Previously Held NEC SR-0000-Seaman Recruit
SN-0000-Seaman
SN-9740-Seaman - Other Technical and Allied Specialists
IC-0000-Interior Communications Electrician
I retired on the last day of June, 2011, the month I turned 61,
and took my Arizona State pension, then Social Security at 62.Â
I spent my post-navy life as a photographer and media manager.
The Navy gave me gypsy feet, and I've enjoyed them all my life.
As a result, traveling was not just a bucket list item for me.Â
With the way things have gone, it was a good investment.
I'm a direct descendant, tenth generation, of Joseph Loomis.
The Loomis Family arrived in the New World on 17 July, 1638.Â
We have defended America ever since.Â
Other Comments:
"Service included boots-on-the-ground in Viet-Nam"
[ One year, 365 days, 24/7 -- 7 June 1970 to 7 June 1971 ] U.S. Naval Advisory Group, Vietnamese Naval Shipyard, Saigon RVN.
I am also a Plank Owner and Shellback, USS Harlan County (LST-1196).
During my 4 years of active duty, 3 years were credited as foreign or sea service.
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Technically, I was on Active Duty, USN, 3 years, 11 months and 16 days. However, I was in the Naval Reserve before that and after that, both Active Reserves and Inactive Reserves. So N/TWS has credited me from April 1969 through April 1983, 4 years active USN plus 4 years USNR and 6 years inactive Naval Reserves, and that is why my profile may occasionally show three hash marks. 1983 was my final Inactive Naval Reserve discharge date. Also, because I worked overseas, I never managed to take the 2nd Class Exam. So, actually I never wore more than one hash mark on my dress blues. And yes... there is a "V" on my Navy Achievement Medal even without having a Combat Action Ribbon because that's the way it was awarded. For more information click on the NAM w/V ribbon in my ribbon rack.Â
I am glad, proud, to have been born an American.
I voluntarily joined the armed forces, and for that
matter I volunteered for duty in Viet-Nam.Â
What I had hoped for was to not bring the violence,
the lack of value of a human life that I experienced
in Viet-Nam, back to America. Â It is that simple.
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During my civilian career I spent over ten years as a hospital/medical photographer, two years in Saudi Arabia with Lockheed, and then two and a half decades as the media specialist and manager for a 9,000+ student public school district in Phoenix, Arizona. I feel fortunate to have retired without ever having a single unemployment or welfare check.Â
Stupid is, as Stupid does... Just four months before my enlistment was due to end, two of us took off for a long weekend from Norfolk to Anderson SC. A storm set in on the way and an ice storm, that is on the record books, froze us hundreds of miles away from our ship (Feb 1972). Carolina Coach and all railroad services had come to a standstill. We made Raleigh NC by hitch-hiking but by then the highways had been closed down. We turned ourselves in to a local Navy Recruiter but it was too late. Before we could reach Little Creek our ship had pulled out for a One Day Dependance's Cruise. We were charged with Missing Ship's Movement and I was busted from IC3 back to Fireman. (In case you have never stood a Captain's Mass, you're not given a chance for discussion or explanation). I was discharged a month early in June 1973 due to an upcoming six month Med Cruise. By August I was enrolled in a technical college and within a year, with an RE-1 code, I re-enlisted in the Naval Reserves where I took the IC3 exam (again) and had my crow tacked on... for the second time. I was about to take the IC2 exam when I was offered a contract in Saudi Arabia with Lockheed Aircraft. A few years later, after returning to CONUS, I re-enlisted, again, in the Naval Reserve. But before the exam for IC2 came along I had moved to England. And so... that is the reason I have to list myself as a Third Class, with 4 years active and 4 years total in the Reserves. Not that I'm complaining, life has been good to me and I've tried to return the favors. Steve
Other Memories
I was discharged from active service in June 1973. I started a two year technical college degree the first of September of that year. A year later, as I started my second year I re-enlisted, this time in the Naval Reserve, La Crosse Wisconsin. I drilled there for three years and did active duty on the USS Pluck (MSO-4640, at the Recruit Training Command - Great Lakes and finally the USS Francis Marion (LPA-249).