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An up close and personal interview with U.S. Navy Veteran and Togetherweserved.com Member:
LCDR Tom Fortin U.S. Navy (Ret) (1979-2003)
PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE NAVY?
 I was always enthralled with the Navy. I sat spell-bound listening to my cousins when they came home from Vietnam and regaled us with sea stories. I loved their uniforms and that spark of pride in their eyes as they talked about their service.
McHale's Navy was even my favorite TV show!! LOL!!
As early as junior high school, I started reading books with Naval themes and started to gather information about what the Navy had to offer, and how I could channel my patriotic pride into a stint or career (who knows?) in the Navy.
By high school, I was convinced that I would join the Navy after graduation. I had ZERO interest in going to college, so as soon as I turned 17, I went down to my recruiter and enlisted as a Hospital Corpsman.
WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK.
I enlisted right out of high school and went to Boot Camp in Orlando followed by HM "A" School. After being stationed in San Diego for two years and working in the dispensaries at RTC and NTC, I decided to pursue a commission.
I applied for and got accepted to the  BOOST program which was in San Diego at the time, and had a great time there brushing up on academics, retaking the SAT test to get my scores up and competitive for college applications, and getting some additional military discipline and physical conditioning at the hands of the Marines in our class.
I then applied for and got accepted to the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. In May of '82, I reported for Plebe Summer, and after four years of blood, sweat and tears, I earned my BS degree in Mechanical Engineering, graduating as a member of the class of 1986.
For the next 17 years, I played my trade as a Surface Warfare Officer on several surface ships and stations around the country. I started out as an officer on USS Badger (FF-1071) as 1st LT, then CICO, Navigator, and  "Assistant Operations Officer" a made-up billet by Ops which really meant, "You do all my work and I get all the credit!" LOL!!!
From Badger I went to the Navy's Postgraduate School in Monterey. Initially, I was in the Weapons Engineering program which led to a Masters' Degree in Mechanical Engineering, but a few months into that and I was up at my kitchen table studying, deriving formulae and equations, and doing lab reports until well into the wee hours of the morning. I was having flashbacks to undergraduate school and all the effort that went into that degree and wasn't looking forward to that at all!
I transferred into the Computer Systems Management degree program and finished there. Desktop computers were just starting to take off at that time, so they were still teaching us client-server model with mainframes.  By the time we graduated, most of what we learned was now obsolete! Oh well, still got to go to Grad School on Uncle Sam's dime!
After PG School, it was back to back sea tours as an afloat department head. My first one was USS Santa Barbara (AE-28) out of Charleston, SC. That was one hard-working ship! One thing I found out about fat ships (slang for supply and auxiliary ships) is that they don't have a lot of back up. When one goes down for any reason, there are only about two others to go to. If those other ones are in their shipyard period, or out on deployment, guess who gets the tasking? YOU DO!!
Out of the15 months that my Santa Barbara tour lasted, we were underway for AT LEAST 12 of them. It kinda worked out well though because I had gotten married while at PG school and my wife was from Charleston. My wife's family was able to support and help her with our growing family while I was out on two Med Cruise deployments and several local ops and training underway periods too.
 Next was my best ship. I got picked to be a plank owner on USS Rainier (AOE-7) which was one of the brand new Supply Class AOE's being built in San Diego. After building the ship for about a year and a half in San Diego, we sailed it up to her new homeport in Bremerton, WA.
Rainier was a special ship. We had the highest caliber of personnel on that ship. I found out that the commissioning crew was carefully hand-picked, so we had the top guys and gals from every field on that ship. The ship was also brand new and under warranty, so we didn't spend all day fixing things that should be working. They all worked! The ship was beautiful too and FAST! It just didn't stop so well because of glitches in the propulsion control software on this new hot rod.
After my department head tours, I went to COMNAVSURPAC to work ashore on my first real shore duty. I was "dual-hatted" as the C4ISR Installations Officer and the Combat Systems Maintenance Officer. That was good work and it was rewarding because you could make an impact on sailors' lives by getting them the gear they needed or getting their stuff fixed.
 The Navy lives on shore/sea rotations though, and while sitting on shore duty, I still had some time to go before my XO screening looks. I went back to sea duty on USS Coronado (AGF-11) as the ship's Communications Officer for what was called a "complex sea tour." It was indistinguishable from a department head tour though! I was several years senior to the other department heads and the routine was easier on that ship than my other two because I had a great group of officers and enlisted including an LDO and a Warrant who kept things running smoothly.
