I was on one of her final crews. Did my mess cranking there and was a fireman in the forward boiler room. My first experience underway was avoiding Hurricane Hugo and was part of the LEO Ops efforts toward the end. I had the honor (though I didn't appreciate it at the time) of helping clean out the firesides as she started decomming.

Close to 30 years later, I just inked an anchor and the ship's crest. Couldn't be prouder to have served on such a great command.