Vernon R. Dodge, CTRC (Ret) May 1962 - Oct 31, 1981
 
I grew up in a little logging/farming/fishing town on the lower Columbia River 
called Cathlamet WA. (Total population of the county was 3,5000  Like many of 
the stories here I enlisted while still in high school under the Delayed Entry 
Program.  Me and my buddy went in under the Buddy Program, little knowing that 
it was for boot camp only.  I did very well on all the tests including the code 
part.  When our company went to classification I had listed ET, Sonarman, Rm, 
MM, GM.  Well this old YN2 said with my scores I needed to go into the CT field, 
and like many others I was told it was Top Secret but that I would be repairing 
radios, little did I know.  Showed up at NCTC Correy Station in Sep 1962 and was 
immediatly put to work in the chow hall, now this wasn't a bad place for me to be 
because I was 6'3" tall and only weighed 145 lbs, finally got to eat all I wanted, 
including "grits" for the first time.  When I went into the big room I did real 
well on the typing because I had taken a typing class in high school so I could be 
with my girlfriend, now wife of almost 47 years.  So Basic was easy and then I had 
to wait for a clearance to go into Advanced, but that was OK with me because that 
meant I would be with my wife longer before I graduated and went overseas.  Like 
many of you from small towns I was the talk of the town when these men in suits came 
around asking questions about me.  The old NavSecGru was a great organization and 
I'm stil in contact with many former shipmates.