PRESERVING A MILITARY LEGACY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS
The following Reflections represents MGySgt John Street’s legacy of his military service from 1972 to 1999. If you are a Veteran, consider preserving a record of your own military service, including your memories and photographs, on Togetherweserved.com (TWS), the leading archive of living military history. The following Service Reflections is an easy-to-complete self-interview, located on your TWS Military Service Page, which enables you to remember key people and events from your military service and the impact they made on your life. Start recording your own Military Memories HERE.
Please describe who or what influenced your decision to join the Marine Corps?
Well, I was a little bored with school for starters even though I was a very good student. If I had followed my older brother’s lead I would have done two years at St. Pete JC in Clearwater, FL. After that who knows; he went into the USAF.
I suppose I was also ready to get away from my life as a shy-loner-dateless nobody in high school. My best friend Jeff (RIP 2006) and I somehow ended up climbing the stairs to the Armed Forces recruiting offices in downtown Clearwater, Florida in the early spring of 1972. We were actually looking for the Air Force recruiter, but I don’t recall exactly what our motivation was. As it happened the Air Force guy was out of the office, but the Marine recruiter, Gunny Bill Goddell, right across the hall, was in.
I’ve always chalked it up to fate. When I was a kid one of my favorite books to check out of the elementary school library, which I now have a copy was ‘Leatherneck’, a picture book about life in the Marine Corps by well-known author C. B. Colby. Quite a coincidence. When we found out the Marines had an Air Force too we were hooked. We delay-enlisted for aircraft maintenance guarantees in April 1972 and shipped to boot camp in October.
Whether you were in the service for several years or as a career, please describe the direction or path you took. What was your reason for leaving?
Boot camp at Parris Island followed by Aircraft Maintenance training at Memphis, TN, (ADJ-“A” School) and Beaufort, SC (A-4M Fam and J-52 CER) ending with MOS of 6022. First fleet tour at the reserve training detachment (MARTD) at NAS Atlanta where there was neither a J-52 or an A-4 in sight unless you count the neighboring Naval Reserve A-4C’s with J65 engines in them. MARTD Atlanta operated aging F-8K Crusaders.
While assigned to the Flight Line Division as a Plane Captain I went from PFC to Sergeant pinning on Sergeant chevrons, meritoriously, as I was going out the door en route to my first overseas tour in Iwakuni, Japan. Thirteen months in the J-52 engine shop at H&MS-12, Iwakuni. First, as Power Plants Division NCO, kind of the office manager for the Power Plants Division Chief. Followed by NCOIC of the J-52 crew and then back to the States for another 4th MAW tour, this time in the Power Plants work center for the MARTD at NAS Jacksonville, FL, which was just finishing transitioning from A-4C’s to A-4F’s with the J-52-P-408 engine.
Mid-tour the unit moved across town to NAS Cecil Field. Promoted to Staff Sergeant while there for a five-year stint. Next, I transferred to MCAS El Toro, CA, for duty with VMA-214 (A-4M’s). I was the night crew at Power Plants NCOIC and later worked at Center NCOIC. Made one overseas UDP deployment to Iwakuni before getting orders to the Recruiter’s School with a further assignment to RS San Francisco with duty at RSS San Jose, CA.
Later detailed to the PCS office at Gilroy, which was newly established. The less I say about recruiting duty, the better. Two years of absolute hell from teens and twenty-somethings who all looked forward to a Mercedes in the driveway and a job at IBM working on computers and from the command staff at the RS who had no clue just how hard it was out on the streets. They stuck to the party line that as long as you followed the systematic recruiting program to the letter you would make quota regardless of any other factors.
Fortunately, I was selected for Gunnery Sergeant while still at Recruiter’s School and pinned the extra rocker on before the wheels came off or I probably would have retired as a Staff Sergeant. Ultimately relieved for low production and sent back (thank you, GOD!) to the Fleet and the REAL Marine Corps for duty at MCAS Cherry Point, NC in 1985.
