May 22, 2025 • 23 mins
In this inspiring Memorial Day episode of Resilience Gone Wild, host Jessica Morgenthal welcomes Navy veteran Ed Eisenson for a powerful conversation about service, sacrifice, and the resilience found in both military life and nature. Ed shares personal reflections from his time in the Navy, diving deep into the emotional weight of Memorial Day, the camaraderie of military service, and the transformative experiences of deep sea diving.
The episode explores the connection between underwater exploration and life lessons, revealing how time spent below the surface can mirror the internal journey of resilience and self-discovery. From honoring the legacy of World War II veterans to embracing life’s joys and discomforts, Ed offers timeless wisdom for living fully and appreciating the people and moments that shape us.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
Welcome.
So excited
to be sharing this amazing space with you.
Ed Isanson, who is the father of my
dear, dear friend, Andrea, and who I've had
the honor and privilege and joy of parking
myself in your home for days at a
time and spending time with you and with
you and Didi and Andrea. And we share
(00:28):
a birthday, so we both just celebrated, which
is really lovely. And I I wanna wish
you a incredible birthday and another,
should I say your age? Say your age?
I guess you sure. Another ninety years with
us. I'm just so happy that I get
to see you in two days on my
way back up north. So thank you for
(00:49):
joining me. And I thought of you and
wanted to have this amazing conversation with you
because because you have these incredible stories that
you've shared some of when I've gotten the
the the joy of being in your in
your company. And some of them start with
the pre
scuba diving
life that you had, like, underwater, which is
just so so amazing.
(01:09):
You served in,
in the defense department, and and you can
tell us about it for so many years.
When I sit in your backyard and your
your,
your back deck and, you know, every bird
that's back there, there's just this beautiful connection
with nature. And I thought this would be,
like, the most beautiful conversation to bring this
together and share,
(01:29):
just you. So thank you. And we were
just starting to hear this great story
about Memorial Day and what it means to
you and who should be celebrated. So tell
us what you want about yourself and
tell us about how you feel about Memorial
Day. Well, Memorial Day has always been special
to me. Growing up,
(01:50):
during and right after World War II. Memorial
Day is something to be celebrated by all.
I mean, we were fortunate
to win World War II with our other
countries in arms. And it's not just an
American
holiday talking about Memorial Day for World War
II, but so many of our young citizens,
(02:13):
male and female,
who took part in, World War II.
Unfortunately,
there were a lot of people who lost
their lives during that conflict, and it is
something to be celebrated
particularly by our country and our democracy,
how we
prevailed
with our allies.
We have so much to be thankful for
(02:35):
as far as what the war contributed
toward our,
prosperity,
the new inventions that came about in medical
progress.
The turning point in our country was World
War two. Many people
were serving overseas
in Europe and,
(02:55):
The Pacific and that old song that maybe
most people don't remember that once you've seen
Kyrie, it's tough to come home. So our
economy expanded and people were more successful.
You had the GI bill where a lot
of the people who probably could not have
afforded to go to universities
(03:15):
were able to take part in things like
that. Well, you're called as heroes, right? I
mean, after World War II. Absolutely.
Everybody,
male, female, who participated
in bringing a successful
conclusion to the war is to be considered
a hero. People forget about the
unfortunate,
(03:35):
that didn't come home. You know, the people
here in our country, we had rationing, and
you didn't have food, and you didn't have
gasoline, and
everything
to some degree was with ration books and
with you just did without. But you participated
in some way, whether you were donating things
(03:56):
to scrap drives
or anything to enhance the war effort. Yeah.
So and you were saying that Memorial Day,
which started, from what I understand, actually, as
in honoring the people in the civil in
the union. Right. It was a long time
we've had Yeah. A Memorial Day. But I
love the parades, and I used to love
the uniforms.
(04:16):
And, unfortunately,
I think we sort of drifted away from
the main cause of that. Not too many
people have memories or were young enough or
involved.
So today, it doesn't have quite the same
meaning to those of us who remember the
actual days themselves
when we were in conflict, whether it be,
(04:37):
wars in the past or
more recent wars. Yeah.
And then things change sort of, but we
still honor Memorial Day. I mean, I think
that there's been a shift in
feelings, especially at the Vietnam War. You know,
there was a loss of
of honor
for the people who were
serving in such a difficult time.
(04:59):
Absolutely. Yeah. And and it's nice that Memorial
Day still, you know, is a a federal
holiday. There are parades in small towns, and
I I do think this is a beautiful
opportunity to honor,
those who you know, whether they were official,
as you said, you know, whether they were
officially veterans and in the military, or they
were giving you know, they were the families,
(05:19):
or they were doing all their parts in
helping during the war efforts. So, yeah, I
love that. Thank you for honoring that. So
do you wanna introduce yourself any and say
anything else about you as your history, who
you are, and and share that before I
ask a couple of questions? Tell us about
your long journey through working for the was
it the Department of Defense?
