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
Carrier Lessons (Adam Buck)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
He grew up in a tiny Michigan town with one stoplight and the kind of childhood where you rode your bike until dark, then somehow ended up standing on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier watching jets land for the first time. We’re joined by Adam Buck, a United States Navy veteran who chose the fire control path, leaned into the grind of Navy training, and served on USS Nimitz and USS Enterprise at a time when deployments meant long stretches away and real-world tension in the Persian Gulf.
We talk through the full arc: the Delayed Entry Program in high school, a high ASVAB score that opened doors, and the surprise of boot camp even when you think you’re prepared. Adam shares what made A school manageable (study groups, whiteboards, weekly tests) and how finishing near the top of the class shaped his orders. From WestPac ports like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand to the shellback initiation you never forget, he paints a clear picture of life on a carrier and the technical pride that comes with keeping complex radar and fire control systems mission-ready.
Then the pace spikes: overhaul work on USS Enterprise, responsibility at 21, a Med cruise that swings from Spain and Italy to an emergency push through the Suez Canal into the Gulf for Operation Southern Watch. Finally, Adam explains why he left the Navy even though he loved it, what it felt like to wear the uniform for the last time, and how he translated military electronics experience into a stable civilian technician career, family life, and long-term success.
If you like honest military stories, Navy career lessons, and real veteran transition insights, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.
www.veteransarchives.org
Intro And Small Town Roots
SPEAKER_01Today is Wednesday, August 5th, 2026. We're talking with Adam Buck, who served in the United States Navy. So good afternoon, Adam. Good afternoon. It's almost evening, and I'm gonna just full disclosure to everyone. We're doing this again because I forgot to hit recording. So I apologize. It does, it does. Anyway, so uh here we are, just sort of north of Grand Rapids right now, right? Uh West. West. West of Grand Rapids. Okay. All right. So I'm gonna start out with uh the very first question again.
SPEAKER_00When and where were you born? I was born uh July 10th, 1973, in Grand Rapids, Michigan at Blodgett Hospital.
SPEAKER_01Okay. And uh as we said before, you grew up in Comstock? Comstock Park. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Uh I think I moved we moved there when I was four. Okay. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about Comstock Park. Small little town. Yeah. Uh we had one uh stoplight in the town, one well, I think there was three schools. And uh I went to uh um went to high school, but it was uh it was seven through twelve in one school, and we had about 1200 students, kindergarten through 12. So well, for like the whole school district. It was tiny, yeah.
SPEAKER_01That is, that is. And then uh brothers and sisters, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh I have an older brother named Tony and a younger sister named Becky.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Middle kid, middle child. Yeah, yeah. And uh you lived up to the middle child expectations then?
SPEAKER_00Well, according to my mother, I did, yeah. Right?
SPEAKER_01I'm a middle child myself, so uh yeah, I I know all of that peace, peacemaker, all that fun stuff. Yeah, I'm not sure if it's true. But that that's what they say anyway. Yeah, yeah. So what was it like growing up in Comstock Park? And and you know, what was it like being a kid there?
SPEAKER_00Oh well, it was fun. Everybody knew everybody. Um, we had a lot of kids in our neighborhood. Uh, so all my friends lived close by, ride bikes everywhere. You know, like we had said before, mom kicks you out of the house and tells you to come back when the street lights are on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I actually had friends whose parents locked them out of the house in the summer. I could believe that. Yeah, you know, slide a sandwich out at lunchtime or whatever. They'd be done.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no helmets when we ride bikes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And you're no worse for the wear, right? Yeah. Yeah, I feel I feel like if if I got hurt, my mom would be like, I'll just drink some water, rub some dirt in it. Yeah, rub some dirt in it, it'd be okay. Yeah, yeah, I remember that. So talk to me a little about school.
SPEAKER_00Like, what was grade school like? Um, uh well, I went to uh in when I was really young, I went to a Catholic school for a while. And then uh I went got into the public school later on. But otherwise, yeah, it was it was fun. Um I started going to school with all the kids that I grew up around. Yeah. Because when I went to the Catholic school, nobody else was there that I whole group group, different group of friends. Must have been kind of lonely. Yeah, you know, different group of friends in different areas. Yeah. Um, but this then I started going to public school, and all the kids that I went to, you know, that were in the neighborhood were there. So it was not it was fun. Get to make new friends and and all that stuff like that. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, what kind of student were you?
SPEAKER_00Uh middle of the road, I guess. Uh um I think I was well, there was 88 kids in my class, and I think I was somewhere between you know 15 and 20, uh grade-wise or um GPA-wise. Uh but I was a good student, didn't get in trouble. Yeah. I liked everybody, I had good a lot of friends. Teachers were I I didn't have any really angry teachers. That sounds like a good experience. Did you have some favorite classes that you took? Yeah, I uh shop shop was my favorite. Um, I took uh metals and woodworking from seventh grade to I just graduated as a senior. Um science classes are always fun, math classes. I hated English or speech or any of that stuff. I did take accounting classes, so I got to learn that. So yeah, I'll let that go for you. Um I like the accounting teacher, he was really cool. Uh-huh. But um, and uh he let us go on our own a lot of times. So uh when you got better at better at it, he'd give you the book and say, if you have questions, come see me. Oh, oh nice. Yeah, a little independent study in high school. Yeah, it was basically kind of like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So and what about sports? Sports teams?
