Daniel Christensen and Ana Christensen

Recorded May 12, 2021 Archived May 11, 2021 30:29 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id: ddv000745

Description

Daniel Christensen (49) shares his Navy experiences with his wife Ana Christensen (40). He shares funny stories, remembers the now declassified work he did, and considers how civilians can show their support for veterans.

Subject Log / Time Code

Daniel Christensen (DC) discusses enlisting into the Navy in January 1991 during the Gulf War. DC discusses his family’s military history and why he decided to enlist.
DC shares a funny story about a “special day” during bootcamp involving damage control training, tear gas, lots of physical training, and a special call.
DC says he was an Ocean Systems Technician analyst and that his work used to be classified. DC says he worked on submarine warfare at the end of the Cold War and talks about how the research he and his unit worked on was received by oceanographers.
DC shares a day in the life during his military service. DC also talks about what he would do on his free time while stationed in Alaska, like going hiking and camping. DC also remembers his team and how they spent the time playing DND.
DC tells a story about breaking rules and getting caught. DC recalls someone forgetting to lock up classified material and getting snitched on and how their chief responded to the team as a whole.
DC remembers his family’s reaction to his enlistment and the support he got while away from home.
DC recalls the pizza shop and clubs on the island he was stationed at in AK and how he learned how to dance two-step.
DC remembers his teammates and how they’ve stayed in touch over the years. DC remembers a friend who was at the Pentagon on 9/11.
DC discusses why he left the Navy and his transition into civilian life.
DC shares what he wishes civilians understood about military service. DC asks that civilians don’t thank him for his service and considers the kinds of support that veterans do and don’t receive.

Participants

  • Daniel Christensen
  • Ana Christensen

Partnership

Partnership Type

Outreach

Places


Transcript

StoryCorps uses Google Cloud Speech-to-Text and Natural Language API to provide machine-generated transcripts. Transcripts have not been checked for accuracy and may contain errors. Learn more about our FAQs through our Help Center or do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions.

00:00 Almost 50 years old. Today is Wednesday, May 12th to 2021 in Greater Seattle, Washington and my partner is Anna and she is my wife.

00:17 My name is Ana Christensen. I'm 40. Today is Wednesday, May 12th, 2021 or in north of Seattle Washington. And my partner's name is Daniel and he's my husband.

00:32 The Daniel.

00:35 When were you, when did you enlist?

00:38 I enlisted in January of 1991. So just as Desert Storm Gulf War 1 was ramping up.

00:52 I signed the paperwork in January. I made it to bootcamp in April of that year. So between, when I signed up and when I hit boot camp, the war was over, but but I was still in for the, for the, for the rest of the time.

01:10 What were the reasons that you join the military?

01:14 Well, there's the outside reason in the inside reason.

01:19 The outside reason, my family has served in the military one stripe or another for a long time. I mean, my father was in the air force during Vietnam. My grandfather was in the Coast Guard during World War. I mean, there's branches in my family that go all the way back to the Revolutionary War. So, there is that tradition in my family. The inside reason, though, is that I was 19. I was flat broke. I was working three. Part-time jobs, trying to go to school and college cuz I didn't have any money for college and I had listened to PR. That gave made me think that the war was going to last longer than it did. And so I figured I would rather

02:12 Enlist and have a say in what I do, then run the risk of getting drafted.

02:21 And how did you imagine military life before you join? What did you think would happen? You know, I grew up on a steady diet of mash and stripes and all sorts of 80s, television and movies and home. It was right after Top Gun, which was a recruiting Salman more ways than one.

02:50 And so it it seemed like it was a

02:55 Of course, had ideas of Glory in this that and the other thing. And in the end. No, that's all just PR, but I think I went in with as much of my eyes open as I could.

03:12 And how did you choose your branch of service? We haven't said that yet. I was in the Navy and oddly growing up. My grandfather always said he was in the Navy and the discussion was always that he was in the Navy. We only found out when he passed away about five years ago, that he was in the Coast Guard. Why did that? Nuance never got split out before? I don't know. But, I mean, he spent 2 years, 3 years at Point Reyes just outside of San Francisco.

03:51 Oh. I joined the Navy because I thought was following in my grandfather's Footsteps in the snow.

04:00 So,

04:01 Share a funny moment from boot camp.

04:07 I think.

04:09 They did the one that is suitable for publication in memorialization. There was one very special day.

04:20 And I remember waking up and everyone saying, oh, hey, hey, today's a special day and we were up at 4:30 and we spent an hour working out and y'all getting sweaty at 4:30 in the morning and we went out to breakfast and they said, hey, hey, it's a special day. Don't eat too much, which is always a good morning to receive and we went off and we started our special day with. It was our final Examination for damage control and firefighting.