(05:39):
Well, right after college, I was gonna be
drafted, and I elected to join the navy.
It was,
oh, what can I say? Luckily, I had
just,
finished college
and went down and applied for OCS and
was luckily to be accepted,
graduated
(06:00):
OCS. And,
Officers Candidate School. Right? OCS is Officer Candidate
School? Right. Navy Officers Candidate
school He came out of town. Rhode Island
and volunteered
for,
a number of volunteer programs too. I wanted
to be a pilot, but my eyes weren't
quite good enough. And luckily,
I waited for letting you in the sky,
(06:21):
they let you down below. Right. Well, in
college, I was an advanced AFOS ROTC,
but unfortunately came down with measles in my
junior year and my eyes changed. And if
you weren't twentytwenty
vision, you were not in the program. They
were only taking twenty twenty. So that was
(06:41):
the end of my four hour old dog.
Incredible story given, you know, as a separate
issue, given the issue around vaccines and measles
these days that, you know,
that really changed your life. And and that's
you know, there's always silver linings, but my
goodness, that measles took away your dream at
that time. Well, get your shots. In other
words, I've cringed today when I see about
(07:02):
them doing away with certain things like, you
know, in your toothpaste, getting the fluoride. I
think that measles and all kinds of inoculations
are something that should be
taken to heart by everyone.
But anyway, graduating, I was volunteered
and was wanted to be a flight back
seater in a aircraft,
(07:24):
but,
I volunteered for UDT,
EOD,
and deep sea diving and all like that.
And, fortunately or unfortunately,
I got selected for deep sea diving. And,
Just give us a perspective of what deep
sea diving included at that time in terms
of equipment and
(07:44):
expectations because we all have this fancy scuba
gear now, and we saw Jacques Cousteau. You
know, I saw growing up on on TV
with norm with current sort of equipment. But
you have to give us a description because
it's a little bit way out there.
Well, I can try, but you have to
remember that this is yesteryear we're talking about.
(08:04):
I went to deep sea diving school,
in 1959,
and
it included hard hat deep sea diving
and EO,
excuse me.
Hard hat, the scuba, which was a lot
of fun and what we call Jack Brown,
which was a very light suits with just
(08:25):
a face mask and aligned to the top
to do inspections and light work and so
forth. You had a big helmet on, but
you didn't have a tank. You had a
pipe that fed oxygen in? That's right. You
had the great big helmet with these shoes
and the belt around your waist. To do
any work, you know, to sling a sledgehammer
(08:45):
or be heavy, you had to have a
big suit like that. And it was the
deep sea diving school. I don't know if
anyone has ever looked it up on a
line or Facebook or whatever, but, it is
the most excruciating,
most
hard, most,
difficult
(09:06):
school
that, I can
ever tell you about. It is
quite
consuming and just,
a lot of hard breaking work that
only two of us graduated out of a
class of about 12 officers. There were a
(09:27):
number of navy men in there with us.
And,
in our graduating class, I think there were
something like 12 that started out about, I
don't know, 25 or 30.
But, anyway, it was quite an experience and
loved doing it. Idea what you were in
for when you signed up? Well, I didn't
think it would be like that. The grueling
swims and so forth and the amount of
(09:49):
physical
exertion and labor. Difficult to describe, it really
was. But anyway,
they have a,
place for the Navy Deep Sea Diving School.
For those who are interested, you can look
it up and actually see scenes from it
and get I mustn't put them I'm gonna
put them on the show notes of the
podcast. So we'll have pictures for everyone. Yeah.
(10:09):
Good. And that way people can tell their
own experiences and so forth. But,
it's quite grueling, and,
it makes you a better person if you
graduate. Even if you don't, you you know
what you've been through. It's getting through it.
So beyond the grueling part, like, you know,
it's been many years, the memories that you
carry. I imagine that ink so it's it's
(10:31):
so rare at the time to be underwater
and deep sea diving
that some of the memories are still vibrant
of life underwater
that you saw at that time.
Well, luckily, my ship was a fleet tug,
which was sort of like an icebreaker. It
was a large ship that was, 200 and,
(10:53):
30 feet long and diesel electric engines. Luckily,
during the four years that I was diving
off the ship, we were assigned each spring,
January, February, March, April,
to Operation Springboard down in, Cuba, off of
Guantanamo.
And we exercised
(11:13):
with other ships
to perform their assigned duties and so forth.