SPEAKER_00I did uh I bowled. I started bowling when I was four. Uh bowl, I still bowl now. Um, and then uh I did track and track and field when I was a junior and senior. Okay. Through shit through shot put and discus. All right. So couldn't run. What's your average in bowling, by the way? Well, uh, I've had it as high as 227, and I'm now right around 205 to 210. Okay. So I've kind of fallen off a little bit, but it kind of happens when you get old.
SPEAKER_01No 300 games in there?
SPEAKER_00I have eight 300s that are sanctioned. Wow. And I have four 800 series that are sanctioned. So wow. I don't want to tell you what my brother has. So better than you? He has 62 300s and 65 800s.
SPEAKER_01I can't even fathom that.
SPEAKER_00It's like he's bowling a 300 every time he bowls almost. There was one year, a couple years ago, he started out the season we bowl at Rockford together. Uh the first eight weeks of bowling, he had seven 800 series and two 300s. That's pretty incredible. Yeah, he's uh he's one of the best in in Grand Rapids. Yeah. I actually did his when he was inducted into the USB C Hall of Fame uh for Grand Rapids. I did his induction speech for him.
SPEAKER_01So he's I used to watch the professional bowling on uh TV when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I always thought that was just fascinating.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. So we grew up watching it every Saturday.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, those guys in their bell bottom pants, oh yeah, their fancy clothes.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. It was kind of crazy. He did not go pro. He did uh he was a regional pro for a couple years, but then he decided he was just too much too too much running around. He wanted to get married and have family. So he's just basically a local pro. Local local celebrity? Yeah, you can't really walk into a bowling alien. People don't know who Tony Buck is. So that's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you uh you you're you're uh going through high school, and um I'm only gonna ask this question because I've already I already know the answer. But um, so uh did you meet anybody in high school that you liked?
SPEAKER_00I met my wife in high school. Yeah, we've been married since for 32 years. Yeah, but yeah, she's my high school sweetheart. That's awesome. And and how did how did you pick her out of the crowd? Well, funny story, we both were in track together when uh when I was a junior, and I think she was a freshman, and uh she did high jump and uh it was fun to watch. You were a teen boy. I was, yeah, absolutely. I fell for a hook, line, and sinker. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So you uh you you joined you joined the Navy. Uh you go into the Navy after high school, but was the Navy something you were always gonna do?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, actually, I uh um I joined the late entry program when I in when I was a junior in high school. Um so I there was something on there were some things I saw on TV that I I just said I want to be part of that. I didn't I didn't have and want to go to college. So um and the recruiter I had was really good. I didn't even consider any other any other services. Uh I just went right into the Navy recruiting office over on Plainfield. Yeah. And uh they got me going on getting the ASVAB score. I I got lucky, I took the ASVAB when I was a junior, so all that stuff was all fresh in my mind, and I ended up scoring like a 96 on that ASVAB score, so which really helped me during boot camp and oh yeah, and all that stuff like that. So did they want you to join the nuke program? I took the test for the nuclear program. I did pass it by one point, but one of the rec one of the recruiters that was at MEPS in Lansing said, kind of pulled me aside and said, You don't want to do that. And I said, Why is that? He said, Because you're gonna go on mandatory self-study for two years. He says, You need to get to be an FC. So that no, she had a little bit insights. I yeah, he said, so he kind of pointed me in that direction. So yeah, it was it was kind of I got fortunate.
SPEAKER_01So yeah. So what was your senior year like for you then? You because you like you know, like I'm not applying to colleges, I don't have to worry about a job.
SPEAKER_00Like so, how did that well it was it was eased my mind? Um I did uh I did a lot of the uh weekend training stuff with our recruiter and a couple of the guys out of the recruiting office, and uh uh they taught us you know how to march, you know, how to be in formation, told us what how things were gonna happen in boot camp, what to expect, um all that kind of stuff. So we did that for I did that for a year before I went in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you probably had more experience than most people going in, right?
SPEAKER_00Like it's a whole year. Yeah, a lot of uh yeah, that delayed entry program was really good. So and it and it counted for um a year of your um on your contract, right? So it was a uh what is it uh the inactive reserves? Yeah, because the first year was yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Most people don't know it's an eight-year contract, no matter how many years you actually serve.
SPEAKER_00Yep, eight-year contract, and I did six years active duty and then two years inactive,
Bowling, First Love, Navy Plans
SPEAKER_00but my first year was in high school. Yeah. So that's pretty awesome.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, it was nice. So did you ship out like right after high school then?
SPEAKER_00Uh I went to uh I went to boot camp two days before my 18th birthday. And then uh and uh boot camp was eight weeks, and then and then uh I went home for a couple weeks. I did some recruiting, went to some schools, and then uh went right back to Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, and went to fire alarm, fire uh fire alarm, fire control base or fire control A school.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about basic training. Like, so you had your birthday in basic training. They make a cake or anything for you? No, I kept my mouth shut, they didn't even know. Yeah, good for you, good for you, because that would have been a whole different nightmare. Oh, yeah. So talk to me a little bit though. You were pretty well prepared, you had a year of prep. So what was it like though, still stepping off that bus?
