After a very fulfilling 38-year Navy career, I completed a second career in the government. Now retired, I'm doing some of the other important things in life!
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A New Jersey native, after high school in 1968, I immediately enlisted in the United States Navy. Following basic training at RTC, Great Lakes, I was first assigned to USS ISLE ROYALE (AD 29) followed by the USS JOHN PAUL JONES (DDG 32) -- both home ported in Long Beach, CA. After a Viet Nam deployment, in May 1971 I was assigned to the A-6 Intruder training squadron, Attack Squadron Forty Two, at NAS Oceana, VA.
In August 1975, I reported aboard USS BORDELON (DD 881) as the Ship's Admin/Personnel petty officer in charge. After an at-sea collision with the USUAL John F. Kennedy resulting in BORDELON's decommissioning, I completed my sea rotation aboard USS SIMON LAKE (AS 33), also home ported in Charleston, SC where I was selected for Chief Petty Officer. In 1978 I was assigned to NAS, Brunswick, ME as the Asst Personnel Officer. During my enlisted career, I advanced to Senior Chief Personnelman, crossed the Equator, made several WestPac and Med deployments, and was one of the first Sailors to earn the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) designation.
After submitting three applications for a direct commission, I was selected as an Admin Limited Duty Officer (LDO) and commissioned as a new ensign, in 1980. I was immediately assigned as Ship's Secretary aboard USS MOUNT WHITNEY (LCC 20) home ported in Norfolk, VA. In 1982, I returned to the West Coast as OIC of PSD Lemoore, CA. From 1984 to 1992 I served several tours in Pearl Harbor, HI -- first as Executive Officer Flag Allowance, Commander THIRD Fleet on Ford Island and embarked in USS CORONADO (AGF 11); then as the Admin Officer, Commander, U.S. Pacific Airborne Command Post (ABNCP), Hickam AFB; and as the Executive Officer/Commanding Officer and Flag Secretary, Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet. It was during my three tours in Hawaii that I was selected for the College Degree Program (CDP) and earned my bachelors degree in Business Administration in 1988 from Chaminade University of Honolulu.
In 1992 I returned to the East Coast and was assigned as the Director of Administration in the NATO Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic, Norfolk, VA. In 1996 I traveled cross-country again, this time as a geo-bachelor to Bremerton/Everett, WA aboard USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) as the Admin Officer. In 1998, I returned to Norfolk and was assigned as Executive Officer, Personnel Support Activity Norfolk, VA. In 2000, I received a command assignment as Commanding Officer, Personnel Support Activity, Jacksonville, FL. In 2002, I was reassigned to the Navy Personnel Command in Millington, TN as Director, Field Support Division (Pers-33/673). In May 2004, I returned to Norfolk as the Chief of Staff, Task Force Warrior (Sea Warrior project). In February 2005, I reported to my last Navy assignment as Assistant Chief of Staff of Administration/Resources and Commanding Officer Staff, at Commander Operational Test and Evaluation Force in Norfolk, VA. After a fulfilling, 38-year Navy career, I retired from the Navy in 2006 and immediately began working as a consultant/senior analyst for a government contractor, C.A.C.I. where I accomplished a myriad of management projects.
In January 2012, I began the latest chapter in my career in the civil service as the Director Global Operations at the Navy Pay and Personnel Support Center, in Norfolk, VA in support of the 60 Personnel Support Detachments (PSDs) world-wide.
In February 2017, I retired from government service and beginning to write the newest chapter in my life.
A proud father of three wonderful children and a grandpa to seven adorable grand children, my wife and I currently reside in Northeast Florida. Life is Good!