And during the time we were there when
we were not actually working, we were able
to dive in the different islands down in
The Caribbean
using scuba. And it's just like you see
in the movies. It's just beautiful
diving in among the reefs and the fish
(11:35):
and just such a out of mind experience.
It's just gorgeous.
But you have to remember that these people
who do the filming and so forth down
on the reefs and so forth, they have
lights and all kinds of good. But if
you're just diving with scuba gear, don't get
me wrong, it's beautiful. It's quiet, except for
the breathing apparatus. It's it's colorful, and it's
(11:58):
just amazing.
Snorkeling is great, but,
using scuba gear really is the frosting on
the cake. Yeah. I mean, I I learned
to scuba dive, and I got certified when
I was in my twenties
and just went a few times because I
ended up meeting my husband, and he wasn't
it wasn't something that he was that interested
in, so we found other things to do.
(12:20):
So and now I've snorkeled.
And, I do I wanna ask you one
question. Do you have did you keep
keep going after you did the four years?
Did you continue? Did you stay down there?
And have you seen a difference
between how much life there is down there
versus over the years? No. After, I got
out of the navy, I,
(12:40):
I dove a little bit in Japan. We
were stationed in Japan. But I can tell
you that they have severely diminished on tours
that we took
to Mexico and Cancun. The little bit of
diving I did do. It's doesn't seem to
be teeming as much as you used to.
I find the fish are smaller and,
(13:01):
it's not as it used to be back
in the season forties. So,
the world has changed and so has diving
in the sense of what you see. From
what I read and see on TV, the
unfortunately, the reefs and so forth are
scaling back. There seems to be the global
warming, and times have changed. But still, diving
(13:23):
is beautiful, and, I wouldn't let that detract
anyone because it's still it's still beautiful out
there. Yeah. It's magical. And as you said,
just an unbelievable
bit of wonder that just is beyond imagination,
right, to be in a different world. It
is. Yeah. So tell me just share some
other stories that come to mind that
(13:43):
that connect you because I I I know
you're just a a nature lover and that
you've got these connections with these birds in
your backyard, and I think there's been a
lot of years in between that you've got
other great stories to tell. So do you
wanna share, like, whether it's related to your
military service
or or not? Just what stories are coming
to mind? Well, I don't have anything in
(14:04):
particular. I as far as I'm concerned, just
my,
upbringing. I grew up in a very small
town in Panama City, Florida up on the
Gulf Coast. And just
looking back nature wise, we used to have
hundreds of thousands of ducks flying over and
landing in the bayous and lakes and so
(14:26):
forth there. And I was able to swim
in the Gulf Of Mexico and Saint Andrews
Bay, which was a large natural bay where
we were. And we had rivers and,
creeks and so forth that my friends and
I used to swim in, and I loved
to swim. But it wasn't that much of
a surprise for you to volunteer to be
(14:46):
a deep sea diver. Well, I was gonna
say that that was one of the things.
I loved to swim and it,
sort
of I I worked in summer camps as,
head
of the,
what do you call it? I was head
life there. The university
Florida pool when I was in college and,
(15:08):
in charge of the waterfronts at different,
different camps up in,
Georgia, North Carolina. So water, I just love
swimming. Swimming was one of my,
basic growing up things, mainly because of where,
where I was born.
Yeah. The access to it. Yeah. It's it's
(15:29):
funny that you ended up joining the Air
Force ROTC
and wanting to be in the sky instead
of underwater then. Well, it was interesting, and
we didn't have much choice. Military was required
back then. If you didn't, you know, the
draft was effective. I can't think of the
word right now. My goodness. Yeah. You had
to, you had to go. You get your
(15:50):
draft notice and if you get your draft
notice, you were automatically in the army. And
I wanted to choose. Gave you choice. If
you sign up, you get choice. Yes. Yeah.
I love it. But you chose the air
force. Well, that was they only had air
force ROTC or army ROTC. Okay. That's what
I In college, you had to take what
(16:10):
was available in the curriculum,
and it was only those two. And,
air force was my choice. But since I
didn't get drafted, I was able to, after
graduation,
join the Navy. That's awesome. So can you
think of a story to share for us
of, you know, have given your growing up
in this deep experience, connection with nature and
(16:32):
water
and then spending these years under underwater
even though you're working really hard. What comes
to mind? Like, what have you learned? Like,
what what were you wowed by, and what
do you think you might have learned from
watching other nonhumans,
more than human species around you? My goodness.
