|int| Navigating Service and Sacrifice: Navy Veteran Bob Merrick's Journey from Vietnam to Civilian Triumph | Ep 96

Imagine enlisting in the Navy seeking freedom, only to confront the paradox of military hierarchy and the stark realities of war. Our distinguished guest, Navy Veteran Bob Merrick, takes us through the gripping twists and turns of his service—from deciding to join during the Vietnam War to the chilling recollection of Christmas in boot camp. His story is a rich tapestry, a vivid narrative that weaves through the structured chaos of military life, the Mediterranean's false sense of peace, and the sudden thrust into the Vietnam conflict.

The heartbeat of this episode lies in the powerful retelling of a devastating friendly fire incident at sea, an event that claimed the lives of 134 sailors and forever altered the course of many more. Bob Merrick's role as an aviation electrician granted him a harrowing perspective on the tragedy; his detailed account captures the confusion, the adrenaline, and the somber reality of a makeshift morgue on the flight deck. As we discuss the incident's lasting implications and the education it provides new sailors, we're reminded of the risks borne by those in service and the enduring brotherhood born out of such trials.

Our journey with Bob doesn't end at the close of his military chapter. Witness the transformation as he recounts stepping back into civilian life, reflecting on the unexpected twists his service took and how military discipline paved the way for his subsequent success at AT&T. In the camaraderie that survives long after duty, we find timeless advice for veterans navigating post-military life. Bob's story, laden with both the sorrow and pride of a Vietnam veteran, illustrates the powerful legacy of service and the respect forged in the crucible of war. Join us as we honor his service and the indelible mark it has left on his life's journey.

Contact Thad - VictoriousVeteranProject@Gmail.com

Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Thad David: 0:09

I can't imagine, but it's like to be on a sub because you got nowhere to go but a ship is very similar, you have nowhere to go.

Bob Merrick: 0:15

There's nowhere to go.

Thad David: 0:16

What was it like for a bomb to go off not knowing what it was? I mean, how do you maintain your composure in that? What was that like?

Bob Merrick: 0:23

You just have to fight to keep your ship going. You don't have much choice. That's where you live and it's either there or the water, and that's not the best way to go off into the water. So you fight as best you can to keep the ship going.

Thad David: 0:45

My name is Thad David. I'm a former Marine recon scout sniper with two deployments to Iraq. As a civilian, I've now facilitated hundreds of personal and professional development trainings across the country, and it struck me recently that the same things that help civilians will also help veterans succeed in their new roles as well. Join me as we define civilian success principles to inspire veteran victories. Welcome to another episode. I'm here today with Navy Veteran Bob Merrick. How are you doing, bob?

Bob Merrick: 1:13

Doing great, can't complain.

Thad David: 1:17

I'm happy to hear it. I know you've got an amazing, amazing story. I know that you served over in Vietnam and I'm really happy that you took a moment to jump on the show today. I'd love to hear from you what caused you to join up, what caused you to join, what got you to join the military.

Bob Merrick: 1:38

All right. I graduated from high school in 1965. Vietnam was just getting started and I worked through the summer and two of my buddies the three of us decided well, rather than get drafted, let's go ahead and join the Navy. We're tired of people telling us what to do, so we'll go ahead and join the Navy. Of course, you know how that goes. So we left at December the first train we they weren't flying you at yet to Great Lakes, so the train pulled up to the local train station. We all swore in and jumped on the train, headed for Great Lakes, Chicago, Illinois, and got there and found out you have to listen, there's going to be a lot of people telling you what to do.

Thad David: 2:41

So that's going to say not a great thing to do if you don't like being told what to do yeah.

Bob Merrick: 2:47

Yeah, we found that out.

Thad David: 2:49

Yeah, and then what happened so?

Bob Merrick: 2:51

we got to Great Lakes and of course a lot of hollering and everything and I think they started right away, you know. We went into a huge room, everybody there. You had to take off all your clothes. Everything went in a box and you put your home address on it, shipped everything home and then they started issuing clothes. So we got the clothes stenciled your name and your serial number all on it. That got the day started. So that was the start of my Navy experience.

Thad David: 3:35

Okay, so you and two buddies joined up. You didn't want to be told what to do, so you joined the Navy, and that's there's some irony in that. And then so you joined up, just because you didn't want to. You didn't want to be drafted and you said you know what, let's just sign up, let's do it. That makes sense, right? I can't imagine what it was, what it was it like to be in that time period where the possibility of being drafted I mean, how was that experience Just?

Bob Merrick: 3:59

knowing it might get drafted. There was others getting drafted two years in the Army and you'd go in a strong chance of just being ground pounders and didn't want that. Wanted to learn a trade, wanted to learn you know something.

