U.S.S. SCHENECTADY [LST 1185]

Captain Raymond Czar, as editor of the ship's paper, provided the following:

YN3 WOSEPKA, PN1 MORRIS and PN3 BROWN work long hours in the Ship's Office

IC2 GIBBONS, IC3 SCHMIDT and IC3 BAGGER are making sure that this electronic equipment is clean and functioning properly.

There have been several members of the crew advanced recently, including EM3 Bernie GONZALES, SK3 William LOCONTO, EM3 McANDREW, PN1 Edison MORRIS, RM3 Stanley WERNER, YN3 James WOSEPKA, SK3 Jaime BALATAN, EN3 Dickie HILLHOUSE, EM3 Roger MILLER, ENl Joseph BRUCE, SK3 Gary WEBB, EMCS Kevin HOLMES, SK3 Larry RODGERS, SK3 Gregory JONES, EN3 Romeo BACTOL, IC3 Michael MOTIFF, HT3 Gary WARREN, HM2 Robert PARKER, SM3. Michael WARCHAL, SM3 Richard CLARK, HT3 Charles DONNELLY, GMG3 Henry ELSASSER, SM2 Marlin GREEN, OS3 Denny DESPAIN and OS3 Ralph CARTMELL.

OS2 STARR and ETN3 ESSER man the radar scope in CIC while OS3 AHRENS plots information about contacts on the maneuvering board.

SA CAMPBELL, SN DAVIS, SA MARTIN and BM3 ENGSTROM prepare the ship's tank deck for a new coat of paint

Since returning from Westpac, all members of the crew have been kept busy making much needed repairs and improvements to the ship. Due to the nature of the work, it had to be accomplished while in port, and all hands have done an outstanding job making SCHENECTADY one of the cleanest, most efficient ships in the fleet.

LTJG MITCHELL, SH3 RADTKA, and SHSN MEDLOCK work together on the ship's store inventory.

FN PADGETT, FA FOURNIER, SA WAGNER and FA WEATHERS find themselves busy cleaning up after breakfast.

The ship's store has recently increased its inventory by about ten times, and is now doing three times the business it was eight months ago. Besides offering a greater variety of merchandise and, in many cases, below exchange prices, the profits go toward making the ship a more comfortable place to live for the entire crew.

SN RILEY at the helm and SKSN JONES at the lee helm respond to LT ROORBACH and LT LAPOINTE's orders while standing watch on the bridge.

PC3 BOJANSKI and SN CHARLTON handle the mail that comes to and leaves the ship. (Keep those letters coming).

In the near future, the ship plans on making some improvements that should be quite beneficial for the whole crew. For example, we are working toward installation of a ship's T.V. system which would result in each berthing compartment having its own T.V. set. It would also be possible to present our own training and entertainment throughout the ship via closed circuitry. Another improvement will be the opening of our ship's dry cleaning plant in the near future.

SM3 CLARK enjoys a little fine painting on the Signal Bridge.

SH1 PERIAS gives SN HERMANN a haircut as FN GRIFFIN anxiously awaits his turn.

All of us here aboard SCHENECTADY are enjoying the holiday season and we wish you all happiness.

The ship went to sea again on 10 October for 16 days during which time we operated off the coast of California while participating in a large Amphibious Exercise. We had planned to visit San Francisco in early November but have postponed the trip until sometime after the New Year. We have just returned from a weekend visit to Acapulco, Mexico where all hands apparently enjoyed themselves immensely. As many of you know, we had initiated the necessary request to allow dependents to accompany us but unfortunately, our request was denied by higher authority. We do, however, plan a short, one-day, dependents cruise this spring.

There have been some recent innovations in the Navy, which all of you should be aware of and become familiar with. The first is- the enactment of Public Law 92-425 creating the Survivor Benefit "Plan (SBP). The plan puts ~ into effect for all career members and retirees of the Uniformed Services a Survivor protection plan comparable to that available to civil service employees. The new program fills a serious gap that has always existed in the ." area of service benefits. Until SBP went into effect, the retired pay of a service member ended with his or her death, unless the member had elected voluntarily to participate in the Contingency Option Act. Consequently, following the deaths of retirees, surviving members of retirees families often found themselves with little or no income. Under the SBP, retired pay, at a slightly reduced amount, will continue to be provided the dependents fo a deceased service member.

The second item I want all of you to be aware of, especially those wives living in San Diego, is the Friday afternoon, Amphibious Squadron FIVE (PHIBRON FIVE) special clinic at Balboa Naval Hospital. The special clinic is staffed by PHIBRON FIVE Medical Officers and has been set up for the dependents of personnel on ships in PHIBRON FIVE, which includes SCHENECTADY. The clinic will be operated by appointments only to avoid long waits, and meets in the "Ships Doctors Examining Room" located at Bldg 38, Deck 1. For more information and to make appointments, contact the Medical Department onboard USS TRIPOLI, phone 235-2793.

Sincerely yours,
R. J. CZAR CDR, USN, Commanding Officer

Many thanks to Bob Chuisano for providing these treasured memories.