26 Pontoon^ & Deck Boat July^2017 http://www.pdbmagazine.com
BOB DYE
Rather than be drafted into the Army, Bob chose to join the
US Navy in January of 1967.
“That, and I could learn a fallback trade when I got out,”
he shares.
After boot camp, Bob went to EM A school in San Diego,
Calif. While waiting to go to basic nuclear power training, he
was assigned to the USS Huntington, DD-718.
“I caught up to it in Naples, Italy, just in time for it to go
back to Mayport, Fla. While crossing the North Atlantic in
December, it rolled over to its side, but a rogue wave righted
us back up,” Bob shares.
Come April of 1968, Bob was transferred to Bainbridge,
Md., for basic nuclear power training, and six months later was
transferred to Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory for power plant
training in upstate New York.
“Just in time for winter,” Bob jokes.
From there, he was assigned to the USS Truxton, DLG(N)
-35.
“Our main mission was coordinating air rescue for pilots in
planes damaged over North Vietnam. But we did have some
fun with the Russians, whether it be sneaking past their picket
boats in the Sea of Japan under the guise of being a freighter
or falling in behind their Pacific Fleet coming into Vladivostok
to see how long it would take them to notice an extra ship in
the fleet. It is amazing how low the Russian Badger bombers
can fly,” Bob quips.
As 1972 crept closer and his service neared its end, his
captain offered him a few career options.
“I could go NESEP and become an officer, or go to EM B
school and become a chief. Decisions, decisions,” he shares.
“Upon discussing my options with the wife, I found out that
there was a third option. I could do whatever I wanted, but she
and the kids would be back in Kansas City. Wisely, I chose to
go back home with her.”Bob had
first stuck his toe into boating while at
YMCA camp in third grade. When his parents eventually
bought a lake house at the Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., in
1962, he first learned power boating. In his later years, Bob
and his wife inherited their first boat from Bob’s mother, a
24-foot Sundancer pontoon. She had initially bought it upon
Bob’s recommendation that a pontoon could stand up to the
conditions at their side of the lake.
“It was a great boat built for our potentially rough waters.
But in 1992 we sold it and bought a Hurricane 240 Midships
deck boat, which served us well until our area of the lake got
even rougher. In 2009, we sold it and got our current pontoon,
a 25-foot JC NepToon SunLounger,
which is perfect
for us.”
Bob and his
family are now
more than
content to
be living on
the same lot atthe Lake of the
Ozarks that his
parents bought
nearly 55
years ago.Bob visiting Hong Kong, with
China over his shoulder.