weekend, pissing on each other about who was the better service and blah, blah, blah, blah.

00:05:39

Rob C

And at the end of the weekend, Jim would always look at my dad and say, we had clean sheets and hot meals. I had a stepbrother that was...

00:05:45

Patrick Riley

yeah

00:05:46

Rob C

um that was in, he was um ah yeoman. He really, we really didn't talk a lot before I went in um The only thing he really told me to do, he's like, when you get the bootcamp, they're going to start assigning jobs to people.

00:06:01

Rob C

And there's one job they can't assign. I can't tell you what that job is. He says, but they can't assign it. it has to be volunteered. And it's the best job to have. So when they ask for a volunteer, raise your hand and don't put it down. I'm like, okay. Cause I kind of remember that. So why did I join? Um,

00:06:18

Rob C

Um, I dated the same girl all through high school. She was, um, same age as me, but graduated a year ah early. So she went to college. Um, when she went to college, I thought going to class was kind of, um, a suggestion instead of a requirement.

00:06:31

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:06:31

Rob C

So I didn't have enough credit hours to graduate because I skipped 68 days and one quarter had a B average. And they're like, you don't have enough credit. You're not here enough. So we're not going to graduate you. And I'm like, okay, peace out.

00:06:44

Rob C

Join the Navy. And that's what I did. I went down, um, went down went through the recruiter well and also the recruiter called me on and it said hey let's meet and i don't even remember sitting in the paperwork and i was like well i work and he's like well how about you work at memorial day i'm like no i'm not working memorial day he's like i have my son in the afternoon but i'll meet you at nine o'clock at the office on memorial day and anybody that's a veteran knows that's a day off so he didn't have to come in so i went i met him um

00:07:09

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:07:14

Rob C

He sent me the MEPS. I went and took my ASVAB and did all that. I came back and said I was going to be an aviation both aviation maintenance administrator at AZ. Had no idea what any of that was. um Took that, went to late entry for six months.

00:07:29

Rob C

Then I went the day before I was supposed to transfer. I and got my GED. Went down, had my GED. They reclassified me. had a choice of um electrician mate, I think, an ET, electronics technician.

00:07:45

Rob C

and a fire control technician. And fire control technician, or FC, was the only thing that we worked on. We ran and fixed our own stuff. Everything else, that you either ran or somebody else fixed it. And I'm like, you know, this sounds pretty cool. So I took it.

00:07:59

Rob C

And then then when I took it, everybody's like, how'd you get that? I have no idea. In hindsight, everybody I know had in there had their ASFAs or in the 90s. And my ASFAs was a 68 with a GED.

00:08:08

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:08:10

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:08:11

Rob C

So I have no idea how the hell I got advanced electronics, how I got fire control them in. But my sister came back and picked me back up at MEPS because I got reclassified. Instead of going to Orlando, i was now going to San Diego. i went back the

Training and First Assignments

00:08:25

Rob C

next morning. They put me on a plane. I flew first class to San Diego at Steak and Lobster and landed in October of 85. And life changed shortly after that.

00:08:34

Patrick Riley

Oh, that's awesome. yeah Yeah, I don't know how I made, oh, actually, I do know how made AEW. I just, kind of funny, you said you went from, so you were supposed to go down to Orlando, but then you went down to San Diego. It wouldn't have been bad to go to Orlando in October.

00:08:51

Patrick Riley

It is bad when you go to Orlando in August, like I did. So, I was a couple years after you.

00:08:55

Rob C

Right.

00:08:57

Patrick Riley

I went in August 88, but it was so stinking hot. And then by the time we finally got out and

00:09:02

Rob C

Right.

00:09:04

Patrick Riley

October, it was a lot cooler. It was nicer at that point. So you would have okay. But then San Diego is the same temperature the whole damn time. So it's not bad.

00:09:13

Rob C

Yeah. Yeah.

00:09:15

Patrick Riley

Awesome.

00:09:15

Rob C

Bootcamp San Diego was not bad.

00:09:17

Patrick Riley

And then where'd you go on for a school?

00:09:20

Rob C

So ah got lucky. um So San Diego got there in October. um graduated the Friday before Christmas. So they sent us all, we had two or three weeks leave.

00:09:30

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:09:33

Rob C

So I went home on leave for, until we had to be back for basic electricity and electronics in San Diego, which was self-paced.

00:09:39

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:09:40

Rob C

Had to be back there and like the first, right after New Year's Eve.

00:09:40

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:09:44

Rob C

I can't remember exactly what date that was in 96, but that was self-paced and I was there until um April. And then a kid from Atlanta and then being in San Diego,

00:09:55

Rob C

They flew me to Great Lakes. I landed in Great Lakes on like April 16th of that, of 86.

00:09:59

Patrick Riley

Oh. Okay.

00:10:01

Rob C

And it snowed. I'm like, what the hell is this?

00:10:03

Patrick Riley

Oh. Okay.

00:10:05

Rob C

So then I went to fire control aid school and C school, both in Great Lakes.

00:10:09

Patrick Riley

Oh, perfect. okay So back-to-back A school, C school, because that was a little different for me as an electronic warfare tech.

00:10:18

Rob C

Right.

00:10:18

Patrick Riley

They sent us out to the fleet after A school. So I did two years in Japan. That's how you knew me.

00:10:23

Patrick Riley

ah When I went back, I flew out of the um Red Sea. I went out of Hurghada. um Actually, yeah, it was out of Hurghada I flew out of.

00:10:23

Rob C

Right.

00:10:32

Rob C

Topic. Yeah, we were ah either in Hurghada or Topica, one or the other.

00:10:37

Patrick Riley

we were um We were outside that destroyer tender.

00:10:40

Rob C

Right.

00:10:40

Patrick Riley

before Safka. I remember they put beer on the pier for us.

00:10:44

Rob C

Right.

00:10:45

Patrick Riley

And then the next morning I had to get up early and grab an awful taxi, go into the airport up in her gotta. It was horrendous. ah It just the worst flight getting out of there.

00:10:56

Patrick Riley

And the taxi drivers, I don't understand when they start yelling at people, they can actually spit mid sentence.

00:11:02

Rob C

right

00:11:04

Patrick Riley

that That just always amazed me. like And they're always yelling at people. They drive with a horn. So that's the sort of thing I remember about Egypt. I'm not a fan. I really don't want to go back to Egypt.

00:11:16

Patrick Riley

ah the The nice thing about Egypt was we went diving.

00:11:17

Rob C

um

00:11:19

Patrick Riley

Did you go diving with us or did you go up to the pyramids?

00:11:23

Rob C

I went to the pyramids. um I can't remember if I was dive certified at by that time or not because I know we did do a certification in the Philippines that Cam set up.

00:11:31

Patrick Riley

Oh, okay. Yeah, i I would imagine that I'll get Cam on this as well. I'll bug him going, did you go diving with us?

00:11:39

Rob C

Yeah, it needs to be two half hours you get Cam on here.

00:11:39

Patrick Riley

Because I... Yeah, yeah, no problem with that.

00:11:43

Patrick Riley

It's not like I'm paying for it. So, piece of cake. But yeah, that's something I was ah really love because the where we went down into the Red Sea, it was called the the aquarium.

00:11:43

Rob C

Right.

00:11:56

Patrick Riley

And it was incredible because the amount of fish that was swimming around us was it was great.

00:12:00

Rob C

Right.

00:12:01

Patrick Riley

um But then we had to go to the local hotel and to drink because there was no clubs anywhere. And that was always a challenge in the Middle East is finding places to drink.

00:12:06

Rob C

right

00:12:11

Rob C

Right.

00:12:12

Patrick Riley

So, and who knows, i always think about what am I going to name this podcast episode? um Probably finding places to drink.

00:12:20

Rob C

Yeah, I know when I found, were in, we were in Oman and we were at the Intercontinental when I found out I made E5.

00:12:21

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:12:26

Patrick Riley

Yep.

00:12:28

Patrick Riley

Oh, cool. Cool.

00:12:30

Rob C

So that was kind of strange because when I got to the Hewitt, it was pretty much everybody's first ship.

00:12:30

Patrick Riley

Oh, that's awesome.

00:12:35

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:12:35

Rob C

And it and that was my fourth.

00:12:38

Patrick Riley

Oh, wow. OK.

00:12:40

Rob C

So...

00:12:41

Patrick Riley

that So this is a great segue. Once you get done with CSchool, what was your first command?

00:12:47

Rob C

So got down with C school, graduated, came home to Atlanta for for about a month, bought a car and ah my grandparents drove home to Atlanta, spent a month in Atlanta, then flew to New Jersey, met a guy that was in my C school class in Jersey, went to a Phillies game and he's like, they're playing San Francisco. And of course I'm just the dude. I'm like, I'm going to root for San Francisco.

