US Navy-A Footprint in My Life
Long ago when I was young and unafraid living in Burlington, Iowa I faced a reality that shook me and took me on a path that I had not envisioned. My vision was to attend University and become an Engineer instead I faced being drafted. At the time I was a Brazilian citizen and registered with the Brazilian military but not the US.
My high school years were great. I had good friends. I was in the top of the class grade wise. I lettered in football and wrestling. I was elected student council president. I participated in theater. Things seemed to be at the summit of my dreams.
In my senior year I applied to many colleges and was accepted by Dartmouth, the University of Arizona, and the University of Iowa.
The University of Iowa asked for my draft status. I was registered with the Brazilian military I did not have a US draft number. I was truly scared because the news was about draft dodgers that had been caught and then either sent to prison or put in the Army and sent to Vietnam.
There was no one to advise me. I visited all the military recruiting offices to find out what type of programs I might qualify for. They all were interested in signing me up. The Navy promised me Electronics School, Nuclear Power School and the NESEP program that would take me through university and make me an officer in the Navy.
I still had hopes on attending one of the Universities, so I went to the Draft board to learn my fate. The gentle grey haired lady behind the single desk in the draft board office listened to my story and then let me know that I was under arrest! I asked her to call the Navy recruiter. She nodded and did so.
He came down with the recruiting paperwork and I left the draft board office as a Navy enlistee.
I graduated from the Electronics school at the Great Lakes US Navy base. And then was on the way to Nuclear Power training school but there was a few month wait, and I was assigned temporarily to the USS Gunston Hall.
It was during this wait that my great plan of avoiding Vietnam took a uncanny twist. The ship received orders to take three gun barrels for the USS Missouri to the Philippines. Once we delivered these gun barrels the Gunston Hall got orders to take three river opening Tango boats and escort them from river to river along the Vietnamese coast. We went up and down the coast of Vietnam several times. I was a fifty caliber machine gunner on the escort boat that made sure the Tango boats got into the river mouth safely.
That phase ended several months later, and I did return to safely to the US and went through Nuclear power School.
I ended up on the USS Coronado for a short time and then volunteered to be on the hydrofoil USS Tucumcari and went on a tour of Europe.
The Tucumcari assignment was the highlight of my time in the Navy. The tour went from the North Sea to the Turkish straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The tour included visits to eleven countries. The purpose was to envision the European navies with the power hydrofoil provided.
My last assignment was on the USS Wood County that had escorted the Tucumcari. It was during the decommissioning of the Wood County that I facilitated a peaceful resolution to an onboard race riot. My actions earned me the support of the Captain. He asked what I wanted. I let him know that I wanted to get out early so that I could attend University. He offered to support my going into the NESEP program, but I knew that the life in the Navy was not for me.
He granted me my wish by making me the decommissioning "Captain" of the USS Wood County as it went through its final preparation to enter the moth ball fleet.
I got out early and went on to become an Engineer.