SPEAKER_00Um, I was still a shock. I wasn't used to being yelled at like that. Yeah. Um, you know, and and going into going into boot camp, and they said that they were gonna break you down, and and I didn't realize that it was gonna be to the point where they had to teach you how to brush your teeth and comb your hair and shave and all that stuff like that. I had never shaved before. Yeah. So I they forced me to shave, and so that was interesting. Um it was just a it was kind of a I I understood what they were doing, so it wasn't a shock to me because I was already expecting that kind of stuff. Um, so I just kind of went along, you know. And it it's kind of like one of one of the recruiters said it's kind of like a game. If you just play the game, you'll be fine. So I played the game, and it was it wasn't
Boot Camp Shock And Learning Fast
SPEAKER_00as bad as some people made it out. We had some guys that were really upset about they couldn't handle it or anything like that. It's really just a game. Once you're done, you're gonna be at the same level. So yeah. Well, what about the physical training? How was that? Well, I hated to run, but because we had a my company commander uh was a marathon runner and a because he was CB uh construction. What is it? I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Oh construction battalion, yeah.
SPEAKER_00He was CB1 Lechance with he was an electric electrician for the CBs, uh-huh. And uh he liked to run marathons. So his he wasn't big on all the push-ups and sit-ups and everything. We still had to do that for the PRTs, but his big thing was running. So everywhere we went, we ran as a company. And when even if you hate running, when you're running with a group of people and you know that you'll get trampled on if you can keep up. So yeah, it's amazing what your body will do when your mind tells it to uh an incentive in the back of it is also nice too. Right, right. Yeah, you don't want to be that guy, yeah. You don't want to be that guy, yeah.
SPEAKER_01No, so you uh you finish up basic training uh and then um uh FCA school is like right there at Great Lakes, right?
SPEAKER_00Yep, uh yeah, I went right on basically right across the street. Yeah, yeah. And uh my my school started in December. I gotta get my I gotta remember my dates. Because I reported there in September. I had a delay of about a m two months, three months, and then we started in December and I graduated in September.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Now do they do like a um oh like a Christmas break then?
SPEAKER_00Um I did a Christmas break, but it was before my school started. So I started school right after Christmas. Oh, okay. So that's a long wait time. It yeah, I was in the galley company for a while.
SPEAKER_01Yay you.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, so but yeah. So what what was A school like for you? Um well I didn't want them to fail. So I made sure I did everything I could to get in with a group of guys that did the studying. And we would go over at in the evenings after class and uh we'd set up whiteboards in a in a they had the the building was pretty much open all the time. So you could go in and they had you go into a classroom or any of the classrooms that were opening, set up a whiteboard or whatever, and they'd let you do studying. So we would do just go over everything that we were doing for the whole week. And so we were prepared for the test on that Friday.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, you know. It's a test every Friday, too. Every Friday.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so every week was a new test, a new chapter, a new, you know. And if you did well enough on the test, uh if you score above a 90 on the test, you got to go, you got to go at lunch. If you take the test in the morning, you get to go at lunch. If you score below a 90, then you have to stay for three or the three hours after lunch. So how'd it work out for you? For the first 10 weeks, I never I never got below a 90. But then when we got into the next the blue book, there were a few weeks that I got into the 80s. So but I was able to maintain a pretty good average. I I ended up third or fourth in the class, somewhere around there. So it was good. Nice. So got got to choose the orders that I wanted.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so let's talk about that a little bit because I know uh before we had talked, um you you were pretty specific about what you didn't didn't want to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I didn't I did not want to go to SeaWiss school um because you'd have to stay in Great Lakes again. Uh, and I wanted to get out, I wanted to go to the fleet and see what was out there. So um when the orders came up, the the guy, the first the guy first in class took the sea with school, one of them, and then the next guy took the USS WASP out of California, and the Nimitz was available. So I chose the Nimitz out of Bremerton, Washington.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and so you you decide I'm gonna skip C school and figure out what I want to do first.
SPEAKER_00Yep, they they had said that well our our one of our instructors had recommended that we do that because you you get to see what's out there, you get to see what's available. If you go to now, if I would have had a little different if I would have gone to like an Aegis cruiser or a or a like a spruance class, but I also really didn't want to be on a small ship, I wanted to be in a big one. Yeah, so um, and when I got there, I got to see this. I got to work on Sea Wiz, I got to work on NATO Sea Sparrow and Target Acquisition System. And so I I ended up getting in the target acquisition system um work center.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's a lot of OJT then while the with your time on the Nimitz. Yeah, and I had two good mentors when I was on um um Petty Officer Villarriel and Petty Officer Bliss were the two guys that were NDC 1149s. And uh I became good friends with them and they taught me a whole bunch of stuff. So I was well prepared.
