My name is James Paul Hanks. AKA JP. JP was given to me in the Navy and has stuck with all this time.

I am single. Old as dirt. 51 years old. I'am 51 year old body with an 18 year old mind. That gets gets me in trouble.

Albuquerque, New Mexico is my place of birth.

I'm a now, "native" Calforian.

Been in the "San Diego" area over 20 years, now.

I brought, a brand new submarine to the Sub-base, in April of 1980. I have fallen in love with Chula Vista, Ca.

Chula Vista is just south of San Diego, Ca. Some, say that Chula Vista is part of San Diego.

I'm a Parade and Charger fan. That's if they are winning. Just kidding. I just hope and pray that they have a good season.

I'm retired military. I was in the Air Force, for 7 years and 13 years in the Navy. While in the Air Force I was with SAC, TAC and MAC. I was in Germany for 3 and half years. Returned to the US and be came a Loadmaster on a C-141 cargo plane. Flew all over the European theater.

Was out of the Air Force, for about a year. Enlisted in the Navy. 3 years on board a fast attack sub. U.S.S. La Jolla. Then shore command, then the U.S.S. Truxtun, Guided Missle Cursier, Naval Station, Coronado, that was a shore tour of duty, then my last command.

The U.S.S. Denver LPD-9, what we called a "Gator Freighter". The ship is a shallow draft ship. That means that we could get in close to land and drop off troops. It was a strange looking ship. Has a flight deck. The flight deck can land the largest helo, the Navy/Marines have. I should know, there was times when I throught I was going to eat rotor blade.

However there's another trick at the Denver could do. That was we could also discharge landing craft,LCU, LAC, that's a hoover craft, or rubber boats.

My last big mission, was Operation Desert Storm. The Denver was on station for 9 months. We were the last battle group to get there and the last one to leave.

So, you can say that my military career had it's ups and downs. Ha-Ha-Ha.
More to come.