Page 31 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2025 - Online Magazine

navy | desert stOrm, desert sHield

early vision of “seeing the world.”

Mark returned to West Texas and moved
his family—by then, he and Amy had
a son and a daughter—to Midland,
where he worked in the oilfields and
also as an electrician at a gas plant.
After four years, the family moved back
to Lubbock where he worked for the
city’s Water Treatment Plant. He also
worked at Lowes Home Improvement
for a couple of years. He now works at
in Bahrain, we went to a swimming pool that was so hot the United Supermarkets Market Street
they had to cool it down.” location on 50 and Indiana Ave. and has been there
th
since 2010.
Mark’s time on the Sacramento coincided with the Gulf
War that lasted from 1990-1991. The ship supported He finished our conversation by asking, “Do you know
both Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Mark what Navy stands for?” I said, “No, but I’m sure you’re
said, “We often refueled two battleships at the same going to tell me!” He said (chuckling), “Never Again
time called UNREP (Underway Replenishment). We Volunteer Yourself!” All of us who have served in the
also refueled everyone else’s ships like Australia’s and armed forces can relate to that one.
Great Britain’s. From 1992 to 1994, I was on the USS
George Washington mainly in the Mediterranean. It was
a Nimitz-class nuclear powered supercarrier. From
August 1994 to October 1997, I was stationed at NAS
(Naval Air Station) near Meridian, MI, where I served
as an MP (Military Police). From November 1997 to
February 2002, I was assigned to the USS David Ray
(DD-973) back in Everett. My final stop was at the NAS
in Corpus Christi from March 2002 to January 2004
when I also served as an MP.”

His time in the Navy had a few scary moments. “One
time when I was on the Belleau Wood, I had to take a
helicopter over to the USS Enterprise. The landing was
really scary. It hit hard on the deck. I never wanted
to get in another helicopter after that!” Interestingly,
even though Mark was from landlocked West Texas,
he never got seasick. (According to one study of Naval
personnel, nearly 72% of sailors experience at least
some symptoms of seasickness.)

Life wasn’t always easy in the Navy, but the retired
sailor said, “We did what we had to do to make things
work.” He was honorably discharged in January 2004
after serving his country for 20 years and realizing his

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