SPEAKER_01I think it's kind of one of the cool things about the Navy um that I noticed too, is that people really do kind of take you under their wing and want you to be successful.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. Yeah. And yeah, they they uh they got me once I they needed another eleven they needed another tech when I got there. So um they assigned me to that work center and uh and they just they had me doing maintenance the first few days I was there. Wow, you know, going through the um the PMS system. Yeah. Oh, I remember that. Yeah. I got to watch uh uh the set the Petty Officer Bliss was a second class, and uh so I got to watch him do uh the boards, the PMS boards and all that stuff like that. So I learned a lot. I mean those guys were really good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Now did you do any uh cruises, deployments? Yep. Um let's see. Uh we deployed in December of 92. So um and then that was the Westpac. So we uh that the ex that was an experience. Leaving leaving port in Bremerton takes a while because it's the narrows, the Tacoma Narrows are you know hard. They're named Narrows for a reason, right? Yeah, so the transit out, and some I've never been on anything that big before, and and standing in the middle of the flight deck and not being able to see the water on each side going through those the transiting through the the straits there, um, and then coming out, that was an experience, you know. Yeah, and all the boats that follow, you know, and the captain yelling at people to because he can't see them, you know.
A School Tests And Picking Orders
SPEAKER_00Right. Harbor captains are like trying to keep boats away from coming alongside and stuff like that. But yeah, and then we we transited down to uh San Diego to pick up the air wing. Um and we were there for a couple days, and
USS Nimitz WestPac And Shellback
SPEAKER_00then when we left San Diego, I got a chance for the I mean that was exciting to see the the plane, the first planes landing on the boat. I'd never seen anything like that before. And uh so I put on my double hearing protection and went up to the 011 level and and uh started watching the planes coming in. I sat up there the whole day. That's pretty exciting. Yeah, uh uh Nimitz hell holds what 90 91 planes, I think it is. I watched almost all of them. Wow. Now, where did where did you go on that cruise? Um we transited the Pacific, went to Hong Kong uh for I think six or seven days, then we went to Singapore for a number of days. Um we we did cross the equator when we rounded um uh Thailand, but we didn't do the shellback initiation until we came out. Okay. So we got into the we tried we got into the Gulf, went through the that was another interesting one, Straits of Hormuz going into the Gulf. Yeah. Um on condition three steamy, we were on watch 24 or 7. Um, I learned a lot about that and how you know how danger it is, what to look for. Yeah. Because our radar system was developed to uh to actually find uh um exoset missile, the pop-up missile that travels it on the deck. So our system was built for that. So that was a big thing for us. And then uh and we did uh three port visits on that tour to UAE. And uh and then on the way back we did our shellback initiation right before Thailand. I mean we were supposed to go to Australia, but for some reason the Admiral decided it would be better to have seven days in Thailand versus four days in in Australia. I think the reason was because the seas were so high in Australia. Uh-huh. It would be hard to get people guys ashore. Yeah. So we went to Thailand where the it was much calmer.
SPEAKER_01So I can't imagine a shellback initiation on an aircraft carrier. That's huge. That's wild.
SPEAKER_00And the funny thing was that um the captain wasn't the most senior shell, but he wasn't the most senior. Oh, um, the command master chief actually was this was the most senior um shellback. He was a golden shell back. Wow. So um I don't know where the captain was at that in that ranking, but he wasn't up, he wasn't up there with a lot of those. We had a lot of salty dogs on our boat. Oh, yeah, yeah. But we had a lot of polywogs too, because over half the ship had to get cleansed. Wow. Yeah. It was they said there was at least one shellback per wog.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So many people to torture so many people.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. They uh I I heard all the stories about the way it was back in the 70s. It would take a week or it was hazing all the time. Ours was a full, I think it was 12 hours. Yeah. I I didn't eat breakfast, I wore it. I wasn't gonna eat it. Coffee grounds and syrup. That's awful. Oh, yeah. That's awful. I got to experience that whole thing blowing water out of a pad eye for half an hour. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Wow. So you uh you get you you do your Westpac then, you come back to port. How much how much longer were you on the Nimitz at that point?
SPEAKER_00Um, we got back in June and I let's see, um I went home just before Christmas of ninety three. Um, I don't remember. I had to report to uh I had to report to Mare Island, California on January 1st. Okay. So I was home for two or three weeks and then flew back to Seattle to pick up my truck, which I put in storage, and then I drove to California.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And you went to Mare Island for Target acquisition, Mark 23 target acquisition.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So basically what you've been working on the whole time.
SPEAKER_00So I had all the experience and had been through all that stuff. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So how did that do you think that really helped you get through that school then? Oh yeah. Yeah. Huge. Because I had already experienced replacing an antenna, rotary coupler, all of the different types of errors that you could see. You know, so um going through the the the course, it it helped me a lot. I still again made I was in the top three of the class. So I got to choose my orders coming out of that too. So that was a like a lot of the guys had never had experience with it. They
Mare Island Training And A Wedding
SPEAKER_00were the guys that had been to the fleet, but they were Sea Wiz, NATO Sea Sparrow. Right. Yeah. So where'd you choose to go after that? After that, well, um my one of my instructors had said that if you wanted to go to the East Coast, now would be the time. The only other C the only other ship that had TAS on it at the time was uh the WASP. And uh the guy who was first in class took that one. So I the other ships that had it, I didn't want a small boy, and then the third set was the Enterprise. So I took the Enterprise out of Norfolk, Virginia.
