Frank Springer, CTA1 USN Retired, 1958-1980


After graduating from high school in 1958, I looked to the military for a job 
(and opportunity) simply because employment was not all that robust in Winona, 
MN in those days.  Also, I already had two older brothers in the Navy (a PN 
and a EM), along with my oldest brother who was a Master Sergeant in the Army 
(Infantry no less), so the military seemed to be, at the least, a temporary 
solution to having a job and an opportunity to travel over the hill and see 
what the world was all about.

Like everyone else, I took the battery of tests at NTC San Diego and 
took my chances.   My scholastic record in school was nothing to write 
home to mother about (I was middle of the road).  I ended up being best 
qualified as a storekeeper, cook, and radarman.  I remember telling the 
classifiers that I wanted to get into the admin field, preferably as a PN.  I 
was informed that the PN rating was "going to be phased out" and that the YN 
rating was booked solid.

The classifier then suggested I take the Communications Technician (CT) rating 
and enter their admin field.  He could shed very little light on 
what this rating amounted to but put my name in nevertheless.   I seem 
to recall the hardest part of the whole process was completing the infamous DD 
398 Form (Personal History Statement).

Yeah, the Winona, MN cops and all asked me later why the feds had been in town 
asking questions about me. They figured I must have been a desperado.

I went on to Bainbridge, MD and attended YN/PN Class A school in late 1958.  I 
think 3/4 of my class were guys slated for the CTA field.

I vividly recall my introduction to then CTMCS George Thompson in the EMO Shop 
at NSGA Edzell UK in August 1975.  George told me than that he had done time 
in the admin field so that any kind of smoke screen I might try to set up 
around him about what I was doing work-wise, he would be able to see through 
it.  We started our four year working relationship on even terms.  I always 
appreciated George's openess and candor.

Yup, I did over 22 years in the cryptologic field and never regretted a minute 
of it.  The only regret, if there ever was one, was not being able to serve 
any time with either of my two older sailor brothers - but then they were sea 
going sailors and I spent a career being landlocked.

Frank Springer
CTA1, USN (Ret.)
1958 - 1980