<p><strong><u>US Navy-A Footprint in My Life</u></strong></p><p> Long ago when I was young and unafraid living in Burlington, Iowa I faced a reality that shook me and took me on a path that I had not envisioned. My vision was to attend University and become an Engineer instead I faced being drafted.&nbsp;At the time I was a Brazilian citizen and registered with the Brazilian military but not the US.</p><p> My high school years were great.&nbsp;I had good friends. I was in the top of the class grade wise.&nbsp;I lettered in football and wrestling.&nbsp;I was elected student council president.&nbsp;I participated in theater.&nbsp;Things seemed to be at the summit of my dreams.</p><p> In my senior year I applied to many colleges and was accepted by Dartmouth, the University of Arizona, and the University of Iowa.</p><p> The University of Iowa asked for my draft status. I was registered with the Brazilian military I did not have a US draft number.&nbsp;I was truly scared because the news was about draft dodgers that had been caught and then either sent to prison or put in the Army and sent to Vietnam. </p><p> There was no one to advise me.&nbsp;I visited all the military recruiting offices to find out what type of programs I might qualify for.&nbsp;They all were interested in signing me up.&nbsp;The Navy promised me Electronics School, Nuclear Power School and the NESEP program that would take me through university and make me an officer in the Navy.</p><p> I still had hopes on attending one of the Universities, so I went to the Draft board to learn my fate.&nbsp;The gentle grey haired lady behind the single desk in the draft board office listened to my story and then let me know that I was under arrest! I asked her to call the Navy recruiter.&nbsp;She nodded and did so.</p><p> He came down with the recruiting paperwork and I left the draft board office as a Navy enlistee.</p><p> I graduated from the Electronics school at the Great Lakes US Navy base. &nbsp;And then was on the way to Nuclear Power training school but there was a few month wait, and I was assigned temporarily to the USS Gunston Hall.</p><p> It was during this wait that my great plan of avoiding Vietnam took a uncanny twist.&nbsp;The ship received orders to take three gun barrels for the USS Missouri to the Philippines.&nbsp;Once we delivered these gun barrels the Gunston Hall got orders to take three river opening Tango boats and escort them from river to river along the Vietnamese coast.&nbsp;We went up and down the coast of Vietnam several times.&nbsp;I was a fifty caliber machine gunner on the escort boat that made sure the Tango boats got into the river mouth safely.</p><p>That phase ended several months later, and I did return to safely to the US and went through Nuclear power School.</p><p>I ended up on the USS Coronado for a short time and then volunteered to be on the hydrofoil USS Tucumcari and went on a tour of Europe.</p><p>The Tucumcari assignment was the highlight of my time in the Navy.&nbsp;The tour went from the North Sea to the Turkish straits between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.&nbsp;The tour included visits to eleven countries.&nbsp;The purpose was to envision the European navies with the power hydrofoil provided.</p><p> My last assignment was on the USS Wood County that had escorted the Tucumcari.&nbsp;It was during the decommissioning of the Wood County that I facilitated a peaceful resolution to an onboard race riot.&nbsp;My actions earned me the support of the Captain.&nbsp;He asked what I wanted.&nbsp;I let him know that I wanted to get out early so that I could attend University.&nbsp;He offered to support my going into the NESEP program, but I knew that the life in the Navy was not for me.</p><p> He granted me my wish by making me the decommissioning "Captain" of the USS Wood County as it went through its final preparation to enter the moth ball fleet.</p><p> I got out early and went on to become an Engineer.</p>