Bob Merrick: 4:20

I had a cousin in the Navy already. He was in the submarines, and so I I seen a taste of the Navy life. So I thought, well, that would be pretty good. So went to boot camp, spent Christmas, our first Christmas, away, still at boot camp, nothing changed. Just woke up Christmas morning. All the all the heat pipes were frozen, closed, it was below zero, even in the barracks. So it wasn't, it wasn't a good Christmas. So I'd like to think some, some drill instructors probably.

Thad David: 4:58

Just it wasn't broken, they just turned it off just to say Merry, merry Christmas, you had a cold one.

Bob Merrick: 5:06

One of the crazy things is we had to wash our own clothes, scrub, brush, soap powder, hang stuff outside, which didn't make much sense. It all froze and then we could move it inside to inside drying room and of course we had. We had to tie everything up. Everything had to be a special, special knot and all those little tie things come into play as time went on and different inspections they would find here drill instructor, they do inspections and of course somebody they would find had these tie stops in their pocket and they'd make them eat them.

Bob Merrick: 5:56

Just spit out the metal ends and so things like that. That teaches a respect authority, you know.

Thad David: 6:04

Oh yeah, I think what I love about it is just some things that never change, and that's one of them is just the games that they play. So you joined up, you guys went off, you went to boot camp and then you eventually filmed yourself heading off to Vietnam. When did you head off to Vietnam and what was that like heading to Vietnam?

Bob Merrick: 6:24

Well, first I got out of boot camp and that was in February got orders to Cecilfield, jacksonville, florida. Never been on an airplane before. Went home for like a week and then got on a plane, flew to Jacksonville, florida, and I went to an air wing. So the first 66 we spent going to the Mediterranean. Soon, as I got into the squadron, checked into the squadron, they said don't unpack your seabag, we're going to the Mediterranean. So I did a tour in the med first, okay, exciting to hear your jets taking off and landing on your roof, you know. And so got a chance to learn how to function on the flight deck and got that all behind us. And then in 19, we got back from the med. Then late 66, then in 67, they said now we're going to, going to go board the forest stall, heading for Vietnam, going to the Westpac.

Bob Merrick: 7:38

So I got a chance to go to Gitmo. The carrier was doing quals down around Puerto Rico and so I got to go to on a divert crew to Gitmo and spent about a month, maybe a little longer, there where the carrier operated out around Puerto Rico. If a plane couldn't land, if you had a pilot that couldn't land, they sent them to divert crew and if there was something wrong with the plane, we fixed it, got them back out. Or if we had pilots that would show up and grab their bag out of the wheel, well, and say, take me to the BOQ and have the plane ready to go back to the carrier, so they'd go back. Then we went through, become shellbacks, cross the equator something they don't do anymore and then went down, stopped in Rio de Janeiro, brazil, got a chance to do a little iron hour there, then went over to Subic Bay, hit Subic Bay, then up to Vietnam, up off the coast of Vietnam, send plane strikes into North Vietnam. So go ahead.

Thad David: 9:13

Is that what you did while you were there? You just you all sent a bunch of air strikes on off your ship.

Bob Merrick: 9:18

Yes.

Thad David: 9:19

Yep, how was that experience?

Bob Merrick: 9:23

It was different. You know, there was times that at night I was on a. We worked 12 on, 12 off, and so I was on nights and you could see the strikes going on. The sky would light up and so you could see bombs being dropped and fighting going on. Fortunately never touched ground there so, but was well aware of what was going on.

Bob Merrick: 9:53

Then, july the 29th 1967, we was off the coast of North Vietnam and I had got off work, I don't know, seven to eight o'clock in the morning, went to morning chow. I decided I needed a haircut. Me and a couple other guys got our haircut. Get back to the back to where our racks were and took shower, just barely got in the rack and we went to general quarters. So they they were announcing fire, fire, fire on the flight deck after you know, everybody go in boarding down.

Bob Merrick: 10:40

My general quarter station was out on the flight deck, so I jumped back out of the rack through my dungarees on flight deck boots and out. I went and got out in the hall and was running through the halls jumping over. We called them knee knockers, it's the hatches. They'd hit you right in the shins if you didn't get up high enough. So jumping through them and their dog and hatches down and I'm hollering wait, you know I'm coming trying to get out and then the first bomb went off and things you know something, to see what a thousand pound bomb would do with the carrier. And so it, you know, shook the carrier pretty good and so I like A thousand pound bomb hits your carrier.

Bob Merrick: 11:33

Right on the flight deck yeah went off.

Bob Merrick: 11:35

Of course our thoughts are as we've been attacked, we don't know what's going on. You know, everything's bombs are going off, there's all kinds of fire, and so I decided I'd listen to what they were directing go in, boarding down instead of go out. I thought I can't do anything on the flight deck anyhow. I don't have no weapons or anything. So so I went to my. I was an aviation electrician, so I went to my shop and that was off Hangar Bay 1. Went into the shop and guys were gathering. That was our general quarter station and the guys that were on the flight deck that worked out of our shop. One of the guys came down. Al Cam Pugh came down. He didn't have a shirt on. We said what happened? What happened? Your flight deck jersey and all. And he said I seen a guy on fire. He wrapped him up in his shirt. He had shrapnel wounds all over. Chief told him to go to sick bay and get his wounds tended.

