From Fireman To Master-At-Arms

The Navy rarely follows the plan you had at 17, and John Lukosus is living proof. We sit down as shipmates and walk through a career that starts in the engineering spaces as an undesignated fireman, then pivots hard into the Master-at-Arms world when family reality hits and the stakes suddenly feel personal. Along the way, we unpack what “watchstanding” really teaches you about leadership, why mentorship matters more than motivation speeches, and how one good chain of command can change the entire direction of a sailor’s life.

From the post-9/11 force protection surge to harbor patrol, overseas naval security forces, and joint work with Air Force security forces in Japan, John explains how the MA mission expands and how the job can feel very different depending on the base, the SECO, and the expectations of CNIC inspections and FEP. He also shares one of those stories every veteran recognizes: a mission briefed as short and simple that turns into a long, uncomfortable adventure, including an embarked security assignment that becomes 87 days on a submarine.

We also get honest about the cost, including EFMP complications, geographic separation, an IA to Guantanamo Bay, and the stress of leadership as you move from MA2 to MA1 to Chief and Senior Chief. Near the end, a medical emergency and heart surgery force a reset, but he fights back to stay mission-ready and takes one final run with USS Tripoli in Seventh Fleet before deciding to retire on his own terms. If you care about Navy leadership, veteran career transition, Master-at-Arms life, force protection, or how families shape military decisions, this one will stick with you.

If the story helps you, subscribe, share it with a shipmate, and leave a review so more sailors and veterans can find these hard-earned lessons. What part of John’s path sounds most like your own?

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Transcript

Welcome And Navy Connection

Gary Wise 0:28

Hello, everybody. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon, Ohio, Kumawa, off of a day. All of the greetings. It's Gary once again, Wise Leadership Solutions, words from the Wise coming at you today with another exciting guest. I got a brother today that served in the United States Navy with me. Uh him and I crossed paths multiple times in Japan. It really was my time when I was the seventh fleet staff on board the Blue Ridge. He was at Naval Service Security Forces over Yokosuka. So let me introduce him to the stage. Actually, I'm tired. We did a drill competition yesterday. My voice is raw from yelling for those kids. That's good. How are you doing?

John Lukosus 1:15

Pretty good, man. I saw that. Yeah. It looks like you're keeping busy after retirement. That's awesome. Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:21

I am, man. You know, so I've got a son who's now 17. He's a senior. And when I retired from the Navy, he was going into his freshman year. So strategically, right, I was kind of thinking a good time to jump out would be when he's going into high school, get him somewhere. Because see, dude, he moved so many places, right, as a kid. And uh ROTC just kind of fit because I could be embedded in the school and make sure that God forbid something goes sideways. I'm close enough to be available. And also to go from Dodea at schools to public education was kind of a trip, too, right? Like you know how that goes.

John Lukosus 2:02

John, are you there?

Gary Wise 2:05

Yeah. Can you hear me?

John Lukosus 2:07

Yeah, I can hear you. It was in and out, but I I got you, man.

Gary Wise 2:11

Brother, I don't know that we're gonna want to do this, dog. I think the internet's so sketchy, it's gonna kill us that we're gonna be constantly trying to catch up with each other.

John Lukosus 2:21

Okay, yeah, man. Uh I don't know if it's my signal or I I don't uh now it looks good, but I don't know.

Gary Wise 2:29

Okay, let's give it a shot, man. Let's roll. So uh John, where did you where were you originally from? Because Leucosis, I was looking at your I was looking at your email handle, right? I was like, okay, I was trying to figure out like what's the background of the last name Leucosis? And I'm just curious, what's that? Where's your family name from?

John Lukosus 2:50

So family names from Lithuania, uh, hence the SUS. So if it was SOS, that's Greek. So Lithuania is SUS. So um, but I'm from uh Illinois and Mesa, Arizona. So it's kind of weird. A lot of Lithuanians migrated back in the day to uh Chicago or Illinois, and then uh eventually uh my parents then moved to Arizona, so I joined the Navy from Mesa, Arizona. Yeah.

Gary Wise 3:20

Where is Mesa actually? Is that because I lived in Phoenix? I've gotten down south.

John Lukosus 3:25

Yeah, it's outside of Phoenix. Um so it's very near, yeah, close to Phoenix.

Gary Wise 3:32

How old were you when you moved to Arizona from Illinois?

John Lukosus 3:36

Uh so I moved, I think end of my so I moved for kindergarten to Arizona and then did kindergarten to sixth grade in Arizona and then moved to Illinois from sixth grade to freshman year, and then Arizona was all my high school years. So how was the thing?

Gary Wise 3:59

How was how was that transition like during middle school to go back to Illinois? Was that a big difference from Arizona?

John Lukosus 4:07

Oh, yeah, because I I was living in a big city in Arizona, and then I was in a small town in Illinois, so uh, but yeah, it was pretty pretty small, man.

Gary Wise 4:16

Okay, yeah. So the seasons, yeah.

High School Plans And Enlistment

John Lukosus 4:22

Yeah, the seasons, and then Arizona, it's it's all all the time hot or you know, summer, but yeah, it still cools off dry heat, though.

Gary Wise 4:32

So yeah, dry heat for sure. And then when you got back to Arizona for high school, when you look back on high school years, what was it about? I mean, what what were you doing in high school? Did you always think the military was gonna be an option when you graduated, or were you looking at other things?

John Lukosus 4:48

Um so um basically I thought I was gonna go to uh NAU or a college up in Flagstaff uh and just party uh with my friends who said that they were going to NAU. So I said, okay, I'll go to the community college and just hang out so we can party and snowboard and do that kind of cool stuff, you know, winter sports up in Flagstaff. Uh but uh it didn't work out that way. Um, where I'm from in Illinois, there was a lot of uh Navy vets. So I knew that if I was gonna join a service, I was gonna join the Navy. So that's what uh that's what I did. And um eventually uh was supposed to join the Air Force. Uh I took the ASPAB and they informed me, hey, it wasn't uh you should probably study some more and take an ex while I was in station and um I wanted to uh do something with my life after high school. I wanted everything figured out, you know. So yeah, um I then uh went to the recruiting station and popped in, saw them. And uh my recruiter is was I remember to this day, HT2 Carl May. Uh basically he said uh everything. He said the good lines, yeah, you can get money for college. And then I was like, Where's the boot camp? I knew it was in Chicago after being from Illinois, and he said, uh Chicago. I said, okay, so let me sign. So I think I had to call my mom, and my mom came down, even though I was uh 17 or 18, I can't remember. And then my mom came in, signed the paper, and then we talked. Uh they said, Oh, okay, cool. Uh, you want to fight fires? I was like, Yeah, I want to be a fireman, and so uh fireman ATD. So uh that's what happened.

Gary Wise 6:38

Fireman. What year did you join?

John Lukosus 6:43

Uh 1997, June. I left for boot camp six six days out of high school. Uh I was on that uh that um flight and went to boot camp June 10th, 1997.

Boot Camp And Life In Engineering

Gary Wise 6:57

Okay, so you and I joined in March 97th, so we were at the same time, and I also was an undesignated fireman. So I can't relate. So you came in undesignated fireman. Uh the reason why I asked for the high school thing is because a lot of my students that listen to the podcast are they're trying to figure it out, right? They're trying to figure out life, and the reality starts hitting you in the face in your senior year. You know, they start they start recognizing that all their plans to go party at NAU may not really pan out, right? Like that may not work out, and then they like you, uh they're in a Navy ROTC program, so they have access to Navy veterans, and a lot of so a lot of them might drift towards the Navy. And what I've learned doing in these conversations with people is a lot of us that joined the Navy had people that we knew that were in the Navy. You know, it wasn't just a random, I'm gonna go join the Navy. It was you knew somebody that was connected to the Navy, you know. I I think the Army gets the most people, or the Marines get the most people that are like just walk on. I want to be a soldier, I want to be a Marine. Um Navy, you gotta know someone that tells you it's not that bad. Right? Um, so you go to you go to boot camp. How you go to boot camp in the summer, you already know how ill ill Illinois is. How was boot camp for you? Was it everything you expected it to be? How was boot camp for you, brother? Was it everything you expected it to be? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you see me? Can you hear me? Can you see me? Can you hear me? Yeah, can you hear me?

John Lukosus 8:55

Yeah, I'm good. Yeah.

Gary Wise 8:58

Okay, so how was boot camp for you, man? Was it everything you thought it was going to be?

John Lukosus 9:05

Yeah, so I had uh, you know, listened in in depth. Um, you know, and uh it was pretty much everything I thought it was gonna be, but yeah, I was a mama's boy, so I was away from home, and uh that was hard. Uh but uh I learned to just get through it because that's just something that's gonna better my future at that time, you know, uh because I didn't know what I wanted to do. Um, so got through with it, and you know, um no setbacks with that, you know, and then uh graduated on time in uh August.

Gary Wise 9:42

So then you go to fireman school, right? You go to that little three-day training class, you know, like this is the valve, this is the end, this is where yeah.

John Lukosus 9:51

Uh you did like tools and their uses or stuff like that, and then um I think it mine was three weeks at the time, so it was it was real short. And then I took leave, and then uh yeah, but uh went back home and then uh took leave, did uh heart duty, the recruiting for like a week, and then it saved leave. And then uh I checked into the USS Boxer LHD 4 out of San Diego and uh has an undesignated fire.

Gary Wise 10:25

Okay, so my first ship was Bellowwood, so LHA, so very similar class ship, right? Yeah, boxer LHD. Where'd they stick you right away? Dude, where was your first division?

