NTC Orlando

[Fermi2]

I may be posting this in the incorrect forum, if so I apologize.

When I left NPS Orlando I was given a class picture along with a great picture of an overhead shot of "our" end of the base. It seems it's lost in our attic someplace. My little girl (well she's 11) has been showing a big interest in where Daddy went to Nuke school. I wanted to show her the actual base itself but it's gone. The closest I can find of a picture of the school is the shot taken just after the base closed. It's looking through the gate (opens on Bennett Street) by the part of the school where we spent our first 12 weeks. You can see some of the some of that portion of the school.

Does anyone have a good photo of NPS Orlando???

Mike

[Druid]

This isn't the best, but at Terraserver I zoomed in on a 1999 aerial photo of the area.

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=1&s=10&x=2338&y=15796&z=17&w=2

And this is a photo from 2002 part way thru the demolition.

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.aspx?t=4&s=12&x=584&y=3949&z=17&w=2

Hope this helps a little.

[Fermi2]

That's great man. THANKS (Although I didn't much like seeing her all toren down in picture 2.

Here's the one I mentioned.

http://www.overall.org/NTC-Orlando/15.JPG


Mike

[taterhead]

oh, the memories.

I miss school daze.

[Hoss]

I took my wife to field engineer's conference in 2003 in Orlando.  I knew the base was closed, but i wanted to show her where the school was.  I didn't know how deeply affected I was going to be until I could find no trace left of an important part of my life.  After driving through the new housing development, we went to go find some lunch.  I was almost as crushed to find out that Skeeter's restaurant doesn't exist anymore, either.

[War Eagle]

I took my wife to field engineer's conference in 2003 in Orlando.  I knew the base was closed, but i wanted to show her where the school was.  I didn't know how deeply affected I was going to be until I could find no trace left of an important part of my life.  After driving through the new housing development, we went to go find some lunch.  I was almost as crushed to find out that Skeeter's restaurant doesn't exist anymore, either.

I know what you mean.  I took the family to Disney in Jan 2005 and stopped by NTC; not a trace.  They do have a nice park with a fountain where the RTC grinders used to be.  Its called BlueJacket's Park.

[Gamecock]

Came across these pictures the other day....

For those of you that were Orlando RTC, NFAS, and NNPS alumni, I hope they bring back some fond memories (they did for me).

I was there for Boot camp starting 10 October 1990 and I left after graduating from nuke school the day before Thanksgiving 1991.


Enjoy

http://overall.org/NTC-Orlando/ntc.html

[JustinHEMI05]

Nice find, thanks! What is there now, if anything? Last time I looked at google earth of the area it was bare.

Justin

[Fermi2]

A huge subdivision with a bunch of million dollar homes. They're packed together real tight. It's been that way since at least late 2003.

Mike

[G-reg]

Wow!  Doesn't that bring back some memories?  I still remember stepping off the plane and piling into the bus bound for RTC Orlando on that hotter-than-hell day back in July (of 1987, of course...).

Thanks for cranking up the ol' Way Back Machine!  

 - Greg

[JustinHEMI05]

A huge subdivision with a bunch of million dollar homes. They're packed together real tight. It's been that way since at least late 2003.

Mike

Never understood why folks would spend hundreds of thousands or millions on a house then pack it into a tight area with other similar houses. Would be cool to see though, but I don't see myself ever going to Florida again.

Justin

[Wirebiter]

Great pictures.  Boot camp had been closed for a few years by the time I got there.  Those pictures still bring back a lot of memories. 

Here is a little more info on old NTC, with a little info on what was built in its place.

http://www.cfhf.net/orlando/military/ntc.htm

-Rob

[anthonyalsup]

I was actually in that last Power School class to graduate from Orlando (9806).  Can't believe that was 10 years ago.  By the time we left, that place was a ghost town.  They had already started knocking down the old RTC and Yeoman school side.  I think they locked it up when we hit the gate.