00:13:10

Rob C

Never do that Philly because that was horrible.

00:13:12

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:13:14

Rob C

But it was me, him, his sister, and one of her nurses. And I had no idea what, you know, I was still kind of naive, still in love with my high school girlfriend. Kind of blew off that opportunity. And then we um we flew from there to Sicanella, Sicily.

00:13:28

Rob C

And they put us out in the middle of nowhere and didn't tell us anything about siestas or whatever they call it over there.

00:13:28

Patrick Riley

Oh, wow.

00:13:34

Rob C

So as soon as we get to this village that's out in the middle of nowhere, this is 1986.

00:13:35

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:13:38

Rob C

this 1986.

00:13:40

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:13:40

Rob C

so yeah this is nineteen eighty six um late summer 86. There's no taxis. There's no Ubers. There's no door dash. There's no cell phones.

00:13:50

Rob C

There's no nothing. So we're out in the middle of Sicily, like in the country to have no money.

00:13:51

Patrick Riley

Right. Mm-hmm.

00:13:56

Patrick Riley

okay

00:13:57

Rob C

i don't know if we have, I'm sure I had some U S money, but nothing like I was planning. So couple weeks there, um, and really just left out there to fend for ourselves, not even knowing when they're going to come get us or when anything.

00:14:09

Rob C

So then, then they send us to Golshuk Turkey, Land in the airport in Gulsar, Turkey. I have my sea bag. Dan's with me. the Dan Bucco, the guy that was at sea school with me from Philly.

00:14:26

Rob C

There's bits of pieces of this I remember and some that I don't remember. And it's probably because i don't want to remember it. But I can remember ah ah walk from when the taxi or the bus dropped us off to the to the the Turkish Navy base that seemed like hours.

00:14:43

Rob C

in our dress uniform, with our sea bag. And, you you know you know, you got everything. You got everything you own with you.

00:14:49

Patrick Riley

Yeah. Everything.

00:14:51

Rob C

get on Get to the ship. Next morning, we get underway. um soon as we get underway, my stomach does a flip-flop. I look out the porthole, never have another problem. First or second night out, um and I've tried to look this on the map to try to figure out where we were.

00:15:07

Rob C

um I see a volcano off the port side at about midnight, 10 o'clock midnight. shooting vault, um, lava up into the sky. So it was pretty cool.

00:15:18

Patrick Riley

Oh, wow.

00:15:19

Rob C

Yeah.

00:15:19

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:15:19

Rob C

So.

00:15:20

Patrick Riley

Yeah, that's ah that's an experience that not many people would have. mean, I haven't seen anything blow up before.

00:15:28

Rob C

Yeah.

00:15:28

Patrick Riley

um and

00:15:29

Rob C

So that was, it that was, a that was USS Butte. It was a 27. So it was ammunition ship.

00:15:34

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:15:34

Rob C

So their, their motto was that we we were the ones that reload the guns.

00:15:39

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:15:40

Rob C

Um, I was in the gun division. I really, I couldn't drive a forklift. They didn't get me qualified on a forklift. I know we did some other stuff and then we ended up in Naples and we were in Naples for ah about a week, week and a half.

00:15:56

Rob C

And then all of a sudden our department head says, says, Hey, um, the USS Bowen is coming It's a Knox class frigate. It's coming in and we're going you TAD to that. Cause you got to get some quals done because the weapon I went to school on,

00:16:09

Rob C

Wasn't even on the ship yet. It was going to get installed when we got pack get back to you to the U.S.

00:16:11

Patrick Riley

Really?

00:16:14

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:16:14

Rob C

So he says, but you need we need somebody qualified or we can never operate it. so And those were our PQS as a professional qualities, qualification standards, I think it stands for.

00:16:18

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:16:24

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:16:25

Rob C

um so i'd take the So he's like, we have two choices. We can either drop you off and put you on the Joseph Hughes, which is ah five ten seventy eight which my stepbrother was on but already left.

00:16:37

Rob C

Or we could just, let you could get, could get underway with us and we'll send you across on a high line. And I'm like, yeah, no. So they left us in town and left us on the boat on the, on the Hewitt. And the next day, or not the Hewitt, the Hughes, the next day the Boeing came in, we went on it and it was in, it was in um Naples for three or four days. So we had an extended stay in Naples.

00:17:01

Rob C

And then we got to go, then we got underway and we got, um got to do all our quals. But since I was ah push button E4, meaning that I got advanced to E4 out of A school, since I was on a little ship, they want to make me mess crank. And I'm like, and and everybody's like, no, he's over here to TAD. He's not mess cranking.

00:17:18

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:17:19

Rob C

And the but brute butte was big enough that we didn't have to um mess crank his push button E4s.

00:17:24

Patrick Riley

Right, right, right. Yep. That's true.

00:17:28

Rob C

So then we went out to sea. We did all of our stuff. The coolest thing was our captain um The commander, i don't even remember his name anymore, but he's like, hey, I know that if you put the holdback tool in the CWIS, it can't fire, meaning that the what rounds don't go in the firing chamber.

00:17:45

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:17:45

Rob C

And since we're out the sea, and this is when Libya was being stupid, but we always had rounds of the gun. So he's like, but we got to do plane guard on the and for the Kennedy, so we'll be in front of the Kennedy in in case a a plane crashes so so we can get the pilots.

00:18:00

Rob C

He says, but as soon as we get into in front of the, in front of the Kennedy, I want y'all to put the CWIS, the phalanx in full auto with the holdback tool in it. So every, every F-14 that comes off the flight deck, y'all going to start tracking.

00:18:16

Rob C

So they were coming off straight up like that. And after about the second one, they started going like this because we were tracking them and rotating the gun on

00:18:21

Patrick Riley

Right.

00:18:23

Rob C

So we did that. We did plane guard in front of Libya for a little while. Um, what was Then what was a good thing, what was kind of cool, is um we were, um we we just lost, it was a single shaft ship, and we lost our main shaft bearing, so we went dead in the water.

00:18:42

Rob C

So we were just floating in the med for for for a couple days, couldn't get couldn't move forward.

00:18:46

Patrick Riley

Oh, geez.

00:18:48

Rob C

So the Belknap, which was the flagship for the Mediterranean, it was a cruiser, I want to say 46, 46, but

00:18:48

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:18:55

Patrick Riley

Oh wow.

00:18:57

Rob C

but um What was really cool, what was interesting about the Kennedy and the Belknap being in the Mediterranean at the same time, back in the early 80s or late 70s, the Kennedy hit the Belknap and took everything from the from the flight from the for the main deck up off, just decapitated it.

00:19:18

Rob C

And they got towed back and got rebuilt.

00:19:18

Patrick Riley

no wow

00:19:20

Rob C

So, you know, the Kennedy says that they the Belknap hit them. The Belknap says the Kennedy hit them. i don't remember what the Navy actually said. But they were the Belknap was sent to come get us to give us a tow line to tow us to a safe harbor so we could anchor and get the parts to fix us.

00:19:37

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:19:37

Rob C

So we're on a sea and anchor detail. Nobody knows what that is. That's where you're getting you're getting ready to either leave port or interport, and you're dealing with all the lines. But we were had was the aft sea and anchor detail, and that's where were going to get the tow line at, and we had to bring it up to the front.

00:19:54

Rob C

So the Belknap came up behind us and they were going to shoot across a line so we could pull a tow line across. And as they did that, the collision alarm goes off and the Belknap hits our starboard side on the aft corner

Experiences on the USS Bowen

00:20:08

Rob C

and goes to whole side of the ship, tearing off nets and everything else. And there's a one star admiral up on the, on the wing, the bridge wing on the Belknap. And he throws this combination cover in the, in the, in the, in the ocean.

00:20:25

Rob C

so So then we finally got that.

00:20:25

Patrick Riley

Right.

00:20:27

Rob C

They pulled us somewhere. were there. And they took the motor whale boat out because there was going to be a CH-46, CH-53, bring us a part over and drop us off. And I can assume the line shaft bearing in the box was huge.

00:20:41

Patrick Riley

Oh,

00:20:41

Rob C

It was supposed to land beside the motor whale boat. It actually landed in the motor whale boat. I can't understand why it didn't sink. But they got that over.

00:20:48

Patrick Riley

yeah.

00:20:49

Rob C

And I thought that helicopter seemed as big as the ship I was on. That helicopter was huge.

00:20:53

Patrick Riley

oh yeah

00:20:54

Rob C

So we got the but we got the main shaft bearing fixed. We got back underway. We did our things. And then we want got to go do turnover. And turnover was really cool at that time because we had we had a two battleship groups, one that was in the med and the one that was coming into the med.

00:21:11

Rob C

But think it was the Missouri and the New Jersey. We had two aircraft carrier groups, the Kennedy and whoever was relieving the Kennedy. And we're all all into the this bay.

