by me, Kerry Burgess, 05/02/2026 10:11 PM
Fairly certain, when I think back on those times, that I was not the only person being clandestinely drugged
Given it a lot of rational thought
Many possible reasons
One reason: I joined for the right reasons
Others joined - I suspect - because of their attraction of The Village People
Secretly drugged so that we were somewhat intoxicated AND DID NOT KNOW IT or understand it
People get drunk, lose their inhibitions, become embarrassed the next day about the things they were saying while drunk, don't want to talk about it after that
Perfectly reasonable that people were assembled around me so they would remember how a normal guy - *me* - behaves
Probably - I guess - had me in front of a wife-beater, too, so he would he see someone not afraid of him and his glaring affect
Seems odd to me also, all these years later, there is not one single reference to my practiced skills at programming those computers.
I thought about it many before because of a comment one of the instructors made when I was examined the first time at Dam Neck on a series of exams for programming it in machine-language
I brought in to the testing room my piece of teletype paper with my original code printed on it, entered my code into the computer, and began the process
Over the years, I made many different test programs for that system, they trained us because it was another effective tool in our maintenance toolbox. Should have been, at least, I know it was for me. I think of it every time I see a Cylon in Battlestar Galactica
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ticonderoga_(CG-47)
Mannix
S3.E23
"Murder Revisited"
Episode aired Mar 7, 1970
(from internet transcript)
[Joe Mannix breaks into woman's apartment to evade killers chasing him through the city]
Now, take it easy. I'm not gonna hurt you. Just do as I say and don't scream, you understand?
Look, I'm sorry, but I'm in trouble.
Who'd ever guess? Losers, that's all I ever get. Who'd you kill?
Oh, it's nothing like that.
Then why are you running?
A couple of characters would like to see me dead.
Well, what if they come here?
Don't worry. I'll keep you out of it.
You gonna give me a written guarantee? Well?
I don't see them.
Good-bye. It's been very nice knowing you.
Look, I'm afraid I'm going to have to stick around just a little longer.
Oh, typical. Losers. I don't only pick 'em. They find me from nowhere. You don't happen to be in sports, do you?
No.
Oh, well, that's a change. I don't know. Somebody always gets the winners. Me, I always wind up with the losers: a football player with a trick knee... a boxer who gets his brains punched out in his second professional fight... and a jockey who gets caught doping horses. Not exactly the hit parade. Mister, I'm telling you, with my luck, if I had a mantis, it wouldn't pray.
From 5/28/2000 ( premiere USA TV "On the Beach" ) To 9/30/2004 ( ) is 1586 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 3/7/1970 ( ) is 1586 days
From 3/24/1963 ( premiere USA TV series episode "The Twentieth Century"::"Red Ships Off Our Shores" ) To 9/30/2004 ( ) is 15166 days
15166 = 7583 + 7583
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 8/7/1986 ( "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy ) is 7583 days
From 10/31/1959 ( the first United States Air Force Atlas nuclear equipped intercontinental ballistic missile was placed on alert status ) To 9/30/2004 ( ) is 16406 days
16406 = 8203 + 8203
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 4/18/1988 ( as me, Kerry Burgess, while enlisted paygrade E-5, designated Fire Controlman Petty Officer Second Class (FC2), from my official enlisted US Navy records: during USA Armed Forces Expeditionary Operation Earnest Will with my personal participation and commendation - CF-division, Missile Plot - guided-missiles Fire Control Computers Complex (operator and advanced technician, UNIVAC digital-computers Mk152 Terrier System for, primarily, SM2-ER {Extended Range} Standard Missiles ordnance) - aboard the USS Wainwright CG-28 US Navy the United States Operation Praying Mantis ) is 8203 days
From 6/5/1987 ( as me, Kerry Burgess, my official enlisted US Navy documents includes: Earned NEC 1189 - Based on graduation from the Terrier Mk 152 Guided-missiles Fire Control Computers Complex course - Naval Guided Missiles School, Dam Neck, Virginia Beach, Virginia, US Navy - leading to permanent assignment until 1990 to CF-division, Missile Plot - guided-missiles Fire Control Computers Complex (operator and advanced technician, UNIVAC digital-computers Mk152 Terrier System for, primarily, SM2-ER {Extended Range} Standard Missiles ordnance), USS Wainwright CG-28, US Navy, while enlisted paygrade E-5, designated Fire Controlman Petty Officer Second Class (FC2) ) To 9/30/2004 ( ) is 6327 days
From 11/2/1965 ( my known birth date in Antlers, Oklahoma, USA, as Kerry Wayne Burgess ) To 2/28/1983 ( premiere USA TV series episode "Frontline"::"Gunfight USA" ) is 6327 days
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ticonderoga_(CG-47)
USS Ticonderoga (CG-47)
From Wikipedia
USS Ticonderoga (DDG/CG-47), nicknamed "Tico", was a guided missile cruiser built for the United States Navy. She [sic] [corrected: "It", 'Ship', 'Ticonderoga'] was the lead ship of the Ticonderoga class and the first U.S. Navy combatant to incorporate the Aegis combat system.
Decommissioned 30 September 2004
Stricken 30 September 2004
Red Storm Rising (1986) - Tom Clancy
(from internet transcript)
excerpt, Chapter 20 – The Dance of the Vampires
"Vampire, Vampire!" the CIC talker said aboard Ticonderoga. "We have numerous incoming missiles. Weapons free."
