 Sue Simmons anchoring for this third edition of CNO sit rip 30 the new series designed to keep you abreast of developments in today's Navy with emphasis on the people who make up our Navy their experiences hobbies and featuring their special contribution to America's seagoing service on this program you will find yourself in the midst of sailors who know the ropes and can pull their weight all part of a fun-filled seamanship contest next we join a Navy chief and his son on a freewheeling adventure as they team up for their first soapbox derby race then we jog along with Carlos Campbell who discovers that getting back in the Navy also means getting back in shape first for our final segment our sit-rep 30 cameras head north to picturesque Narragansett Bay Newport Rhode Island where we chat with a colorful and courageous Navy man vice admiral Stockdale recipient of the Medal of Honor thinking about a college education don't forget the veterans educational assistance program it can help you get that college degree while in service or after discharge Navy men and women contribute between 50 and $75 a month for at least one year the veterans administration will add $2 for every $1 you contribute you could wind up with a maximum of $8100 in your education fund by the time you leave the Navy the veterans educational assistance program replaces the old GI bill it covers Navy people who joined up on or after January the 1st 1977 for more information consult op-nav notice 1760 or see your career counselor well let's catch up with the ships of destroyer squadron 28 they've just pulled into port for a very special occasion Peter Haccus reports since the early days of sailing men and ships have gathered in friendly battles for excellence in seamanship the rivalry has become a traditional maritime event with as much fanfare as in the past backed by their shipmates and filled with intense pride our modern-day sailors placed their seamanship skills on the line this year seven ships of destroyer squadron 28 hold their annual seamanship contest in Mayport Florida along with the Bosons pipe competition there are whaleboat inspections tug-of-war not tying a team 250 light off a mooring line fake down race a bolo throwing contest and a whaleboat paddle race I'm looking forward to it I was here last year and I had a good time down here everybody gets a chance to get together you know show off their stuff some of the guys been tying knots everybody's been practicing everybody's hyped up for it all right like we're defending champions off the bogey so we're gonna try to take the two in a row you know or the best there isn't a fleet he's good but I think I can beat him talks to you actions what speaks I think we have a little more brains around the ships in that squadron takes a lot of brains yeah takes a lot of air teams from the USS Diaz Edson the motto Fox Cecil Perry and Bogey saying take part in the two-day seamanship bout it's just to strengthen the seamanship and damage control skills within the participants the five and below use the five and below because it's the same time we're using this competition as a training evolution straightens their skills and within damage control same ship and at the same times it gives a competition within this water this year we're adding the boat crews which mission in the seamanship aspect of the landings this is the four personnel just three enlisted and one boat officer to be judging smartness of landing the inspection aspect of the crew is just to see if their uniforms are sharp make sure they have life jackets make sure they were dawned on properly do they have in fact little flashlight which is required the boats would be checked for equipment make sure everything was okay more material preservation type thing on the equipment in the boat the coxswain will take a 15-question quiz on safety of motorwell boat rules of the PMS is sent and as far as the engine compartment everything I would give him about a six he has oil in the bilges and the engine needs to be overall they look pretty good the descriptions we have been find that they're kind of minor it could wouldn't take too much to correct them the events consist of basic skills the seamen use aboard ship for the competitors it's a way to show off their professionalism and have fun at the same time when you drive your car check the air filter often a clogged air filter can result in an air-starved engine that's using too much gas changes in speed waste gasoline so avoid sudden starts and stops when you see a light turn red let up on the accelerator and close to a stop never top off your tank by filling it to the brim this usually just overflows and wastes gas don't let the engine idle longer than a minute it takes less gas to restart the car than it does to let the engine idle make frequent checks on the mileage you're getting in your day-to-day travel maybe it's time to trade in on a more efficient car plan your shopping so that you're not driving back and forth and so that you stay as close to home as possible America's energy resources belong to everyone so let's share them wisely conserve energy now it's soapbox derby time in Virginia Beach Virginia as we join a Navy father-and-son team Don Richards reports say remember those little racers you always wanted your father to help you build well in Virginia Beach Virginia the annual soapbox derby event was held recently to determine regional champs we covered the derby because individual Navy command sponsored many of the entrance including one Wayne Watson the 10-year-old