Posted on 08/31/2026 1:06:25 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
The Abraham Lincoln is due to dock on Wednesday at nearby Laem Chabang, with two accompanying Navy vessels, to allow nearly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard to rest and recuperate after over 200 days at sea,
Shore leave is typically staggered, meaning not all personnel will step off the vessels at the same time.
In Pattaya, a fishing village partly transformed into a tourism center on the back of U.S. service members seeking succour during the Vietnam War, some are hoping for a financial boost.
The overall commercial impact on Pattaya, which has over 300,000 rooms...
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
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"Prostitution is illegal in Thailand"...Who knew?
No one can leave the ship unless they can correctly pronounce the author’s name.
I guess in Thailand there’s a succour born every minute.
—”No one can leave the ship unless they can correctly pronounce the author’s name.”
Said a person named Chickenlips???
Not to worry, my hearing has been severely damaged since RVN, and I could be the official judge of the correct pronunciation.
"...Shore leave is typically staggered, meaning not all personnel will step off the vessels at the same time..."
Gee. I thought they just unleashed 5000 sailors from the carrier alone, sending them all ashore from the carrier and let them run wild!
Who writes this pap? Oh, someone for Reuters named "Panarat Thepgumpanat", that's who.
I remember when it was a fishing village. Utapao.
We lived in Bangkok from 61-63. Pattaya was a small beach town that was highly-favored by my high school classmates and me. I drove there on my motorcycle several dozen times, I think. Five bucks would get you a cottage for 2-3 days and nights.
Well. I have heard that liberty (not “shot leave” I NEVER heard anyone call it that) in today’s Navy is different than when I was in about 40 years ago.
Back then, we just got off the ship and ran away. Today, I am told you can only go ashore with an organized party. I get why with respect to terrorism and such, but things may have changed.
Shot leave...wtf would that be?
I see what you did there.
—”I thought they just unleashed 5000 sailors from the carrier alone, sending them all ashore from the carrier and let them run wild!”
Ever since that Guam problem came up, they have had to follow the Rep Hank Johnson rule, with a staggered start.
And many will naturally stagger back to the ship as their shore leave ends.
I was in Rhoda, Spain when an aircraft carrier docked. They totally trashed the hotel I was in. They kicked us all out of there.
I was on a little tin can, and some countries would only let half of us leave the ship.
There is no downside to liberty in Thailand. R U kidding me? That’s prime liberty.
Hahahahahaha love the Hank Johnson reference!
Although to be fair, many military people, including navy people from other ships, hated it when a carrier came into port!
Whilst in RVN, we had to show proof of possessing $200.00(?)
as part of receiving leave orders for R&R, lest the SP/MPs snag you for non-payment.
Utapao and Pattaya are not close.
Occasionally, we worked with Thais, who were very pleasant and easygoing.
Monsoon cold rain coming down in waves, sticky mud up to my knees, and the Thais were just smiling along...
There was the USA ship that was in Oslo for some time. One of the Norwegian airlines had an ad campaign when they left. “Missionary accomplished. See you in 9 months.”
I hated pulling in with a CVN. It was always a circus. Fortunately, it was pretty rare. The times I went to Thailand with a carrier we went to Phuket and the CVN went to Pattaya. I preferred Phuket anyway.
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