00:21:21

Rob C

near Sicily, all the ship all these ships coming in. And the next morning when we were pulling in, I saw the New Jersey coming over over the horizon.

00:21:32

Rob C

And the battleships, if you've ever seen any World War II battleships, they just get big and they get big and they get bigger and they get bigger and they get bigger. And I saw a CH-53 helicopter, the same one that looked as big as the Boeing, land on the back of the battleship and just disappear.

00:21:46

Patrick Riley

Yeah. Wow.

00:21:48

Rob C

And then shortly after that, I got transferred back to the so the Butte. I don't even remember how I got back to the Butte. I don't know it was a port visit, but I don't remember how I got back.

00:22:01

Rob C

I really don't.

00:22:02

Patrick Riley

Right.

00:22:02

Rob C

But while I was on the Boeing, the Butte had some SEALs on board and somebody got one of the terer terrorists for the Aquila Laurel out the international waters and they

00:22:16

Patrick Riley

Oh.

00:22:18

Rob C

they got him off that boat and back up to the onto the butte and took him off. And that was part of it Operation Goldenrod that they've done movies about that I wasn't there to see. so it was kind of bummer.

00:22:29

Patrick Riley

Yeah. No kidding.

00:22:30

Rob C

So that was my first cruise, part of my first cruise.

00:22:31

Patrick Riley

Well, so kind of, oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Kind of going back to what you know you were talking about when you first went on the, when you were on the AE and you went into Naples first time.

00:22:43

Patrick Riley

So that was your first official port visit.

00:22:47

Rob C

Oh yeah. And that was, and since it was an AE, we weren't port side, we weren't pier side.

00:22:47

Patrick Riley

Right. Yeah.

00:22:51

Rob C

We were motor well, and we were in motor boat again.

00:22:53

Patrick Riley

Oh, geez. Okay. All right.

00:22:55

Rob C

Yeah.

00:22:56

Patrick Riley

And then, so did you have, and with the, uh, the frigate, were you pure side with the frigate?

00:22:57

Rob C

So.

00:23:03

Rob C

Yeah. So we were pier side on the, on the Hewitt. um They were, if I remember right, they were, so they were stern in to the pier and then the bone came in right beside it.

00:23:13

Patrick Riley

Okay, cool.

00:23:14

Rob C

Oh, what's really, what's really scary after that is after we left the, The Boeing left Naples a week or two weeks later. One of the bars that we used to always hang hang out and got blown up by terrorists the next week.

00:23:27

Patrick Riley

Oh, geez.

00:23:28

Rob C

So, I mean, that was the mid-A, that was 86, 87.

00:23:29

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:23:31

Rob C

And terrorists were blowing up stuff in the Mediterranean left and right, especially in Italy and France and Greece.

00:23:35

Patrick Riley

Hmm.

00:23:38

Rob C

greece

00:23:40

Patrick Riley

So what kind of terrorists did we have in the mid 80s Europe?

00:23:45

Rob C

The ones that were hijacking and hijacking planes and ships and blowing up stuff.

00:23:50

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:23:50

Rob C

go Thinking back in all the nightclubs that I was in in Italy and France and Spain, I can't believe I'm still here.

00:24:00

Patrick Riley

Yeah. I think the only time that I came close to any sort of issues with a port visit was probably in the Philippines because the Philippines was They were going through some political stuff and I know that there was people getting killed out in town.

00:24:12

Rob C

Right. Right.

00:24:16

Patrick Riley

I mean, that I don't know if it was sailors directly, but there were people that were, uh, nobody was getting blown up.

00:24:19

Rob C

Right.

00:24:23

Patrick Riley

Uh, I think that was something it kind of going back to the volcano that you mentioned, you know I do know that Mount Pinatubo blew up.

00:24:23

Rob C

Right.

00:24:31

Rob C

Pinotoba.

00:24:33

Patrick Riley

Yeah. Blew up after we left, we were on our way to the ah Persian Gulf or Red sea, uh,

00:24:35

Rob C

Yeah.

00:24:38

Rob C

Yeah.

00:24:40

Patrick Riley

while that was going on. was like, that's pretty crazy. We just left there. So, and I think, I think it was after Singapore, even for some reason, I thought it was in between, ah the Philippines and Singapore, but it was actually after that.

00:24:54

Patrick Riley

So I was kind of tracking when I wrote the book, I wanted to track some of the, the points of interest that occurred during our cruises and the ports.

00:24:55

Rob C

Right.

00:25:02

Rob C

Right.

00:25:04

Patrick Riley

And just so I had more things accurate, but, uh, so any what kind of memories did you have going out on Liberty the first time? Did you have to wear your whites or did you, ah because we had a port over there, didn't we?

00:25:18

Rob C

ah With Naples, there's um there's there's an attachment in Naples. um most of Most of us, most of the Navy was in Sicily. Honestly, I don't remember where. Things were volatile then in the in the Mediterranean.

00:25:31

Patrick Riley

Oh yeah.

00:25:32

Rob C

in the and late So I don't remember having to be in um and and uniform. Just like when I was on the Hewitt, I mean, I grew up i grew up as a preppy.

00:25:37

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:25:41

Rob C

My mom worked for Polo and Rich's and Macy's. So I had all the college shirts.

00:25:45

Patrick Riley

Oh,

00:25:46

Rob C

So everybody was bo borrowing college shirts from me or renting them, however you want to say it.

00:25:53

Rob C

So. Right. Right. Yep.

00:25:54

Patrick Riley

that's great. Yeah, that's something that, yeah, I don't remember going out and ah too often in whites. And I think usually would happen like the first day in port, they would want you to go out into your yeah with your military uniform, you know, just for the first night.

00:26:11

Patrick Riley

So if you had duty the first night, you kind of got away, you know, got away with it.

00:26:11

Rob C

right

00:26:15

Patrick Riley

Of course, l always see a man in the rails when you're pulling in I remember that. Yeah.

00:26:21

Rob C

ah You didn't have to do that when we changed home ports. We had to man the rails in Hawaii. And it's great, and it's all is very summering to have to man the rails and in Hawaii and pass to Arizona.

00:26:33

Rob C

But it's a long time to man the rails. Just like when we pulled back in from that cruise. On that cruise, my first cruise, we had a CH-46 crash on our helodeck, and it got strapped down. So we instead of going straight back to New Jersey, we had to go to Norfolk. So manning making the rails at Norfolk is...

00:26:51

Rob C

seems like, I don't know, hyperbole would be for it to say it's four hours, damn it, it doesn't feel like four hours.

00:26:58

Patrick Riley

Yeah, and I was stationed in Norfolk and we never had the Manda Rails because we were stationed there.

00:27:04

Rob C

Right.

00:27:04

Patrick Riley

Yeah, that would have been awful because that's a long roll in because you had to go over the Bay Bridge Tunnel right by Virginia Beach and then right over I-64.

00:27:07

Rob C

Yeah.

00:27:12

Rob C

Mm-hmm.

00:27:16

Patrick Riley

So that was always, that was brutal, but no, I, I wouldn't do it.

00:27:16

Rob C

Yep. Mm-hmm.

00:27:19

Patrick Riley

So when did you make it to the West coast? Did you do any other time on the East coast or any other ships?

00:27:24

Rob C

Oh, yeah. so after So after I got back to New Jersey, we were all trying to get transferred. So we finally, my dad, my dad riding congressman and everything got me, was going to get me moved to Charleston to an AE there because they were going to reroute our mounts, our gun mounts to there and install them there.

00:27:45

Rob C

So I got cut orders to go to that. And then they moved then they decided they were going to put the mounts back in New Jersey, but I was already transferring So they sent me to the tender that had no idea what to do with the fire control men. And I was there for ah ah trip to get Mo for Qualls and then another med cruise.

00:27:55

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

00:28:01

Rob C

I was actually on that med cruise and re-enlisted when I was there at my four-year mark. And then on that med cruise, they flew me back because I could change coast because I was going to a ship that was getting deployed overseas. So Flew home in the middle of that cruise, spent a month on leave, and then I went to, then I met the ship in San Diego.

00:28:23

Rob C

And then a couple weeks after, a week or two weeks after we met the ship, we left for Japan.

00:28:29

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:28:29

Rob C

And I think they'd only been home for like six months before they were going back, before they changed own port.

00:28:35

Patrick Riley

Okay. So when you look back on between being an East Coast sailor and a West Coast sailor, what do you think the big differences are between those?

00:28:46

Patrick Riley

Because what would you I know there's

00:28:47

Rob C

So I was lucky.

East vs. West Coast Navy Culture

00:28:50

Rob C

i was going say, um I was lucky because on the East Coast, I was either in New Jersey or i was in Charleston, South Carolina.

