Sea Stories, Second Chances

A Detroit-area rebel who ran to Florida at fifteen didn’t just find his way—he found the ocean. We sit down with Tim Kirn to trace a life that arcs from a crowded Michigan home to the steel decks of the USS Nimitz, where a Hollywood film crew rubbed shoulders with sailors and a teenage dropout learned how to lead, endure, and grow. What starts with a shaved head and a stumble on ranks becomes a passport of ports: London’s clockface, Rome’s stones, Paris at night, and the River Jordan where faith first took hold.

The stories flow like sea lines. Tim turns polywog to shellback under King Neptune’s gaze, earns a Blue Nose beyond the Arctic Circle, and spends 144 straight days without land before shaking President Carter’s hand over a warm beer. He balances the Atlantic Fleet’s books on shore duty, then shifts into the TAR Navy, expediting parts to keep Hueys flying. A chance chat with a squadron captain morphs into a cinematic helicopter hop to the Netherlands—an X on a field, a quick wave, and rotors lifting like a secret mission. Threaded through all of it is a young marriage that lasts 25 years and five kids whose birthdays bookend deployments and detours.

After service, the path is tougher and real: chemical plants, factory shifts, a bad fall, and a hand sliced on sheet metal that still won’t bend like the other. A VA loan opens a door to a modest house with a lake view—the one he always pictured while staring at open water. Baptism returns in a megachurch, then deepens in an apostolic congregation. Tim talks honestly about mistakes, missed retirements, and the pride that comes from work done well, whether it’s tying down an aircraft, balancing an account, or showing up on Sundays.

If you’re curious about Navy life beyond the recruiting poster, about the rituals, risks, and quiet joys of carrier service, and about how faith can take root after the noise fades, this conversation delivers it with texture and heart. Listen, share it with someone who’s weighing the military, and if the story moves you, subscribe and leave a review—then tell us which port of call you’d choose.

Chapters

• 0:00 Roots in Michigan
• 3:30 Rebel Years and Florida Runaway
• 5:20 Boot Camp Lessons Learned
• 7:50 Early Navy and The Final Countdown
• 11:30 Life Aboard Nimitz and World Ports
• 15:20 Crossing Lines: Shellback to Blue Nose
• 18:30 Endless Sea Days and President Carter Visit
• 20:10 Shore Duty and Balancing the Fleet’s Books
• 22:00 TAR Navy, Helicopters, and Denmark Detour
• 25:46 Marriage, Promotions, and Getting Out
• 27:46 Civilian Work, Injury, and Disability
• 29:46 Finding Home, Lake View, and VA Loan
• 31:46 Faith, Baptism, and Bible Study
• 33:46 Reflections, Missed Ports, and Advice

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 1:00

Today is Monday, August 18th, 2025. We're talking with Tim Curran, who served in the United States Navy. So good afternoon, Tim. Hi. Pleasure to meet you.

SPEAKER_02: 1:10

Nice to meet you too.

SPEAKER_01: 1:12

All right. Well, we'll start out simple. When and where were you born?

SPEAKER_02: 1:15

I was born in Wayne, Michigan, in Annapolis Hospital. And I grew up in Garden City, Michigan.

SPEAKER_01: 1:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 1:22

Um basically had a pretty decent childhood. So went to um Lathers Elementary School. Uh-huh. And then from then I went to Cambridge Junior High and then Garden City East High School.

SPEAKER_01: 1:41

Okay. Well, talk talk to me a little bit about growing up then. Did you have brothers and sisters? Oh, yes. I have uh five brothers and I have two sisters.

SPEAKER_02: 1:53

That's a lot of kids. Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 1:55

Where do you fit in the pecking order? I am one, two, third from the last. Okay. So did you did you do a lot of stuff with your brothers and sisters when you were younger?

