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100
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https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/017149c91b62c7a4b14385f0171aea84.pdf
5e0b59b50bd857278237fec9d293f9c4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project Collection
Alternative Title
Lone Sailor Collection
Subject
Veterans--Florida
Orlando (Fla.)
United States. Navy
Navy
Sailors--United States
Description
Collection of digital images and oral histories related to the former Recruit Training Center Orlando (RTC Orlando) for the United States Navy. The training center transformed raw recruits into highly effective sailors. This process took place over an intensive eight-week training period, commonly referred to as "boot camp." RTC Orlando occupied roughly one half of the former Naval Training Center Orlando (NTC Orlando), which was located at present day Baldwin Park, Orlando, Florida. Between 1968 and 1994, over 650,000 men and women graduated from RTC Orlando.
Contributor
<a href="http://www.lonesailorfl.com/" target="_blank">Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project</a>
<a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/24" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Naval Training Center, Orlando, Florida
Contributing Project
<a href="http://www.lonesailorfl.com/" target="_blank">Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project</a>
<a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">About the Project</a>." UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/.
"<a href="http://cfnavyleague.org/lone-sailor/" target="_blank">The History</a>." Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project. http://cfnavyleague.org/lone-sailor/
"<a href="http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/" target="_blank">The History</a>." RTC Orlando. http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/.
<a href="http://www.lonesailorfl.com/" target="_blank"><em>A Guide to Historic Orlando</em></a>. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2006.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Gordon Pierce and Trina Cothrin
Alternative Title
Oral History, Pierce and Cothrin
Subject
Veterans--Florida
Navy
Orlando (Fla.)
Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Afghan War, 2001-
Global War on Terror, 2001-2009
Description
An oral history interview of Gordon Pierce (b. 1930) and Trina Cothrin, who both served in the U.S. Navy. Pierce was born in Buffalo, New York, on September 16, 1930. He enlisted in the Navy in 1948 and served until September of 1977, during the Cold War era and the Vietnam War. During his service, Pierce was station on the USS <em>Wasp</em>, the USS <em>Coral Sea</em>, the USS <em>Franklin D. Roosevelt</em>, and the USS <em>John F. Kennedy</em>. He achieved the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer and earned a Navy Commendation Medal and a Navy Achievement Medal.<br /><br />Pierce's daughter, Trina Cothrin (b. 1958), was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on October 13, 1958. Cothrin enlisted in the Navy in October of 1979 and served until October of 1982, when her son was born. She was then in the U.S. Naval Reserve until 1993, when she joined the U.S. Army. She left the military in 2009, after serving in Operation Enduring Freedom during the War in Afghanistan. Throughout her service, Cothrin was stationed at Naval Air Station Miramar (NAS Miramar) in California, Naval Air Station Jacksonville (NAS Jacksonville), U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) in Qatar, and MacDill Air Force Base (MacDill AFB) in Tampa. She ultimately achieved the rank of Chief Yeoman.<br /><br />This oral history interview was conducted by Roger Jordan Sims on March 12, 2014. Interview topics include enlistment, boot camp, Naval Training Center Orlando (NTC Orlando), the Vietnam War, Operation Enduring Freedom and the War in Afghanistan, life after leaving the Navy, how Central Florida has changed over time, the legacy of NTC Orlando, and the Lone Sailor Memorial Project.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br />0:01:48 Background<br />0:02:23 Enlistment and boot camp<br />0:03:57 Naval Training Center Orlando<br />0:07:45 Social life and relationships on base<br />0:12:47 Hardest part of NTC Orlando, proudest moment, and unforgettable memories<br />0:15:16 USS <em>Blue Jacket</em> and the Grinder<br />0:20:46 Vietnam War and the War in Afghanistan<br />0:23:10 Leaving the Navy and post-naval life<br />0:27:23 How Central Florida has changed over time<br />0:29:36 Legacy of NTC Orlando and the Lone Sailor Memorial Project<br />0:32:44 Closing remarks
Abstract
Oral history interview of Gordon Pierce and Trina Pierce Cothrin Interview conducted by Roger Jordan Sims at Central Florida Research Park in Orlando, Florida, on March 12, 2014.
Type
Moving Image
Source
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/292/rec/1" target="_blank">Pierce, Gordon</a>. Interviewed by Roger Jordan Sims, March 12, 2014. UCF Community Veterans History Project, DP0014915. Audio/video record available. UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida.
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/291/rec/2" target="_blank">Cothrin, Trina</a>. Interviewed by Roger Jordan Sims. UCF Community Veterans History Project, DP0014914. March 12, 2014. Audio/video record available. UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/" target="_blank">Adobe Flash Player</a> <a href="http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp" target="_blank">Java</a>.
<a href="http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp" target="_blank">Java</a>
<a href="https://get.adobe.com/reader/" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/109" target="_blank">Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project Collection</a>, UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Has Format
Digital transcript of original 35-minute and 10-second oral history: <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/292/rec/1" target="_blank">Pierce, Gordon</a>. Interviewed by Roger Jordan Sims, March 12, 2014. UCF Community Veterans History Project, DP0014915. Audio/video record available. UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida.
Digital transcript of original 35-minute and 10-second oral history: <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/291/rec/2" target="_blank">Cothrin, Trina</a>. Interviewed by Roger Jordan Sims. UCF Community Veterans History Project, DP0014914. March 12, 2014. Audio/video record available. UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida.
Conforms To
Standards established by the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/vets/" target="_blank">Veterans History Projects</a>, Library of Congress.
Coverage
Naval Station Great Lakes, Great Lakes, Illinois
Jacksonville, Florida
Vietnam
Naval Air Station Sanford, Sanford, Florida
Naval Air Station Key West, Key West, Florida
Naval Training Center Orlando, Orlando, Florida
Naval Air Station Miramar, Miramar, San Diego, California
Pensacola, Florida
Afghanistan
Qatar
Creator
Pierce, Gordon
Cothrin, Trina
Sims, Roger Jordan
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Date Created
2014-03-12
Date Issued
2014-09
Date Copyrighted
2014-03-12
Format
application/website
application/pdf
Extent
301 MB
195 KB
Medium
35-minute and 10-second Digital (DAT) DVD audio/video recording
21-page digital transcript
199 KB
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Roger Jordan Sims, Gordon Pierce, and Trina Cothrin.
Rights Holder
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Accrual Method
Item Creation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://cfnavyleague.org/lone-sailor/" target="_blank">The History</a>." Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project. http://cfnavyleague.org/lone-sailor/
"<a href="http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/" target="_blank">The History</a>." RTC Orlando. http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/.
<a href="http://www.lonesailorfl.com/" target="_blank"><em>A Guide to Historic Orlando</em></a>. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2006.
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/292/rec/1" target="_blank">Pierce, Gordon</a>
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/291/rec/2" target="_blank">Cothrin, Trina</a>
Transcript
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Okay. Today is March 12<sup>th</sup>, 2014. I am interviewing Gordon Pierce and Ms. Trina [Pierce] Cothrin, uh, who served in the United States Navy. Uh, Mr. Pierce was an aviation metalsmith. Uh, Ms. Cothrin was an aviation maintenance administrator and yeoman. My name is [Roger] Jordan Sims. We are interviewing Mr., and, uh—Mr. Pierce and Ms. Cothrin as part of the UCF [University of Central Florida] Community Veterans History Project and as research for the creation of the Lone Sailor Memorial Project. We are recording this interview at the [Central Florida] Research Parkway in Orlando, Florida. Uh, Mr. Pierce, Ms. Cothrin, will you please start by telling us when and where you were born?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I was born in Buffalo, New York, in 1930.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>And I was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1958.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>What did your parents do for a living?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>My parents worked for the State of New York. My father was, uh, in charge of the warehouse for all the supplies for a mental hospital, and my mother was a nurse.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>And my father was, uh, a Master Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy—Navy, and my mother was a full-time, uh, mom.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, do you have any brothers and sisters?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I do. I have, uh, three brothers and one sister. Uh, my oldest brother, uh, Tommy Foreman—he was actually stationed at, uh, McCoy Air Force Base, Uh, when it was an Air Force base, and then, uh, my younger brother Bruce [Pierce] joined the Navy. He and I joined the Navy together on the same day. Uh, He was in boot camp before I did, but we, uh—our paths crossed while we were in boot—boot camp together, and then later, Uh, when I was stationed in San Diego[, California], he came to San Diego for school. Uh, and then, Uh, when my husband and I were stationed in Pensacola, he also was subsequently stationed in Pensa—Pensacola. Then I have a sister named Tina [Pierce] and a younger brother, James [Pierce]. I don’t think I said my brother’s name, who enlisted with me, and that’s Bruce.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Okay. Um, when did you both decide to join the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>My brother and I?</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Both you…</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>And Mr. Pierce</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I joined the Navy in 1948, after I graduated from high school.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>And, uh, my brother and I, uh, decided to join the Navy in October of 1979. Uh, uh, you know, he, uh—he had just finished high school, uh, the previous summer, and, uh, we both just decided to do it together. Um, I mean, I—I dunno what—is that enough?</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. Absolutely.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Okay. Good [<em>laughs</em>]. I don’t know how in depth you want me to go.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>No, I just…</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong> Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Whatever—Whatever you’d like to tell us.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Um, where did you both attend boot camp?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I attended boot camp in [Naval Station] Great Lakes, Illinois.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>And I—here in Orlando, Florida.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>What were you trained for, uh—for your career in the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I was trained as an aviation metalsmith in Memphis, Tennessee, and I spent, uh, um, about three or four months there, waiting to go to school. then I went to nine weeks of school to be an aviation structural mechanic or aviation metalsmith.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>And I, uh, was an aviation maintenance administrator. I went to school in, uh, Meridian, Mississippi,<a title="">[1]</a> uh, and that was a six-week self-paced course that I finished in a month.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, when did you both begin your time at the Naval Training Center Orlando and how did that come about?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I can’t remember.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Okay. I’ll talk to mine</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>And then I’ll help him with his. Uh, I went—started boot camp in December of 1979 and I finished up in, I believe, it was March—February-March timeframe—of 1980, and subsequently went to San Diego, California, for a month, and then, uh, went to Meridian, Mississippi, and back to San Diego.</p>
<p>My father, uh, was stationed in, uh, NAS [Naval Air Station] Key West, and in 1970—’74, we—we moved to the Orlando area for a twilight tour. My fa—grandfather had passed away and, uh, we moved up here to, you know, be with my grandmother, right?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Pretty much.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what did you know about the region, uh, militarily or otherwise, before coming to Orlando?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>We learned quite a bit about it, because I had been stationed in Sanford, at the, uh, Naval Air Station [Sanford] there, for a number of years, and then I went down to Key West for shore duty, from that sea duty drill, and we came back up here, because we liked Central Florida.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I—yeah, I lived here. So [<em>laughs</em>]…</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I knew the area.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Um, how long did you both spend at the Naval Training Center?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I only did the, uh—spent the time there during boot camp, and my father was there for—from ’70…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>[19]75 to ‘77.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Was it ’75? or ‘74?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I think it was ‘75.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, when you first arrived, what were your first impressions of the area?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce <br /></strong>Same old place [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] I was in high school, uh, so—I mean, it was okay [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>What were your first days at the Naval Training Center like?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>They were spent primarily training out to become a Company Commander at the Recruit Training Center [Orlando], and, uh, we went to school I think for six weeks, and we learned how to give lectures, and how to march sailors around, and so on and so forth.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Well, for me, it was, you know [<em>laughs</em>]—that first day, you know, you’re getting all your gear and, uh, you’re learning how to be a sailor, and, uh—so it was interesting [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what were your primary responsibilities while at the Naval Training Center?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I was the Correctional and Instructional Standards Division Officer, and we were, more or less, like a quality control unit. We would visit the various classrooms, and make sure the instructor was following the lesson plan, and completing all the things he had to do to get the point of the lesson across to the students.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>And, for me, I was a recruit. I was there to learn.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Um, what was your overall impressions of the recruits and their training during your time at the base?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I was impressed with the quality of all the young men and women that were brought into the Navy, and I thought the recruiters were doing a heck of a good job. There were very few people that[sic], uh, fell out, during my time as a Company Commander, and, uh, it was a great experience. I really enjoyed it.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Um, I, uh—you know, once you get past that first initial shock, you know, and you—you get into your training group, I think everything went well. I, you know—I, uh, ultimately enjoyed the time I spent there. Um…</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>What kind of social life existed among the recruits? How often were you allowed to go off base, and what places did you visit locally?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Uh, I don’t think we were allowed to go off base until our training was completed. Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Well, in the middle, wasn’t there a two-day weekend?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Uh, no, I think the only thing we got to do was go to the visitors’ center and y’all were allowed to come visit us. That’s where the parents and families come—came, at the time that I was there. I do believe.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Okay, yeah. I remember that.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Okay, and, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>That was about right.