1
100
2
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https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/3f398b949346bbcb23d04645e26deb40.pdf
d49e2870d7baf4d5ea90d1bdc73fd8fe
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
Watermark Collection
Alternative Title
The Watermark Collection
Subject
Gay culture--United States
Description
Since 1994, <em>The Watermark</em> has been the cornerstone source of LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, and others) centered news for the Central Florida region. Founded by Tom Dyer in Orlando, the publication began generating bi-weekly issues beginning August 31, 1994. Since then, <em>The Watermark</em> has consistently published newspaper style issues every other Thursday. Gaining traction, the publication expanded in 1995 to include Tampa and, in 1997, <em>The Watermark</em> became a permanent piece of LGBTQ+ culture when the publication initiated the first large-scale Gay Days Weekend event, the Beach Ball at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. Before 1999, the publication printed 20,000 copies every week, distributing them to over 500 locations between its two major cities. Following 1999, the publication launched watermarkonline.com shifting to an online publication style. In 2016, Rick Claggett purchased <em>The Watermark</em>.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/" target="_blank">RICHES Program</a>
Type
Collection
Contributing Project
<a href="http://www.floridalgbtqmuseum.org/%20" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>
<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/">The Watermark</a>
Curator
Smith, Robert
Cepero, Laura
O'Neal, Rhiannon
Hearn, Nikki
Greene, Quintella
Rodriguez, Sharon
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.floridalgbtqmuseum.org/%20" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/aboutcontact/" target="_blank">About/Contact</a>." WatermarkOnline.com, accessed July 11, 2016. http://www.watermarkonline.com/aboutcontact/.
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
The Watermark, Vol. 12, No. 9, May 5-18, 2005
Alternative Title
Watermark, Vol. 12, No. 9
Subject
Gay culture--United States
Description
The ninth issue of the twelfth volume of <em>The Watermark</em> was published on May 5, 2005, and was the paper's Business and Finance issue. This section of the paper analyzes the incomes and spending patterns of LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, and others) readers, spotlighting several Central Florida businesses, and providing information on bankruptcy laws. The issue also covers the openly lesbian, newly appointed head of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), same-sex legislative rulings in various states such as Texas, and Microsoft's reversal of support for a law that would have protected LGBTQ+ individuals. Other topics include an ongoing investigation of a man charged with the kidnapping, assault, and murders of numerous gay men, as well as the prohibition of students from wearing pro-gay apparel in a number of schools.<br /><br />Since 1994, <em>The Watermark</em> has been the cornerstone source of LGBTQ+ centered news for the Central Florida region. Founded by Tom Dyer in Orlando, the publication began generating bi-weekly issues beginning August 31, 1994. Since then, <em>The Watermark</em> has consistently published newspaper-style issues every other Thursday. Gaining traction, the publication expanded in 1995 to include Tampa and, in 1997, <em>The Watermark</em> became a permanent piece of LGBTQ+ culture when the publication initiated the first large-scale Gay Days Weekend event, the Beach Ball at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. Before 1999, the publication printed 20,000 copies every week, distributing them to over 500 locations between its two major cities. Following 1999, the publication launched watermarkonline.com shifting to an online publication style. In 2016, Rick Claggett purchased <em>The Watermark</em>.
Type
Text
Source
Original 80-page newspaper: <a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank"><em>The Watermark</em></a>, Vol. 12, No. 9, May 5-18, 2005: Publications Collection, <a href="http://glbthistorymuseum.com/joomla25/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>, Orlando, Florida.
Requires
<a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/203" target="_blank">The Watermark Collection</a>, RICHES.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original 80-page newspaper: <a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank"><em>The Watermark</em></a>, Vol. 12, No. 9, May 5-18, 2005.
Coverage
Orlando, Florida
Tampa, Florida
Sarasota, Florida
Austin, Texas
Seattle, Washington
Southern Nights, Orlando, Florida
Cleveland, Ohio
Creator
Baber, Keith
Blanchard, Steven
Crescitelli, Jim
DeJesus, Edwin
Dyer, Tom
Ferber, Lawrence
Hartlage, Kirk
Jenkin, Georgia
Kundis, Ken
Masters, Billy
Middour, Bryan L.
Murray-Parker, Karen S.
Nolan, Margaret
Roehr, Bob
Shapiro, Gregg
Sheridan, Michael T.
Triggs, Greg
Walen, Rick
Wiethop, Dave
Wiggins, Jayelle
Wilde, Diane
Publisher
<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank">Watermark Media</a>
Date Created
ca. 2005-05-05
Date Issued
2005-05-05
Date Copyrighted
2005-05-05
Format
application/pdf
Medium
80-page newspaper
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Provenance
Originally published by <a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank">Watermark Media</a>.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by <a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/" target="_blank">Watermark Publishing Group</a> and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://glbthistorymuseum.com/joomla25/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>
Curator
O'Neil, Rhiannon
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://glbthistorymuseum.com/joomla25/index.php?lang=en" target="_blank">GLBT History Museum of Central Florida</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.watermarkonline.com/aboutcontact/" target="_blank">About/Contact</a>." WatermarkOnline.com, accessed January 28, 2018. http://www.watermarkonline.com/aboutcontact/.