SPEAKER_02: 2:07

I did a lot of stuff with my sisters. My brothers really didn't want us around because me and my next brother, who's about a year and a half younger than me, that's Ken. He uh we were bothersome when they were having their parties. We would sneak down into the basement when they were having their parties in the basement. That's when the girls used to wear paper dresses and things like that. Yeah. Back in that era. So it was in the 60s, late 60s. I remember the Tigers went in the World Series. Really? Yep. And I know almost all the players.

SPEAKER_01: 2:38

So I was so did you actually did you go to the game or did you just watch it or listen to it?

SPEAKER_02: 2:43

We went downtown in the 1984 World Series. I was uh standing on the shoulders of my brothers, you know, and uh just looking around. There was people galore, the police were on horseback. I didn't see anything bad down in Detroit, although the newscast showed whatever bad stuff they could find, but that's not what it was like. It was it was pretty decent. Well, how was school for you? School was good. I got pretty decent grades. Um I ended up dropping out of school in the tenth grade because I uh kind of ran away with my girlfriend to Florida. Okay. So you were, yeah. Kind of a rebel at a very young age. Yes, I was. I got in some trouble. I was uh I was uh I was a scoundrel sometimes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 3:39

So how long how long did you stay in Florida?

SPEAKER_02: 3:42

I stayed in Florida for about a whole year. That's when I joined the United States Navy.

SPEAKER_01: 3:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 3:50

I started out, we we rented a trailer. Um it was$95 a month back then. And uh, but there was no air conditioning, and then it's hot in Florida. Yes, it is. So I went and got a job downtown Pensacola at a Scooby Subs making subs, so I was in an air-conditioned building all day. And my girlfriend, Karen, was uh at home in the trailer, sweating, so and that wasn't a good life for her at all. So I had to make arrangements to do something different, so I decided to join the Navy and I went off to boot camp.

SPEAKER_01: 4:28

So where'd you go to boot camp?

SPEAKER_02: 4:30

Went to boot camp in Orlando, Florida.

SPEAKER_01: 4:32

Okay. So it was a not a lot of air conditioning during boot camp, was there?

SPEAKER_02: 4:36

No, but uh boot camp was pretty decent. Yeah. I come there. I cut the tip of my finger while I was in boot camp while we were cutting melons in half. Right. And they had to take me out to the hospital, which was good because I got to see all different kinds of people besides boot camp. But it it was it was an experience.

SPEAKER_01: 4:55

So what was it like when you first got to boot camp? Was it what you were expecting or or not?

SPEAKER_02: 5:00

Uh a little rough thing, you know, shave your head and all that stuff when you start and uh issue you what you gotta get issued, you know, clothing and stuff like that. So um I dealt with it and uh I think I did pretty decent. So um I ended up getting sent back by a week at the end, so I spent an extra week there. But the unit that I went to got a lot more medals and flags than the unit I came from. So and I was part of that unit when they graduated, so um Yeah, not necessarily a bad thing though.

SPEAKER_01: 5:42

Not necessarily a bad thing. No, not at all. And so um w if you don't mind me asking, why were you why did you get sent back?

SPEAKER_02: 5:49

I when they held up the ranks of different officers and stuff like that, I didn't get one right. So and if you fail, you fail. And then so they sent me back a week and I was okay. But I learned them. Right, right. You got them done, right? Yep, I got them done after that. I didn't want to miss them again, so yeah. It was maybe a senior chief or something like that. But I didn't get the exact right when I seen the uh the symbol for it. So I still remember them now though. I remember a lot of them. Um so that's what I was telling my brother, my son joined the army. Uh huh. I have no idea what the army ranks are. I just know what the name is, and I know that you know E1, E2, E3, and on are all the same for enlisted people, and he's enlisted.

SPEAKER_01: 6:41

So Okay. All right. Um, I do want to go back just a little bit, and if if you don't mind, what so we talked a little bit about childhood. Can you tell me a little bit about your parents, your mom and dad, and what they did and what they were like?

