“The present-day Pacific Fleet is not bounded by the vast ocean for which it is named. When Iranian militants seized American hostages I November 1979, the U.S. Government decided to establish a continuing presence in the Indian Ocean as a means of demonstrating resolve and ability to project military power. Although that ocean is about halfway round the world from the United States, whichever way one starts out, most of the ships deployed there have been drawn from the Pacific Fleet, including the carrier Midway, which is homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. She has been a frequent member of the Indian Ocean Battle Group, a fact signified by her crew spelling out the name of their ship’s operating area, “Gonzo Station.” The name came about during Midway’s deployment in 1979. To liven up his daily briefings, Lieutenant Junior Grade Vic Socotra, intelligence officer of the ship’s Fighter Squadron 151 used puppets from television’s “Muppet Show.” The character named Gonzo was particularly popular, and his name was given to the operating area.’ (Naval Aviation News)

(I inked in LTJG stripes on Winky’s sleeves. He had a lot more missions than I did!)

That is close enough to be true. I was there with another fine briefing officer named Dean W. We were surrounded by aviation personnel who had experience in the late war in Southeast Asia. The names of their operating areas was becoming tiresome- “Yankee” and “Dixie” were the names assigned to the northern and southern operating areas in the South China Sea for strikes against Vietnam. Where we were in the Northern Arabian Sea did not seem to have a great deal in common with the wartime areas, and the sordid pleasures of Subic Bay in the Philippines was an awfully long and somewhat depressing distance. We were drinking coffee one morning and began to cast about for something to call this place in the light blue vastness of the Indian Ocean.

At the time, we both had read a lot of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson’s wild print accounts in Rolling Stone about adventures in the outlaw motorcycle community, and we decided we had more in common with those gypsy riders than the participants in a civil war that killed 700,000 young men. I suggested “Gonzo” as a new name and a new spirit. Dean agreed that it had a certain cache all its own, plus it provided a cover story the Navy would recognize as harmless and cute puppets as opposed to the high-octane mischief we all had in common. We didn’t want to get in trouble, but started briefing our location as though it was a real place, and the rest of our airwing felt the same. They still call it that, each sailor who rode their ship on those waters felt the same.

For the record, I felt that the use of hand puppets helped to convey the essence of each cycle of flight operations. I shouldn’t have to note it, but our aircrews were the best in the whole goddamn light-blue ocean, and able to take on anyone and efficiency and professionally kick their ass.

It was a while back, but the pictures above surfaced in a stack I sent back to my family from the North Arabian Sea. They seemed to appreciate the thought.

Copyright 2020 Vic Socotra
http://www.vicsocotra.com