Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
In a world where storytelling has been our link to the past since the days of cave drawings, there exists a timeless tradition. It's the art of passing down knowledge, and for Military Veterans, it's a crucial piece of their legacy. Join us on the Veterans Archives Podcast, where we dive deep into the heartwarming and awe-inspiring stories of those who served, no matter when or where.
Here, Veterans get the chance to be the authors of their own narratives. Through guided interviews in a relaxed and safe environment, they paint their experiences with their own words and unique voices. The result? A memory card in a presentation box, a precious gift they can share however they please.
But that's not all. These stories find a secure home in our archive, a treasure chest of experiences for future generations to explore. The best part? It's all a gift to the Veteran – our way of saying thank you for their service.
Tune in to the Veterans Archives Podcast, where history, heroism, and heartwarming tales come to life.
Veterans Archives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please visit our website for more information. www.veteransarchives.org
Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
Finding Your Path: Andy Usborne's Journey Through Service and Beyond
The winding path from military service to civilian success often reveals surprising connections. In this captivating conversation, Navy veteran Andy Usborne shares how his service aboard the USS Mobile transformed both the ship and his future career prospects.
Growing up as one of six brothers in rural New York, Andy was surrounded by family on all sides - his grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins all lived down the same road. This tight-knit Italian-American community shaped his early years before he and a childhood friend decided to enlist in the Navy together to "see the world" in 1976. Little did Andy know that his assignment to a troubled amphibious cargo ship would become a turning point in his life.
When Andy reported to the USS Mobile, its reputation was so poor that other ships would take bets on whether it could make it under the Coronado Bay Bridge under its own power. Within a year, Andy and his shipmates transformed it into the squadron flagship, earning every Battle "E" efficiency award possible. More importantly, the technical skills he gained working with automated propulsion systems would perfectly prepare him for his civilian career.
After discharge, Andy leveraged his Navy training to secure a position at Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which led to a 35-year career with Honeywell in industrial automation. "The training I got in the Navy set me up perfectly for what I did at Honeywell," Andy explains. His willingness to make bold moves - relocating his family multiple times between California and New York before finally settling in Michigan - opened doors he never anticipated.
Today, Andy channels his energy into Veterans Connected, a nonprofit serving veterans who fall through the cracks of other support systems. Since 2019, they've provided nearly $750,000 in assistance, focused on preventing veteran suicide by removing key stressors. "We're the last stop," Andy says. "When all else fails, we'll take care of it."
If you've ever wondered how military experience translates to civilian success, or how one person can make a difference in the lives of fellow veterans, this episode offers powerful insights into both questions. Check out veteransconnected.org to learn more about Andy's current mission.
Today is Wednesday, may 28th 2025. We're here with Andy Usborne, who served in the United States Navy. Good morning, andy. Hey how are you doing Great, Great to have you here today. So first question, pretty simple when and where were you born?
Speaker 2:I was born in Oneida, new York, april 10th 1958. All right, so did you grow up there? Yep, actually, I was born in Oneida city hospital and, uh, uh, my parents were living in, uh, cheryl, new York the smallest city in the state incorporated city, I guess and uh, shortly after I was born, we moved into a house that my mom and dad, uh, they, they built uh on on some land that my grandfather owned.
Speaker 1:You know, when people talk about New York, they don't think about rural New York, and that's what this is right?
Speaker 2:No yeah, very rural, surrounded by dairy farms.
Speaker 1:Okay, Now do you have brothers and sisters? I have five brothers, no sisters.
Speaker 2:Oh, good Lord, your parents were busy. Yes, they were. I was just talking to someone about this last night and in some of our family reunions and in some of our family reunions just our immediate family we start talking and reminiscing about things that went on when we grew up and sometimes my mom has to leave the table because she doesn't want to hear it.
Speaker 1:We joke about that at the holidays, right, we tell the stories that mom never heard. Yeah, right, she doesn't want to hear them either. So where'd you fall in the food chain on all that?
Speaker 2:So I was number five of six. So I had all my older brothers to teach me what I wasn't going to do. Not that I did things, you know, I did other stuff but I always told myself I'm not going to do it that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you watch the result and decide that's not what you're going to do. Yeah right, I'll do it differently. Yeah well, did you did? So I gotta ask did you like live up to the baby of the family, kind of thing?
Speaker 2:for a while, until my younger brother was born. Yeah, yeah, he was born in 64.
Speaker 1:I think it was 63 okay, yeah, all right, and I just kind of blew it all out of the water for you, right? Yeah, well, good. So what was it? So tell me little bit, what was it like growing up with all those brothers?
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you what I have to feel that my upbringing was a unique situation because we lived on land that my grandfather owned, who lived like two houses down. My next-door neighbors were my aunt and uncle and cousins, and a few houses down was my other aunt and uncle and cousins and uh down further on some of the farms. They were, uh, relatives by marriage, you know, kind of removed, so it was like almost all family. Um, at one point, uh, we all went to the same high school. At one point, I think we all played football and like half the team was related. You know, it wasn't that small of a town or anything, but still it was just the way it worked out, you know.
Speaker 1:Sounds like your family was a force to be reckoned with.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it was a lot of fun. Everybody knew us, you know, just like your family was a force to be reckoned with. Oh yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun. Uh, everybody knew us, you know, just because of that. My grandfather, uh was my mom's dad, uh came over from italy in uh, 1910, I think it was 1909. Uh, he was a farmer, so he grew a lot of crops and everything, and strawberries was his thing, so he had a huge strawberry farm. One of my earliest recollections is picking strawberries during the summer, all summer long, for, you know, selling them in the market and stuff like that you can get hot there too, can't you?
Speaker 1:Oh yes, very hot, I'll bet. I'll bet. Well, you know, it sounds like family was very important to you. Can you tell me a little about your parents and what they did and how that was?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, like I said, my mom grew up two doors down, you know. So, italian family. My grandfather, like I said, came over in 1909, worked for a while, then went back to Italy in 1909. Uh, worked for a while, then went back to italy and, as the story goes, how my mom tells it, he went to his little town in italy and said hey, I'm going back to america. Who wants to go? I don't have any pick, anybody picked out. My grandmother said I'll go. And that's the way it worked out.