Abraham Lincoln
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
ADAP
AIDS
AIDS Candlelight Memorial
AIDS Drug Assistance Programs
AIDS Project Florida
Alex Miotti
Ali Haag
Alison Burgos
Andy Bell
Angelica Diaz
Anthony Catanzana
B.J. Stelter
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act
Bear Cub
Ben Marcus
Betsy Nelson
Bill Kanouff
Billy Manes
bisexual
Bloomingdale High School
Brad Mathewson
CalliopeFest
career
Catholicism
Cheryl Jacques
Chris Morgan
Christianity
Christopher Ashton Kutcher
Club Swank
conversion therapy
Daniel Cummings
David Castillo
David Franzen
David Furnish
David White
Dean Collier
Diane Ward Band
Don Montuon
Ed Lopes
Elizabeth Birch
Elton Hercules John CBE
embezzling
Empar Ferrer
entrepreneurship
Federated Republican Women of Central Florida
film
Frank November
G&L Fab-Events
GALA
gay
gay adoption
Gay and Lesbian Alumni
Gay Days Weekend
Gay Games
gay marriage
Gay Men's Single Mingle
Gay Sex And The City
George Walker Bush
Gulf Coast Gay Men's Chorus
Halcyon
Heath Riddler
HIV
homophobia
homosexuality
homosexuals
HRC
human immunodeficiency virus
Human Rights Campaign
Jack Luper
Jason Galehouse
Jeanne White-Ginder
Jeffrey Sanker
Jennifer Foster
Jennifer Kates
Jennifer N. Baggerly
Jim Bomford
Jim Jablonski
Jim Philips
Joe Solomese
John Ames
John Forbes Kerry
John Hugh "Buddy" Dyer
John Ruffier
Johnny Chisholm
Jose Luis Garcia-Perez
Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger
Joy MCC
Kaiser Family Foundation
Karen Doering
Kathleen DeBold
Ken Hutcherson
Ken Shelin
Kim English
L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center
Lastaysha Myers
Lawrence DiRita
Leesa Halstead Franzen
Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby of Texas
lesbians
Leslie Dawley
LGBTQ+
Linda Nunez
Lisejean Freed
Log Cabin Republicans
Lou Ann Palmer
Magellan Health Services
Marion Ridley
Mariruth Kennedy
Mark Baker
Mark Lundy
MCC Tampa
Melissa Ferrick
Merrill Dickey
Michael Kirk Douglas
Michael Wachholtz
Microsoft Corporation
Miguel Albaladejo
Mike Ames
Misty Smeltzer
Mona West
money
music festivals
Nancy Wilson
National Alliance of State AIDS Directors
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Day of Silence
Norm Kent
One Mighty Party
Orlando Action Network
Pam Williams
Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
Pasputina
Pat Padilla
Patrick Howell
Paula Schoenwether
Pentagon
PFLAG
Pope Benedict XVI
protests
queers
questioning
racial discrimination
Rainbow Democrats
Randall Greene
Redboy
religion
Richard McCullough
Rick Woods
Rob Simmons
Robert Geller
Roland Belmares
Roman Catholic Church
Sakia Gunn
same-sex
Sandy Pheil
Sarasota AIDS Theatre Project
Sarasota Pridefest
Senfronia Thompson
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Sharra E. Greer
sodomy
Southern Nights
Stephanie Shippae
Steve Ballmer
Steve Lorenzo
Suzanne Noe
Tami Harris
Tampa Bay Bears
Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Teri Catilin Band
Terry Knight
The Watermark
TIGLFF
Tina Podlodowski
Tomes and Treasures
Toni Begasse
trans
transgender
Troy Perry
UCC
UCMJ
UFMCC
Uniform Code of Military Justice
United Church of Christ
Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches
University of South Florida
Urban Body
USF
Vernessa Mitchell
Vicky Randall
Vince Clark
Warren Chisum
Warren Throckmorton
Will & Grace
William "Bill" Henry Gates III
William Diamond
World Outgames
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/85b20fcd21a4770ae303f58fecc92c7e.pdf
d474090e15b97704aa950c0da4f7b14d
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 Michael Partain
Alternative Title
Oral History, Partain
Subject
Veterans--Florida
Navy
Orlando (Fla.)
Description
An oral history interview of Michael Partain (b. 1968), who served in the U.S. Navy during the Cold War Era. Partain was born at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina on January 30, 1968. He enlisted in the Navy on January 2, 1988, but was disqualified due to illness on February 20. During his short service, Partain trained at Naval Training Center Orlando (NTC Orlando).<br /><br />This oral history interview was conducted by Amanda Hill on March 6, 2014. Interview topics include Partain's background, enlistment, basic training, advanced training at the Nuclear Propulsion School, the effect of the Navy's presence in Central Florida on the region, NTC Orlando, training, his illness and subsequent qualification, and life after leaving the Navy.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction<br />0:00:29 Background<br />0:01:40 Enlistment<br />0:04:00 Naval Training Center Orlando and Nuclear Propulsion School<br />0:06:02 Naval presence in Central Florida<br />0:08:08 Illness and disqualification<br />0:11:18 Basic training, group mentality, and team-building<br />0:23:16 Social life and lessons learned<br />0:25:48 Routine, classes, and Uniform Military Code of Justice<br />0:28:48 Most difficult aspect of boot camp and proudest moment<br />0:31:50 Post-Navy life, breast cancer, and Tetrachloroethylene contamination<br />0:37:07 Lessons learned from the Navy<br />0:39:07 Legacy of NTC Orlando<br />0:43:25 Navy hospital<br />0:45:06 Closing remarks
Abstract
Oral history interview of Michael Partain. Interview conducted by Amanda Hill at Partain's home in Orlando, Florida, on March 6, 2014.
Type
Moving Image
Source
<a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/284/rec/1" target="_blank">Partain, Michael</a>. Interviewed by Amanda Hill, March 6, 2014. Audio/video record available. Item DP0014905, 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="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>, 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 47-minute and 17-second oral history: <a href="http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/VET/id/284/rec/1" target="_blank">Partain, Michael</a>. Interviewed by Amanda Hill, March 6, 2014. Audio/video record available. Item DP0014905, 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
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina
Winter Haven, Florida
Recruit Training Center Orlando, Naval Training Center Orlando, Orlando, Florida
Creator
Partain, Michael
Hill, Amanda
Publisher
<a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>
Contributor
Van Zandt, Carli
Date Created
2014-03-06
Date Modified
2014-09-01
Date Copyrighted
2014-03-06
Format
application/website
application/pdf
Extent
406 MB
223 KB
Medium
47-minute and 17-second DVD audio/video recording
23-page digital transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Amanda Hill and Michael Partain.