Bob Merrick: 12:45

So then all of a sudden they came and told us everybody has to go to the hangar bay, get out in the hangar bay. So we went out there, jettison bombs. You know there was all kind of ammunition in the hangar bay. So they jettisoned all that. I can remember we. They had us pushing planes. They thought we would push them to the there's big elevators there, and so we were going to push it onto the elevator, have the elevator take it up to the flight deck. And as we pushed the plane, nobody was riding, nobody was in the cockpit to ride the brakes or anything. We pushed it, pushed it right out into the ocean. So no way to stop.

Thad David: 13:36

So y'all just went right out into the ocean.

Bob Merrick: 13:40

Yeah.

Thad David: 13:41

Yeah, just while bombs are going off, a plane just got pushed into the ocean.

Bob Merrick: 13:46

Yeah, that all the bombs that was there that was to be taken to the flight deck was being thrown over. You know, we didn't know what was going on, so why were they getting thrown over, was it?

Bob Merrick: 14:01

To protect us. You know everybody's to get a jettison, all of it, throw it all over the side because we don't want it going up. We don't know what's going on. So fog phone stations are going off, everything's, you know. Going up They've got on a carrier, there's three hangar bays and there's watertight doors that block them off, and so they were all shut.

Bob Merrick: 14:29

Word was there was fire in hangar bay three, heavy smoke in hangar bay two. The only safe spot was where we were at hangar bay one. And so all of a sudden some officer come up, said come with me, I got a work party, and so we grabbed. Oh, there was like I think there were five or six foot squares of armor plating and we had a tow tractor and they're kind of flat on the back. So we piled all these armor plating on this tow tractor, drove it over to the oh, the elevator, got on the elevator up to the flight deck. Of course you're thinking this might not be a smart idea, but anyway, so that's what we did.

Bob Merrick: 15:24

Up to the flight deck. They had a makeshift morgue there. They had a number of bodies laying there and of course you don't want to look because you're afraid you're going to see somebody you know so. So you kind of keep your eyes off of the stack of bodies. We lost 134 bodies where people were killed, so I think there was nine or 10 that I knew that was this I'm sorry.

Bob Merrick: 16:02

Died in that fire. Nine or 10 died in that fire. That were personally, that I personally knew. So if you don't mind, because you're up on the flight deck right now.

Thad David: 16:15

Are there?

Bob Merrick: 16:16

bombs still going off all around you? No, yeah, there's bombs going off, are there?

Thad David: 16:20

still bombs going off, yeah, or are they just hitting, the water hitting the ship.

Bob Merrick: 16:24

Yeah, and the problem with that is is that as these planes are burning, on the aft end of the ship, the planes are on fire and they're loaded with their cannons. So the cannons are firing, they were riddled, they're shooting all over the place. So everything's cooking off. So you've got nowhere to go. All of a sudden I remember somebody said grab the get on the hose, get on a hose. So some of the fire parties got blown away. You know they just flat. When these bombs go off, they just explode and wipe everything out. So there's people down on the flight deck and everything. So I remember grabbing a fire hose and fighting, starting to fight fires.

Bob Merrick: 17:18

I don't remember a lot from that on. I my mind's really blocked all of it out. I just don't. I don't remember everything from then on until I've still got a good friend of mine that we still get together and still talk. We got together just a couple of years ago. We talk every year, but I was in, he's in Florida, and so we got together sitting around. He said don't you remember later in the day, because we'd been up all night, been up all day, and he said we sit on the bow sharing sea, sea rats. You know, they brought up the sea rations and that's all we had to eat. So we sit there reminiscing.

Bob Merrick: 18:07

Then the fires were pretty much controlled on the flight deck. There was still fires going on below deck, so that's one of the main things that's happened. A thousand pound bombs blew big holes in the flight deck. There is couple books that have been written about the fire and then they also show the. They show the fire because it's all being recorded, everything's being recorded, because they were loaded ready to launch for a strike, and so they show these videos to boot camp. Now I think it's been that way for years, so everybody that goes through Navy boot camp now sees them videos. It's how not to fight a fire, basically okay you got fog foam stations going off.

Bob Merrick: 19:13

Fog foam would have covered the fire, but we also had seawater hoses, so we're blowing seawater on the fires, washing the fog foam away. So and just for anybody that doesn't know what is fog foam fog foam is a is a type of foam that smothers a fire. Okay, it just smothers it, so it can't get air. Okay, water kind of disperses fire and cools it down, but fog foam is designed to smother it, which would have been better.

Bob Merrick: 19:54

But we didn't know we, and we hadn't had any shipboard fire fighting training. And there was fire fighting parties that were well trained, but they were the first ones on the scene and a lot of them were killed.