Speaker 2:A great marriage proposal oh yeah yes, she always uh, said later on that she wishes there was a bridge from you know uh, america to italy, but uh, yeah. So, um, I was fortunate to at one point go back to ellis island and go to ellis island, uh, get all the records from my grandfather coming over. So I have the uh picture of the ship they came over on and, uh, you know, the um manifest with his name on it and all that stuff. So it's pretty interesting. But, yeah, so growing up with my family all around us was, uh, it was unique, I think, um, and most of us were all boys. You know, I think I have one, yeah, my cousin Denise, poor Denise. Oh, yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:No one to play with Well it was interesting because, going through high school and everything, she knew how to handle guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she probably knows what makes them tick.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:Well, speaking of school, talk to me a little bit about what was it like going to school for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I mean I went to Vernon, verona, Sherrill Central High School and, as the name says, it's made up of three different communities. Vernon was a horse racing community there's a harness racing there, so a lot of horse people. Verona was predominantly dairy farmers, so a lot of dairy folks. And then Sherrill was the city. Sherrill is noted for making Oneida community silverware. So if you get any flatware and all that stuff, it was one of the major producers of flatware and silverware in the United States at the time and both my parents worked there. A lot of my brothers worked there. I never had the pleasure.
Speaker 1:Well, it's funny you say that because you said Oneida and I'm like why is this in the back of my head? I remember on the old Price is Right show. That would be one of the gifts.
Speaker 2:And they would talk all about it.
Speaker 1:I never realized. That's where it came from yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, so high school was a amalgamation of a lot of different folks from different backgrounds and you know experiences. It was a great school and we had some great teachers, um, and you know, I mean everybody played sports and did whatever, and so it was a lot of fun. You know I played football, uh, wrestled a little bit, did the track a little bit, and yeah, yeah, what about, what about?
Speaker 1:like actual school? Uh, how was that for you?
Speaker 2:uh, you know, uh, I think my graduating class was 265 and honestly I think I was like 110. I was your average student, as average as you can be top of the bell curve. You know, right, smack in the middle.
Speaker 1:Wow, so you, uh, you go to high school, you graduate. Um, what happens next?
Speaker 2:Um, so, a friend of mine, uh, dan Althaus. I've known him since kindergarten. Uh, there are three or four folks that I've kept in touch with, literally known since kindergarten, and we've kind of followed each other throughout our our lives and everything. Um, but yeah, uh, you know, it was.
Speaker 2:It was. It was an interesting time, you know. Um I uh. It was right after Vietnam. So my friend Dan and I said well, you know, he didn't want to go to school, I didn't want to go to school, we kind of want to see the world. So we decided let's join the Navy. So in November of 75, we both enlisted together. On the delayed enlistment, went in, literally reported to boot camp two days after I graduated.
Speaker 2:And that was 76 I think that's. My only regret in life is like I should have stayed around for the bicentennial, because I spent that in boot camp oh god, yeah, yeah, I was.
Speaker 1:It was 11 years old during the bicentennial. I missed the big party. Yeah, you did well, you're in another party of sorts. Yeah, I guess yeah, and so did you go in. Did you go in on the buddy program?
Speaker 2:then, yeah, we did yeah, we went through boot camp together and, uh, he decided he wanted to sail in those little black tubes. So he went subs and I said, no, I gotta get up and see the sky. It takes a special person to be honest oh yes, and he was a special.
Speaker 1:He is a special person that's amazing, though, having a friendship that's lasted that long. I have friendships from high school and maybe junior high, but I don't really know anybody from my grade school, yeah.
Speaker 2:There's several of us that graduated all together and went through all of school and life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I want to ask you a question too. My dad worked in the automotive industry here in Michigan and, um, one of one of the things that drove me to join the military when I did was that, you know, his job put a roof over head, fed us all that stuff but I saw what it, how it impacted him, and so I told myself I'm never going to do that kind of work, is that?
Speaker 2:was that part of of of you? Yeah, I think so because, uh, like I said, many people in my family and extended family um worked at when I limited great company really treated its employees well, um, but it's like that's the only game in town really, you know, and um, I really, really had that itch to get out there and I did not want to spend another two or four years in school waiting for that to happen. I had to get out and get out you know get on with it and the navy was my choice.
Speaker 2:Um, they had uh a rating that really suited me well. Interior communications it was a lot of uh anything that's communications on board the ship, not external. So closed circuit tv was my thing. I said, hey, let's do that, you know, and so that's what I got into yeah, and at some point that turned.
Speaker 1:I don't know how they did it, like in the 70s, because I don't think videotape was much of a thing, but like I remember they had the closed circuit television, they would pop in you know vhs tapes that got flown out to the ship and that's what we would watch right, right.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah, I went through that training. Uh-huh, uh, that was my c school, for my first year was all training, right, go to the a school and then c school and then C school and, for the needs of the Navy, they sent me to a ship that didn't even have it. Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. I want to back up just a little bit. And that is what was like your first impression. First of all, where did you go to basic training? Great Lakes oh, awesome. First of all, where did you go to basic training Great Lakes oh, awesome. All right, so tell me, like when you got off the train or got off the bus, what was your first impression of being there?
Speaker 2:so one of my older brothers, jim he was in the Navy went to Great Lakes. So he kind of laid it all out for me. I kind of knew what I was getting into was not a surprise. My dad was really deep into the American Legion and they had started a sons of the American Legion uh outfit, their unit, and I was the first commander. So at the tender age of 17, I was leading a group of people already you know, and so it wasn't, it wasn't really surprising for me.
Speaker 1:Oh, so this was just something you needed to go through, though, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. It was the yeah, exactly, exactly. Put it correctly.
Speaker 1:It's just that's what you got to do, so and and also I want to back up too, because you said you guys joined the navy and saw the world, and that was actually like their recruiting poster right, join the navy, see the world. Absolutely, and it's not a lie.
Speaker 2:You really do. I did, I was very fortunate. Yeah, I look back on it and I think had I gone to and followed through with the closed circuit TV program, I would have ended up on the aircraft carrier. That's where we go. You know, I look back on it. I count my blessings, because it really was. I got into the amphibious Navy. I got on an LKA, which is essentially just a big, huge cargo ship. We carried the Marines and all their stuff and took them wherever they needed to go. But because it was big, I got to take my little 10 speed bike with me wherever we went as well. So port calls and everything, and knock back a few beers the first day and if I could get off on land a second day, then I'd take my bike and go cycling and I saw a lot of things.
