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100
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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>
<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/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
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Henry Winkler
HS-1
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humanitarian aid
inspections
instructors
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Little Creek, Virginia
Lone Sailor Memorial Project
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marching
memorials
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-
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
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/a6dcb5418a6523778e8535737b693b26.jpg
c61df83cee5f780072edff79cae8ac03
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
Dr. Calvin Fowler Collection
Alternative Title
Fowler Collection
Subject
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (Fla.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
Description
Collection of images, documents, and other archival items donated by Dr. Calvin "Cal" D. Fowler, who was the manager of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 during the final three launches of Project Mercury.
Contributor
Fowler, Calvin "Cal" D.
<a href="http://srealserver.eecs.ucf.edu/chronopoints/" target="_blank">Chronopoints</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/148" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida
General Dynamics/Astronautics, Cocoa Beach, Florida
John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida
Patrick Air Force Base, Florida
Covair/Astronautics, Mission Training Center, Port Canaveral, Florida
U.S. Space Walk of Fame Museum, Titusville, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, Hunstville, Alabama
Space Systems Division Headquarters, Air Force Systems Command, United States Air Force, El Segundo, California
General Dynamics/Astronautics Factory, San Diego, California
Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas
Space Center Houston, Houston, Texas
Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington
Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
Contributing Project
<a href="http://virtualheritage.ist.ucf.edu/cchp/" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Project</a>
Curator
Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm">Project Mercury Overview</a>." John F. Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm.
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
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
A Hallmark for Space
Alternative Title
Hallmark for Space
Subject
Merritt Island (Fla.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
Kennedy Space Center
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Apollo Project (U.S.)
Description
To assure proper checks and approvals by all appropriate individuals, small custom inked stamps, called hallmarks, were used by Apollo Project workers to ensure that checks were performed, and each worker who conducted one approved of the quality or conformance of the inspected item. These hallmarks are visible on equipment and reports of that era.
Type
Still Image
Source
Original certificate: Private Collection of Dr. Calvin D. Fowler.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/149" target="_blank">Dr. Calvin Fowler Collection</a>, Florida Space Coast History Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original certificate.
Coverage
John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida
Contributor
Fowler, Calvin D.
<a href="http://srealserver.eecs.ucf.edu/chronopoints/" target="_blank">Chronopoints</a>
Date Created
ca. 1967
Format
image/jpg
Extent
113 KB
Medium
1 certificate
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Provenance
Originally owned by Dr. Calvin D. Fowler.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Dr. Calvin D. Fowler and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://virtualheritage.ist.ucf.edu/cchp/" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Project</a>
Curator
Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm">Project Mercury Overview</a>." John F. Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm.
"<a href="http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/ma-9/ma-9.htm">Faith 7 MA-9 (26)</a>." John F. Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/ma-9/ma-9.htm.
Apollo Project
GE
General Electric
hallmark of excellence
hallmarks
inspections
Manned Flight Awareness
MFA
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
outer space
Paul Revere
space exploration
space programs
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/8f9f13c19bbe7ffd646ddf502862fd61.jpg
930f66664d2957cfe4ebc1c590be86eb
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
Dr. Calvin Fowler Collection
Alternative Title
Fowler Collection
Subject
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (Fla.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
Description
Collection of images, documents, and other archival items donated by Dr. Calvin "Cal" D. Fowler, who was the manager of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 during the final three launches of Project Mercury.
Contributor
Fowler, Calvin "Cal" D.
<a href="http://srealserver.eecs.ucf.edu/chronopoints/" target="_blank">Chronopoints</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/148" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida
General Dynamics/Astronautics, Cocoa Beach, Florida
John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida
Patrick Air Force Base, Florida
Covair/Astronautics, Mission Training Center, Port Canaveral, Florida
U.S. Space Walk of Fame Museum, Titusville, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, Hunstville, Alabama
Space Systems Division Headquarters, Air Force Systems Command, United States Air Force, El Segundo, California
General Dynamics/Astronautics Factory, San Diego, California
Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas
Space Center Houston, Houston, Texas
Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington
Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
Contributing Project
<a href="http://virtualheritage.ist.ucf.edu/cchp/" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Project</a>
Curator
Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm">Project Mercury Overview</a>." John F. Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm.