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/284/rec/1" target="_blank">Partain, Michael</a>
Transcript
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Today is March 6<sup>th</sup>, 2014. I’m interviewing Mike Partain, who served in the United States Navy. My name is Amanda Hill, and with me is [Carolyn] “Carli” Van Zandt running the camera. We are interviewing today Mr. [<em>laughs</em>] Mike Partain, as part of 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 Mike’s home in Orlando, Florida.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Mr. Partain, will you please start off by telling us, uh, where and when you were born?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>I was born at, uh, Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina in January of 1968.</p>
<p><strong>Hill <br /></strong>So your parents were in the service?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>And[?] my father was a [United States] Naval Academy graduate and a Marine Officer.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>In North Carolina?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, yeah, he served in the Marine Corps, uh, in North Carolina.</p>
<p><strong>Hill <br /></strong>And so what did your mom do for a living?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, my mother was a housewife. Uh, she’s a French Canadian from the providence of Quebec[, Canada], and they met when he was, uh, in the training crews at the Naval Academy.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Do you have any brothers or sisters?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>I have one sister, uh, born in Bethesda Naval Hospital<a title="">[1]</a> in 1970.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>And growing up, where did you go to school?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, well, after my father, uh, resigned his commission from the Marine Corps, we moved to, uh, Central Florida—Polk County.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>How old were you when he resigned?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, four years old.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So you moved here pretty early?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Yeah, I’ve been here pretty much all my life. This is—this is home. Uh, Camp Lejeune’s pretty much just a name on a birth certificate.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Were your par—were your—was your father involved in the Navy—the Navy at all when he moved here?</p>
<p><strong>Partain <br /></strong>No, no. He was out of the service by then.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Okay. So what did you do before you entered the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, I was a college student. Uh, went to Florida State University for my first year of college and, um, didn’t do too well my first year, and when my father got my report card, uh, he informed me that I was on my own.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>That’s why I joined the Navy.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So that’s why you joined the Navy.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Alright. So how old were you at that time?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, I was 19.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>19. So why the Navy? What…</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, the—we’re a military family. My grandfather had, uh, served in the Marine Corps. Um, my father was in the Naval Academy and graduated 1966, and, uh, served in the Marine Corps of his commission. So going to the Navy was an opportunity. I, uh, saw a lot of different opportunities I can do in the Navy—pay for my education. That was my main thing was to get my college paid for, since, uh, I didn’t do too well my first year.</p>
<p><strong>Hill <br /></strong>What were you looking to study?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, actually, I went in to the Tampa MET [Military Entrance Test] center<a title="">[2]</a> for the, um, [<em>clears throat</em>]—for testing and did the ASVAB [Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery] test—scored very well—and they pulled me aside and asked me if I would take the nuc—nuclear test for Nuclear Propulsion School in the Navy, which I did and scored, uh, very high on that. High enough that the commanding officer of the MET center came to me and asked if I would sign an enlistment contract right away, and I said, “No,” and that I was—that I wanted to think about it first, because I wasn’t totally sure that I wanted to go into the military, and I made the mistake of mentioning my father being, uh—was a Naval Academy graduate, and he ended up calling my father, and, uh, the two of them got together, uh, and I didn’t have a chance. I ended up signing my enlistment contract about an hour later.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Wow, so pretty easy decision?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, yeah, it was. I mean I delayed my enlistment. This was in April 1987, when I was still, um—actually, uh, I had just got home from college and, um, I delayed my enlistment until January of 1988.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Why delay?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Just wanted to go in the winter months. I—I don’t like the summer. So I didn’t want to run around in the summer and do PT [physical training] in the summertime.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Makes sense.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>[<em>coughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So where did you attend boot camp?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, I joined the Navy to go see the world, and I ended up travelling about 45 miles north of where I lived and grew up in Orlando, Florida, at the Orlando Naval Training Center.</p>
<p><strong>Hill <br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] Right. Were you, uh, looking to be trained then in a specific career at that point or were they looking to train you in a specific career?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Yeah, I was accepted into the Nuclear Propulsion School for the Navy, and I had to complete my basic training and then A School after that, which were both, at that time—both housed at the Orlando Naval Training Center, uh, here in Orlando.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Can you tell me more about the nuclear propulsion?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, um, I didn’t get that far. Um, uh, basically, from my understanding with the school, once I completed, uh, basic, I was gonna go into A School at the Nu—uh, Nuclear Propulsion School, and—which, um, I—if I completed that, I did a six-year hitch as part of the contract, and if I completed the school, then I would have gone into the fleet as an E[nlisted Rank]-3, which would have been Petty Officer [<em>sniffs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Okay. So that specific school—what are they—what do they do?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, they train the engineers to run the, uh, nuclear propulsion systems for the Navy’s aircraft carriers, uh, and sub—uh, submarines that are nuclear-powered, and it’s a promising career path. It opens up a lot of doors. It was very tough. Academically, it was a very stringent program. If you failed, uh, out of the program, then you went into the fleet and served the rest of your hitch [<em>sniffs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>What—what were you hoping to do with that?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, it was going to be a skill for me. Um, Open the doors, uh, to—you know, to have a trade and, uh, also go to college. Uh, my plan was to finish college, once I graduated—uh, once I completed my hitch in the Navy, and then take the expertise I had learned in the Navy, along with a—hopefully, a degree in nuclear engineering, uh, and go work in a private industry.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Okay. So then—so you began your training at NTC [Naval Training Center Orlando] in January of 1988?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Hill <br /></strong>Correct? Okay. So you were pretty familiar then with the region, right? [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>As far as Florida? Yes.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Yes, um, [<em>laughs</em>] so were you…</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>I joined the Navy and see world, and go right into my own back yard. So…</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Right. Were you familiar with the Navy’s presence in Orlando already?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Yes, I mean, I—growing up here, you know, the—growing up in Florida, especially, uh, at my age, and when the—the telltale signs of World War II are still all over Florida. Uh, Most of your airports are former Army or Navy Train—, uh, naval, um—Sorry. Most of your airports are former Army or naval training centers for the pilots during World War II, like Sebring [Regional Airport]. Even McCoy [Air Force Base] airfield, which is now the [Orlando] International Airport, was a training field, uh, during World War II. So, you know, there’s always been a military presence in Florida.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>How—do you remember how you found out about that presence?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>As far as—I mean, growing up, I mean, you see the bases. Um, you got NASJAX [Naval Air Station Jacksonville] up in Orlando.<a title="">[3]</a> You got [Naval Station] Mayport—I mean, sorry—NASJAX up in Jacksonville, and you got Mayport. You got Patrick Air Force Base, McCoy Air—I mean, uh, MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.</p>
