I started my tour at Northwest fully intending to take another tour overseas after I finished my three years in Virginia. However, as things have turned out differently, this tour became a pivotal point in my decision to end my naval career after 24 years.
We arrived at the Norfolk airport and were met by John Scirica and Terry and Kim Caudill. John was my sponsor and was going to get us settled. We took off and drove for more than an hour to arrive in little Elizabeth City, NC. We signed up to stay at the Coast Guard Base's temporary quarters (trailer houses).
The first night there Sharon received a shock when she went to get some lunchmeat at the grocery store. Seeing as we had only a small commissary in Edzell, actually going into a full sized grocery store in America was a severe shock to her system! They had more than one type of bread, dozens of varieties of cold cereal and an impossible number of selections of canned goods.
The next two weeks were spent trying to find a car, car insurance and a house to live in. We found a house but we would not close until August. So, we spent a few weeks on Seldon Street, some time in the Holiday Inn and a few weeks house sitting for our friends Frank and Robin Caruso.
During this tour, I started out as the Electronics Material Officer (EMO) and enjoyed the job of leading maintenance personnel. One of my students from Pensacola, Ted Burger, was a CTM1 here. He made Chief in 1995 and Senior Chief
in 1998.
There are many great stories and outstanding people who helped make Northwest one of my finest tours. Cindy Michaud, Terry Caudill, Ted Burger, Max Browning, Al Martinez, and Tiny Williams are only a few of the crew who managed to make me learn new things everyday. Of course, there were others who seemed to never really understand what Matmen were all about. Cathy comes to mind and, unfortunately, so does Rich. Both had more opportunities than anyone else I know yet they never really seemed to grasp the concept that Matmen chiefs are (1) technical experts, (2) managers, and (3) leaders. One cannot be a Matman chief without all three skill sets.
My decision to retire from active duty took me over three months to finalize. But when I did make my decision and let Captain Peyronel and CMDR DeLorey know, I was re-assigned from the EMO shop to the Public Works Department. After I left my department, Reggie Gordon destroyed the morale of my Sailors and dismantled my training projections. He did more damage to the EMO department in three months than anyone could possibly imagine.
My time at the Public Works Department was spent studying energy conservation techniques and trying to instill some leadership in LT Mike Keller and LTJG Leanne Curry.
My retirement was great. It was held on a beautiful April morning just outside of the antenna array of the operations building. Charlie and Emily Austin came down from Maryland, John and Gina Pardun and Gary and Susan Woods came from Washington. Al Bahr came from California but the long distance award went to Cindy and Frenchy Michaud who arrived from Hawaii. For more information about my retirement, please visit by retirement page .
