Veteran's Corner - Steven Aspenwall

COLFAX - Local Veteran Steven Aspenwall joined the Navy in 1973 right after high school where he spent 26 years. He would be aboard his first ship in 1975.

His first ship was in Norfolk Virginia on a cruiser, "I was there from '75 to '78," he said, explaining that they then transferred him to a destroyer out of Napalm Florida from 1979. Then 1980 to 1982 he was in Puerto Rico at the missile fleet doing scheduling stuff.

Aspenwall retired from the U.S. Navy E-8 as a Senior Operations Specialist. He spent 17 years aboard ships, shore based personnel combat training, and trained 103 U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. As well as foreign vessels.

"For me it was fun," Aspenwall said, "about ninety eight percent of the time it was just a fantastic job," adding that the first four years were terrible. Most of the time he spent chipping paint, painting, swabbing the deck, and constant cleaning.

"When we were underway we stood watches," he said, noting that the watches were 7 and 5, 5 and 7. Aspenwall explained that the time he had off he was refueling, taking on stores, cleaning, or doing maintenance, "so sleep was very very poor," he added.

Aspenwall served in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, "I was nearing the end of my career," Aspenwall said, "I was a chief petty officer, and I didn't go to Vietnam," explaining that for him to advance he needed to go to a conflict. Aspenwall finished up training ships in the pacific for three years, and was recommended to join an admiral staff carrier, "so I just did what I was told."

"It was just another job except I was very senior at the time," Aspenwall explained, "so my main job was training up the crew that kept track of all the ships in the Persian gulf," further explaining that they were admiral staff so had to have a strategic overlay of what was going on.

Aspenwall had the crew trained, noting that there wasn't much for him to do in that area, "I was an air control supervisor, so I did spend some time controlling fighter aircraft at the time." Explaining further that he controlled F-14s or E-3 aircraft which had officers that could control the aircraft out towards Iraq and the surrounding area.

"I also worked in the war room," Aspenwall said, adding that he was able to see everything unfold, and make reports on it. He explained that the war room was a long table that the admiral and his staff would sit around, "they were busy doing other things, so I was in there most of the time," he added.

At the time, CNN was new, Aspenwall explained, "We actually received the broadcast, so I was watching data unfold on television, and writing it down," he would then be able to answer questions they had right away. "Otherwise they have to send a reconnaissance aircraft out there," he added. This required the aircraft to fly out there to take photos and recover, and then fly back to process the photographs and information.

"It would take time, but watching CNN we could get information and data about what was going on," he said, adding that while the reporters weren't everywhere they were still able to get a heads up on certain things.

For Aspenwall the service was a chance for him to experience culture, and see the world. From visiting mom and pop shops in small villages in Italy, to meeting his wife in the Philippines, Aspenwall had many stories to tell about his experience in the service.

His advice for anyone who joins would be, "pick a skill. If I could go back, I'd do plumbing," he said, noting that with a skill those who join can get back into society afterwards with a useful skill to bring to the workforce.

Aspenwall currently lives in Colfax, and is planning on moving to the Philippines to live with his wife.