Up From the Bottom. San Diego, CA, 1(3),
November-December, 1971.
Insert abstract here....
EXCERPTS
Kitty Hawk Struggle Begins
STOP THE SHITTY KITTY
To fellow shipmates of the Kitty Hawk,
It won't be too long now until our ship, or I'd rather say the ship we have been assigned to,
sails to Vietnam. I believe it is our right and duty to express ourselves on our participation
in a war which does not have the will of the people we are supposedly fighting for behind it.
Nor have the officials of our government been able to justify staying in there or even of ever
having gone in there. They keep giving us the idea that we are getting out of there, but yet
delay in doing so. In the meantime they have increased the bombing and seem to be intending
to take up the slack in ground fighting more and more in air attacks.
Now this is the prime concern to men serving on an aircraft carrier. It seems to be an
intention of the government to continue using aircraft carriers even after the last soldier
has step foot from the Vietnamese soil to come home and the last airbase has been turned over
to the unpopular South Vietnamese government. It is obvious that in any war since the
invention of bombing from an airplane it has been the most inhuman and indiscriminatory form
of attack as far as civilian are concerned. How can we say that we are out of the Vietnam War
if we continue in the most vicious part of the war.
We feel that by showing that we do not wish to willingly take part in the war we will
accomplish at least two things. Let the government know that we want them to speed up troop
pull-out and second let them know we don't approve of any participation after our soldiers
are out.
Outside support is building up now to have a campaign similar to the Constellation Vote or
to the petition of the Coral Sea. It is still in the forming stage as far as I can see so
it's not too certain as to how they'll go about it. From what I hear it's going to be a SOS
(Stop Our Ship) campaign. I think since it'll be mainly directed against the Kitty Hawk
going over, we, on the ship, should be the ones to take a major part in it. I would like to
see a poll of every last man on the ship with his signature attached so there can be no doubt
as to how we stand.
In order to accomplish something like that we'll have to get a fair sized representation of
enlisted men together and decide how to go about it and later to go to all the men on ship.
If you wish to participate in this, the best way would probably be to get in contact with me
through the people at the 'Enlisted Peoples Place' in Ocean Beach or 'Center For Servicemens'
Rights' on National Avenue and 32nd Street.
An argument you might hear against such a thing is that we would be hurting the foot soldier
by not going over, but remember, by something like this we are showing our support for getting
them out of there as quickly as possible. That's the way we can help them most. We are also
saying by it that once our men are out of there that will be the end of our participation.
With all sincerity
Jerry Cick
OZ Division
USS Kitty Hawk
LIFER OF THE MONTH
One reason that the Kitty Hawk has become known as the Shitty Kitty Navy-wide and beyond is
because of lifers like the executive officer, Commander Peele.
When guys first come on board most are told by the captain that as far as he is concerned
any haircut is ok as long as it is neat.
The Exec. has exceeded his authority and puts out the word to the Master-At-Arms how he
wants haircuts to be.
At the Master-At-Arms office they have a set of pictures of how guys hair should be cut.
These pictures were made up on the Kitty Hawk and approved by the Exec. even though Bupers
put out a set for all commands. The Kitty's pictures show much stricter standards than
the Navy-wide standards.
The MAA's go out to their favorite hangout spots such as the chow line, pay line, or
afterbrow to nail as many people as they can by taking their names. This usually means
having to go to the barber shop on ship where your hair gets butchered. Most of the time
it wouldn't look any worse if they had used a soup bowl.
Sometimes the Exec. will wage these campaigns for about a week such as he did before the
dependents cruise.
Another incident that shows his character is how he delayed us by a few hours from coming
in and tying up. Apparently he didn't think that the ship was clean enough so he held a
field day. Even if he was justified the ship could have tied up then the people could have
gone off as the field day was finished. I'm sure it would have all been done in less time
than what we were delayed.
He is but one reason the Shitty Kitty is the most gung-ho in the Navy. I'm sure that
anybody who has been on that war machine knows many lifers just as bad.
Hassles about haircuts and field days are petty when compared to some of the hassles other
people are facing in the never ending struggle to survive in this world. But it is petty
harrassment that keeps us from confronting the larger issues. And we must deal with these
kinds of things if we are going to ever get together to confront the other issues --- like
what the hell the Kitty Hawk does to the Vietnamese people.
UNITED WE CAN FORCE ALL LIFERS TO JUSTIFY THEIR EXISTENCE!!!
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