Richard Reithel:  

"My story" is not that interesting but here it is. One week after we all graduated in June '62, I joined the U.S. Navy and was shipped off to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center (boot camp) near Chicago. Learning a new strictly regimented way of life was a drastic change from being just a run-of-the-mill teenager. After 90 days of testing, medical exams, physical training, regimented routines and naval education, I graduated to my next assignment. I volunteered for submarine service and was shipped off to submarine school in New London, Connecticut. More intense training, learning, and physical testing and a final test of escaping a sunken submarine. As a stress test, our class was sent out on a training cruise on older diesel sub and went through a normal routine. However, after our third dive, whether intentional or accidental, the sub settled on the bottom at 250' and was unable to surface. We sat on the bottom for the next 9 hours, under low oxygen deprived conditions, until repairs were "supposedly" made. We figured it was another "actual" test of our character. Most of us graduated sub school and moved on to our next assignments.. Shipped off again to Special Underseas Weapons School in Key West Florida. I tested for and gained my new rating of E3 for Seaman Torpedoman. If you have ever watched any naval war movies showing torpedoes running straight and true to sink an enemy ship, NOT SO ANYMORE! They have modernized, electrified, became smart and highly complex. To my misfortune, during this school I came down with appendicitis. Spent two weeks in the hospital. This set me behind in school, but it worked out perfectly to qualify for an advanced special training school for a new nuclear tipped torpedo. This torpedo became my specialty for my retaining time in the Navy. At that time only one person per submarine was allowed to work on it. On to my first tour of duty. My first tour of duty was aboard a fast attack sub out of New London, Conn. and lasted for two 3-month cruises. On my first cruise I tested for and was given my "Dolphins" by the captain. The dolphins are a silver emblem on your uniform that identifies you as a qualified submariner. During my second cruise I tested and was promoted to E4, Torpedoman 3rd Class. In 1964 I agreed that my second tour of duty was to be aboard a brand-new nuclear missile submarine (aka a "boomer") out of Mare Island Shipyard, Vallejo, California. Our home port was Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Our mid-cruise supply port was on Guam in the Marianas Islands. (I was able to attend a Bob Hope Show there once at Anderson Air Force Base on the north end of Guam, what a "blast") I spent the next two years aboard as a "Gold Crew Member". Nuclear submarines operate with two crews, a "Gold" and a "Blue", so the sub is at sea at all times. A tour-of-duty consists of ninety days at sea, then sixty days in port and thirty days leave. While on my final cruise my time was extended 70 days because we were at sea. This gave me enough time in rank to test and be promoted to E5, Torpedoman 2nd Class. Several of us decided that since we were in "Pearl" for a couple of months twice a year we would purchase motorcycles for transportation. It was cheaper and more practical than taking a taxi or military transportation into town. We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed seeing Oahu that way. When I figured out that my discharge was coming up, I had my motorcycle crated and shipped to the mainland in San Francisco via my dealer. "I HAD A PLAN"! I was Honorably Discharged in September 1966. I decided to ride my motorcycle from Treasure Island in California back home to Hilton N.Y. "WHAT A RIDE" that was! An experience that I wasn't exactly prepared for, compliments of the good, bad and ugly weather. But I survived it. My first civilian job was working for Rochester Telephone Corp. I started in a Central Office where every new telephone line request was physically assigned a number and wired-up for service. This is where I first met my future wife, she was the Manager's secretary. I later applied to work "out in the field" as an Installer/Repairman and actually worked in the homes and businesses of the customers. I trained at pole climbing school and learned how to string wire from the pole to the customer's home. This job lasted until 1977 when our CWA union (Communications Workers of America) decided to strike for better wages and benefits. Not a smart decision on our part. The strike lasted for 6 1/2 months. At the end of the strike over 1200 employees with under 15 years' service were let go, including me. I found myself out of work for the first time. As for my future wife, Margaret (aka Peggy), we married in September of 1967 and bought a house in Palmyra, N.Y. We had two kids, a boy in '68 and a girl in '70. There I joined the Palmyra Fire Dept. as a volunteer. Spent the next 12 years as a volunteer, trained a lot and worked my way up in the department to Captain. I also trained continuously to qualify as an E.M.T. 2 (Emergency Medical Technician - Two) and worked on the ambulance and Rescue Squad. I was also part of a group of firefighters that pushed for and succeeded to get the "Jaws of Life" purchased by the department. The first in Wayne County. While living in Palmyra, after the job lay-off, work and money was scarce. I found work with an interconnect telephone company out of Roanoke, VA. I was hired as an independent contractor servicing hotel/motel telephone switching systems throughout N.Y. State. Eventually we sold our house in Palmyra and we decided to move to Ithaca, N.Y. to be centrally located for my job. I was averaging 100-300 miles per day round trip. In 1984 I was "convinced" by my employer that taking a temporary transfer to Jacksonville, Fla. was beneficial to my continued employment. So, we packed the whole family up and moved to Jacksonville. One year later, after the temporary assignment was over, we, the whole family, didn't like Jacksonville all that much, So we moved back to Ithaca. At that time the company was losing business in New York due to new N.Y. State Interconnect Company regulations. The local phone companies sued the state about the out-of-state unfair competition and won. My employer notified me that to keep my job I could accept assignment in Chicago, Philadelphia or New York City. No other options available. THAT WAS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! So, "I QUIT". Out of work again! I did a nationwide search for employment and eventually foun...Expand for more