So I joined the Army Reserves the day after I turned 17, and my mom was not overly impressed. But she knew that I had a sense of duty and responsibility to my home and country. I went to boot camp at Ft Dix, NJ between my Junior and Senior years of high school, not your typical summer that is for sure. I served 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks of training during my senior year of high school and the day after graduation returned to Ft Dix for my AIT as an 88M (truck driver). A few years went by with lots of drills and more training until 1 day my best friend came home on leave from the Navy, he told me about all the places he’d been and things he had seen, so that weekend I went with him to see the recruiter and without even thinking about it I enlisted in the Navy. Needless to say boot camp the second time was a much different story, especially in Great Lakes, IL. After boot camp, I was stationed on the USS Deyo DD989 based out of Charleston, SC. From there we went all over the world. 19 countries, 4 continents, and more than a few ports of call.

I made some of the best friends a guy could want, I spent many a night reminiscing about home and looking forward to the next mail call. Without cell phones, it could be weeks between hearing the family on the phone. One hot August day in the summer of 91 I was awoken to the sound of General Quarters, this was no drill, a major class bravo fire had broken out in a boiler room and we spent the next 12 hours fighting the fire to save our ship and ourselves. To this day I remember images from the boiling water on the deck from the head of the fire, to the pile of OBA canisters on the fantail, there were hundreds of them. The distant light of a sister ship on her way to assist, nothing is more uplifting then coming out of the dark smoky fire to see her just astern of us, knowing no matter what someone was there to help. From there we headed to Italy for a month of repairs and refits to continue our mission, returning home just before Christmas after a long 9 months. There were many other cruises and adventures from the North Atlantic to the Panama Canal crossing. Things you read about in stories were things I did every day. I will always cherish those memories and the men I shared them with.

God bless our country and all those who gave their all!