When I was 17, one of my friends talked me into attending a Navy Delayed Entry Program (DEP) meeting.  He had already enlisted in the Navy as a parachute packer (I think).  At the DEP meeting, I got interested in the Navy's Nuclear Propulsion Program with its stiff academics and its sign on bonuses (mainly the sign on bonuses $$$).  The recruiter was happy to sign me up and since I was referred by a buddy, the Navy guaranteed me "buddy duty" which means that you get to go through basic training together.  Long story short, I enlisted, my buddy got kicked out of the Navy during boot camp and I ended up staying in the whole 6 years of my enlistment.  I don't know what my pal does today as we have lost touch with each other.

The Nuclear Propulsion Program was a six year commitment were the Navy sent me to school for two years learning how nuclear power plants work and I spent the next four years going to sea to pay for that education.  I almost didn't make it into the program due to my poor high school grades.  The Navy had to process an academic waiver that involved a some testing and a ton of paperwork. Because I was only 17 years old, my parents were required to sign a release since I was not a legal adult.  I remember my dad telling me that the 6 years I committed to the Navy would be an awfully long time if I didn't like it and he wasn't sure if I should enlist (Don't worry dad, it all worked out great).

           

Boot camp wasn't all that difficult once you realized it was a head game, but it is definitely a different lifestyle than what I had been living.  I graduated boot camp in September 1985 from Great Mistakes (Great Lakes Naval Training Center) in Chicago. 

My family came to watch the graduation ceremony and spent the weekend in Chicago with me.  Boy, was I young here.  Hard to believe that this picture was taken almost 22 years ago (except when you look at my sisters hair-doo's).

I requested and was assigned a job as an Electrician's Mate.  After boot camp, I went on to Electricians Mate 'A' school.  'A' School training at Great Mistakes took around 6 months.  I graduated in the top third of my Electrician's Mate class with an academic grade of 93% (3.72 GPA) so I was given a promotion to Electrician's Mate 3rd class (add one year to my enlistment for accepting accelerated promotion) and sent to the Navy Training Center out of Orlando Florida for Nuclear Power Training.

Orlando, Florida was great.  However, being in one of the hardest training programs for the enlisted service person did not leave me with alot of spare time (I thought it was hard anyway).  In Nuclear Power School, we learned things like Thermodynamics, Reactor Physics, Electrical and Electronics Theory, Mechanical Theory, just to name a few of the topics for light reading at night when you can't get any sleep.  I did fairly well here and graduated in the upper half of my class with a 3.5 GPA.  I thought that was pretty good since I was admitted to the program on an academic waiver.

The picture below is of the Nuclear Power Training complex at the Orlando, Florida Naval Training Center.  This base has been closed for years now.  What a shame!!!  The Orlando training center was one of the nicest training bases I had been to.

After graduation from Navy Nuclear Power School (class 8605), I was sent to upstate New York to complete my skill training at the prototype plants the Navy had up there.  Again, training and studying took 60-75 hours a week and didn't give us much time to blow off steam.  However, that just slowed us down and didn't stop us.  We didn't pass up to many opportunities to recuperate from spending hours studying technical manuals that weighed what felt like 30 Ibs each.  The individual on the right went on to the Naval Academy with a full ride scholarship, in part, due to his academic performance in the Nuclear Power Program.  I never did hear how he did hear how he did after he shipped out for Annapolis.

I graduated Nuclear Prototype after qualifying as an Electrical Operator on the S7G prototype (S=Submarine, 7= Core Model Number?, G= General Electric Design).  Again, I graduated with pretty good grades.  For that, the Navy gave me $5000 and sent me to sea on the USS Ohio (Gold Crew) SSBN 726.

This is a nuclear ballistic missile submarine.  It is also known as a Trident, Ohio Class, and boomer submarine.  Unlike fast attack submarines (the hunter/killers), the mission of the Ohio class is one of strategic deterrence.  Our mission was to remain undetected by other naval craft.  The Trident class of submarine carries up to 24 intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles.  This was an awesome boat (although I didn't necessarily appreciate it when I had to go out to sea on her).  Considering it goes under the surface of the ocean, it is absolutely huge.  Although, after 400+ days under the surface of the ocean in my 4 years onboard, it still got small (you can only go so far to get away from the 160+ sailors that live on board).

For spending 70+ days out at sea, a sailor got to add one star to their strategic deterrent patrol pin.  This pin is worn on the uniform of all submariners who serve on a boomer.  During my tour, I added 7 stars to this pin.

The USS Ohio was based out of Sub-Base Bangor in the beautiful state of Washington (not to far from Seattle).

While serving on the USS Ohio, I qualified all my in rate watch stations up to Shutdown Reactor Operator.  It was amazing>>>  When I was on board the USS Ohio, the average age of the personnel in the engineering department was 23.  Think of this another way, the nuclear power plant on this boat was run by people barely old enough to drink.  For me, I was sitting alone as the Electrical System Operator of a nuclear plant by the time I was 20 years old.  Not to bad for a person who got C's and D's in high school.  The Navy gave me a great opportunity and I took advantage of it.

The picture below is one that I have always liked.  This was during a port call in Hawaii while preparing for a torpedo readiness exam (TRE) the boat has to periodically participate in.  We were docked at Ford Island and this is looking over to Honolulu.  We hadn't seen sunlight or had a breath of fresh air for some 40+ days and this was a beautiful sunrise.

If you recall, Ford island, was the center piece of the Pearl Harbor attack by the Japanese on December 7, 1941.  Ford Island sits adjacent to battleship row, now the home to the USS Missouri and a few yards away from the USS Arizona.

Below is an awards ceremony held underway in the mess hall.  Here the Captain is awarding me my "Dolphins" signifying a significant amount of studying was completed on all ships systems and I was evaluated by my peers to be competent on those systems.  All submariners are required to study and pass an oral board held by fellow crew members on all major systems in order to get their dolphins.  It is one of the rights of passage for a submariner.  Obtaining your dolphins ensures that everyone on board knows and understands how submarine systems work.

Pictured below, is a picture of the dolphins awarded as part of this qualification.  All submariners qualified on submarines will wear these on their uniform.

In the picture below, I am receiving my Good Conduct award for 4-years of not getting caught doing anything against military regulations while serving in the Navy.  Note, the one ribbon I have on my uniform was awarded for serving in the military during Desert Storm.  We were out at sea during the Desert Storm Campaign and it was all over before we got back.