00:28:56

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:28:56

Rob C

Both of those are a plane ride away from D.C.

00:29:00

Patrick Riley

right

00:29:00

Rob C

Norfolk is ah is ah is a car ride from D.C. um and um And everybody, so you get a lot of more, you have to deal with a lot of Norfolk sailors, went even when in New Jersey and Charleston, and they're uptight.

00:29:15

Rob C

um cleanliness, attention to detail and everything like that.

00:29:16

Patrick Riley

yep

00:29:19

Rob C

And even the ones that came and came to um Japan that were from the East Coast, the e six the e senior E5s and E6s just had ah had an agenda that didn't mesh with the West Coast. it just It was more chilled. I'm not saying it was more laxed, but you you you didn't have to you didn't have to keep stuff you didn't have to keep stuff so uptight and so and always be on the edge of your seat because you're worried somebody's going to show up at any hour of the day.

00:29:49

Rob C

Everybody was going to have, you're going to have at least a day's notice to get to San Diego and to get to Japan. You're going to have at least two days notice unless it was one of the leadership in Japan. And then we were, we you know, we independent steamed in Japan. So we we had we had the best of both worlds. We were four deployed.

00:30:10

Rob C

um Nobody really screwed with us.

00:30:10

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:30:11

Rob C

We didn't have we got to go pierced almost everywhere. i mean, when I tell people we used to go to Hong Kong every six weeks to go pierced, they think i'm lying.

00:30:21

Patrick Riley

Yeah. and And the thing that really, because prior to the Hewitt, I was on the towers. But we were with the Midway Battle Group. And whenever we went to Hong Kong, we were anchored out into in the Bay. So we always had to take a tender in.

00:30:37

Patrick Riley

That was what we had to do. When we went into ah Australia, and the rest of the battle group went to Perth, we went down to Bunbury, which was a little tiny town just south of Perth.

00:30:52

Rob C

Right.

00:30:52

Patrick Riley

But it was different because, yeah, we were able to go Pearside and but we were all by ourselves. That was pretty nice. And that was the nice thing about the Hewitt is that it was Desert Shield at the time.

00:31:03

Patrick Riley

So they took the Midway out with the rest of the battle group and they kept us behind, which was great because the other than we're forward deployed, we're by ourselves because we just got there.

00:31:03

Rob C

Right.

00:31:13

Patrick Riley

And that was the nice part about being on the Hewitt.

00:31:14

Rob C

Right. The only only time I remember not going Pearson on the was, I think, Singapore. We had to take boats in.

00:31:21

Patrick Riley

Yes, we did.

00:31:21

Rob C

I think.

00:31:22

Patrick Riley

um We took, a we took, tenders in for Singapore. And I remember that because, um, I was out in the town, i was drinking like usual and I, I gave, uh, Jeff Howard, my camera to take back, uh, to the ship.

00:31:35

Rob C

Right.

00:31:41

Patrick Riley

I was like, you know, I'm i'm staying out. He was heading back, take my camera back.

00:31:43

Rob C

Right. Yeah, because he was home by nine every night asleep, getting ready for church the next day.

00:31:45

Patrick Riley

And of course, after I,

00:31:49

Patrick Riley

ah, yeah, no, he wasn't that bad. Yeah, he could have been, but, um, And he'll probably see this too.

00:31:53

Rob C

Yeah.

00:31:55

Patrick Riley

obviously be I'll send this to him. So I'll be like, hey, Jeff, here you go. ah But yeah, he took a damn picture of his bare ass in my with my camera. And of course, it wasn't until I got back to the States and I developed all my film that I was like, what a jerk.

00:32:09

Rob C

but but ah

00:32:12

Patrick Riley

So yeah, yeah, the fun stuff. So what was ah some of the ports that you remember the most? What was stands out over the, but how many years were you in?

00:32:23

Rob C

Eight years.

00:32:24

Patrick Riley

Eight years. Yeah, because I going to say you...

00:32:25

Rob C

Five years at sea. All

00:32:27

Patrick Riley

Wow. Yeah, there you go So with but eight years in because it sounds like you yeah you re-enlisted when you were on the East Coast, what drew you to re-enlist by just seeing what was on the East Coast?

00:32:36

Rob C

right.

00:32:41

Patrick Riley

And what really drew you to re-enlisting?

00:32:41

Rob C

Um, I was in the middle. I was, I was married. Um, um, we were, were falling apart. Um, um, my reenlistment bonus was 30 grand.

00:32:54

Patrick Riley

Oh.

00:32:55

Rob C

That was a month. That was a, the primary reason. and just talking to this about my daughter who is stationed in Okinawa now as a Marine.

00:32:58

Patrick Riley

There we Mm-hmm.

00:33:02

Rob C

She's a second Lieutenant. Um, talking to her about it. I'm like, make I said, I'd, I'm building her a shadow box. I'm like, got asked our Congresswoman to get her a flag that's flown over the, over the Capitol. So I can put it in. I said, I said, you need to tell your enlisted Marines when they're getting, when they're enlisted, they need to ask for a flag that's flown over the command that day.

00:33:23

Rob C

They won't think about it and they'll tell you they won't want it, but in 20 years they're going to want it.

00:33:28

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:33:28

Rob C

So I was going to reenlist and I was going to reenlist at Fort Moultrie, which was a civil war fort in Charleston. And it was going to be pop and circumstance, everybody in their dress uniforms, full dress uniforms of medals and swords and everything.

00:33:40

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:33:41

Rob C

Then Hugo came in or came through and all and the bridge got washed out. So I got I had to get had to get reenlisted on the bridge in my working uniform with no pomp and no circumstance and just um a fifteen thousand dollar check after taxes, which was eighty six hundred dollars that I blew that I wish I had today.

00:33:58

Patrick Riley

Oh, boy.

00:34:03

Patrick Riley

Yeah, that's true. So you reenlisted and then you went to the Hewitt on the West Coast.

00:34:08

Rob C

no

00:34:08

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:34:09

Rob C

Actually, there was probably another, re-enlisted in October. So ah I went in 85, I re-enlisted in October of, looking at my notes, October of 89. I didn't get to the Hewitt until July of 90.

00:34:28

Rob C

So I did another med cruise and um and did i um ah a trip to Guantanamo Bay before the med cruise.

00:34:29

Patrick Riley

Wow.

00:34:31

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:34:37

Patrick Riley

Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. So once you got over on the Hewitt, it was, it was pretty quick before they just took you right over to Japan.

00:34:45

Patrick Riley

Did you know they were going to Japan before you got to the Hewitt?

00:34:45

Rob C

Oh, yeah.

00:34:47

Rob C

Yeah, so that's based on budgets. That's the way I could do ah coast ah one coast to the other coast transfer in the middle and late into the year because basically they had carte blanche to get whoever they needed over there. I really was trying to get a Tyco cruiser.

00:35:03

Patrick Riley

and Okay.

00:35:04

Rob C

um if i would've known what If I would have known what I'd known, I would ah never asked for the Tyco because the Tyco is the same ship. with 100 more people on it and no AC into your racks.

00:35:12

Patrick Riley

Yeah. Oh. Oh, okay. Well, that's pretty important.

00:35:18

Rob C

Basically, all the reason we have AC and the on the Spruits classes and the racks is because there's no Spy 1 radar needing all that extra cooling.

00:35:26

Patrick Riley

Yeah, yeah. Okay, there you go. That's, you know, and I really didn't know that either. I just stayed on the Hewitt and I was happy. It was good.

00:35:36

Rob C

I was getting divorced and wanted to get the hell out of Dodge.

00:35:37

Patrick Riley

of There you go. That works.

Memorable Port Visits

00:35:42

Patrick Riley

Understandable. So what was, um thinking about the the ports, I know we did talk about, i that was the nice thing about being with the Hewitt because we were on our own in Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore.

00:35:55

Patrick Riley

What ports really stand out as being kind of the, craziest ports that you went into the the the ones that were kind of the most um i wouldn't yeah yeah okay

00:36:04

Rob C

Well, i'm going to throw in some East coast ones too, because the first time I went to Cartagena, Spain, we could go everywhere. The second time I went there, we, there a big black, uh, big area that was, that was off limits, of course, that I knew the back door into it from being there the first time.

00:36:20

Rob C

So, so, um, Rota was kind of cool.

00:36:20

Patrick Riley

mm-hmm

00:36:24

Rob C

Cartagena was cool. Um, every time that, every time the, hu the Butte went to Palma Majorca, I was on the Bowen. So i missed those, but cons, um,

00:36:34

Rob C

Toulon in France was good. Took an overnight train and spent three or four days of Paris during that. That i was cool. um Naples is unique.

