Ronald D. Lee, CTT1/MA1 USN Retired, 1970-1990


I had turned 17 in Oct 69. January of 70 I enlisted in the Delayed Entry 
program. At that time where I was from it was expected that all able 
bodied men would serve in some capacity. In the South almost every town 
had their own National Guard or Reserve unit.
 
I graduated June 17th and June 19 I was on my way to Boot camp. Company 
107 at Orlando. When it came to classification week I filled out my five 
choices with:
1.PH
2.EO
3.GM
4.& 5 are fogged with memory.
 
We were told to forget the SeaBees, they were not taking anyone. One of 
my last two choices was another aviation rating and I could only have 
one aviation rating on my list so I dropped the fifth choice.
 
Since I had scored high on Radio and Sonar the YN suggested CT. Like 
everyone else he would/could not tell me anything about it. So my fifth 
choice became CT.
 
When I was called over to the Admin building for another interview and a 
sit down with a CTA1 Barfield. We went through all the questions with no 
answers and when the interview was over I asked him if he was related to 
the Florida Barfields. He Told me his Fathers name and where he lived. 
It was my Uncle from my Mother's side. When the detailing came down I 
already knew what I was getting.
 
After graduation from Boot camp I was off to Pensacola. At that time the 
Navy was using "Join the Navy and see the World." I thought it was funny 
my first year in the Navy and I never left my home state of Florida.
 
Since I enlisted in the Navy at 17, I never signed up for th draft. I 
was already in Sidi Yahia and the FBI came by my Mom's house looking for 
me because I did not sign up for it. This was after my final clearance 
and everything. I guess with out computers they could not correlate 
different lists.
 
I got a service number in Boot Camp and checking in at NCTC on a Friday 
was given a Liberty Card. That Monday morning the Chief collected them 
and told us we would never see another Liberty Card. Everyone in the 
group moaned then her laughed and said the CNO did away with them. Not 
long after that the Service numbers went away and SSN's were used.
 
Ronald D. Lee
CTT1/MA1
USN Ret
Sidi Yahia 71-72, Rota 72-75,
Homestead 75-77, Adak 77-83,
NACU Seattle 83-86, USS Gary FFG-51
86-89, TPU Long Beach 89-90
Alaska Prison system 90-2006