Fredrick C. Dunbar, LT USN Retired, 1963-1989


I went to boot camp in San Diego, October, '63. Got up at oh-dark-thirty one
morning, soon after arrival to take the "battery tests" that measure how
well you do being tested so early in the morning. A few days later, I
vividly recall going to "classification" to select what rating I would like
to "strike" for. The Petty Officer looked over my test results and said, 
You would make an excellent Electrical Technician! You aced that part of the
tests!" That would make my dad proud, I thought since he worked for RCA
Camden, and was a ham, and had lots of electronic stuff in his "ham shack." 
  
I can tell you an aside for all the hams operators out there. My dad was
putting in a "mobile" system in his '49 Caddie and asked if I would sit at
the home base, and call him to check it out as he drove around the
neighborhood. His callsign was WA2BFX (now it's my eldest son's call). I
said I would help, and he drove off, and I grabbed the mike and started
calling....WA--2B---FX Mobile.....this is WA---2B---FX calling. Now as all
hams know, the call should have been made like this, WA2--BFX. I became the
hit of the hams in the area...but I digress...
  
So, I said to the Petty Officer, "OK, that is what I'll strike for." Then he
looked at my physical quals, and saw that I am colored blind, red and green!
He said that because of that "flaw" I could not strike for ET...but how
about striking for Communications Technician, "Operator" branch, a CTO?  Hey
Communications Tech, with my experience as a ham, sure!  And, yes the same
response to the same question, "what do CTOs do?" Don't know for sure, but
they use a teletype, and it requires a security clearance was all that he
could tell me!  And after boot camp, off I went to P'cola, for CTO school...
  
While in school, our class had to take a test in Esperanto to see if any of
us had foreign language learning skills...I failed Spanish I in high school,
but did manage to pass Latin I and II before that course...go figure, eh? 
Much to my surprise, I scored a 59 and was selected to go to DLIWC, Monterey
after completing CTO school.  Six months later, Jan '65, I was off to NCS,
Sabana Seca,  and the rest they say is "HISTORY."
  
 
Fred Dunbar,  CTICS(AC), CWO4, LT (Ret) 
 
O branch school,  P'cola 64
DLIWC, Portuguese 64
Sabana Seca 65-66
USNS Valdez 66-67
DLIWC, Russian 67-68    
Kami Seya 68-71
ACNSG, Ft Meade (rider) 71-73    
ADCOP NVCC 73-75
NCS Rota Spain 75-78
NSGA Edzell 78-81
ACNSG (again) OIC rider (sub/surface) 81-83
DivOff FLAPMA/ROMP/CTEP 83-87
Div Off Fleet Support Div  87-89