Vinceisms Part 1

Credit: US National Archives. Technicians working on A-6s and EA-6s onboard the USS Ranger CV-61

Had we not been working in a secured area, I would have learned to follow my coworker Vince around with a tape recorder a long time ago. Vince was the Navy sailor I wish I could have been. He was embarked onboard the USS Ranger with VAQ-131 during the all Grumman cruise. He had worked around Grumman tech for the better part of his life. Most importantly for me, however, he was the guy who ended up making me come to terms with my own abysmal naval career. Vince was a great guy, and almost every day at work, we spent our time bonding over a shared love of Grumman.

If I can remember all of them, I’ll try to put together a little mini series of all of my favorite Vinceisms. So let’s start out with a classic. One morning during a shift turnover, I was bored and tired. The test I was running was chugging along without issue, and I was absentmindedly keeping one eye on it and one eye on some F-14 Airshow footage. I am nothing if not a creature of habit. At some point Vince came over and pulled up a chair next to me and started watching the airshow with me. Now, I don’t think we actually said anything to each other for about 10 minutes. We were just enjoying the show. At some point Vince turned to me and said “I think I just figured out what we’re doing”. As a chronic smart ass I probably thought to myself: “I know what we’re doing, I put on the damn video.” But I wouldn’t say that out loud, and sure as hell not to Vince. I looked at him quizzically for a second and he says “We’re watching Porn”. I died laughing on the spot.

He was right though. Vince had a pretty good read on why I loved that jet so much, and I think that was his way of saying that the two of us could have watched that video for hours and would have stayed on the edge of our seats the whole runtime. It remains one of my favorite moments I’ve had at the company so far.

If you check out our campaign page you’ll see our old CAG F-14B livery next to a VAQ-131 Prowler on the deck of the Ranger. I made that shot as kind of a gift to Vince, and as it would turn out, that would be one of the last things I’d get to gift to him. Vince left the company two years ago following health complications. I still talk to him every once in a while. A hilarious episode of the Tool Shack Podcast exists with him in it, where he shares some of his legendary Navy stories. Unfortunately I really botched the recording of that and it’s going to take a massive effort to recover the audio. I hope one day I can post it.

Until then, I’ve still got plenty of great Vinceisms

-Spaceman