Boyer, Thomas, CDR

PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE NAVY.

Boot Camp San Diego, August 1969

My father was a WWII Navy veteran of the Pacific. He served on a minesweeper during several landing operations. My uncle was a boatswain on the USS Maryland at Pearl Harbor so he also set a Navy example for me. But the primary influence for my decision to enlist in the Navy in 1969 was the threat of being drafted into the Army. I couldn't envision me eating and sleeping in the dirt.

WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK. WHERE DID YOU GO TO BOOT CAMP AND WHAT UNITS, BASES, SHIPS OR SQUADRONS WERE YOU ASSIGNED TO? WHAT WAS YOUR REASON FOR LEAVING?
I started as enlisted, selected for Radioman school, volunteered for submarine duty, attended submarine school in Groton, CT the reported aboard USS Trigger (SS-564) in San Diego. My girlfriend (at the time) father served on submarines in WWII so I guess I volunteered for that duty to impress her. Not sure that worked but I enjoyed my time on Trigger. Lifelong shipmates to this day some 50 years later. I got out of the Navy in 1973 after my first hitch because RM2(SS) rates were prime for the new nuke fast attacks and I didn't want to spend my life at sea.

I joined the Reserves as a direct-commissioned Ensign, Civil Engineer Corps (Seabees) in about 1983. I had completed my engineering degree thanks to the GI Bill and had become a profession regisitered civil engineer in my civilian job. I spend the next 22 years as a Seabee officer, retiring as CDR.

DID YOU ENCOUNTER ANY SITUATION DURING YOUR MILITARY SERVICE WHEN YOU BELIEVED THERE WAS A POSSIBILITY YOU MIGHT NOT SURVIVE? IF SO, PLEASE DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME.
We had a fire on our submarine but we followed our training with only one casualty who was burned and medivac.