<p>Um, as a child growing up, um, the flight path for the Air Force, uh, fighters, to do practice bombing over in, um, Avon Park Bomber Range,<a title="">[4]</a> went over our house. After—every afternoon, we’d see [General Dynamics] F-16s [Fighting Falconfly] fly over and practice in Avon Park, and they’d come back, and sometimes they’d fly low, and, you know, you’d always see the military around growing up here.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Why do you think the Navy chose to locate a recruit training center in Central Florida?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, no idea, to be honest with you [<em>laughs</em>]. Um, I know during, uh—when a lot of military bases were here in Florida, or located here in Florida, because of the climate here allowed training year round, especially with the flying conditions. So—but as far as the Navy’s base in Orlando and the training center, um, I have no idea why they, uh, located it here.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>That’s fair. Uh, so how long were you at NTC Orlando?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, um, I arrived in January, uh,—I think it was January 2<sup>nd</sup>, 1988, and I went through the first part of basic training. I made it through about four weeks—almost my fifth week—into, uh, training at, uh, NTC Orlando, And I broke out in a rash. Um, One of the curious things is it was a rash that I was born with at Camp Lejeune. Um, and periodically through my life, whenever—like if I wore dry-cleaning clothes, or, thing—you know, was around chemicals and stuff, I’d break out. Well, I broke out in this rash, and they couldn’t figure out why or where it was coming from. Uh, because normally, I could control it, um, and it just didn’t want to go away.</p>
<p>So the Drill Instructor, [<em>clears throat</em>] um, sent me down to the infirmary—the—the naval hospital, and they held me there for, uh, about a week or so, and tried to figure out what was wrong. They finally came up and said that, uh, I was, uh—because of the rash, that I was going to be disqualified for my program…</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Mmm.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, in the Nuclear Power School.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Did they know what it was at that point?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>No, uh, they just called it an “atopic dermatitis.” Uh, and they informed me that it made in ineligible to go to the Nuclear Power School. So I ended up, uh—they asked me if I wanted to stay in the fleet, but that meant chipping paint for the six years I was gonna be in the Navy. So I asked them to go ahead and send me home and, uh, end my enlistment at that point, which they, uh, gave me my uniform. I went home as an E3, so I dressed up in my Navy blues, and got my sea bag, and, uh, they sent me home, but, uh, [<em>clears throat</em>] the, um, wha—during that time that they told me I was going home to the time I went home, they put me in what they called a “medical hold company,” where it was—I was taken out of my training regimen, and then put into a, uh, barrack, where other people who had been medically disqualified—they kind of let us sit there for a while. It was about two weeks before they told me, uh, that I had my orders to go home, and that—that’s another—I’ll tell you about that later.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So what was it like when you found out that you had to leave the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, um, I mean, the—the, uh—it was a disappointment, because I really had looked forward into getting into the career. Um, I had volunteered to do submarine duty, which was an extra pay, and, um, you know, to me, this was going to be my livelihood. Something—a school and trade that I could pick up and, uh, um, learn, and spend—you know, be able to make a career for the rest of my life with. So I was kind of left with the, um, uh—you know, I ended up coming home, and having to refigure my life and what I was going to do, and I ended up, uh—actually I ended up going to work for [Walt] Disney World after that, and I worked at Disney World for three years while I put myself through college [<em>clears throat</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So let’s back up a bit…</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>To when you first got to the—the base. Um, what were your first impressions?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, um, you know, it’s intimidating. I mean, you’re coming off civilian life, even though I grew up in a military—military family. Um, nothing prepares you for the shock of going into the world of, uh, you know—of—of the military. It’s a totally different experience.</p>
<p>Um, the first shock is your lose your individuality. Uh, and that was, uh—that was the hardest thing for me to get used to—is the fact that you had to assimilate yourself into their world and their program, and, um, you know, you lost the—the “me” part of yourself, for at least awhile.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Can you tell me more about that? What specifically caused those changes?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>[<em>clears throat</em>] Well, I mean, the first thing they do—they bring you in and you line up. Um, you know, they issue you a uniform, um, and it’s an assembly line. You’re given, uh, you know, your boots, eh, and all your gear, and you have to stencil your name on the gear and, uh—and your sea bag, and, um, and then they, uh, shave all your hair off. Uh, they, uh, you know—just going through that is, eh—it’s more—like I said, it’s an assembly line type of impersonal, um—uh, the impersonal, um, process, because, I mean, you’re—you’re moved from one place to another and, you know, you gotta, uh—eh, you just get to feel like you’re a cow sometimes, um, and, uh the other, you know—the other thing is the—as you go in and you’re all wearing the same clothes, you all look the same.</p>
<p>So everybody is the same, and that’s what I mean by “lose your individuality,” and, uh, then, you know, once you get into the barracks that begins the training process, which one of the first things they start doing is breaking down the individual and starting to form a unit. Because, you know, everybody—when everyone’s acting individually, you know—you have your own routines and stuff like that, and one of the first things [<em>laughs</em>] I remember—I knew this was going to happen, uh, because my dad had warned me, but, uh, everyone settled down for the night, and one of the first memories—and it was funny, because it just totally, uh, unnerved me—was, uh, I think, at about three o’clock in the morning, uh, the, uh—the DI [Drill Instructor] came in and threw the trash can down the barrack hall, making all kinds of rackets and screaming, “Get on the line! Get on the line!” And, um, I remember getting—getting up and, um, getting on the line in front of the barracks, and, you know, we’re in our skivvies and socks, and I’m sitting there shaking, and, um, I’m thinking, you know, <em>What the hell? What the hell have I done?</em> Because I don’t like getting up at three o’clock in the morning.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /> </strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>I don’t think anybody really does, especially when someone’s screaming at you and throwing a—a metal trash can down the—down the barrack, uh, hallway, and if you don’t—the—the trash cans being metal, makes a hell of a lot of noise, especially in a barrack on a tile floor. So that was the—that was the first morning of recruit training, and, um, they had a lot of different things in store for us as we, uh, went through this process. So it was—some of it was humorous. Um, I knew the purpose of it, which was, you know, some people—some of the guys didn’t do well with it, but, you know, I kinda laughed with some of the stuff that they were doing.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So life in the barracks then—if everyone’s the same, how does that affect the group dynamic?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, I mean, you still have people that look out for themselves. That’s the big thing is, when you get people who just don’t—you know, they’re used to taking care of themselves and, um, not—not thinking as a community. Because the whole purpose of the training is to get you thinking beyond yourself, to work as a team, to work together.</p>
