Keith Bowens:  

camp in Orlando, Florida. What an exciting beginning. It was my first experience, for an extended period, away from my family and opened my eyes to what the world had to offer me as an adult. After boot camp I traveled to Great Lakes, Illinois for more education and completed my first portion of schooling several months later. My first assignment was on a Guided Missile Cruiser down in Charleston, South Carolina, the USS R.K. Turner. It left for a six month tour of the Persian Gulf three weeks after I arrived. Talk about into the fire. I gained more life and worldly experiences than I could have imagined. My shipmates and I grew to become great friends. The best two years of my Navy career were spent on that ship. I spent the rest of my Naval career on two more ships, both Sub Tenders, the USS Fulton and the USS L.Y. Spear. The jobs I held on those ships changed from what I knew on my first ship, but I continued to learn a lot and was glad for the experience. Especially after a second tour of the Persian Gulf on my last ship. Two tours over in the Persian Gulf has given me an understanding of a way of life that I don't believe I would have learned any other way without living it first hand. The countries that I visited in SouthEast Asia have a beauty all their own. Unfortunately, you have to look past the destruction and disruption that is currently there to admire it. I hope to one day visit that area of the world again, once the restlessness of race, religion and culture differences has made way for peace.