04:54 Which is a nice way of saying they let stuff on fire and it was our job to put it out.

05:00 The wood stuff was fine. Not a problem. The electrical stuff was fine. Not a problem. The jet fuel was fun, did not expect that the Was Then followed by the egress chamber where they lit a small compartment on fire. And we had to make our way through. Well, it wasn't, they put it out. So it was really Smoky. So we had to unhook our shirts and we'd each other like little coughing elephants through this obstacle course, to get through to the other side. And after that, it was the proper use application and appreciation of a gas mask.

05:50 Which means that they you get fitted for your gas mask, you get it all turned on and and tighten down and write, nice and snug, and you get an actual dentistry in there. So it's filtering me out of whatever is watching in off of Lake Michigan. And and then they walk you into this room. That's about the size of a 2-car garage, all 60 of us. And we're standing there. And they take the pins out of a couple canisters of tear gas and you're breathing. And you're like, huh? This is why I can appreciate this. This is good and then they tell you to take

06:27 And you have to take it off and say your name and the last four of your Social Security and your company before they let you out the door. And if you don't get it, right, they send you to the back of the line. So we made it through that and we go back to our barracks and we shower off all the stuff that we got coated in what off to lunch and they said, hey, hey, it's a special day. Don't eat too much like, okay, duly noted.

07:02 When you go back to work our compartment again, and it was the day that we graduated and moved from the first half of boot camp for the second half of boot camp, which is celebrated by about 3 hours. Worth of peachy what's PT physical training exercises? Calisthenics, push-ups sit-ups, Jumping Jacks and civilians called burpees. I called meet count body builders and that went on for several, several hours. And because all of this is a special day.

07:36 And at the very end of the day, I took the last ounce of courage that I had and I walked into my company. Commanders training instructors, drill sergeants, whatever, you want to come, come thing, Commander's office. And I said, sorry, I respectfully request a phone call home tonight.

07:57 Call Old World makes you think you deserve a phone call. It's my birthday, sir.

08:06 That was my 20th birthday at Great Lakes, Illinois. Yes. I got the phone call home. Yes, I got stuck with my mom for a minute. But yeah, it was a special day for more than one reason.

08:21 And so what was your job? And I guess I want to know, what did you think your job would be. And what did your job actually turn out to be? Like, when you signed up, what did you think you were going to do that?

08:35 That is an excellent thing. Thank you for asking that. So when I signed my paperwork.

08:46 And up until about halfway through the first year in,

08:52 I was told that I was an ocean systems technician. Analyst that my job was to study ocean was to perform oceanographic research for the United States Navy. And that's what I signed up for and sign my name on the dotted line that I made it through boot camp. I went to a school which is where they actually teach you how to do the job. They walked behind several very large, very locked doors, and they said

09:20 You working at a submarine warfare and when you study

09:26 Acoustics in sound propagation through the water. That's so we can find submarines better.

09:35 But up until the end of 1991. As you asked me, I would have said. I conduct oceanographic research the United States Navy, which is nice and boring enough that most people don't ask. And if you would ask more, I would have said, well, you know, we study the ocean's depths and salinity and temperature to study how sound propagates through water and I would have changed the subject. But then the Cold War, this is early 90s. The Cold War ended and they declassify information Theory while you were still walked in and everyone that was with was in kind of shell-shocked over. We can actually say this now.

10:22 And I just recently there was a discussion online and somebody says, oh, you have to be careful about classified material and I said, I just checked it on Wikipedia. Okay, I'm pretty sure this is. Okay. But the long and the short of it was? Yeah for three years. I chased submarines across the North Pacific.

10:45 When the job was Declassified and the world found out that oceanographic research.

10:53 Well, let's put it this way when I was going through training at learning how to do the job instructors would say, oh, don't pay attention to that. That's an earthquake. Don't pay attention to that. That's well. And when the job was became Declassified, we were starting to get phone calls from Scripps Institute and Woods Hole and people saying, wait, you can track whales.

11:20 Aldi. My boss, my last boss in the Navy was a co-author on a scientific paper with a bunch of folks from Woods Hole on track because they were able to track one particular whale through the North Pacific. For like 3 years. They were able to see how they were gathering data, that some oceanographers would never see in their in their entire careers and we would get that much in the, you know, a month. So it is, it's funny that it went from. So don't pay attention to that. That's a whale 200. That's a whale

12:01 And so, how did you do your job? But what is your typical day? Look like it was rotational shifts. We would work two 12-hour days, go out and come back. At that same time, that the next night and work two 12-hour nights. It was all the Land Based at that time. And so, you know, we would have days off to do what we want. I mean we've a lot of it was studying and learning our qualifications, but my first Duty station was on a small island in Alaska, Alaska and we could go hiking or go out to go camping. It was, it was

12:51 What are the most amazing and beautiful places I've ever been in my life and prior to covid. I was planning to go there this year for the 30th anniversary of me being there, but I'm hoping that maybe next year. We can go instead.