Other Memories After my wife and I digested the short-fused notice that we were going to be transferring to the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Lemoore, California, we knew we had to quickly sell our very first house and our two cars in Virginia Beach before flying West. Fortunately, our same realtor took care of the house and our selling of the two cars seemed to work out rather easily too. After spending a few days with my in-laws in southern New Jersey, the five of us flew out of Philadelphia airport and arrived in the mid-afternoon 104-degree heat of Lemoore. As soon as we debarked the plane, I was unanimously informed that "we're hot, we're tired and we're hungry." Understandably, after a long trip like that with my wife and our three kids all under 8 years old, my immediate thoughts of self-preservation required that I quickly find us some food and a place to rest with plenty of air conditioning. Thankfully, my sponsor took care of our temporary accommodations so I was permitted to live another day...
Lemoore, California is a rather peculiar place in the heart of the very fertile San Joaquin Valley. However, located approximately four hours south of San Francisco, four hours north of Los Angeles and two hours east of the California coastline, it was not exactly the "California" we imagined. After a short stay at the Navy Lodge and our unsuccessful attempts to find a house in the city of Lemoore, we accepted assignment to an on-base, 3-bedroom government unit for the duration of our two-year tour. It was the first time (and only time) we ever had to endure such sweltering temperatures through a contraption called a "swamp cooler." To say the least, while 100 of these things may have successfully cooled a small swamp, ours only did a marginal job of keeping the family comfortable -- especially during the hot afternoons and into the nights.
Overall, the Lemoore geographic area was quite desolate back then. It was even more so than it was during our tour in Brunswick, Maine. The base itself was about 8 miles from the one stop-light, one restaurant town of Lemoore and 30+ miles of farms and cattle ranches from Visalia -- the nearest city with a choice of restaurants and shopping venues. Notwithstanding, the NAS Lemoore base activities and recreational facilities made the tour quite endearing. In addition to the command-related, competitive intramural sporting events like bowling, volleyball, basketball, and softball, there were plenty of family recreational activities available like gymnastics, soccer, basketball and little league baseball for the kids to enjoy. And as the sun caressed, enriched soil in the valley was perfect for growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables, we were never without something fresh to eat, can or exchange with neighbors or office workers.
As the Officer in Charge of my own Personnel Support Detachment of some 40 Sailors and civilian employees, it was my first opportunity to individually lead a group of human resource and pay specialists in providing quality customer service for the base, the air wing, the fighter squadron Sailors and the thousands of family members and retirees in the area. As new Navy Lieutenant, locally I took most of my direction and guidance from the NAS commanding officer and the Air Wing?s Admiral, while directly reporting to my Personnel Support Activity Commanding Officer in San Francisco. This relationship gave me a unique opportunity to learn what it was like to accommodate the wishes of three bosses simultaneously while remaining sensitive to the needs and desires of my workers.
After the first four months onboard, one of the significant changes I found it necessary to make was to establish customer service hours. I needed to ensure my folks were alert and receptive in responding to all forms of pay, personnel, and transportation requirements when our doors were open. But at 3:00 p.m. daily, I also needed those doors closed to allow them some uninterrupted time to process the volumes of pay, personnel and travel actions they absorbed during the customer service open hours. To make such a significant change would require that I successfully brief and gain the confidence of the commanders of all of my major customers and my boss in San Francisco. I did so by explaining the necessity of accurately processing these pay/personnel/travel actions and assuring them we would continue to respond to emergent requests and out-of-town customers who came to us for service. The customer service hours arrangement worked out splendidly and our Detachment quickly became the model of excellence in the PSA San Francisco 12-detachment network.
In fact, we all worked so well together in Lemoore that I even contemplated the notion of asking for a one-year tour extension there. But after talking to my transfer assignment officer (detailer), I learned that was not going to happen because another Lieutenant was already slated to come in as my relief in early summer of 1984. Oh well, that's the way it goes. Being almost 3,000 miles from our families and friends on the east coast, perhaps we would be able to return someplace closer to them in our next assignment? But as fate would have it, we would next transfer to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii -- an additional 3,000 miles away from the "right coast." Go figure? But more about our tours in "paradise" next time.