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Right, because we were—Bruce—Bruce went into basic training in November, and then I went in in December. So over the Thanksgiving holiday, he was there, and then, over the Christmas holidays, we were both there, and that’s where that one picture came from, where we’re all four there on those picnic—at those picnic benches.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>How did your training experiences shape your relationships with the other recruits in your class?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>It was a team-building experience. It—it, you know—it drew you together. Um, you know, taught you how to work together, uh, to accomplish goals.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>The—the whole criteria for the Recruit Training Com—Command, As far as recruits and Company Commanders were concern—concerned, was to build them into a team, and it was 180 people on a team.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>It was a lot.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Something like that, and, uh, that was the—the goal was drill into them that they had to work as a team. They would clean the barracks, they would march, and they would do all things together, you know, as a team, and it—it was a rewarding experience to see them develop.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Who did you both interact with on a daily basis?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Uh, there were people who were, um—hey would come around and they would take the—the recruit Company Commander would take the recruits out on the Grinder, and he—there were observers, and they would mark them—see how the training was going, as far as marching and things like that were concerned, and they would come back and open ranks, and do an inspection, and—and it was all very, very formal and, uh—what else do you want?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Okay. So, uh, my daily interaction was, uh, with our, uh—our, uh—what do you call them? Our, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Company Commander.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Our Company Commanders, and our, you know—our CPO [Chief Petty Officer] and then our—of course, our, uh,—the other recruits, and then you also interacted with, uh, other instructors, depending on where you were at. Whether you were in weapons training, or some other safety training, or—but for the most part you were with your Company Commanders, you were learning how to fold your clothes, put away your clothes, um, and…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Make your rack.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Make your bed a certain way. Uh, you were always having inspections. Uh, you know, how to wear your uniform, uh—let’s see. We went through firefighter training, and, you know, gas mask training—those kinds of things. They put you through your paces. You had your swim test, you know, uh, [inaudible], you had to float in the water for five minutes, uh, you know, you had to be able to, uh, swim from one end of the pool and back, you know? But, uh—so I don’t—I honestly don’t remember everything that we do. I do—I do remember the weapons training, the swim test, the marching, the folding of the clothes, the, you know—the bed inspections. You know, you’re getting up every day at 5 o’clock in the morning. Uh, you know, going to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You march there, you march back. You know, they always had somebody up there, you know, letting you know the instructions. You had 20 minutes and 20 minutes only to, you know, get through the line, and eat your meal, and back to wherever it was we met to, you know, march back to wherever we were going next.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what do you remember about the instructors at the base? And what were your impressions of them?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>[inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I remember them all as being very professional, and they were t—their goal was to set an example for the recruits, [inaudible] in dress and...</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Mannerisms.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Mannerisms, and conformity to the rules and regulations. Look sharp, you know? Haircuts, and so on and so forth.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I would agree with him. Uh, the two, uh, Company Commanders that I had were, you know—they were there to set the example, as well as enforce the rules, and, you know, guide us—guide us through the process, and, you know, test us more, test us less, you know, push us harder where we needed to be pushed.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>And answer all the questions [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Yes [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>What was the hardest thing you remember doing at the Naval Training Center?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Um…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>For me, it was learning how to stand in front of a class of 180 people and teach them how to do something, you know? And, uh, I wasn’t really a formal instructor. I was a hands-on aircraft mechanic, you know, and I was taken from that environment and put in front of all these people, and, uh, it was a very different environment for me, so it was kind of a struggle at the beginning, but I worked my way into it, and I ended up liking it very much.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I would say for me, uh—not necessarily the hardest thing, but, you know—you get there and you don’t know what to expect, and so then it’s learning to, uh, achieve the things you need to achieve in the time you have to do it, and So, you’re learning at a very rapid pace, uh, and, you know, uh—eh, so as—I don’t remember anything being [<em>sighs</em>] so terribly difficult. it was just a matter of learning it.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what was the moment you felt most proud at the Naval Training Center?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Graduation.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I would agree.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>When your company pass and review, in front of the reviewing officers and the assembled guests and so on and so forth, it was kind of a proud moment.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>It marked the end of the training cycle also [<em>laughs</em>]. You were done [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Can you tell me a story of a time at the Naval Training Center that you will never forget?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Not really [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Not really [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Well, I remember the swim test part. Just floating there, and the sky’s blue, and you’re watching airplanes, and they, uh—and their, uh—whatever you call the smoke thing that goes by, and, you know, that’s what I was doing. Sitting there, you know—floating there, thinking about—I was like, <em>Okay</em>, as they ticked off the minutes, you know, to complete the test, but, uh—I mean, other than that, um, uh, I, you know—the comradery that, you know—that you had. I mean, once we graduated, we all dispersed, you know, a hundred different ways. Um, I think only one person that I went through boot camp with, uh, went to San Diego—I mean, he went to [Naval Air Station] North Island. So, um…</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>How would you describe to USS <em>Blue Jacket</em>, and what was its function?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>It was used to familiarize the, uh, recruits with, uh, how confined the living spaces were aboard ship and various aspects of shipboard living, and, uh, it was very helpful. It was a—it was a very, very, very large training aid that was very useful in getting your point across.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin <br /></strong>Didn’t we do battle station drills and those kinds of things on it, as well? I…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I didn’t.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I, uh—yeah. I, you know—I don’t—don’t really remember. I—I think we did some sort of drills on the ship. Uh, It wasn’t, eh—it was more than just familiarization with a ship. They took us on board. We did things on it. I just don’t remember what.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what was the official purpose of the Grinder and what was its significance to you and the recruits?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>The Grinder was a very large piece of ground, where as many as nine different companies could get out there and march around, and not—not get involved with one another, if the Company Commander was paying attention [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>But it was a big area, and, uh, it was very hot in the summertime and kind of cool in the winter time, but, um, it worked very well.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Cold and wet. I—I mean, because we were out their marching in the cold and it was raining usually, but, uh, it was—it was all about marching out there. I think we did PT [physical training] out there.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>It was also used as a—if somebody was goofing off within the company, you’d tell them to run around the—the Grinder a couple of times as a—it worked off their exuberance, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /> </strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what other types of training went on at the base?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>The—the [Naval] Nuclear Power Training Command was there. Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>You mean other facilities? Or other things that we taught?</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Well, you have the basic boot camp recruit training.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>And then what other types of training would also go on, like the Nuclear [Power] School?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Like the NTC part of it? Do you remember what else was out there, other than nuclear training?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>No.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I don’t know. It wasn’t…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>But there was instructor training…</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Yeah[?].</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>And peripheral things like that, to where—to support the Recruit Training Command.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what were other areas on the base that were of particular importance to you or the recruits, and why were these places important?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Well, there was the Firefighting School, which was very important, because, uh, firefighting aboard ship is a[sic] immediate thing that has to be done and done well, and quickly, and thoroughly. I—I was always impressed with that, and there was the gunnery range.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>[inaudible]. We went somewhere.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>They had a…</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>As I remember here, it was indoors, but in Great Lakes, where I went through boot camp, it was outside.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I believe it was indoors. I agree with you there.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Yeah, I mean, I agree with him. The firefighting, you know—you go through the firefighting, uh, class, and one of the films they, of course, show you is the fire on the [USS] <em>Forrestal</em>, and that’s something that I think is, you know—they carry though. They still—I think they probably still use that as a training aid today. Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Probably.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Yeah, I remember the—what’s the oxygen—the liquid oxygen. I remember, Uh—I mean, that was pretty gross, and they showed you a film, uh, with regards to liquid oxygen and what can happen to you if, you know…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>If it spills on you.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>It will freeze you.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Very cold.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>So, uh—okay [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what was graduation like?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Um, for me, it was, you know, uh, the marching, and the passing in review, and you know, the, uh—the end of boot camp, and then the beginning of the next, uh, stage of my career in the Navy. Uh, so it, you know—it was being excited and being sad that you’re leaving, you know, the people that you got to know, and then excited to move on to the next thing, and Pride, you know, that you passed. That you got through it.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>For me, it was saying “Hello” to a lot of different people, where every recruit wanted to introduce you to their parents, to their loved ones, or whatever, and it was, uh, an emotional day.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what did you do for the Navy upon leaving Naval Training Center Orlando? Did you receive specialized training after your time at Naval Training Center Orlando? And if so, where did that take place?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Um, I did not go to A School upon graduation of boot camp. I went directly to a squadron. I went to VC-7 [<em>Tallyhoers</em>] at, uh, NAS Miramar[, San Diego], California. It was an [Douglas] A-4 [Skyhawk] training squadron. Uh, and when that squadron decommissioned, I think the, uh—not even—less than a year—maybe ten months later, I then went to A School in Meridian, Mississippi, and then, uh, went back to, uh, VF-124 [Fighter Squadron 124] an [Grumman] F-14 [Tomcat] squadron at, uh, NAS Miramar, and...</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Were either of you ever in active warzone?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>What?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>An active warzone. Have you ever been in an active warzone?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I was over in Vietnam on the line for about three years.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Um, can you tell me about arriving in the warzone, and what impact that experience had on you?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Well, you work 12 hours on duty and 12 hours off duty, and that just went on continuously. There were no weekends. There were nothing—you spent 30 days on the line, and then you’d go for a week in Olongapo[, Zambales] in the Philippines for liberty, and, um, it was pretty arduous and, uh emotional at times, because you’d lose airplanes and so on and so forth.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, did you receive any medals or citations during that time?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I received, um—what’s the orange and green one?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>It’s a Navy Commendation Medal.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Yeah, and now, the green and white one is…</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Navy Achievement.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Navy Achievement Medal.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Yeah, I received both of those and a whole bunch of service awards from various places of—of the world: Korea, Vietnam, Mediterranean Occupation Medal.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>North Atlantic? [inaudible]. Not—I don’t know if it was North Atlantic, but you were up there too.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>And I crossed the Arctic Circle a number of times, but I didn’t—they didn’t give a ribbon for that. Crossed the Equator two or three times—maybe four, to get back [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>For me, I was mobilized, uh, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Uh, spent two years at CENTCOM [United States Central Command]. Um, after that, eight months, uh, I spent in Qatar. Uh, it was a, uh, very interesting and rewarding experience, the two years that I spent, uh, mobilized. Uh, it was interesting to go to Qatar. Uh, I—that’s the second country I had ever been to, outside the United States. The first was Mexico [<em>laughs</em>]—Tijuana[, Baja California, Mexico]. So, uh, it—it was interesting seeing the culture, uh, seeing the area, and then, uh, you know, like my dad said, it was, uh, generally a 15-16-hour workday, but, uh, it was a good experience.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /> </strong>Uh, do you both recall the day your service ended? and what was that like?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Uh, I —yes. So I got out of the Navy, uh, October 1, 1982—‘82 or ’81 [<em>laughs</em>]. Okay. ’82, because my son was born in November of ‘82. So, uh, it was a sad experience for me. I wasn’t ready to get out of the Navy. So, uh, once my husband and I transferred to Pensacola, it took six months, and then I found a billet in a [U.S. Naval] Reserve unit, and then I spent the rest of my career, uh, in Reserve units. Starting out in aviation units, and into intel[ligence] units. Um, you know, and through the course of my, uh, 29 years in the—in the Reserve, you know—active and Reserve program, uh, you know, did my two years mobilization at CENTCOM, and I, uh, had worked at, uh, Joint Task Force Forge[?] [inaudible]. I did [inaudible], uh—active duty down there with them, when we were stationed down there. So, I mean, I had a very full and interesting career. So, for you, Dad, you retired in, uh, 1977.