That's such a big encompassing question. I I
(16:53):
really don't know how to answer that. I
enjoyed doing what I was doing, and, you
know, things just seem to follow you. You're
either lucky in the life you pursue. And
I was always
excited to try to do something different and
volunteer
outside of the scope of what I thought
was, best for me. And because of that,
(17:15):
trying to be Wait. Wait. I am just
happy because that was such a good line.
Like, that was such a good lesson for
for everybody. You tried to to get to
volunteer for things that were, I think you
were saying, uncomfortable.
Well
New and adventure and and high growth and
all that. Go ahead. Yeah. Well, it's just
like one of my daughters who graduated,
school and she got a job. And
(17:38):
after a year or two, she came back
and said, is, is this all there is?
I mean, do I just go to work
and come home? And, and she felt that
there was something else out there. And there
is something else out there. When you feel
you're in a rut and so you need
something else to do. You have to try
something new and different in something, even though
it might be uncomfortable
(17:59):
for a while, you can adapt to it
and adjust it so that if it is
uncomfortable,
you find something else. But life to me
was,
good. A bowl of cherries. I really have
had a,
charmed life. Some of it wasn't so charming,
but basically I feel I'm just a lucky
guy and I was able to take advantage
(18:21):
of what was available to me. And thank
goodness it all worked out. You know, it's
it's the definition
of resilience and optimism and positivity
to take a life of such a long,
beautiful life that had really hard stuff.
There's like, life didn't just it was a
bowl of cherries because you you think of
it that way. Like, I'm I'm the same
(18:42):
as you. I see the bowl of cherries.
I don't see the pits. But there were
a lot of pits along the way that
you got through and made you stronger. Like,
you know, my whole thing is resilience, and
you just exude this beautiful approach to life
that no matter how you look back, it's
not about regret. It's about all the joys
and all the tough stuff that you took
(19:03):
on and succeeded in. And seeing that through
the eyes of your your two daughters too
and your your beautiful wife. So give us
one animal story, one like or or some
nature story. Maybe it's a plant. Maybe it's
fungus. Maybe it's some connection that you've made.
Maybe it's one of the birds in your
backyard, although you've moved. So do you have
new birds in your backyard here that you've
connected with? Well, no no birds. A couple
(19:25):
of geese fly over every once in a
while, hulking in the backyard, so to speak.
They're saying that?
Yeah.
It,
is heartwarming. My wife and I both have
loved nature and tried to travel and take
in as much of it as we can.
That's all I can say for where we
are right now, Jessica.
Yeah.
(19:46):
Do you have one
one animal that you remember that you named
and had a connection with or you didn't
name, but you had a connection with a
story that you can share? Not particularly.
As a young guy, I always had dogs.
I had oh my goodness. I couldn't tell
you how many dogs that played
a significant part in,
(20:07):
our first daughter's life. We had a dog
when we were assigned in Japan
that,
was just magnificent,
a black lab that,
I considered another another child to take care
of. And she and my daughter grew up
together for the first five years of her
life almost, and it was just a very
(20:28):
obedient,
beautiful dog. And I've loved dogs. That's,
as close as I can get to a
a personal story. But traveling as much as
we did subsequently,
we were not able to have any more
animals. But But it sounds like you grew
up with them and then and then you
had this five years of joy. I heard
those stories actually about that incredible dog. I
(20:49):
think you went to Italy next, so you
couldn't bring the dog. Right? Right. We were,
in Japan. And after we left Japan, they
had a law where you could not bring
a dog back into The States from Japan.
It had to remain
in Hawaii for six months and I'm in
a dog's life.
Not just the dog's life. That's a long
(21:10):
time, plus the expense and so forth. Yeah.
But we had a good friend, a a
Catholic priest there in Japan and he took
it to the orphanage that he was in
charge of. And for many years
wrote us letters about how the dog was
faring and how much the children there loved
him and what a good dog he was
(21:30):
and how much they appreciated
the dog there in the orphanage. Oh, such
a beautiful story. Such a deep connection that
just kept being maintained, and you still, many,
many years later,
have I can see the warmth and the
connection that you have with this this this
beautiful friend that you had, your your third
daughter. Although at the time, I guess at
the time, it was your second daughter.
(21:51):
So lovely. So last, some final words of
wisdom from someone who's seen so much and
to honor Memorial Day and to honor nature
and to honor you? What what do you
got for us? Nothing except enjoy life except
it as you get it. If you can
change it, if you think you need to
change it to do something better, don't hesitate.
(22:11):
That hesitate,
means you're gonna go through something that is
not your, you know, in best interest or
what you feel is your ideal.
Take a chance, enjoy it, and reflect.
Live to the fullest.
Amen. Amen.
Thank you, Ed, so much. I'm so excited
to see you in a couple of days.
(22:32):
Thanks, Jessica.