Family Loss And Converting To MA

John Lukosus 10:36

So MP aft. So down in the uh, you know, uh in the pit is basically what they called it. So uh I went there, you know, stood watch six and six. Uh it made me uh who I am today. So uh, you know, I look back on it and yeah, it was different doing it while at the time, but uh it made me who I am, and it learned me to appreciate a little bit more of my career uh looking back uh because I worked uh for that, you know, six and six, and then you push to get qualified, and then uh eventually you're six and eighteen, or it's just you know, a little bit different. But uh so um I was there, I qualified in um everything that I needed to do, uh, you know, on the in the the B side because this was 97, so the boiler text went away, so to speak, but they uh still claim to be boilertex. Uh but I was on the B side, then I worked in the auxiliary machinery room, then I was uh uh the oily water uh pump operator, I was uh lower level condenser watch, uh MM messenger. I started out and then I started moving around, and then I was like, wow, this is easy. Uh you know, and then uh I met some guys that really took care of me, some MM1s and BT1s, and they said, hey man, stick with us, we got you. And I became an MM3. I went to the oil lab, went to a lot of the oil lab schools, the fuel and water king, oil water king, and then uh I stayed in the oil lab. And then um, so yeah, I I was there. I did two deployments on the boxer, and uh I eventually uh was able to convert to MA. Um, my chief engineer at one time said, Hey, uh, what would it take for you to stay in the Navy? I said, uh, well, first of all, I want recruiting orders. And so he said, Okay. So he gave me Navy Recruiting District, uh, I think Chicago. And at that time, I said, okay, I took the orders, uh, you know, and uh told my wife, I was we were newly married. I told her I was gonna go recruiting, and she was like, Okay. Um, and then all of a sudden, um, I we went on deployment, she got sick on deployment. I came back home, and I had 15 days left on my EAOS. Um, and so I had a change of heart, and then uh I was like, Oh, I'm gonna get out. I told my chief engineer and my chain of command. When my chief engineer said, Hey, uh, let's talk about this, let's revisit this. Uh, so he talked to me and said, What would it keep for you to stay in? I said, Well, make me an MA. And so he said, Okay, uh, I came back and we talked, and then uh he said, I got just the deal. How about you uh you become an MA and you go to um Las Vegas? I was like, Wow, okay, sold. And so um, yeah, so basically I was an MM3, then I convert uh I was to convert, so I had a um 9545 is what they call it back then, and so I said, okay, let me do this. And um basically I thought I was a done deal and I was going to Las Vegas. Well, it wasn't Las Vegas, it was Fallon, Nevada, NAS Fallon, Nevada Security Detachment. So um I uh go to 9545 in Lackland uh Air Force Base. It was where the MA and 9545 school was at that time. Uh still is. I was just there a couple months ago. Uh, but anyways, I go out there and uh holy cow, uh, I become an MA. Um, but 9545 still, and then uh I check into Fallon, Nevada, and that's where I became uh MA2. And then yeah, so I stayed out there and then uh yeah, that's it for that.

Gary Wise 14:47

So I will tell you uh so many similarities. I was also on the AF Main Machinery Room on board Bellowwood. I was a boiler guy working with the again 99, working with the guys that were just BTs and they didn't want to give me no MMs, right? I'm burned in BT lower level, BT upper level, all that stuff. And then I got damage control, right? For my rate. Um, I went recruiting, right, as a young sailor, as a third class. Um but but I could see what was it that was so scary about your wife's medical thing where you're just like I'm getting out of the navy, bro. Like what was because that was that what caused you to say I'm just getting out? Was it your wife's medical thing?

John Lukosus 15:29

To tell you the truth, it was just uh she had lost a kid, she was pregnant, and so she had lost the kid, but it was it was like early on in the pregnancy, so it was kind of you know, but at that time I was young, not thinking, and I just said, Okay, let me get out, you know, and she just thought of me being back home, didn't really we didn't think about everything, and so I think that's when I had a change of heart, like you know, and I thought about it, I was like, wow, if she would have got pregnant and then this and this and that, you know, or if she was still pregnant, um, how do you how do you care for that kid without a job? So, yeah, I can go back to Arizona, but what what am I gonna do? So um, you know, so that that's what happened.

Gary Wise 16:14

No, I can see that though, right? And I will tell you, coming off of here you are at the tail end of a of a tour on board the boxer, having your deployments under your belt, and you know, go you're gonna go back to a ship again as a machinist mate, right? You're gonna go back to a ship. And yeah, when you're on those deployments, there's only so much you can do, right? It's not it's not like you can just go home tomorrow sometimes, right? It's that's pretty scary for a lot of us because people people don't really recognize how much the navy deploys, right? We deploy consistently, continuously, whether there's this whether there's war happening or not, those ships are getting underway, right? Right. Um, and so I remember in the late 90s, people looking at the MA rate, they were looking at career recruiter, they were looking at going uh reservist, they were they were even offering, remember uh 15-year retirements for first classes back then because just I would say quality of life was hell on wheels. It was it was tough, right? Um, yeah, so I could see where going MA was an option for you guys, especially coming through that challenging time as a family. But and you know what else is cool is you had a chain of command that was willing to work with you, bro, because we didn't have computers back then like we have now, right? There wasn't no internet like there is today, and all this other stuff. You luckily you had some people that could pull some strings, that sounds like to get you some good opportunities.

John Lukosus 17:42

Yeah, and so uh, you know, I like I said, I went to Fallon, checked in as MM3, and the master chief said, Hey, I got a program for you, and you'll be the ATV guy. You're they're gonna be doing all the maintenance security. And I said, Well, I want to be an MA. She was a uh she called, and I was an MA3 in two weeks at that time.

Gary Wise 18:07

So that's about Wow. So you went there really on short duty orders as an engineer to go just do base security stuff for short duty, and you were able to leverage that opportunity to convert over to the ring.

John Lukosus 18:22

Yeah, within two weeks of checking in. I mean, I was an MA2 or MA3, and then eventually I took the test and became MA2, right? First time up after taking the test four times for MM2.

Post 9-11 Force Protection Shift

Gary Wise 18:34

So let me ask you then, because you were also, it sounds pretty effective as an engineer, right? Because they don't just pick knuckleheads to go into the oil lab, right? Like you've got to impress people to get into the oil lab. So, how how did you like the transition from the rules, the regulation, you know, the EOS, the EOP, the EOCC world of engineering going into the world now of naval security forces? Was that an easy transition or was that was that a little challenging?

John Lukosus 19:04

So that transition, it was uh a little bit challenging, but yeah, um, you know, EOS and uh the UCMJ or uh or just you know being an MA, you're you got strict uh stuff that you follow, you know, procedures, uh when you stay on the watch, you know, SOPs, different stuff. So I wasn't it wasn't that challenging, but yeah, at the fact that I missed the camaraderie uh in engineering. And then going to be an MA, it was it was a little bit different. But then it was like, hey, as long as you stay tuned to yourself, you know, uh, I think uh the foundation was there, and eventually everything else about being a new rate, especially in MA. I mean, just be yourself, you know. So I was very eager to hit the road uh to be a patrolman. So I mean, right away, uh did what I had to do. But I still had that engineering background that uh, you know, that I knew a lot of people, so it was easy for me to still relate to a lot of people instead of I'm just an MA, you know, in the in that way. Um, so uh that you know helped me when I went back to a ship as an MAC. You know, I was still the engineering background and understanding, you know, what engineers do.

Gary Wise 20:21

And that's huge, man. I will tell you the MA community, and we're gonna talk about this here in a second, but after 9-11, when they started accessing people in as MAs right out the gate, I think they lost a little bit about what made the MAs, I would say, uh really, really, really, really effective on the waterfront because they had that other background, right? Uh then you get it, you get an MA chief coming to the ship who's never done the the deck plate stuff before, they might be a little bit more frustrated with the role, right? Because it's not glamorous, right? But but it's what got us, it's what has to happen, right? Yeah, I remember uh I was on I was on the George Washington and I had a bunch of buddies that had done global war on terror stuff in Iraq and Afghanistan, right? And this is like 2010, 11, 12 time frame, and they really were frustrated being in the regular Navy. They missed being like overseas doing operational kinetic things. And I was like, brother, we do general quarters and cleaning stations, get used to it, bro. Like, I need you to be all into that because you're a leader and you're sailors, and you just this is the thing, this is what we do, bro. Learn how to do spot checks, homie. Yeah, yeah, you know, because it takes a lot of our man hours to keep those big ships running and going, right? Um yeah, I could see that for sure. And I will tell you something else. I got to know the security forces intimately as a CMC because I was a base master chief. And I I'll tell you what, having my engineering background really helped me. To understand what they were talking about because watchstanding was watchstanding, right? Principles are principles, CCRs or CCRs, having all these different criteria. I could I can speak that language pretty clearly. The challenges was there wasn't enough people it felt like to do the job, right? It just there wasn't it just felt like there was always barely enough. And then the other thing that with the MAs, and I'm sure we'll get into this at some point, is managing the civilians with the military, right? That's a complicated management problem as a leader. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

John Lukosus 22:33

Yeah.

Gary Wise 22:33

Yes. In Fallon, did you have that? Was there a lot of DOD civilians working there as well as when I was in Fallon?

John Lukosus 22:40

That was not, yeah, that uh that didn't happen. Uh we didn't have any civilians that worked with us.

Gary Wise 22:46

So do you think did that come because of 9-11? Is that why the DOD civilians started getting hired? Because they took away the shore duty for all the sailors.

John Lukosus 22:55

Right. And then I think that was a little bit after. When I say a little bit, like less than five years after, because I don't, you know, I went back into Regent San Diego, and then there was civilians at Regent San Diego, but I think not in Fallon at that time.

Gary Wise 23:12

Yeah. So were you were you in Fallon when 9-11 happened?

John Lukosus 23:15

I was in Fallon. No, I was actually on deployment three days away from coming back. Um, and then literally got back, checked out, went to 9545, and then checked in, I want to say like a month. I mean, I checked in in December. So after uh September 11th, yes.

Gary Wise 23:39

So when you went through 9545 school, how were the instructors talking? Because at 9-11 changed a lot of things force protection-wise. I mean, the USS Cole getting hit, right? And then 9-11, those two things for the Navy really caused us to look hard at our force protection posture and what we were doing. So did you catch that energy going through training and and going into fouling? Like, hey, this is a serious concern that we've got to that we've got to really focus on.