Speaker 1:Many people didn't yeah, a lot of great people do different perspective from the seat of a bike right oh yeah, absolutely yeah. What was it like getting to that ship for the first time uh, a lot bigger than I thought it was.
Speaker 2:you know, I had my older brother, jim uh, was on an old DD from the Korean War era and they said, yeah, stand by for heavy rolls. And my dad was on an LST, so another kind of small ship, flat bottom and everything. So, yeah, coming to Mobile, I was surprised how big it was.
Speaker 1:Now did you do your A school and your C school at Great Lakes?
Speaker 2:No, c school was in San Diegogo, so I went great lakes boot camp out to san diego, back to great lakes for uh c school and then back to san diego for the ship okay, yeah, and then how long were you on on this particular ship? So uh, probably about four years, I, I think Okay, from uh June 77 till uh November 81. All right, and what ship was it Uh Mobile LKA one one five Okay.
Speaker 1:After Mobile, alabama Yep, yeah, all right. Well, let's talk about your time on that ship, um, and, and I think it's interesting that you took your bike and you you did something that a lot of people didn't do, and so let's talk about that. It sounds really interesting.
Speaker 2:Well, like I said, first, reporting to the ship Mobile has a unique history. The keel was laid down in 68, right out of the Vietnam War, right, the Vietnam War right. So one of the main operations it was tasked with was the evacuation of Vietnam. That's before I got to the ship. It was Operation Frequent Wind, but a lot of the folks that were on the ship when I first reported were part of that operation and so they talked a lot about that.
Speaker 2:It was a different crew for sure, um, but it was awful also a different time. So after the war ended things got kind of lackadaisical on the ship and I guess in the navy and in general, um, mobile uh was a difficult ship at that time because they, like I said, the crew was just done with it. You know, other ships on the pier used to take bets to see if Mobile would make it under the Coronado Bay Bridge under its own power, because apparently there was a lot of times it didn't. They'd have to tow it back, yeah. So it's like, oh man, what am I getting?
Speaker 2:into, because apparently there was a lot of times it didn't, they'd have to tow it back, yeah. So it's like, oh man, what am I getting into? But at that time I reported in with a bunch of other folks that you know, this is our ship, you know we're going to take care of it. So, within the span of a year really, we turned that ship around. Myself and a whole bunch of other great folks had a can-do attitude and we, we took care of it and uh, that ship uh became the, uh the flagship for the squadron. Um, you know, during our refresher training and you know all the training we have to go through in order to deploy um, we uh got every single battle e you can get. You know all the engineering, gunnery, seamanship, uh, communications, the whole nine yards. So we did a clean sweep and it was uh really turned that ship around so did you see the culture of the ship change like like?
Speaker 1:I always think of the detroit lions when I think about this right yeah once you got the stink of loss off of you, like, there's this whole different level that happens and it changes everybody.
Speaker 2:That's part of that organization right, right, absolutely, absolutely, from every man down. It was like you take pride in yourself, you take pride in your ship, you take pride in the navy. You know that's exactly the way it was and, uh, really, people really excelled. And I mean, when you have that e on your stack and you know all the rest of that stuff, it's like, yeah, that's mobile it means something it really does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. I agree I was on a destroyer, uh, coons class destroyer. But yes, we earned the battle e and it was a. I didn't understand what the big deal was, but as I developed in my time in the military that's, I completely understood how important that was and you could see a change in the group. Yeah, when they started achieving things right yeah, so where did you go on your on your first deployment then.
Speaker 2:So the first deployment, of course we hit hawaii, and that's where we pick up our marines at. And then, uh, okinawa, um, I think, japan. After that down to Korea, down to Singapore, I think on the way to Singapore. Just after that, we crossed the equator. So it started out as a polywagon, became a shell back then in 78. And then floating around in the middle, out there South China Sea, and all that.
Speaker 1:So did you get to paddle around a lot of the places that you went to at that time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, interesting note. I think the first time in Singapore I got on the bike and went out of the city proper and I was just going down some it was a fairly major road for for that time I guess and um, there weren't any, a lot you know, cities or anything, a lot of little villages and stuff. So I pulled off at a roadside, uh stand, I guess it would be trying to get something to drink and eat. And uh, people came up. Everybody speaks english, so you know you're by yourself. I said, yeah Well, you know there's still tigers out here, what?
Speaker 1:do you mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you know, I don't know Bengal tigers or something, you know Malaysia.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Well, I haven't seen any and hopefully I can ride faster than they can run.
Speaker 1:You don't want to be a snack for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, and they can run. You don't want to be a snack for them? Yeah right. So I don't know if they're saying that to uh scare me away or whatever, but oh yeah, yeah, so was that just that?
Speaker 1:was that a six month deployment, though? Yeah? Okay yeah, and then you, uh, you come back. Now. You were in san diego, okay, so you come back. Interesting thing about san diego too Um, I took my daughter to California for her senior trip and I wanted to show her where I went to basic training. Only, it's not there anymore. Yeah, it's a big subdivision in a shopping mall. Yeah, right, so all that stuff's gone, yep.
Speaker 2:So yeah.
Speaker 1:So was that the only ship that you were on, or were you? Did you, uh, were you on other ships?
Speaker 2:So on other ships. So during my active enlistment yeah, that was the only ship I was on um, I got out and kind of missed it after a while. So I took a year and, uh, went in the reserves and I was on the george phillip fg 13 okay, and where? Was that out of? That was out of long beach oh okay, all right.
Speaker 1:So when you got out after your first enlistment, then did you stay. You stay in California.
Speaker 2:I did. I just told this story. The other day the Mobile had a reunion. I couldn't make it, but we were talking about that online and literally probably about six months before my enlistment ended, the ship was reserved at that time and in Long Beach, part of the reserve component that was attached to Mobile some of the guys worked at the shipyard right there Long Beach Naval Shipyard and I got to talking to some of these guys. You should go over and apply for a job. You know they're looking for people. So about six months before I was discharged, I literally walked over the employment office, fill out the application and send it in and got a reply back yeah, they want to talk to you. Okay, go over there and interview with the folks. Yeah, well, when's your last day? I told them I was, you know, I think it was like november 23rd. I'll take a week off and you can report in. So I did. I literally took all my stuff, got an apartment in town and, uh, started working the naval shipyard as a electronics measurement equipment mechanic.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh well and I'm sure that the training got is interior communications. Everything I was doing while I served I did at the shipyard right, and so I talked to a lot of people who get out and then go to work in a similar job, um, and there's a big difference in pay oh yeah and uh, yeah, so I think that it was fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'll bet.