SPEAKER_01It's funny because you say when you say you don't want to be on a small ship, you pick the largest possible ship every time. Yes.
SPEAKER_00I did not want to be on a cork. It kind of cracks me out. So I just I heard a lot of horror stories about being on a small ship. Yeah. So uh a couple of the instructors, I I guess I was fortunate. They were all carrier fire control men. They said, you got to get on a carrier, it's so much better. So the galley's open 23 hours a day.
SPEAKER_01You know, there's there's something to be said for that, especially when you're underway. Like there's nothing to do but like eat or sleep or or stand watch.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, watch maintenance and eat. Right, exactly. You can sleep, but you don't get much of that. But um so did you go away from Mare Island to Well, I went home for I went home for 30 days and I got married to my sweetie. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Your high school, you you did the boot camp thing.
SPEAKER_00Yep, right? Married your high school sweetheart. Yep, and then uh I I had to be back to I had to report to the um to the enterprise July. After after July, I think it was July 5th or 6th now that I think about it, somewhere around there. So um I drove to Virginia and checked in there and uh got established, got went and found an apartment in Virginia Beach. Um, and then I came back up for my uh for Heidi's brother's wedding in August. And we packed up my truck with everything that we had, which wasn't a lot, and together we drove down to Virginia Beach and got all settled in at the apartment.
SPEAKER_01Two very young people. Like that's gotta be, I don't know, that's gotta be some of your best memories.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, it was exciting and it was a little bit uh scary at the same time. Because I mean we were you know newly married, traveling by ourselves, right? You know, no more parents, no more home, you know, you know, no more of that. We were on our own. So there's a lot of growing up that we did and a lot of you know, a lot of that.
SPEAKER_01So you're still pretty young at this point. Oh, yeah, right. I mean, how old were you?
SPEAKER_00I was 20. Yeah, I was 20, right? And Heidi was 19. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the odds of that working out are not great. Yeah, I was yeah, I because I've watched them crash and burn, but divorce rate was high in in the Navy at that time. So yeah. Well, you're gone a lot, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. We stuck together, yeah. So we gotta find the right person, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So so talk to me about that time on the on the on the nimets. What was it like when you first got there?
SPEAKER_00So the the I'm not the nimets, but the enterprise, I'm sorry. When I got to the enterprise, it was in the yard periods, it was going through its uh four-year overhaul. So um when we got when I got there, they were on seven day a week work weeks because the crew didn't do they kind of sloughed off for the first three years or so. Right. And uh so now the yard the the ship workers shipbuilders are turning things over to the to the navy, and we have to be there and be ready and do all that stuff. So my the enterprise got outfitted for Mark 23 for the TAS system, it never had it before. So it was a brand new system, and I was the first 1149 tech to be on the ship. So I was involved heavily in the turnover of the space and the radar, uh, working with the Newport News and with all of the testing to get the system online with all the um civilian contractors. So that was another good and great experience. So I got to see how all that stuff was put together, how it's tested. And then I was the one that got to sign over as they were turning stuff over. And here I am, what 20 years old, 21 years old, and I'm putting my name and rank on a an official form to take occupancy of a radar system.
SPEAKER_01Huge responsibility. Yeah, it is pretty huge. Yeah, and a lot of those guys too are former Navy, right?
SPEAKER_00Like, yeah, yeah, a lot of them are.
SPEAKER_01They know the game.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. Um, one I can't
USS Enterprise Overhaul To Gulf Ops
SPEAKER_00remember his name, but I I will never forget him. Um he was a 48 Echo or 48 Charlie Tech. Yeah. And that was at the time when the 48 Charlie was part of the um ETs, even though they were fire control technicians that took care of it. So right. Yeah. And he uh got out of the Navy and and then came over and worked for as a government, you know, because he knew radar systems and yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Once you have that skill, you have that skill. Yeah. So yeah. So how long were you in the yards before you got out of there?
SPEAKER_00Uh I got there in uh July and we transit we left in November.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. How how was it getting out of there?
SPEAKER_00That's a big that's a big ship. Yeah, yeah. The the uh the Enterprise, they was there for so long that the ship actually sunk. So they pumped all the water out of it, but it took nine tugboats to get it away from the pier. And that was my experience at seeing a line part because one of the tugboats got its uh got a line wrapped around the anchor and it didn't realize it. And as it was pulling, we were up on the forward sponsoring NATO sea sparrow, and we were watching that line, and you could hear it, and it's six one-inch gate wires or ropes, and it is bam, bam, it's like cannons going off.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, yeah. When people talk about like the rope snapping, I I don't think they picture how large that thing is. Right, yeah. And we're talking we're talking a six-inch line. Yeah, yeah. And when you're pulling in and out of port, too, those things make a lot of noise anyway. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they creak and they snap and they pop, and oh, you know, and it brings you back to that stupid movie they showed you in boot camp, right?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, about you know, lines ripping people's legs off. Yeah, scares you. It's scary, but yeah, we were far enough away we weren't gonna get hit, but it's still something you'll never forget. Oh no, never forget. Nope.