<p>Um, like one of the first things that happened, um, when we, you know—we had to march together and they had to form us together and started doing things, of course everyone’s going off in different directions. Um, and I remember one morning, we went out and did PT—running around. and, um, came back, and everything that everybody owned at the barracks, uh, including, uh, the mattresses, the actual bunk racks—everything was heaped up into this massive mountain in the middle of the barracks. and we all walked in and we’re just looking at this. You know, everything we had was in—in the middle of the barracks, and the, of course, the DI comes out screaming at us, you know, uh, “Get this shit together!” You know, “Get this place in order and get it squared up and you’ve got 15 minutes, and, I mean, eh, the—we all looked at each other like, <em>What the hell</em>? So everyone dove[sic] in and people were calling out names and, you know, “I’ve got such and such.” and we’re spreading[?] out trying to get the barracks back up, and of course, we didn’t do it in 15 minutes, which proceeded to have more pushups and things like that that we had to do, because of that. Uh, the—once we get it squared away, it happened again, and, uh, later on, when it happened again, we did get it done in 15 minutes.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Are there any other examples of training experiences that helped shaped your relationships with other recruits in your class?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, well, just—I mean, everything that we did. I mean, from the marching, I remember, um—uh, I didn’t—I don’t’ keep my step very well, so I had a hard time learning how to keep in step, and, uh, the guy next to me was trying to show me how to skip to keep back, you know—to get myself back into step. For some reason, I have no rhythm. So I just—I was just constantly out of step, and I would try to march on the outside, um—on the edge of the sidewalk, so that that way I wouldn’t be seen as much, but never failed. I always got called out for that, but one of the other things they had, uh—one morning, we had inspection and they called in all the, uh, company commanders.</p>
<p>The DIs came in and proceeded to rip the place apart, uh, while we’re standing there on the line. and they would come up to each recruit—and it didn’t matter how clean or how great you had your rack—your stuff stowed—there was always something wrong, and in my case, um, uh, I didn’t make my bed very well. Uh, and they ripped my sheet off, and the DI came up to me—I’m six-foot -two—and my DI was—I think he was probably five-foot-eight or—I mean, he would’ve done really well in the submarine. Um, But he came up to me and threw the sheet over my head, and was screaming at me and says, “You can’t make you’re fucking bed!” And he goes, “How old are you recruit?” “Nineteen, sir,” and he goes, “You are Casper the Catch Edge Ghost. You are to go around to each recruit in this command and walk up to them and raise the sheet and go, ‘Boo. I am Casper the Catch Edge Ghost.’ And put your sheet down and go to the next person. Raise your sheet and go, ‘Boo. I’m Casper the Catch Edge Ghost,’” and I had to do that the entire barrack for the, uh—for the company there, which I—you know, you can’t laugh, and I—inside, I’m laughing my ass off, because—I mean, to me, it’s hilarious, but if you laughed, it just makes it a lot worse.</p>
<p>So I proceeded to do that, and, um, you know, they, uh—and to this day, I don’t make my bed [<em>laughs</em>], and it’s for—ever since then, I do not make my bed, but, um, I had to, um—I just, uh, —it’s one of those things that—it stuck with me, I guess, but, uh, stuff like that—I mean, we had, um, you know—people didn’t have their stuff stenciled right, so they to, uh—they made them fix that. Just little things, and going through and—this process: they come in and they work on people and break them down, and then start building back up as a team, and over time, start marching together and you start doing activities, um, and things like that to—to get to work together as a team, and, um—the people who are struggling, you start to see your leaders step up to help them and, you know, get them in line, because the ones that were having problems—then they started getting, you know, pressure put on them, because they weren’t, you know, keeping up. Like, you know, I learned how to march and, you know, thankfully learned how to skip to catch my step and would get myself back in line, but, uh, you know, there are some guys that struggle with that. They didn’t know how to do it or they were intimidated by it, um, and, you know, you start to work together, so that they can’t get you. Meaning—“they” meaning the drill instructors, and, um, that—that was the neat part to see—everyone start to coalesce together and work together.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>When—do you remember a specific moment or a specific activity that you really started to notice that team coalescing?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, I would say the, uh—we had one time, where[sic] we had a head inspection, and, um, no one liked cleaning the bathrooms, and it’s, you know—in the Navy, the head is your bathroom. So we had a head inspection and, um, you know, everyone pretty much—we knew what was going to happen if we didn’t get it clean. So everyone just dropped everything, ran in there, got it cleaned up, cleaned up, picked up. I remember, um, for some reason, I remember doing—clearing behind one of the toilets with a toothbrush—Not—and not one we were using, but one that we had assigned for cleaning and stuff—and trying to get everything out and spic and span, and, um, that was nice to see that, because, at that point, everyone, you know—everyone was working as a team, and, uh, um, the last part of the training was where you saw the—the team-building. Uh, unfortunately, I didn’t make it past, um, my fifth week, so I didn’t get to do some of the other stuff that they did—firefighting together and other things that I didn’t get to—get to participate in.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um…</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>What would you pinpoint as some of those qualities that really helped bring the team together—that transformation?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, I mean, the, uh—the qualities is the—it’s the individual learning that they’re not the center of the universe, and that’s one of the things, uh—basic training in the military is to break down the individuality, to have people understand that, you know, you’re—you’re part of something, and the world doesn’t revolve around you. Uh, some people get it quicker than others. Those that do, do very well in the military. Some never get it, but, uh, that was one thing that, uh—that they, you know—everything was designed to do that. Uh, to do it to break down the civilian and then recast him as a—as person who could think in a military world, because, when it comes down to it, one, you now—in the military world, there is a chain-of-command—a hierarchy—and you are expected to follow orders, and there could be times that something could be going on, and you’re given an order, and, as a civilian, you might question it and be like, <em>Well, I don’t feel like doing that right now, and</em> you can’t do that in the military, because someone may tell you to do something, um, like shut a door and secure the door, because there’s a fire, and if you start arguing with them, then the fire might spread out beyond the compartment and—and jeop—jeopardize the ship and everybody on it. So part of the—that training is to get people to understand, you know, hey, there’s a time, you know—the time to be a civilian is when you’re off duty, but when you’re—when you’re on duty, you have your military bearing, you have—you follow it, and you, you know—you work for the good of the unit.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>When you were off duty, was there ever any sort of social life with…</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Oh, when I was in training…</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Amongst the recruits?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>No, no. There’s no liberty or leave—li—liberties really. There was no liberty, uh, in training. Um, the liberty took place when you graduated from boot camp. Um, so I did not get that experience. Uh, once—once I went into the medical hold company, and I stayed there, and, um, you know, that—that—once I got out, then I went home and that was it.</p>
<p>So, uh, one of the funny things that happened—um, my father and grandfather both sent in birthday cards for me, uh, while I was in training, and, uh—which normally wouldn’t be a problem, but they were being smartasses and they signed their card—they put in the address of the card—my father put down: “Captain Warren B. Partain, Jr., USNC” —I’m sorry—uh, “USNA class of ’66,” and, uh—and then my grandfather put, uh: “Major Warren B. Partain, Sr., USNC, retired,” and, um, the DIs, of course, got the letters and they called me up to the office, and, uh, you had to walk up to the office, you had to bang on the door and announce who you were, and then asked permission to enter in, and, uh, so I get into the office and, um, I see the birthday cards in my DI’s hand, and he goes, “So your father was a—was a ring banner?” And I knew right then what my dad had done.</p>
