JR Peck
I was born in Kalamazoo, MI. We lived there until I was 9 and then we moved to Phoenix, AZ. I consider Arizona home.
Did the normal white, middle class growing up. My dad decided to get his degree after having 3 kids, and so it took a while. As high school was winding down for me, college was going for him. I knew I wanted to get a degree and didn’t want to go in debt. Once I turned 18 I joined the Navy to be a part of the Sea College program. It was a sweet deal. 2 years active duty, 4 years reserves and about $20,000 for school.
I did boot camp in San Diego (1988), 4 weeks of Airman Apprenticeship training and I was off for the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70). She was the newest carrier in the fleet at the time, I believe.
I worked those two years in the Air department, V-2 division. Mostly in the gear. I’d had never worked so hard prior, and doubt I ever will again as I did those 2 years. Seems we were always underway and seems like a disproportionate amount of that time was CQ’ing. But I learned a lot that has been very valuable since.
Jumping to today, I’m an Oracle database administrator for a somewhat large Christian missions organization. I’m a nerd, in love with all things technological. But there is still in me that portion that would scour squadron spaces, after they had left the boat, looking for left behind copies of Approach. That part of me found Lex’s wonderful site and the great writing, and great stories have kept me around.
I worked for a lot of different officers (and petty officers). Showed all of them respect. Some deserved it, some not so much. Those that did got it in spades and we gave them our all, willingly. Lex seems that kind of man and leader. The kind that always got our best effort, gladly.
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