My Submarine Days ...

Yes I am considered what the call a bubble head. For 10 years I cruised the ocean blue hunting and staying hidden from many enemies of the United States of America. I joined the military shortly after I graduated from high school, thinking I would teach everyone a leason and not go to college. Oh to my surprize did I find a whole other world. Thought I would join the navy, see the world and do things my way ...... as you can tell I was young and wasn't thinking with my head. Yes the 4:00 a.m. wakeup calls in bootcamp were not planned on my part, nor were they welcomed. But all in all my navy experience provided me with exactly what I needed to survive on my own, someone to watch over me. While arriving in bootcamp and taking a battery of test to find out what I was capable of doing, I heard from the others that submarine duty paid extra money on top of your regular pay so I thought what the heck more money and I'm gonna be here for a while anyway. 1983 was the year I entered and began my journey on nuclear submarines.

This is a picture of the Ohio class submarine I served on. It no longer exist in this configuration because of recent changes.

Now there's one things you need to understand about submarine duty, it's long hours, hard work and the food is great! In all seriousness when arriving at your first command you receive what's called a qualification card for the class submarine your on. So, I looked it over and said hmmmmm this doesn't look so hard. Again, not thinking with my head I soon found out that they were really serious and this was in fact not a cruise line but a ship built for war. The qual card is made up of sections further broken down into catagories that cover ever component of the ship. Now I'm not sure if you understand but that means that everything including the garbage shoot which is called a TDU, basically a topedo tube pointing down, for wet biodegradable waste is on the list. You are required to qualify that system meaning you know all the hydralics, electrical and saftey requirments to get it sighned off. The qual card takes about a year and a half for your first boat to complete and requires you to sit in a qual board consisting of the XO, MCPO and others who grill you with questions for about 3 to 5 hours. After that you stew for about a day or two lookign up all the things you didn't answer then go back again and try to pass it again. My point being is the navy and submarines in general have taught me to never give up on anything and that nothing comes cheap. With hard work and perserverance you can do anything ...

When I look back now at 45 I'm damn glade I join the Nuclear Submarine Fleet and served my country. The friends I had and still know today, along with the stories and adventures in foriegn countries have made me who I am. Below I have a list of the awards I received and the ships I served on with a little background and pictures of the ships I served ...

Tour of Service     1983-1992

United States of America Nuclear Submarine Fleet Vetran

Honarable Discharge

Qualified in Submarines | SSBN-726 USS Ohio | SSN-716 USS Salt Lake City | SSN-596 USS Barb

Awarded - National Defense Service Medal | Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation | Navy Expedition Medal | Battle "E" Ribbon | Enlisted Submarine Insignia | SSBN Strategic Deterrent Patrol Pin - 6 Stars

In the near future I will be adding from time to time my old war stories, stay tuned ...