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An up close and personal interview with U.S. Navy Veteran and Togetherweserved.com Member:
PO3 Steven D. Loomis, US Navy (1969-1973)
WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE MILITARY?
I am a direct descendant, tenth generation, of Joseph Loomis. My family came from Essex in England to the new world in 1638 and landed at the settlement of Boston which was founded just eight years earlier in 1630.
American Revolutionary War (War of Independence): My Great x4 Grandfather "Jonathan  Loomis" (Joseph Loomis' Great-Great Grandson) served seven years in the Army of the Revolution from Massachusetts and fought at the battle of Bunker Hill. He served in Stevens' Company of Mass., Rositer's Co. That makes me a Son of the American Revolution.
American Civil War (War Between the States): Both of my Great Grandfathers were soldiers in the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the North, during the "War of the Rebellion". On my mother's side (Irish) was "Christopher Columbus Reen" and on my father's side (English) was "Joel Woolsey Loomis" Michigan 11th Infantry, Company B. And that makes me a Son of the Rebellion (Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States).
I was born in 1950 to a WWII war bride and soldier. On my father's side: my dad, both of his brothers, and two of his sisters husbands were WWII Veterans. On my mother's side: her two oldest brothers were WWII Vets and the next was a Korean War Sailor. I joined the Navy while still in my senior year of high school. It was the Navy's CACHE Program which gave me time to finish school and receive my diploma before reporting for active duty. I am a Vietnam War Veteran.
BRIEFLY, WHAT WAS YOUR SERVICE CAREER PATH?
 I had enough college prep courses in high school to qualify for the FBM program so I was sent to Dam Neck Virginia for missile technician 'A' school. Unfortunately, I washed out after five months. I blame myself for not studying hard enough. With the threat of going to the fleet as an undesignated E2 I volunteered for duty in Vietnam. I put in a chit for RIVER PATROL MINESWEEPERS and ten days later I was on my way to SERE school and U.S. Naval Ground Forces Vietnam.
At the end of my tour in Vietnam I put in for IC-A school. I spent the rest of my time in the service as an Interior Communications Electrician. I also spent four years with Naval Reserve units later on.
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN COMBAT OPERATIONS? IF YES, CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHICH ONES AND HOW YOU PARTICIPATED?
 I served in-country Vietnam during campaigns thirteen and fourteen.
#13. Sanctuary Counteroffensive (1970)
#14. Vietnam Counteroffensive - Phase VII (1970/71)
However, rather than river patrol duty I was assigned to the Naval Advisory Group in the Vietnamese Naval Shipyard in Saigon, and that is why I use the monicker/nickname "Saigon ShipYard".
FROM YOUR ENTIRE SERVICE CAREER WHAT PARTICULAR MEMORY STANDS OUT?
I think I can scale this down to a single hour, as it changed my course shortly after I arrived in Vietnam.
I was sent to the Vietnamese Naval Shipyard on TDY while I waited to be assigned to a river patrol unit. It was Saturday, mid-morning, and I was  standing in the admin office of the Naval Advisory unit when Lt. Cdr. Teague came over to me, looked at the name tag on my jungle greens and asked me where I was from. At this point I'd been in the Navy for less than eleven months and had never spoken to an officer of his rank. I quickly responded with "Wisconsin, Sir". And he continued with.. "So, Loomis, what did you take in high school?" I gave him a quick reply... "I took math and science courses and drafting, mechanical and architectural". Suddenly he was very interested in my drafting background and I told him it was my best subject.
A minute or so later we were in his office looking at charts and pages of data he had been preparing on checkered drafting paper. Then, he asked me if I'd like working on them and giving them a professional look.
I may have been young, but I wasn't stupid. Of course I said yes, and for the next year I worked with translators and interpreters to produce charts and graphs on every class of ship in the Vietnamese Navy. They showed the progress on overhauls and fleet maintenance and were used as visual-aids by our Captain every week at the Admiral's Management Briefing at NAVFORV, (headquarters Naval Forces Vietnam).
DID YOU RECEIVE ANY AWARDS FOR VALOR? CAN YOU DESCRIBE HOW THESE WERE EARNED?
 I was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal with combat "V" while serving with the Senior Naval Advisory Group Vietnam, June 1970 - June 1971. I was still a Seaman at the time. My citation, signed by Admiral R.S. Salzer, is in my photo file.
OF THE MEDALS, AWARDS AND QUALIFICATION BADGES OR DEVICES YOU RECEIVED, WHAT IS THE MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY?
 I have one which is so uncommon that less than a dozen TWS members list it. And, I received it twice. It's the Vietnamese Navy Staff Honor Medal, Second Class.
It was considered the 'honor level' because I was not a member of the South Vietnamese Navy, and Second Class because I was enlisted. Officers received the First Class version.
When I received the "Staff Medal" from the Vietnamese Shipyard Command I was told I was the youngest and lowest ranking 'person' to ever receive the award. I was only twenty years old at the time and the Vietnamese Draft age was 21. More than a year later, while serving in the Atlantic on an LST, I received this award a second time. It had taken so long to catch up to me that the medal itself had gone missing. Apologetically, my commanding officer offered me the citation which had been awarded to me by the South Vietnamese Navy High Command.
WHICH INDIVIDUAL PERSON FROM YOUR SERVICE STANDS OUT AS THE ONE WHO HAD THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
 It would have been Lieutenant Commander Robert 'Bob' Teague. He was the Training Officer in the shipyard in Saigon.
The Republic of Vietnam's largest industrial complex was the Vietnamese Naval Shipyard in Saigon. It was the only real heavy industry, and was the nation's largest training school.
NAG VNNSY: Naval Advisory Group, Vietnamese Naval Shipyard
CO-VAN means Advisor. HAI-QUAN: Navy, and CONG-XUONG: Shipyard.