00:36:43

Patrick Riley

huh

00:36:43

Rob C

there's a base There's a base above it Naples about an hour and a half called Gaeta. um There's a a repair depot up there.

00:36:49

Patrick Riley

and go

00:36:51

Rob C

So when I was on the tender, we went there. So that was cool. um We went past a lot of places in northern Africa. We never stopped. So we went by Libya and we went by all that, but we never stopped.

00:37:04

Rob C

Um, Golshuk would have been a really good place if I would have been there any more than 12 hours because it was right next to Istanbul or close to Istanbul.

00:37:10

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:37:13

Rob C

I flew in Istanbul and they took a bus to Golshuk.

00:37:14

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

00:37:16

Rob C

Um, West Coast, Hawaii was great. My sister-in-law had met me in Hawaii. That was kind of strange. We pull in. There's a, there's a female, there's a female lieutenant or she was a junior grade at time.

00:37:30

Rob C

standing on the pier in her dress whites and or her working white skirt and heels waiting for me. As soon as her brow went down, she was up wanting me and everybody's like, figured she was there for the captain or something, but she was wanting the four Clements.

00:37:44

Rob C

So that was all kind of cool. She was there. so that was kind of cool. I got to see her. um I like Guam. Guam was cool because it was just laid back and we rented a Miata and we had fun at the beach. um Philippines is the Philippines. That's great.

00:38:00

Rob C

um Thailand, Pattaya Beach and Phuket, they're great.

00:38:00

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:38:05

Rob C

Darwin was cool. oh Oman was cool. um Jetta, you know, we pulled into Jetta and went pierced side there when we were in the Red Sea. I think you'd already been, you're already gone then.

00:38:18

Rob C

and But I didn't get, you really had it you really had to be invited. So that was kind of, I didn't leave the ship.

00:38:22

Patrick Riley

yeah

00:38:24

Rob C

um Went to the british the British Consulate General's house. for a dinner in Hong Kong one time. That was cool. Willie parks was with me and he, he was kind of, kind of miffed. He was like, how do you get along with everybody? How do you talk to everybody? He's like, I'm like, they're just people, dude.

00:38:44

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:38:45

Rob C

Yeah. Try to have some situational awareness and try to carry on conversations that, that, that works with them.

00:38:46

Patrick Riley

ah let

00:38:52

Rob C

Not always about yourself.

00:38:54

Patrick Riley

Absolutely. Absolutely. um Do you remember going to Brunei?

00:38:59

Rob C

I don't, I know we went, and I think I got off the ship, but I don't remember.

00:39:03

Patrick Riley

Yeah. You know what it was is because we trained their Navy and for a reward to train their Navy, they gave us a picnic on a break wall.

00:39:07

Rob C

Right.

00:39:13

Patrick Riley

It was basically a man-made break wall with a little beach setting.

00:39:14

Rob C

Right.

00:39:20

Patrick Riley

They set up some grills, made some burgers for us. And it was like a little landing craft that we were on that they they beached for us and we were able to get off.

00:39:28

Rob C

yeah I remember the pictures and stuff there, but I don't remember getting off the ship.

00:39:30

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

00:39:35

Rob C

I know somebody somebody had a medical issue that had to get off and go into town. That's where his eyes, I think. I don't remember who it was.

00:39:42

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:39:42

Rob C

Right.

00:39:44

Patrick Riley

Yeah, I remember I do have a picture. i think it was Spike Elliott was on the on that with me. And i've got I still have that picture. I still have a lot of that stuff. So, yeah.

00:39:52

Rob C

Right.

00:39:53

Patrick Riley

And it's like, look at the salt in the Brunei. And all they can do for us is just give us a little picnic on a break wall. So that was not the best port visit.

00:40:00

Rob C

Yeah, he's got million-dollar cars and all kinds of Yeah. but but you've got million dollar cars and all kinds of crap

00:40:08

Patrick Riley

Yeah, definitely.

00:40:09

Rob C

ye

00:40:09

Patrick Riley

But, ah yeah, they that was... That was a good little trip. But um so thinking about the the Navy days, what kind of shaped you like looking it back on what you did in the Navy?

Life Lessons from the Navy

00:40:24

Patrick Riley

Has any of that really affected what you do today? How does how does what happened in the Navy affect you today?

00:40:31

Rob C

Well, um, one, you do, you do acquire ah level of understanding about why you need situational awareness and why you have to pay attention to detail.

00:40:44

Rob C

When I tell everybody the biggest skill that I ever learned in the Navy was it takes a lot less effort to do your job than try to get out of your job.

00:40:52

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:40:53

Rob C

I learned that on my second ship. Um, The SeaWiz or Phalanx is really ah unique because it's all self-contained and you take care of everything. You take care of the coolant, you take care hydraulics or the pneumatics, you take care of the servos, you take care of the computers, you take care of all the electronics, the radar, um the guns. You take care of all of it. so you It's really good for um learning how systems, how things work as a system.

00:41:17

Rob C

And I've always been a systems engineer since I got out and I think its it works. I think that's the reason why.

00:41:25

Patrick Riley

Yeah. So yeah, that, that just trying to figure things out because like you said, we're out at sea, we had to fix our own stuff. You you couldn't really call anybody. You had to just figure it out. And that was just something that even a lot of people that have worked for me in the past, uh, they always gave me a hard time because my kind of go-to phrase was always, we'll figure it out. Well, I think that really came from the Navy.

00:41:49

Patrick Riley

We'll figure it out.

00:41:49

Rob C

Right.

00:41:50

Patrick Riley

I'm not going to sit there and just think, um, No, we'll we'll call somebody else. Let them fix it for us. I just don't have that attitude. ah need to be able to just figure it out myself. And hey, you know what?

00:42:04

Patrick Riley

Together, we'll figure it out. And I know, like I said, some of my friends that have worked for me in the past will be like, God damn it, why do you say that? Because I...

00:42:12

Rob C

So I have a my my my own. my radar was down and I needed to swap something. i needed to replace a card. And i think it was like $80,000 or $8,000, I forget what.

00:42:21

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:42:22

Rob C

But basically Commander Volpe, who is our CEO, didn't want to spend the money.

00:42:27

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:42:27

Rob C

And he didn't like the way i he didn't like the way I was troubleshooting.

00:42:28

Patrick Riley

Wow.

00:42:30

Rob C

So so i was but he called me to the bridge and got us a secure link to one of the other ships.

00:42:31

Patrick Riley

Oh, jeez.

00:42:37

Rob C

And there was E6 fire control tech. Because I think mike was Mike Malone, who was my E6 at that time, I think he was

00:42:43

Patrick Riley

Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.

00:42:45

Rob C

home on an emergency lead because of the volcano erupting in the Philippines where his family lived.

00:42:49

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:42:51

Rob C

but i'm sitting on the I'm standing on the bridge, on the port side of the bridge, Volpe's in his chair, and I'm on the i'm on the the the secure link to the other ship.

00:43:02

Rob C

And it's on speaker so Volpe can hear what the other guy's saying. He definitely can hear what I'm saying. He says, um the guy says, do the X, Y, Z. And I'm like, cannot do that. Charlie Oscar does not concur with that type of troubleshooting.

00:43:16

Patrick Riley

Oh, no.

00:43:16

Rob C

And Volpe looked at me and I looked at him and, dude, I'm not going to look like an idiot to one of my peers because you won't let me do what I was trying to do.

00:43:24

Patrick Riley

Right. Oh, geez.

00:43:25

Rob C

And that's probably why i'm going to lose the job on that right now because basically I told the CFO last Friday the same thing.

00:43:30

Patrick Riley

There you go. See, well, see, it just flows right on through with the Navy. It just.

00:43:36

Rob C

Yep. Mm-hmm.

00:43:36

Patrick Riley

it's what What happens in the Navy, it does happen out at, you know, just the real world as well, as I say. oh Why do they say the real world compared to the Navy? Was it just a fake world that we lived in?

00:43:47

Rob C

I don't know because, you know, when Isha was in Quantico, she was complaining about that. I'm like, you're 35 minutes from D.C. I said, that is not the real Marine Corps.

00:43:56

Patrick Riley

of

00:43:58

Patrick Riley

No.

00:43:58

Rob C

And then she was at 29 Palms.

00:43:59

Rob C

was a little bit less. So now she's in Okinawa and actually in Korea right now. um And and she's she still has ah issues. I'm like, I said, at least now, I said, you you've you know everybody you're dealing with has dealt with the same things you've dealt with.

00:44:16

Patrick Riley

hu

00:44:17

Rob C

And that's why I think we could deal with it a little bit easier the military because we know what everybody else had to do to get to where they're at. In the civilian world, the real world or whatever you want to call it, you have no idea what they know, what they've been through, what they can handle, what they can't handle.

00:44:31

Rob C

Because I don't want to use the snowflake word, but but close to it.

