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Fair Winds and Following Seas: Reflections on the Navy Career of a Teenage Ensign
Fair Winds and Following Seas: Reflections on the Navy Career of a Teenage Ensign
Fair Winds and Following Seas: Reflections on the Navy Career of a Teenage Ensign
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Fair Winds and Following Seas: Reflections on the Navy Career of a Teenage Ensign

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This book relates the military experiences compiled from a twenty-five year naval career of a small town boy whose elementary and high school endeavors were somewhat less than satisfactory, but who was given the opportunity, provided by that inconceivably destructive event, known as World War II, to redeem his poor educational activity and serve in the Navy reasonably successfully. The book follows his career as he rose from a very young and inexperienced Ensign to the rank of Commander. Early on, he acquired a specialty designation as cryptologist, dealing with codes and ciphers in the Naval Communications system. This book depicts the good times, the hard times, and the difficult times of the voyage to the top of the military organization in which he spent the biggest part of his Navy career. He spent many years in the field spreading the communication security gospel directly to the communication officers of various ships and stations. Finally, after 20 years of total service, he was assigned to the Naval Security Group Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as deputy to the head of the Communication Security Organization with oversight and management responsibilities over the field activities. Later, when his boss was assigned to duty at a field activity, he was elevated to the head of the organization. After about a year as head of the Communication Security Organization, he was given a very promising assignment as Commanding Officer of a newly established Naval Security Group command in California. As expressed in the book, this was a Camelot assignment.

Shortly after World War II ended and very early in his career, he met and married his lifetime companion. This relationship produced six children, five daughters and a son, who survived a change of venue every two to three years and all became college graduates, including one daughter who was born with a physical disability denying her the ability to get around without assistance. All achieved exceptional success in their chosen occupational pursuits. He and his brides commandment that all the children must expect to stay in school at least sixteen years, was really very rewarding for them in their later lives.

The book concludes with a comparison of his Navy life with the famous and well used Navy description of a hypothetically perfect sea voyage, Fair Winds and Following Seas.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherAuthorHouse
Release dateApr 15, 2013
ISBN9781481734899
Fair Winds and Following Seas: Reflections on the Navy Career of a Teenage Ensign
Author

Ronald Vail

Whenever old sailors gather, sea stories usually abound. Every sailor has his share of stories garnered from his Navy experiences and at least one will fit in almost any topic being discussed. He generally will not be the least bit hesitant to insert it into the conversation. The author of this book is no exception. After years of participation in such gatherings, it occurred to him that others, not just old sailors of his acquaintance, might have an interest in his stories and therefore he should record them for posterity. This task remained unrealized for several years until his grandson, Sean Kristofer Vail, was attending college at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. In one of his courses, he was assigned a project requiring that he interview a senior citizen and write a report on the interview. He selected the author as his subject who used the opportunity to write his memoirs. As a result, the grandson received considerably more material than his professor wanted to review, so he was faced with the task of drastically editing the information for his report. He received an A for the project. The material in this book is entirely factual and is taken from those memoirs

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    Fair Winds and Following Seas - Ronald Vail

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