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Right. I think it was September 1<sup>st</sup>, and, uh—just another day, to me. No ceremony. I didn’t have a ceremony or anything like that.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Uh, what did you do after you left the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I got a job in, uh, Sanford with a machine shop company, and they made, Uh, what’s called a “fax machine” now, but this was the very beginning, and it was a thing that went around in circles, and it printed letters, and so on and so forth. There was no vocal, but it was all—you could transmit a—a letter on this circular thing, and it went through the air somehow, and got there and…</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Was that QWIP [Technologies]?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Yeah, QWIP.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>QWIP, and it was a company that…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Went through the telephone. You had to call up, get ahold of the machine, and then you put the thing in there, and then you turn the machine on, and it would transmit the piece of paper. Very archaic, really.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Compared to today.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>And, for me, um, I worked two jobs. So I had my Reserve career and then I had—I worked for the Army since 1993. Uh, and that’s when I started working full-time again.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Have either of you kept in touch with anyone from the Naval Training Center?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I haven’t.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>No, I—me neither. No.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>What values or characteristics of the Navy do you believe made an impression on your life?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>The discipline, the organization, and the orientation of doing your—having to plan out everything and having to work your way through it. It was an organizational—a very strict class in organizational responsibilities, and —get ‘er done.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Right. Uh, you know, I would have to say—I would have to go to, you know, uh, something similar. Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>And say, I mean, the caliber of people that were there that you worked with, uh, the things that you did. Uh, I mean, it was just a—it was a great experience. Um, I mean, I, you know, would recommend it to other people. to young folks that—if they don’t really, you know, have it figured out—what it is that they want to do, uh—spend four years in the Navy and—or any service—and, uh, see the world a little bit, and, uh, meet people from all walks of life. It’s a big melting pot. You learn a lot.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>You grow up in a hurry.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>How has, uh, Central Florida changed since the time you spent here?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>A lot [<em>laughs</em>]. A lot.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /> </strong>Probably expanded three- or four-fold, population-wise. We—we retired in ‘77.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>You retired in ‘77. Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>So we were transferred here in ’75, I think, from Key West, Florida, and, uh, from the day I retired ‘til today, the place has—has really grown, and the population has…</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Probably [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Doubled—tripled, probably</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Quadrupled, probably.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>I think they can remember when, you know—I can remember my mom and dad talking about when [Florida State Road] 436 was a dirt road.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Okay[?].</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>It only went part way down to the airport and then it was a dirt road.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>My grandparents—I don’t know when my grandparents moved here. Was it in the ‘50s or the ‘60s that they retired down here?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I think in the late ‘50s.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>The late 50s. They came down, um, from New York. So as kids, you know, we were coming—wherever we lived—because I grew up here in Florida, Uh, there was only one period of time when he was stationed outside of Florida, from the time I was born. So we’ve lived—I was born in Jacksonville. We’ve lived in Pensacola, Key West, and Central Florida. So we’ve done the gambit. So Florida—I’m a Floridian [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>The squadron I was in was stationed in Sanford, but it deployed on a carrier that was home-ported in San Diego. So it would take three days to airlift the squadron out, and then three days to bring us back. When you got home finally, it was—it was, uh—I can’t think of the word I want to say. You had to move a lot of gear around to get your job done when, uh—when you were aboard ship.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>It was a logistics, uh, exercise.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>What do you think is the lasting legacy of the Naval Training Center and the Navy in general in the Central Florida region?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I really don’t know. I’m sure it has a[sic] historical impact, but other than that, I really don’t know.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>As far as today, the impact of the base, because it—it closed in the ‘80s? ‘90s? I don’t remember when it closed. Uh, But I mean—I think it had, uh, an impact while it was here. Uh, and it—and it had an impact for some time after it closed. Um, certainly, you know, you go there and look at Baldwin Park, you know, there’s no real sign that the Naval Training Center or Recruit Training Command, uh, ever existed. I mean, there’s little, little things, and I think that’s the purpose of the whole, uh, Lone Sailor, uh, Memorial [Project]—is—is to try to bring back something here in the Orlando area to remind folks that, hey, at one point in time, there was this, uh, Naval Training Center here and Recruit Training Command, and bring back some of that heritage.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>One of the things that I remember is: on Friday, up over the weekends, maybe half a dozen companies would get liberty and the seet[sic]—and the streets were just lined with sailors, and it would—it was just amazing, and then all of a sudden, they were gone, you know? And that—that was a visual impact I’m sure for a lot of these civilians around here.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>What do you think former naval personnel would like to see or be reminded of when they visit the site of the base and the Lone Sailor Memorial?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>They would probably like to take their parents or guests around and point out various things that were helpful in their training, and, uh, show the Grinder and so on and so forth, where we marched, and the various [inaudible] buildings where they went to school.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Well[?], they’re not there anymore though [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Well, that’s true.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Yeah, I mean, I guess part of the Grinder is still there. They use it as a—there—there’s[sic], uh, park-like areas in part of it. , uh, I mean, the <em>Blue Jacket</em> is gone. It would have been nice if something like that had stayed, but it didn’t. Uh, and it—and I’m sure it had to do with upkeep, as well. Um, you know…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>The <em>Blue Jacket</em> was a model ship, right?</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Okay. It was just—it wasn’t very big. It was about half as big as a destroyer, maybe a little bit smaller, but it, uh—it served as a good training aid. It was a good visual thing for the recruits to see their first ship or something like that [<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Is there anything you would like to share about your naval experience?</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>I would recommend it for everybody. It was a wonderful experience, as far as I’m concerned. You can’t imagine how precise everything is—the way they start flying in the morning and end up in the evening, after dark generally. Sometimes they flying around the clock, but an aircraft carrier is one of the busiest places in the world, but every hour—hour and a half—you’re launching or recovering airplanes. That goes on all day long. Sometimes 24 hours a day, depending on what kind of a mission or training exercise you’re in. There’s always—around the carrier, there’s usually a cruiser and at least [<em>coughs</em>] five or six destroyers, and the destroyers act as plane guards, in case one of the planes goes into the water. They rescue the pilot, if they get there before the helicopter and so on and so forth, but, uh, before the helicopter, they were primarily the—the guy that pulled the man out of the water that was in there, but, uh, I wouldn’t trade it.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>What was the question again? [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>[<em>coughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>If there was just anything else you’d like to share about your experience in the Navy.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>[<em>coughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Again, like my father said, I would recommend it. Uh, certainly for, you know—it’s just a broadening experience for anybody. Uh, and there’s no better way to have a job, travel, and kind of—you’re taken care of. Uh, So I had an incredible career for, uh, nearly 30 years. I retired in, uh, 2009. I went into the Navy in 1979. So, um, I loved it, um, like[?] my dad.</p>
<p><strong>Sims<br /></strong>Well, thank you for talking with me today and for sharing, uh, your experiences with me.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>Thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Cothrin<br /></strong>Thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Pierce<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> Naval Air Station Meridian.</p>
</div>
</div>
A School
A-4
Afghanistan
aircraft carriers
airplanes
Arctic Ocean
aviation maintenance administrators
aviation metalsmiths
aviation structural mechanics
Baldwin Park
basic training
boot camps
Bruce Pierce
Buffalo, New York
CENTCOM
Chief Yeoman
cold war
Community Veterans History Project
Company Commander
Correctional and Instructional Standards Division Officer
CVHP
Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
education
Enduring Freedom
enlistment
F-14
facsimile
fax
Fighter Squadron 124
firefighting
Firefighting School
fires
Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 58
Florida State Road 436
Global War on Terror
Gordon Pierce
graduations
Great Lakes, Illinois
Grinder
Grumman F-14 Tomcat
GWOT
instructors
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Jacksonville
James Pierce
Key West
liquid oxygen
Lone Sailor Memorial Project
LSMP
MacDill AFB
MacDill Air Force Base
Master Chief Petty Officer
memorials
Memphis, Tennessee
Meridian, Mississippi
military education
military training
Miramar, San Diego, California
NAS Jacksonville
NAS Key West
NAS Meridian
NAS Miramar
NAS Sanford
Naval Air Station Jacksonville
Naval Air Station Key West
Naval Air Station Meridian
Naval Air Station Miramar
Naval Air Station Sanford
Naval Nuclear Power Training Command
Naval Station Great Lakes
Naval Training Center Orlando
NAVSTA Great Lakes
Navy Achievement Medal
Navy Commendation Medal
NS Great Lakes
NTC Orlando
Nuclear Power School
OEF
Olongapo, Philippines
Operation Enduring Freedom
orlando
Pensacola
Philippines
planes
Qatar
QWIP Technologies
recruit training
Recruit Training Center Orlando
Recruit Training Command
recruits
Republic of the Philippines
Roger Jordan Sims
RTC Orlando
sailors
Sanford
Sims, Roger Jordan
Skyhawk
SR-436
State of Qatar
swimming
Tampa
terrorism
terrorists
Tomcat
Tommy Foreman
Trina Cothrin
Trina Pierce
U.S. Army
U.S. Naval Reserve
U.S. Navy
United States Central Command
USCENTCOM
USS Blue Jacket
USS Coral Sea
USS Forrestal
USS Franklin D. Roosevelt
USS John F. Kennedy
USS Wasp
VA-72
VC-7 Tallyhoers
veterans
VF-11 Thunderbolt
VF-124
VF-171
Vietnam War
VR-58
War in Afghanistan
War on Terror
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/23cee619e48419169ea1f645a27a566f.pdf
b7a6d7466583d7bbf2c25d4c15fc488b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection
Description
As part of RICHES of Central Florida, UCF intends to record, archive, and make accessible oral history interviews of Central Florida veterans. Diversity is a main focus for this project since there are many different subgroups under the group veterans, all with important stories. While the histories will be largely archived and made available through the UCF library, a portion will be contributed to the ongoing Veterans History Project based out of the Library of Congress.
Contributor
<a href="http://library.ucf.edu/about/departments/special-collections-university-archives/" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries, University of Central Florida
Alternative Title
CVHP Collection
Subject
Veterans--Florida
United States. Army
Army
United States. Navy
Navy
United States. Air Force
Air Force
United States. Marine Corps
Marine Corps
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Jacksonville, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Honolulu, Hawaii
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Great Lakes, Illinois
Long Island, New York
Newport, Rhode Island
Norfolk, Virginia
Germany
Qaasuitsup, Greenland
Keflavik, Southern Peninsula, Iceland
Azores Islands, Portugal
Mediterranean Sea
Contributing Project
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida
External Reference
"<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">About the Project</a>." UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/.
Has Part
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/109" target="_blank">Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project Collection</a>, UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Ennis, Marc
Interviewee
Hazen, Kendra
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Marc Ennis
Alternative Title
Oral History, Ennis
Subject
Veterans--Florida
Orlando (Fla.)
Navy
Simulation
Description
An oral history interview of Marc Ennis, who joined the U.S. Navy in December of 1990 and attended Recruit Training Center Orlando (RTC Orlando) for boot camp at age 17. After boot camp, he attended Electronic Warfare training at Corry Station Naval Technical Training Center in Pensacola, Florida, and reported to his first ship, USS <em>Gunston Hall</em>, at Little Creek, Virginia.<br /><br />After three and a half years, Ennis trained at aircrew school in Pensacola and then Millington, Tennessee, to become an Aviation Warfare Sensor Operator and rescue swimmer for Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk helicopters. He also joined the fleet replacement squadron aircrew for Helicopter Squadron 1 in Jacksonville, and then reported to his first fleet squadron, Helicopter Squadron 5 (HS-5), also in Jacksonville. After completing his service for HS-5, Ennis reported to the helicopter wing as an instructor. After three years instructing, he transferred to Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Yamato and Ayase, Japan, for sea duty with Helicopter Squadron 14.<br /><br />This interview was conducted by Kendra Hazen and includes topics such as Ennis' background and family, RTC Orlando, his Navy life after training, Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD), and the simulation industry in Central Florida.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br />0:02:40 Family service members<br />0:04:12 Recruit Training Center Orlando (RTC Orlando)<br />0:08:08 Daily life at RTC<br />0:13:05 Classes and training<br />0:19:08 Social life<br />0:22:14 Co-educational training and Competition Week<br />0:24:18 Instructors<br />0:25:57 Marching and proudest moments<br />0:29:03 The Grinder and the USS <em>Blue Jacket</em><br />0:33:54 Graduation<br />0:36:14 Navy career after RTC Orlando<br />0:42:49 Assignment with the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) in Orlando<br />0:46:29 Simulation at NAWCTSD<br />0:53:22 Future of the simulation industry in Central Florida<br />0:56:03 Most valuable lessons learned in Navy<br />0:58:58 Photographs<br />1:03:31 Closing remarks
Abstract
Oral history interview of Marc Ennis Interview conducted by Kendra Hazen on February 22, 2014.
Type
Moving Image
Source
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/273/rec/1" target="_blank">Ennis, Marc</a>. Interviewed by Kendra Hazen, February 22, 2014. Audio/video record available. Item DP0014894, UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/" target="_blank">Adobe Flash Player</a>
<a href="http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp" target="_blank">Java</a>
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Is Part Of
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, Orlando, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/24" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Has Format
Digital transcript of original 1- hour and 47-second oral history: <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/273/rec/1" target="_blank">Ennis, Marc</a>. Interviewed by Kendra Hazen, February 22, 2014. Audio/video record available. Item DP0014894, UCF Community Veterans History Project, Special Collections and University Archives, University of Central Florida Libraries, Orlando, Florida.
