Pasquale (Pat) Cruciano:  

Since I'm running out of time and should be sleeping before I work my 7a-7p critical care shift tonight, rather than re-write my life history I'm just pasting a letter I wrote recently to Bill Land, '64. From: Pasquale Cruciano Sent: April 15, 2008 11:40:43 PM Subject: Hi, from Pasquale (Pat) Cruciano Hello Bill, I remember you well, even though you were a year ahead of me. Weren't you on the wrestling team with me during the 62-63 season under Coach Morlock? From your photo it appears that you were (are?) on a SEAL team. Whoa! that's sh-t hot. I live in Virginia Beach where the east coast SEAL training takes place so I often meet guys from the teams. Did you do a Vietnam tour? You might say that I took my senior trip to Vietnam. I graduated in '65 (from Calvert Hall, in Baltimore, although I'll always be a Claymont boy at heart) and was in the Army less than a year later, and in Vietnam's Tay Ninh province jungles by April '67. I was a grunt with the 25th, 4th, and 25th (again) Infantry Divisions, serving in both the 1st Bn (MECH), 5th Infantry Reg't and the 2nd Bn (MECH), 22nd Infantry Reg't. I started out as a spear carrier and came home a SGT E-5 Infantry Squad Leader. Do you know whether we lost any CHS guys in Vietnam? BTW, I'm now a Registered Nurse, working almost exclusively in Critical Care. I found that I had a talent for helping the Combat Medics when the natives got restless and realized about 17 years ago that I could do similar things as a nurse. Interesting-ly, I find that about 75% of the male RNs I meet are veterans. It must be the service ethic. I worked for 8 years as an administrator for Goldey Beacom College after finally graduating from the U. of Del. in '75. I also worked for 8 years for Uncle Dupie as a microcomputer guru. Along the way I ran fishing charters out of Indian River and taught skydiving, a sport I discovered while at the U. of Del. The ROTC folks there even sponsored me to teach a Winter Session Skydiving course in Jan of '74. My most memorable year, excepting my Vietnam tour, was '71, when I worked as a Fitness Instructor (I bet that surprises y'all, recalling how pudgy I was at CHS during the '62 and '63 school years. Humping an M-60 machine gun and 60 lb rucksack through the boondocks for a year trimmed that baby fat most ricky-tic) for a mid-town ...Expand for more