Correspondent photo / Melissa Channell
Curtis Coleman, 68, of Youngstown, joined the Navy in 1978 and stayed in for 20 years. He was a storekeeper and a cook aboard various ships.
YOUNGSTOWN — Curtis Coleman joined the Navy in January 1978 and stayed in for 20 years.
“There was no specific reason (for choosing the Navy). I was about to be engaged, and I got laid off from my job at Warren Engineering, and I was used to getting paid and working. I didn’t have no time to mess around, because my first child was on the way. So, life just kind of flipped a coin. I said (to myself) I don’t want to go to Marine Corps boot camp, I don’t want to go to Army boot camp, so I chose the Navy,” Coleman said.
For him, joining up meant providing for his family. There also was a routine to military service.
“I was stationed in San Diego the majority of my 20 years. I know I did two years of what they call shore duty in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, New Orleans basically. We always generally went through the same area every time we went on what was called the Western Pacific six-month cruise for all the ships that I served on,” he said.
But six months wasn’t written in stone.
“Hawaii was always our first stop after leaving San Diego on our cruises, and the last stop before we came back. I remember once, we were on our way home after six months of being gone and got turned around and had to go to either Panama or Grenada to relieve one of the other battle groups that had already been there for a while. Anything was liable to happen at the last minute, and you hoped it wouldn’t, because after being gone six months everybody was ready to go home,” Coleman said.
His first “job” on board the ship was that of storekeeper, which included keeping track of everything.
“We were in charge of all the supplies that the ship needed. We ordered everything from pencils to ammunition,” he said.
He attended a reenlistment ceremony, and the bonus another crewman received when reenlisting caught his attention.
“So they gave him about $10,000 cash right at his reenlistment ceremony, and I asked ‘what do the storekeepers get?’ They told me another three or four years. I said ‘well, what do I have to do to become a cook?’” he said.
He went through the required program and was then obligated for another six years. Work was often 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
“I was a mess specialist (he was eventually a baking supervisor), but then we had to practice the firefighting, flooding, you know, because we were everything. You had drills for if we got to go shoot missiles or you know, defend ourselves. It was a lot of long days. You had to be able to do more than just your assigned job, that’s for sure,” Coleman said.
“If somebody, unfortunately got killed who was shooting the gun, the next person got to step up. That’s how it goes on the ship. If you’ve got a fire in the engine room, you’ve got to get the firefighting team down there, and that consisted of people who had different jobs. You might be a dispersing clerk who was in charge of payroll. It might be the shift serviceman who was in charge of the ship store and the barbershop and the laundry. Everyone had multiple tasks. Nobody just had one thing to do. And we were always cleaning. It makes sense because too many of us were on there. We have 5,000 people on the aircraft carriers down to maybe less than 200 on the tank landing shifts, the LSTs. It just depends on, you know, the size of the crew, and what your job was.”
Flexibility and a strong work ethic are two lessons learned in the military.
Some of the places Coleman remembered going to include the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Australia and Guam.
Coleman told of a time they narrowly missed being caught in a tsunami that hit Thailand.
“Locals could tell something was coming when the birds and animals would be leaving the beach heading for higher ground. That’s when the locals know that something’s about to pop off,” Coleman said.
He told of having to retrieve one recruit from the ocean who jumped after receiving a “Dear John” letter from a girlfriend. They told him not to do that again because she was just a girlfriend, not a wife, and he didn’t have kids. Experienced crewmen tried to advise the younger ones.
“You don’t worry about what’s going on at home. If you have a spouse, it’s on their shoulders, because there’s nothing you can do. You send your money home and hope everybody stays safe. Another thing you tell the young guys, don’t write home about anything bad that’s going on the ship. Don’t do that. Don’t put that pressure on your family and have them worried because nothing they can do for you out here. That’s where we depend on each other. And I’m glad that we didn’t have all the social media back then we have now. It wouldn’t have been good for us,” Coleman said.
After almost 20 years in the military, Coleman saw the transitioning of the ships to becoming coed.
“I was glad I was about to retire because I knew that was going to be a mess. Oh yeah, that was going to be a hot mess for a while. It’s more normal now, because like I say, my next to last ship USS Curtis Wilbur was the first combatant ship to have females on board. It was something because it was brand new, and now it’s normal, I guess,” Coleman said.
He said his only regret was missing time spent with his daughters, but this can be said of many jobs.
Coleman retired from the Navy in 1998.
“After I retired, I worked for Youngstown City Schools as a custodian for a little over 10 years,” he said.
Coleman liked it because of its flexibility while he was involved with his grandkids. He has lived his whole life in Youngstown and attended schools whose buildings no longer exist. He recently attended his 50th class reunion. Coleman missed a few reunions while on active duty and not wanting to miss any more, he joined the reunion committee.
“I would tell, especially some of these young men around Youngstown trying to figure out something to do who don’t have college in their plans; you know, you need to make a choice and the military is a good option. There’s not a whole lot of industry around here,” Coleman said.