Thad David: 20:10

So did you during? This where these bombs are going off. I know you said that kind of. There was a point where you don't remember much afterwards. But where were they coming from? Was it? Was it airplanes dropping them? Was it artillery? Where?

Bob Merrick: 20:24

we're coming from see that they discovered that there was a rocket. All our planes were loaded with bombs, rockets, everything. They were getting ready for a strike, and so there was a rocket that shot off of a phantom jet on the aft end of the ship that traveled across. They said it hit John McCain's plane. John McCain was one of my pilots hit his on your yes, yeah, it is playing.

Bob Merrick: 21:01

And they were. They've taken on some munitions. And word was, as these were thousand pound bombs, old World War 2, they cooked off. The word was by all our ordinance people. These bombs should have just cooked, cracked open and burned. I said, if that's cracking open, I never would like to hear them explode. But they actually exploded is what they did. And so the planes were all loaded, they're loaded with ammunition, all the bombs that planned on being dropped, rockets, everything.

Thad David: 21:44

So but where were the ones that were dropping on? You said a thousand pound bomb sounds like several bombs were hitting your ship. Where were those coming from? The gentleman having a sense of idea of where those were all coming from they were coming from our own planes, our own planes.

Bob Merrick: 22:00

We didn't get attacked. We didn't know that, of course, until sometime later this was probably weeks later that they, they, they observed the cameras. Every launch and recovery gets videoed. It's always been video, and so they went back, they looked at the cameras, looked at the video and they discovered that this was just a plane accident, you know the entire thing was just, I mean basically friendly fire, if if you call it that yeah, just totally an accident.

Bob Merrick: 22:40

Of course, like I said, we didn't know. Some of the guys some of the guys I even knew got blown off the ship 90 feet into the water. Talk to them later. They just didn't know what happened. All they knew was destroyers follow the carrier. They're always plane guarding the carrier, so they're there picking up survivors in the water. And a lot of things changed now because of that. Everybody now goes through shipboard fire fighting training, everybody, all the air wing, everything.

Thad David: 23:21

So something we didn't have no well, I think that's how we learned our biggest lessons and in hindsight, from you know, with that it makes perfect sense that everybody would need to know how to do that. I'm still trying to wrap my head around because for me, being in the middle is one of the things I liked about being in a recon team was I always felt like if I was in the woods and I got into a, we got our team got bogged down somewhere. You know, we could always be in the out and loop back around and we always had an option to kind of loop around and kind of re-change our course of fire. But being on a ship and for me the biggest thing, like I can't, I can't imagine, but it's like to be on a sub because you got nowhere- to go but his ship is very similar.

Thad David: 24:02

You have nowhere to there's there's nowhere to go. What's what it was a like for a bomb to go off not knowing what it was. I mean, how do you maintain your composure in that? What was that like?

Bob Merrick: 24:11

you just, you just have to fight to keep your ship going. You don't have much choice. That's where you live and it's either there or the water, and that's not the best way you know to go off into the water. So you, you fight as best you can to keep the ship going and so, yeah, we, there was a number of bombs that exploded. Some guys slept just below the flight deck. Number of them didn't make it out, they were killed in their bunks. So yeah, a lot of that. If the bombs really open up, the way the flight deck is designed, really opened it up. I've got a cruise book that shows the damage and all it really opens it up. I remember looking down in where one of the bombs had gone off and opened the I mean it's it would be probably a good 12 by 12 hole down into the birthing compartments or shop spaces or whatever it was, and then they would fall down and explode again and open another hole going down, and so it was. It kind of snowballed then.

Thad David: 25:40

So what I mean. Did you stay on the ship? What happened to the ship? I mean you're on a ship, you're deployed.

Bob Merrick: 25:48

Yeah, we got it. Did you all take the?

Bob Merrick: 25:49

boat back home. What, yeah, we did? We got it under, got the fires under control, pulled back into Subic, I think it was two or three days, took us to get back off the line. Other ships come up help fight fires, you know, pulled up alongside us and was spraying water on everything. And so then we I think it was about three days and we pulled back into Subic. They kind of covered up the holes. We couldn't operate anymore. We offloaded planes, pilots, they could, they were given. Well, we all were given options to transfer to another ship, another squadron, stay on there in Vietnam or whatever, or we could stay with the ship and I chose to stay. I think John McCain was injured. He transferred, then went aboard.

Thad David: 26:54

Another squadron was shot down and spent his time and, as a POW at the show, did you yeah, it's a pretty obviously John McCain a very high profile name and to have been on his ship, did you ever get to meet him? Did you get to talk to him?

Bob Merrick: 27:12

I did talk to him yeah.

Thad David: 27:14

How was? What was he like, especially back then?