son of Chief Cliff Watson from Comoptev for the Navy's operational test and evaluation force headquartered in Norfolk Wayne was appearing in his first competition getting ready for this day was no easy task for any of the entrance Cliff and Wayne began building their car in the Comoptev for carpentry shop almost three months prior to race day they spent many long hours working together on the project the hardest difficulty is this was the layout plans that have plans laid out for a 10-year-old but at times I wonder if it wasn't a blade out for an engineer the object the whole object is soapboxes to teach him how to use tools and do how to build things so if you step through it and teach him as you go it takes some time I've never been involved in the soapbox either way and I've never really done a project like this with my son before I guess why decided to try it you'd be lying if anybody says they wouldn't like to win everybody like to win what I wanted was to get together with my son and build something and see if I found something that he was interested in I have quite a large family and it's hard to get off and spend some time individually with each of children to find something to do with them I think it's broken out well I think I'm getting what I wanted out of it despite threatening forecasts that predicted bad weather the afternoon of the race was clear and warm a perfect day with a soapbox derby Wayne was ready for his big day he was entered in the junior division which had 15 contestants many of whom had previous derby experience Wayne's first race was a tough one hitting him against another Navy sponsored entry the USS it was a close finish but Wayne got the checkered flag he had won his first race the second race was also close but this time Wayne was etched out Wayne won his third race but the fourth was a dead heat against a driver with prior derby experience in the rerun of the fourth race Wayne was nosed out at the finish because the derby was run under double elimination rules Wayne's racing was over for this day but he had done well for our first time he's certainly a nothing to be ashamed of with two wins and a tie in five heat well information go ahead local info you got the one lawyer here three shake the brakes a lawyer you got the bridge kid here really planning a cabin trip this weekend we just wanted to where we can get some of that camping gear get back in for their bridge kid you definitely need to check out that old special services like 10-4 I appreciate that offer for sure their bridge kid but our old work 20 is that special services this weekend they don't read it does that as a golf team 10-4 10-4 would you run 50 miles a week for something you really want well here's a man who does that and more to rejoin the naval service Peter Hackes reports the Navy in 1968 after nine years of service they were some of the best years of my life I joined the Navy to see the world and I certainly wasn't disappointed he's now an author and his self-employed he's had appointments with the Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as with the American Revolutionary Bicentennial Administration he's had fellowships with the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts but for now he's got his mind set on returning to the Navy and has been looking at the naval reserve one of the things that's really positive about the Navy it's working with people that have a positive attitude working within the framework of what the Navy calls the can-do spirit this is really the hallmark of the naval service when you're talking about people the Navy is an elite organization trains people to reach their highest potential and you have to kind of get away from it long enough to have the perspective to look back and appreciate that so feeling of really being somebody you have an opportunity to learn to study to grow you have to deal with yourself you have to deal with other people you have to learn how to overcome certain hurdles when the reserves told me that I had to lose weight well I thought they were talking about 10 or 15 pounds but when they said 50 wow I didn't know what to do so I started jogging I worked up to where I could run 50 miles a week and after about three months I had dropped the 50 pounds and I guess now probably what you call an addicted jog I'm gonna keep running forever the reserves won't be the same as the first nine years but it will give me a chance to be part of the Navy again weekend drills a couple of weeks of active duty each year camaraderie putting on a blue uniform again that all means a lot to me do you have a weight problem well you're not alone most people who are overweight not only eat too much they eat the wrong kinds of food as well being overweight streams the heart blocks the arteries raises the blood pressure and puts enough added stresses on the body to cause arthritis hemorrhoids phlebitis diverticulosis varicose veins and strokes to name a few in effect you're eating your way into an early grave by not controlling the amount and type of food you eat don't push your weight around begin now and take the stress off your body eat sensibly and control the type as well as the amount of food you eat remember a good diet means good health our final segment on this edition is an inspiring story of a former prisoner of war who led the resistance in a Vietnam prison camp for more than seven years been masked reports you know this may look like to you a receptacle in which I would get a drink it was that for seven years but it was much more it was