SPEAKER_02: 6:53

My dad worked at General Motors Hydromatics down in Willow Run area. Uh-huh. Uh he retired from there, worked there quite a few years. And um he was working there the whole time. We used to go fishing all the time. My dad used to take me fishing all the time, so I'm an avid fisherman. Yeah. I love doing that. Uh, it kind of stopped after he got a little up there in age a little bit. So um, my mom didn't work until I was probably like an early teenager, and then she got a work job working at uh Comfort Inn, I think it's Comfort Inn. One of the hotel changes. Oh, okay. And um she used to do the laundry, fold clothes. She met a lot of important people working there, you know, that would fly in to Detroit for one reason or another. So that was interesting. So, but she was away a lot of times, and basically I had a lot of freedom to do whatever I wanted to do, run around and you know, didn't have to check in like a lot of kids, like all my friends had to. Right. You know, I'm so what do you got to check in for? I'm uh, you know, wasn't used to that, but I understand it now. Right. So when you have your own kids. Yes, I have my own kids. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 8:13

Okay. Well, I just kind of wanted to cover that because you didn't really talk about it. So you uh you get you get to boot camp, you make it through boot camp after that one week setback, and um what happens next? Where do you go next?

SPEAKER_02: 8:24

Well, I asked for brother duty on the USS Nimitz because of my girlfriend who I had run away with. Right. I had her go from Pensacola, Florida, where she was staying, to um, and the reason we were there was my brother, I had another brother that was in the that was in the Navy too. He was in Pensacola, stationed in Pensacola. So she was staying there for a while, and then um I had her go to Norfolk, Virginia, where my brother was my other brother. Uh-huh. One was Glenn, that was the first one. Skip was uh oldest, my oldest brother, he was in Norfolk. Okay. So I had her go to Norfolk, and um so I got back about a week before I got out, which explains why I got sent back a week, I guess. Um she ended up getting caught and having to go back to Michigan. Cause she still wasn't 18 yet, right? No, she was not. She was only 15 at the time. Right. So and uh so she got caught, and then uh I had to go visit her whenever I got a chance, whenever I had any days off. You know, and so that was a lot of driving back and forth. It's about 700-mile drive. So and uh her parents finally decided that they would go ahead and let me marry her since you know uh we went through all what we went through. Right. So and then um so we got married the day after part of the week after she turned 16. And then I had five kids with her.

SPEAKER_01: 10:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_02: 10:05

So I've got uh my daughter Jennifer, the oldest, she was born in 1980, and then Melissa, born in 1983, and then we took a long break, and then Mark was born in 1992, and then Jessica was born in 1995, and then all of a sudden the last one came in 2001, which she was more of a surprise, and that's Stacy.

SPEAKER_01: 10:32

Okay. So and so how long were you married? 25 years. Wow, it's a long time.

SPEAKER_02: 10:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_01: 10:38

All right. Well, let's go back a little bit though. So you uh you get done with basic training, and then um did you go on to other training or did you just go to the fleet?

SPEAKER_02: 10:49

What I did was I went to as a as a just a regular recruit. And it was a uh not even an airman yet. I was just a regular recruit. Um went on board the USS Nimitz. Um well we when I got stationed on the Nimitz, they had a they were making a movie called The Final Countdown.

SPEAKER_00: 11:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 11:12

So I was in one scene. Um so it was so quick though that I don't think you notice me now. During one of the general quarters, we all got up and ran. It was uh just part of the movie. Yeah. So but I met uh Kurt Douglas and Captain Ross and uh and the little dog and and uh there was other people. I sat in the director's chair just like you're sitting in. Uh-huh. And uh because uh I think the son was the director and the dad was the and one of the actors, he played the uh the captain of the ship. Okay. So that's pretty exciting. Yes, it was real exciting. I like to watch the movie because it reminds everything I see in that movie is exactly as it was. You know, there's that movie is real. I'm gonna have to watch that movie again. Yeah. See if I can pick you out. Oh, yeah. I tried to do that. I tried to stop it and I couldn't. So fast. You can't tell anyway. I was a lot smaller than than I am now.