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Original Format
1 certificate
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
Thousands of Hallmarks - One Successful Mission
Alternative Title
Thousands of Hallmarks - One Successful Mission
Subject
Merritt Island (Fla.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
Kennedy Space Center
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Apollo Project (U.S.)
Description
To assure proper checks and approvals by all appropriate individuals, small, custom-inked stamps called "hallmarks" were used by Apollo Project. Each worker who conducted one approved of the quality or conformance of the inspected item. These hallmarks are visible on equipment and reports of that era.
Type
Still Image
Source
Original certificate: Private Collection of Dr. Calvin D. Fowler.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/149" target="_blank">Dr. Calvin Fowler Collection</a>, Florida Space Coast History Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original certificate.
Coverage
John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
Space Center Houston, Houston, Texas
Daytona Beach, Florida
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama
Contributor
Fowler, Calvin D.
<a href="http://srealserver.eecs.ucf.edu/chronopoints/" target="_blank">Chronopoints</a>
Date Created
ca. 1967
Format
image/jpg
Extent
122 KB
Medium
1 certificate
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Provenance
Originally owned by Dr. Calvin D. Fowler.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Dr. Calvin D. Fowler and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://virtualheritage.ist.ucf.edu/cchp/" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Project</a>
Curator
Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm">Project Mercury Overview</a>." John F. Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm.
"<a href="http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/ma-9/ma-9.htm">Faith 7 MA-9 (26)</a>." John F. Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/ma-9/ma-9.htm.
Apollo Project
Daytona Beach
GE
General Electric
General Electric Space Division
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center
hallmark of excellence
Houston, Texas
Huntsville, Alabama
inspections
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
KSC
Manned Flight Awareness
Marshall Space Flight Center
Merritt Island
MFA
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
outer space
Space Center Houston
Space Division
space exploration
space programs
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/cb0cd649029e3c0d8f01e0f2c357e4e9.jpg
b254ffc662ca4c0f51515fc45d3ebccd
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
Dr. Calvin Fowler Collection
Alternative Title
Fowler Collection
Subject
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (Fla.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
Description
Collection of images, documents, and other archival items donated by Dr. Calvin "Cal" D. Fowler, who was the manager of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 during the final three launches of Project Mercury.
Contributor
Fowler, Calvin "Cal" D.
<a href="http://srealserver.eecs.ucf.edu/chronopoints/" target="_blank">Chronopoints</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/148" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida
General Dynamics/Astronautics, Cocoa Beach, Florida
John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida
Patrick Air Force Base, Florida
Covair/Astronautics, Mission Training Center, Port Canaveral, Florida
U.S. Space Walk of Fame Museum, Titusville, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, Hunstville, Alabama
Space Systems Division Headquarters, Air Force Systems Command, United States Air Force, El Segundo, California
General Dynamics/Astronautics Factory, San Diego, California
Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas
Space Center Houston, Houston, Texas
Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington
Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania
Contributing Project
<a href="http://virtualheritage.ist.ucf.edu/cchp/" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Project</a>
Curator
Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm">Project Mercury Overview</a>." John F. Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm.
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Original Format
1 certificate
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
Engineering Hallmark in Honor of Apollo 17
Alternative Title
Apollo 17 Engineering Hallmark
Subject
Merritt Island (Fla.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
Kennedy Space Center
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Apollo Project (U.S.)
Astronauts--United States
Description
To assure proper checks and approvals by all appropriate individuals, small custom inked stamps called hallmarks were used by Apollo workers to ensure that checks were performed, and each worker who conducted one approved of the quality or conformance of the inspected item. These hallmarks are visible on equipment and reports of that era. This certificate was in honor of Apollo 17 and signed by the mission's astronauts: Eugene Cernan (b. 1934), Ronald Evans (1933-1990), and Harrison Schmitt (b. 1935)
Type
Still Image
Source
Original certificate, June 7, 1972: Private Collection of Dr. Calvin D. Fowler.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/149" target="_blank">Dr. Calvin Fowler Collection</a>, Florida Space Coast History Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original certificate, June 7, 1972.