This has been a production of BLI Studios
produced by me, Kai. Follow along with our
other BLI produced shows at balancinglife'sissues.com/podcast-BLI.
(22:55):
Got an idea for the show? Email me,
Kai, at balancing life's issues dot com. And
don't forget to stay in touch with your
host, Jessica, at jessica@winwinwinmindset.com.
Anything else to add, Miles?
Welcome.
So excited
to be sharing this amazing space with you.
Ed Isanson, who is the father of my
dear, dear friend, Andrea, and who I've had
the honor and privilege and joy of parking
myself in your home for days at a
time and spending time with you and with
you and Didi and Andrea. And we share
(00:28):
a birthday, so we both just celebrated, which
is really lovely. And I I wanna wish
you a incredible birthday and another,
should I say your age? Say your age?
I guess you sure. Another ninety years with
us. I'm just so happy that I get
to see you in two days on my
way back up north. So thank you for
(00:49):
joining me. And I thought of you and
wanted to have this amazing conversation with you
because because you have these incredible stories that
you've shared some of when I've gotten the
the the joy of being in your in
your company. And some of them start with
the pre
scuba diving
life that you had, like, underwater, which is
just so so amazing.
(01:09):
You served in,
in the defense department, and and you can
tell us about it for so many years.
When I sit in your backyard and your
your,
your back deck and, you know, every bird
that's back there, there's just this beautiful connection
with nature. And I thought this would be,
like, the most beautiful conversation to bring this
together and share,
(01:29):
just you. So thank you. And we were
just starting to hear this great story
about Memorial Day and what it means to
you and who should be celebrated. So tell
us what you want about yourself and
tell us about how you feel about Memorial
Day. Well, Memorial Day has always been special
to me. Growing up,
(01:50):
during and right after World War II. Memorial
Day is something to be celebrated by all.
I mean, we were fortunate
to win World War II with our other
countries in arms. And it's not just an
American
holiday talking about Memorial Day for World War
II, but so many of our young citizens,
(02:13):
male and female,
who took part in, World War II.
Unfortunately,
there were a lot of people who lost
their lives during that conflict, and it is
something to be celebrated
particularly by our country and our democracy,
how we
prevailed
with our allies.
We have so much to be thankful for
(02:35):
as far as what the war contributed
toward our,
prosperity,
the new inventions that came about in medical
progress.
The turning point in our country was World
War two. Many people
were serving overseas
in Europe and,
(02:55):
The Pacific and that old song that maybe
most people don't remember that once you've seen
Kyrie, it's tough to come home. So our
economy expanded and people were more successful.
You had the GI bill where a lot
of the people who probably could not have
afforded to go to universities
(03:15):
were able to take part in things like
that. Well, you're called as heroes, right? I
mean, after World War II. Absolutely.
Everybody,
male, female, who participated
in bringing a successful
conclusion to the war is to be considered
a hero. People forget about the
unfortunate,
(03:35):
that didn't come home. You know, the people
here in our country, we had rationing, and
you didn't have food, and you didn't have
gasoline, and
everything
to some degree was with ration books and
with you just did without. But you participated
in some way, whether you were donating things
(03:56):
to scrap drives
or anything to enhance the war effort. Yeah.
So and you were saying that Memorial Day,
which started, from what I understand, actually, as
in honoring the people in the civil in
the union. Right. It was a long time
we've had Yeah. A Memorial Day. But I
love the parades, and I used to love
the uniforms.
(04:16):
And, unfortunately,
I think we sort of drifted away from
the main cause of that. Not too many
people have memories or were young enough or
involved.
So today, it doesn't have quite the same
meaning to those of us who remember the
actual days themselves
when we were in conflict, whether it be,
(04:37):
wars in the past or
more recent wars. Yeah.
And then things change sort of, but we
still honor Memorial Day. I mean, I think
that there's been a shift in
feelings, especially at the Vietnam War. You know,
there was a loss of
of honor
for the people who were
serving in such a difficult time.
(04:59):
Absolutely. Yeah. And and it's nice that Memorial
Day still, you know, is a a federal
holiday. There are parades in small towns, and
I I do think this is a beautiful
opportunity to honor,
those who you know, whether they were official,
as you said, you know, whether they were
officially veterans and in the military, or they
were giving you know, they were the families,
(05:19):
or they were doing all their parts in
helping during the war efforts. So, yeah, I
love that. Thank you for honoring that. So
do you wanna introduce yourself any and say
anything else about you as your history, who
you are, and and share that before I
ask a couple of questions? Tell us about
your long journey through working for the was
it the Department of Defense?
(05:39):
Well, right after college, I was gonna be
drafted, and I elected to join the navy.