SPEAKER_01: 12:18

So we all were, I think. Yes. Back in the day. So yeah, so you uh you so you were a non-designated seaman at that point or non-designated seven.

SPEAKER_02: 12:27

Yes, I was a seaman, seaman recruit. And then um I decided I wanted I well, I was colorblind. Okay. So I had a choice of becoming a parachute rigger, or I could become an aviation storekeeper. Um I think it was about the only couple of ranks that I was allowed to become. So I decided to go into the aviation, so I became an uh airman recruit. Uh-huh. And after that, I became a third-class petty officer um as an aviation storekeeper.

SPEAKER_01: 13:00

Okay. And how long were you on the uh Nimitz for though?

SPEAKER_02: 13:04

Oh, quite a f quite a few years. I don't remember the exact dates, but I would say we went on two Mediterranean cruises and we went to the Virgin Islands, um went to Port Lauderdale, which was really exciting.

SPEAKER_00: 13:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 13:20

One of the best ports that I've been in. So I've been to a lot of ports. Um but we also stopped and I went to Israel, got baptized in the River Jordan. First time I was baptized. Um baptized. Uh baptized. Anyway, and then I went to um Athens, Greece. I've seen all parts of Italy, Venice, the Leaning Tower at Pisa, the Cathedral in Rome. We went to England and I seen the London Bridge in the in the Big Clock Tower. Oh, yeah. Big Ben. Big Ben. Yeah. And um went to Paris, seen the Eiffel Tower. Um The Rock of Gibraltar, we passed by many times going through the little so did you get your order of the rock certificate?

SPEAKER_01: 14:19

That's another one that's in there.

SPEAKER_02: 14:20

Um, no. They didn't give me any kind of certificate for that. Oh, well that that exists because I have one. Well, then I need to ask them to get me that. Yeah, you should find out. I need to get it because I need to put my certificates in in uh in a frame. I got a bunch of them. We uh we went across the equator, so we went through uh the shellback initiation. Uh-huh. And uh my brother was with me at the time. We had to dress up in um as a polywog. You put your clothes on inside out, and you had to make a tail. So we made a tail. We all walked around with tails and stuff, and I remember all that part and remember crawling around all the stuff. We've seen uh King Neptune and you used to wash your face in Greece.

SPEAKER_01: 15:11

Oh, yeah, you gotta kiss Neptune's belly, don't you?

SPEAKER_02: 15:14

Yes. Yeah. That was that. And uh they would smash eggs on your back and stuff like that. Um and then we would blow the pat eyes. Well, pat eyes are how you tie down the aircraft to the deck. We would uh blow those out. You have to clean every one of them out, even though they were all cleaned a hundred times already. But uh we crawled around all over the place, and then we'd come to a final pool area, and they would ask you if you're a shellback or a polywog. If you said polywog, you had to start all over again. So, but you kind of learn that as you're going through from the people that have gone through already. Right. So I didn't have to go through twice, but I said shell back. Jumped in the in the water and cleaned yourself off as much as you can. And I was that, and so I was a shell back. Now I got to walk around and be one of the bosses, I guess you'd call it. So I went over to my brother who was still walking through, and I put an S on his back because I was just joking around. He wasn't not happy. That means special case. Yeah. Some reason this guy messed up, so they bust more eggs on you and just treat you a little rougher. I can imagine he'd be upset. Yeah, he was upset. But I said it was just joking around. So, but he got over it, so he you know, he probably would have done the same thing. He says, I would not have. So pretty sure he would have, yeah. Yeah. So, but uh we both ended up maybe becoming shellbacks.

SPEAKER_01: 16:51

What a great interest.