Bob Merrick: 27:18

He was welcoming. I talked to him before he run for president. He had been in, he had been to visit I live in Toledo, ohio, and he had been to visit Toledo and so I called and they had a call in, had him on the radio, so I called him and I figured what we were known as the VA-46 Clansmen, after the Scottish Clansmen, unbeknown to me, I don't think a lot of times, but I did think and I thought he would recognize the fact that if I mentioned that he was visiting and I was a former Clansman. So that's what I did. I said I welcomed him to Toledo by a former Clansman. They shut me off right away. I was going to say that that thing I didn't even. Yeah.

Thad David: 28:20

I could, I could understand, yeah.

Bob Merrick: 28:22

I thought you clarified what it was before you said it. Yeah, his handlers quick had him off the air, so yeah, I did then. Then, after he run for president, he had a presidential meeting here in town did go and see him there, so very welcoming. I knew him personally because I strapped him into playing many times.

Thad David: 28:48

Well, that's what. What was he like back then? What was he like when you were on the ships together? I mean, it's time of service. How did you feel about him? Not, you know, it's awesome.

Bob Merrick: 28:58

He was good. What was it? He was a good pilot and, yeah, he would show up, he'd do his flight inspection. He'd go around, kick the tires, that was his saying. Kick the tires, light the fires, let's go flying. So that was his opinion. So that's what he would do.

Bob Merrick: 29:18

And we put the ladders up, we'd go up, climb in the cockpit, we'd help strap them in and they'd fly. And he was one of those when we were in Gitmo. They would show up and it was. It was kind of hilarious. Fridays were a big time. They would show up Friday afternoon and, unbeknownst to anybody, they'd already packed clothes to come in and there was four of us from the squadron that was there and they would just say you know, just have the plane ready on Sunday and take me to the BOQ. We had checked out a six passenger pickup truck and we would load them up and drive over to the BOQ. Their wives would be there waiting on them, and so it was just one of those things. Gitmo was pretty good. We enjoyed our time there, it was fun.

Thad David: 30:19

I wonder and this is just because I'm curious, and obviously John McCain was not the only one shot down in a POW camp. Did you all know, like so he got shot down or anybody else that got shot down? Did you know that they were alive in a POW camp? Did you know that it happened? Or did you just know they got shot down and nobody knew what had happened?

Bob Merrick: 30:43

Yeah, we knew because they kept the Stars and Stripes newspaper. We got the Stars and Stripes and they would keep up with those things. And then I remember I had got out in 1970 or late, it was just before the end of the year. In 69. And I can remember I think in 72, they released all the prisoners and I can remember seeing I was just I'd just gotten married and I can remember seeing the line of the POWs as they got off the plane. Tv had them on and I said I know that man, I know him and it was John McCain.

Bob Merrick: 31:34

So I said something to say, so I was glad to see him get out. He had opportunities to leave much earlier. He was a son of an Admiral. They kind of, in good faith, give him a chance to leave and my understanding was that he turned it down.

Thad David: 31:56

He would not leave the POW camp. Yeah, yeah everything I read. He had the choice to leave.

Bob Merrick: 32:04

He said no, he wouldn't leave till everybody else left. So that was. Different ones have spoke up and said that he was the cause of the fire. I'm on some Navy sites and I usually try to set the record straight that that wasn't true.

Thad David: 32:24

So there's a rumor that he started the fire on the ship.

Bob Merrick: 32:27

Oh yeah, they, they. There was such a thing as a hot start and that's what different ones said that he caused a hot start and that it wasn't proven. The thing that was proven was the rocket was fired off static electricity there is usually there's a safety pin that only comes out when they get ready to launch and apparently that had been faulty and static electricity fired. The rocket fired across the flight deck, hit the best friend of mine, hit him in the left shoulder, took his arm off, and then one of our chief chiefs that was on the flight deck said that he'd come up to him and said I've been hit, and she picked him up, took him to a helicopter and he died in the helicopter and all that's documented in books.

Bob Merrick: 33:31

So there's two books out that I know of. One of them is called Fire, fire, fire on the Flight Deck, aft. That's written by Ken Kilmire, and then Sailors to the End. These are all got their full stories of different ones that they talked to. In fact, I just hooked up just a week ago on a Navy site with one of the guys that I was in the squadron with that got injured in that fire that I had lost touch with. So these Navy sites have become pretty nice. You're able to hook up with some of them, so it's good to get on.

Thad David: 34:25

I know it's pretty amazing. I remember because I got out in 2005 and they created an email group because social media was just in its infancy and so that wasn't really a thing. So somebody at our old CO had started up just an email group that had us all of our email addresses in one group to stay in touch, and it's been amazing to see how easy it is to stay in touch with people via social media. Now, for all of its downsides, it's pretty amazing to be able to stay in touch, because I can't imagine what it would be like, because you would get out and you probably left a lot of people and I want to hear about that. And I also want to ask you, because you said that these books that were written, how do you feel about the ones? Did they accurately portray it? Do you feel like it showed gave an accurate portrayal of what's happening or what did happen?