<p>The “ring banner” is a term—a derogatory term—for a Naval Academy graduate. So he goes, “Drop and give me 20.” [<em>laughs</em>] So—and he goes—of course, that wasn’t good enough, so I ended up doing like I think 60 or 70 pushups. Um, and of course, you know, that was because of what my grandfather and father had done, but, um, it was their amusement [<em>laughs</em>], but he wasn’t a mean guy. I mean, they started to like me. They’re not, um—it’s not like they’re sadists or anything like that—the drill instructors. They do it for a purpose, and then, you know. As you mature and things like that, you get to see what they’re trying to do and they really begin to teach you.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>What would you say that purpose is [inaudible]? What were they trying to teach you?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, I mean, how to conduct yourself in a military fashion. A military bearing.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Like one of the things—one of the things I still remember is to make sure my gig line is straight. Um, you know, when you get dressed and, uh, get everything together, your buttons line up with your belt—the edge of your belt buckle and your—and your zipper, so you have what’s called a “gig line.” It goes straight up from—from your neck down to your crotch [<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So what was daily life like as a Navy recruit?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, everything was structured. I mean, you got in the—in the training, you got up at a certain time, you ate at a certain time, uh, you PTed at a certain time, uh, You had training and different things, uh, at—at different, um—at different times, and then they put you to bed. So you had no choice. I mean, very little free time. The only time we really got free time was laying in the rack before you went to sleep.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Who did you interact with on a daily basis?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, well, they kept you too busy. so you talked to your, um—your, you know—your bunkmate and the people around you, but for the most part you’re doing what they—they put in classes and they teach, you know—they—one of the first things they start teaching you is the UCMJ for the Univer[sic]—Univerm[sic] —Uniform Code Military Justice, which is the rules and regulations of the Navy. You know, how to salute, when to salute, um, how to march, uh, what you can and can’t do, um, And just, you know—it’s an emersion into a different life style.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Who were—you said you were taking classes, so who were your instructors?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, just other, uh—other, um—sometimes they were other Dis, sometimes they were, uh, just other people on the base. Um, No one that I really remember specifically.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Okay. Do you remember any of your specific classes?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, like I said, most of it— like the UCMJ. One of the funny ones, uh—probably not appropriate for this, but it’s one of those things that stuck in your mind. We’re sitting there showing slides and talking about the UCMJ, and they had, um—they had this slide come up, and it was on a pink background. It had a sailor sitting down, and on his lap, he had a dog, and there was a big circle with a line through [<em>laughs</em>] it for no bestiality, and I about but laughing when I saw it.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>But they had—I mean, just stupid things like that, but, uh, the, uh, you know— when they start getting to the later weeks, like I said, they—[inaudible]—they—they’d have you march, and there was a lot of drill to get you to un—to get your body into the routines, and then later on, you start doing more class work, and, um, they, uh—like I said, they—they—one of the big things was firefighting. We are out doing firefighting duty, and then they have one a week, where you’re working KP [kitchen patrol] duty and stuff like that for the kitchen.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Uh, Could you clarify for me what, um—the acronym UCMJ?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>University[sic] Code of Mil—Universal[sic] Code of Military Justice. <a title="">[5]</a> It’s the law for the military. So the military has its own, um—basically its own judicial system, uh, that’s separate from the civilian one. So they administer their own laws, and, uh, courts, and everything. So, like if I did something wrong, then I could be, uh—they have what’s called a “captain’s mast” or “court-martialing.” and your—whatever infraction, then you’ll assess whatever penalty or—or, uh, punishment that they have.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So what was the hardest thing you remember doing at NTC?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>The hardest thing that I remember doing, um—I dunno. it was probably just the, um—I’m tempted to say—well, the—well, the thing that I didn’t like the most—that was hard or difficult for me—was in the military—medical hold company. Um, this—this was once they disqualified me from service. They put me in a limbo, um, where I didn’t know when I was going home. I didn’t know what was really going on, other than the fact that they were—they, uh—that I was being disqualified from the Navy, and they told me that, you know, it takes some time and it could take a couple days, a couple months. So I’m like, you know—no one likes to be in limbo, and they would have you do stupid stuff, Just to have you do it. Uh, like we went in to one barrack and we scrubbed the whole barrack with hand brushes, on our hands and knees, and it was just, um—stuff like that. That was, you know, trying not to get negged out. Um, that was the hardest thing for me.</p>
<p>I mean, to me, the training is easy. Um, you know, doing the physical activities, the running, uh, the marching, the learning. That was easy and it didn’t bother me. I mean, I enjoyed, um, the challenge of that. The hard part for me was when I realized that I was not going to be able to stay in the Navy, Having to wait, and then wait for the bureaucracy to process—process me out. Yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Before we move on to that moment, um—because I do want to talk about that—can you tell me one moment where you felt really proud of your work in NTC?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, the—I think the proudest moment—I still have it—is, uh, my photograph. Um, they brought us in after we shaved us, and we’re all cleaned up, and they dressed us up, and they marched us in, and we took our photograph with the American flag behind us, uh, so we could send it home to Mom and Dad, and that to me was the proudest moment. Um, I—I still have that photograph. I have it on my Facebook page, and, um, I keep that, and, uh, you know—yeah[?]. It’s just a little snot-nosed kid in his little sailor’s uniform, but it—to me, that was something that I could show that hey, you know, I’m serving my country. I’m doing what’s right and trying to make, you know, things a little bit better than when I found it.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Did you send it home to mom and dad?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Oh, yeah.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>What’d they say?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>I think, uh—I mean, ma—they wrote me back, and I had a girlfriend, at the time too, and she wrote me. I had letters from her, um, on a daily basis. I still got them, and, uh, the, uh—I’ve got a stack of letters about that thick that she wrote to—back and forth, and that was nice, you know, to have someone writing back and forth. It—it kind of killed the monotony. You’d look forward to—you know, that was you’re little piece of individ—individuality. You get your letter and mail call and—and to read that, and, uh—but yeah. I sent that home to Mom and Dad, and my girlfriend.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So when did you leave the Navy then?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Yeah, I was, um—it was—I don’t remember the exact day, Um, but it was in February, uh, of ’88. It was roughly about two months after I’d got there. I think I served just under 60—60 days, or somewhere close to 60 days, and, um, basically they came in and told me to collect my gear, um, get my dress blues on, and they sent me home. See, when I enlisted, I enlisted, instead of as a, uh—um, going in as a seamen, I would have—when I completed everything, I would have come out as a, uh, Petty Officer—an E-3.</p>