SPEAKER_02: 16:52

There wasn't a celebration like that when we went across the Arctic Circle, but we did get a certificate called the Blue Nose certificate. So um, that's another certificate I earned. Um we spent 144 days at sea one time. We were on a Mediterranean cruise, and the captain came over to the speaker and said that we were extending our cruise. So we ended up spending 144 days at sea straight without seeing any land. I think the only thing we saw was a couple of rocks sticking out of the bottom of the of the ocean when we went around the Cape of Africa all the way down. And we sat in the Indian Ocean for a long time, and um President Carter came aboard the ship, and we should I shook his hand, and um he gave us all a warm beer.

SPEAKER_01: 17:47

I was gonna say you earned a beer, right?

SPEAKER_02: 17:49

Because after so many days. Yes, we earned a warm beer, so um, which I'm not a beer drinker anyway. I'm not a drinker at all. So but uh it was it was decent. So we used to have picnics up there on the flight deck and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01: 18:07

So when you um when you uh finished your time on the Nimitz, did you get out of the Navy then or did you re-enlist?

SPEAKER_02: 18:16

I uh when I got off the Nimitz, I went over and worked at Fleet Accounting Dispersion Center for the Atlantic Fleet. Yeah. And I balanced the checkbooks for the Atlantic Fleet. Um, different aircraft carriers and going through adding them up and subtracting them just to make sure they come out to and they're always out of balance. No small task, right? Right, it's no small task, but uh it's called Fatzy Land. So I when I first got orders there, I said, Man, I'm going to Fantasyland. Not exactly. Not exactly, but uh but I remember thinking that when I got stationed there. But that was a really interesting job. So um so we did that, and then um I think that's when I got out and I ended up getting uh honorable discharge with immediate reenlistment into the TAR Navy. Uh-huh. That's the uh training administration of reservists. So now my off days were Monday and Tuesday instead of Saturday and Sunday, so we can train the reservists all the time. Right. And we went on detachments and stuff. I was in um um Halford Helicopter Squadron, uh-huh, worked with uh the Rambo-type helicopters, uh Huey's. Yeah. And um, so I ordered parts for them and I'd expedited. That was my main job is expediting, finding parts wherever I can find them. Um and uh we went on detachment to to uh Denmark. Oh. And I was sitting at we everybody was in civilian clothes, and I was sitting at a picnic over in Denmark, and I started talking to this one guy, and he ended up being the captain of the of the squadron. Oh, and I'm like, oh, okay. You know, so but he we I mean he was just a normal human being, just a regular guy, right? Yeah, and uh so we were talking about if we knew anybody that lived overseas in in this area, and I my brother had a foreign exchange student, can't remember her name right now, but she uh lived in the Netherlands. Uh-huh. So I was talking to him about that, and he asked me, Do you want to go see her? I thought, I don't know, I guess so. Uh we could do that. You know, if that's possible, that would be cool.

SPEAKER_01: 20:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 20:43

So um I got the information of her address and stuff. So I never met them, and their parents don't speak any English, so that wasn't adventure. But um, what happened was uh he we picked the day that we were gonna go. This was just me and the captain talking. Uh-huh. Okay. And then we got times a day to go, and I packed my sea bag with, you know, a few things and got ready to go. We're only going for one night. And um so I go to go, and the warrant officer comes up and says, Where do you think you're going? And I told him, well, going to the Netherlands. Right. You know, the first party officer knew that my my supervisor. And um, so he said, No, you ain't going nowhere. You didn't follow the chain of command. I said, He asked me. I didn't ask him. So uh about an hour after they came and got me and said, You can go as long as you can fit your stuff on the you can fit on the helicopter, because they're taking a bunch of Navy SEALs wherever they're supposed to go. So uh I went ahead and went over there and they found a spot for my seabag, and they got me, and I was sitting between the pilot and the co-pilot, looking down in this big bubble like glass sitting there. And then so we took off and we we went and uh so they flew to Germany first. We stopped to refuel in Germany, they dropped off all the seals in Germany, and then we took off and went towards the Netherlands, and they were looking for the spot, and they almost couldn't find it. But finally we found a big X on a like a football field. Uh-huh. And so he went ahead and landed there, and I jumped out of the uh helicopter and went running over to these people that I didn't know. And then the helicopter takes off, sort of made me feel like I was James Bond or something. And then the next day, you know, I won't just kind of roamed around the town and stuff like that. The girl that I was going to see, she was in school all the time. That's all they do over there is go to school, right? Almost 24 hours. So um, but I slept in the uh they're upstairs. It was house just like I grew up in.