Bob Merrick: 35:13

Yeah, yeah, they both do. Both of those books are very accurate. I've read through them. I don't see anything that I would dispute. They're good books. I have on some of my sites, though, that I get on that some guys and they're really people that weren't Abort the ship at the time I even worked and I ended up in 1970. After I got out, I got, I started work at AT&T and I found out later one of the guys I worked with was also on the carrier. I didn't know him at the time but then got to know him and I just seen him this year again. So it's interesting to, and the internet and everything makes it a whole lot easier to keep up for getting in touch with guys. So that's real interesting.

Thad David: 36:18

So what was it like for you getting out so I know that very controversial time? What was that like your transition out of the military? Well, I am.

Bob Merrick: 36:32

Yeah, well, see, we got back from Vietnam on the forest off, we left Subic Bay and I believe we were at sea for like 43 days coming back. We went down around the tip of Africa and back up through the Atlantic and it took 43 days. It was a long. It was a long, long ride coming back. We didn't pull in anywhere or anything. So we come back that way. And so then we transitioned aircraft in 67, 68. We transitioned to a new aircraft. So we all had to get to. We had to go to schools and get updated on everything. Computers were starting to be and being used on the new aircraft and so we kind of got updated on everything. And then in 69, early 69, they were going back.

Bob Merrick: 37:38

The squadron I was in was going back to the Mediterranean and I had heard of an early outcoming up and I thought, eh, and the chief? So I talked to my chief and I said, hey, chief, you know you might want to get rid of me, you know, because I'm going to get out, I'm leaving, I'm not staying. I got plans and I don't plan on making a career out of the Navy. So I finally talked him into it. He got me orders to a squadron right in the next hangar from where we're at, and so I got with them and it wasn't long. They said, ah, we're leaving where we're at, we're going over to Oakland, California, going aboard the old Coral Sea, going back to Vietnam. I said, oh, I might not have made the right move here. So I went back.

Bob Merrick: 38:42

The squadron extended me because to make the whole line period again, I off the coast of Vietnam and all that went along with no problem. I pulled into Yacousca, japan, and got out, got off the carrier in Yacousca and they put me on a bus and I think I went up through the mountains and flew back to San Francisco. Got back landed in San Francisco, went to Treasure Island and they said we're filled up here. That was like the first week in December when I should have got out, but I got extended. So they said we don't have a room here, we're filled up, everybody coming back from Vietnam and all was going to Treasure Island, so they were full. You have to go to your closest receiving station, to your home, which back to Great Lakes I go, and it's terribly cold there in December. I wouldn't go there for now, too cold. Went back there.

Thad David: 40:02

So and I just want to make sure I hear this right you transferred units to get an early out. Did your unit actually go to the Mediterranean and not go to Vietnam, your original unit? Yeah, yeah, and so if you would have just stayed put, you would have just gone to the Mediterranean.

Bob Merrick: 40:17

Yeah, yeah. And the early out they decided was only for ship's company. I was air wing, I was considered a critical rate and so I didn't get out.

Thad David: 40:38

Talk about things that never change in the military and I think that's one consistent thing is that just you know we make these maneuvers. I had a buddy that reenlisted and said I only want to stay and put like he put it in his orders to stay at Pendleton. And yeah, I reenlisted two weeks later, needs of the Marine Corps and he got moved over to Camp Lejeune, which not as drastic as yours going to Vietnam. But just some things that just never change is like you tell the military what you want to do and they say, yep, we'll do it, and then the opposite tends to happen.

Bob Merrick: 41:07

I'll see. Back in boot camp they ask you what you want to do. You know where do you want to go? Well, I said I would love to be in CBs running equipment and stuff or a riverboat on the riverboat. Well, they chose an air squadron. So, and it turned out, I've pulled different ones. If you go in the Navy, go in the Navy and get in an air squadron. It's because when you're not aboard ship, you're in a land, at a naval base, naval air station, and so that was nice there in Jacksonville, florida it was. It was warm all the time. I didn't miss the cold. I don't know.

Thad David: 41:54

So Florida's not a. It's not a bad place to be stuck, Not bad no. So what I'd love to hear about? What's that?

Bob Merrick: 42:02

I was just going to say that the nice thing was is one of the guys that I went in with. I got orders to Jacksonville, Florida. He got orders to Sanford, Florida. He was in an air wing too, so of course when we went to the med, he went along with us. Their squadron was on the same carrier, and so we made a med cruise together too. So it was nice, we had a good time. We managed to go to Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain visited all them countries. For you, it's a good trip.

Thad David: 42:41

What was, what was it like for you? So, when you got out of the military, what did you do? So you got out of the Navy, you finally eventually got out. What was it like transitioning out of the military?

