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Ken Poorman Navy
Stuff 
Some info from
my enlistment in Philadelphia Pa, to Boot Camp in San Diego CA, to School of Music in Washington DC, to Sea Duty with COMCARDIV
4's Unit Band #194, to CINCLANTFLT . . .
and the
ships I was on, and the ports of call, etc . . .
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| Ken Poorman, USS Forrestal CVA-59 |
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Boot Camp: After I enlisted at Philadelphia,
PA, I went to boot camp at the U.S. Naval Training Center in San Diego, California. I enlisted as an Airman Recruit,
and hoped to be an Air Traffic Controller. I also intended to audition for the Navy Band after enlistment. I auditioned with the Bandleader at the Naval
Base San Diego, and was eligible to attend the USN School of Music in Washington DC. As graduation neared, there were
no openings at the Air Traffic Controller school, so I went to the School of Music. Glad I did!
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U. S. Navy School of Music: I graduated from the U. S. Navy School of Music in 1961 when it was at the Anacostia Receiving Station in Washington D.C. The highlight for me was The Corner
House and George's Singapore Slings. And the "Little Tavern" on the corner by the 11th Street Bridge - bags
of those little hamburgers - yes. I'll never forget the first time I heard progressive Jazz by a professional group.
Bob Hores took us to Abart's International Studio of Jazz downtown to hear Horace Silver. WOW! Barsamian was my piano instructor - can't remember my drum instructor's name. Hey, and John Coltrane went to SOM, and to The Melody Masters" unit band in Hawaii in 1946 - Wow!
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| Poorman in Wash DC |
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| Poorman on USS Forrestal |
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| Poorman in Puerto Rico |
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| Poorman in Italy |
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Sea Duty: After I left the School of
Music, I was assigned to Unit Band #194, with the Commander, Carrier Division Four (COMCARDIV 4), Admiral Hogle, and later Admiral Hyland. We served on the USS Forrestal, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Franklin D. Roosevelt
and the USS Shangri-La. We served in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Project Mercury, Dominican Republic Operations, a
9 month Med Cruise, the Carribean Islands and a tour around South America to the Pacific Fleet. |
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Collateral
Duty Assignments During at-sea operations, musicians were
trained and assigned to collateral duty, such as Military Police, Air Intelligence (security clearance required), Surface Plotting and Flag Administration. I served in each of these billets at one time
or another. I found my work in the Air Intelligence message center most interesting, then surface plotting. The
MP duty was limted pretty much to in-port ship parties, and flag administration was basically putting presentations together
for the Admiral and other senior officers.
| Chief White |
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Company Commander
Company #345 |
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| Ken Poorman |
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San Diego, California
Naval Training Center |
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| Poorman & Steve Fehr |
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San Diego NTC
Sunday morning break |
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Shore Duty: After I left Admiral Hyland's COMCARDIV 4 band (he invited me to go to Viet Nam with him - but I would have had to extend), I went to the CINCLANTFLT band in Norfolk to finish my active duty. It has changed its name twice since then - to the Atlantic Fleet Band,
and now the Fleet Forces Band Atlantic. The Bandleader was Chief Warrant Officer George Briley.
They sent units on tours, and we did colors and taps every day, concerts, and gigs. I played mostly drums there on official
gigs, and Kenny Drew did most of the keyboard gigs. (I know, there's several Kenny Drews playing keyboards. Can't
find a link to mine.) I played keyboards in two civilian combos, and did a lot of off-duty gigs around Tidewater.
Mr. B said he would guarantee me shore duty for the next 6 years if I would ship over. HA! Bye Mr. B. . . finished
out inactive reserve and discharged in '66.
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| Some Mementos |
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| Trashed my old uniforms-glad I saved a few things |
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On Monday 6/16/2008 we visited the
Navy Yard in DC, and MUCS Chris Erbe of The Navy Band showed us around the Sail Loft. We appreciated his time and courtesy. He pointed out several neat things on the base, e.g. the Geedunk, the
USS Barry DD-933, the Navy Museum, etc., and Diane and I and our granddaughters had a great time. If you have not heard the United States Navy Band, you really need to. They're great!
Go Navy!!!
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| USS Barry DD-933 |
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Links to my
NAVY days . . .
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San Diego Naval Training Center
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| My 1st Assignment - Basic Training 1960, Company 345 |
| My 2nd Assignment |
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| My 3rd Assignment |
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| My 4th Assignment |
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Some of
our ports of call . . .
Norfolk, Virginia;
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Port-of-Spain, Trinidad; Port-of-Prince, Haiti; Rio de Janero, Brazil; Valpariso, Chile; Callao/Lima,
Peru; Acapulco, Mexico; San Diego, California; San Francisco, California; Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico; Mayport, Florida;
Dominican Republic; Cannes, France; Naples, Italy; Palermo, Sicily; Genoa, Italy; Athens, Greece; Rhodes; Beirut, Lebanon;
Barcelona, Spain; Crete; Livorno, Italy; Gibraltar, Portugal; New York, NY (it's a hell of a town)
Some of the ships I've been on . . .