John Lukosus 24:07

Yeah, so um that was uh I think it was, you know, that I didn't know it any different. So we pretty much focused a lot on force protection. Uh but yet law enforcement at that time was pretty big too. Um, because the you had to go through so many, like uh uh where they mock up like uh uh scenes and you have to do domestic violence or assaults in the barracks or assaults at a house and that kind of stuff. Uh so but the force protection, it was it was there, um, but it wasn't like it I didn't have anything to compare it to. So I'm I thought that was normal. Okay. Uh, but it was like uh watch standing was very big. Um how to properly turn over. But as an engineer, you understand the law, you understand that stuff, but yet, you know, the 11 general orders, the century, this time you're a century, this time, you know, different stuff like that. So force protection, yeah, it was uh, I think after uh we did a lot of force protection in Fallon. Uh, but it was different to when I went to a region San Diego in the harbor, the force protection. I was on harbor boats there in San Diego. So that force protection was, you know, the barriers, your levels, and different stuff like that. And I think it just compounded every year that or you know, and it just became the full spectrum later on. And it was, you know, but it was it was quick once we made that after September 11th. That's I remember captains um, you know, from the ships. I mean, they they were more force protection uh eccentric. Yeah, I think it was yeah, it was quick.

Gary Wise 25:58

It was a huge, it was a huge uptick, man. I think really I think the USS Cole getting hit, and then just us getting a terrorist attack, everybody just like, okay, we don't know who's gonna hit us next. We've got to be ready at all times, even in our home port, right? And that was we used to kind of be a little more relaxed in our home ports, and then it just really ticked up a lot, you know. And then did you know once you got converted to MA that you were gonna stay for a whole career, or were you still just kind of feeling it out? Because again, you went on this wild swing of like crazy, we were me and my wife going through this hard time. I'm getting out. Okay, now I got this opportunity to go MA. But even then, were you still just like, I'm not sure, I'm just gonna feel it out?

John Lukosus 26:43

No, I had a change of heart, so I was like, I love this. Um, this is what I want to do. I want to be a police officer forever, you know. Uh okay. So I just remembered way back when, you know, and I said, Hey, that police officer looks cool, but when I came in, you had to know the Navy first before, you know, back then you had to be at least in, and then you put in a package and that kind of stuff. So I said, uh, and then you know, um, so I just I looked at several avenues the MA field had, and uh, I said, you know, not everything is gonna be patrol and then stuff like that. So eventually I'm in it for the long haul.

Gary Wise 27:25

Okay, so you kind of already had the idea of going to MA in your mind before you got there. But like you said, you had to put some time in first, right? It's like you just that that was you had you had to prove yourself to the Navy before they would give you the opportunity. Yeah. Because MA, yeah, I mean, MA is a one of the oldest rates, it's a very traditional rate, and you had to have your it's a senior rate, right? In my opinion, back in the old days, the chief master at arms was one of the main people on the ship that ran good order and discipline for the captain, right? Ultimately, I mean they were probably damn near the CMC before there was a thing called the CMC, right? And and I and I was and I I understand that a thousand percent. So after Fallon, um when you went to region, did you go to Naval Base San Diego talk to the Harbor Patrol, or did you go right to the region actually and work with like oversight over the bases?

John Lukosus 28:21

No, so what you do is you back then, this is 2003. So back then you you check into the region and then they place you out, they farm you out to all the bases or Harbor Patrol. So uh somebody said, or you know, you talk to many people, your your buddies, and like, yeah, bro, they don't, you know, they really need MA2s over in uh the border. So I was like, okay, I wanted to go to the border, but then all of a sudden it was like we need more MA2s in the harbor. You're going to the harbor. So uh that's where I went. And uh I did um, you know, ship escorts, uh all types of escorts, and then uh stand and watch in what they call zone three, just the carrier basin or submarine uh in Point Loma, and then um zone one, which was uh over there in uh like uh 32nd Street past uh Pier 13.

Gary Wise 29:25

So when you you made second class petty officer in Fallon, it sounds like you come to the harbor. Is the rotation the same at the harbor as it was in Fallon? Were you on that 3223 schedule at both places?

John Lukosus 29:40

Yeah, they call that the Panama schedule every other weekend off. Uh yeah, so uh I did that, you know, and I did that for about a good year. Uh and then eventually I somehow uh made I basically took a staff job and then uh yeah, so I did that staff job after that.

Gary Wise 30:03

So my guys that were on the harbor when I was in Guam, they loved the harbor over the patrol guys because they felt like on the harbor you really didn't have to interact with a lot of people, right? You were just out there on your boat, driving.

John Lukosus 30:19

Yeah, I I ran into the same thing in Yokuska, you know, years later as a senior chief and uh hearing just different stuff that happens. Yes.

Gary Wise 30:29

Yeah, that thousand percent. And I remember working with my senior enlisted MA and being like, bro, I don't care how much they like the harbor, like MAs are MAs, and we need them to do MA stuff regardless, because the manning sucks, right? Like we gotta figure it out, right? But but people get they get really pigeonholed and I'm a harbor MA or I'm a I'm a landside guy. And yeah, it's a and every rate has that, every community in the Navy has their their things, right?

John Lukosus 31:00

But it it got big and it got big into that, and they just kept saying, you know, I'm a harbor guy. Well, no, if you're an MA1, how are you gonna get leadership? You know, so how do we do? So some commands I remember didn't play that game. Uh certain commands do, and then eventually, you know, but it just depends on what the senior enlisted are doing at that time or the secko, how they feel. Um, but yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 31:28

That's it. It really comes out of the chief's mess and the secko, right? Because ultimately I've seen that where I had a new chief check on board, and but and sometimes they have an NEC for harbor, right? Yeah, but you also know you know, like you, you know, like I know you do what the what the CEO needs you to do, bro. At the end of the day, you do what the captain needs you to do, and that's it. Um, okay, so you're you're now you're out there in the harbor, you're an MA2 a year, and then they recognize you again for an opportunity to come work on the staff job. Because again, me just listening to you, bro. I know the Navy, I know that that's what happens when someone recognizes talent, they're gonna bring you in to help make their life easier, right? That's what it is. Some dude higher ranking than you is like, oh, Leucosaus is pretty freaking smart. I bet you if I brought him in, he can help out with ops or training or whatever it is and make someone else's life easier, and they see the potential in you, right? That's the reality. They see your potential. They know if you make MA1, you might be a really good security LDO or a chief petty officer, right? Is that what they're thinking? Yeah, yeah. What was yeah, so when they pulled you into the staff job, what did they have you working? Were you working training or were you working like ops?

Mentorship And Orders To Misawa

John Lukosus 32:45

I was doing a little bit of I was a jack of all trade. So I did uh logistics, I did training and I did ops. So um I implemented a lot when people needed uh different sections, uh logistics. I would drive the boats uh to get uh fixed to uh to say port ops at North Island. Um and then I also attended a lot of uh training workshops. Um you know, and then uh I remember one time I got uh asked by the the master chief of region, uh, hey, your name's picked, you're gonna go on and do a a summer TAD uh to Germany uh for an exercise. So I pretty much did a lot when that was asked, and um it was staff hours. So I was like, yeah, cool. And I did it, and uh it was a good time. And then uh I had some experience.

Gary Wise 33:46

Did you at that point had you gotten yourself a mentor that you really latched on to yet, or that latched on to you? Because one thing I've seen about the MA community is they do have some strong mentorship ties within your community, right? You got you got some good MACMs, MACS, secos that are very involved with share with sharpening up their people, or were you just kind of figuring it out on your own and trying to just get information from everybody you could?

John Lukosus 34:16

No, I had a I had a really good mentor. We were in MAA school together, so um, or 9545, but he went to the base. So uh he was already selected chief, and uh he was at uh 32nd Street. So uh MAC Gary Umpress. So um basically I reached out to him, was trying to, you know, he got mad that I went to the harbor, but yeah, that you know, everything worked out in the end. Um, but yeah, so I was always reaching out to him.

Gary Wise 34:48

Awesome, and and that matters, right? Because and what's cool about him as a mentor is you guys were relatively the same age. You that iron's gonna sharpen iron, right? You're gonna you're your friends, your mentor, but you're also a little bit competition. Like I want to keep up with him, he wants me to keep up with him. And I and I I've been there, I've had I got friends like that too. Uh so after the region job in San Diego, do you do all three? Is it a three-year billet?

John Lukosus 35:14

So basically it was uh I want to say that uh it was almost three years because they matched my they said Fallon and then the region. They they counted them together and they said you need to go to C. And I said, Okay, I want to go to Japan. And so um basically I did my PQS to be a dog handler. Uh and I don't know if you remember that thing called AIP assignment in Santa Fe. Uh they had a billet for they had a billet for Misawa. Um, and then um so my mass chief said, Hey, go call the detailer. They they got your recommendation to go, Kennels, call the detailer. So when I called the detailer, detailer said, just because you got a recommendation doesn't mean you're gonna go. So at that time, uh, you know, it was a little bit different. So I kind of was frustrated. Um, and instead of going to the master chief to tell him what they said, I went straight to the base career counselor and applied for everything Japan with AIP. I wanted to go to Japan, so I chose the lowest for AIP was 50 bucks. So um Misawa, Japan, it was that's where I ended up getting orders to.

Gary Wise 36:40

As straight up Naval Security Forces in Misawa.

John Lukosus 36:44

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 36:46

Okay, and had did your wife want to go to Japan too? Had she had did she have any idea what was in store for going to Japan?

John Lukosus 36:54

So she did, uh, but yet um, you know, she was just like, wow, let's go to Japan. I think uh, you know, but didn't really understand Misawa cold north, that kind of stuff.

Gary Wise 37:07

So yeah, yeah, Misawa is definitely a world of its own. It's the north, yeah. It's like in the Game of Thrones, right? It's it's the it's it's the wall, right? It's the wall up north, yeah. Uh and when you got to Misawa, were you already in MA1?

John Lukosus 37:27

I was uh MA2, and uh I was there. Um so I was there for just under three years because my wife was early returned. So I was placed in a category of EFM uh three, and that right there, I learned a lot about the Navy, how they take care of people, right? But yet at the same time, I learned and everything comes full circle later on. I'll get to that. But uh I just there was just uh so I ended up doing a 12 months by myself, and then that was that was what happened, yeah.