[blackballedsnake]

I did my boot and BEEPers school there. (fall '85-spring '86)  I joined up as a conventional ET. (I was actually qualified to go "nuke"...but chose the other option.)  Go figger, I ended up in the biz anyway!  Anyhoo...My barracks was across the way from the Navy Nuke barracks. Them guyz had some cool R.C. "projects" that would zip around the grounds and parking lots!  On the other hand, the stresses from the nuke school took their tolls...a sailor committed suicide, and several "stress related" incidences occurred.    I had returned to Florida 18 years later (2004) for a little "getaway" in Clearwater.  My traveling companions wanted to go to Orlando to hook up with some old friends.  I couldn't believe my eyes!!  What happened to all of the orange groves that were due west of Orlando!!    WOW! I have a lot of good memories of the 'ol RTC/NTC.    Have times changed that much in only 18 years??  I suppose so, eh?  Peace!

[Wirebiter]

I was actually in that last Power School class to graduate from Orlando (9806).  Can't believe that was 10 years ago.  By the time we left, that place was a ghost town.  They had already started knocking down the old RTC and Yeoman school side.  I think they locked it up when we hit the gate.

I heard stories that everything was shut down.  Not even the E-club or the exchange was operating.  Was the galley even open then?
Did they have one of your classmates turn the lights out as they left the building, ?

-Rob

[Wirebiter]

Part of the old base was converted into a yuppy paradise called Baldwin Park.  I looked through some of these photos, and the one with the tree caught my attention.  Does that look like the one that used to be outside the E-club? 
There is also a middle school on the grounds, so at least somebody is still getting educated there.

They named the park "Blue Jacket Park".  I wonder how many people hear that and go..."what the hell is a bluejacket!?"

http://www.baldwinparkfl.com/web/photogallery.asp

-Rob

[JustinHEMI05]

Wow, pretty nice!

Justin

[mooredee13]

Inquiring minds want to know: is The Foxhole (strip club outside the back gate) still open?!?!?!

[LaFeet]

Amazing how things have changed... I was in 8102 Nuke class.. also did my Boot and 1st half of BEE school in Orlando.

I remember roller skating the walkways and circle around Nuke School... ahhh the early drunken times of my life... no concerns about cholesterol, cardiac arrest, body fat percentage or aids..... 

Wonder how much money the Government lost out on the property value??

[Loffy Muffin]

I lived in Orlando when they leveled the old NTC.  the only way I knew where I was at was based on the "lakes".  They put in these overpriced condos going for 300k and up.  Joke. 

Foxhole?  Nice place.  I think I gave one of the dancers there a buck to lay a lip-lock on my unsuspecting buddy.  Those dancers would do anything and I mean anything.  Never went home without a smile from that place.  Of course, all of OBT was like that.  anything goes...all you can drink for 5 bucks.  they didn't enforce DUI or open containers back then.  Getting hammered nightly, driving around in a jeep with a case on ice was SOP.   Never gave it a second thought to drink and drive.

Foxhole is long gone.  OBT is just dumpy and about as much fun as a stick in the eye.  Rosie OGradys used to be a good place to pick up unsuspecting tourists chicks that didn't know how deranged us swabbies were.  that place went Bankrupt, not sure what happened to it. It was just sitting there closed. 

[xobxdoc]

Rosies went belly up when Pleasure Island at Disney and City Walk at Universal opened.

[ScottCandelore]

Wow!  Doesn't that bring back some memories?  I still remember stepping off the plane and piling into the bus bound for RTC Orlando on that hotter-than-hell day back in July (of 1987, of course...).

Yes, memories of "back in the day" -- photos are a trip down memory lane.

[Creeker]

Couple memories... Out on Hwy 50, West of Semoran, was a Mazda dealership, where I bought my first car, a little 626.  Tony Diamond was the salesman, as smooth as they came, and we read later in the Orlando Slatinal that he was busted in some kind of coke deal.

Next, anyone remember Hot Dog Heaven out on 50, or the Chili Bordello?  Palm trees, cool breezes, and muggy weather... Oh, and the 49th Aero-squadron restaurant, out by that little executive airport.  And last, but not least, Rachel's, out by Sam's club.  The exception to the rule that you should never eat the buffet at a strip club!  

AND.... A place called Dixie Crossroads, with Rock Shrimp, out by Titusville. 

[NukeLDO]

the Wunderbar in the mall (real german beer and brats)
The Thirsty Gator (coldest longnecks, great gumbo, and oysters on the 1/2 shell as fast you could could suck them down)
Negril Cove...the best in reggae every Friday night

[anthonyalsup]

The rock shrimp at Dixie Crossroads was ridiculous.  I'm glad you brought that up.  I've been trying to remember the name of that place.