One year with VMAT-202 (A-6E) as Power Plants NCOIC as the squadron wound down operations to decommissioning followed by transfer to VMAQ-2 (EA-6B) where I would serve for 12 years. First in Quality Assurance as NCOIC for Det X, followed by Maintenance Chief for the Squadron both before and after the massive reorganization of 1992. Made seven overseas deployment rotations. Three with Det X and four post-reorganization, five trips to Iwakuni, and the last two to Aviano AB, Italy.
Promoted to Master Sergeant and Master Gunnery Sergeant while with Q-2. Finished my career as Maintenance Chief with MALS-14, Cherry Point, but it was drudgery from day one – too far from the flight line and too close to the flagpole.
If you participated in any military operations, including combat, humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, please describe those which made a lasting impact on you and, if life-changing, in what way?
No. Never heard a shot fired in anger or received a “combat” fitness report. It was too late for Vietnam and sat out the first Gulf War. Deployed to Iwakuni with Q-2 Det X, dubbed Det-Xtended for its 410 days duration (May 1990-June 1991). The squadron supported combat-zone flight operations in the Balkans, former Yugoslavia while twice deployed to Aviano AB, Italy, but the only ones drawing combat pay and its benefits were the aircrews.
Of all your duty stations or assignments, which one do you have fondest memories of and why? Which was your least favorite?
This a tough one. Each of my assignments held its own unique place in my heart. In order and with notations:
MARTD Jacksonville/Cecil Field: My first time in a squadron operating my specialty – J52-P-408 engines in A-4 aircraft. Great people, great weather, and close to home, met and married my wife while there. The big thrill, though was having “been there-done that” for everything having to do with A-4 power plants work. I was low and high-power turn-up qualified. I was also taxi qualified and for about two years I had a “back seat license” to fly rear seat in one of the squadron’s two-seat TA-4Js. Most memorable period while there? In the roughly three-month period after our relocation to Cecil Field cracks were discovered in about 3/4 of the squadron aircraft that necessitated main fuel cell removal on our part to allow access for the NADEP field team to repair. Probably the most difficult and rewarding period in my career.
VMA-214 El Toro: Close second or maybe tied with my third, VMAQ-2. More great people. Many of whom coincidentally I knew from their having had done a tour at Jacksonville. Really my first fleet tour at the Point of the Spear. My previous FMF assignment of H&MS-12 Iwakuni didn’t have the same feel. Doing what I loved most which was turning wrenches on A-4’s and this time first-line A-4Ms. We were Attack Squadron of the Year awarded the Sanderson Trophy and the NUC we earned says it all.
VMAQ-2 Cherry Point: What can I say? Started out as a relatively junior Gunny assigned to Quality Assurance as one of the detachment QA NCOICs before moving up to Maintenance Chief of Detachment X-ray and ultimately of the entire squadron Maintenance Department. Total of 12 years there and too many great people and memorable times to ever list them all. Q-2 was what being in the FMF was all about. Most memorable? The 410-day deployment of Det Xray, May 1990 – June 1991, while “riding the pine” during the First Gulf War. A close second, was the squadron reorganization of 1992.
From your entire military service, describe any memories you still reflect back on to this day.
My first “backseat” ride in a TA-4J while assigned to MARTD Jacksonville, circa 1977. I managed not to lose my lunch on the hop which was 30 degree 2.5″ rocket delivery on one of the target complexes in central Florida. Captain Griffin, who oddly enough had been one of the pilots flying F-8’s in Atlanta while I was there, was at the controls. I got a chance to see first-hand the end results of my work in Power Plants.
What achievement(s) are you most proud of from your military career?
I’m proud of a lot of memories of my career, but other than a NAM and an NCM, my only significant personal award was my retiring MSM.
Having said that, my most cherished memory that resulted in an award was my service with the VMA-214 Blacksheep from 1981-83 during which time the squadron won the Lawson H. M. Sanderson Attack Squadron of the Year trophy and was awarded a Navy Unit Commendation.
Of all the medals, awards, formal presentations and qualification badges you received, or other memorabilia, which one is the most meaningful to you and why?