SPEAKER_01No, and I and I remember that that they interviewed the one guy that lost his legs, right? And he talked about it. So yeah, that's all I could think about anytime we're doing line handling.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I guess I got I got I was pretty fortunate uh on the aircraft carriers. Um line handling was done by deck department and um E3 and below. So as an E4, I didn't have to do any um, thankfully, I didn't have to do any supply details or any line handling or anything. I just basically they stay in your you know, during underway replenishments and during uh, you know, when they're more in the ship, stay in your space and don't come out until they're done. Right, right.
SPEAKER_01Well, and you um so uh when you came out, right? There was some you had to test all the systems, right? So but did you so you did that and then were you getting ready to deploy?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, as the the enterprise had lost all of its qualifications while sitting in the yard period, so it had to get all of that back. Um so it had to get battle ready. So in when it got underway, when we got underway, it was uh all the reactor drilling, all the the everything had to be tested. Everything, you name it. Um, and so all the systems had to be tested. So we were in and out all the time. And in 1995, uh was the big year before our deployment. Um 17 days in port, and half of that time I was on duty. So my wife and I stuck together, and I only I only got to see her about half of that time in that year.
SPEAKER_01Man, that's rough.
SPEAKER_00It was rough. Yeah, it was rough. We were in and out, and our captain was doing we did carry uh we did all our carrier qualifications, we did all our engineering qualifications, and then we did uh uh all of the uh air wing qualifications for the Johns Dennis and the uh Kennedy to get their air wings ready for their deployments because they were already battle ready. We had to get that. So we did we did carrier quality, we did those qualifications for three ships, ours and two other ones. So that's busy. It was very busy, yeah. So you do you do all of that and then you deploy? Yep. Do all that. We had a month before in 96. In the 96th, we were, I think there was about a month before June where we were uh in port, right before we went on deployment in June.
SPEAKER_01So yeah. And so what was your deployment like? Where did you go?
SPEAKER_00Well, we did uh let's see, we I got to transit the uh it was an East Coast Medicare Med Cruise, so I got to transit this, what is it, the Rock of Gibraltar?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, did you get your certificate, your order of the rock?
SPEAKER_00Yes, I got that. Um the only thing I did not get was we we didn't go far enough north to get my blue nose, so um uh and so we transited that and then we hit Palma, Spain, which was fun. That was neat. Um uh never been to Spain before. That's just a little island, I guess, off the mainland. So I haven't been to the mainland. And then we went to uh uh Cannes, France and made our way around the coast to uh Naples, Italy, went around up into the Adriatic and went to Venice. Um we were only in Venice for two two days, I think it was. Um and then we got called up to go to the Gulf on an emergency uh so we lightened the load and we transited through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and into the Persian Gulf in four days. We were moving.
SPEAKER_01That's lightning fast. Yeah, and if anyone's ever seen the size of one of these carriers, yeah, I mean the hull number is like a like a tall building.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah, and most of the ships can't don't keep up with the aircraft carrier, but um, so we actually had on the on the transit down, we didn't have a plane guard a lot of times. They were trading it off because the the um the battle group was spread out through the Gulf. So as we transited, we were switching plane guards as we go, and then there was a ship that started its transit through the Suez Canal prior to us, so that they were ahead of us. But we were just they were just passing us off as we went through until we got to the to the Gulf.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So what was duty like for you on board the ship?
SPEAKER_00Well, we worked a lot, yeah. A lot of maintenance. Uh and we had uh we did uh service basically for other departments. So we had our um it was called EMO, and they set up a little room where we we were they would put a guy in there ET or an FC or an I C Man and we would take calls if somebody needed help with something.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00I never I don't know why we did all that, but um so we would we would do testing for like electronic um they if someone brought a radio or something on board, we would do all the uh like the verification and sign it and say they were good to go. So we did a lot of that and the iCen worked out of there too, so they would take their service calls and stuff like that. So okay. Because we all we had electronic background, so they figured everybody could be part of it.
SPEAKER_01So right, what's that many hands make for a light load or some crap like that that they taught us?
SPEAKER_00The neat the interesting thing on the enterprise, the 48 Echo was actually part of fire control. Those guys were part of ours, so they weren't in the ET department that we were OEM and we they were OEE or something like that. So yeah, yeah. So how long were you in the Gulf then? Um it was three months each deployment. We were in the first time. Well, the first the second one was four months because we got called over early. It was supposed to be three, and uh, so we were there a month early. We were actually on station with the Carl Vincent. They were um we were their replacement. Well, we were there a month early, so we were side by side. So at that time, it was the first time they've ever had two two aircraft carriers in the golf at one time. At least that's a lot of firepower, yeah. And there was 180, 190 planes in that area. So it was a tight operating area because uh, you know, I uh you you've been in the golf. Yes, you yeah, yeah, so you know those helicopters when they're they're not squawking any IFF and they're just flying really low from platform to platform, they're not talking to anybody or they don't even speak English. Right. So being in combat direction center and watching the OS and the the um surface warfare officer having to deal with uh that traffic, that's a stress level I didn't want. Oh, no kidding. I didn't have to talk to any of them, but I had to be uh ready, you know, if they tell me what I had to do, you know, because we were loaded, ready to go. All the missiles were there, they were all armed and ready to go. So didn't have any engagements though. No, I didn't have any. Luckily, we didn't have any engagements. Um we did have uh the Iraqis would like to we were in in support of Operation Southern Watch. So our air wings, our the Iraqis at the time had gotten used to the timing of when one one um what did they call those? I can't remember what they called them, but um the groups of planes that would fly, uh they would launch and then they would recover. So the groups would go out. There was always a time period from when the group was coming back to going out there, and the Iraqis would like to fly to the southern uh southern uh parallel or whatever it was and kind of skirt around. There was one time where an F-18 lit up an Iraqi plane, and that was a it was an intense time. Oh yeah. He I guess that guy got a little bit late and then he crossed over the line before, or well, there was our one of our deployment, you know, where they were in the air. So that was the only time that we ever really had a uh an engagement like that. Yeah. We did watch the they there was a time where the Iranians were trying to launch a sub. I guess they had bought from somewhere. It sank and it was on the bottom of the of the per of the Gulf, and I guess we went to their aid and helped them get it, get it brought up. But that was kind of a hush-hush thing. Right. Right. Gotta be a good neighbor, I guess.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, something like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So it was it was a it's a very intense area atmosphere to be an operator in those areas. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Did you have like a favor, like I other than that portion of the the cruise, right? You were stopping in different ports. Did you have like a favorite port that you liked, someplace that you liked more than others?