Gary Wise 38:07

So your wife went through some medical stuff over there, and they didn't have the medical care for her, so they recognized the best thing for her and for your family was to send her back to the states, but then you had to go geo with your oldest son, but then you had to go back to Missawa geobatch, yeah.

John Lukosus 38:24

So they allowed me to move them back. So they said, Here, take 30 days. Uh, and then the detailer said, I'll work with you, I'll give you San Diego on the background, don't worry about a thing. So I said, Okay, cool.

Gary Wise 38:39

Okay, and then when you were in Missawa, were you back on the Panama routine again, the Panama schedule, or did they have you doing staff work again?

John Lukosus 38:48

No, I I went straight to the Panama schedule, and then we were there for about three months, and then they were like, Hey, uh, you're gonna now augment the base with 35th Security Forces Air Forces, and so I went there and I was the best dang Navy in the Air Force. So that's basically I qualified. Uh, what we had to do is like a um they called it uh so you did a patrolman there, that was easy, and then you became a flight sergeant. So I was a flight sergeant, which is the watch commander, but then we're running Air Force troops, so that's that's basically what I did. And a death sergeant was like the big thing.

Gary Wise 39:33

How much different was that working for the Air Force than working for the Navy?

John Lukosus 39:37

A lot different. So uh just talking to each other, um, a little bit different. Their master sergeants would be like, hey Pete, you know, well, let's go let's go do this, and so you're just like, okay. Um, but they were big on air base defense. Uh basically, there was two sides there was air base defense and LE law enforcement. So air base defense was they had a line on the flight line, the demarcation line, if you cross it, uh fair game to put a person down on the deck. Um, but yet uh that was just as a whole. So we qualified in every day, every station that they did. And so I did that for about a one year, and then uh the Air Force and Navy um chains of command uh had butt heads, and then the Navy just said, hey, uh as of Friday, just don't go to work. And so that's how we pulled out that deal. And at that time, the chain of command was it that was messed up, so we just didn't go to work, and we just learned to do a mission uh for the Navy. Um, so yeah, that's what we did then, and then I was there.

Gary Wise 40:51

So it sounds like it's a joint base, and they were just having problems communicating. I can only imagine, especially when it comes to law enforcement and force protection and priorities, right? For sure. Oh, yeah. I can imagine being a Pearl Harbor.

John Lukosus 41:06

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 41:10

Okay. Um, did you when you came back Geobatch, were you living in the barracks?

John Lukosus 41:17

Oh yeah, I was uh resident advisor uh as an MA2, you know, and uh you know, I was already I've been in the Navy what 10 years, and uh so you know I just stuck to myself and worked out and uh lost weight, and you know, pretty much that's what I did. And um I said, you know, just make the best of it. So yeah.

Gary Wise 41:42

So you were how many times were you up for first class before you picked up the rank?

John Lukosus 41:47

Four times.

Gary Wise 41:49

Four times. So what was the complication? Was it the test taking? Was it the emails were just stuck in traffic? Was it uh because when for people that are listening for Navy Advancements, it's not just dude's kicking butt doing his job, he's getting recognized for things. But if you don't pass that test with a high enough score, that's a problem.

John Lukosus 42:09

So I always I always P ⁇ 'ed it, but it was just I was I was it was bottlenecked at that time. Um, and then eventually, once I transferred, I checked into the new command, and then boom, you know, right away.

Gary Wise 42:24

Okay, so where did you go? So you went back to San Diego after the file.

Maritime Security And Submarine Surprise

John Lukosus 42:28

I went back to San Diego in a command called MESG3, or it was MS Ron 3 at the time. So it was uh Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron. Um, so we would do EST missions on um USNS ships, submarines, or uh convoy security, campsite security, uh that kind of stuff.

Gary Wise 42:54

So for people listening, EST is like embarked security forces and they go on board ships and they provide security. And look, I will tell you, in my opinion, this is another result of the of the war on terror because pre-9-11, the Marine Corps used to do those missions, right? But after 9-11, the Marines were all busy out there fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, and someone still got to do the missions. So the Navy says we'll just create our own freaking maritime security forces, we'll call them MAs. And that MESG lot job, people don't understand that's a hard road, man. Like there's a lot of rotational deploying, and it's very lonely because not everyone in your command is going on the underway. It's just like five or six guys at a time, right?

John Lukosus 43:37

So uh yeah, it just depended on what type of mission, how many people it could be 11, 12, it could be six. Uh so what happened was I check in to the command. Uh first day they said, Hey, your detachment is on deployment. I said, Wow, okay. Uh so I check in and they said, You'll leave in two weeks. Uh, where's the deployment? They said Bahrain. So I said, okay. So um I checked in with the CMC. The CMC found out that I basically uh wasn't um you know on I was gonna deploy, uh, but basically where I was before as Geo Batch, and we were currently currently staying with family, and I still was on a housing list. Uh that CMC made a phone call to the housing office, got me from number 79 on the list to moving in in two weeks. Uh and they allowed me to they allowed me to uh get my family moved in and have a week with them and then depart. Uh so that's what happened.

Gary Wise 44:46

That's amazing, bro. And I'm gonna tell you, the CMC and me is like, I'm gonna fight to have you not on that group right away because you just came back from a Geo badge two every year, right? But I'm glad that that match team did what he could, and I understand the manning push and all that. Um, but but that's how it goes, man. Like, not everyone knows everyone's story when they come from a command or go to a new command, and you gotta tell somebody. Like, if you just suck it up and just don't say nothing, no one's gonna know, bro. Like, you just went through hell.

John Lukosus 45:14

Yeah, I was I was still quiet, and you know, I remember you know, dealing with detailers and just letting them okay, whatever, you know. I just I didn't want to piss off anybody, and so that that's that's what happened. And then finally, I was just like, I was like, hey CMC, um, my family is like we're staying with family, and we need to move into a house. I'm on number 79 on a list, and he's like, Don't worry, I'll call. And I was moving in two weeks, and so he changed that. Um, I literally did what I needed to do, uh, got off to um I landed to Bahrain uh off the deployment, and I found out I made MA1. Awesome.

Gary Wise 45:56

Yeah, so were was that MESG were they under Naval Expeditionary Combat Command NECC at that time?

John Lukosus 46:04

Yeah, so it was early days though. It was early, it wasn't as full-fledged as NACC was back then. So this is 2007. I checked in. Okay.

Gary Wise 46:19

So in Bahrain, were you guys deploying like on the different oilers and the different USNS ships that were out there?

John Lukosus 46:26

Yeah, so we were doing all like the um just all the USNSs that keep coming out. Um and then all of a sudden they were like, hey, we got a mission coming up for you, you guys. So there was five or six of us that kind of checked in together and got arrived at Bahrain around the same time. And um they said, You're going on a submarine mission. I was like, wait, what? And so uh I went on the USS Philadelphia for uh EST mission. Uh and why they need it is through just different um choke points. Um, so they said, you know, hey, Suez Canal. Uh so at that time, um they were like, Yeah, you're gonna board it from Gibraltar, we'll fly you out to Gibraltar, and then uh 13 days, that's easy. And we're like, okay, cool. So we get out to uh Fujara, UAE, and uh eventually we get stranded for like a week in Fujara before the submarine surfaces, then they BSP, and then we come alongside on a small boat, and then we walk across, we go down under, um, and then everybody's full of beards, they got bands on, and it was like, hey, welcome aboard. So they said, give me $20, you can grow your beard. So uh that's basically what happened. They got their $20 and we grew a facial hair. Um, so you know, I'll sum it up 13 days. Nah, it was 87 days uh that we that we stayed on that thing. You know, we went through Aqaba Jordan for Christmas Eve. This is uh right after the change of 2007, 2008, and then uh we ended up pulling into rota spain early. Uh, because my uh chief uh got a uh he developed a stroke on the on board, so we had to pull in a day early, and we got off in Rhoda and Rota, Spain 2008, and then uh went back to Bahrain. So yeah.

Gary Wise 48:37

And so that was a that was a that was a Gilligan's adventure, huh? Gonna go for 13 days to come back 90 days later.

John Lukosus 48:43

Um as soon as we got off that submarine, we got rid of all the clothes that we had, and we bought all new clothes. So yeah.

Gary Wise 48:56

When when you were going from uh Missawa to the NECC job, was there any serious training pipeline you went through for this new role you were gonna have of doing the security like embark security forces? Or were they use?

John Lukosus 49:13

Yeah, at that time they didn't have that. At that time, it that was not like so. They call that ECS now, and so they go to golf for it, so they don't have that now. Um, but anyways, yeah.

Gary Wise 49:25

I mean so that's what you go there with all of your so you have all your training from being land side security forces being an MA, and of course, talking with your team about how you would do things if God forbid something was to happen that was a problem. That's a very interesting underway, bro. That's a very you should have came back with some submarine eat, you know, fish on your call, you know, on your chest getting qualified.

John Lukosus 49:50

And we tried to, we tried to, but uh the cob uh at the time uh just didn't wasn't too keen about MA's being on a boat, so they call it boat, yeah. So that's uh that's what it was. So yeah.

Detailer Tour And Guantanamo IA

Gary Wise 50:03

So well when I was on all my ships, whenever we would have embarked, like even we'd have embarked like naval, you know, special forces, they'd come on the ship, they'd be working their butts off to get their eastwas pins because back in the day before when they were source ratings, right? So you might be a bosom mate, but you was you're with special forces, so you're trying to get your e swaps pins so you can make chief better, whatever it is. So an MA with some with some fish would be definitely an interesting site. But I mean, 80-something days underway, did you that had to have left uh an interesting mark on your on your career as you as you moved on, right? Just what you learned from that. How much different was the culture on that submarine underway vice what you had seen before that on the boxer?

John Lukosus 50:48

So it was totally different. Uh, but everybody basically everybody took care of their own. I mean, what I'm saying is I'll never forget there's sponges in each head. And you get out of the shower, you sponge after, you sponge when you're done brushing your teeth. Uh so um first classes, they they worked on a submarine. Uh so it was just different being an MM, you know, engineering, you know, usually MM1s, but you know, smoke, you know, watch people, you know, that kind of stuff, or they'd be in the EOS or that kind of stuff. So seeing it, I was like, wow. Um, you know, uh they they really work, they take care of each other and they're very close knit. Um and then all emails that go out and come back are looked at by the chain of command. So that was kind of interesting, um, you know, because that this is the time that my wife gets pregnant again, and then um I don't know if it's a boy or a girl, and so my wife is you know contacting back. And so I had the CMC walk up to me and say, Hey, your wife sent you an email you need to check. And I was like, Wow, okay, cool. So uh, but yeah, that's that's it's a lot different.

