Concrete Pad for the Ordnance Shop

Our biggest maintenance problem was caused by sand. Bob Hope had said in a recent show that Cam Ranh Bay is the world’s biggest sand trap. He was surely correct about that. The Naval Air Facility executive officer had his ‘weeds & seeds’ program; where Bermuda grass flown in from America was planted to hold down the sand. I’m sure the current occupants of CRB still appreciate that effort.

The Ordnance Shop was a hootch, with sand right up to the doors. It would blow or be tracked inside and head straight to anything mechanical or with lubricant on it and begin a never-ending grinding process. Sand was especially hard on the grenade launchers, the mini-guns and the 20 mm guns, as it not only wore the mechanical parts down, sand on the ammunition caused wear and tear to the inside of the chambers and barrels. Attempting to keep the guns and equipment clean was never-ending.

I mentioned to the Ordnance Officer one morning that we needed a concrete pad in front of the shop, not only to cut down on the amount of sand getting into the shop, but also to give us a place to stack the ammunition before ‘belting it’ or any of the other multitude of things we had to do with it. He agreed and promptly boarded his aircraft to go to the Philippines. I went to see the Sea-Bee Chief and told him of our need and asked what we needed to do to get the pad built. He too agreed that it was imperative that we had a pad built, and told me the biggest thing we could do for him was to give him a set of ‘aural-protection devices’ (Mickey Mouse ears), as one of his heavy equipment drivers was suffering from shell shock and the noise from the diesel engines was keeping him off the equipment. I replied that the ears were on the way, returned straightaway to the shop, picked up two pairs of ears and delivered them. The next morning the concrete crew was on site, building forms and ‘prepping’ the area. A few days later, the cement truck and the finishing crew arrived and the project was completed.

After a few more days, the Gun Boss returned from Sangley Point. I met him at the Maintenance Office, before he’d had a chance to visit the ‘shop’. He immediately handed me several official supply documents and asked me to return the completed forms along with design information and funding requirements to him soonest. I asked him what the information was to be used for. He replied they were to get the concrete pad I’d mentioned that we needed, and the sooner the documents were completed the sooner the pad could be constructed. I immediately asked him to join me at the shop. “Shocked”, would be putting it mildly concerning his condition when he saw that the well broken-in pad had already been in service for several days.

Sand remained a challenge, but with the pad it was at least manageable, thanks to a mighty fine Sea-Bee Chief and his hard-working crew. - Story submitted by AOC Robert J. Holdman

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