SPEAKER_00Oh, my favorite, well, on the West Coast, my favorite port was Singapore. Uh-huh. I love that place. It was very clean. People were really cool. And you could the thing I think I liked about Singapore the most was you could go to a central, um, they had an underground train, they had a train system that was you could go anywhere in the country you wanted to go. And I mean, it's not a big country, right? But you go anywhere you want from one location to and from, and it was really cool. But on the med cruise, um, Italy was my probably my favorite place. I loved Italy. It was so much history. The food was fantastic, people were cool, and then uh Israel. Yeah, Israel was fun. So I wish we had more time. We didn't have much time. We only spent, I think it was four days in Israel. So I did one tour. It was an eight-hour
Leaving The Navy Without Regret
SPEAKER_00tour on a bus. That was a little scary. Yeah. Bus full of sailors traveling across Israel. But yeah, but it was fair, it was it was um exhilarating and and a little frightening at times, but yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So uh that you and that cruise, you come back. How how much longer are you on the Enterprise for?
SPEAKER_00Uh, I was on, I think I was on a total of three and a half years. So I went when we got back in December of 96, I spent another year and year and a half just doing in and out things and training and stuff. We do training in Rosie Roads and do uh carrier qual kit calls. We were getting the ship ready again for the deployment they had in 97. I was I they were going on another deployment in the end of 97. So I got off in July before they went on their last deployment, their other deployments.
SPEAKER_01So, what made you decide to get out? Because it sounds like you liked it.
SPEAKER_00I loved it.
SPEAKER_01Like you smile every time you talk about it.
SPEAKER_00I loved it. I I absolutely loved it. I wouldn't change anything. Um, I was going to, I had I thought I would re-enlist. Um, they had offered $30,000 when we were in the Gulf, tax-free. Um but at the time they were introducing women into the into combat roles, so they had taken away our seashore rotation. So I wasn't going to be able to go to be an instructor or a recruiter. Uh it was you'd have to stay any time that you signed for would have to be in at sea or in in the fleet. Right. Um so I had talked to my chief and had said, hey, if if if you you make me E6, I'll take the test, make me E6, I'll sign for what you want, and I'll stay on the enterprise for as long as you need me. Um but they wouldn't they wouldn't do that. So I decided that it was just time to go. I didn't want to I just didn't want to go through that transition of women in the in combat roles because things are a lot of horror stories. Yeah. And I didn't want to get caught up in anything like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. There's probably a period of time where it was just weird. Yeah. Yeah. It was difficult. Yeah. Let me transition this. Yeah. Yeah. So you uh you decide to get out.
SPEAKER_00It sounded it it doesn't sound like it was an easy decision, but no, it wasn't it wasn't easy, but once I made the decision from there it was easy. Yeah. Transition was a they they had a transition assistance. So when it was in port, I went to that. But it really wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I was I knew I was ready. I I made my decision, so now it was time to move on and refocus.
SPEAKER_01So how did it feel if they like to put that uniform on for the last time?
SPEAKER_00Well, that was that was interesting. Um, because uh the last day that I was on the ship, they were given out the deployment ribb the deployment medals, and I had been put in for a navy achievement medal, and uh I was awarded that, and on the same day after the ceremony, I shook hands with everybody and walked off the ship.
SPEAKER_01That was it. That is kind of strange. Yeah. Yeah. And then so, like you're walking on the pier the last time, and you look back, and that's it. Yeah, that was it.
SPEAKER_00I said goodbye. Yeah, got in the car, drove home, and Heidi and I packed everything up and we were out in two or three days.
SPEAKER_01So, what was it like coming back to Michigan and not being in the Navy anymore?