Gary Wise 52:09

So was this deployment to Bahrain? Was it a 12-month deployment or a six-month deployment?

John Lukosus 52:14

It was supposed to be like seven months, uh, but basically I did I did like a half of a half of a deployment uh you know out there with the submarine, and then I got back to Bahrain. Then um eventually advanced party. I went back home, I think two weeks early uh to get ready for the homecoming. Uh there was myself and the senior chief went back. So yeah.

Gary Wise 52:42

And but you found out you make MA1 in Bahrain while you're on this deployment, right? So when you come back home, now you're a first-class petty officer on the homecoming.

John Lukosus 52:51

Yes, yeah.

Gary Wise 52:52

Awesome. And then when you get back, you still have what two and a half more years with MESG.

John Lukosus 52:59

So about two years. Uh, and so I did the two years there. Um I'll forward to so basically I was to deploy again. Um, and then the detailer called me and said, Hey, you've been on C duty too long because they said Massawa counted. And they said, uh, we want you to be a detailer. So I basically did a package, and then uh my chain of command said you're still gonna go on deployment, and then if they get orders, we'll just send you back. Well, it was a day before deployment, and then the orders came in. Congratulations, selected uh uh to go be a detailer in Millington, Tennessee. MA rating detail.

Gary Wise 53:50

So awesome. So you went there as an MA1 to Millington. Um did you did did your wife uh, because your wife's in San Diego, right? She's probably she did Japan, she did Misawa, but Millington is a different vibe than San Diego, right?

John Lukosus 54:06

That's a third world country, yeah. So um, yeah.

Gary Wise 54:11

Well, there's two kinds of people in this world, bro. There's the people that will live and die by Millington, and they'll post pictures of the big houses and just tell you how it's everything. Then there's the people that will say it's a third world country, and they'll tell you that, you know, it's like I was talking to a brother the other day, and he has a Japanese spouse, right? He's up in Yokusuka right now, and he was like, bro, I should have never taken my Japanese wife to freaking Millington, dog. He's like, she don't ever want to go back to America. She thinks that America is just Millington. Um, and yeah, there's some that's that's why the government's there helping them figure out the crime, right? Like Millington, that Memphis area, it's it's not it's not always the best place, right? Depending upon where you go. And there's a lot of real estate, right? There's a lot of open area that people can get into mischief and trouble, you know. Blue Street's not always safe after dark, right? Is that what it's Beale Street, Beal Street is what they call it, right?

John Lukosus 55:07

Beale Street, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 55:09

So you get to Millington as a detailer. Uh, how does that go for you? Do you like the job?

John Lukosus 55:17

So all of a sudden, so if you're first class, you go check in back in the day when I checked in in 2009. Uh, you check in, you're first class, they take care of you. I mean, you go through, uh, they show you the tank, they show you just different stuff. You do like an indock with um all the Navy programs and you learn. I mean, it's at your fingertips, and it's just like you learn that there's no such thing as no in the Navy uh when you go to militant. So uh, but um a lot of those EFM programs, I was like, wow, this is this is interesting. So I remember what I went through, and so as a detailer, I can help out now, you know, those sailors if I had the same situation, so I understand more. Uh, so you did that, so I did that and um did a couple detailing trips uh to Groton, Connecticut, because why I went on a submarine, so I wanted to go see my sub friends in Groton, and uh then I went to um uh Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a detailing trip, and I felt myself that I never did an IA to Guantanamo, so how can I send people there? So, how fitting conveniently I get back from that detailing trip, my master chief says, Hey, your name's IA, you're on the IA list to go to Guantanamo. So I was like, wow, that was weird. So I think it was full circle. I learned, you know, like, hey, now I understand what these people like calling for orders after Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. So I ended up going IA from Millington, and uh it was 378 days or something. So if if it's more than 375, you're allowed to take your family back to a appointed place of record. So I sent my wife and my kids back to San Diego, so and got the San Diego BAH while it. Yeah.

Gary Wise 57:19

Yeah. Well, I mean, at least you got them out of Memphis and they weren't happy there. But I'll tell you, I hate the letters IA. Like me personally, Gary Wise. They tried to sell it to all of us when we were in the Navy that this was what you know that it was. Remember, they were like, Oh, if you don't go in on IA or a GSA tour, you're not gonna make chief. You gotta do it to make rank. And I'm just like, brother, I joined the Navy to be a damage controlman. Like, I re-enlisted to be a damage controlman. I know you need people to go drive trucks and go guard prisoners, but that's I mean, what the hell? And then that was just, I really struggled with that time period because it just felt like we didn't know what we bit off into as an organization, and we were just plugging holes with people, right? And families. And I'm glad you were able to work it out because you're you're you're savvy. And if I had a buddy of mine, he got pulled the day I made DC one, he got pulled on a 12-month IA to Gen Guantanamo Bay, one of the very first ever to go down there. The captain tells him, Well, when you come back, you don't got to go on deployment because you're going on this 12-month IA in support of the global war on terror. He comes back, it's a new CO. Guess what, bro? You're going on deployment now. And I just as I I just hated him, man. I'm glad we got real, I'm glad we got out of that business, right? Because that was tough on families, that was tough on sailors. And I mean, that prisoner detainee ops job, kind of shitty, literally. Right? Did now did you when you went down there, um, did you end up actually as like at the end of your time that when you look back on that time in Guantanamo, how was that for you? Uh how do you look back on your time in Guantanamo Bay? Do you look back on it like it was? Can you hear me? Test, test, test. Can you hear me? John. So John. Yeah.

John Lukosus 59:17

Yeah, I can hear you. Uh so I yeah, I went down there and um, you know, I it was detainee op, so I worked with the detainees uh for a good part of the time. I did uh you know, for about uh four months, I worked with the terrorists, and um then I became the camp uh LPO and also did detainee movement order. Uh so if a detainee's ordered release, they a country then picks them up, and then you get notification that certain detainees leaving. So uh different times of the day, we would my team and I would um get them out other cell and move them uh so that they can fly away. So we would transport them uh to the ravens and then they take them out.

Gary Wise 1:00:11

Okay, so after Guantanamo Bay, can you hear me?

John Lukosus 1:00:17

Yeah, after Guantanamo Bay, I went back to Millington. Uh my name was on the list to make chief. Uh so then uh I went through um um induction there, and then uh yeah, I was a chief, and then yeah, it was it was fun in Millington. So uh lots of chief, senior chief, master chiefs uh retired and yeah, that's a great place to make chief.

Gary Wise 1:00:46

Yeah, yeah, great. That's a great place to be. Who was I talking to the other day? I was talking to someone else that just made chief there. Uh uh Dean Howell, he made chief there as well. And uh he was telling he was telling me about going through initiation in the military and saying it's one of the largest chief masses in the Navy, right? And then you got tons of retirees there too that are all part of the process. You can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. How was initiation for you in the military?

John Lukosus 1:01:27

You know, I was uh so initiation for me, I was uh a little bit like uh scared, but I was apprehensive of you know, with your the crew that you made it with, like some of the other rates. I was still trying to be a first class, you know, still scared to open up to the other people and you know the other rates, but guess what? We gotta talk to make it. So um, you know, and eventually I think the light bulb clicked uh probably about the fourth week, you know. So, or not the fourth week, probably like the third week, you know, uh when we started doing a little stuff. The light bulb turned on when I went to Gulfport to live like a CB for a week. So uh if you make it in Millington, uh half go to milling, half go to golf port, half go to the constitution. So because I got picked to go to uh Gulfport, I was pretty bummed I didn't get to go to Constitution. I thought that was gonna be, you know, I was I was mad. But any anyways, I went out to Gulfport, and that was the best week of my life. And uh the selectees that went to golf port, we were very tight to this day. Um, what we you know what you're doing together that whole seven days that you were there. So yeah, right. It was awesome after that, and then yeah.

Gary Wise 1:02:51

So then you get you make chief, you go back to detailing. Are you able to detail yourself orders where you're gonna go to next?

Back To Sea As An MAC

John Lukosus 1:02:58

Of course. Uh so I detailed myself to go to the USS Tortuga, uh LSD 46 as an MAC because I always wanted to be an MAC at C. Uh, because that was something that I looked at when I was on the boxer. I like I like to see Chiefs at C and as an MAC. So I said, hey, I'm gonna do that. I said, no matter what. And uh um, you know, I knew it was Sasebo, so my wife, you know, with the EFM, she was not, you know, so that meant she had to go through additional doctor's appointments, and then eventually everything it got clear, and uh I we went there to Sasebo. Yeah, I went to Tortuga.

Gary Wise 1:03:43

So and then so when you get okay, when you get to Sassa Vegas, right, much different than Massawa. Um, how was that for you guys when you first got there? Was the base what you what how was the base? Did you guys like it?

John Lukosus 1:03:56

So we loved it. Um my wife really loved it and she got involved with a lot of friends. So basically, we transferred with two other families from Millington, who my wife was close with. So we all transferred together. Basically, it was like a package deal. So, anyways, uh, we both got or we all three of us got the same ship. So um we basically head out there. Um, my wife started working with uh on the buses, um, and then she got a job right away, started uh you know, going places, you know, got to see a lot of stuff while I was when we were underway. Uh, and all the friends, uh the wife's friends, you know, they would do stuff while us gone. And while we knew more about Okinawa, they knew more about Sasebo.

Gary Wise 1:04:43

So yeah, right? For real. That's a fact. The two other friends you had, were they chiefs as well?

John Lukosus 1:04:51

Oh, yeah, they're both senior chiefs. So uh one was my sponsor uh from season, uh, but we had known each other before, and then um, so they were both senior chiefs. One was the 3MC, and then one was the DCCS, James Gibb. So I don't know if you remember James Gibb.

