Louis L. Canick, CTMC USN Retired, 1969-1990


I appreciated those comments too..and printed them out to give to my son who 
is kind of considering joining the military.

In regard to how I got selected to be a CTO...took the battery in boot camp.
Scored 9 on the foreign language aptitude test. HAHA.... During the interview, 
had to make 5 selections...came up with 4 admin types...PN, YN, JO, CTA..was 
stuck for a fifth choice...told the guy Air Traffic Control...
He asked me if I wanted to be responsible for the lives of all the people on 
the plan that was coming in for a landing. I told him to scratch that. 

Then he changed my life. "How about CTO? It's the same thing as CTA."

Next thing I knew, I was in Pensacola in the summer of '69 starting CTO A 
school. And I already knew how to type, so I flew on those old Model 19's.
When we got to use the Model 28's, that was really cookin' with gas!! 

I ate it up...and I thoroughly enjoyed being a CTO. Then I converted to CTM as 
an E6...wanted to work on electronics. Thoroughly enjoyed that too. 10 years 
breaking stuff, 10 years fixing stuff. I'm even on the books! :)


I became a Mat Man after doing 10 years as a CTO. As a CTO, I was drawn to
tech control. Loved working the circuits, receivers, crypto, etc. When I
first reported to IB in 1969 fresh out of CTO A school, when they walked me
into the comm. Center, I caught a glimpse of the tech control aisle ...
Wow!! I worked my way into Tech at every duty station and thoroughly enjoyed
it. Enjoyed the TTY and torn tape stuff too... When I went to Kami Seya in
76, did some tech control work, but spent a lot of time in the
NEATICC..working the opscomm circuits with lots of places and ships and
aircraft. During my time in Japan, I finished a Cleveland Institue of
Electronics (CIE) correspondence course in Broadcast Engineering. Got a
taste of electronics. Liked it so much, took a Capitol Radio Engineering
Institute (CREI) course in Computer Engineering Technology. Got even deeper
in the electronics theory...ate it up. Then one evening I walked from the
madness of the comm center and TICC areas into the TTY mat shop.
Aaaaahhhhhhh..... peace and quiet and a nice stereo playing. I decided to
apply for conversion. Wasn't too optimistic since I was already a CTO1...but
I filled out a request chit and left it on the Supervisor's desk. Didn't
think too much about it. Then a few weeks later, I received information that
the application had been approved! So I got orders to BEEP school in
Orlando, then CTM A school in Pensacola. After A school, got orders to Ft.
Meade for PDP-11 school .. to prepare for Bowsprit maintenance. The PDP-11
training was great. But we didn't learn anything about Bowsprit. That would
all come OJT. Had orders to Homestead, but the detailer called a few weeks
before school ended asking if I would go to Edzell instead. 'We really need
you in Edzell' he said. So I said yes and started the mad scramble to get
birth certificates and passports for myself and the family. All the birth
certificates were in the HHG which was somewhere staged to go to Florida.
Had to get that stuff all aimed to Scotland. We arrived in Scotland, I
checked in as a shiny new CTM1. CTMCM Pat Garrett took me in his office and
told me that they really didn't need me in the Bowsprit shop...so he put me
in General Maintenance working for CTM1 Lance Pagano. Started out doing
R-390s from Tebo. Worked there for awhile..was watch supv...getting comfy
with the Tebo stuff...then they moved me into Bowsprit maintenance. Gary
Ferstler, aka Muke, was the CTM1 in charge of the shop. He made CTMC in
1981. So I was standing watches there and getting familiar with all the
PDP-11 stuff again. Took the Chief's exam in 1982 and I'll be darned...I got
selected!! Went from Scotland to Homestead, then reenlisted for Wizard
maintenance school and orders to DG. After DG, went to Instructor school,
then to WH to the Wiz schoolhouse. Finished a great 21 years + there. 
 
Figure I broke stuff for 10 years, then fixed stuff for 10 years. I'm even
on the books. :)
 

Lou Canick, CTMC, USN, Ret.