It was,
oh, what can I say? Luckily, I had
just,
finished college
and went down and applied for OCS and
was luckily to be accepted,
graduated
(06:00):
OCS. And,
Officers Candidate School. Right? OCS is Officer Candidate
School? Right. Navy Officers Candidate
school He came out of town. Rhode Island
and volunteered
for,
a number of volunteer programs too. I wanted
to be a pilot, but my eyes weren't
quite good enough. And luckily,
I waited for letting you in the sky,
(06:21):
they let you down below. Right. Well, in
college, I was an advanced AFOS ROTC,
but unfortunately came down with measles in my
junior year and my eyes changed. And if
you weren't twentytwenty
vision, you were not in the program. They
were only taking twenty twenty. So that was
(06:41):
the end of my four hour old dog.
Incredible story given, you know, as a separate
issue, given the issue around vaccines and measles
these days that, you know,
that really changed your life. And and that's
you know, there's always silver linings, but my
goodness, that measles took away your dream at
that time. Well, get your shots. In other
words, I've cringed today when I see about
(07:02):
them doing away with certain things like, you
know, in your toothpaste, getting the fluoride. I
think that measles and all kinds of inoculations
are something that should be
taken to heart by everyone.
But anyway, graduating, I was volunteered
and was wanted to be a flight back
seater in a aircraft,
(07:24):
but,
I volunteered for UDT,
EOD,
and deep sea diving and all like that.
And, fortunately or unfortunately,
I got selected for deep sea diving. And,
Just give us a perspective of what deep
sea diving included at that time in terms
of equipment and
(07:44):
expectations because we all have this fancy scuba
gear now, and we saw Jacques Cousteau. You
know, I saw growing up on on TV
with norm with current sort of equipment. But
you have to give us a description because
it's a little bit way out there.
Well, I can try, but you have to
remember that this is yesteryear we're talking about.
(08:04):
I went to deep sea diving school,
in 1959,
and
it included hard hat deep sea diving
and EO,
excuse me.
Hard hat, the scuba, which was a lot
of fun and what we call Jack Brown,
which was a very light suits with just
(08:25):
a face mask and aligned to the top
to do inspections and light work and so
forth. You had a big helmet on, but
you didn't have a tank. You had a
pipe that fed oxygen in? That's right. You
had the great big helmet with these shoes
and the belt around your waist. To do
any work, you know, to sling a sledgehammer
(08:45):
or be heavy, you had to have a
big suit like that. And it was the
deep sea diving school. I don't know if
anyone has ever looked it up on a
line or Facebook or whatever, but, it is
the most excruciating,
most
hard, most,
difficult
(09:06):
school
that, I can
ever tell you about. It is
quite
consuming and just,
a lot of hard breaking work that
only two of us graduated out of a
class of about 12 officers. There were a
(09:27):
number of navy men in there with us.
And,
in our graduating class, I think there were
something like 12 that started out about, I
don't know, 25 or 30.
But, anyway, it was quite an experience and
loved doing it. Idea what you were in
for when you signed up? Well, I didn't
think it would be like that. The grueling
swims and so forth and the amount of
(09:49):
physical
exertion and labor. Difficult to describe, it really
was. But anyway,
they have a,
place for the Navy Deep Sea Diving School.
For those who are interested, you can look
it up and actually see scenes from it
and get I mustn't put them I'm gonna
put them on the show notes of the
podcast. So we'll have pictures for everyone. Yeah.
(10:09):
Good. And that way people can tell their
own experiences and so forth. But,
it's quite grueling, and,
it makes you a better person if you
graduate. Even if you don't, you you know
what you've been through. It's getting through it.
So beyond the grueling part, like, you know,
it's been many years, the memories that you
carry. I imagine that ink so it's it's
(10:31):
so rare at the time to be underwater
and deep sea diving
that some of the memories are still vibrant
of life underwater
that you saw at that time.
Well, luckily, my ship was a fleet tug,
which was sort of like an icebreaker. It
was a large ship that was, 200 and,
(10:53):
30 feet long and diesel electric engines. Luckily,
during the four years that I was diving
off the ship, we were assigned each spring,
January, February, March, April,
to Operation Springboard down in, Cuba, off of
Guantanamo.
And we exercised
(11:13):
with other ships
to perform their assigned duties and so forth.
And during the time we were there when
we were not actually working, we were able
to dive in the different islands down in
The Caribbean
using scuba. And it's just like you see
in the movies. It's just beautiful
diving in among the reefs and the fish
(11:35):
and just such a out of mind experience.
It's just gorgeous.