Conforms To
Standards established by the <a href="http://www.loc.gov/vets/" target="_blank">Veterans History Projects</a>, Library of Congress.
Coverage
Recruit Training Center, Orlando, Florida
Corry Station Naval Technical Training Center, Pensacola, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Yamato-Ayase, Japan
Creator
Ennis, Marc
Hazen, Kendra
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Date Created
2014-02-22
Date Issued
2014-09
Date Copyrighted
2014-02-22
Format
application/website
application/pdf
Extent
55.6 MB
263 KB
Medium
1- hour and 47-second Hi8 CD/DVD
30-page digital transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Kendra Hazen and Marc Ennis.
Rights Holder
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Accrual Method
Item Creation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://cfnavyleague.org/lone-sailor/" target="_blank">The History</a>." Lone Sailor Navy Memorial History Project. http://cfnavyleague.org/lone-sailor/
"<a href="http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/" target="_blank">The History</a>." RTC Orlando. http://rtcorlando.homestead.com/.
<a href="http://www.lonesailorfl.com/" target="_blank"><em>A Guide to Historic Orlando</em></a>. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2006.
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/273/rec/1" target="_blank">Oral History of Marc Ennis</a>
Transcript
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Cool.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Cool.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Alright. I get to be fancy at the beginning.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>There you go.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>So just so you know. Alright. Today is Wednesday, February 26<sup>th</sup>, 2014. I am interviewing Marc Ennis, who served in the U.S. Navy. Mr. Ennis attended recruit training at RTC Orlando and after 21 years of service returned to Orlando to work at NAWCTSD [Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division]. My name is Kendra Hazen and I am interviewing Mr. Ennis as a part of the UCF [University of Central Florida] Veterans History Project and as research for the creation of the Lone Sailor Memorial Project. We are recording this interview in Colburn Hall at UCF in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Ennis, will you please start us off by telling us when and where you were born.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>I was born in Port Hueneme, California. February 9<sup>th</sup>, 1973.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And what did your parents do for a living?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Uh, my dad was actually in the Navy, but when we were born he had, uh, just retired. So, uh, my only recollect—recollection of the Navy was, uh, living near it, and, uh, he actually worked for the State of California, uh, for the, uh, gas company, and, uh, my mom was a stay at home mom, uh—didn’t work. I mean, she worked, [<em>laughs</em>] but in the—in the home.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Did you have any brothers and sisters?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>I have, uh, three brothers. Uh, I’m a twin. A fraternal twin, right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>And, uh, two older brothers, One of which is, uh, still in the Navy up in Jacksonville, and my—the—the oldest brother—he’s in, uh, Pensacola.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>What did you do before entering the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So, uh, I was a student, and, uh, actually I, uh, graduated high school and, uh, joined the Navy, uh, that summer. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>The summer of what? What year?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Uh, well, I guess it was the summer of [19]89. So I actually graduated, uh, during the summer of my junior year. So I never attended my senior year, and, uh—so I had enough credits, so I just joined the Navy.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Oh, so why did you join the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah. There was a couple different factors, but I was getting married and had a baby on the way, and, uh, that’s what really started everything off.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And was there a reason why you chose the Navy opposed to any of the other branches of service?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis <br /></strong>o, I guess it was, uh, because of my father, but for the most part it was, uh—didn’t really think about any of the, uh—the other services. So yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Did, um—besides your dad, was there anyone else in your family who served in the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Um, yeah. So we, uh—since my dad moved around a bunch before I was born, uh, we didn’t have a lot of family, but my uncle on my mother’s side, he was in the Navy, and then my, um—my wife’s grandfather was, uh, also in the Navy back, um—uh, I mean it was a pretty long time ago. Back in the ‘40s-50s. Uh, but that didn’t really, um, you know, make my decision to join, I guess. Now, as I think about it, and in fact, my mom was in the Navy too which is pretty unique. She was a WAVE [Women's Auxiliary Army Corps], and when they—when my mom and dad first met, uh, they were both in the Navy, right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen </strong>What’s a WAVE?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>It’s a, um—it’s a Woman Active—I’ll have to look the acronym up, but it’s basically a, uh—um, a woman, uh, sailor that was doing administrative duties, but they were still part of—they were very vital to the war and everything. Uh, but she was yeoman…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Which is a clerical type person, and, uh, but she was actually modeled on a three cent stamp—her and three other women.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen </strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, that’s uh—I’ll send that to you—the details on that, but that’s pretty cool.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Yeah, thank you. Um, how did your family feel about you joining the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So, uh—no—no real, uh, heartache, and no real like, “Hey. that’s great.” Just kind of indifferent.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Um, and where did you attend boot camp?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So I attended boot camp here in Orlando, and I was living in Pensacola, Florida, when I joined. Actually it was Gulf Breeze, Florida, but...</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>It was called Freeze, Florida?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Gulf—Gulf Breeze.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Gulf Breeze. What was called Gulf Breeze?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>It was the city.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So it wasn’t Pensacola, but—yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Gotcha. Um, and you said you began your training at RTC [Recruit Training Center] Orlando after graduating?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Right. So I, uh—there was a couple of months, uh—so I graduated that summer. I guess it was maybe August-September. You know, I took the final class of summer school, got the paperwork signed off, and then, uh, took maybe a month or two off, and I was, uh, reported to board December 9<sup>th</sup> of 1990.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Okay, and, um, you were from Florida at that time, but, um, what did you know about specifically the RTC Orlando region before you got here?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Uh, nothing. Yeah. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>It was kind of a whirlwind, right? You know, you hear about all this stuff, “Hey, you’re going to boot camp here.” But for the most part, you know, it was, uh, get on an airplane, you show up, they bus you here, and then everything was a whole different world, you know? You’re, uh, taken out of the comfort zone, thrown right into, uh, you know, people yelling at ya, right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Uh huh.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>And 20 years ago, you know, it was a little different too, because they—you didn’t have all this, uh, kindler[sic], gentler, you know, no screaming, no cussing. It was—it was pretty hardcore, but it was good, you know?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>How long were you at RTC Orlando?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Uh,for approximately six to eight weeks. I’m not sure exactly. I guess I graduated right around February—was it February 7<sup>th</sup>[, 1991]? It was right near my birthday. So that was kind of cool, ‘cause I turned 18, uh, you know, right when I graduated boot camp. So it was right around that day. I can’t remember the exact day, but yeah. It was pretty unique.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>What were your first impressions of the base?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So, uh, the base—uh, we showed up at night, and then during the day, uh, we’d walk down a long, um, kind of sidewalk, and we marched everywhere we went, and, uh, there was[sic] trees. The weather was, uh, really nice. It was December. It wasn’t too cold, and, um, yeah. it was just, um—we saw a very small part of the base. I mean, we—we walked down the same street. We, uh—they had a big, uh, like marching field, right? Looked like a big tarmac—a big airport. Just a big black top, right? And, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Did that area have a name at all?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>The Grinder.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so that’s where you do all your practicing for marching, and, uh—but no. For the most part, it was, um, the same thing every day. So you really didn’t see any part of the, uh—the outside of the base, and all the buildings were very similar. Um, it was—it was, uh, very sanitary, I guess, right? So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And you’ve started to talk about this a little bit but what were your first days of service like? What were your first days of training like?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Right. So—so, the very first day, you know, when we arrived here, there was a lot of yellin’, and, uh, obviously they were lining a bunch of people up from different parts of the country, and, uh, it was just kind of a shock, and, uh, for the most part it was, uh, <em>Wow.</em> You know? Your eyes are o—opened wide, and from then on, you just stayed busy. I mean your—you didn’t have a lot of time to think, I guess, ‘Cause they were just hitting you with you so many, uh, new things, and you were learning this, learning that. Um, so yeah. It—it wasn’t—there wasn’t really a lot of time to—to think about it, and then as you asked the question now, I guess I really hadn’t thought about it until—‘til now.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Sure.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>You know, what I thought.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Um, can you describe for me what daily life was like?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis <br /></strong>Yeah, so daily life was, uh, pretty good. Very routine. You wake up, uh, I think it was about 4:30, and, uh, you did the, uh, you know—you brushed your teeth, Got all your toiletry stuff done, You lined up, They came in, Inspected, uh, the—the compartment, and then, uh, we normally PTed [physical training], uh—exercised, and then we went to classes, right? And then you’d do some— you’d go to chow—lunch, and like I said, you were marching everywhere you went, so that was a chore in itself, ‘cause we’d never done it, and, um, yeah.<br /><br />So there was a lot of motivation. Uh, they used to call it, um—uh, basically, you’d get punished, right? ‘Cause you didn’t do something right. So they would take you outside on the sidewalk and line everybody up, and they’d start making you do jumping jacks or something like that. But, uh, every day was filled with, um—with something new, as far as what’d you learn and then they’d move you on to the next step, So—but yeah the routine was: you wake up, get the compartment ready for inspection, uh, get inspected, go to class or PT, and um—and that’s the funny thing about the, uh, the exercise. The exercise wasn’t as, uh—we—we had no—no exercise uniform. I mean, you exercised in your daily stuff, Right? So it was kind of unique in that way that, uh—um, everything you did was kind of an exercise and you’re always ready to, uh, do—do jumping jacks or pushups or whatever. So it was kinda—kinda cool, and then, um, yeah. You’d hit noontime lunch, hit some, uh, dinner, and then after dinner, I know we did stuff, but I can’t remember what happened after dinner. Like I said, everything was kind of a blur. It’s kind of hard to go back and to—to think about it now. It’s, uh—you know, as I see the RTC now, I mean, none—none of it looks like what I remember, but then again all the buildings were tore[sic] down. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Can you tell me a little bit more about the inspections? What exactly was being inspected?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>[<em>sighs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>What exactly were the standards…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Oh, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>That you were supposed to be meeting?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, this was…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>[inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>This was some crazy stuff, right? So on your bunks—and—and they were single, uh—very, uh basic bunks that you had. You had a bottom bunk and you had a top bunk. So what they would expect is, uh, the hospital corners, right? So how you folded your sheets and they would go down to the—the biggest detail of how the, uh—the edges of the sheets were, uh—I don’t know if you had that little, uh—I don’t know. You just had to have the sheets the right way, so when it folded over you wouldn’t see that little rough edge. So you always want the smooth edge on top and then the, uh—the hospital corners had to be at a 45 degree—everything had to be…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>What’s a hospital corner?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>It’s just where you, uh, bring the excess sheet…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>And bring it at an angle. It’s kind of like wrapping a present, right? And you take the excess and then fold it underneath so you have real, real neat corners.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>They call it “hospital corners.”</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Hospital corners, right? And the next thing was, uh, how you fold your socks, how you fold you underwear, how—you know, your t-shirts, and then everything else had a place, right? And they’re very detailed on—on—on that stuff. Your shoes had to be shined, and, uh, yeah. So everything…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Belt buckles, maybe?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Oh, belt buckles? Yeah. Attention to detail for all that stuff. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Um…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>And that—that was every day, right? I mean, you didn’t get a day that went by where you didn’t get inspected, and most the time, you failed the inspection, right? ‘Cause there was always something they would find that wasn’t right, and then, uh, I think there was like 60 of us that started off. So you’d have 60 people in a, uh—in a room, where you slept and you did inspections, and, uh, normally, uh, those never went well, right? So you’re—you’re always getting corrected on somethin’, and that’s kind of unique, ‘cause, uh, as you go along you start getting better, right? And, uh, less, uh—less yellin’ [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>So in that room of 60 or so, would there be one officer that came through to inspect?