Speaker 1:I'll bet so you. You did that for a year but you missed. You kind of missed that.
Speaker 2:I did? Um, yeah, it was uh. I mean, I was fortunate in that I've sailed on a lot of different ships doing sea trials and everything. Every every time I worked on a ship I wanted to go on the sea trial on it, so you know. But it was like, yeah, I must put her on that uniform. So I did that for a year and that was enough, you know.
Speaker 1:Well I think some people don't know this that when a ship gets either refitted or is a new ship, there's a ton of civilians that go out for quite a while with that ship. In fact, I remember we had a civilian that went on our six-month deployment with us, because they do take a lot of ownership in what they do, and it sounds like that's what you did as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:And you worked on everything from what frigates all the way up.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, the biggest ship was probably LHA, the Polo Lou Tarawa, millwood.
Speaker 1:Wow, all familiar names. Actually. That's funny, yeah, so what was it like, going back in kind of in the reserve capacity?
Speaker 2:um, it was different again, uh, the. During the time I was in we had those funky uh uniforms that uh were more like a chief's uniform, you know, with the combination cap and all that stuff. And I said, man, this is just not the navy I was thinking of. You know, I want, I want those. You know, the uh crackerjack uniform, you know, yeah. So I think that's why I went back in with the reserves.
Speaker 1:I wanted that uniform honestly I still have mine somewhere around here. Yeah, it doesn't fit anymore likewise yeah, yeah, it's too bad, so yeah. So you, uh, you ended up on a.
Speaker 2:You said a frigate yeah, fast, yeah, yeah, uh. So the work I was doing in the shipyard had to do with a lot of um propulsion controls. That's what I did at the mobile, you know, as I said, you know the ship didn't have close-fitting TV, but it did have automated propulsion system. So that's interesting, you could be up on the bridge, dial in I want to go I don't know 15 knots, let's say dial that in and the propulsion plant would automatically come up to speed. Supposedly that system never worked, okay, but a lot of the ancillary controls that would help at work did, and so that's what I took care of. We had one main propulsion space with boiler and all the turbo generators, reduction gear and all that. So instead of having a boiler room, engine room, it was all one space. So I worked on all that stuff with BTs and MMs and engine men and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:So yeah, Well, and I think when people hear communications in a job, they don't realize it's communications between systems too, not just the 1MC or the telephone system.
Speaker 2:Right, absolutely. I didn't hardly ever touch those systems the gyro I still gyro watch. But after I got certified with that because I worked with the diesel engines as well, the diesel generators and all that equipment. So I got generator certified as well on the diesel. So it's like you know, I did more of that stuff than I did actual, you know, typical.
Speaker 1:IC work Right, right, well, and so at the time you were in was like the surface warfare um yeah, they just started that before I got out, so I was gonna qualify for that.
Speaker 2:But uh, I I took the ic1 test, e6 test, passed it. They delayed the promotions six months, I think it was, and I got the offer from the shipyard and it's like I'm walking.
Speaker 1:I don't blame you. So how long do you serve in the reserves?
Speaker 2:a year okay yeah, all right I didn't realize they had.
Speaker 1:Like you could just do it for a year and, if you liked it, yes well, yeah, they kind of frowned upon it.
Speaker 2:but well, yeah, what are? Yeah, that that ship was just turned over to the reserves at that time, in fact, I well, that's one of our. The first things I did was the uh, actual transfer ceremony and all that.
Speaker 1:Okay, so yeah, and so you so did, you, you stayed how long did you stay at the shipyard?
Speaker 2:uh, when reagan brought back those battleships, I uh worked on missouri and new jersey, both of those. I went on all the sea trials on both of those ships and you have not lived until you did a full broadside with those 16-inch guns. It is phenomenal, but that was during Reagan's time and Clinton followed and he said Nah, we don't really need that. So they closed the base and the shipyard down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was quite a reduction in force at that time. In fact, when I got out of the Navy I actually got out early because of the reduction in force in the 90s. So the shipyard what happens after the shipyard closes? Where do you go from there?
Speaker 2:So I actually my wife and I decided me being from central New York and we have kids now and living in in long beach la not the choice place to raise kids. So, uh, we moved back to where I grew up all right.
Speaker 1:Before we got there, you got married somewhere along the way yeah, I got.
Speaker 2:I met this woman right before I got out of the service and that's an interesting story, because I never intended to get married. I was riding my bike. My intention was to ride cross country I had the on my bike.
Speaker 2:I was going to file follow the bicentennial trail, which is a well planned out route. A lot of people do it. I had hooked up with some other cycling friends that, yeah, let's, let's do it. We got all the gear together and everything else. I'm about to go on this trek and my mom and dad said look, you got a government job. You better keep that job, because there's nothing here. United Limited was on its way out. There was an Air Force base Griffiths Air Force Base in Rome, new York, that was closing. There's nothing for you here. What are you going to do? I said well, I guess I'll keep the government job.
Speaker 2:So just before I got out, I met my wife and she was just getting out of a divorce. She did not want to get tied down again. She had a couple of kids and yeah, we were both both. It was very funny because we had met at a barbecue and we you know small talk and everything. Um, quite honestly, uh, there was no physical attraction there, you know no spark huh, she just got through having a baby, and you know how that goes.