DO YOU HAVE A PARTICULARLY HUMOROUS STORY FROM YOUR SERVICE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE?
Saigon, early 1971. Vietnamization is underway...we were letting them take over their war.
One morning a memo came around from the Vietnamese Naval Command, ATTENTION DRIVERS... Translated, it stated: Anyone driving vehicles belonging to the South Vietnamese Government must have a valid Vietnamese Driver's License.
I worked in the Vietnamese Naval Shipyard  in Saigon, just off Tu Do Street, and was attached to the Senior Naval Advisory Group - Vietnam, which assisted in the management of the shipyard. The way it worked was, we turned over vehicles to the Vietnamese by the shipload, however, as Advisors, they saw our role as working for them, the Vietnamese. Result.. Our jeeps were hand-me-downs, registered as PROPERTY OF THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT, and we carried a list of serial numbers of vehicles we were authorized to use. Now back to the memo...
The Training Officer, Lt. Cdr. Bob Teague, my boss, looked at me and said... "well let's go get the paperwork done"... and we climbed into a jeep and I drove over to City Hall. We went up to the second floor and presented our papers to a clerk at a counter. An older lady looked over the memo and Teague's license and then to mine. I had a Wisconsin, and an Army/Navy driver's license. (Actually, my Army license had the word NAVY written over ARMY. This was done by some old Sergeant at the Saigon Motor Pool who might have been trying to be funny... hard to tell). The old lady looked at my stuff, then up at me and over to Teague, like he was my father or something, and said, ''I'm sorry, but he is not old enough to drive". I was 20 and the Vietnamese full license, over 50cc's for motor-bikes, required you to be 21. I thought Bob Teague was going to drop dead.. He just couldn't stop laughing. They finished up his license and we left. I climbed back behind the wheel and drove back over to the shipyard. On the way, Teague would break out in laugher and after we got back to the office he told the story to everyone, laughing every time.
Of course it didn't matter. I drove all over Saigon, up and down to Long Binh and Bien Hoa and Nha Be. Now, some forty years later, in some old officer's club or seaman's home, Bob is most likely still telling tales of Saigon and I hope he's still laughing at this one.
WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER THE SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?
 AUDIO-VISUALS: Photography, Graphics and Multi-Media.
Shortly after being discharged, after four years of active duty, I took my GI Bill and went back to school. Initially, in an attempt to combine my military background with the outside world, I enrolled in a Bio-Medical program to become a hospital electronics repairman. I came to a realization that I would be in the basement of a hospital, like I was in the IC shop on-board ship, repairing stuff other people broke. I decided to change my major and chose AV. I graduated at the top of my class with academic honors with an Associate Degree in Visual Communications. Before I graduated I had already been hired as the Audio-Visual Specialist for the largest hospital in Western Wisconsin where I also became their Medical Photographer.
Three years later I took a contract in Saudi Arabia with Lockheed Aircraft where I met my wife, a British secretary. I have continued to work in the field of Audio-Visuals ever since.
ARE YOU A MEMBER OF ANY MILITARY ASSOCIATION(S)? IF SO, WHICH ASSOCIATIONS AND WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIP(S).
Sons of the American Revolution by my Great x4 Grandfather, Jonathan Loomis.
Sons of the Rebellion, "MOLLUS" by my Great Grandfather, Joel Woolsey Loomis.
I have been a past, or present member of:
Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States,
American Legion, AMVETS, Mobile Riverine Force Association,
United States LST Association and Navy TogetherWeServed.
My Arizona Veteran License Plate is: 7019VT. I went to Viet-Nam in '70 I was 19.
HOW HAS MILITARY SERVICE INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND CAREER?
At the age of 60 I have never been on welfare and have never had a single unemployment check in my life. I am proud of that and I know the Navy had a lot to do with my ability to stand on my own two feet and support myself.
Having served in the military, and especially in Vietnam, was a major factor in my securing a contract in Saudi Arabia with Lockheed Aircraft International. Since then, my wife Barbra and I have traveled abroad for the majority of our vacations. The Navy gave me Gypsy Feet... and I've enjoyed them all of my adult life.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU HAVE FOR THOSE THAT ARE STILL SERVING?
 Learn to be a good photographer and take pictures of people and locations. Get a few really good photographs of yourself along the way, in action or on location. Those will be worth their weight in gold when you get older.
Need a worthy cause? Please consider this one, run by Ms Chris Noel:
Vetsville Cease Fire House
291 NE 19th Avenue
Boynton Beach, FL 33435
Phone: (561) 736-4325
http://www.vietvet.org/vetsvill.htm
For info on Chris Noel: http://www.chrisnoel.com/
IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU MAINTAIN A BOND WITH YOUR SERVICE AND THOSE YOU SERVED WITH?
Well, at first I came here to get away from some general 'school' type sites. NTWS is ALL NAVY and I found myself right at home. I can have fun or be as serious as I want, depending on the forum. I can also post things that may only be read by a specialized/interested few, and I like that. Then, after a while I started doing Remembrance Profiles. This challenge has given me an additional sense of naval history which I find very rewarding.
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TWS VOICES
TWS Voices are the personal stories of men and women who served in the US Military and convey how serving their Country has made a positive impact on their lives. If you would like to participate in a future edition of Voices, or know someone who might be interested, please contact Diane Ruth TWS Military Heritage Director HERE.
This edition of Navy Voices was supported by:
Navy.Togetherweserved.com
For current and former serving Members of the United States Navy, TogetherWeServed is a unique, feature-rich resource enabling Naval personnel to re-connect with lost Shipmates, share memories and tell their Navy story.
To join Navy.Togetherweserved.com, please click HERE.
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