Karl Kristiansen, CTR3 USN, 1965-1969 I enlisted in the Navy right after graduating from New Bedford High School in New Bedford, MA in July 1965. It was off to Great Lakes where someone told me they needed Communication Technicians "R"'s. I wanted to be a Radioman and they told me the "R" stood for "Radio". Sounded good to me. In the mean time, the Navy had a program they called Pre-School Indoctrination (PSI) and I was going to participate. The purpose was to get you familiar with shipboard life so when you completed school you could return to the fleet and fit right in and do your new job. (Really good for most CT's :-)). So upon completion of bootcamp I was sent off to Subic Bay, PI to catch the USS Mansfield DD-728. I was put right into 1st Division (Deckape). From October 1965-June 1966 I was in WestPac (and later Long Beach) where we spent most of our time with the USS Kitty Hawk and went on several support fire missions along the Vietnam coast and up the Saigon River a couple of times. During this time I became very familiar with all the techniques involved in chipping paint and applying red lead, white lead, battleship and haze grey paints. In July 1966 it was off to Pensacola for school and then to NSGA Bremerhaven where I stayed until I got out in July 1969. In my four years I had the opportunity to be in the "regular" Navy aboard ship and to serve in the NSG. I wouldn't trade this time for anything. I have never met a more dedicated and professional group of individuals than the CT's I worked with. I consider it an honor to have been a member of the NSG. sk dit dit, Karl Kristiansen CTR3/NSGA Bremerhaven/66-69