But you have to remember that these people
who do the filming and so forth down
on the reefs and so forth, they have
lights and all kinds of good. But if
you're just diving with scuba gear, don't get
me wrong, it's beautiful. It's quiet, except for
the breathing apparatus. It's it's colorful, and it's
(11:58):
just amazing.
Snorkeling is great, but,
using scuba gear really is the frosting on
the cake. Yeah. I mean, I I learned
to scuba dive, and I got certified when
I was in my twenties
and just went a few times because I
ended up meeting my husband, and he wasn't
it wasn't something that he was that interested
in, so we found other things to do.
(12:20):
So and now I've snorkeled.
And, I do I wanna ask you one
question. Do you have did you keep
keep going after you did the four years?
Did you continue? Did you stay down there?
And have you seen a difference
between how much life there is down there
versus over the years? No. After, I got
out of the navy, I,
(12:40):
I dove a little bit in Japan. We
were stationed in Japan. But I can tell
you that they have severely diminished on tours
that we took
to Mexico and Cancun. The little bit of
diving I did do. It's doesn't seem to
be teeming as much as you used to.
I find the fish are smaller and,
(13:01):
it's not as it used to be back
in the season forties. So,
the world has changed and so has diving
in the sense of what you see. From
what I read and see on TV, the
unfortunately, the reefs and so forth are
scaling back. There seems to be the global
warming, and times have changed. But still, diving
(13:23):
is beautiful, and, I wouldn't let that detract
anyone because it's still it's still beautiful out
there. Yeah. It's magical. And as you said,
just an unbelievable
bit of wonder that just is beyond imagination,
right, to be in a different world. It
is. Yeah. So tell me just share some
other stories that come to mind that
(13:43):
that connect you because I I I know
you're just a a nature lover and that
you've got these connections with these birds in
your backyard, and I think there's been a
lot of years in between that you've got
other great stories to tell. So do you
wanna share, like, whether it's related to your
military service
or or not? Just what stories are coming
to mind? Well, I don't have anything in
(14:04):
particular. I as far as I'm concerned, just
my,
upbringing. I grew up in a very small
town in Panama City, Florida up on the
Gulf Coast. And just
looking back nature wise, we used to have
hundreds of thousands of ducks flying over and
landing in the bayous and lakes and so
(14:26):
forth there. And I was able to swim
in the Gulf Of Mexico and Saint Andrews
Bay, which was a large natural bay where
we were. And we had rivers and,
creeks and so forth that my friends and
I used to swim in, and I loved
to swim. But it wasn't that much of
a surprise for you to volunteer to be
(14:46):
a deep sea diver. Well, I was gonna
say that that was one of the things.
I loved to swim and it,
sort
of I I worked in summer camps as,
head
of the,
what do you call it? I was head
life there. The university
Florida pool when I was in college and,
(15:08):
in charge of the waterfronts at different,
different camps up in,
Georgia, North Carolina. So water, I just love
swimming. Swimming was one of my,
basic growing up things, mainly because of where,
where I was born.
Yeah. The access to it. Yeah. It's it's
(15:29):
funny that you ended up joining the Air
Force ROTC
and wanting to be in the sky instead
of underwater then. Well, it was interesting, and
we didn't have much choice. Military was required
back then. If you didn't, you know, the
draft was effective. I can't think of the
word right now. My goodness. Yeah. You had
to, you had to go. You get your
(15:50):
draft notice and if you get your draft
notice, you were automatically in the army. And
I wanted to choose. Gave you choice. If
you sign up, you get choice. Yes. Yeah.
I love it. But you chose the air
force. Well, that was they only had air
force ROTC or army ROTC. Okay. That's what
I In college, you had to take what
(16:10):
was available in the curriculum,
and it was only those two. And,
air force was my choice. But since I
didn't get drafted, I was able to, after
graduation,
join the Navy. That's awesome. So can you
think of a story to share for us
of, you know, have given your growing up
in this deep experience, connection with nature and
(16:32):
water
and then spending these years under underwater
even though you're working really hard. What comes
to mind? Like, what have you learned? Like,
what what were you wowed by, and what
do you think you might have learned from
watching other nonhumans,
more than human species around you? My goodness.
That's such a big encompassing question. I I
(16:53):
really don't know how to answer that. I
enjoyed doing what I was doing, and, you
know, things just seem to follow you. You're
either lucky in the life you pursue. And
I was always
excited to try to do something different and
volunteer
outside of the scope of what I thought
was, best for me. And because of that,
(17:15):
trying to be Wait. Wait. I am just
happy because that was such a good line.
Like, that was such a good lesson for
for everybody. You tried to to get to
volunteer for things that were, I think you
were saying, uncomfortable.