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Uh…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>How would that…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, it’d normally—you—you’d…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Would it take a long time?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>No, pretty quick. You were assigned two recruit—recruit company commanders, and, uh—so for us, we had two chiefs. I think actually for us, one might have been a senior chief—an E[nlisted Rank] 7 and an E-8. So they’re pretty senior, and, uh, yeah. It’d go pretty quick actually. Maybe, uh—maybe a half hour. But—so the whole session though was, uh, you get inspected, they get mad at ya, they exercised ya, and then you fixed, you know, what the problems were and then you went and, you know, did classes or something like that. yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And then you talked a little bit about classes and tasks and you would do some class and then move onto the next one. Can you give me an idea of examples of…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Classes that you had to go through?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so a lot of ‘em were—were talking about firefighting, or different parts of the, uh—the ship. You know, how the ship operates. Um, different, uh—so—so the ship is, you know—they don’t have addresses for the different rooms, right? So you have bulkheads and they start from the beginning of the—of the bow, and that’s, uh, frame zero, and then, uh, as you go further back on the ship, the frames will increment up. So, um, you know, they—but basically the premise is, if you need to get to a compartment that’s, uh, on the first deck, right? It’s gonna be one and then the second number’s gonna be the frame number, right? So you know what—you know what level it’s on, and then the second number is gonna tell you how far from the bow, uh, the room is, and then the third number’ll tell ya how far out, uh—out it is from the center of the ship.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So—so, uh, it’s a pretty unique numbering system, but it works on every ship. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Sure.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Can you give me any other examples of classes?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so, uh, we talked about the firefighting. We talked about the, uh—I guess the, uh—the history. History was a big deal and, uh, that was kind of unique. So the Navy is big on tradition, right? And, uh, a lot of that was, uh—they’d go back and they’d talk about, you know, how the Navy was first, uh conceived, who, uh—the first ship—don’t quiz me on any of this, ‘cause…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].<strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>]. But, uh—yeah. So, uh, let’s see. We had, of course, uniform standards, regulations, you know. You did all the stuff talking about pay, you know. It was just a—anything you wanted to know about the Navy and, uh, that you needed to know, uh, you’d get in those classes. Some of it was basic, um, you know, uh, classes maybe on English or math, and some of these were, you know, to make sure that the, uh—uh, people could—could beat the standards, I guess.</p>
<p>The other thing we did was a lot of in-prossing[sic] for your different ratings or jobs. So for me, um, they would take you to the medical—a lot of shots, right? And remember, you had to get uniforms. So yeah. It was a lot of, uh—yeah. Now—now as I start to remember all this—yeah. The first week, I guess, was, you know, picking up your uniform, you’re getting shots, you’re going to medical, and just a lot of in-processing, right? And then maybe the, uh, you know, the—the, uh—I don’t know—second, third, fourth week was a little more, you know, of the classes and stuff like that. So—but yeah. It—it was busy, and then maybe, uh—let’s see.<br /><br />So what was it? Boot camp was about, uh, six weeks, and, uh, in be—right in the middle of it, they had something called, uh, “work week,” right? So what they would do is—so all the facilities on the, uh—on the base—you know, whether it was chow hall, the laundry, the admin—was normally run by the recruits with, uh, some—some other senior sailors, you know, overseeing ‘em, right? So like, uh, for the chow hall, you had your cooks who were pretty senior sailors. They’d been in for four or five, six, years, and then of course, you had your recruits that would do all the, you know, washing the dishes, you know, cleaning everything, you know, running stuff from here to there, and then, uh—so we did that at about the, uh, maybe the third week, and, uh, did that for a whole week, and then, uh, you would fall back into training—training mode. Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And those kind of tasks were normal tasks? Not like punishment or anything?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>No, no. So—so….</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>They were expected?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, yeah. Exactly. That was part of the routines. So you would learn, uh, you know, whatever.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, everything had a purpose. You may not have known what it was when you were doing it.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Sure[?].</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>But as—as—as you look back on it, you kind of see that, you know, it was responsibility. It was initiative. It was, uh, all those sorts of things as a young kid you may not have, right? And, uh—so, you know, some people did good[sic] at it and other people—other people needed maybe a little more motivation.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Did the Navy use words kind of like that? As kind of…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Oh, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Key words to guide? What were some of those key words?</p>
<p><strong>Enni<br /></strong>Yeah, so, uh—um, “Uniformity will prevail,” right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Um, you know, obviously, looking sharp. “Sharp” is a—is a good one. “Professionalism.” Uh, let’s see. Um, I’m trying to think of some other ones. Uh, Yeah. Basically “teamwork.” You know, that’s—That’s another huge one that you—you’ll see, and then, the, uh—and remember, this was the first co-ed[ucational] boot camp too, so we had women, uh, that were, uh—obviously, we weren’t integrated, per say, but we had a sister company that, um, kind of had the same timeline, right? So, uh—uh, but yeah, but everyone was a shipmate, you know? You weren’t like a—or a sailor. Everything was kind of gender-neutral and, uh—so that was kind of unique, but yeah.</p>
<p>They really wanted you to get the teamwork and the, uh—and—and the leadership, and they promoted the idea that, you know, when you’re on a ship, you know, it’s you, right? I mean, You don’t have anyone coming in there to help ya, so If something happens, uh, it’s the crew that’s gonna, uh, take care of the, uh—the issues, whatever they might be. So—and that was the other thing—talk about history—was they used a lot of examples from the past, you know, whether it be, uh, um, back in the John Paul Jones days or the, um, you know—in World War II or—or anything like that. So it was pretty cool.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>You’re welcome.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Can you tell me a little bit about the recruits that you went through training with? What was your impression or your relationships like with the different recruits?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so, uh, that was pretty cool, and it’s—it’s kind of funny how, um, you know, people that don’t know each other and are from different parts of the country—But everyone has a characteristic or—or a trait, and, uh, I think the—the instructors were very good at picking out, um, you know, people for their different talents, right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>And then, Maybe—maybe, uh, they had some insight. but like, uh, we had an older recruit, right? I think he was like 25, and, uh, he immediately kind of, like, took charge. So they made him the, uh, kind of the leader of the group, right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>And then we had some other people that were, uh, you know—I don’t want to stereotype people—but they had one guy with glasses, and I think he was very administrative. So they made him the yeoman. So you pretty much had the same basic tasks or the basic structures like anywhere, right? You have a—a leader. You have a secretary. You have a, you know, master-at-arms, and, um—so yeah.</p>
<p>I remember the people that they picked were, uh—I’d kinda go <em>Yeah. That—that’s interesting.</em> You know, and, uh, my claim to fame was, you know, to—to lay low and don’t be noticed. So that worked out pretty well, and, uh, yeah. It was uneventful, and the memories that, you know—from—from boot camp—while—I don’t really keep in touch them.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>I mean, it’s a—it’s—if you see them, it’s an immediate, uh, bond, because it’s something you got—you know, you’ve been through. Yeah. It was pretty cool.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>What kind of social life existed among the recruit—recruits?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Um, yeah. Social life? Really none.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>I mean, you know, the biggest thing was there was maybe—an always kind of an underground, uh, type deal with the—with the recruits. Like if the, uh—the instructor left, then, uh, you know, the recruits would—I mean, we were breaking the rules, but you know they—they would say, “Lights out. Go to sleep.” And the next thing you know, uh, you’d start, you know, maybe talking to your buddy or, um, just kind of, you know, either, uh—just doing what you need to do, write a letter home or—or something like that, right? So I don’t think it was like breaking the rules, but you always kinda had your, uh—uh, your—your little bit of time to yourself, right? And, uh, the funny part was, a lot of people, uh, um, kinda worked out, you know? They—they, uh—‘cause I forget what time the lights went out, but there was, uh—yeah. A lot of people were—were doing pushups and exercisin’ and—yeah. I mean, it wasn’t a lot of people. don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t like they turned the lights off, the place goes crazy. It was just kind of unique, where, you know, certain people had their kind of routines and they kinda kept them. So it was kinda—kinda unique.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Can you tell me a little bit more about the co-ed aspect of training?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so the—the co-ed aspect wasn’t a big deal. In fact, it was, uh, you know—I—I don’t know. Maybe—maybe I just didn’t, uh, take a lot of notice to it, but for the most part, they did what they did. Uh, we did what we did. There wasn’t a whole lot of, uh, interaction between the two groups. Uh, you know, we’d pass each other. We, uh, you know—really there wasn’t a whole lot of interaction.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen <br /></strong>Um, did the women have a woman leader and the—the men have a male leader?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>You know, that’s a good question. Um, I think it was, uh, both. I think, uh—I mean we—I had male instructors, but I think some of the females had male instructors and I think some of the, uh, male, uh, groups had female instructors, but I couldn’t tell you for sure. I don’t think they segregated it that much, but, uh, I can’t recall.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Were there any activities that were done together, even like…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis </strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen </strong>eating or anything?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah. In fact, uh, um, we did have a, uh, competition week, right? Maybe not a week. Maybe a day or two, right? And, uh, it was kinda like, uh—what do you call it? Your field day, and, uh, you go out and do sports and everything, and I’m trying to think how we worked that, but I think that was one of the integrated-type deals where, you know, you, uh, um—or was that—I’m trying to think. Uh, Yeah. well, either way, I knew they were out there. I don’t think we competed against ‘em, but, you know, we competed against the different companies, right? So, uh—and I think there’s probably like 10 or 15 companies going on at one time, but I can’t remember. I can’t remember, but I know there was a lot of people. I mean, it was like a football field.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>And the whole football field—it was probably a couple of football fields—and the whole place was busy, uh, with people doing stuff, right? From tug-of-war to sprints to, you know—I can’t remember all the stuff that was going on, but yeah. so that was pretty cool.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Can you tell me a little bit about your instructors? Who were they and what were they like?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so, um, I remember I had a, uh, colored, uh, guy and his name was—he was a DCC[sic], and, uh, I want to say his name was, uh—what was his—Gibson, and Then, uh, I had a, uh— I wanna say an MMC, which was—so a DC [damage controlman] was a damage controlman, who was like a firefighter, right? Basically an equivalent of, and then we had a, uh, MMC, and he could’ve been—either way, it’s not important, and they’re both chiefs and they’re pretty, uh—a little older. You know, maybe 45-50, or it seemed old at that time [<em>laughs</em>], but they were, uh, business. They were business. They were, uh—they were no joke. They were, uh, uh, very strict. They were, uh—didn’t smile a lot. But, um, you—you understood that they were in charge, and, uh, they—they were, uh—they were good leaders, and to this day, I—you know, I enjoyed my time, I guess, if you—you could say that. Because, you know, you get a good leader and it really makes things easy, because there’s not a whole lot of, uh, stuff you have to think about, right? So that—that—that’s pretty good.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>What does MMC mean?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Machinist[‘s] mate. They, um—they, uh—they do a lot of the mechanical stuff on the boat. They—they are, uh—they’re kind of like a metal worker type deal.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>What was the hardest thing you remember doing at RTC?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, I guess it was the—I guess it was the marching, you know? I mean, that sounds crazy, but, you know, I can’t dance. You gotta have a lot of rhythm, you know? And, uh, in fact, this is a funny story. Our, uh, recruit, uh, company commander, uh—and that’s the other part. So the recruit company commander is a recruit, just like all of u, but he’s the leader of the group, right? He’s, uh, designated. Uh, you really, uh—I didn’t see too many people volunteer for it. So we went through a couple of guys, right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen </strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Uh, I think at one point, I may have done it for like an hour, you know, till I got fired, right? But the, uh—the guy that stood out in my mind that had been the leader the longest was a—a tall, uh, black man, right? and he was pretty young. He was probably about the same age as most of us—about 20, and, uh—but yeah. he had it. He—he could do the marching. He had no problem calling off the, uh, cadences, and, um, yeah. He—so he—he was—he really, I think, turned our company around, because, um—I mean that was a tough part. I mean, if you can’t march, uh, you can’t get from one place to another, right? And it sounds ridiculous, because you go, <em>What’s the</em>, uh—I mean,<em> Why are we doing it?</em> right? <em>How does this help us run a ship or be in the Navy?</em> But it’s just one of those things where everyone has to do it. Everyone has to do it good[sic], and if you do good[sic] doing it, you look good, right? So, um, yeah. We went from not being able to, uh, um—you know, everyone being in the same step to be, you know, doing a marching band type deal, and, uh, remember: everything’s happening pretty quick[sic], right?</p>