Coverage
John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida
Contributor
Fowler, Calvin D.
<a href="http://srealserver.eecs.ucf.edu/chronopoints/" target="_blank">Chronopoints</a>
Date Created
1972-06-07
Format
image/jpg
Extent
188 KB
Medium
1 certificate
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Provenance
Originally owned by Dr. Calvin D. Fowler.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Dr. Calvin D. Fowler and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://virtualheritage.ist.ucf.edu/cchp/" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Project</a>
Curator
Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo17.html">Apollo 17</a>." National Aeronautics and Space Administration. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo17.html.
Apollo 17
Apollo Project
astronauts
Cernan, Gene
Eugene Andrew Cernan
Eugene Cernan
GE
Gene Cernan
General Electric Company
hallmark of excellence
Harrison Hagan Schmitt
Harrison Schmitt
inspections
Jack Schmitt
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
KSC
Manned Flight Awareness
MFA
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
outer space
Ron Evans
Ronald Ellwin Evans, Jr.
Ronald Evans
space exploration
space programs
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/b2e3c3a659d7f22841c0de9825a7c121.jpg
14ecf73223ea4d026f9d481617c03e93
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/4083bf8b7ee621cac888c2c9a4a5d3ea.jpg
32ad722b39e403b31ce72e9cf99bde62
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
Florida Space Coast History Collection
Alternative Title
Space Coast Collection
Subject
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
Description
Collection of images, documents, and other archival items donated by the Florida Space Coast History Project.
Contributor
<a href="http://srealserver.eecs.ucf.edu/chronopoints/" target="_blank">Chronopoints</a>
Fowler, Calvin "Cal" D.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a>.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, Florida
John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida
Contributing Project
<a href="http://virtualheritage.ist.ucf.edu/cchp/" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Project</a>
Curator
Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm">Project Mercury Overview</a>." John F. Kennedy Space Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/mercury-overview.htm.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Original Format
2 black and white photographic prints
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
Skylab 4 Saturn IB Launch Vehicle Inspection at Launch Pad 39B
Alternative Title
Skylab 4 Saturn IB Launch Vehicle Inspection
Subject
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
Merritt Island (Fla.)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
NASA
Skylab Program
Description
An inspection of Skylab 4's Saturn IB launch vehicle at Launch Pad 39B of John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Merritt Island, Florida. As Project Apollo was winding down and the final three missions (Apollo 18, Apollo 19, and Apollo 20) were canceled, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) looked for ways to repurpose launch vehicles and other equipment. Out of this, Skylab and three space science missions were born. Skylab was conceived by famed rocket designer, Wernher von Braun (1912-1977), to use an unused upper-stage fuel tank and convert it to an orbital laboratory. This was necessitated by NASA's budget being slashed. With the tank becoming the basis of the space station, NASA added solar arrays, a docking adapter, and a space observatory. The Skylab missions were constituted of one mission to put the station in space (Skylab 1), using a modified and last Saturn V to launch, and three crewed missions (Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4) to occupy the lab and perform science, using the smaller Saturn IB booster to launch the three astronaut crews. When launched on May 14, 1973, the station encountered problems immediately. A micrometeoroid shield prematurely deployed and tore off one of the two main solar arrays. NASA engineers went to work and were able to save Skylab and the three crewed missions. Each of the subsequent missions set what were then endurance records for living in space and conducted substantial space science experiments. NASA tried to keep Skylab in orbit after Skylab 4 (SL-4) and until the Space Shuttle could boast its orbit, but with a decaying orbit, it crashed on July 11, 1979. Skylab 4 (SL-4) was launched from Launch Complex 39B on November 16, 1973, using what was jokingly referred to as a "milk stool" to adapt the launcher to the smaller Saturn IB booster. Skylab 4 (SL-4)'s crew consisted of Mission Commander Gerald P. Carr (1932-), Command Module Pilot William R. Pogue (1930-2014), and Science Pilot Edward Gibson (1936-). The mission set a then endurance record of more than 84 days in space.
