Douglass Moody:  

undus camera manufacturer, located in Torrance CA. I basically traveled the USA coast-to-coast, training private physician's in-office staff to perform diagnostic fluorescein angiography (f/a) in his own office, with his new fundus camera. I even traveled to Japan to consult on fundus camera design for the U.S. market. After a few years, I started my own mobile in-office f/a service, operating in the greater L.A. area. Eventually HMO's took away all of my clients, and I went to work for an 11-physician clinic in Colton CA. There, I supervised four diagnostic technicians for the very busy Inland Eye Institute, and orchestrated all surgical training videos, slide presentations, specialty photography, etc. I lost that position upon IEI merging with another large eye group (I was the higher paid of the two supervisors!). I then briefly worked for a Retina Specialist in Glendale CA, but he released me upon joining an HMO with their own angiographer. That second job-burn prompted me to get out of medicine entirely. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me! As a retinal angiographer, I set 10,000 Intra-Veneous (IV) fluorescein dye injections, with only a few minor, adverse reactions. I was a Certified Retinal Angiographer (CRA); a Certified Ophthalmic Assistant (COA); and an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-1A). Military I was suppose to attend Corpman school out of Boot Camp (1970), but was told that I would probably be trained as a Dental Tech (same designation), so I opted for Radioman School instead. My first duty station was Naval Communication Station (NavCommSta) Keflavik,Iceland. I had to find it on a library globe! This "hardship duty station" was for one year, but after realizing what an incredable place Iceland can be, I signed on for another 6-months. One buddy had an old, bright yellow VW bug, dubbed "Tweety Bird", and nearly every weekend, a few of us drove 20-miles (on the only paved road!) to the capital city of Rekjavik. I often took exploratory drives in a WWII-vintage, bright red Jeep, capable of crossing lava beds and sheep pastures. I also took Islandic-organized, week-long, Mercedes bus group-outings into the island interior, and along the un-inhabited, far coastline. Dozens of Islanders (and a few Americans) forded rivers, climbed volcanoes & waterfalls, expored lava moonscapes, cooked in natural hot-water pools, trekked glaciers, tent-camped in the open, or slept side-by-side in community centers in small, scattered villages. I gave my Nikon and lenses quite a work-out, shooting historic dwellings, lava tubes, the Althing, Puffin cliffs, geysers, and a thousand square miles of lichen-covered lava fields & cliffs. I took one 30-day leave, meeting stateside friends in Paris, then exloring France and Belgium countryside by car. I always wanted to return to Iceland, but never have. I was then assigned to the aircraft carrier USS America, CVA-66, stationed in Norfolk VA, but deployed out of Subic Bay, Philippines. I was copter-transferred from a supply ship to the carrier while both were underway on Yankee Station! Sometimes we were on-line for 30-days, and carrier life can be very routine. A few of us organized and ref'd volleyball & basketball matches in the hanger deck, and I conducted photo seminars in the mess hall. I even lost a frisbee or two out an elevator door. In 6-months, I only got to visit Hong Kong and dive Subic Bay a few times. America returned to VA for 6-months, then a cruise to the Med, where I photographed Athens and the Parthenon over the next 6-months before a European discharge in Majorca Spain. I purchased a Honomag van (Mercedes) and traveled through-out Europe for the next year.