Well
New and adventure and and high growth and
all that. Go ahead. Yeah. Well, it's just
like one of my daughters who graduated,
school and she got a job. And
(17:38):
after a year or two, she came back
and said, is, is this all there is?
I mean, do I just go to work
and come home? And, and she felt that
there was something else out there. And there
is something else out there. When you feel
you're in a rut and so you need
something else to do. You have to try
something new and different in something, even though
it might be uncomfortable
(17:59):
for a while, you can adapt to it
and adjust it so that if it is
uncomfortable,
you find something else. But life to me
was,
good. A bowl of cherries. I really have
had a,
charmed life. Some of it wasn't so charming,
but basically I feel I'm just a lucky
guy and I was able to take advantage
(18:21):
of what was available to me. And thank
goodness it all worked out. You know, it's
it's the definition
of resilience and optimism and positivity
to take a life of such a long,
beautiful life that had really hard stuff.
There's like, life didn't just it was a
bowl of cherries because you you think of
it that way. Like, I'm I'm the same
(18:42):
as you. I see the bowl of cherries.
I don't see the pits. But there were
a lot of pits along the way that
you got through and made you stronger. Like,
you know, my whole thing is resilience, and
you just exude this beautiful approach to life
that no matter how you look back, it's
not about regret. It's about all the joys
and all the tough stuff that you took
(19:03):
on and succeeded in. And seeing that through
the eyes of your your two daughters too
and your your beautiful wife. So give us
one animal story, one like or or some
nature story. Maybe it's a plant. Maybe it's
fungus. Maybe it's some connection that you've made.
Maybe it's one of the birds in your
backyard, although you've moved. So do you have
new birds in your backyard here that you've
connected with? Well, no no birds. A couple
(19:25):
of geese fly over every once in a
while, hulking in the backyard, so to speak.
They're saying that?
Yeah.
It,
is heartwarming. My wife and I both have
loved nature and tried to travel and take
in as much of it as we can.
That's all I can say for where we
are right now, Jessica.
Yeah.
(19:46):
Do you have one
one animal that you remember that you named
and had a connection with or you didn't
name, but you had a connection with a
story that you can share? Not particularly.
As a young guy, I always had dogs.
I had oh my goodness. I couldn't tell
you how many dogs that played
a significant part in,
(20:07):
our first daughter's life. We had a dog
when we were assigned in Japan
that,
was just magnificent,
a black lab that,
I considered another another child to take care
of. And she and my daughter grew up
together for the first five years of her
life almost, and it was just a very
(20:28):
obedient,
beautiful dog. And I've loved dogs. That's,
as close as I can get to a
a personal story. But traveling as much as
we did subsequently,
we were not able to have any more
animals. But But it sounds like you grew
up with them and then and then you
had this five years of joy. I heard
those stories actually about that incredible dog. I
(20:49):
think you went to Italy next, so you
couldn't bring the dog. Right? Right. We were,
in Japan. And after we left Japan, they
had a law where you could not bring
a dog back into The States from Japan.
It had to remain
in Hawaii for six months and I'm in
a dog's life.
Not just the dog's life. That's a long
(21:10):
time, plus the expense and so forth. Yeah.
But we had a good friend, a a
Catholic priest there in Japan and he took
it to the orphanage that he was in
charge of. And for many years
wrote us letters about how the dog was
faring and how much the children there loved
him and what a good dog he was
(21:30):
and how much they appreciated
the dog there in the orphanage. Oh, such
a beautiful story. Such a deep connection that
just kept being maintained, and you still, many,
many years later,
have I can see the warmth and the
connection that you have with this this this
beautiful friend that you had, your your third
daughter. Although at the time, I guess at
the time, it was your second daughter.
(21:51):
So lovely. So last, some final words of
wisdom from someone who's seen so much and
to honor Memorial Day and to honor nature
and to honor you? What what do you
got for us? Nothing except enjoy life except
it as you get it. If you can
change it, if you think you need to
change it to do something better, don't hesitate.
(22:11):
That hesitate,
means you're gonna go through something that is
not your, you know, in best interest or
what you feel is your ideal.
Take a chance, enjoy it, and reflect.
Live to the fullest.
Amen. Amen.
Thank you, Ed, so much. I'm so excited
to see you in a couple of days.
(22:32):
Thanks, Jessica.
This has been a production of BLI Studios
produced by me, Kai. Follow along with our
other BLI produced shows at balancinglife'sissues.com/podcast-BLI.
(22:55):
Got an idea for the show? Email me,
Kai, at balancing life's issues dot com. And
don't forget to stay in touch with your
host, Jessica, at jessica@winwinwinmindset.com.
Anything else to add, Miles?
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