Type
Still Image
Source
Original black and white photographic prints, November 7, 1973: Larry Summers Collection.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/148" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original black and white photographic prints, November 7, 1973.
Coverage
John F. Kennedy Space Center, Merritt Island, Florida
Contributor
<a href="http://srealserver.eecs.ucf.edu/chronopoints/" target="_blank">Chronopoints</a>
Date Created
1973-11-07
Format
image/jpg
Extent
89.5 KB
124 KB
Medium
2 black and white photographic prints
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Larry Summers and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://virtualheritage.ist.ucf.edu/cchp/" target="_blank">Florida Space Coast History Project</a>
Curator
Michlowitz, Robert
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/missions/shuttle/f_skylab1.html" target="_blank">Skylab, Birth of the Modern Space Station: Part I - The History of Sky | NASA</a>." National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Accessed August 12. http://www.nasa.gov/missions/shuttle/f_skylab1.html.
"<a href="http://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/ch2.htm">Skylab, Our First Space Station - ch2</a>." 2015. SP-400 NASA - Skylab, Our First Space Station. Accessed September 25. http://history.nasa.gov/SP-400/ch2.htm.
Howell, Elizabeth. 2013. "<a href="http://www.space.com/19607-skylab.html" target="_blank">Skylab: First U.S. Space Station</a>." Space.com. February 1. http://www.space.com/19607-skylab.html.
inspections
John F. Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
KSC
Launch Complex 39B
Launch Pad 39B
launch vehicles
LC-39B
Merritt Island
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Saturn IB
Skylab
Skylab 4
SL-4
space
Uprated Saturn I
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/49c52d92cd05d732871abc18a809304d.pdf
ad886661aaafb1a2cb1c05bdf38c6bce
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
Ferndale Collection
Alternative Title
Ferndale Collection
Subject
Lake County (Fla.)
Description
Ferndale, Florida, is a census-designated place in Lake County with a population just a couple hundred people.
Contributor
Buck, Texann Ivy
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/136" target="_blank">Lake County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Type
Collection
Coverage
Ferndale, Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/1600000US1222225" target="_blank">Ferndale CDP, Florida</a>." American FactFinder, U.S. Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/1600000US1222225.
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
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
Inspection Report for the Ferndale Post Office (February 26, 1946)
Alternative Title
Ferndale Post Office Inspection Report
Subject
Post offices
Description
An inspection report for the Ferndale Post Office conducted on February 26, 1946. The inspection was conducted by A. F. White, Post Office Inspector for the Bureau of the Chief Inspector. The Ferndale Post Office was roughly 400 square feet and contained 180 mailboxes. The size of the post office reflects the small town nature of Ferndale. In 2009, the post office was closed by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). The residents of Ferndale gathered together and successfully petitioned its reopening and the post office is now staffed by local volunteers. This was a compromise between the residents and USPS that helped to mitigate the annual cost of running the small office.
Type
Text
Source
Original inspection report by A. F. White, February 26, 1946: Private Collection of Texann Ivy Buck.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/collections/show/201" target="_blank">Ferndale Collection</a>, Lake County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original inspection report by A. F. White, February 26, 1946.
Coverage
Ferndale Post Office, Ferndale, Florida
Contributor
Buck, Texann Ivy
Date Created
1946-02-26
Format
application/pdf
Extent
1.43 MB
Medium
6-page report
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/ Government Teacher
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Texann Ivy Buck and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Contributing Project
<a href="http://orlandoremembered.org/" target="_blank">Orlando Remembered</a>
Curator
Stoddard, James
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
Private Collection of Texann Ivy Buck
A. F. White
Bureau of the Chief Inspector
COD
Collect on Delivery
customs parcels
employees
Ferndale
inspections
insured parcels
laborers
mail delivery
money orders
post offices
postal
Postal Savings Systems
postmasters
U.S. Post Office Department
U.S. Savings Bonds
USPOD