13:11 And what are some of the things that you remember most about being in, Alaska?

13:19 Well.

13:23 Obviously, I mean, it goes without saying the weather that, you know, I was born and raised in Salt Lake City. I'm one of the few people that actually knew how to drive in the snow. So when winter came, which is September, I got volunteered to be one of the command driver. So I'm driving, a school bus on sheets of ice through through the dark. So that was lovely and wonderful, but the rest of the story is

14:00 That we the groups for our job is divided into teams and watch teams and there's always some some shuffling around people trying to get the best team together and it always seems like

14:16 My team was the weirdos and I own that freely. I am, I am a deeply about nerd and we the rest of the Nerds ended up on my team as well. And so yes, for 4 days, we Chase up or means to the North Pacific. And on the other four days. We had a D&D group of locked in here. We could go. We, we would have this time together. And I mean, these are people that I'm still in contact with and up until one person moved away. This last year. We were all thirty years later and we're all still living within 50 miles of one. Another don't play DND as much, but we still got together.

15:05 And did you get ever get caught breaking any rules?

15:16 Yes, and no. So when I was in a school, but I was in learning how to do the job that I did. We were in Norfolk Virginia, and

15:29 When I say that I didn't get in trouble. It was another person that had made the mistake. They were learning. One of the things we had to learn behind those very large for a locked door, is how to take care of classified material. And so you had to go through all the Hoops of locking and securing and making sure that everything was set.

15:53 One person left a lock, safe unlocked, and another person decided that rather than lock that safe. And and solve the problem. They decided that they were to try and going to try to get that other person in trouble.

16:11 And the next day, we all get called out. So, we're talkin five classes worth of 20 people. Each hundred people in this very narrow. Very claustrophobic.

16:26 Hallway.

16:28 Standing at attention and out, walks Chief Berglund.

16:34 Who's all of five foot, nothing and full of salt and vinegar and literally clenching a pipe between his teeth like MacArthur.

16:46 And he proceeded to chew us up one side and down the other.

16:55 But,

16:57 If you listen really close, he wasn't saying, why did you do this to the classified material? He was saying why did you do this to your Shipmates?

17:10 Because we're in this together. We're on the same. Do you scoring an own goal against your, your team doesn't help?

17:20 And he worked himself up into this Frost. And he said, any of you who have

17:27 Made a mistake and gotten away with it. Take one step forward.

17:34 And I don't know how it happened. But my entire class all 20 of us as one. We took one step forward.

17:45 And now mind you again. This is a very small hallway. I mean, I was now nose-to-nose with the woman that was standing across the hall from me.

17:54 And cheap Brooklyn look over and he said, you know, what do you think this means?

18:02 You messed up and one of my friends in my class said, no, but I stand with my Shipmates.

18:11 What do you think that means?

18:14 And it was me that spoke up and I said it means that if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

18:22 And he said, excellent point, your class dismissed.

18:26 We beat feet out of there and he proceeded to dress down the the the other four classes for about another hour. After that. That always stuck with me. Of course, you're not part of the solution. You're part of the problem. And if it's it's not oh, where we're hiding, where we're not taking care of classified material. It's no, we're taking care of each other.

18:58 What did your family think while you were away?

19:03 Well, I tell you what. My mom said, when I joined I was 19 and young, dumb and full of something besides brains, and

19:15 I told her I was joining the Navy and she's like, I can't get you to make your bed. Why are you going to make it for them?

19:27 Not know. I mean, it was part of the, my my family has always been really supportive of the crazy stuff that I do and now they send letters. They send care packages. I distinctly remember one point, having one of my cousins who is all of about under 10. Send me a batch of cookies.

19:57 When I first got to my second Duty station, and so she sent them off and I get them. And everyone starts coming around me saying, hey, cookies. I'm like, yeah, you want some, they take a bite there, like, about another week later. I said, hey, Mom, send me a real bash. And so she sent me some more, like you got more cookies on, like the other you want. Some. No, no, we're good. We're good. Thanks.

20:29 It's so what are some of the fun things that you and your friends did together when you were deployed?

20:37 Besides Dungeons & Dragons is going on Hikes and set the scene for us in somebody's room. What were you guys doing?

20:50 Well, I'll put it to you this way when I first got there.

20:54 They took me out to dinner at the local pizza shop.

21:00 And it was probably the most disgusting, horrible pizza I've ever had in my entire life.

21:11 And I'm like, this is this is terrible and they said,

21:15 Wait, 6 months. I'm fast forward, six months, and I'm sitting on a Friday night or a night off, and I'm sitting with my friends, and we've got a large pizza on one side and table full of games. And it was a lovely and wonderful time. The rest of the story is is that is specifically on a Friday night.

