£3.99
Timeless Autobiography
In the fall of 1983
While attending the University, I was driving in my first car, a 1970 Toyota Corona, with the radio on one morning. The radio station broadcast an air disaster with the Soviet Union. The Russian port of Vladivostok detected an American passenger jet aircraft wandering close to the USSR submarine base for the Pacific Ocean. The flight was warned to change course, but did not and was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. October 1983.
At the University
In a night course for Political Science called Public Policy, the professor asked us to write the standard twenty-page paper on a subject of our choice. The Iran-Contra affair was in the news, and the professor commented that there would be ongoing problems and a difficult conclusion for the student. The paper was not finished before the student withdrew, but oil came to mind and a high school friend told me that forty percent of the world's known oil supply was in Kuwait, bordering Iraq next to Iran. Therefore, he was in for an adventure for the right reasons. This also started to change the course of my son's life during the fall semester in Manhattan out of West Norwalk, CT.
Searching for Answers
I ran short of food and started to look toward the military for answers in my life. I needed justice for the evil in this world, three meals a day, and a paycheck. My grandfather served in the Navy as an officer during World War II, and my stepfather in the Air Force enlisted as a second lieutenant. I was living with my father at the time of my final semester, who also served in the National Guard during the Vietnam Era.
Enlisting in the Navy
I went to the local armed forces recruiter in Stamford, Connecticut, and began the application process for the U.S. Navy. The first questions were about drugs and psychiatric hospitalizations. I lied. The crew needed my birth certificate and high school diploma, both obtained in three days from a New York City hospital and Hingham, Massachusetts. Then education and technical training were discussed, along with jobs in the Navy. When this ended, I was offered two choices for employment: the mail or Core Man. I chose medical and continued with pre-enlistment. I was further screened in a facility for physical health and ability in New Haven, CT, and given an opportunity to pass the nuclear fleet exam. I failed. Then I continued with fingerprinting, signatures, drug testing, and blood samples for disease detection. I passed and received directions to set off from the Norwalk, CT, recruiting station. The final procedure for enlisting was to be on time or in the reserves. I made it!
Travel to Great Lakes
It was LGA to ORE in January of 1984 on American Airlines, from Uncle Sam—also known as LaGuardia Airport in New York City—to O'Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois, one-way paid. When we arrived in Chicago, our leader was unknown, and we got on a bus outside the airport to the Navy Base called Great Lakes. The trip was not really long. When we got there, the driver exclaimed, smoke 'em if you got 'em, and our entrance was tough—your DRUNK! We had small duffel bags with a change in them and nothing else. Our first night, we spent in our civilian clothes on something called a rack.
Beginning of Navy Service
The Navy started to issue uniforms shortly after we arrived, with some very carefully selected boots. My half-cut industrial shoes were first given to me at 10E and were returned for 10EE with a friendly look. All of our uniforms were stenciled with our names and company numbers. We received an extensive collection of trousers, shirts, sweaters, jackets, underwear, outerwear, footwear, and of course, the Navy Pea Coat. We were taught to fold each garment in a special way for storage in a sea bag, including the Blue Jackets Manual.
Training and Weather
My service started in January of 1984, and I was to face a cold winter on Lake Michigan. The base did a great job of helping us with weather requirements. When temperatures were twenty below zero to just below zero, they would instruct us to...