Speaker 2:You know women, you know it's like they're not in their prime, you know, um, but she, her personality intrigued me. She was really a nice person, you know. So we met at another barbecue and um got to know each other. And then, uh, my buddy and I, doug Doug was a BT and we were getting out at the same time and so we said let's throw a party up in the hills above la um. So that turned into a division party, and so the ship kind of kicked in um, you know ham and bread and kind of that kind of stuff, and we just provided tons of alcohol, you know. And so we went up in the hills, not so we wouldn't get in any trouble.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And uh just tore loose and uh, my wife and I got to know each other over, uh, uh, a bonfire, you know the talking and everything. And um, I told her, well, you know, where do you live, you know. And uh, she told me I said, well, stop by. So it was like a couple of days later stopped by to her apartment and uh, got to know each other after a while and, you know, decided, yeah, that's what we ought to do. We lived together for a year and got married after that.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, all right, well, and you know it's funny that. So how long have you been married? Now 43 years, okay. So I I don't know if you've noticed this like sometimes, like especially in the military, like when you meet somebody, um, in the military, immediately you'll like strike up this friendship. It usually doesn't last that long. Like you get to know them and like, oh boy, um, but then there's always that person like you just can't stand each other or whatever, and then all of a sudden you know you guys are best friends and you're friends forever, and I think sometimes that's the same in a relationship.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting because, uh, I was married before. Obviously, she was married before Um, and the woman I first married, um, I knew from high school. We went to actually, uh, rival schools but, um, yeah, so I knew her for like a year and a half, two years, and we decided to get married. Uh, when I came out to san diego she would have none of it. That marriage lasted 58 days. Oh, my gosh, got it annulled and it's like, yeah, I think we're better friends.
Speaker 1:Starter marriage yeah, really wow. 58 days, this gotta be some kind of record.
Speaker 2:I don't know about that, but still it was like, yeah, we both realized this is not the right thing.
Speaker 1:So your wife had two children before you got married, and then did you have children.
Speaker 2:We had one between us. Yeah, okay all right.
Speaker 1:So then nuclear family what was?
Speaker 2:it yeah.
Speaker 1:Three and a half kids or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, so you were married just as you were getting out, uh I met her just before I got out, just before you got out.
Speaker 1:I got married a year after okay, all right, so you're working at the shipyard at this time and in the reserves, that kind of thing, okay. And then, uh, so the so the shipyard closes and uh, so, so, yeah, so what happens now? So we've got kind of the back story of how you got married. She kind of just threw that in there, I'm like wait a minute. So yeah, so you're married. Your placement and employment's closing. And now what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, the Department of Defense had an outplacement service and all that kind of stuff. Like, oh, you could go work for the fea. They gave me a position, or they offered a position with the fea out in oklahoma city and I said no, I'm not going to take that one.
Speaker 2:Uh, there was one out at um. Uh, edwards and hindsight I probably should have taken that one, cause I probably could have made the rest of my government career there at Edwards air force base. That was. They were just starting the shuttle uh program, so the shuttle was landing there, nasa's big out there and we uh, you know we were doing a lot of work for Ness anyways with instrumentation. But I said no, I'm dealing with the government as well. So picked up roots, literally went to New York without a job and hooked up with Honeywell. I spent 37, 35 years with Honeywell.
Speaker 1:Wow, Wow. And so what did you do at Honeywell?
Speaker 2:years with Honeywell, wow, wow. And so what did you do at Honeywell? You know what I learned in the Navy set me up perfectly for what I did in Honeywell. I learned industrial automation. I worked in industrial automation for 35 years. If you think of that, show how it's Made. I've been into so many facilities watching all that stuff made. I know how it's made. Now I didn't work on all that stuff, I just worked on like automation type things and I my hat's off to industrial engineers. Those guys are like brilliant, they can take here's where we're going to take the raw material and this is what's going to end up and everything in between. Those guys figure it out, you know. So I only had a small piece of that, but if it was temperature, pressure and vacuum control, that's what I did well now, did you?
Speaker 1:did you ever go back? Did you ever go? Not back, but did you ever go to college then and get your degree?
Speaker 2:you know I did. I went and got a, an as in electronics technology at long beach city college, go vikings, and then you know life, life got in the way, and that's when AS in electronics technology at Long Beach City College, go Vikings, and then you know, life got in the way and that's when we moved to New York. And so, yeah, I went back to school after we moved from New York back to LA again after seven years there and I finished off my degree.
Speaker 1:So something that someone listening to this might take from this part of the conversation is that the training you got in the military really did, like you said, set you up for success. The degree part was just kind of like I should probably do this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, you knew what you were doing.
Speaker 1:You had the ability One, you had the skill set just because of who you are, but also the. The navy really gave you that training absolutely I.
Speaker 2:I count myself so fortunate, like I said, even from the very beginning, when they said, yeah, you're going to a ship that doesn't have the system right, you know, my life is done great, but but it, you know, and it's just like we talked about earlier. You know, you take that as that supposed to hit and it's like you turn that into something just like that, the mobile in itself. We turned it into something you know. And learning automated propulsion.
Speaker 2:I knew the basics of industrial automation before I got with Honeywell. It was just like, yeah, just continuing on in the private sector, um, so they didn't have to teach me much, you know, I had to learn their way of doing things and their equipment. But, yeah, I started out on single loop controllers controlling a big furnace and then went on to, at the end of my career, uh, as a technician anyways, uh, working in refineries and the only thing my um degree got me was into management, which is what I wanted to do anyways. Really, I mean, I carried around a tool bag all my working life and as you get older, it's like, yeah, kind of done with that too.
Speaker 1:So time to train the younger generation. Yeah exactly so so honeywell moved you from new york back to long beach they didn't, I left.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, I uh, I tried to, uh, tried to transfer out there. They said they didn't have any position. This story is another story in itself. I count myself so blessed and I see God working through all of this, you know, because I tried to get a transfer and they said, no, we don't have anything going on. So, you know, check later. And it got to the point I was a project manager at that time and I was handling three projects. I was living in Southern New York and Binghamton and I was handling a project in Syracuse and Albany and Orangeburg, New York, which is just north of New York City. So I was making this big triangular loop and it was like I'm getting burned out. You know I can't do all this and I'd had enough. My wife wanted to go back to LA or Long Beach. You know, the kids were older and you know New York's fun.
Speaker 2:But there's really nothing to do, yeah, and I said, okay, we're going. So fortunate I'd saved up enough to go three months without a job if I had to, but I didn't want to. Picked up everything, sold a bunch of stuff and threw it into the biggest u-haul you can tow behind an aerostar van and we headed back west, wow. So I still kept in touch, trying to, you know, get a job together. Before I got there and um checked with the Honeywell office in LA and they said, well, we may have something for you, so keep in touch. So in Oklahoma city they said, yeah, yeah, a guy just put in his retirement paperwork, we may have something going on for you.
