Robert A. Kindergan, CTIC USN Retired, 1959-1977


I wanted to go in the Navy since grade school.  In 1958 my one-year-older 
brother went in and I met the recruiter.  The recruiter would come to my 
hometown of Philippi WVa about once or twice a month.  Naturally he had his 
sights on me since I told him as a Junior in HS that I wanted to join.  My 
mother worked in the newspaper office so he would see her every time he came 
to town to put his ads in the paper.  As I neared graduation he came to our 
house and talked to me.  I told him that I wanted to get married as soon as 
I got out of boot camp.  He told me that if I got married right away we 
could get an extra $77.10 (I think) per month.  That sounded like a huge 
amount of money so we got hitched 10 days before I left for boot camp. 
(Still married after 50 years.)  I had high math scores and went in as an 
EFSR hoping to learn to repair radio equipment.  At Great Lakes when I went 
to choose a rating the PO2 told me to put down ET and CTR.  “What’s CTR?” 
“ Communications Technician Repair.”  I went from GLAKES to Imperial Beach 
by a chartered aircraft that broke down and landed in Los Angeles.  They 
bussed us to San Diego and dropped us off.  I found the main square where 
the bus lines crossed and the ticket lady told me to catch the Lahoya bus to 
IB.  I sat there for a few hours and watched a bunch of La Jolla busses go 
by, but no Lahoya.  Finally she told me the bus number and how it was 
pronounced and I got to IB just as my leave/transit time expired.  Went 
through basic ditty chasing, got cleared and went into the tunnel for 
advanced.   By then I had realized I was not going to learn how to repair 
radios. Then we uncovered the CXNNs and learned what we were supposed to do. 
I was a mediocre at best ditty chaser, but did real well on the language 
test so was offered the opportunity to extend my Kiddie Cruise for a year 
and spend it at the Army Language School in Monterrey learning Russian, or 
go to Adak.  Extended and finished school and got sent to Istanbul Turkey. 
There was a revolution in process when I arrived so I spent a week at the 
Det 12 site in a Quonset hut that was normally used for sleeping between the 
eve and day watches.  Then they sent me downtown to find a place to live. 
While in Istanbul my recruiter looked me up when the 6th Fleet came in.  He 
invited me to his DD and showed me around the ‘real Navy’.  Still remember 
it like it was yesterday.  Stayed around for a career and retired in 1977.


Bob Kindergan CTIC Ret

GLAKES 1959
Imperial Beach 1959-60
Army Lang School Monterrey 1960-61
Istanbul 1961-63
Ft Meade 1963-67
USS Palm Beach (AGER 3) 1968-69
Kami Seya Japan 1969-71
ADCOP 1972-72
Ft Meade 1973-76
Misawa Japan 1976-77