My last tour in the Navy was at NAVSPECWARCOM, the SEALs HQ on Coronado. I was the C4ISR POM Analyst who got long term funding for equipment fielding plans. That was a great last tour.
The SEALs are a hard-working and dedicated bunch of guys, and I was honored to work with them. I had to learn all new gear (mostly Army stuff), new boats, and new missions. Also had to find out what these guys did and then get them the C4ISR gear they needed.
I finally decided to retire while stationed at WARCOM, as a Lieutenant Commander. Unfortunately, several months  after submitting my retirement request, the attacks of 9-11 happened. I volunteered to be used wherever needed but I was told, "Sorry, your retirement request has already gone through the system and it's too late to withdraw it." Then my detailer said something to me that stung a little, "Tom, thank you for your service, but at this point, it's a younger man's game." Wow!! When did I get to be the "old man"? I still felt like I had just started my Navy career!
I retired in 2003 and I was able to continue working for the Navy that I loved as a Supervisory Civilian Engineer at the Naval Warfare Center, Corona.
IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN COMBAT, PEACEKEEPING OR HUMANITARIAN OPERATIONS, PLEASE DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH WERE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT TO YOU AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY.
 Unfortunately, I never did get to participate in Combat Operations. That was a huge sore spot with me. I felt like I had trained my whole career for combat and then when it came, I was either unavailable (Gulf War I, I was in Post Graduate School in Monterey, and I had already submitted my retirement request when 9/11 occurred).
I feel like I got short-changed and was unable to do what I was in the Navy for in the first place. I know my family is glad that I didn't go off to combat operations, but I felt my place was there.
FROM YOUR ENTIRE SERVICE, INCLUDING COMBAT, DESCRIBE THE PERSONAL MEMORIES WHICH HAVE IMPACTED YOU MOST?
I will never forget the time our ship (USS Badger, FF-1071) was at sea in the South China Sea, and we encountered a boat full of refugees from Vietnam. Their boat was a battered old sampan that had been demasted in a storm and they had lost their engine  as well.
We had been warned by higher authority that we should be very cautious as we got closer because the refugees might suspect us to be pirates who operated in those waters. As we pulled up alongside the boat, we illuminated our American flag with our signaling lights to show them who we were, and we could see the relief on the people's faces. They had been saved by Americans.
Life aboard that small boat had been grim and we had to conduct several burials at sea including several infants who had died as recently as the night before. While we took the boat alongside our ship, the people mouthed the word, "WATER" and we lowered bags of ice down to slake their thirst. Life came back to their nearly lifeless bodies almost immediately.
We later discovered from the master of the boat that he had other crew members who had been stranded on a wreck while attempting to get help, and other another group who got stranded on an island while making a swim for help.
We then vectored over to both places, rescued the survivors, and transported all of them back to our base in Subic Bay, Philippines.
That was an adventure you could only dream about, and it made me proud to be part of a Navy and ship's crew that could have such a profound impact on people's lives.
OF ALL THE MEDALS, AWARDS, QUALIFICATION BADGES OR DEVICE YOU RECEIVED, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE ONE(S) MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY?
 My first Navy Achievement Medal as an officer was awarded to me for my part in the rescue of the Vietnamese people from their disabled boat, and that meant an awful lot to me. I knew that I had had a direct and meaningful impact on people's lives, and I wore that medal very proudly my entire career as an officer. I had other higher precedent awards, but that one had the most meaning for me.
WHICH INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM YOUR TIME IN THE MILITARY STAND OUT AS HAVING THE MOST POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
 The person who stands out to me is BMCM (SW) Ron Young. He was the first Chief that worked for me when I got commissioned and was on my first sea tour as a division officer stationed on USS Badger (FF-1071) as the First Lieutenant.
Chief Young (at the time) was the best and most professional chief I encountered over my career, and I couldn't have asked for a better chief to work with and learn from.
Chief Young was tall and lean, with a chiseled look and an awesome moustache who was the epitome of a professional sailor in my mind. He had a deep booming voice and was always in control of the sailors who worked in the deck division. There was no doubt about who was running the show in Deck.