Speaker 2:So I think it was either Tucumcari or Las Cruces, I can't remember where we iced the deal and said, yep, we're good, here's your compensation and you'll start on this date and we're going to count your month off as just time without pay. You start up right where you start left. You get a $10,000 pay increase because you're going from a small town in New York to LA, so price differential there. So my pay took a jump. And that's where I got into refining and refineries and all that kind of stuff Real big process control.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah it's. I'm just kind of running this through my head, cause you know I had a family too. I in in the thought of like packing up and going out and hoping something happens, and in it I mean it was scary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not going to lie, it was scary. I had a knot in my stomach right from cross country. It really was, but God works things out, you know, just like he did when I was in the Navy. You know, it was like that set the course for what my life was going to be like and met a great woman who's supported me the whole time, and great kids.
Speaker 1:Um, so yeah, Was she nervous too?
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely Absolutely. She was nervous, but she was always. She has been my biggest supporter. Yeah, you know she said you'll find something. You know we'll, we'll, we'll do fine. And you know, I mean we'd stay with friends like the first month or so we were there. We have some great friends out there from before we left the first time.
Speaker 1:Um, so yeah, they put us up and to be at our own place, and all that. So we don't do it by ourselves, right, right, right, well, and you know, there's like that thread that runs through a lot of what we talked about too, and and it's like everything that you do just brings you to the point where you're at today, right, like if, if you changed any one part of that story, it would be a different ending.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, absolutely yeah, I believe that and believe me I've. My wife and I was sat back and talked about things that, oh, what if this didn't happen? And you know, you know all the alternate routes you could have gone and it's like I'm really thankful it went the way it did in the long run yeah, we don't get the benefit of knowing what would have happened, right, right, we only get the benefit of seeing the outcome of what we've done.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and uh. It's a collective we, it is not just what you or I have done. So how long were you out in california then?
Speaker 2:uh, total of 27 years. I think it was okay all right and uh.
Speaker 1:So you, uh, you know. Is there anything you want to share about your time out there? Um, you know any, any stories from your 27 years in California?
Speaker 2:Well, it was a fun time out there too, a lot of work. I worked with a ton of great people. People in refineries are a different breed, I think, because it's almost like the Navy. You work in a refinery and you're working for, let's say, shell and, for whatever reason, you're not progressing along the way you want to. You go work for Chevron. So I go to these different refineries and run across people that, hey, I remember you. Yeah, I used to work for Shell. Yeah, okay, and it's like we're all together in this thing, right, and yeah, I still have acquaintances that literally I've met out in the middle of an oil field out in north dakota. You know, it's just crazy yeah so it's a small group.
Speaker 1:Now did you um? Did you continue bike riding? Oh yeah, all of this.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I still do okay as much as I want to, but I'm retired now so I gotta change that. I'm still trying to shift my focus, that I can do this whenever I want to.
Speaker 1:It's hard. I've been retired for two years and I'm still trying to figure that out. I wake up every morning still feeling like there's something I've got to do. Yeah right, it's usually pretty early too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I'm working through that.
Speaker 1:Let me know, let me know how that works out for you. So you, you're out there for 27 years and then you retire. And then what happened?
Speaker 2:Well, um, so, uh, you know, went to school and everything, got my degree, got into management and started, uh, you know, managing the people I actually worked with, you know, my peers and, uh, that job kind of dried up too. We wanted to honeywell, wanted to combine the north and south branches together I had all of southern california and arizona, new mexico out that way and so they wanted to merge the uh offices and they said, well, here's the deal, you're not going to be the manager of that area. But we got a different position that they just created. So at the time I was handling all the contracts and renewals. I was handling the personnel and their training and just doing everything. So they said you know, that's probably not efficient and we're not growing as well as we should. So we take the contracts portion of it and make a new position as a contract manager. So that's what I did.
Speaker 2:I went from a field service manager to a contract manager, so now my focus is just contracts. But I had Northern Southern California and my territories was from North Dakota service manager to a contract manager. So now my focus is just contracts. But I had northern southern california and my territories was from north dakota down to southern california and everything in between. So I had a huge territory and did a lot of travel and all that. Um, at the time, we were looking at, uh, you know, thinking about I'm going to retire. I believe this is uh, yeah, 2015 or so and I think I want to retire after 35 years and I'll be 65 and ready to go. So I did not want to retire in southern california, so we were looking east maybe arizona, someplace, you know, whatever.
Speaker 2:In the meantime, my son, my youngest- uh he had moved to michigan and got the job there. We had visited a couple times and um had some extended stays. Got to know some friends outside of his group that well we got some friends in michigan, you know, and people really nice not a bad place.
Speaker 2:I grew up in new york, so that's only a really a day's drive to go to new york to see my family. So we figured, well, what the heck you know, let's move to michigan. So we did 2017 and um, I was still working at the time uh, my boss said I don't care where you live as long you can handle the territory. So that's what I did. I still had the same territory. Honeywell shifted gears and they decided to move me to a territory more centric to where I lived. So I then took everything from Michigan down to Kentucky and everything in between. So that's what I was doing managing contracts and everything in between.
Speaker 2:So that's what I was doing managing contracts and everything in that area and that's when I retired January of this year.
Speaker 1:So Michigan was sort of a what the heck, let's try it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know it's kind of a theme in my life, you know. It's like I'm kind of tired of what I'm doing. What the heck let's do this. It's a major thing. Now is your wife? Is she a california girl? She is, oh, it's a big change. Yeah, but our seven years in new york kind of primed her for the winners. And, honestly, in brighton we don't get it near what we got in, uh, cheryl, new york. So we used to get dumped on horrendously and for some reason we get the cold, but we just don't get that much snow. So it's livable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely doable. I mean, I'm sure you still have friends out in California in that area too. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:She's got family, but her family wasn't as tight as mine, you know. I mean, like I said, we all grew up on the same road, so Right, you know. So her family's a little bit more extended.
Speaker 1:But yeah, we go back and visit and all that and reminds us both why we moved to Michigan. So the other thing I want to ask you, too, is that um, so you're Italian. Is your wife Italian?
Speaker 2:She's not. She's Portuguese Portuguese yeah.
Speaker 1:Portuguese. Okay, all right, I'm just curious.
Speaker 2:Her family, we did the whole uh, ancestry, yeah, and her family's from the azores. I mean, that's pretty specific, you know.