The group antiair warfare officer ordered the cruiser's Aegis weapons system into full automatic mode. Tico had been built with this exact situation in mind. Her powerful radar/computer system immediately identified the incoming missiles as hostile and assigned each a priority of destruction. The computer was completely on its own, free to fire on its electronic will at anything diagnosed as a threat. Numbers, symbols, and vectors paraded across the master tactical display. The fore and aft twin missile launchers trained out at the first targets and awaited the orders to fire. Aegis was state-of-the-art, the best SAM system yet devised, but it had one major weakness: Tico carried only ninety-six SM2 surface-to-air missiles; there were one hundred forty incoming Kingfish. The computer had not been programmed to think about that.
Chicago Tribune
Navy Rises To Occasion In Duel At Sea
April 19, 1988 By David Evans, Chicago Tribune.
WASHINGTON For the first time in more than 40 years, enemy warships have seriously challenged the U.S. Navy at sea. The Navy won - decisively.
previously, here by me, Kerry Burgess
https://tubitv.com/movies/100016119/on-the-beach
tubi
On the Beach
2000
In this remake of the 1959 post-apocalyptic classic, a submarine commander and his crew are plunged into the horrors of nuclear war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wainwright_(CG-28)
USS Wainwright (CG-28)
From Wikipedia
USS Wainwright (DLG/CG-28), a Belknap-class destroyer leader, was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for members of the Wainwright family
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belknap-class_cruiser
Belknap-class cruiser
From Wikipedia
The Belknap-class cruiser was a class of single-ended guided-missile cruisers (their missile armament was installed only forward, unlike "double-ended" missile cruisers with missile armament installed both forward and aft) built for the United States Navy during the 1960s. They were originally designated as DLG frigates (destroyer leaders; the USN use of the term frigate from 1950 to 1975 was intended to evoke the power of the sailing frigates of old),[citation needed] but in the 1975 fleet realignment, they were reclassified as guided missile cruisers (CG).
In the early 1980s, the Terrier missiles were replaced with RIM-67 Standard missiles; and during the NTU program in the late 1980s and early 1990s the class had its Standard SM-1 system upgraded to utilize SM-2ER Block II, the 3-inch guns were replaced with two 4 cell Harpoon Surface-to-surface missile launchers, and two Phalanx CIWS systems were installed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Wainwright_(CG-28)
USS Wainwright (DLG/CG-28), a Belknap-class
From Wikipedia
Armament
1 × Mark 42 5-inch/54-caliber gun
1 × Terrier missile / SM-2ER launcher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-67_Standard
RIM-67 Standard
From Wikipedia
The RIM-67 Standard ER (SM-1ER/SM-2ER) is an extended range surface-to-air missile (SAM) with a secondary anti-ship capability, originally developed for the United States Navy (USN).
Existing ships with the Mk86 guided missile fire control system, or "Terrier" were adapted to employ the new missile in place of the older RIM-2 Terrier missile. Ships that switched from the RIM-2 Terrier to the RIM-67A were still referred to as Terrier ships even though they were equipped with the newer missile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIM-67_Standard
RIM-67 Standard
From Wikipedia
The RIM-67 Standard ER (SM-1ER/SM-2ER) is an extended range surface-to-air missile (SAM) with a secondary anti-ship capability, originally developed for the United States Navy (USN). The RIM-67 was developed as a replacement for the RIM-8 Talos, a 1950s system deployed on a variety of USN ships, and eventually replaced the RIM-2 Terrier as well, since it was of a similar size and fitted existing Terrier launchers and magazines.
The second generation of Standard missile, the Standard Missile 2, was developed for the Aegis Combat System, and the New Threat Upgrade (NTU) program that was planned for existing Terrier and Tartar ships. The destroyer USS Mahan served as the test platform for the development of the CG/SM-2 (ER) missile program project. The principal change over the Standard missile 1 is the introduction of inertial guidance for each phase of the missile's flight except the terminal phase where semi-active homing was retained. This design change was made so that missiles could time share illumination radars and enable equipped ships to defend against saturation missile attacks.
Terrier ships reequipped as part of the New Threat Upgrade were refit to operate the RIM-67B (SM-2ER Block II) missile. However, Aegis ships were not equipped with launchers that had space enough for the longer RIM-67B.
The RIM-156A Standard SM-2ER Block IV with the Mk 72 booster was developed to compensate for the lack of a long range SAM for the Ticonderoga class of Aegis cruisers. The Mk72 booster allows the RIM-156A to fit into the Mark 41 Vertical Launching System. This configuration can also be used for Terminal phase Ballistic Missile Defense.
There was a plan to build a nuclear armed standard missile mounting a W81 nuclear warhead as a replacement for the earlier Nuclear Terrier missile (RIM-2D).
Deployment RIM-67 Standard was deployed on ships of the following classes, replacing the RIM-2 Terrier, and it never was VLS-capable. All of the ships used the AN/SPG-55 for guidance. The Mk10 guided missile launching system was used as the launching system. New Threat Upgrade equipped vessels operated the RIM-67B which used inertial guidance for every phase of the intercept except for the terminal phase where the AN/SPG-55 radar illuminates the target.
- by me, Kerry Wayne Burgess, posted by me: 10:27 PM Pacific-timezone USA Saturday 05/02/2026
