Blue Water

Blue Water tells the story of a young mans desire to serve his country, travel and find excitement beyond the confines of rural Lancaster County Pennsylvania. It describes his early military service in both Navy and Army Reserve programs. The author attained the rank of Staff Sergeant before being honorably discharged and entering naval service via Officer Candidate School. The book goes on to describe his twenty-one years as a naval officer, ending with a selection to Captain in the Supply Corps, US Navy just prior to his retirement.He served as a Surface Line Officer at the following duty stations: USS BRAINE, the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA), USS PERKINS and USS VAMMEN. While attending Navy Supply Corps School in Athens, Georgia, his designator was changed to Supply. He then served on USS STERETT, at the Ships Parts Control Center (SPCC), the Naval Supply Center, Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), USS ACADIA, and the Naval Electronics Systems Command (NAVELEX).Subsequent to his retirement from the Navy in 1983, he worked for twenty-one years as a consultant for Navy and Coast Guard shipbuilding programs in Washington, DC and Northern Virginia. He consulted on such programs as the Navys TICONDEROGA Class Cruiser, the ARLEIGH BURKE Guided Missile Destroyer, the SEAWOLF Attack Submarine and various other shipbuilding programs.During his Shipbuilding career, the author began a lifelong leisure pursuit of deep-sea fishing. In addition to fishing in such locations as Venezuela, Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica and the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, the author continued extensive worldwide travel and touring. He visited the Hawaiian Islands, many of the Caribbean islands, Japan, China, Thailand, Egypt and Alaska. His fishing adventures and travel continued through his final retirement in 2004.Blue Water was chosen for the title of this memoir, because it chronicles a significant period of time when he was assigned to sea duty on five different ships. The author participated in four deployments to the SEVENTH Fleet, which included service off the coast, and up the rivers of South Vietnam. The book also contains approximately fifty photos and an appendix citing his awards and decorations.