In summer 1965, while I was serving as an FTG2 on a destroyer in the South China Sea, I decided to apply for the Naval Enlisted Scientific Education Program (NESEP). The NESEP was an enlisted-to-officer program where the Navy sent selected petty officers to four years of college with all fees and tuition paid while still receiving full pay and allowances. What an opportunity!!
When I discussed the idea with a respected shipmate, his advice was, “Don’t waste your time. I had a friend on my last ship who applied and wasn’t selected, and he’s a whole lot smarter than you.”
Well, I applied anyway. And you can imagine my surprise in March 1966 when I saw my name in the Navy Times as a selectee for the program! This was a totally life changing event.
After graduating from Purdue University in 1970 with a BS in Aeronautical/Astronautical engineering, I completed the Navy nuclear power training program and served on three different submarines over the next 12 years retiring in 1982 as a Lieutenant Commander and executive officer of a fleet ballistic missile submarine.
The moral of this story is to take advice from shipmates with a proverbial grain of salt.

- Vern K.