<p>So at the end of the, uh, six to eight weeks—whatever it was—uh, we looked pretty sharp. That—that was a pretty big accomplishment, because I think that the day before graduation, we have a little private, uh—not private, I guess—but the families get to come and, you know, we’ll march, uh, up and down, and it’s pretty neat, you know? So good times.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>In addition to that, which sounds like that was a—a moment of pride for you, can you tell me another moment that you felt most proud?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Uh, let’s see. Hm. Uh, I mean, boot camp—I guess, uh, everything was just kind of go, go, go. So um, I mean, I guess—I guess pride being the—no. I don’t know. Not—not really. I think the biggest part is just the accomplishments in the little stuff that you do, and nothing’s really major. The only reason that I remember the, uh, marching was because that was—I mean, that was tough for me. I was like <em>Man. Step. Step. What?</em> [<em>laughs</em>] And then, uh—but no. the rest of it was, uh, fairly, um—I mean—I don’t know—easy or—not easy. probably isn’t the word. Maybe it’s just you take each day, day by day. So yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>What was the official purpose of the Grinder? And does it have any special significance to you?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so—so the Grinder is where you practice most of your marching, and, uh, the Grinder—yeah. It was painful. I mean, you’re just out there forever. You’re, uh, practicing these maneuvers. You’re, uh—um, and one of the key, uh, things that we went through was: you used to have to march with these old M1 [Garand] rifles, right? or maybe they were M14s. but if you can imagine, you know, a 3-4 foot long rifle that weighs 10-15-20 pounds, and you’re holding this thing forever, you know, it gets tiring, and at some point, they decided to do away with it and, uh—right in the middle of our training, and I was thanking whoever made that decision, because that was the worst, right? So things became a little easier by not having to carry that. But, uh, yeah. for the most part, the Grinder was where you spent a lot of your time, just—just kind of learning the, uh—the different marching steps and everything. I—I’m not sure. Have you—have you ever done any marching?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>No.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, I mean, it’s…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Well…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>It gives a—it gives a tr—like, to the band people…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>While they’re playing the music, and you just kinda go, <em>Wow</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong><em>Those guys are really</em>—I mean, uh—<em>Working hard</em>. ‘Cause it’s—it’s hard. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>My brothers…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen</strong></p>
<p>Were in marching band.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen <br /></strong>So I’ve seen the hard work</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>But I haven’t done it myself.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, yeah. Well, thank—thank goodness [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Um, the decision to march without the rifles, Was that…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>I—I have no idea. All—all’s I know is, um—I remember classes before me and classes after me, um, uh, did have ‘em. So I’m not sure what—what the, uh—the issue was with that, but that brings up a good question of—yeah. Why? What was the, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Was it like that week that—that you’re supposed to stop marching with them? Was it something [inaudible]…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>No, I mean, most of the time…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>[inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>People kept them the whole time…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So I’m not really sure why—why they stopped that, and like I said, I think they brought ‘em back too.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So I’m sure it was someone’s, uh, good idea, or maybe someone got hurt, or—who knows? So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Um, can you tell me about other areas on the base, in addition to the Grinder, that were of particular importance…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>To you?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So—so the pool was a big one, right? And, uh, that was a good time and, uh, it really amazed me by how many people couldn’t swim. That was, uh—that kind of blew my mind, right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>And, uh—but that— was a lot of fun, and then I remember, uh, Perimeter Room, and I’m not sure if it was called “Perimeter Room,” but it’s where we did our timed, uh, runs to make sure you’re, um—you could pass the, um—the PT, I guess, and then there was the—the gym, you know. So the gym—we worked out in there a few times. You know, I’m trying to—I guess we did have, uh, PT uniforms, but I can’t—I can’t remember putting them on all that much. I think we only did for the, uh—the out-test and the in-test. Either way, um—and let’s see.</p>
<p>Oh, you—you had the, uh—we had the, uh, firefighting trainer. The, um—and a lot of this I remember were— ‘cause those were, you know, the—the shooting range, where we’d have to shoot the guns. Um, the chow hall, of course, because we ate there a bunch. That was good times, and then, um—yeah. I just—I just remember this strip, you know, where the barracks were, right? It was kind of like—it almost—it’s a similar lay out of this building, you know? Kind of the long, narrow, um—I forgot how many stories it was, but you would come out of there and we walk down a—a street—marching down a street, and then, uh, based on, you know, kind of left to right, you may have some classes or classrooms, and then, uh, down at the very end, you’d have, a, uh—the chow hall, and the—the Grinder, I guess, was on the far, far right, and I can’t, you know—like I said, I can’t—if you go there now, none of it’s recognizable, and the other thing too is have you heard of the [USS] <em>Blue Jacket</em>?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so I don’t know where that was in relationship. For us, it was right next to our barracks, but where—where it’s at now is unrecognizable, so it’s pretty unique.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Can you tell me about the <em>Blue Jacket</em>?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>All’s I remember is we didn’t go on it and, uh, we took a picture in front of it, and, uh, to tell you the truth, I don’t know why we didn’t go on it. Yeah. It was kinda—kinda strange. I think maybe it was getting a little—a little older, you know? But yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>What did it feel like to graduate?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so that was pretty—that was pretty cool. ‘Cause, um—I’m trying to think. What—what was the final thing that we did? Uh, let’s see. All’s I know is, uh, at the very end, they, uh—they bring out the flag and they start, uh, playing “America the Beautiful.” Or what was it? “[I’m] Proud to Be an American.” And, uh, yeah. So everyone got real emotional and it was pretty cool. But, uh, that’s what I remember, and, uh, I’m trying to think what—what culminated, uh, before that. You know, what—what lead up to that point, and, uh—hm. That’s—that’s kind of strange. I can’t remember what the, uh—But all’s I remember is when we were done, it—it was pretty awesome. Yeah. So it was pretty cool.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Was there a lot of people there watching?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>No, no. In fact, it was just our group. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Oh, really?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so—so that was, I guess, the, uh—the—the recruit phase kind of ending, right? That’s when, you know, you’re done being a recruit, and the next day you graduated, and that’s when they had, you know, all your friends and loved ones, whoever in the stands and you did the, uh, parade, the marching through and everything, but yeah. as far as a lot of people watching, for what we were doing before—I—I mean, honestly, I can’t—I can’t remember what we were doing. I mean, I can’t remember if it was drills or—hm. Yeah. I guess it’s been a long time. It’s pretty—but I do remember, like I said, when it was done, it was, uh—they bring the flag out and everyone was like “Whoa” It was pretty funny. Not funny, but it’s pretty—pretty, uh, neat to see everyone kinda, ya know…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And you get your hat, right?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>You know, we…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>[inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>We didn’t get a hat. It was kinda, uh, yeah. Like I said, there’s no hat. There was, uh—like I said, I just remember a pep talk, the flag, the music, and then, uh, the next day, I think we, uh, graduated.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And that took place on the Grinder, right?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Um, no, what—what you talking about the, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>The graduation.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So the graduation took place on the grass, which, um—I’m trying—I can’t really remember where that was at either, but no. the Grinder was—was separate. So yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And then what did you do for the Navy after you left RTC?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so after the Navy, Uh—and this is kind of funny, ‘cause when I—before I joined, I was lookin’ at the different jobs, right? ‘Cause they have all kinds of jobs, and I was talking to the recruiter and he handed me a—a couple different, uh, cards, right? That listed the jobs and what they did, and, uh, you know, one of them was like torpedo’s mate, and so I looked at that one, and it says, “Must work in a,” uh, you know, “hot,” uh, “greasy environment,” right? So I was like <em>I don’t want that one, and</em> then I saw one that says—and plus, the school—the A school, which is the—the school that teaches you to do the job, it’s like in— I don’t know—somewhere—somewhere in the United States, and I see this one that says “EW,” which is Electronic Warfare, and, uh, it says, uh “Work in cool,” um, you know, uh, “dark climates,” you know, “in a—in a room with,” uh, you know—I don’t know. Anyways [sic], it sounded cool, right? ‘Cause it had the—It was Combat Information Center, so I didn’t—had no idea what it did, and then the bonus was the, uh, school’s in Pensacola. So, you know, I didn’t—that’s where I joined the Navy at, and that’s where my family was at. So I was like <em>I’ll take that job</em>, right? Had no idea what it did.</p>
<p>So, uh—and the other reason I joined the Navy is ‘cause I didn’t want to go to school, right? Which is kind of funny. So the first thing the Navy does—the Navy does after graduation is they send you back to school, right? Which is this Electronic Warfare, and it—you can imagine your—your radar detector in your car, or if, you know—you know the concept—and it picks up the emissions from the cops’, uh, radar gun. this is the same thing that—that the ship does, but it picks up the radars from airplanes, from other ships, from, you know, missiles, from whatever, and those signals are analyzed and you can actually tell what kind of car it is or, you know, what type of ship or airplane. So the whole time in school, they’re teaching you about these radar fundamentals. They’re teaching you about the propagation. Blah, blah, blah, and then they want you to memorize—like a telephone book—of all this parameters, right? And I’m not saying it—I mean, it’s rote memorization. There’s just no way around it, right? So you’d spend your nights trying to figure out how you’re going to memorize all these numbers, so if they popped up, you could, you know, say what it was. So that’s what would happen is, uh, you—you—you’d get with a buddy and figure out these ways to memorize stuff, and, uh—so yeah. We, uh, did that, and then after that, um—I guess that was maybe another eight weeks and then was off to Virginia, uh, for my first ship.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Can you take me from Virginia somewhat quickly to NAWCTSD? Can you walk me through?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it’s pretty easy.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>How you got from one to the next?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so I did three years in, uh, Virginia, and uh, you know, the job was okay, but it was on a ship, and I saw a helicopter flying and I says[sic]. “That looks like a cool job.” I was coming up for reenlistment and I talked to one of my, uh, leading Petty Officers, and said, “Hey. This is, uh—I’d like to look at doing a different job.” He took care of me. He walked, you know—walked me through the whole process. Put a, uh, a package in, got accepted, and then, uh, for AW, which is Aviation Systems Operator—and then I get sent to Pensacola for Air Crew School, and, uh, I had no idea, but then I got sent to Rescue School—Swimmer School, which is in Pensacola, and, uh, I’m not sure if you’ve seen the movie [The] <em>Guardian</em>? With, uh…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>No.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis <br /></strong>Who was it? Anyways[sic], so that’s the Coast Guard.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Oh, yeah, with…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Bruce…<a title="">[1]</a></p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Yeah—no. I think you’re right, and…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, yeah. The, uh, young kid, right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>That kid.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, right? [<em>laughs</em>] So like…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>[Christopher]Ashton Kutcher.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, yeah. Right. Exactly.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Yeah, seen it.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis </strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen </strong>You did that?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis </strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen </strong>Oh.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So, uh, yeah, I mean, once again everything—I mean, Hollywood makes everything look like Hollywood, right? But it’s pretty intense. I mean, you know, you’re doing stuff and you get pushed underwater and what not. So I did that then went to my first, um, Aviation Squadron in Jacksonville, and then, um, did five years there. So while—when I was on the ship, I did a six-month cruise, plus all the workups, you know, hit the Med[iterranean Sea], Um, you know—Greece, Spain, um—where else? I mean, uh, Croatia, and then, uh, you know—then I cross-rated. Then I went to my first Aviation Command. We did the same thing. Hopped on a carrier, did our six-month cruise right over to the Med. Uh, we did the [Persian] Gulf. Uh, you know. So that whole Europe and, uh, the rest of the area. Yeah. We just hit different ports in there.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>The Gulf? As in the Persian Gulf?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, the Persian Gulf. Right, and then, uh— and then I did that for five years. Did three cruises, plus all the associative workups. You know, we did Fallon[?] detachments in Nevada, and, um, we did Andros Island, Bahamas, and, um, yeah. It’s terrible duty, but you know, you’re gone a lot, so you take, uh—you take your good points with your bad, and then uh—oh, yeah. Then I went to the wing as an instructor in Jacksonville. So I was still working with the Aviation Commands, except I didn’t have to go on a cruise, and then, uh, after three years there, picked orders to, uh, [Naval Air Facility] Atsugi, Japan, which is right near Tokyo, and, uh, went over there and did four years in Japan on the [USS] <em>Kitty Hawk</em>, and, uh, we hit Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, um, and, uh, did some work in the Philippines for the, uh—the work on terrorism there. They have a big terrorist cell there that many people don’t know about, and, uh, we did, um— uh, it wasn’t tsunami relief. I guess it was, uh—I guess it was typhoon relief in the Philippines, but after I left, they did do a lot of tsunami relief, ‘because that was the—the area. So, uh—and then, uh, after Japan, came to NAWCTSD, Orlando, and did four years there and retired.