Gary Wise 1:05:12

Yeah, I don't know him, but the 3MC, who was the is he a G S C S?

John Lukosus 1:05:17

No, E EMCS. Will Despolo. He's okay.

Gary Wise 1:05:22

Yeah, either one of those guys. Okay, well, that's awesome, though. You had some friends going there with you. So did you and you all three got to the Tortuga at the same time?

John Lukosus 1:05:32

I got there first before them. Uh, and then I think Will was like two weeks, three weeks later, and then James got there a little bit after that. Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:05:42

Okay, so when when you got to the Tortuga, um, because I'll tell you, I did an LSD, uh, and you you and I served on the same LSD because Tortuga's gonna whole swap with Ashland, right? Um but the LSD platform was a lot different than the LHA LHP platform. Was the same, but a lot of other stuff was different. The engine men ran the pit, right? They had a whole different mindset. How was the ship for you when you got there?

John Lukosus 1:06:12

So I went there and I was just like, wow. Um, but yet I remembered being an engineer. Uh, but yeah, I was an MAC. But guess what? I was a chief. So I just had to remember, hey, you're a chief. So um, you know, in in just the uniforms, stuff like that, like things that you're used to as a shore duty MA, like, what are you doing? You know, I think you learn everybody what they do, what their job is, and you know, some guys are on watch to, but yet, you know, I just think that it it helped my engineering background helped to go back to a a ship as an MAC. So that that that's but it was just wild seeing like some of the stuff that I probably would have been up, you know, if hadn't I not uh converted.

Gary Wise 1:07:08

Yeah. How was the culture prior to the whole swap? Was it hard to keep everybody focused on the tortuga when you guys knew you were changing over ships?

John Lukosus 1:07:21

Yeah, so basically it was like every whole swap, you know, I had it, you got it, basically, let's just go. Um, or stash things. Uh so I think a lot of us felt like stuff when we got to theirs or they, you know, vice versa, vice versa. Um, when I was on Tortuga, my office was next to the post office. But then when I went on to Ashland, the office was I think where your office, or actually where the sales office was on the Tortuga. So it was a little bit different. Um or actually the original MA office on the Ashland was where your office was. But it wasn't until Steve Bronter then moved offices, myself and him, and then they chose me to go down to where the sales office was.

Gary Wise 1:08:18

So it's like space wars, bro. Yeah, it is. I remember the managing the birthings on Ashland, and the birthing that I was sleeping in when I first got there was really supposed to be the female birthing, right? It was really supposed to be the female gunny and female chief petty officer birthing. And somehow the CMC had gotten in there with another master chief had gotten in there, and uh then the sergeant majors came on board, and and the and it was a challenge because when I had female chiefs, I had no female chief racks, right? And they ended up putting them in Wharton State Rooms down there in officer country. And as I was doing my research and looking at all the looking and everything, I was like, well, it's because we're not supposed to be in the stupid birthing, we're supposed to be in there with the chiefs, right? And now the females didn't want to come out of their birthing, right? Because as a matter of fact, no, no, as a matter of fact, the females had their own female chief birthing that was that ended up becoming the female J O birthing because we had so many female JOs, we didn't have enough state rooms, right? And so the captain was like, I'm making a female J O jungle, and those chief petty officers got to go somewhere else. And so I was able to coordinate for them to get state room where they could share a state room, and they they were okay with that, but it's just space wars, people making moves, people making changes on their own time, and it's not how it was designed. Yeah, when you look back on your time on board Tortuga and Ashland, do you have a favorite part? Was Tortuga better or was Ashland better? Do you have a favorite portion of your time?

John Lukosus 1:10:04

Like uh the Ashlands, um the Ashlands birthly, the cheese birthly a lot better. Uh it was a lot bigger. Uh your racks were a lot bigger, and then um I just say like my office uh was bigger, but it was the same, the same stuff. I mean, that what we were doing. Always in Okinawa, always picking up Marines, lots of ports in Seventh Fleet.

Gary Wise 1:10:31

Yeah, lots of underweight time, lots of operations. Um I know I think Carlos Gonzalez was involved. Did he come to Tortuga as well at the end?

John Lukosus 1:10:42

Yeah, he came there, yeah, from ATG. And then uh yeah, yeah, he was telling me.

Gary Wise 1:10:48

I remember when I got to Ashland because he was still on Ashland, and he had very fond memories of Tortuga, you know. And I think there's always this mindset of we got the ship where it needs to be at the map, and then we get the ship from San Diego that's kind of beat up, it feels like broke, we gotta fix it all again, you know.

John Lukosus 1:11:05

Yeah, I mean, I you know, me being an former engineer, I probably you know said that or looked at that, but you know, having the main space, that kind of stuff, it didn't bother me. But yet I was on D set on both ships, so uh I was uh the torch on D set. So uh because I knew because the DCCS was like, hey man, you're you were an MM3 and you you used to stand watch during D set. So you know what you're talking about. So I did that, you know, but on both ships, but yet at the same time, I really I thought Ashlin, uh once the Japanese got to the Asplan, I mean it was awesome. So um, yep, I I enjoyed it.

Gary Wise 1:11:46

I'm telling I I tell I say that to people often ships in Japan instead of the fleet are made better because of SRF and of course the sailors, and that we we just operate them so much and they get really worn good. Uh, as long as the crew is taking good care of the ship. Now, if the crew doesn't take good care of the ship, it's gonna go to hell because no matter how many Japanese SRF dudes there are, that's not enough. It's gonna be a lot, right?

John Lukosus 1:12:11

Yeah, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:12:12

So the the crew has got to do their job, the crew has got to take ownership of the boat and you know and make it work. Uh okay. So when you look back on your time on Ashland and Tortuga, how was that being a part of an afloat Chiefs mess?

John Lukosus 1:12:27

Do I tell you what? So it was definitely different between a uh shore base chief's mess, uh, because you're spread out, right? Uh when you're you know afloat chief's mess, you don't go anywhere, but you are always on deployment out there. I thought we were tight together. Uh so we were really close. Um, there was a lot of good friends that you know to this day I still stay in touch with. Um, you know, and and you knew everything about them, they knew everything about you and families and that kind of stuff. So we were close. So uh I said there's nothing like uh at sea chiefs mess. Um, it was good to go. Uh so I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed it.

Gary Wise 1:13:09

Yeah, yeah, it was my favorite too, man. A shore Chiefs uh a short chief's message just aren't the same energy because you you don't have so much stuff holding you together, right? You can all just go home and walk away, but on the ship, we've got so many things. We've got these inspections that we all have got to depend on each other for, and and we gotta make to the duty section work, right? We've all got to get qualified watch stations and we gotta we've gotta learn how to make the duty section function so that we can operate in these ports and at home. And yeah, I I that was my favorite part of the Navy, brother. Being a part of a ship chief's mess, whether it was an aircraft carrier or an LSD really didn't matter. They both brought the same energy, right? Um much better than ship duty for sure. So after Ashland, uh when you did you pick up Senior Chief out of Ashland?

John Lukosus 1:14:01

No, I picked it up as soon as I checked into uh CFA, Yakuska Security. Uh I checked I checked the board, and then I think I had like six months as a chief in Yokuska Security. I was uh a Knights Chief, and then well we rotated section chief. Then I picked up senior chief right away uh after six months in Yokusuka. Yeah.

Yokosuka Leadership And Alcohol Crackdowns

Gary Wise 1:14:25

Okay, so you went from Sasbo to Yoko, um, back to back FDF tours. And was Yocouska is that a C duty for you as well, even though you were going to security forces?

John Lukosus 1:14:36

Yeah, it was at the time, yeah. Yes, it was. Um, so that's how we had it. So anything overseas was C back then. Um at the time that I did that, and then I went there, picked up senior chief. Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:14:50

When you went to Yocouska, did you go there as like just to be a landside chief petty officer? Or what was your billet supposed to be? Like ops chief, or you're a member?

John Lukosus 1:15:01

Section chief is what it said. So just basically how they say it is just like you know, section chief or something like that. So you know that, and you know that you're gonna have to do eventually. They had CNIC was coming out with this FEP thing and all this stuff. So uh I was like, okay, I'm gonna go to section, you know. I like to lead sailors, I like to be in it all, you know. Um, so there's nothing better than to go to section and learn. Uh to be there with your, you know, when I say learn, it almost because they made you do the PQS again of everything. Uh it was a reiteration of uh to ensure that because your sailors are going through it, so you go through it, and then you're much more better in at the end.

Gary Wise 1:15:46

So when you were at Massala, did you work just for Naval Security Forces or was there a C and I C then?

John Lukosus 1:15:54

So it was C and I C, uh, but yet it was uh it it wasn't as those inspections weren't big like that. Region came out, they looked at you. When they look at you, it was just more of like, hey, you should do this, this, and this. Here we see your watch watch bills like that. But it wasn't it wasn't like it is right now.

Gary Wise 1:16:16

What it became, yeah. Well, I was told by a lot of the NSF people that back in the old days, they were their own thing. Like the Seco was like the CO of security forces, and they had their own chain of command. And then when CNIC stood up and they got put underneath the base CO, there because it just there was always a lot of friction, I felt like between the installation commanding officer and the security officer, right?

John Lukosus 1:16:41

Yeah, but in in 2005, I remember region coming out, you know, different different secos from the region would come out the missile all the time, and so I think they were still were in charge, but this is 2005, so I remember in 2005.

Gary Wise 1:16:57

Okay, so when so when you got to Yokuska and now you're a CNIC installation, and this is like 2015, right? Yep, yep, yeah, it's like 2015, and I rem look, I remember hearing all the bells and whistles of CNIC spinning up their their FET programs. The SWOS got involved, right? The SWOs got involved. Yeah, they wanted they wanted to run a base like a ship because ships have FEPS, so why not shore bases? Right? Why not shore installations? And it's a lot of stress because you got a there's a lot of moving parts, and in Yokusuka, you had Japanese as well, right?

