The year was 1970. I was set to graduate from high school in western Massachusetts at age 17, with no plan to further my education. My draft number had been pretty high, so there was no expectation I would be drafted. The game plan was to work full time, maintain my car, and live life to its fullest.
I worked full time for two years and told myself, "There's more to life than this." The Navy was using the promotion "Join the Navy and See the World." I liked the idea. My older brother had joined the Navy after high school. My uncle had been a "lifer" in the Navy. I committed to the Navy, and my first time on a plane was Nov. 1, 1972, flying from Connecticut to Great Lakes, Ill., for boot camp.
After boot camp, I flew across the country to San Diego for "A" school. Upon completion of school, my orders for the remaining duration of my four-year hitch called for me to be stationed across the bay at Naval Air Station Coronado. I went back to Massachusetts, got my car, drove back to California, and resumed "Navy" life. Did a lot of tourist things on weekends. Got itchy feet again.
The aircraft carrier USS Midway CVA 41 was to be homeported in Yokosuka, Japan, and they were looking for volunteers. Volunteer I did. Since Midway had already departed California, I flew on a Military Airlift Command flight to Japan. I had a window seat. On descent, I saw vehicles traveling on the wrong side of the road. That was my first experience with "culture shock." My second was the huge weekend demonstrations by thousands of Japanese outside the base gates where Midway was stationed, protesting the "nuclear" weapons now present, they believed, on their shores.
As part of ship's company aboard Midway, I resigned myself to the fact that Midway would be my home for the remainder of my enlistment (that was what I'd been told when surrendering my shore duty in Coronado). Aboard Midway, I traveled to the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea, Pakistan, and off-shore Vietnam, Thailand and Guam. We crossed the equator, allowing me to go from being a pollywog to a shellback.
After 24 months aboard Midway, I was told I was eligible for a transfer. Yeah baby! I put in for the destroyer tender USS Bryce Canyon AD 36 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, going from a carrier where we usually spent 20 days of every 30 at sea. In my last eight months in the Navy, I went out on Bryce Canyon one time for a three-day shakedown cruise. My weekends were spent at Waikiki Beach. It was tough duty, but someone had to do it, and I gladly accepted. I then returned to Massachusetts, went to school, got a bachelor's degree and followed that with a master's degree. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the Navy experience I did.
SK2 Joe Tetrault (Navy, 1972-1976), American Legion Post 337, Chicopee, Mass.