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>How did that assignment come about?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>The Orlando one?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So, um, they have a list of assignments that you look up on a computer and, um, I said, <em>Boy, that would be a good one, if I ever plan on getting out, and</em>, uh, at that point, you know, it was pretty stressful. It, you know—I did the instructor duty and then I did the duty in Ja—in Japan, and, uh—so yeah. I was looking kind of for a, uh—a, um—actually, I—I loved the trainers, right? I loved the computers. So I thought that’d be a good fit and, uh, so I applied for it and it was open. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And when you got here, what were your first days like at NAWCTSD?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, it was pretty cool. It was more of an office environment, and, uh, it was very different than, uh—from the Navy buildings. I mean, even though this is a Navy building, it’s predominantly filled by civilians. So the military’s a very small part of that, and, um, but for—for the most part it was, uh—it was nice, because, um, everything was ready for you when you got there. The, uh—all the, um, computers, the—the furniture, everything was very new. Very, uh, kind of, uh, high tech, you know? There—there’s just a lot of resources available for you to do your job, and, uh, back— in the—in the fleet, you know, you may not have that. You may have, you know, one computer for five or six guys, and then, uh, there’s just not a lot of space. So space this size that we’re in, you’d have up to 30 people trying to work out of there. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>And speaking of your job, what were some of the things that you did? What were some of your primary responsibilities?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So, uh—um, I guess, uh, for the aviation, the air crewman was being a rescue swimmer was the, uh, big one. So no matter when we flew or where we flew, you always had someone that had their—their gear with them, you know? You’re always SAR capable, which is Search and Rescue. So someone had to go in the water, you’d always have someone available. Um, so that was the number one, uh, thing that you did. The other part was, if we’re under way, uh, on the carrier that we were anti-submarine, uh, mission—meaning that we had a, uh, big sonar dome that would drop out of the bottom of the helicopter in a hover and you would stick that, you know— a couple hundred feet down in the water, send out a big sonic pulse, and see if you get any returns from the submarines. Uh, so that was another one, ‘cause that was pretty unique. You do that day or night, and, um, whether a sea state was 10-15-foot and the pilots are trying to stay in a hover, and, uh, so, yeah. that was pretty—pretty interestin’.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>That was—was that at NAWCTSD?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>No, no.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>So that was before?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so at NAWCTSD—the good thing about NAWCTSD is the needed the people from the fleet, because they would built the simulators that would act like, uh, you know real helicopters, right? So you’d go in there and you’d give them the subject matter expertise to say “Hey. This looks good,” or “This doesn’t good[sic].” Or you’d just liaison with the fleet and then go from there. So at NAWCTSD, the primary responsibility was program management or, uh, subject matter expert. So you’d kinda—kinda blur those lines a little bit, but, uh, for the most part, we were only there for 3-4 years, and the civilians have been there for a lot longer. So you’d come in and—and kind of assist them.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Um, you might have already answered this a little bit already, but can you tell me about the types of projects that you worked on with NAWCTSD and what they were trying to accomplish?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so—so, the funny this is—is, uh, I transferred from Japan, right? And when I first got to, uh, NAWCTSD, I meet my boss, and he’s a civilian guy, and, uh, he’s a UCF graduate—electrical engineering, so he’s a great guy.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Who’s that?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Uh, Jonathan Glass. So—In fact, he’s still my boss right now. He’s probably wondering where I’m at...</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>But if I tell him I’m here, he’s good, and then, uh—but yeah. So I get—I get to NAWCTSD, and I just, you know, been probably gone from Japan for maybe 2-3 weeks, ‘cause I took some leave, and they—they go, “Hey. We’re getting ready to deliver a trainer to, uh, to Japan.”" and it happened to be a—a simulator—a desktop simulator of the helicopter, uh, that I just, uh, got done flying it, and, uh, so—so in Japan, they don’t have the resources for new construction and for a, uh, new trainer. So they had this, uh—this desktop, um, simulator that would give you the tactical display and all the button pushin’, and, uh, we—we ended up delivering that right back to Japan, the squadron I’d just left.</p>
<p>So it was kind of funny that, uh—which brings up another funny story, ‘cause you got Mount Fuji in there, right? You’ve seen pictures of Mount Fuji? Well, I took my daughters up there. I think they were eight and ten at the time, and it’s pretty—it’s a pretty good climb. It’s volcanic rock, right? So, uh, I didn’t want to be the dad that pushed them and scarred them for life. So I was being positive, but I would kind of let them do what they wanted to do, right? Meaning that, you know, if they couldn’t make, uh—um, I didn’t want to push ‘em too hard. Anyways[sic], we ended up not making the top, and the rumor is, if you don’t make it to the top of Fuji when you’re there, you’ll end up coming back, and yeah. I never believed that, but low and behold, you know, after reporting to NAWCTSD, I end up going back. So isn’t that funny?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>]. That’s fantastic.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, it is fantastic. So, um, yeah. So basically we delivered a simulator back to Japan and, uh, that—that’s kind of what we do. Whatever, uh—so the ASW—the Anti-Submarine Warfare—Uh, the other part of, uh—I told you about the dome that lowers in the water. the other thing that we’ll do is we’ll drop microphones, and basically, uh—it’s called a sonobouy, but basically that’s what it is—is a microphone that you drop in the water, and you’re able to see the, uh, signature of the sub or whatever you’re listening to, and identify it, and if need, you know—if need be, drop a torpedo on it. Yeah. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Can you explain a little bit more about what a desktop simulator looks like and is?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so if—if you use your car as an example, and, uh, if—if, uh, uh, all the controls from the gear shift to the steering wheel to the, uh, radio station. So all that we put on to a computer, and, uh, we try to simulate the environment. So for us, it’s the ocean mainly, and, uh, the ocean is, uh, you know—it’s pretty complex, right? And then especially when you throw sound in there, the propagation paths can get really, uh, really difficult.</p>
<p>So the claim to fame for us is how much, uh, simulation do you need to do of the ocean to make it realistic for the acoustics? They start talking about fidelity and, uh, you know, then, um, realism and stuff like that, but—but that’s, uh—it’s a big trade off. Because if you have enough money, you can do anything right? Well, of course, we don’t have enough money. So, uh, we—there’s always a tradeoff. So a lot of that’s compromises, right? You make compromise in the visual system, or you may have to compromise in the size of equipment. So we would make our system mobile, put it on laptops, and, uh, the laptops, you know, in it—in itself, would compromise the, um— or maybe not. Yeah. I guess compromise the visual part of it. Meaning that you’re not gonna get real good visuals, but we’re not training the pilot how to fly the aircraft.</p>
<p>What we’re trying to do is train the crew to work together, right? So—so each computer would be a different station. You’d have the pilot station, the co-pilot, and then you’d have your sensor operator, and all three of those, uh, computers would be networked together to, um—to talk, you know, back and forth, because in the aircraft, same thing. Uh, You’re able to split duties between a tactical display, um, you know—so if, uh—if I send a contact, via my gear, to the tactical plot, The co-pilot can acknowledge that, and then you’d get a course and speed on the sub based on, you know, uh, different positions and time. So if—if you send a position over—position A— at a certain time, and then you send over position B at a different time and you, you know—you line it up, you know, you’re gonna get a course of speed, right?</p>
<p>So the gear would do that for us, but of course there was always some type of, um, uh, error built into the system whether it be, you know, the contact that, um—that you’ve entered in there was maybe a little off, and, uh—so you had to comp—you had to compensate for all that, and, uh, of course, the more context you had, the—the more the error would be averaged out, right? And, uh, so all that’s happenin’ pretty quick, right? And you may have a submarine that’s sending out counter measures, you may have equipment malfunctions, you know, you may have, uh, an inexperienced crew. So—there’s[?] just a lot of different, uh, aspects that go into training. Hey[?], and remember, you know, when the contact, or the sensor, uh, data that you’re looking at is—is just a line on the scope, you know, It—it may be a line that falls at 300 hertz, and then you have to determine what that is or, you know, put a bunch of different pieces of information together.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen </strong>Um, what, what’s the primary mission of NAWCTSD?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis </strong>Yeah, so the primary mission of NAWCTSD and, uh—we have a missions statement, I’m tryin’ to, uh—it’s basically to support the fleet in, uh—in simulation, and, um, yeah. That’s probably the easiest thing.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Okay, and what do you think the future holds for simulation training here in Central Florida?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so simulation, uh—I mean, we are the, uh, um, center of excellence for modeling and simulation. Uh, we are the Navy’s central resource, when it comes to, uh, modeling and simulation. We have a lot of the, uh, companies around the area that support the, uh—the industry, and that bring a lot of capability to the, uh—to the training, and, um, the, uh—the future, I think, is, uh—is pretty good. Just because, as new technology brings better, uh, fidelity and higher realism, you know, you’re able to kinda blur the—the concept between real and fiction, or—I don’t know how you say that.</p>
<p>So, If I can, uh—I mean, we’re getting to the point now where you put on the—the virtual, um, reality headset, and you’re now, as you turn and look—I mean, the—the—the screen is moving with you. So in this room, I could put on a virtual headset, and, um, it would give me the same, uh, dimensions, but of course, I could put a fire in the corner, right? And then I could react to that fire, based on, uh, where it’s at. So it’s getting really, uh, really good now.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>In what ways would you say that the simulation projects at NAWCTSD have impacted other branches of the military?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so I think the, uh—the impacts, uh—and I can’t say, you know, how we’ve maybe impacted, but I think the synergy of all the different components of the services working together, and the lessons learned from each of the components all kind of being centralized in this area. There’s really no, um—uh, no other place where that happens.</p>
<p>I mean here you have the Marines, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the Navy, uh, all working together, and in fact, uh, we’re now starting to include some, uh, state, uh, local, and other government, uh, organizations that can take advantage of, uh, the, uh—the training and the products that we’ve, uh, built here, and, um, so yeah. That[?]—I really can’t say. It—it’s really just the synergistic effect of everyone being together and the ability to, um, learn from each other.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen </strong>Thank you. Um, what would you say is one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned from your time with the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, so it’s going to be teamwork. You know, No matter what you do in the Navy, no matter what you do in life, uh, normally it’s, uh—it’s not just one person that makes something happen, and, uh, the other good quote that I learned was to be a good leader, you must be a good follower, right? And, uh, I can’t—I can’t, uh, say enough of that quote, because somebody always thinks, uh, that the leader has it easy, right? Well, guess what? that leader has a leader, that leader has a, you know—so it goes—it goes, uh—someone always has to answer to somebody.</p>
<p>So—and that’s probably the one thing that the Navy’s taught me is I used to always say, <em>I can’t wait till I’m in that guy’s position, and</em> then I’m in that guy’s position, and go <em>Man, that’s a—that’s a lot of work.</em> So—but it’s good stuff. Yeah, and—and the other thing I learned to is, uh, if, um, there’s something that you want, you know, normally, you’ll have people that’ll help you out. They just need to know that’s what you want to do. So the people aren’t mind readers. You need to talk to them. You need to let them know what your, uh—what it is that you wanna do, and, uh, for the most part, I’ve never had a—a bad command or a, uh—a bad boss. I mean I’ve had some I’ve liked more than others, but for the most part, everyone have their certain characteristics that you’ll either agree with or disagree with, but as long as they’re—what they’re doing is honorable, then, uh—then yeah. That’s—that’s easy to, you know—person to follow. I tell ya, for the most part, I haven’t seen a, uh—a bad person in the Navy, you know?</p>
<p>And, uh, it’s too bad when you hear a lot of the stuff that goes on, because they’re—for now, or in today’s Navy, the Navy is almost zero defect, right? And, uh, back in the day—yeah. You—you did stuff that—that maybe wasn’t, uh—you didn’t want your mom to know about, you know? But, uh, the fact is is that, um—uh, how do I say this? You were, you know—you’re doing some pretty tough stuff, right? And that doesn’t give you a pass for—for—for being, uh, bad, but what it—what it did mean was that you could, uh—you could definitely have a good time, right? And be a little rowdy, but what it didn’t mean was you couldn’t be disrespectful, and—and definitely, uh, some of the changes we made are pretty good, but some of the changes are getting a little to, uh, you know, PC, right? Too much politically correct.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>We’ve got about two or so minutes left. is there anything else you’d like to share about your Navy experience. Maybe…</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Photos for the last two? Alright.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>[inaudible] And move it towards you.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Alright. So the cool thing about the Navy is all the different experiences that you get to, uh—places you get to visit, things you get to do. In fact, uh, when I, uh— I guess it was my second cruise when I was with the helicopters. We went to Cannes, France, and they were doing the Cannes [International] Film Festival, right?</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Well, of course, we don’t get to go inside, but we get to see everyone that walks in, so that was pretty cool, and we saw Henry [Franklin] Winkler. You know who he is? The Fonz. So we yelled to him and—and we were like, “Hey, Mr. Winkler!” And he gave us a—real, real good pep talk, but that was kind of cool, uh, but this is my buddy, and, uh, I’m actually the one taking the picture of this, and we took a—a we were in Australia, and we took the Australian, uh, Special Forces, and we were taking them up to, uh, Fasthrow[?]—and a couple of guys to go parachuting. So, this just happens to be, uh, one of the dogs they take with them and we actually, uh, lowered the dog down, and, uh—but yeah. He went flying with us so, and—and He looks to be having a good time, right [<em>clicks touchpad</em>].</p>