00:44:34

Patrick Riley

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because I mean, and And of course, I'd love to be able to talk to somebody that's in the Navy now. Actually, I do know somebody that's in the Navy right now.

00:44:47

Patrick Riley

He's part of the BFW that I'm, my posts in Parker.

00:44:50

Rob C

We still know somebody. We know an E5 that was God to all of us that's now a captain.

00:44:54

Patrick Riley

Well, we do. yeah And I'll wait till he retires to get him on this podcast. But um I do have a ah friend.

00:45:01

Rob C

Right.

00:45:03

Patrick Riley

He's, I think he's a chief. And he's, see he's a younger guy, but I'll have to find out, you know, kind of what he has to give me feedback on. But yeah, that's, that's what I think is pretty cool about this podcast is it gives me the ability to talk to people and just hear their stories.

00:45:21

Patrick Riley

And, you know, one story that I'm curious about is just, you know, what was your transition out of the Navy?

00:45:22

Rob C

Right.

00:45:27

Patrick Riley

Like what, what made you decide, because after eight years, instead of re-enlisting again, what made you decide to say, you know what, I'm good with the Navy.

00:45:33

Rob C

Actually, so I was advanced electronics. So I went in for six. So I had a four-year contract with a two-year extension. I and enlisted before the two-year extension went in.

00:45:45

Rob C

so So when I reenlisted at

00:45:45

Patrick Riley

yeah so Okay.

00:45:49

Rob C

at four, I reenlisted for six. So I had 10 years to, I had a total of 10 years to do. And then, um, in 80, in 93, February, or in the January Superbowl Sunday, um, Jane, um, and coming up following Monday, one of my good friends that was on, um, the, the, the Sierra with me got killed by a drunk driver.

00:46:12

Rob C

So that kind of threw kind of made you start thinking about reality.

00:46:12

Patrick Riley

Oh,

00:46:16

Rob C

Right. Um,

00:46:17

Patrick Riley

right

00:46:18

Rob C

And then um September, August of September of 95, my sister-in-law who had been in in

Leaving the Navy: Reasons and Reflections

00:46:28

Rob C

in Hawaii that met me when we pulled into Hawaii, she was now in Japan, in northern Japan, and she had an aneurysm and died on active duty. So I had two people that I really cared about die.

00:46:39

Rob C

And then, like I said, I got paid $30,000 to reenlist.

00:46:39

Patrick Riley

ah wow

00:46:42

Rob C

That was um that was um that was bush Clinton came out and pulled and took my NEC for CWIS off the list so I could take it early out and he paid me 20 grand to get out.

00:46:59

Patrick Riley

Really? You got paid to get out?

00:47:01

Rob C

Yep.

00:47:02

Patrick Riley

Darn it. I did not. I did not get paid.

00:47:04

Rob C

So they took a lot of my bonus back too, but see, that was another thing.

00:47:06

Patrick Riley

Oh, we did.

00:47:07

Rob C

I reenlisted on ah October 1st, so I got my bonus on October 1st. And a lot of people would always ask for their accelerated bonus because they reenlisted whatever date they reenlisted in but they But you could always request to get your money on the 1st of October if there was a budget.

00:47:19

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:47:24

Rob C

And it would it come down around 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, or 5th October. And I would have my butt my my annual um payment, right? i go to I'd go to disburse it. or like I'm like, where's my my enlist with by and re-enlistment bonus um but um annual payment, whatever they call it?

00:47:42

Rob C

They're like, oh there's no budget. Yeah, you can't get it. I'm like, my shit was due October first

00:47:48

Patrick Riley

Right.

00:47:48

Rob C

I want my stuff now. And I'd get it usually get a check cut the same day or the next day because there was no direct deposit back then.

00:47:55

Patrick Riley

Right. That's true. um ah yeah Yeah, that's a great point. i I think we did go through some direct deposits back when I was in.

00:48:05

Rob C

Towards the end, we start towards and you started on this on the Sierra, we had payment ATMs on on the ship and ATM cards where we could take our money out.

00:48:06

Patrick Riley

Maybe. Yeah.

00:48:15

Rob C

But we didn't have direct deposit per se. We had allotments. And then we had direct deposits.

00:48:20

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:48:22

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:48:22

Rob C

And I swear 86, they moved the September 30th payment to October 1st.

00:48:30

Rob C

And then we started getting paid on the 1st and 15th instead of the 15th at the end of the month.

00:48:36

Patrick Riley

Wow.

00:48:36

Rob C

And now Isha says it's back to the way it's swapped back again.

00:48:36

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:48:40

Rob C

So i don't know. Maybe I'm confused.

00:48:42

Patrick Riley

Is it the 15th and end of the month?

00:48:44

Rob C

Yeah. Right.

00:48:45

Patrick Riley

Is that what? Yeah, I know a lot of financial companies will do that. Anybody that's associated with the government will do that. ah The company I'm with right now, they go to every other week, which is nice.

00:48:57

Patrick Riley

So instead of 24 paychecks, you get 26 paychecks and that two extra paychecks, you don't have to worry about the taxes or 401k being taken out. But boy, that the, I remember, I don't know if I still have my old pay stubs from the Navy.

00:49:13

Patrick Riley

I think that last year I probably made like $18,000 that last year.

00:49:13

Rob C

right

00:49:17

Patrick Riley

So which, come on, $18,000 a year.

00:49:18

Rob C

Nothing.

00:49:19

Patrick Riley

that last year so which come on eighteen thousand dollars a year That's just, you can do that nowadays on door dash

00:49:24

Rob C

No.

00:49:27

Patrick Riley

So, but yeah, I don't know how much a sailor gets paid nowadays. I don't know what it looks like. It'd be interesting to speak.

00:49:27

Rob C

Yes.

00:49:33

Rob C

Well, my daughter was making about 90 when she went in. She took about a two-third pay cut.

00:49:38

Patrick Riley

Wow. Okay. And she's an officer.

00:49:40

Rob C

Yeah, she's a second one. And she has to pay for her food.

00:49:44

Patrick Riley

Really?

00:49:45

Rob C

Yeah.

00:49:45

Patrick Riley

I didn't know that. Oh, geez.

00:49:47

Rob C

Yeah.

00:49:47

Patrick Riley

All right. Yeah. I think one of the times I remember just dealing, didn't really deal with the officers that often at all. Um, I think the only time that I had to deal with them, had to drive them to, I think it was at Soogie Air Base out of Yakuska because that was something that I was a ship's driver since I had the experience of driving when I was on the towers.

00:50:11

Rob C

You're right.

00:50:11

Patrick Riley

They just said, hey, in and one of my side gigs, I'm still doing side gigs today. I did side gigs in the in the Navy. i was ah I drove taxis in Yakuska and that was just something I had

00:50:22

Rob C

Oh yeah, some of the Jimmy O'Daniels.

00:50:25

Patrick Riley

Yeah. Oh, so cool. I mean, I made some extra cash. I think if we did an after show, I tell you what I use that after show or what tell you what I use that cash for, but we'll just save that.

00:50:36

Rob C

Right.

00:50:37

Patrick Riley

But um yeah, there you go.

00:50:38

Rob C

Yakusoba outside the base. like Two streets back on the left.

00:50:41

Patrick Riley

I had Yakisoba. Exactly. like But yeah, I had to drive these officers up to that Sugi air base for a some meeting on a Friday and they were all concerned about the traffic and I got them there quick. got I got them back home quick.

00:50:57

Patrick Riley

And I think I did have to pay for my meals, but they, they did spot me some cash, right? I might've gone to the mess hall.

00:51:04

Rob C

Is that the base that had the um the hostels that you could stay at outside of Tokyo? There's some base up there, some Air Force base that we would get hostels at if the new Santa was full.

00:51:15

Patrick Riley

Yeah.

00:51:16

Rob C

full But you had to be there before midnight or something. and

00:51:20

Patrick Riley

Yeah. I know what you're talking about. I've i've stayed there before.

00:51:22

Rob C

I stayed there once because I was like, this is worth the college.

00:51:26

Patrick Riley

it was it was It was downtown. i was I remember that. Yeah, it was close to the new Sino. And I remember always trying to get it in there. was able to get into the new Sino a lot. So that was it was a good thing.

00:51:36

Rob C

Me I lived in Roppongi.

00:51:38

Patrick Riley

And I think that's where, i don't know if you were with me, but I did take several of guys from the Hewitt when you first pulled in. Because everybody was like, yeah, we're going to Circus.

00:51:49

Patrick Riley

You're not going to Circus. We're going to Roppongi. So I took them to Roppongi. And then of course they're like, yeah.

00:51:55

Rob C

Roppongi Disc.

00:51:56

Patrick Riley

Oh, I love Roppongi. Yeah, that's a.