On the first day I got assigned as his boss (LOL! Yeah, right!!) he sat down with me in the small store room we called the Deck Office, and he said to me, "Mr. Fortin -- Now I know you want to be a good division officer and all, and I understand that, but what you REALLY need to do is get your qualifications as a Surface Warfare Officer done on the bridge, in CIC, and down in the hole. While you're doing that, I'll run the division and keep things going for you and keep you out of trouble, but what I need you to do is to run interference for me when I need it when the Department Head tries to micro manage things. You just don't need to worry about all the petty stuff we're doing right now. That's my job, and the people are mine. You get your quals done and you'll see that it works out best for you."
 Well, having been enlisted for a couple of years, that recommendation was just music to my ears! I've never been one to have to have things "my way", so it sounded like Chief Young's plan was way better than anything I could come up with.
Not only did he do exactly what he said and keep the division run smoothly, but he was also a fully qualified underway OOD on the bridge and CIC watch officer in Combat. I learned a lot of great ship handling techniques from him, and how to have a "presence" on the bridge and take control of my watchstanders in a professional manner.
Sure enough, with Chief Young showing me the ropes and making sure I got off to a good start in my officer career, I was able to get warfare qualified earlier than everyone else that had come aboard about the same time, and got to seize some opportunities that came my way because of the speed I got qualified with. Our division also "aced" inspection after inspection and our guys got promoted and our division ran smoothly and professionally.
Standing behind me in kakis during an award ceremony is Chief Young..
I couldn't have asked for a better working relationship and inspiration to start my officer career and I will ever be grateful. Chief Young went on to make Master Chief and be one of the very few Fleet Pilots in the Navy (I think there were only four). He came up on the bridge of my first Department Head tour ship to bring us into Rota, and we had a great reunion and swapped some sea stories. I will always count Ron Young as a consummate professional, a great mentor, a true patriot, and a friend.
CAN YOU RECOUNT A PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM YOUR SERVICE WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN FUNNY AT THE TIME, BUT STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH?
 Oh man! Over all the years I spent in the Navy, there were SO MANY funny stories! It's hard to single out just one!
The tricks we all played on each other while at sea were some of the best though. I don't know if it's the boredom of standing watch after watch for months on end or what, but we always seemed to come up with some funny stunts to play on each other.
On USS Badger (FF-1071), we did lots of these pranks. One time, while on a six month deployment, our Disbursing Officer, Kevin Kincaid, decided to take advantage of the ship CONSTANTLY being on water hours (fresh water being turned on only during certain hours because of a shortage) by loading up the ship's only soda machine with Rolling Rock Grape Soda in every vending position. The grape soda hadn't been selling well and he had a ton of it, so more water hours was the perfect way to get rid of it. Hot and thirsty sailors would drink anything while operating around the equator!!
Well one of my wardroom buddies (Steve Glaser) and I had enough grape soda to last us a lifetime and we were fed up! We decided we would simulate a crew uprising via the Captain's Suggestion Box!
Steve and I laughed like school kids as we sat in our stateroom writing letters to CO using our left hands to write so that he wouldn't recognize our handwriting (he and I wrote a lot of messages and reports, so the CO would recognize it!) and we intentionally left out words, misspelled words, and used different writing implements including grease pencils and a crayon to mask our identities.
On our notes, we put things like, "Captain, with all do respect, this is BS that all we got to drink is grape soda in the Coke machine!" and  "CO, I work hard all day, can't I even get a freakin' soda other than Rolling Rock Grape?!" etc., etc. We must have written over a dozen notes and stuffed them all in the CO's suggestion box.
Well that night at Eight O'Clock Reports, my boss (Ops) was on watch, so I had to cover 8's for him. Steve's boss (CHENG) was on watch, so Steve had to cover 8's, and we were there when the Command Master Chief dropped the pile of notes "from the crew" on the table in front of the XO. We had all we could do not to bust out laughing!
The XO swiveled over to the Supply Officer and said, "What the hell is Disbo doing with the soda machine?! DO you REALLY think I'm going to bring this stack of notes up to the CO and not do something about it?! Get Disbo out of his rack and get him to put some real sodas in the Coke machine!!"