John Lukosus 1:17:39

Oh yeah, so you had to you know ensure like their unions were good to go, and then you had to talk to the liaison who's communicated to them, and sometimes they were bickering about standing certain patrols, but we didn't just have the base, we had um we had uh Nigishi was still open when I got there, and then a Kego, of course, and so uh eventually I was part of the the crew that kind of closed Nigishi, but it was just staggered, like certain certain stuff became to get pulled out of there. Uh but we still stood watch there is what I should say. It was closed, but we still stood watch down there once everything we pulled out of there. So yeah.

Gary Wise 1:18:24

Okay. And then you get there, you make senior chief. How many senior chiefs were in Yokuska?

John Lukosus 1:18:30

So at the time there was two, um, Mary McQueen and then um Amanda Davis, and then um Mary McQueen left, and then um Amanda then fleeted up to be the DLCPO, and then I was the Hobbs L CPO. So um that's basically how that went for a while. Um, and then Amanda made command master chief, and then or command senior chief, and then I made, or then I went up to the be the DL CPO because at the time Dave Aguilera was over in a cago and he let the senior chief run it. So he said he, you know, would rather just stay out there, and and so that's what happened.

Gary Wise 1:19:15

Sure, why not, right? I'd rather let the senior chief run up to.

John Lukosus 1:19:19

Yeah, I mean, and then I was going to a lot of those meetings, you know, like you know, the the big meetings that you know you guys are there. Uh Warren would take me to a couple meetings, and then I would have to speak on security's behalf and just different stuff like that. So it was grooming me up. Uh yeah, so it was good.

Gary Wise 1:19:39

Well, I did the same thing with my senior chief for security forces as well, because honestly, I wanted the CMCs to know that if they had a problem with naval security forces, they could contact the senior enlisted leader for security forces because number one, we were to we were together, we were boys, but number two, I'm just gonna call him anyway, bro. So I'm not gonna be offended if you can call my guy.

John Lukosus 1:20:01

You know, yeah, and that's what it was. I mean, more or less of you know, eventually I they were going direct to me and instead of because at times, I mean, how do you get it? It's like shooting the messenger. Um, hey, this happened. Like, no, that's not what happened. So um, and you know, it was a tough, tough job to be a a base CMC and to be a baseo. I mean, just and you have the largest installation overseas, so um I could just imagine you you were faced with that in Guam too. But I under, yeah, it was I would I would hear some of the stuff and I'm just like, wow, like and at that time, you know, the alcohol was running rampant. Uh, we were on restrictions in Yakuska. Uh we were doing breath realisers outbound, inbound, different roadblocks, you know, all throughout, you know, and I would get calls in the middle of the night, why are you guys doing this and this? Uh, because I just didn't, you know, wake up one day and say, hey, let's do this. This is an admiral, you know.

Gary Wise 1:21:01

Well, and people are saying you guys what is yeah, CNFJ. Or you guys also people don't understand is you guys make a plan, people make plans to do it strategically. The CO signs off on it, not everybody knows it. And it's just like doing your analysis, bro. It's just how it is. If you're not drinking and driving, you probably don't got nothing to worry about, dog.

John Lukosus 1:21:25

Exactly. Right, every you know, and yeah, so that's that's the nature of it.

Gary Wise 1:21:32

Oh no, I understand a thousand percent, man. And happen to feel those phone calls. And how was that having Warren as a CMC? And he was also a former MA.

John Lukosus 1:21:41

It was great. Uh, but you know, every every now and then, um, you know, I'd always say, would you forget? Did you forget? You know, like uh, but yet, you know, he worked for a tough captain, uh, Captain Kim at the time. Um, so you know, and I I I get it, but you know, eventually, you know, you just gotta explain yourself and just explain it, you know, and and uh, but I I think that that time it was trying times, but the alcohol, that was like a big thing. Uh but yet it was good to have him, to have him as an MA, prior MA, uh, in my corner on on something. So well and the alcohol thing, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:22:28

The alcohol thing's not always Yokuska though, either, right? We would get affected by Okinawa stuff, right? Remember when that kid stole that truck in Okinawa and and or was driving a government vehicle, whatever it was, and and it just all hell broke loose throughout the whole country, right? Like, yeah, yeah, it's not just I yeah, it wasn't just Yokosuka, but Yokosuka would feel it because a lot of the high-level leadership lived there, and if it wasn't being done right in Yokosuka, then it would feel like well, they're not they're not following the rules or whatever. Um, so after Yokusuka, did you and were you done? Were you tired of being overseas? Did you want to get back to California?

Diego Garcia And Passing FEP

John Lukosus 1:23:09

No, no, no. I wanted to stay in Japan. Uh I tried very hard to be in Japan. I want to say that I had orders back to an NACC command, uh, Guam, uh to Rivron uh at the time. Um, so at the time uh they come out with the security, the all the stuff uh or the screening. And um, so there was I had to go get screened for um what was it, colorblind or something like that. And when I was at NECC command or the river on before, that was never an issue, none of that stuff was ever anything. So I guess I found out that I was colorblind. So uh I guess it was Bumed non-waverable. Oh yeah, so BUMED non-waverable. So then basically I went back into the detailer pool, and the detailer is like, hey man, uh I got Diego Garcia, how about that? And I was like, Okay, so I took Diego Garcia, and uh my wife and uh my youngest kid went back to San Diego.

Gary Wise 1:24:21

Oh, okay. So he because I know there's a way you could have kept him in Yokuska for that year, too, right?

John Lukosus 1:24:26

You could have done some sort of no, I did everything, I did every paperwork, I knew the Seventh Fleet, the all those like I wrote everybody. I even wrote United States, Japan, or the people in Yakota. I had uh Captain Williams, uh maybe he was there when you were there, but uh, anyways, I had remember that.

Gary Wise 1:24:49

I think I remember you working on that packet actually.

John Lukosus 1:24:52

I was working with that done. I was working with Snyder, uh Steve. Yep. Um I I I was I was like, look, like I was trying uh to stay, keep them. Uh we had not had anything established in the States, and so you know, my wife and my kid at the school and all that stuff. So yeah, it just makes sense. But there was right, there was no like visa way to do it. So the stuff that made sense, it didn't make sense to they just kept saying the visa thing. So uh when I got out to um uh Diego Garcia, I got to talk to Captain Williams, I think his name was, uh, from region, and he said, Yeah, man, like I worked your issue, I did everything I could, couldn't do it. How's your family? And they were in San Diego, so you know. But everything works out, man.

Gary Wise 1:25:49

Yeah. So how how did you like Diego Garcia?

John Lukosus 1:25:54

I loved it. It was my favorite, uh favorite set of orders. Um, and it was it was at a it was at a wild time. I get there, uh the guy who I'm relieving picks me up and says, Hey bro, uh we'll do our turnover right now. Like uh I I can't be in security anymore. Um I was just like wow. And so ended up uh me taking over right away, wondering like what's going on. Uh so uh the next morning, Secko pulls me aside and says, Hey man, you're now the DLCPO. That was less than 10 hours of getting off the plane. Um so um I checked in with the CO and CMC uh that were in Japan. So Warren called me up before this is before I got to you before I got to Diego Garcia. I was on leave. I just checked out, and Warren says, hey man, you're your CMC and um your new CMC and CO are here going through the region the course that all region guys go before they assume command. Uh they come out and they meet. So uh come over and meet meet the captain and meet uh the CMC. So um I go and I introduce myself and I see him. And the captain at the time says, Hey man, um, as soon as you check in, you're gonna go with me to Okinawa and we're gonna observe a FEP. Uh, you know, C and I C FEP, uh Okinawa has their scheduled. So we're gonna go through a FEP when you're here, so I don't want to fail. And I think if you get started early, you know what we're gonna do. So ever since that, I was hit hitting it run, and then uh we ended up um, you know, I took over as the seco for some unfortunate reasons. Uh they made me the seco, and then uh I went through FEP, we passed our FEP, and then like a couple months later I transferred to. Yeah. It was it was a wild time. We worked hard, but we played hard.

Gary Wise 1:28:04

Sounds like it, man. I mean, I guess there's it was probably limited distractions for the guys though, right? I mean, ultimately, it's like being on deployment for a year, right? You you're not you're just you're there, you're living there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there's no families there, and there's just there's the British and you guys, right?

John Lukosus 1:28:24

So at at the time, yeah, at the time, I mean, the British, the British relationship was it was like British law enforcement and us, we didn't get along. Um, but eventually it, you know, but that that's a place that it happens, you know. Sometimes they'll get along, then the next group they don't, and then the next group they get along. So um, but it it was it was some pretty cool times. I mean, we got to learn about I got to go have tea with their chief of police, you know, on many of Fridays. Um the British proper way, you know, to drink tea and stuff like that. So that part was cool. Uh, you know, and uh just going through the CNIC FEP, I mean, we you know, we we worked hard and uh we weren't gonna fail. So that's something that you know my team uh understood and then we did it. And eventually uh it paid off. It paid off. Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:29:23

Awesome. And then after Diego Garcia, uh so hold on. When you were getting the orders to Diego Garcia, was that the detailer was like trying to like was it because you were trying to get the MESG orders to Guam and they fell through because of your color blindness, then you got slammed with Dale Garcia? Or was it like, hey bro, give me this color? You got slammed. Okay. Um okay, so then after Dio Garcia, because well the 12-month orders, as soon as you land, you're like negotiating immediately, pretty much, right? Yeah. Um, were you were you getting a good opportunity to have a choice selection of orders at the bat, or were they just kind of telling you because as a CRT, there's only so many places to go, right?

John Lukosus 1:30:07

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, so the detailer was like, hey man, uh you're he you're gonna be uncomfortable, you probably have to go to Virginia. And I was like, wow, I was like, that makes no sense. But uh, you tell me I'm going to Virginia, we're going to Virginia. I told my wife, make plans to go to Virginia. I mean, she has a friend that's over there, so uh that's where we were set. I was gonna go to Virginia, and so I applied everything in Virginia.

Gary Wise 1:30:33

Okay, how many years did you have in the Navy around that point?

John Lukosus 1:30:38

Uh like 23.

Gary Wise 1:30:41

Okay. Did you ever think about applying for command senior chief with your background?

