Seeing a helicopter being pushed off the side of a ship was a sight of war that the Navy crew members never expected to see. On October 18, 1974, at the age of twenty-one boatswain's mate, James Jump was departing for the second time from the Naval Station in San Diego. The USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) a command and communication anti-war ship was once again heading towards White Beach, Okinawa, "it's home away from home," (Dooley 3). Before leaving the safe waters of the United States, the Blue Ridge stopped at Pearl Harbor for a day of re-fueling and supply runs. The men did not know as they sailed past the remains of the USS Arizona, that they would soon be in a combat type action thousands of miles to the west.
             Hawaii was not the only stop that the Blue Ridge made that year. The ship also stopped in many overseas ports such as Yokosuka, Keelung (Taiwan), Manilla, Hong Kong, and Subic Bay ( Philippines). Jump remembers that many of the countries he visited did not have a middle class like the United States has. "The people were either very rich or very poor. Most of the people lived in shacks," states Jump. Every crew member aboard the ship had a favorite port and for Jump it was the Subic Bay port in the Philippines. "I enjoyed our time in the Philippines the best. There was always so much to do, even when we were at the Naval Base," recalls Jump. The lush mountains and tropical beauty of Subic Bay helped the crew relax and forget about all the stress and responsibilities that went along with being a member of the United States Navy.
             There were eleven different job divisions aboard the Blue Ridge. The divisions included every job from being a personnel man to a ship's serviceman. While on deployment Jump was a part of the First and Second Division, as a Boatswain's mate. " I basically did ship maintenance and things like that. Oh, we also had to stand watches on the bridge which were usually for four hours at a time, sometimes lo...