Speaker 1:So okay, that is really specific. Usually it's like oh, there's sprinkling here and there was it a, was it? So? How was her family background as compared to yours? I'm asking this for a reason I grew up in a uh, you know, a white middle-class family. We're irish english. You know, my wife is 100 percent greek. Like her, both sets of grandparents came from greece. She's greek and, uh, it was a big culture shock for me, because when you talk about cousins and aunts and uncles and family and all of that, that's I mean, her family lives all over the place, but man, when we get together, holy crap, and I wasn't used to that, so I was just curious.
Speaker 1:It's loud, huh. Oh, a little bit, just a little tiny bit. And I'm, you know, I I do have friends that have, um, you know, their families are from italy and and so on. So I see it in her family and I see it in my friend's family, but I never had it myself. And man, yeah, you think people are angry. They're not, they're just talking Right right. So I'm just curious was it the same way for your wife?
Speaker 2:Uh, her family's um different. Uh, they did a lot of. They always did like oh, let's sing all the songs from the fifties, you know, and they'd all sing and everything else, you know, and they're tight too, you know.
Speaker 2:It's just that they did it differently you know, Uh, yeah, I guess that's the way I could describe it. Okay, her mom's side of the family grew up in the Midwest, out in South Dakota, and they came out to California during the Dust Bowl, like so many did. But yeah, they were French, I believe, and farmers and moved out of that and for some reason a lot of the people in that particular town moved into the same area in Long Beach and I guess her grandma and grandfather were from the same town and South Dakota.
Speaker 1:Yeah, rest is history.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So what about the kids Like? What are they up to? Um? Is your son still in michigan?
Speaker 2:yeah, all my family's in michigan. So my daughter followed us out and my oldest follows out as well. So it's like, yeah, we're all here. I don't see too much of the oldest one anymore, he's out doing his own thing and you know, he just doesn't get together with us. So it's like, oh, okay, that was my uh. Uh, he was from a different marriage so I ended up, uh, set parent, adopting my daughter. So, uh, uh, I met her mom when she was like six months old. So she's the only I'm the only data she knows. So, uh, yeah, my, so, yeah, my son came out, lived in Pinckney for a while, then came back to California, then went back here again, back to Brighton.
Speaker 2:He was a worship pastor out in the 242 church there and kind of moved up as the what do they call it director of, I don't know, I think it was, uh, I can't remember what his title was. Anyways, he was doing that for a long time. He oversaw all the uh worship teams and everything else like that. He just struck out on his own as him and his wife are doing a business, kind of marketing and stuff like that. He, he was really great at that. My daughter, her, and her family moved out a year after we came out and they're living out there. He's a son-in-law, is a USC grad and he works in coding and stuff like that. I don't know exactly what it is. It works for Best Buy, not the stores, but Best Buy has a medical division, I guess, and he does all the coding and everything for their webs and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, I had no idea.
Speaker 1:Yeah, me either. Yeah, so your family's here. You're here. What have you been doing since you retired?
Speaker 2:So trying to wrestle with the realization that my time is now my own. So there were a ton of home projects, obviously that were taken care of and I work for Veterans Connected. So that was my main thing to keep me busy and involved in the community. We do a whole bunch of stuff and, being the secretary and treasurer, I handle all that kind of stuff and, uh, meet a lot of great people. I back in la people knew my wife and they didn't know me. I was sean's husband. Uh, her name is m Sean, but she went by Sean back then. So everybody knew my wife, not me. It's the other way around here. I know so many people and they know me and nobody knows my wife. She prefers it that way.
Speaker 1:I think yeah. So you mentioned Veterans Connected and we talked a little bit about it before we started recording. So tell me a little bit more about Veterans Connected and what you do there recording.
Speaker 2:So tell me a little bit more about veterans connected and what you do there. Yeah, so veterans connected started in 2019 as just a bunch of guys at a church that decided to do something for veterans. We we knew a lot of people that were kind of falling through the cracks. They couldn't get their benefits because they were not in combat or they got a less than satisfactory or less than honorable discharge, but they still put the uniform around. It just wasn't a great fit, you know, um? So we decided let's do something for these guys, and it started out just as cleaning people's yards, fixing their decks, whatever real simple stuff. And then again, you know, people saw what we were doing and somebody said, hey, I got a car. You know a veteran that can use it, sure, so we're fixing up cars and giving away the vets that needed transportation, and people started throwing money at us and we've got to make this legal now.
Speaker 2:We've got to become a nonprofit right. Yeah, we got the 501C3 and all that stuff. And then the people of Michigan. This is what struck me and why I wanted to live here. Um, because people are really friendly. You know, I have never known such friendly and giving people as the people of michigan uh, really struck me. As this is different people call you know that, mid midwest kindness, you know yeah but it's true's true.
Speaker 2:We don't do what we do in Veterans Connected without the people that help us do it. You know they support us, they give us the funding and you know we do a lot of great things because of them. You know we're just the conduit. We find the people, we know the people that need help and we help them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you've helped to the tune of a lot of money.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's, uh, at least a half a million now, probably edging towards three quarters of a million dollars since 2019, and not not wholesale money, it's services and things like that. You know, uh, we don't give veterans money, period, we'll, we'll, we'll give them a hand up and pay a bill or, you know, fix their car or something like that, but we're not handing out money okay uh, we'll buy food for them.
Speaker 2:I'll give them a gift card so they can go go down to walmart or kroger someplace and get food. But yeah, it's, it's, you know, our mo.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's a lot of people who couldn't otherwise get help yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for some reason or not, uh, you know, uh, like I said, there's a lot of different people that just can't and they go. Our organization builds itself. We're the last stop. We really are, because we, in our um, the way we work is we have people go to other organizations that get government funding or whatever, and you go to them first and if they turn you down, we'll go to this other group that probably has way more funding than we do. So you've got to go through a couple different hoops before you get to us, and when all else fails, we'll, we'll take care of it, and that's happened more often than not, it? It really is kind of sad that other organizations have a lot of criteria you have to meet with us. It's like, yeah, you can't get any place else, we'll do it, we'll do it and we've done it and we've done it. Sometimes we respond within six hours. You know it's just got to get all the ducks in a row and make sure.