Bob Merrick: 42:55

I managed to get a job with the phone company right away, at&t, and I ended up working 38 years there. I had some clearances, some secret clearances and stuff that helped I managed to get in. Every time a president visited town I was on that detachment from the phone company because they would run our clearances and find out that I fit the bill all right. So I managed to. I was on Air Force One. I managed to try to remember his name, the different presidents One of them visited by train and I was on that detachment. So I got into some good, good jobs because of my military background. But I didn't really have any problems I heard different ones spoke about they had problems with at the airport. Nobody bothered me and we had to travel in uniform. Back then you couldn't wear civilian clothes, so, like when I landed in San Francisco, it was a military jet, so of course didn't have no problem. But when we landed in San Francisco I had to take off again from there, fly to Chicago. So didn't have any trouble in the airport.

Bob Merrick: 44:34

So then I flew from there to home and just never had any more problems. So Justin didn't really talk about much of anything. He didn't talk about the forest at all. My kids, they didn't know about it till long A lot, you know, years later they would play with my. I had Vietnam medals and all, and they, they wouldn't play with them and so I don't have any of them anymore. I just kids that wear them. They'd wear my uniforms for Halloween and so just just never really.

Bob Merrick: 45:17

I ended up working with some guys I didn't know for years that they they had been to Vietnam. One of them was a Purple Heart recipient. So these are things that just about everybody. We just didn't talk about our military experiences. So, we just when about life?

Thad David: 45:40

What? And I'm hoping to just connect some dots here, because it seems like with with our generation, there's such a big with with mine. There's such a big focal point on like. It seems like there's amplifying struggles of people that went overseas and you know, I don't like comparing different wars or what people saw, didn't see, because I think everybody, even in a different experience, they all experienced it in different ways. Why do you think it's so amplified now versus for when I talked to your generation, it seems like everybody just like, yep, I did my thing, got out, went to work, and you know, and it just kind of blows my mind that it's very different than than right now. What do you think what? Why do you think that's such a big difference? And what? What was the key to success for you guys?

Bob Merrick: 46:28

I think we just well. We we had a draft. Guys getting out now and going in now are pure voluntary, they don't have to. Nobody asked to go back. When I was we had the draft. Chances are you were going one way or another, just depended what you chose to do. I chose the Navy. I just didn't. I knew others that went army, got drafted, you know army, marines, whatever. So I chose to go Navy, just my choice. And sure I think guys today make a choice to make the military their career. They're exposed to a lot. My son-in-law did two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He didn't fare so well, so what?

Thad David: 47:28

do you mean?

Bob Merrick: 47:30

Well he's. He's got PTSD, he's a hundred percent disabled. He still goes, he's still good to be around, he's fun, but still has his problems. Yeah, so yeah, he still. He sleeps with a fan on and different things and he has to have noise. I'd never tried to wake him, I just. I do not have to do that.

Thad David: 48:05

And it's always wonder what the and. I'm I'm choosing my words cautiously here Because I'm very respectful of everybody's service and everything that you know the traumas that we deal with after getting out, and it's just it's interesting to me that that we see so much of it now, versus you don't really hear a lot of a ton of it. I mean, you do hear stories about it from your generation, but I mean, the Vietnam War was a very intense war.

Bob Merrick: 48:36

Yeah, yeah, one of the main problems. It wasn't a likable war.

Thad David: 48:45

You know, nobody.

Bob Merrick: 48:46

those of us that were there didn't speak about it, about it, and there was because back home, you know, people were demonstrating against it. You heard about people calling your baby killers and things like that, so you kind of just kept it on the down low, so to speak. You know you, just Interesting People didn't know about it. Better off, you know.

Thad David: 49:16

So you didn't have to deal with.

Bob Merrick: 49:17

deal with anybody that maybe didn't care for what you did, but you did what you had to.

Thad David: 49:28

That whole saying that you know hard times create easier times and then easier times, and it just kind of flip flops. That I always. I think a lot of what we dealt with because I think everybody is very receptive for us and what we did, and I think a lot of it was lessons learned from how your generation got treated to some degree that you know they saw this wasn't okay. It's not okay to treat veterans this way. Coming back, and I think that people treat us really nicely now because of lessons learned there, and so it's something I've just always been fascinated with what it was like getting out. So I appreciate you walking us through it and talking about it.

Bob Merrick: 50:06

I think people, people even treat us better the Vietnam vets because they thank us for our service. They're very receptive to us and I think that's because of your generation, you know, they've realized that it's an evil After 9-11, you know people, these people seen it that hey, we're not protected here on our lands, so things can happen here that gets your attention.

Thad David: 50:40

So oh yeah, so Well, I, I'm just grateful, I'm very grateful for anybody's service and I just that's why I do this, this podcast is just to learn more and hopefully help educate and then help other people learn more about it. I heard recently that you know, because right right now, one thing that as we were transitioning out, you know, while I was in, it was kind of like if you were in, you're most likely you were getting deployed. You were going overseas. I spent two, I did two deployments to Iraq and it was just kind of the norm. So just kind of seemed like that was a normal thing, whereas now it's not a normal thing and I think some people struggle with getting out and there's even some some.

