I am third-generation US Navy, retired only last year; I still work as a civilian for the Navy. My grandfather was a Chief Machinist's Mate who went to work for Ford when he retired from the Service; he made the collar rank insignia that my Dad wore as he worked his way up the officer ranks. I still have the full set, from ensign bars on up, each with the Union eagle on the backside -- I really wanted to make Captain so I'd have to buy one set of my own, but I ended up retiring at CDR as my Dad did.

I joined up via Officer Candidate School (Newport RI) in 1979 after spending two years post-college as a busker drifting around Europe; I am one of the few I know who joined the Service for stability rather than for travel. Accordingly, I did my best to follow the advice in HMS Pinafore, and indeed have been a successful staffie most of my career, with the exception of air crew work over Kosovo in the Balkan situation and one month setting up a LAN on the USS MT Whitney (my sole shipboard assignment in 24 years). I did computer or personnel systems work most of my career. The biggest task I worked on was probably the Y2K Project -- we repaired and tested hundreds of systems and successfully avoided anything but very minor glitches at the start of Year 2000. It's been a good career, and I now work as a civilian doing the same kinds of stuff. Mostly I'm an information broker, a translator between techies and end-users.

Funny, but every time the Navy transferred me, it wasn't the Navy I turned to for community in my new posting -- it was the local folk music, contradance, and horse people -- plus the SCA. I love the Navy, but my best friends are from outside it.

Lynn