Speaker 2:Okay, is there a need? Uh, true, uh, you know they're not going to the casino gambling it all the way, you know. Um, so if there's, if it's a bona fide need and we've proved it all out um, you know, ultimately we we have to go show our people that support us. Yeah, I mean, these people are deserving, you know. I mean they need help. We just now picked up a guy that literally was living under a bridge, you know, and somebody told us about him and I went out and picked him up out in Lansing, yeah, and at the travel area there, and so we're taking care of him getting him a job and you know're taking care of him getting him a job and you know, taking care of his needs yeah, giving people what they need to get further, but not not just handing out to people.
Speaker 2:yep, yep. The whole, our whole idea is to get them up off of that one rung that they're hung up on, yeah, or up off the floor. We'll give you the hand up and give me a push forward. You got to take it from there, though, pal, right, right.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, I was at your um, at your gala event, which is kind of like your flagship event, Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I remember hearing some of the stories coming out of there it was and people who otherwise would just still be suffering through trying to figure it out. I think especially there was a family there that had some sort of car issue and that got taken care of and that was a game changer. Can't go to work if you don't have a car.
Speaker 2:Right, we had one guy. It was the most phenomenal Independence Day I've ever had Because we had one guy that needed wheels. Smart guy, you know, had what it takes to succeed. He didn't have transportation. He has a family. He had to live close to a lowes I think it was because that's the only work you could get to walking, so he'd walk during the winter he'd walk. All he needed was wheels. Independence day I think it was 2020, during the height of the pandemic and all that stuff. We gave this. We got a hold of a car, got it to him on july 4th and followed up with this guy. He was able to get a job it's like 75 000 a year moved his family to some really decent housing. You know, he's on his way, you know, to making a really great life for himself. All he needed was wheels yeah, he had what it took.
Speaker 2:You know williams willingness to work, make himself better. You know, take care of his family, everything everybody does.
Speaker 1:You know he just needed wheels well, and if you think about it too, like he's, you know you helped him, he's got a great job, he's an asset to that company, he's taking care of his family, he's a taxpayer. Now, yeah, like it's, it's just this big.
Speaker 2:It's the circle of life, you know, not to make light of it, but the circle of life right there yeah that, uh, you're making better citizens by helping people out yeah, there's so many people like that, um, especially during the pandemic, oh man, people were losing their jobs, left and right, you know, and they're going to lose their houses next. And it's like, well, okay, we'll step in. You know, we can't keep going on the rolls forever, but we can make a house payment for you. Just kind of take that stressor off, because the big thing, uh, our main mission, is to stem the veteran suicide rate. Yeah, uh, government says it's 22, more like 44, because they don't count a lot of these people that end their lives in fashions that it's, oh, that was suicide, you know. Yeah, you ran your car into a bridge development. Oops, that was a suicide.
Speaker 2:It wasn't an accident, right, um, so yeah, uh, that's our big focus is to take some of those stressors away so that you get the help you need.
Speaker 1:And now you can, oh man okay take a breath.
Speaker 2:Now. What am I gonna do? Let's help you know. Let's, let's work you through this problem. It's temporary, okay. This is not the final solution here. This is a temporary problem. We all have them. We all need people in our lives. I certainly did. I've stayed in people's houses when I didn't have housing for my family. You know it was on me, I chose that, but still, we all had people in our lives that help out and get us through the tough times or the times that we really do need a hand up.
Speaker 1:Well, if someone wants to check out Vets Connected, where can they go?
Speaker 2:So our website is veteransconnectedorg. It's veterans with an S Connected, not connect Veteransconnectedorg. We're on there. We're on Facebook. Yeah, so I think we still have our Instagram going on, so All right.
Speaker 1:Well, I've encouraged people to check that out, so we've covered a lot of stuff in in in a really short hour actually. Is there anything we haven't covered that you still want to talk about?
Speaker 2:Well, I think we've covered a lot. There was a couple of things that I think we glossed over that I can't remember now. Yeah, I think that's. That's a lot of it anyways. Yeah, just just the way things work out.
Speaker 2:I mean, the one thing I want people to take away when they hear this is that and we covered it but it was like you know, you're, you are in situations that you weren't thinking that this is the way it's going to turn out, because you had a plan, and it's always good to have a plan, but you've got to be flexible too. So, yeah, so when people listen to this, I hope they realize that be flexible, be willing to learn, be willing to see things from a different perspective, maybe somebody else's perspective that, geez, I didn't really think about that. My wife is. When our kids were growing up, she used to pull me aside all the time, telling me I was too harsh with our kids and you ought to see things from their perspective. She's always right. Yes, I'd always end up apologizing to my kids.
Speaker 2:I was wrong, you know. So you have to have that ability to say, yeah, I messed up, I was wrong and I want to learn from this, you know, um, and really, uh, having great people along with that ride with you is, uh, paramount, I think, because we help each other. You know we're in this life together and, uh, you never know, you never know when that one person that you just cross paths with is going to be a key person in your life. That's happened more than once as well. You know it's like, yeah, I knew this guy and oh, yeah, I've been a catalyst to other people. You know that, um, a good friend of mine looking for a job and I just knew somebody. Hey, check this guy out and change his life.
Speaker 2:Yeah you know that was not my initial thing. I just want the guy to get a job, you know, right?
Speaker 1:so right as well as changing their lives. There's people who've done that for you as well oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:If it wasn't for that guy that was in the reserves that said, hey, you should go check out the shipyard, okay, yeah, well, in eight years there, right right, and then that led to the next thing, which then led to the next thing and so on yeah, it's all kind of a domino effect oh, yeah, yeah, I look at my shipyard life.
Speaker 2:Uh, uh, oh, it's phenomenal time. I loved it. Like I said, I got to sail on many different types of ships, uh, sailing on a couple of battleships. It was just an experience, especially one where, yeah, world war ii ended here I was telling you earlier, I think, when we were talking on the phone I have a piece of the original deck from the missouri and, uh, just uh, it was a interesting time, literally a museum. You get into some of the inner workings of those ships and you open up a control cabinet and there's somebody you know, killer, who is here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was from 45, okay yeah, yeah, those old ships have, uh, they are floating museums their history. Yeah, it's history it was all there. Yeah, all right. Well, hey, I want to say thanks for talking with us on a on a Wednesday morning. Appreciate you coming all the way from Brighton.
Speaker 2:Bill, thanks for having me. When Mike told me about this, I was pretty interested. I said you know what I really do need this for posterity's sake. People need to know the story and it's great that we have you guys able to facilitate that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your story 107.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:So we've got 107 folks now who have done their story.
