USSVI MARE
ISLAND BASE

For twenty years, I spent much of my time beneath the waves as a member of the Silent Service. 
 

This image is the sail of the USS Parche (SSN 683), which currently sits in downtown Seattle, Washington.  I served on this boat for almost seven years,  shrouded in secrecy. The letters painted on the side are the awards for different categories of accomplishment, and the ribbons underneath the hull number 683 are the operational awards.
 

The Parche is the most decorated ship in the 240+ years of naval history, and the men I served with are some of the bravest souls I have ever had the pleasure of working with.  All awards were earned in peacetime, which says quite a bit in my opinion.  So we were pretty important to the national interest.
 

I served on four submarines - the USS Sea Devil (SSN 664), USS Seawolf (SSN 575), USS Parche (SSN 683) and

USS Topeka (SSN 754).
 

Currently, I serve as the Chief Technology Officer and Western District 5 Commander for the United States Submarine Veteran Inc. Priori to that, I served as the Base Commander of USSVI Mare Island Base in Vallejo, CA, for six years, where our group numbers about 160 members.