my link with sanity my link with my community my link with the world but although it was a drinking receptacle and one of the Vietnamese thought served only that purpose when I was being moved handles and spoons and cups were being thrown around I was watching this like a hawk because without this I was out of the society the prison came thank God they didn't know that can hear with your ear on the wall is greatly magnified if you put a cup or the right of the right material between the wall in your ear and you can push down on it and you can hear this faint of scratch in a cell block that is Jim Stockdale a Navy carrier pilot was shot down over Vietnam in September 1965 he spent the next seven years in captivity four of those years in solitary confinement he was tortured 15 times emerging from the ordeal with a permanently twisted leg but with spirit and mind if anything strengthened in 1973 he was returned to the United States reunited with his family now a vice admiral and head of the Naval War College he wears the light blue ribbon of the Medal of Honor what he learned in the crucible of prison camp he believes is priceless beyond measure you cannot really appreciate how much I strength I gathered from those cocky wise solid is a rock American fighting man that I was with and you'll never know the real meaning of the word of the word love and tell you come across some American humor after a long period of isolation imagine my predicament on a cold November morning and it can't get cold up there in those clammy cell blocks been shot down for two months hadn't even been within ear shot of an American voice I'd been sick I was crippled I was by this time for the first morning since I'd been shot down on my feet on crutches pushing it down a dark passageway a coffee can which had been my bathroom for the night before scooting it along with my good leg was in led into a cell which had it it's far end a tiny cell with two bunks of the same sort that I'd left a showerhead that improvised an old rusty showerhead and the guard grunted and slammed the door and bolted it and the obvious idea was for me to dump my bucket and take a shower and I can't imagine when I was any more depressed until I looked under that showerhead and there was a kind of a hole in the concrete and there was etched in very small print smile you're on camera when you know of the things that Jim did once he was shot down in in Vietnam and his resistance to torture is actually self-inflicted wounds on his face and and so on to keep to make himself unattractive enough that they would not want to make war propaganda pictures with him for instance things of that nature that that went well above and beyond the call of duty and where the reason why he was given the award at the Congressional Medal of Honor so I'm one of Jim's biggest admirers he's one of my all-time heroes in this country Admiral Stockdale has paid his dues he has served his country and his service well beyond the call of duty Jeff he's chosen to remain in the Navy there was never any question in my mind when I came out of prison that I wanted to devote all my energies to my service in my country to leave at that point would have been like turning in your football suit when the team was behind 13 to nothing and I just felt like it was it is my country and I wanted to have something to say about how it's protected one way Admiral Stockdale has his say in the defense of his country today is through the leadership and influence he provides future senior military commanders at the naval war college the challenge of education is not to prepare a man for success but to prepare him for failure that's where the heroes and the bombs really get sorted out I'm teaching a course here an elective course which has about 50 students in it right now and it's based on classic philosophy and literature I use this as a vehicle for us to discuss as military officer to military officer where we really live as military men and women work what is really the bottom line to use a course in modern phrase what really measures our effectiveness in under duress and I think that I'm on solid ground when I think that a part of an officer's world lies in the world of philosophy whether he takes it as a formal subject or not or whether he just realizes that there are plenty of smart people on this world that believe that there are absolutes I couldn't run I can't run now that's it like but I nobody that I know was out where they could run they were in cells but running in place I was often done tell the guards made you quit because they thought you were sending signals to the other people with your the pattern of your feet but sit-ups and particularly push-ups seem to be my stand-by I get 400 a day for seven years I could even do them in leg I could flip around and maneuver with those things on I think one of the biggest positive changes in the country when I came home to see all these people out jogging skiing sport and health had really swept America and it's still on the rise particularly important that see-going men have a regimen a regular exercise program because of their shipboard duty and the the wear and tear on the nervous system after months of sea that is the real basic truth of our military power that man is the guy that can improvise and the man that can make it work when the book doesn't have a solution for it and it's a man who who uses his intuition and really says this is a this is a Navy of sailors not of gadgets and it's we who who make those gadgets work not the other way around