NCIS Work And A Sudden Stroke

John Lukosus 1:30:46

So I did, and I I applied. I applied. Okay. So um, you know, and I I went through the board. I did, you know, uh Toby uh Powitt was there. Um, so yeah, I mean I I I did that. I did that uh from Diego Garcia in I think after I did it twice, and then I didn't do it the third time because I think I reached I would have had to ask for a waiver or something. Uh and I probably could have done the waiver, um, but I just I don't know. At that time I was just like, whatever. So yeah, uh I get that. Okay, and so when you wanted to go to Virginia, you said you said you were willing to go to Virginia, and that's what and I applied at everything in Virginia, my first month, and then the detailer was like, um, hey Ben, uh I didn't select you anything because your family's in San Diego, so I think you should go to San Diego. And I was like, Okay, cool. My household goods are there, my family's there. I said, but I'm really want to go to uh SEA to be an FA in um Rhode Island because I had I had saw that they needed FAs at the time in Rhode Island to SEA because I was already a graduate, so I was like, I think I can make a difference, you know. I want to go back there. And he's like, hey man, he was like, but all your household goods are here. He's like, I'm telling you right now, I'm gonna give you NCIS San Diego. And I was like, okay, NCIS San Diego is in our ladder, and so I always follow the ladder, you know. Uh so I chose NCIS Stat San Diego, so that's where I went.

Gary Wise 1:32:37

And was that like uh was that like CID kind of a duty where you're working plain clothes with NCIS, or how does that work?

John Lukosus 1:32:43

Not at all. So uh it was basically you did a lot of ship assessments, you did port assessments, airfield assessments, hotel assessments, yeah, a lot of travel. Uh we called it mission. Uh and let's say Seventh Fleet, they go to Quantan, Malaysia, or Mulet or something like that. So we would go out and we would create the import security plan, or we would look at just different stuff, and then we would create um basically a document that the COs and SECOs can go on the high side to base off their security plan. Uh, so we we did that. We would publish it in our name and all that, and it would be on the high side. Uh, we did also training, we trained the fleet or trained like NSF uh members, we train foreign militaries. So I got my instructor and then I got my MTS. Uh, I went to Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to become a federal law enforcement instructor. Uh so I did all that. Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:33:53

Sounds like a very beneficial uh opportunity.

John Lukosus 1:33:56

Very it it it really sets you up for if you want to go that route when you retire. Uh so um, but I still had a lot of stuff in me to make master chief and to fill in that role. Um, but you know, I I uh I was at a I was the Command DAPA, I was eventually I was going to Command DAPA school and I was done. And I was in my car on 32nd Street, and all of a sudden my left side went and stopped. Like I was like that. I had like a minor stroke, and I ended up I woke up in the ER. So um wow, yeah. So thank God you weren't driving. I was driving, so I was driving, um, and I kind of came to kind of and then like I somehow maneuvered into the medical parking lot. Okay, and then eventually, eventually uh I ended up at Balaboa, and they said, Hey, you had a stroke, a minor stroke. Um, they couldn't figure out what was going on, so I was admitted, and then eventually um I had a hole in the heart, which everybody's has a hole in the heart where you're born, and it just gradually closes as we get older. I guess mine never did, and the only way you find out is if stuff like that happens. So um I had a surgery. Uh this happened September 19th, 2019. So I had a surgery in December, and then the surgery it was just like um I have a mesh dealer right here, just like uh Iron Man, you know, right there.

Gary Wise 1:35:40

Right.

John Lukosus 1:35:41

Uh and so basically the command um because I was in NTIS and and they worked with me, they were great, man. Uh, but the thing of it is is medical never put me limb due. Uh I was on bloodthinners, I did a lot of stuff. Uh, but I worked my butt off to get back uh to to go on mission to get qualified again, other calls. Uh I did what I had to do, and I eventually up uh going on more missions and trying to make mass chief. And uh eventually COVID happened. Uh I got to talk to the CO of NCIS, and then uh I said I really need to make Master Chief, and um I want to put in 1306, so I had to speak to her before I could put in 1306. So um she approved it, and then I got uh orders to I was supposed to to the trip E. And um so then I went to the Tripoli.

Gary Wise 1:36:44

So you terminate your short duty early to go to the Triple E to be the security L CPO on board Triple E?

John Lukosus 1:36:51

Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:36:52

Is that a nine billet?

John Lukosus 1:36:56

No, uh so the guy it's an eight billet, but the master chief was uh the guy that was there was a master chief, so he made there. So a lot of the master chiefs in my right said, hey man, uh NTIS isn't gonna cut it. I was like, yeah, but all my other stuff, you know, look at all the stuff I did, but it is what it is, and I just know I had to do something. So I I bailed out and after 24 months, and then I went to the Triple E. And I went to Tripoli. Uh we deployed early to Seventh Fleet. Because uh eventually it became, you know, now it's over in Sassible, the Tripoli change with America.

Gary Wise 1:37:37

Uh-huh.

John Lukosus 1:37:37

Yeah.

Gary Wise 1:37:38

So the the Tripoli, um, it has a well deck, right? It's not the ship that doesn't have a well deck, or does it have no well deck?

John Lukosus 1:37:45

Does not have a well deck.

Gary Wise 1:37:46

Does not have a well deck, so it's the forward-deployed LHD with no well deck.

John Lukosus 1:37:52

Crazy. They call it the lightning carrier, the lightning carrier.

Gary Wise 1:37:56

Oh, because it carries the joint strike fighters.

John Lukosus 1:37:59

The F F uh 35s, yeah.

Gary Wise 1:38:02

Yeah, yeah. How much different was the Triple E than the Tortuga in the Ashland?

John Lukosus 1:38:10

Uh because the crew was mainly San Diego based, uh, it was a lot different. Um, no Seven Fleet experience. Um, but I you know stepped up and helped the CMC with some stuff because uh I had you know seven fleet experience. So, you know, different ports, you know, I I remember I still had contacts. Uh right. So in that part, you know, that was my I love to be in Japan. So I was at my game, you know, once I was back in Japan. Um, so I got to uh you know help and assist CMC, just different ports. We pulled into Iwakuni, which never pulled into a Marine Corps port, you know, but yet it's a Marine Corps port. So you had to do the Marine Corps uh rules. It wasn't a Navy controlled port. So there's just different things, different uh, you know, canine's gonna search, um, you know, bags. Uh they do a drug sweep and they do a um a bomb sweep. So you know what I mean, and that pisses off surface or slow COs. So uh just you know, just different stuff like that, and it and you know, and then um just the Chiefs mess, not a lot of seven fleet sailors. So when you're over, you know, they don't understand what it's like to be in Japan again. So are you know, and uh why do we have to do this? Why is there uh, you know, COVID was there, just different stuff. The mask, so we were on deployment, we're in masks in Liberty Ports. At least we hit ports, um you know, but I still had a lot of contacts in Sasebo. I still had a lot of contacts in Yusuka, so we hit every port twice. Uh and then we hit Singapore, we hit um Manila twice, we hit Hobart, Tasmania, uh, which became my favorite port in the Navy, uh, and then Sydney. Uh, and so I was advanced party for uh Manila, Hobart, and Sydney. So, you know, I flew beforehand and it was it was really fun. Uh, and to to get that aspect of it, because I did that when I was at NTIS, and so I had experience, you know, uh to set up uh the ECP to set up all that stuff to be uh liaison for the ship to uh to talk to different law enforcement and emergency services so that the ship is better prepared when they pull into port.

Gary Wise 1:40:43

So did you end up being the DLCPO or was there still an MACM while you were there?

John Lukosus 1:40:48

No, uh he left uh as soon as I got there, and I became the DL CPO. And um yeah, I became the DLCPO there.

Gary Wise 1:40:57

And uh how how was the seco when you were there? Was did you have a good seco that you got along with there?

John Lukosus 1:41:04

Uh so you know the seco we got along on deployment. Um but he was he was an MAC before for maybe since breakfast, and then he became a seco. Um, so he uh eventually he got scared. Uh and just we had a CO that would always scare the JOs uh that he's gonna fire him. So he said, just don't get me fired, but he would always say it. And it just wasn't, it was all the time. So uh, you know, and then you know, we we did what we had to do, and uh eventually I made a decision, hey, call it quits, called the wife and said, Hey, I dropped my paperwork to retire. So I did it with 10 months left in the Navy. So it was kind of like it caught me off guard. I wasn't gonna, and I just said, Yeah, I need to do this. And I think you know, for my wife at the time, I think you know, she wanted me home and my youngest kid, there was just I think that part, you know, what needed I needed to do something. So uh so that's what happened. We pulled back into port after deployment, and like three, four months later, I retired.

Final Thoughts And Life After Navy

Gary Wise 1:42:18

I think it's always a little bit bittersweet when we get to the end of our careers, man, because it's I I tell people if they would let us stay in the United States Navy up until we're 60 years old, as long as we're healthy and fit and able to do all the things regardless of rank, you might keep a lot of us around for a long time. But when you tell us we have to get out by a certain point, regardless of our fitness levels, our ability, like here you were, you had this hole in your heart, you gotta healthy again just to get back out there. But no matter what, if you're not making nine 26, 28 years, they're gonna tell you you got to get out anyway. So then you start. I'm gonna be honest with you, bro. I started, I retired from the Navy at 25 years, and I could have done another 10 years in the Navy, 15 years in the Navy, but I was just my own reasons as well, right? I had I had plenty of my own reasons, but I was also like, I'd much rather do this under my own terms than by someone else's terms. And and and I get that, man, for sure. So um when you were looking at light after the time, can you hear me? Hey, it is Gary here once again. Uh unfortunately, you know, technical difficulties in life. We just worked through these things. The job was disconnected, but I've kind of I gotta be a text message. I did want to pass on to everybody that uh after his retirement from the United States Navy, he was able to go become a training specialist there in San Diego. He is a contractor now, not a government employee, but he's a contractor working for uh different special warfare forces out there in San Diego, doing training. I really want to thank him for taking the time to join me on the show and to just share his story with all of us and to tell us about the things him and his family went through. Very impressive story. And I thank him for his time. And I hope we all enjoyed listening to it. And thank you very much for listening to us here on Words for the Wise. All right, y'all. Talk to you later.