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The 2009 FORRESTAL Veterans
Day Ceremony will be held at NAVSTA Newport Pier 1 on Sat, 7 Nov 2009 at 1045. This may be the last time you
will be able to see USS Forrestal, CVA-59 before she is sunk. May God bless all of the men and women who have built,
maintained and served on her.
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Fart Sack - remember that? How about be-bopper, bird
farm, blanket party, bogey, boot, brass, chit, crow, ditty bag, deep six, douche bag, fantail, foc’sle, geedunk, grinder,
head, jarhead, navy shower, piece, pogey bait, pollywog, port and starboard, squared away, rack, saltpeter, scuttlebutt, shellback,
shit can, shit-on-a-shingle, smoking lamp, tin can, watch, etc. I can't remember a fraction of it! If you do
a search for "Navy Slang" use caution - it can contain some pretty salty language!
| U.S. Navy |
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| Musicians |
Collateral Duty, i.e. What
else do be-bop's do? The men and women of the Navy bands perform many other duties in addition to their
main billet of musician. For example, at all band locations they provide band support activities such as Public Affairs,
Supply, Facilities and Auditions, instrument repair and maintenance, music library, etc. For Sea Duty some who qualify
receive secret clearance to support the Flag Officer's Air Intelligance office at sea, and they are trained to staff
Surface Plotting stations, serve in the Flag Administration office, provide Shore Patrol services, or in combat or crises may support Medical
personnel in transporting wounded and killed. Many military musicians carry weapons and serve with combat forces
in battle. (Please don't shoot the piano player!)
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| CLICK ON KITTY |
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U.S. NAVY Unit Band #194 - COMCARDIV 4 - onbd USS Forrestal CVA-59 - 1962
US NAVY UNIT BAND #194 COMMANDER CARRIER DIVISION FOUR 1962 ONBD USS FORRESTAL CVA-59 (L/R) Bob Bowman (Bass), Steve Bergstrom (Traps), Dr. Bob Hores (Tenor Sax), Paul Sipe (Bass
Bone), Shorty Parker (Trumpet), Sal Salazar (Alto Sax), DJ Dechesser (Trombone), Bob Migacz (Trumpet), Jerry Brown (Alto Sax), CWO
Jack Ingram (Bone), Joe Pryor (Trumpet), Dr. Jack Caldon (Tenor Sax), Corky Corcoran (Trumpet), Larry Treaster (Bone), Alfie
Hodge (Bari) - [Absent] Bandleader Joe Gallagher MUC (Bone) & Ken Poorman MU3 (Keyboards/Drums) |
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| Tall Ship Gazela |
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| Off Virginia, Aug. 2008 |
So here's my bit about Gazela
. . . On 28 August 2008 Di and I took our granddaughters and two of their friends to Philly for the day. First
we went to St. John Neumann's Shrine, then to The Borse for lunch and shopping, to Independence Mall, and for a tour on Ride The Ducks. Ironically, the day before I got an email from Capt. Bob Long about his week of sailing out of Tolchester, down past
Maryland and Virginia, which included a photo of the Gazela (above) he took as he passed her a few days ago off of Virginia. Then today we passed Gazela here on the Delaware
while riding The Ducks, as she returned to her homeport in Philly, and I took a photo (below). So in two days, I got
two photos of Gazela. Omen, the sea is calling me back? I hope not, unless Mother Navy would let me go to Iraq
on a CARRIER! Chow 22 hours a day. I would like that. Hold the pushups, situps and jumping jacks!
Maybe Capt. Ziggy would take me back to sea on Paula's 2nd Diamond, and instead of pushups, I could do Budweisers!
Hey Now. While on The Ducks cruise, we also saw the USS New Jersey in Camden (which is a great tour too), the Moshulu (go aboard for an interesting setting for fine dining), and Admiral Dewey's flagship, the USS Olympia (go below deck-sailors in those days must have been really short). Penn's Landing is a great place to visit. Don't miss going into the USS Becuna (feel what it's like to live in a submarine).
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Navy
Bands serve not only to add dignity and pride to official military and governmental ceremonies, but inspiration for our
troops on land and at sea - and - they are truly ambassadors of good will around the world, at home and abroad - The United States Navy Band - and all other military bands and their support
units:
U.S. Navy Fleet Bands
Navy Band Northeast @ Newport, RI Navy Band Mid-South @ Millington, TN Navy Band Southeast @ Jacksonville, Fl Navy Band New Orleans @ New Orleans, LA Navy Band Great Lakes @ Great Lakes, IL Navy Band Northwest @ Seattle, WA Navy Band Southwest @ San Diego, CA U.S. Fleet Forces Band @ Norfolk, VA Pacific Fleet Band @ Pearl Harbor, HI Sixth Fleet Band @ Naples, Italy Seventh Fleet Band @ Yokosuka, Japan Allied Forces Band Naples @ Naples, Italy |
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OTHER NAVAL BAND ORGANIZATIONS
U.S. Navy Manual for Buglers
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My other MILITARY webpages . . .
Here are some interesting Navy links, and
links to the ships and shore stations I have served on, or visited . . .
Check out Ken's
Navy site!
| Email Ken |
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