<p>So, um, they allowed me to go home with a—with that uniform and that rank, which is kinda nice, you know? It was funny, ‘cause everyone else were[sic] being sent off, and I get my orders and am being put on a bus. They asked me if I wanted to go on a bus, or I think it was a train to Water Haven, and I said, uh, “Just drop me off at the airport.” I called my mom and dad and told them to come get me, because the airport’s, you know, 45 minutes from my parent’s house. Because a bus would have taken like 3 hours to get there. So I had them drop me off at the airport, and I played video games [<em>laughs</em>] for about two hours while I waited for my parents to come get me, but it was nice to, you know, walk around the airport in the—in my uniform and get home, and I saw my girlfriend in my uniform and that, uh—that’s always fun.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Um, so have you—what did you do once you left?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, well, once I was out of the Navy, I went back to college. Um, of course, the—my plan of having the Navy, uh, as a career and paying for my college that way kind of fell through. Um, I went to work for Disney World, and, uh, finished my AA [Associate of Arts] degree, and then transferred up to Florida State University and married my girlfriend, and I completed my degree up there, and, uh, you know, worked my way through college.</p>
<p>Made me appreciate my education a lot more, and, uh, one of the things ironic things and—that happened—and it kind of comes back full circle with NTC Orlando—um, seven years ago, I was diagnosed with, uh, male breast cancer. Oddly enough, my birthplace was extremely contaminated with, um, drinking water—I mean, uh, solvents in the drinking water, and one of those solvents is called Tetrachloroethylene, which is used in dry-cleaning, and it’s linked to breast cancer. Um, whenever I was a child growing up, I would break out into the rash I told you about, because—well, shortly after I was diagnosed, I went back, and I remembered my experience at NTC Orlando, and the fact that I had broken out in this rash after, uh, I had gotten on base. So I looked up the base, and like Camp Lejeune, NTC Orlando was declared a Superfund<a title="">[6]</a> site, um, uh, partly because of the Tetrachloroethylene dumped from the base drycleaner, which was located right next to the barracks, where I was housed as an enlisted, uh, sailor, uh—seaman—in, uh—in 1988, and the base was actually closed down in 1995, um, and listed in—into the Superfund site at that time, which, uh—it’s one of those odd things that I always wondered about is: how bad was the base contaminated? Because, soon as I got home, the rash that I had broken out with, while I was in training, cleared up</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Hm.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Without any—within days of being home, and, uh—and it never broke out like that again, like I did when I was on base, and [inaudible]—when I rented on base, I was fine, and, uh—so it’s one of those things that makes you wonder, and my understanding is that the—the, uh, base drycleaner—he said they had been dumping this chemical on the base and it was a plume of it that actually stretched underneath the recruit training barracks, like I said, and ended up, I think, in Lake Druid—is where the chemicals were coming out.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Did—was there ever any cleanup measures taken?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>I don’t know. I didn’t look into that. I’ve been tied up with the Camp Lejeune issue since then, but one of these days, I’d like to go back. I’d heard some things that had happened here, but I didn’t follow the—the end results of, um, NTC Orlando after that. I know they closed the base down and I think the developed it—part of it as a private community.<a title="">[7]</a> And I heard there were some problems here, but, uh, you know, like I said, I didn’t really follow—follow up on it, but I thought I would mention it.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Did you keep in touch with anyone from the base?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Uh, one of the guys I enlisted with, um, actually, was a high school friend of mine. We both went into the Nuclear Power School together. Um, His name is Alex, and he was actually, um, accepted into the United States Naval Academy, like my father, and he still presently serves in the Navy. I believe he’s a Commander or a Captain now. I do not know his rank. I haven’t—I haven’t kept up with him the past couple of years, but I think he’s a commander. but he did serve—uh, he’s—he’s still serving, and, uh, actually got an appointment to the Naval Academy, which is one of—one of the things I was hoping to do myself.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Uh, so one of the things you mentioned earlier is that, um, the Navy teaches you that you’re a part of something larger.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Mmhmm.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Would you say that that’s something that you feel you’ve carried on to the [inaudible]?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, growing up in a military family, it’s always been indoctrinated into me for that. Um, Like I mentioned, I, you know, became involved in the Camp Lejeune issue mainly, uh, because, you know, I realized what had happened to me wasn’t unique, and I felt a responsibility to speak out and help the other Marines and families, which I’ve been doing for the past seven years. So, I mean, that’s—growing up in a military family, um, you know, you—it just—it’s service, God, honor, country. I’m mean, that’s the way I was raised, and when you go into the service, you’re taught God, honor, country.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Are there any other values or characteristics, um, of the Navy that you think transferred to the rest of your life, as well?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>No, I mean, the God, honor, country is[sic] primarily the core principles with which I’ve tried to guide my life.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>What would you say is the most valuable lesson you learned during your time at the Navy?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, probably, never give up. You know, you always—you always keep moving forward and just, you know, never give up.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Can you remember a time while you were, um, in training that you felt like giving up, but didn’t?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, got lonely. I mean, left my girlfriend behind and, uh, there was a time where—yeah. I was thinking, <em>Okay. I’m going to be doing this, going off at sea for six months, and I don’t know if I like that, and</em>, you know you just—you look back and say, <em>Well, why did I join?</em> I joined because I wanted to get an education, I wanted to get a trade, and, you know, the Navy’s going to provide that, and, you know, you—you quickly overcome those things. Feelings are temporary [<em>sniffs</em>]. Good and bad [<em>sniffs</em>].</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>What do you think the lasting legacy of NTC Orlando or the Navy’s presence in Central Florida has been?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, the, um—for me—and understanding what I have come across, because of my, you know—because of the issue with breast cancer—it—unfortunately, I mean, NTC Orlando’s gone. Uh, it’s no longer there. The vestiges are still here, but what the Navy left behind underground, that is going to be here for years to come, and that’s something that really has not been addressed in a great deal with the community. Um, And sadly, that—in the end, that becomes the Navy’s legacy—is not for the good things they did, but for, you know, the irresponsibility for leaving toxic chemicals behind.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>What actions would you like to see taken to resolve those issues?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, well, I’m not familiar totally with the issue to—to see what they’ve done. I know, as part of the bra—uh, Superfund site, they’re required to cleanup. Um, to what extent they’ve cleaned up, I don’t know. Uh, there’s a lot of different laws and, uh, different, um, procedures in place, but, in the end, you know, that—that’s something the Navy, um—well, I don’t know what to say on that. Sorry. I got distracted. The ADHD [attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder] is killing me here.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] That’s alright. That’s alright.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>But[?]…</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Um, so…</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>It’d be—it would be nice to have…</p>
<p>[<em>phone rings</em>]</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>We have a phone distraction here.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>It would be nice to have…</p>