SPEAKER_00Um, I was bored. Yeah. So I went to the unemployment office and they told me I had 54 weeks of unemployment, and I I couldn't believe they were gonna give me a year off. And I couldn't do that. And I lasted about nine weeks, and I I applied and to a company uh that I'm at still Simplex Time Recorder Company, and yeah, they were looking for uh uh someone with electronics background that could work on fire alarm systems. And I I applied and my interview kind of like this was with a former fire controlman who worked on Mark 91. Did you guys talk much about the job or did you just swap sea stories? It was the sea stories, hour-long sea stories, where he's been, where I've been, the ships and all that stuff and duty and everything like that. He did the same kind of thing six years. He was in uh about the same time I think you were in the 80s. Yeah. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01The good old days. Yeah. So no trouble getting that position then.
SPEAKER_00No, no. It was they I think I got the job within four days. I had the first interview with him, and then uh two days later I had another interview, and I was hired two days later.
SPEAKER_01So it's interesting to me because you know, the a lot of marriages don't survive the military, especially the Navy. Uh, and then, you know, most people that get out of out of the service, they take that first job and then they leave like within that first year, like a pretty big percentage. But you've kind of beat the odds on both of those. What do you why do you think that is? What is it about you?
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I think I've just been very fortunate that uh I've been happy with the decisions that I've made. So it was tough to decide to get out, but when I did, I could see that it was gonna be I would be okay, it'd be fine. Um Heidi and I have been, I think we just meant for each other. Right. Right. So it just works, and she's you know been on board with everything, every decision that was made. So there was never really any issue with any of that. And then the getting this job um as a technician, it was just it was just perfect. You know, that I had the skill set and I was willing to learn new stuff, and I really enjoyed what I was doing, and and I they gave me a car and a computer and a phone and a pager and sent me to school, gave me you know money for shoot, you know, boot, you know, all kinds of and I thought, where else am I gonna go that's gonna pay me this? Right, and give me this stuff.
SPEAKER_01Right. Unless you go back in the military, right?
SPEAKER_00So and they they gave me the um the guy that I interviewed with said he knew he's like, Well, I'm gonna give you what you got, and just tell me what you were making in when you got out of the service and I'll match it. So he did. And then he's and they and he said you'll you'll have a review in 90 days, and if you're on board with that, if you're doing what you then you'll get another raise. So I I just grabbed the bull by the horns and ran with it and loved it. So did everything I could.
SPEAKER_01How do you say no to that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So now you and Heidi have kids. We have two kids. Okay. Uh our oldest son's named Ethan. He's he'll be 25 in September, and he is a um he's a mechanic for Chrysler, but what is it he called? He does it. Um he gets I can't remember what it's called. He's not an hourly type thing. It's what? Flat rate. Flat rate. So he gets paid per job. Okay. So he's and he does really good at that. Yeah, does really, really good, makes more money than I do. Um good for him. That's what we want for our kids. He's 25 years old, and he's building a house in in
Civilian Career, Family, Final Advice
SPEAKER_00in um Howard City right now. So nice. Good for him. So yeah, so he's he's doing real well. And then uh our youngest son, who will be 24 in December, uh, he just graduated from Davenport, and he today he just got his uh new job at Brunswick Corporation. So he's a bowler like I am, and he bowled for Davenport, and now he's gonna be in the company that he wanted to be in.
SPEAKER_01That's just incredible.
SPEAKER_00Just awesome.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So and now, so bowling's in your family, though. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00My dad, my dad bowled my brother and myself. Yeah. So yeah, it just runs in the blood.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I remember watching the pros again uh when I was a kid, so that was that was all very cool. Every Saturday. Yep. Big time wrestling and then the uh professional bowlers. Oh, yeah. The Pro Bowler Tour, I think is what it was called or something. Professional bowlers tour, yeah. Yeah, that was very cool. Yeah. So we've covered a lot uh you know, in the two times that I've interviewed you now. And uh so I'm gonna ask you that question again. Uh so really the final question is you know, for someone listening to this a hundred years from now, when neither one of us is here, what would you like them to take away from the story?
SPEAKER_00Um, well, I've always said that I I I've always thought that um young kids 18 years old, they they really should experience some sort of service, military or um gives them a better perspective on life. Uh discipline. And you get to see if you join the Navy, uh you get to see the world. You know, um four years of your life is not a long time if you want to do it like that. So uh you'd be better off for doing that, you know. You know. Um and then I don't know, just uh find what you like and go with it, you know. I guess I've been real fortunate in that. Everything I the the decisions I made and the the the job that I had, I liked them both. I've had essentially two jobs since high school. Yeah, I loved them both.
SPEAKER_01So chosen wisely.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, excellent. Well, thanks for sitting here with me most of the afternoon now. Um, in sharing your story with all of us. I really appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's my pleasure. We could talk for hours, I tell you.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I know we could.
SPEAKER_00I got tons of tons of things I've seen. I do, I will say this that anyone that ever asks me about joining the military, though I always tell them uh the the Navy's always to me the best way to go. You're gonna they're gonna there's really no other place that has as many jobs they offer and the skills that you can learn and places you can go. I mean, that's the biggest thing. You always see the world. It's true. Oh, yeah. 26 different countries before I was 24 years old. Yeah, not many people can say that. No, not at all. Yeah, not at all. So no, it was fun, it was great. I wouldn't change anything. Good.
SPEAKER_01So all right, and now I'm gonna turn it off on purpose.