SPEAKER_00: 22:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 22:57

So um there was windmills and stuff like that. I've never seen that. But anyway, um, the next day they brought me back to that same field and a helicopter comes landing in, and I run over, jump in a helicopter, and they take me back. So it just made me feel pretty special for them to take the time out to do something like that. You know, just for visiting somebody. So it was great. That's really cool. Yep. Things I'll tell my grandkids about.

SPEAKER_01: 24:05

So yeah. So so and you were married at this time, right? By now? Had you got married? Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 24:12

Yes, I was I was already married. This was um, I don't remember what year it was, but it was uh quite a few years after I enlisted. I was already in the Tower Navy.

SPEAKER_01: 24:24

And now had you made uh Petty Officer Second Class by by now?

SPEAKER_02: 24:29

Uh yes, I was in E5 for a long this time. Yeah. Kept trying to make E6, but I kept passing it down advanced.

SPEAKER_01: 24:36

And that test, man. PA. I hate that. I hate those three letters.

SPEAKER_02: 24:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01: 24:42

Yeah. So then um what year did you end up getting out of the out of the service then?

SPEAKER_02: 24:47

I got out in 1984.

SPEAKER_01: 24:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 24:51

Um so the year after your no, excuse me. Got out in 1993. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_01: 24:56

Okay. Okay. So so you're all your kids are are born by then, right? So you have all five of your kids you get out. And so what did you do after?

SPEAKER_02: 25:06

No, I had um I got out in 1993. I still had another girl born in 1995. Okay. My son was born, he was only a baby. Okay. And I had another daughter in 1995, and then I had my last daughter in 2001. Oh, geez, I skipped two. Oh no. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 25:25

So, what did you do once you got out of the military?

SPEAKER_02: 25:27

I got out of the military and I ended up getting odd jobs. I worked at PBS Chemicals in downtown Detroit for uh six months. Uh, I was filling up trucks with like uh it's called ferric chloride uh for um sewage streamer plants.

SPEAKER_00: 25:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 25:48

So did a lot of that. Um, it was a kind of a dirty job on the inside. They had dry powder stuff they made on the inside, and then they had a liquid. That's what I used to load the trucks up, work on this theme, and it took a long time to load a truck up. So um so I did that for a while, and then after that, I worked a couple little odd jobs here and there, and then I ended up getting a job at Daimler Chrysler. And I worked at Daimler Chrysler for nine years, and then um I took a buyout from Daumler Chrysler and ended up going on Social Security Disability, and I've been on Social Security Disability since then.

SPEAKER_01: 26:26

Okay. What what did you do for Chrysler?

SPEAKER_02: 26:29

I worked as a spot welder basically. Um pushed buttons, okay, and they put the parts in. That's how I cut my hand really bad. Oh. Um I was walking up some stairs and slipped, and there was sheet metal parts. Yeah. And there was no railing to catch. So I grabbed the parts and they just sliced right in the bottom. It was I left a deer trail. Oh, yeah. I could follow you to wherever you want. I went all the way to medical, which I was on the opposite end of the of the warehouse. So walked all the way of the factory, all the way into uh medical, and they wrapped my hand up so tight that I thought my little finger was busted. Right. It just didn't have no blood going to it. But um they stitched it up inside and out. Yeah. And so I have but I can use my hand. I can't bend it as much as I can this one. Right. But it's it works. That's that's the important thing, right? Yep.

SPEAKER_01: 27:23

Yeah. So you uh you did that for nine years and then uh now you're on uh social security disability and I've been on social security disability since.