<p>So the, uh—the next picture—this is, um—so—sounds pretty exciting everything I’ve told you, right? Flying in the helicopters, huntin’ the submarines, uh, doing the rescue swimming, and all that, but a lot of it is—just imagine driving in your car or around the block, you know, like a hundred times. Because with the, uh—the systems we have in place now on the airplanes, they’re really safe, and, uh, mishaps, uh happen very rarely. So we would fly in what we’d call “Starboard[?] Delta” for up to three hours at a time and doing circles, right? And this is one of those times where, uh, we’re just kinda sitting at the back and it’s a good view and everything, but we’re just, uh, doing circles around the boat. Just waiting for something to happen so—but, you know, the whole time you’re talking, you’re training. It—it—it—but it does get a little monotonous.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Can you share the one of you guys coming out of the water?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Oh, yeah, yeah. So this one’s in Japan, and, uh, we’re just doing training, and, uh, once again, it’s—it’s pretty fun when you do that. But, uh, that’s—that’s a yearly quall. So we don’t get to do it all the time, but when it—when it does, um—and—and o this was, uh, maybe six years ago. The kid I’m coming up with, uh, he’s a 20 year old and, uh, pretty new to the Navy, and, uh, the cool thing about that is—is, uh, kids that join the military now—I mean, they’re expected to do some pretty awesome stuff. You know, either jump out of a helicopter, you know, patrol Afghanistan, and, uh, it really is amazing the quality of people that we have, uh, in the services today. So I—it’s—it’s—makes proud thinking of people, uh, you know, joining [<em>clicks touchpad</em>], and then so—here, uh—me and my Navy buddy Harold, uh, Lavine[?]. He’s, uh, retired Navy, works at Publix, I think, in Ocoee, or somewhere around there, but we’re just trying to promote the, uh—promote the Lone Sailor Memorial, and, uh—and pass the word. So that was that.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Great.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>[<em>clicks touchpad</em>] Oh [<em>laughs</em>]. So this—this is on the, uh—the—I think the [USS] <em>John C. Stennis</em>, when we were crossing the, uh—the Equator, and when you cross the Equator, you—you do—you do something that’s called a “shellback ceremony.” And if—if—if you’re not a shellback, you’re a wog, right? So this is one of the traditions in the Navy that’s maybe got a bad rap, because, uh, we’re out at sea and, uh, you know, we—we, uh—you know, they make you walk like ducks, they spray you with fire hoses. It—it’s really, uh, kinda hazing, but it’s a—it’s a mariner’s—a sailor’s tradition, right? So you get to dress up and, uh, just have a good time and, uh—but you know. Uh, Yeah. So anyway, that—that’s a shellback ceremony. So That’s where we get to dress up and do all that and that—that’s why we look the way we do [<em>laughs</em>]. Let’s see. Yeah. I think that’s it.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yep.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Great. Thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>So…</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Any last comments?</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>No, I, uh, appreciate the opportunity, and, uh, you know, I think today’s Navy is—is a better Navy than when I went through, and, uh, I just—I just hope that it continues to, uh, you know—people understand that the Navy is—is the people, right? You know, you can have the best ships, the best aircraft, but the—the people—the men and women in the services, uh, need, you know, our support, right? And as long as we remember history and remember, you know, what’s, uh—what happens, uh, I think we’ll—we’ll be good, but that’s it.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Great.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah, well, thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Hazen<br /></strong>Thank you.</p>
<p><strong>Ennis<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> Correction: Kevin Michael Costner.</p>
</div>
</div>
Afghanistan
Air Crew School
Anti-Submarine Warfare
Arthur Fonzaerlli
ASW
Australia
Australian Special Forces
Aviation Systems Operator
Aviation Warfare Sensor Operator
AW
Ayase, Japan
Cannes International Film Festival
Cannes, France
co-ed
co-educational
Community Veterans History Project
Competition Week
Corry Station Naval Technical Training Center
Corry Station NTTC
CVHP
desk-top simulators
dogs
education
Electronic Warfare
enlistment
Equator
EW
fleet replacement squadron aircrews
Fonzie
Gibson
Glass, Jonathan
Global War on Terror
graduations
Gulf Breeze
GWOT
Harold Lavine
Helicopter Squadron 1
Helicopter Squadron 14
Helicopter Squadron 5
helicopters
Henry Franklin Winkler
Henry Winkler
HS-1
HS-14
HS-5
humanitarian aid
inspections
instructors
Jonathan Glass
Jones, John Paul
Kendra Hazen
Little Creek, Virginia
Lone Sailor Memorial Project
LSMP
Marc Ennis
marching
memorials
Millington, Tennessee
Mount Fuji
NAS Atsugi
Naval Air Facility Atsugi
Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division
naval training
NAWCTSD
Operation Enduring Freedom
orlando
Pensacola
Philippines
pools
Port Hueneme, California
radars
recruit training
Recruit Training Center Orlando
rescue swimmers
RTC Orland
SAR
Search and Rescuer
shellback ceremonies
shellback ceremony
Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk
simulations
Starboard Delta
swimming
terrorism
The Fonz
The Grinder
The Guardian
training
typhoon reliefs
U.S. Coast Guard
U.S. Navy
USS Blue Jacket
USS Gunston Hall
USS John C. Stennis
veterans
War in Afghanistan
WAVES
woman
women
Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service
Yamato, Japan
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
War in Afghanistan Collection
Alternative Title
Afghanistan Collection
Description
Operation Enduring Freedom is the official name for the "military conflict" commonly known as the "War in Afghanistan," which is a group of military actions within the Global War on Terror (GWOT). The operation in Afghanistan is an ongoing conflict between Afghanistan, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) against two Islamic fundamentalist groups in Afghanistan: the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
The Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in 1996, the same year that international terrorist and Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden immigrated to the country with the invitation of the Northern Alliance. Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the United States presented the Taliban with a five-point ultimatum to the Taliban government, which was suspected of providing asylum to Al-Qaeda terrorists. After the Taliban rejected the ultimatum and the U.S. rejected Taliban proposals to try suspected terrorists under Islamic Shari'a law, the United States and the United Kingdom initiated military action on October 7, 2001. Although the U.S.-led coalition removed the Taliban from power initially and severely damaged Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the operation has overall had little success in defeating the Taliban insurgency. Operation Enduring Freedom has been transformed into a full war and has thus far lasted significantly longer than expected.
Contributor
<a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/24" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Contributing Project
<a href="http://digitalcollections.net.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a><span>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida</span>
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Subject
Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001-
Global War on Terror, 2001-2009
Veterans--Florida
Coverage
Afghanistan
Source Repository
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/VET" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a><span>, UCF Digital Collections, University of Central Florida</span>
External Reference
<span>"</span><a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">About the Project</a><span>." UCF Community Veterans History Project, RICHES of Central Florida, University of Central Florida. http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/.</span>
Center of Military History. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55079497" target="_blank"><em>Operation Enduring Freedom: October 2001-March 2002</em></a>. Washington, D.C.: [U.S. Army Center of Military History], 2004.
Neumann, Brian F., Lisa M. Mundey, and Jon Mikolashek. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/856994805" target="_blank"><em>Operation Enduring Freedom</em></a>. 2013.
Tripp, Robert S., Kristin F. Lynch, John G. Drew, and Edward Wei-Min Chan. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/427704785" target="_blank"><em>Lessons from Operation Enduring Freedom</em></a>. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2004.
Wright, Donald P. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/316737060" target="_blank"><em>A Different Kind of War: The United States Army in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), October 2001-September 2005</em></a>. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, US Army Combined Arms Center, 2010.
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Key, Jeff
Holroyd, Jade
Interviewee
Henry, Derek Mason
Original Format
1 Digital (DAT) audio recording
Duration
41 minutes and 11 seconds
Bit Rate/Frequency
253kbps
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Creator
Key, Jeff
Holroyd, Jade
Henry, Derek Mason
Description
An oral history of Derek Mason Henry's experience serving in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. Henry enlisted in the United States Army and served in the 2nd Battalion, the 124th Regiment, the 53rd Infantry Division. Interview topics include overseas service, Henry's family, enlistment, the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season, the attacks on September 11th, basic training, service in Afghanistan, and the National Guard.
Language
eng
Subject
Army
Veterans--Florida
Operation Enduring Freedom, 2001-
Global War on Terror, 2001-2009
Title
Oral History of Derek Mason Henry
Alternative Title
Oral History, Henry
Type
Sound
Medium
41-minute and 11-second Digital (DAT) audio recording
Extent
75.1 MB
Click to View (Movie, Podcast, or Website)
<a href="http://stars.library.ucf.edu/veteransoralhistories/48/" target="_blank">Henry, Derek Mason</a>
Abstract
Oral history interview of Derek Mason Henry. Interview conducted by Jeff Key and Jade Holroyd at Henry's home.
Table Of Contents
0:00:10 Interviewee information<br />0:00:34 Branch of service and rank<br />0:01:00 Experiences overseas<br />0:02:14 Mission<br />0:03:16 Which war served in<br />0:03:32 Family<br />0:04:00 Wife<br />0:04:15 Before service<br />0:04:30 Age joined<br />0:05:22 Family in military<br />0:06:00 Reason chose Army<br />0:06:40 Deployed for hurricanes 2004 and medals<br />0:07:10 National Guard<br />0:07:30 Deployed after 9/11<br />0:07:40 Furthering career<br />0:08:20 Job as officer<br />0:09:20 Basic training<br />0:10:50 Air assault and friends<br />0:11:30 Action while deployed IEDs<br />0:13:17 Keeping in contact with family<br />0:15:27 Recreation<br />0:16:00 Job schedule while deployed and recreation<br />0:18:10 Indirect fire<br />0:19:00 Awards, souvenirs, coins<br />0:23:00 Dogs of War Awards continued<br />0:24:59 Didn't engage enemy<br />0:25:08 Range and use of 50 cal<br />0:26:01 Return home<br />0:28:00 Readjusting to civilian life<br />0:29:00 Keeping in touch with friends<br />0:30:17 How old experiences effect you<br />0:31:28 Metals on Class A, Air Assault<br />0:34:30 ROTC, difference from enlisted<br />0:36:25 Civilian job with National Guard<br />0:37:10 Pictures from overseas<br />0:38:38 David Tell pictures<br />0:40:00 Conclusions<br />0:40:30 Life lessons<br />0:41:11 Visuals of souvenirs
Source
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/VET/id/37" target="_blank">Henry, David Mason</a>. Interviewed by Jeff Key and Jade Holroyd. UCF Community Veterans History Project, DP0011890. February 28, 2011. Audio record available. University of Central Florida Libraries, <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/University" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, Orlando, Florida.
Date Created
2011-02-28
Date Copyrighted
2011-02-28
Is Part Of
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>, Orlando, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/96" target="_blank">War in Afghanistan Collection</a>, UCF Community Veterans History Project Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/" target="_blank"> Adobe Flash Player</a>
<a href="http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp" target="_blank">Java</a>
Format
audio/mp3
Coverage
Leesburg, Florida
Afghanistan
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Jeff Key and Jade Holroyd and owned by <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/University" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>.
Rights Holder
All rights are held by the respective holding institution. This material is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. For permission to reproduce and/or for copyright information contact <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/University" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>, University of Central Florida Libraries, (407) 823-2576. http://library.ucf.edu/SpecialCollections/.
Contributing Project
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/veterans/" target="_blank">UCF Community Veterans History Project</a>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalCollections/" target="_blank">UCF Digital Collections</a>
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
University of Central Florida Libraries, <a href="http://library.ucf.edu/University" target="_blank">Special Collections and University Archives</a>
External Reference
Center of Military History. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/55079497" target="_blank"><em>Operation Enduring Freedom: October 2001-March 2002</em></a>. Washington, D.C.: [U.S. Army Center of Military History], 2004.
Neumann, Brian F., Lisa M. Mundey, and Jon Mikolashek. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858278725" target="_blank"><em>Operation Enduring Freedom</em></a>. 2013.; Tripp, Robert S., Kristin F. Lynch, John G. Drew, and Edward Wei-Min Chan. <em>Lessons from Operation Enduring Freedom</em>. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2004.
Wright, Donald P. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/316737060" target="_blank"><em>A Different Kind of War: The United States Army in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), October 2001-September 2005</em></a>. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, US Army Combined Arms Center, 2010.
.50 Caliber
124th Regiment
2nd Battalion
53rd Infantry Division
9/11
Afghan War
air assaults
Army
basic training
Class A
Derek Mason Henry
Dogs of War
Global War on Terror
GWOT
Holroyd, Jade
IEDs
improvised explosive devices
Key, Jeff
National Guard
OEF
officers
Operation Enduring Freedom
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
ROTC
Second Battalion
September 11th
sergeants
Tell, David
Truck Commanders
U.S. Army
War in Afghanistan