Thad David: 51:21

I don't want you hear some veterans saying you know, I saw combat and you didn't, and there's a little bit of comparison there. And I heard recently that, which I don't agree with, by the way, but I heard recently that the Vietnam veterans had some of that with World War Two veterans and that Vietnam veterans coming back actually got some shade thrown at them from World War Two veterans. Is that? Did you experience anything like that? Or is there anything you could share about? What was it like from World War Two veterans, or did you hear anything about that?

Bob Merrick: 51:53

Yeah, I didn't have any problem. My uncles were in World War Two and they all belonged to the Legion. You know and or BFW, either one, and so they participated more. I just never had felt the need, and not that it's a bad thing. I've got guys that I worked with I know of three of them now that are the heads of their VFW post, american Legion post, so it's not a bad three three World War, two veterans. No no three.

Thad David: 52:34

Okay.

Bob Merrick: 52:36

Well, I know of one that was a Vietnam vat. The other two they came along after, but they're the head of their chapter. So yeah, okay but I've not had any problem with the World War Two people. I have had some issues sometimes that they don't want to recognize that I was a Vietnam vat. You know you're not a Vietnam vat.

Bob Merrick: 53:07

You never touched. You never touched soil, you never was actually touched Vietnam soil. But the US government recognized the fact that we are Vietnam vats and then I've had a lot of Vietnam vats. That said, we really appreciated you because you guys, when we called the jets were flying and they were coming home. So it was good, you know they, they seemed the need there. So no, I've had this good.

Thad David: 53:46

And in several, several firefights where, once air support comes in, you're very grateful for everyone involved in getting air support to you quickly, because it's an absolute game changer on the battlefield. Oh yeah, yeah, it's a necessity.

Bob Merrick: 54:03

I used to. I used to say it takes. It takes a college education to fly the plane and it takes a high school education to keep them flying. That's all we were you know where they're, where they're wrenching on these jets and stuff and little education and keeping them flying. But it was fun, I had a good time doing it, but it was one of those things that we did our job, let's solve.

Thad David: 54:36

Well, I'm very grateful that you did and I really appreciate you jumping on to to share your story and your experience. And I'd love to ask you, just for any anybody listening, any veterans listening, what would you say was the keys to success? Because I know you went off to you said you worked for was it 38 years for the phone company?

Bob Merrick: 54:53

Yeah, 18. Which is?

Thad David: 54:56

fantastic. It sounds like you did a lot of great things afterwards. What do you think the keys to success after getting out are?

Bob Merrick: 55:03

Well, I think you learned respect for authority. That's one of the main things. I maybe didn't have that before I went in. Like I said, I I got tired of people telling me what to do, so I joined the Navy made sense it made sense, for about that train ride was about it. It changed real quick.

Thad David: 55:28

That sounds about yeah, sounds about right, with most better I know for me just being stubborn and bullheaded. It's like I'm going to do this Nobody's going to tell me what to do and it's like oh yeah look at what happened.

Bob Merrick: 55:40

There is people who's going to tell you what to do. They they can drive you down to where. When they tell you to do something, you do it, no matter what, just do it. We'll discuss later if you don't like it. So that's the part that I think and it's worked good for me for all these years. Just, you learn respect for authority and you do your job. You do it without challenges, did you?

Thad David: 56:09

struck I makes me think of. Sometimes I hear veterans that struggle with authority that are non veterans. So getting out, going to the job place, you know saying that so and so is an undisciplined civilian. Did you notice that, or were you, were you able to transition your respect for authority into the civilian role as well?

Bob Merrick: 56:28

Yeah, no, I. I transitioned respect for authority. Most of the people I worked for that were my managers were not veterans. So yeah, I had. I had people that I worked for that respected the fact that they could give me the jobs to do and go do them. They didn't have to worry about me out messing around somewhere not getting the job done.

Thad David: 56:59

Right.

Bob Merrick: 57:01

And so that's, that's part of what I learned there. You know, the chief would give you the job, go up and fix whatever's wrong with this plane and get it fixed. And so you do it, sign off on it and it better be fixed. The last thing you want is the chief chief chewing you out for it not being fixed. So right, they're the E sevens. You know E sevens, and they sit around and drink coffee until until they're needed.

Bob Merrick: 57:42

Oh yeah, that's definitely how it comes the last thing you want them is on your back. So yeah, so you learn to do the job, do it and get it done and do it right.

Thad David: 57:55

It sounds like you did just that while you were in and after getting out. And, bob, thank you so much for jumping on and taking some time. I really appreciate everything you've done in the military and just for taking some time to share your story. It was very, very insightful for me to hear about it and I really appreciate you taking some time.

Bob Merrick: 58:12

Well, good, all right, thank you.