Navy Unit Citation for VMA-214 the year the squadron took the Sanderson Trophy as Attack Squadron of the Year in 1982, wresting it from the A-6 community for the first time.
My Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, 9th Award, denoting a lot of time out at the point of the spear during the Cold War and beyond.
My Pistol Expert, 9th Award.
Which individual(s) from your time in the military stand out as having the most positive impact on you and why?
Gunnery Sergeant J.O. Drew, H&MS-12 Power Plants Division NCOIC 1975-76. Gunny Drew demonstrated a quiet but firm leadership style that stuck with me for the rest of my career.
Can you recount a particular incident from your service which may or may not have been funny at the time but still makes you laugh?
Easy question. Circa 1994 with VMAQ-2 while deployed to Nellis AFB, NV, for a two-week Green Flag exercise. I was then Aircraft Maintenance Chief and also still retained my QA certification for Power Plants. At the end of the two weeks, one of our aircraft crapped a fuel control leak as we were cranking up for the flyaway, and we had to throw together a stay-behind repair crew on a moment’s notice. The crew was me, one of Flight Line’s Plane captains/engine mechs, an electrician, and a hydraulics guy.
Heading up the mob was our Maintenance/Material Control Officer (MMCO), who was, I think, a CWO2 at the time. She was also a former Harrier engine mech before being selected for WO. The MMCO happened to be from California and had made arrangements for annual leave both before and after the deployment. She took leave and drove her small SUV to Nellis before the deployment and had planned to continue to California after the rest of us had departed for home.
As it happened, this was convenient because once we got the plane fixed, we would be able to throw our gear in her vehicle, and she would get it back to Cherry Point at the end of her leave period. So, we get the plane fixed within a couple of days and launch it for home. We clean up the working space, and I send everyone else back to the hotel while the MMCO and I load the last of the gear in her vehicle. Well, her SUV not being a government vehicle was not allowed to drive in close to where we have the gear, and none of it is very light.
Anyone who’s ever been deployed to Nellis AFB will remember how anal the Air Force security people are about access control to the flight line area. Well, she and I looked at each other, and I said something like, “Screw it, what are they gonna do, throw us off the base? Drive over here and we’ll load up really fast and be gone”. So she drives through the unguarded access control point, unguarded with a warm body that is, and the AF loves their security cameras.
We started tossing the gear in the back. We get about half the stuff in the vehicle when AF security rolls up. Guess they were actually watching the monitors. This young Air Force E-3 type security guy salutes the MMCO and says, “Uh, Ma’am, you’re not allowed to drive in here.” The MMCO puts on her best game face and tells the airman, yeah, she knows and sorry about that, and we’ll be going in a second, etc., which he’s going to buy hook, line, and sinker. We finish loading up, and as the MMCO is tossing the last toolbox in the back I turn to the airman and say, “You know, I told her not to drive in here,” to which he responds with a knowing smile and a wink that says “Officers, what are you going to do?”. The expression on the MMCO’s face was priceless with a mix of astonishment and her lower jaw opening and closing in a speechless, fish-out-of-water motion. Sorry, Lou Ann.
What profession did you follow after your military service, and what are you doing now? If you are currently serving, what is your present occupational specialty?
I joined my best friend as a partner in an automotive towing and recovery service business which I now run solo after his death.
In what ways has serving in the military influenced the way you have approached your life and your career? What do you miss most about your time in the service?
A tough answer to put into words. I suppose “carpe diem” would be a good description and I suppose because of all those years of having to “make-do” and do end runs around silly roadblocks to accomplish the mission or some particular task. I tend to think “outside the box” pretty well.
Based on your own experiences, what advice would you give to those who have recently joined the Marine Corps?
Stop and smell the roses when you can. The good times outnumber the bad and later in life when you look back, even the bad times won’t seem so bad.
In what ways has togetherweserved.com helped you remember your military service and the friends you served with.
There are quite a few military-type websites for keeping in touch, but TWS has done the best job of bringing together all the best features in one place.
KC 8.22.24
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I was in the Marine Corps in 1972. MTM Co, Maint Bn, 1st FSR. Semper Fi Mac.