Ten minutes later, Steve went down to the engineering spaces to stand his watch and reported to me that he saw Disbo out in the passageway removing all the grape soda from the machine. When I got up on watch after 8's, I heard the XO debriefing the CO that he had received a bunch of complaints "from the crew" about the grape soda but had taken care of it with the Supply Officer. The CO said something to the effect of, "God damned Supply Officer! What was he thinking?!!" I was within earshot of the whole CO/XO discussion and I sure was glad it was dark on the bridge because I was laughing so hard I was crying!!
WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY?
As I was nearing retirement as a Surface Warfare Officer, I had no real idea where I'd end up. I had worked with ships and shipboard installations of C4ISR gear on both coasts and was wide open to relocating anywhere in the U.S. My last tour was at  NAVSPECWARCOM at the SEAL's headquarters on Coronado, so I was also familiar with SOCCOM and their gear. I thought I'd either end up in Tampa working with or for SOCCOM, or I'd work at or for SPAWAR doing something with electronics installations on either coast. Nope!
I just LOVED riding my Harley around Southern CA, so I just looked around San Diego looking for jobs and going to networking breakfasts and luncheons. I got some leads, but then I remembered that there was a place just north of San Diego called the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Corona. I blindly threw them a resume not even knowing what they really did. When I worked at COMNAVSURFPAC, I had received the annual "Red Book" of troubled systems from Corona, but I had never been there.
I didn't really think I'd get a reply from them, but I a couple weeks later, I did get a call from the HR folks at Corona. I went up for an interview and was a bit intimidated by how intelligent everyone was up there! These were the Navy's REAL rocket scientists and engineers! I called my wife after my interviews and said,  "There's no way I'm going to get hired here! They're looking for REALLY smart people here!"
To my surprise though, I did get a call and a job offer. I told the lady who called me that I didn't think I'd get a call because I hadn't done anything with my engineering degree since graduation about 20 years ago, but she told me that I was actually "a big fish" for them. She said they DO hire lots of smart people out of college, but they don't have many folks with the working knowledge of the fleet and how the waterfront works like I have.
I started as an analyst for NSWC Corona right after retiring, but about a year later I applied for, and got, a supervisor position. I've been the Combat Systems Assurance Branch Head since about 2004. My guys and I do the quality assurance for shipboard weapons systems to make sure the weapons systems we put on ships are built correctly to standards and specs. It keeps me connected to the Navy and sailors that I love so much.
IN WHAT WAYS HAS SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CAREER?
Even though my Dad wasn't a military guy, he constantly taught us while growing up that life wasn't all about us as individuals. We were supposed to be concerned about others and not ourselves.
The Navy continued that philosophy that my Dad taught me. I was totally bought-in to  the concept of serving others and putting the mission, the unit, and my fellow sailors before myself. To me, that as all so natural.
The Navy for me was a great place to live and work. It taught me how to work effectively with a diverse group of folks and to accept each one as an active, contributing member of the team. We didn't always get to choose who we worked with, but we all learned to work with each other, get along, and keep a common goal in mind. That's stuff you don't get too much of if you're working in one or two companies in the civilian world.
My Dad's philosophy has worked for me throughout my life whether it is the Navy, workplace, school or social events. But best of all, Dad's wisdom is what keeps respect, caring and love in my wonderful family.
BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE NAVY?
The Navy fit me like a glove and I ended up making it a full career. That's not always the case for every person though, AND THAT'S FINE!
The Navy is a great place to live and work and learn a skill or a trade. I'm surprised there's not  a line out the door of every recruiter's office in the country!
If the Navy's not for you though, that's fine, but make up your mind to enjoy the time you're in. Meet people. Go places. See the sites of wherever you are. Then, if you decide to get out after your first tour, that's ok. You're still leaving with a tool bag full of skills, memories, and benefits.
As the Security Manager on several ships, I had to conduct the security briefings for every sailor coming to or going from the command. I'd tell the guys who were bitter about the Navy and vowing to get out as soon as they could, "Well, you can either be bitter and complain about every day, or you could decide to get all you can out the Navy before you leave. It's up to YOU!"
Trust me, even if your ship or station seems to be the worst place you could think of and all your fellow sailors, Chiefs and Officers are idiots, you're building memories that you're going to laugh about later. We all do! Enjoy your time in the Navy and don't sweat the small stuff.
IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU REMEMBER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND THE FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH.
Together We Served has been a great way to put all of my Navy memories in one place and to get in touch with old shipmates. We all understand each other here on TWS, and it's nice to be among friends.
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