<p><strong>Partain <br /></strong>Hm?</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>You were saying…</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Okay. It would be nice to have an independent, um, historical analysis of what, you know—what the Navy did and exactly what the Navy legacy is. I mean, the—the infrastructure of the base is gone. Um, what’s left is the land that they owned on the base, and what did they leave behind on that land? and how will that affect the community? And sadly, you know, u, what was not cleaned up by the Navy, uh, will be there for some time to come and, you know, somebody’s gonna have to pay that cost.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So how do you think uh,—how is the NTC—well, you talked about how the base has changed. What about the region? Um, Central Florida as a whole. How do you think it’s been impacted since the base closed?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, the, um—I mean, the base itself, um, wasn’t a, uh, mega base, like you would have, say, with, um, Mayport Naval Station up in Jacksonville. Um, It had an impact on the community, uh, but not, you know—there wasn’t aircraft being serviced, um, there wasn’t[sic] ships and, you know, the contractors to work the ships and things, you know—servicing the ships or what have you. It’s a training center. So, uh—and I would say there was an economic impact. To what degree it was, I don’t know.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>kay. Um, what do you think visitors would like to see or be reminded of when they revisit the site of the base? The [inaudible].</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, I haven’t been back since I left, and, um, I’ve driven by it a couple of times. Uh, there was a gaming store called Enterprise 1701 near the base, where I used to get my board games. That was a hobby I had, and I—it would be nice to go back and see the site, uh, of where the base was, and maybe something commemorating that it was here, and, uh, I am curious to go back and see and see—and see exactly what is there, uh, and what’s left, and what they’ve done with the, uh—with the base and the Superfund site stuff, ‘cause there’s[sic] things that I’m aware of because of my involvement with Camp Lejeune and being on Camp Lejeune, that, you know, when you go on base, you look at things, and unless you know what you’re looking at, you don’t know what it is. So I’m kind of curious to see what’s there on the base.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Did you ever go back?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>No.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>I understand that the old naval hospital is the VA [Veterans Affairs] hospital now.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Now…</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>So I’d be curious to see that.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Were you ever at that hospital?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Yeah, that’s where I was…</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>That’s where you were disqualified.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Disqualified from service. They sent me to that hospital. I remember marching by myself with a chip, um, going down to the hospital, and, you know—and then, they were really puzzled, um, by what was happened with me. Matter of fact, I later got my me—my medical records from the Navy, and, uh, they were really puzzled why I broke out, because it was all over my arms and my face and was a blood red rash, and, um, they could not figure out what it was, and, uh, they kept asking all kinds of questions. They—they’re like, “Well, you had this when you si—when you signed up,” and I’m like, “Well, I was born with this, but it’s never been a problem like this,” and they said, “Well, how did you get passed recruit training or the recruit indoctrination and all that?” And I said, “Well, I wasn’t breaking out.” I said, “This is something that—normally, it comes and goes.” At the time, I thought it was, you know—in the wintertime, I’d break out or if I wore dry-cleaning clothes, and I thought, at the time, that it may have been the clothes—the polyester rubbing against my skin doing it. I had no idea that it could be anything else.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Because it would—I mean, I didn’t find out about what had happened to me at Camp Lejeune until, uh, 2007, which is 20 years after I joined.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Um, what was it like in the—the hospital—In the Navy hospital?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, just you’re standard, you know, ultra-clean hospital. Nothing—nothing special.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Nothing special? Okay. Uh, well, is there anything else you’d like to share about your Navy experience?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um…</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Anything you think I missed or we didn’t talk about?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>No, I mean, it’s, like I said, the—I mean, for young people, the Navy—and in the military, in general, uh,—presents a lot of opportunities. You know, it’s not perfect. I could mention the contamination problem, with something present in the military especially during the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, but, you know, for young people, it’s an opportunity to start your life, to pick up something, uh, unique, to learn, and more importantly, it—it builds a sense of self-discipline inside you. ‘Cause it’s very easy to forget that, you know, there’s more to the world than just you, and serving in the military is productive. I mean, it—it gives you a respect for yourself, respect for others, respect for your country. Um, and, you know, it’s something that, you know—I think everyone should do as a citizen of this country, and, uh—I mean, that’s just, um—there’s a lot of positives that come out of it. Now, the leadership of the military—that’s another story.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>What’s next for you?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Um, well, I’m 46, and, um, uh, for me, um, I worked my career, raised my children, and, uh, I’m going back to get my Master’s [degree] in history, and I’m actually going to be writing about and doing research with, uh, contaminated military bases, uh—is my—my career until I retire.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>So your experience has really shaped where you’re headed?</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Well, the, um—more my birthplace. The, uh—Because of what happened to me, uh, before I was born at a military base, but, you know, NTC Orlando is one of those curious things that, once I put two and two together, I looked at it, and eventually, I’ll do the research on it and—and learn what happened there, but right now, my focus is other places.</p>
<p><strong>Hill<br /></strong>Well, thank you so much for your time.</p>
<p><strong>Partain<br /></strong>Oh, you’re welcome.</p>
<div><br /><div>
<p><a title="">[1]</a> Officially called the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[2]</a> United States Military Entrance Processioning Center Tampa.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[3]</a> Correction: Jacksonville.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[4]</a> Correction: Avon Park Air Force Range.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[5]</a> Correction: Uniform Code of Military Justice.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[6]</a> Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[7]</a> Baldwin Park.</p>
</div>
</div>
airports
Amanda Hill
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery
ASVAB
atopic dermatitis
Avon Park
Avon Park Air Force Range
basic training
boot camps
breast cancer
captain's mast
Carli Van Zandt
Carolyn Van Zandt
CERCLA
cold war
colleges
Community Veterans History Project
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980
contamination
court-martial
CVHP
dermatitis
DI
disqualifications
Drill Instructor
E-3
education
engineering
engineers
Enlisted Rank 3
enlistment
Enterprise 1701
environmental cleanup
F-16
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
gig lines
higher education
Hill, Amanda
hospitals
illness
illnesses
inspections
instructors
Lake Druid
Lone Sailor Memorial Project
LSMP
MacDill AFB
MacDill Air Force Base
marching
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
McCoy AFB
McCoy Air Force Base
medical hold company
memorials
MET
Michael Partain
military code
military education
Military Entrance Processioning Center
Military Entrance Processioning Center Tampa
Military Entrance Test
military justice
military training
monuments
NAS Jacksonville
Naval Air Station Jacksonville
Naval Station Mayport
Naval Training Center Orlando
NS Mayport
NTC Orlando
nuclear engineering
nuclear power
nuclear propulsion
Nuclear Propulsion School
orlando
Petty Officer
Polk County
recruit training
Recruit Training Command
recruits
ring banner
Seaman
special training
Superfund
Tetrachloroethylene
toxic chemicals
toxic cleanups
U.S. Air Force
UCMJ
Uniform Code of Military Justice
universities
university
veterans
Warren B. Partain, Jr.
Warren B. Partain, Sr.
water contamination
Winter Haven
World War II
WWII