SPEAKER_02: 27:31

Yeah. And living here in Jackson and fishing and no, I was living in uh in um Garden City, my back garden city for a while. And then after that I got an apartment in Northville.

SPEAKER_00: 27:45

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02: 27:46

I stayed in Northville for a year, and then I decided uh my mom passed away while I was away. Uh-huh. And um, so she would have loved this house. I seen this house, I looked out, I look out over a lake, and uh, it's what I wanted my whole life. Yeah. So I said, well, I'm gonna go for it. And so I went ahead and purchased the house using a VA loan. Uh-huh. So because I didn't have no money for down payment or nothing like that. So still had come up with a little bit of it, little little bit of it, but we rolled it into the price of the house. Yeah. Also, plus they did concessions. And um I got the house. So happy. It's a perfect size for me. Yeah. So I got a bedroom that's never used. It's not much of a bedroom, but it's a bedroom that I never used, so we'll see. Things will work out. So um I started going to Northville Church. Um and uh it's a mega church, and I got baptized there, and um I've got a lot closer to God and Jesus since. Um and uh now I go to uh uh apostric church in Albion, Michigan. Oh, apost is apostolic.

SPEAKER_01: 29:18

Yes, it's a hard word to say.

SPEAKER_02: 29:19

Yeah, it's you're right. I won't want to say apostles or something like that, but apostolic church in uh Church of Christ, Christ Apostolic Church in Albion, Michigan. Uh-huh. So I drive there at least every Sunday, sometimes on Wednesdays, and um and I attend church all the time there. And uh I did do a bunch of Bible studies. I did uh crossroads Bible study tier one and tier two. Tier three sits on my dresser, and it's a lot different than tier one and tier two, so that's why it's still sitting on my dresser. Right. A lot of reading in a different book, so and but it's that book plus the Bible, so um, but I think I've been blessed with lots and lots of good things in my life. Yeah, I had some bad things in my life, but the I think the good outweighs the bad anyway.

SPEAKER_01: 30:22

Yeah. So yeah. So um, you know, we've covered a lot of your life and things that you've done. Um, is there anything that we haven't talked about that you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_02: 30:34

Um I don't can't think of anything super special. Um I know I went to Israel and and I walked uh path that Jesus walked. Yeah. Um that's one of the things we did. And then I I mentioned all the other, most of the places that I went, I might have missed uh a few of them. Um Venice. I don't know if I mentioned Venice.

SPEAKER_01: 31:00

Yep, you did Italy and Venice and what was the thing when we so back in the day the Navy was join the Navy, see the world. And uh it's true.

SPEAKER_02: 31:09

Yes, it is true. Yeah, absolutely. Very true. The only thing I didn't get to see was I didn't go on any kind of uh a Westpac type cruise. I didn't get to go to Australia, I didn't go to go to Japan and uh Philippines and those kind of places, which I would have absolutely loved. Right. I already know I would have loved it, and uh so who knows what my future will bring, though. I might still get a chance to go to some of those places too.

SPEAKER_01: 31:35

Well, that's true. So well, then really, I just have one. More questions for you this afternoon, and that is for someone who listens to this years from now, what message would you like to leave for people?

SPEAKER_02: 31:49

Well, join the Navy and see the world, number one. Absolutely. And uh it's it's actually uh a very good job. Uh the Navy to me is better than the other services because we get to sit on the ship, and it's I know they said the Titanic was unsinkable, but these aircraft carriers are basically unsinkable, and then if they do sink, then it didn't matter anyway. Right, right. So um but yes, it's a good it's it's that's what more kids, teenagers need to do is join as soon as possible and uh lead a lead a decent life for the rest of your life. If you I could have joined I could have retired at 37 years old if I would have been wise, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 32:46

Oh, we all learn from our mistakes, right? All right. Well, Tim, thanks for taking time out this afternoon to sit and talk to me. I appreciate it. You're welcome.