00:51:58

Rob C

I'd always just book a suite. I never tried to book the cheapest room at the new Santa. I just booked the most expensive. i always had a king suite and there's usually... There's always one of those available.

00:52:08

Patrick Riley

Yeah, yeah. But ah yeah, the dollar beers just get good and drunk there and then just pour yourself into a taxi, go to Roppongi, have fun, which is.

00:52:16

Rob C

Got a hard rock. That's where I met Bahar. Were you there when I met Bahar?

00:52:20

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:52:20

Rob C

I think you'd already left when I met Bahar.

00:52:23

Patrick Riley

Yeah, I was there for one year.

00:52:23

Rob C

the turkish air The Turkish service.

00:52:26

Patrick Riley

Okay, okay, yeah. Oh, you got love Roppongi. I would go to Hard Rock occasionally, but not that often. um I did have some friends that were Japanese. They lived down in Shinagawa, and they took me to, oh, what was, what's the Beatles bar that people would always go to? It was something, not Abbey Road, but it was something similar where It was a replica of kind of what the Beatles did when they were in London, but it was in it was in Tokyo.

00:52:58

Patrick Riley

It was in Wuppongi.

00:52:59

Rob C

You remember the... ahead. was going to say, do you remember the Japanese girl that dated somebody a couple ships down from us that had the older Corvette, like the 69 or 70 Corvette?

00:53:09

Patrick Riley

No, I don't remember that one.

00:53:11

Rob C

Because, you know, having older cars over there, taxes was insane. So I was like, what does her dad do? What does she do?

00:53:18

Patrick Riley

Right, right.

00:53:19

Rob C

was like It was like 72 or 71 Corvette.

00:53:22

Patrick Riley

Oh, that's great. Yeah, that's same thing because I think we were able to buy Harleys and buy Yamahas on base cheap.

00:53:33

Patrick Riley

And I did know some guys that were, we they would drive Harleys around the base and they'd take them off base. ah But you had to have a special license to drive those larger motorcycles. Yeah.

00:53:33

Rob C

Yeah.

00:53:47

Rob C

Mm-hmm.

00:53:47

Patrick Riley

out into the economy because actually with the Navy, you didn't need them, but ah the Japanese citizens, they had to have special licenses.

00:53:49

Rob C

Right.

00:53:52

Rob C

Right.

00:53:55

Patrick Riley

So all their motorcycles were smaller. And even i would always go to a place called Shodori, which was right outside of Wano. And it was just one full street of nothing but motorcycles on both sides.

00:54:09

Patrick Riley

ah That was where I would usually hang out.

00:54:09

Rob C

well

00:54:11

Patrick Riley

So it was it was a good time.

Fond Memories and Camaraderie

00:54:13

Patrick Riley

But yeah, that's, I think, Of all the ports I've been to, you just being stationed in Japan was probably the best for me.

00:54:22

Patrick Riley

um I love Tong Kong.

00:54:22

Rob C

Right.

00:54:24

Patrick Riley

It was it was great. Singapore, short visits.

00:54:25

Rob C

ah

00:54:27

Patrick Riley

um

00:54:27

Rob C

and I didn't think about when you're talking about ports, I didn't think about home ports. Charleston was beyond great. That's like the paradise on the East Coast.

00:54:34

Patrick Riley

Oh, yeah.

00:54:37

Patrick Riley

Okay.

00:54:37

Rob C

It's got culture. it's got culture got colleges.

00:54:39

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:54:40

Rob C

It's got great beaches.

00:54:42

Patrick Riley

yeah

00:54:43

Rob C

And

00:54:43

Patrick Riley

Were you able to blend in a little more in Charleston compared to because like, well, San Diego, I think you can kind of blend in a little more. um And the reason why i bring that up is that you can't blend in in Norfolk.

00:54:57

Patrick Riley

You're stuck.

00:54:57

Rob C

Right.

00:54:58

Patrick Riley

you You've got short hair.

00:54:58

Rob C

Right.

00:55:00

Patrick Riley

You're in the Navy.

00:55:01

Rob C

Right.

00:55:01

Patrick Riley

That's it.

00:55:02

Rob C

probably Probably a little bit. I mean, I was married part of the time in Charleston and I wasn't married or I was separated for the rest of the time in Charleston. I never had any problems.

00:55:13

Rob C

But if you know me, I really don't give a shit. I just got to do I just I'm going to be me no matter where I'm at.

00:55:20

Patrick Riley

hu

00:55:21

Rob C

So good or bad.

00:55:21

Patrick Riley

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, it's, it I mean, we hung out back in December. That was a great time. I mean, that was that was really cool the to be able to get together after all these years.

00:55:28

Rob C

yeah.

00:55:33

Patrick Riley

And just, it was, we got right back into just those conversations that we had, you know, 30 years ago.

00:55:39

Rob C

yeah.

00:55:39

Patrick Riley

And it's just that camaraderie that we have.

00:55:40

Rob C

you

00:55:43

Patrick Riley

And You know and I know what my answer is, but what do you think is the, like, of all the shipmates that we've had, what is like the ship that you have the most friends on or from?

00:55:55

Patrick Riley

Mm-hmm.

00:55:56

Rob C

Oh, it's this head and shoulders. It's the Hewitt. I mean, I still, I don't have, I don't, I don't know. i don't keep in touch with anybody off the, off the, the Butte. And of course, TAD to the Bowen, that wasn't going to happen.

00:56:09

Rob C

There's actually a guy in the town next to me that he had a ah Butte hat on at Kroger. And I was talking to him and he got there. We were there about the same time, but different divisions. So i didn't know him, but there was, there was nothing from him. and like, Hey, what's your number? How can we, I'm like,

00:56:26

Rob C

There's nothing like, hey, peace out, dude. I'm done. It had to be the Hewitt. And I don't know if it's because of the size of ship, the mission of the ship, the port visits we had.

00:56:40

Rob C

Actually having um wartime deployment probably didn't have hurt.

00:56:44

Patrick Riley

who yeah

00:56:46

Rob C

um The one thing I do remember about the first ship I was on, the Butte, which was really, really cool, is when there I got there about a year after the shipyards of Mobile, And they adopted a mutt dog from the shipyard. So we had a dog on board named Dixie. It was like a ah gold retriever mix.

00:57:04

Patrick Riley

but

00:57:05

Rob C

So we had a dog on that ship.

00:57:07

Patrick Riley

Oh, that's pretty cool.

00:57:08

Rob C

Yeah.

00:57:08

Patrick Riley

Yeah. And I definitely agree with that about the Hewitt and I do have, i don't have a lot of friends from the towers that, I was like really close with, I do have ah a former EW, him and I are real close.

00:57:22

Patrick Riley

I mean, him and I spoke just a couple of weeks ago and I'll get him on this podcast.

00:57:25

Rob C

Right.

00:57:26

Patrick Riley

But I think even when we were on the ship together, weren't real good friends because we did work together.

00:57:32

Rob C

Right. Right. Right.

00:57:34

Patrick Riley

ah But there's a few that I kind of keep in touch with, with the towers. The towers has an incredible reunion staff. So they'll go through every year they have a reunion and it's,

00:57:45

Patrick Riley

well organized. They have a committee, they elect officers, they have a budget and it's really, they set it up really well.

00:57:51

Rob C

right

00:57:53

Patrick Riley

But a lot of these guys are plank owners from the mid sixties.

00:57:58

Rob C

right

00:57:59

Patrick Riley

And then here I am, I'm on the DCOM crew. So I'm the young guy.

00:58:02

Rob C

right

00:58:03

Patrick Riley

And I was, I was 19 when I went on that ship.

00:58:03

Rob C

Right.

00:58:06

Rob C

And we're not young anymore.

00:58:06

Patrick Riley

ah Right. And these guys are a little older. So ah The next one they're having is in September in New Orleans. I'm debating. and I think I might go to that one. I just got to figure it out.

00:58:18

Patrick Riley

um it's It's a little ways off, but that's that would be pretty cool. But the Hewitt, like you said, I don't know why, but I just had so many friends from there. And then um I even ran in.

00:58:28

Rob C

and what's funny is, Even on Facebook, the group of us that went there and was the move ah moved them to to Japan, it's like we're in a capsule and nobody else matters.

00:58:42

Patrick Riley

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And I was so thankful to be able to get those orders from the towers to the Hewitt. And what was nice is that I bought a motorcycle right before...

00:58:54

Patrick Riley

I left the towers and I i had it shipped back to my hometown because I transferred from one ship to the other.

00:58:56

Rob C

Right. Right.

00:59:01

Rob C

Right.

00:59:04

Rob C

Right.

00:59:06

Patrick Riley

And because of that transfer, I was able to do a move and get my motorcycle ship back for free.

00:59:09

Rob C

Right.