21:40 You have two choices. You could go to the Enlisted Club where you could get drunk. And listen to phone shaking, bad early, 90s rock music.

21:57 Or you could go to the Chiefs Club.

22:00 And if you were a man who knew how to two-step and were sober, you would not sit down all night.

22:14 Don't mind you. This island was a speck in the Pacific Ocean. There were five thousand people on that island and maybe 50 single women.

22:25 I would say it was a desolate treeless island with a single woman behind every trade, but if but I learned how to two-step to this day. I still have this Stockholm syndrome. Ask relationship with country meet early music, 90s country music because I got to dance. And so yeah. Those are the rest of the stories.

23:00 So I guess is there's someone that you served with that. You remember the most fondly, you tell me about them. There was

23:13 Robin and Mark, and Dodge, and Jen, and Robert. And it was this whole group of us together is that

23:30 More than anything. That was that was that bonding moment. I mean, people have bonding experiences through college or people have bonding experiences to the Navy after the military in general. And those were, those were my people, the people that. As soon as I joined Facebook, I dug up the people to see whether it where they are. And like I said, for the longest time we were all within 50 miles.

24:00 I mean, there were other people at that time but I served with

24:04 I mean this is early 90s and fast forward 10 years, and I'm out of the service and through college. I just moved up to Seattle.

24:18 And I learned that a buddy of mine was at the Pentagon the morning of September 11th.

24:27 How this is and I hadn't seen in probably 7 8 years, but I knew his name immediately. Unlike Brian Brian was a pentagon. I mean, I wasn't surprised. The man was AJ squared away sailor. He knew his stuff. He, I'm not surprised that he got got a pentagon detail.

24:51 But, you know, that to have that connection of o.

24:57 And I was I was I was an eye-opener.

25:03 So when when did you leave the military? And how did you decide to be done with the military?

25:11 You know, I it was not a hard decision and it wasn't anything more. I mean, I did. Well, I mean, I went from an E-1, which is a seaman recruit to a petty officer 2nd class 25 in under 3 years.

25:30 So, I did remarkably. Well, I could have made a career out of it, but I never went in with that intention. I went in with the intention of going in serving my country and getting a GI Bill out of it until I got out of the service after for 4 years, active duty, when home?

25:54 Went to college just immediately started back into college.

25:58 And went from there. So what was it like for the first few months after you after you left? What if that transition look like? I think I had a starting moment because my first job after the Navy was a parking lot attendant at the Salt Lake International Airport and it is exactly as boring as it sounds and

26:29 Finally, one day I got to the point and I just walked in and I said, I quit.

26:37 Not because I had another job lined up, not for anything else, simply because that's something I had not been able to stay in four and a half years. I'm safe. I quit.

26:49 And so, is there anything that you wish civilians understood about military service?

26:58 Well.

26:59 This is a hard one because it is not a popular opinion.

27:08 But if there is anything that I can say to people,

27:12 Please.

27:15 Please, please, please with sugar and Cherry and sprinkles on top.

27:20 Please do not think for my service.

27:24 These days.

27:27 Thank you for your service.

27:29 What I Hear with my automatic responses and what's your spirit also because it is just become that sort of a call and response.

27:39 And I've seen over the last 20 years since the Towers fell.

27:48 That.

27:51 People are more than willing to call Soldiers & Sailors, and Marines and Airmen.

27:57 Garlic Guardians. Now they call him Heroes.

28:03 And I'm not arguing that what people did in the service. Wasn't wonderful. But thank you for your service has become.

28:13 The verbal equivalent of sticking a yellow ribbon on the back of your car.

28:18 Has become lip service to

28:24 Stand-in for, I don't want to give you any money. I don't want to support any veterans programs, or homeless, programs, or addiction, programs, or PTSD programs, but I want to say thank you for your service because

28:44 Because,

28:46 So,

28:49 Know that in the sack is worth a sack.

28:53 I'm I you don't need to thank me for my service. On the, in the words of my favorite warrant officer. You want a better country. You got to start by being a better soon?

29:07 And so you want to thank me. Vote. Pay attention to this to the issues that are going on. Reed up, educate yourself. That's going to thank me for my service, better than anything, better than any lip service or Ribbon. You want to show

29:34 Well, I am just so tickled that you that you agreed to do this project and that you came to me and said you were ready to share your story and thank you sister. This is been really need to hear have your all of these stories that I've been hearing little pieces of all together.

29:57 And thank you. I mean, I

30:03 You've always had this amazing ability to get people to, to draw people into conversations. One of the things that I've always loved about you and make people feel listen. Listen to a hard. But thank you, and thank you for being the wonderful. And awesome part that you've been to me.