00:59:11

Patrick Riley

Oh, what a great time that was.

00:59:12

Rob C

You still got it?

00:59:14

Patrick Riley

No, I sold it. It's in the book. Oh my God, I got everything in a stupid book. um No, I put it in there because i once I got back from the Red Sea, I took the motorcycle down to Pensacola for my sea school, drove it the whole time. It was awesome.

00:59:32

Patrick Riley

Wonderful time to have the bike down there. But then when I got kind of screwed over, sent to Norfolk, I took the motorcycle back to Indiana where I was from and I sold it because I had this grand dream of, Hey, when I get to Norfolk, I'm going to buy a boat and I'm going to be able to just tool around on that boat.

00:59:43

Rob C

Right.

00:59:53

Patrick Riley

It'll be awesome. But then once I got to Norfolk, I already had the bike sold back in Indiana and the guy wrecked it. He wrecked my bike and I was so pissed, but yeah, I mean, he bought it. So it was I was an out, no money, but,

01:00:08

Patrick Riley

And when I got to Norfolk, I never did buy that stupid boat.

01:00:08

Rob C

right

01:00:11

Patrick Riley

So...

01:00:12

Rob C

Yeah, I always bought a boat when I was in um on Wildt Island and after I got out the navy working Wildt Island and the NASA base up there.

01:00:12

Patrick Riley

but

01:00:18

Rob C

Because we buy old boats sometimes cheap.

01:00:21

Patrick Riley

Yeah, yeah. I mean, someday I'll. But I live in Colorado. What am I going to do with a boat in Colorado? People have boats in Colorado. They sell boats all the time in Colorado. But what are going to a boat in Colorado?

01:00:32

Patrick Riley

You're kind of landlocked. and So it's no fun.

01:00:34

Rob C

Yep.

01:00:35

Patrick Riley

If I moved to somewhere like Florida, I might look up getting a boat. But, yeah, that's a nice thing. and it's I'm still drawn to the sea. I do like to go on cruises. You were mentioning the Mediterranean. The only Mediterranean cruises I've been on was the Royal Caribbean.

01:00:51

Patrick Riley

And they're awesome. But the nice thing about those is that you're still out at sea, but you don't have to work. So there's no going, up you know, getting up and stand and watch.

01:00:57

Rob C

Oh, yeah.

01:01:00

Patrick Riley

i don't have to worry about stand and watch anywhere.

01:01:03

Rob C

Yeah, so one of the, when we, when I was on the on the Sierra, we went to, we we went to Port Everglades, which is basically Fort Lauderdale one time was a port visit.

01:01:03

Patrick Riley

You know, when we pull in.

01:01:12

Patrick Riley

Yep.

01:01:14

Rob C

And then we went to Paradise Island, Bahamas.

01:01:14

Patrick Riley

Yep.

01:01:16

Rob C

That was a port visit one time. They went to Boston twice, but I stayed behind, but they went to Boston.

01:01:18

Patrick Riley

Oh, yeah.

01:01:21

Rob C

So they didn't get to the go of those two.

01:01:21

Patrick Riley

Okay.

01:01:23

Rob C

Isha is actually in Korea, and they're getting ready to take the HST from Korea back to Okinawa. And what an HST is, is the high-speed transport hydrofoils that they used to use in Hawaii, the civilian units.

01:01:38

Patrick Riley

okay

01:01:39

Rob C

They went out of business in the Navy bottom, and now they're in USNS ships. And she's like, it's going to take us two weeks to go from Korea to Okinawa on these things. Why does it take so long? I'm like, you're just to be turning circles, and the the crew's going be doing drills.

01:01:53

Patrick Riley

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and they probably won't put them up on hydrofoils that much. They'll just kind of slowly steam those things over. and I love a steam, whatever, but cool.

01:02:02

Rob C

yeah

01:02:05

Patrick Riley

Well, yeah, absolutely.

01:02:05

Rob C

Yeah, they're all they're all gas turbines.

01:02:08

Patrick Riley

So Rob, thanks so much. was going to say, do you want to plug any of your ventures right now Coffee, anything else?

01:02:15

Rob C

Well, the biggest ones, Sailor Slewish Coffee is out there. um It's gourmet coffee. It's a little pricey, so if you're not a coffee coffee snob, you probably won't appreciate it. It's about $20 a pound.

01:02:27

Rob C

um

01:02:28

Patrick Riley

Uh-huh.

01:02:29

Rob C

If you're starting a new business or trying to grow your business by really my, my sweet spot is taking entrepreneurs from startup to $5 million dollars as quick as possible in annual revenue.

01:02:41

Rob C

my IT business supports business up to about 150 million a year in revenue for it solutions and support. And my, um, cybersecurity business, um, is anything over probably a billion and I say 125 billion, but I can handle it all. But, um,

01:02:59

Rob C

One is E2CEO.com. That's the letter E2CEO.com. It stands for entrepreneur to see CEO. The other one is Peach IT Services.

01:03:11

Rob C

And the other one is really weird because it's IT Cyber Defense with a CE instead of an SE like the European or British version of defense.

01:03:20

Patrick Riley

That's great. Well, thanks. And of course, I do have Deception underway on sale at AmazonBarnesAndNoble.com. Kobo, it's on Kindle, it's on hard copy in order from my website.

01:03:33

Patrick Riley

ah what does I do have Patrick-Riley.com and I also have UnderweightBooks.com. So you can order from any of those that

01:03:41

Rob C

And for the right amount of Bitcoin, you'll send them a signed one, right?

01:03:45

Patrick Riley

Right. Yeah. I'll sign a book. I do have, I bought some, uh, envelopes, shoveling an on a envelope. I'll sign it. Well, I'll, I'll sign the envelope. I'll sign the book too. So I, I, I am doing an event next Saturday.

01:03:54

Rob C

Yeah. but

01:03:58

Patrick Riley

So, um, I believe it's the, oh, help me out here.

01:04:01

Rob C

The day before Mother's Day.

01:04:03

Patrick Riley

It is, it is, is it the ninth or 10th? It's the 10th. So mother's days on the 11th. So on the 10th, I'll be in, ah Tavern on the Lake in Hobart, Indiana. That's where I grew up.

01:04:15

Patrick Riley

So that's where I'm going. So I'll see a lot of my high school friends and relatives are back there.

01:04:18

Rob C

Oh, cool.

01:04:20

Patrick Riley

And then at the end of the month, I'll be back in Parker. So, um, at the Bodega Beer Company in Parker, Colorado, and I'll be doing a book signing from two to six that day as well. So, um, I'm trying to get out more and sell the books. Yesterday I was at a, uh, I was at a Kentucky Derby event, I worked security.

01:04:45

Patrick Riley

And while I was there, tried to sell as many books as I could. But of course, I had my suit coat on and my glasses and, you know, I had to kind of look official. But then, of course, when ah people were trying to get into the restroom where I had basically had the VIP section blocked off,

01:05:04

Patrick Riley

um I should have brought like a whole stack of books and been like, yeah, if you need to use a restroom, a book is $100 a book. I'll sign it for you, but then you can go use restroom.

Playful Ethical Considerations and Farewell

01:05:14

Patrick Riley

I don't know if that would be ethical or not.

01:05:16

Patrick Riley

I'd probably err and say it wouldn't be ethical at all.

01:05:16

Rob C

oh

01:05:20

Rob C

So what would it take for somebody to to get you to show up, read some passages from the book, eat some monkey meat, and drink some Sam McGill's?

01:05:30

Patrick Riley

Oh, actually, I'll pay for that.

01:05:33

Rob C

Ha, ha, ha, ha.

01:05:33

Patrick Riley

I'll pay. hu

01:05:33

Rob C

Ha, ha,

01:05:35

Patrick Riley

I, I, Hey, you tell me where, when, I mean, I, I would imagine Subic. Is it a Barrio Barreto? What were we talking?

01:05:43

Rob C

ha.

01:05:44

Patrick Riley

I mean, I guess we can go to Manila, but come on, we would rather go to Subic and we'll, we'll tell those stories there. So that's great.

01:05:51

Rob C

yeah

01:05:53

Patrick Riley

Well, Rob, again, thanks so much for the time. Um, I'm going to be bugging our other buddies.

01:05:55

Rob C

No problem. Appreciate it.

01:05:58

Patrick Riley

If you see anybody, you're like, Hey, this is pretty cool. You know, just point in my direction. You've got my email stuff. So,

01:06:04

Rob C

Will do. I will.

01:06:05

Patrick Riley

Awesome, man. Cool.

01:06:07

Rob C

Okay.

01:06:07

Patrick Riley

Thanks, bud. Talk to you soon.

01:06:08

Rob C

No problem. Talk to you later, man.

01:06:09

Patrick Riley

right. Bye. Bye.