Jorge Cavallo and Chaz Cavallo

Recorded March 28, 2013 Archived March 28, 2013 37:20 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id: ddb001299

Description

George Cavallo (47) is interviewed by his son Chaz Cavallo (11) about his 20 years of service in the Coast Guard.

Subject Log / Time Code

GC explains why he decided to join the Coast Guard.
GC remembers "big" rescues that he participated in.
GC talks about volunteering and then working for VetCorps.
GC discusses his transition from Coast Guard life to civilian life.

Participants

  • Jorge Cavallo
  • Chaz Cavallo

Recording Locations

Mary Gates Hall, University of Washington

Venue / Recording Kit


Transcript

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00:01 Hi, my name is Chaz Cavallo. I'm 11 years olds. This is 328 2013. We're at you'd of Washington and the person I'm interviewing today is my dad.

00:25 My name is Jorge Cavallo. I am 47 years old today is 328 2013. We are on on the University of Washington in Seattle, and I am being interviewed by my son Chaz Cavallo.

00:46 So Dad.

00:48 How did you?

00:50 Decide to enlist for the Coast Guard and Chaz, you know, I think I I graduated high school and was going to the Community College and was really unsure what I wanted to do and I was out sailing my sailboat one day off the Florida coast and I flipped it and broke the Mast and I was about 3 miles offshore. So I was a little panicky thought maybe I should swim to shore but I want up staying with the boat for about 6 hours and a plane flew by and spotted me and called the Coast Guard.

01:30 And the Coast Guard came out and they tied up remind me flip my boat back over and I went on board the Coast Guard boat and I started filling out paperwork and I started looking around and they had cool uniforms and their jobs on the water and I really enjoyed the water. I swam and I served and scuba dive and so I got back to Shore and took my boat apart and went home and thought about it for a couple of weeks and it it really was something I wanted to do and then like 3 in the morning. I was watching TV at that age of kind of stay up late and I noticed a commercial I'm a Coast Guard helicopter flying around the tropical island with a guy in the door who was the rescue swimmer and I just kept remembering something that you know, the coaster don't can only afford to advertise that late at night. So that's why they were on in and it and it just I wasn't really doing well in college at wasn't doing well staying at home, and I knew I wanted adventure and

02:30 I join the Coast Guard became a rescue swimmer and two years later. I was in a helicopter flying around tropical island, and I was like damn that worked. So you never heard that story did you know?

02:47 So how is booty camp for you camp was I just remember being scared and I'll be unknown and I remember pulling up at boot camp and that guy came on the bus with a big Smokey the Bandit hat and started yelling and screaming and we've been up all night flying and traveling to the spot. We were at and he told us to get off that bus and get on those yellow squares now go go go you like we're and we jumped and we got on these yellow squares and you're standing there and you're trying to be someone of their attention and added attention and you're looking around. What are you looking at? Stop looking around you like them? And so that's how the night started in and they kept us up all night long and they and they made his fill out paperwork. We boxed up all our clothes and we got haircuts and we also were kind of introduced to the military at that point, you know that there was a lot of rules and there was a lot of

03:47 Respect to be shown to people of authority and eventually we settled into our barracks and we became a team 85 of us and bootcamp became a little more fun at the time at that time. I became one of the leading officers in the and was in charge for a little while and I think I may have done something wrong and then they thought somebody else should be in charge and then he was in charge for a while and then he did something wrong. It was kind of a natural progression, but boot camp. I was glad it was over after 8 weeks. I wanted I wanted a hamburger and I wanted some civilian clothes. So it was it was fun. It was interesting, but it was also challenging.

04:27 So what was your assignment in the Coast Guard? So I join the Coast Guard specifically to be a Coast Guard rescue swimmer? It was a really new program at the time. They only had about thirty rescue swimmers in the Coast Guard the helicopters. They used actually landed in the water. So they weren't sure if they really needed somebody to jump out of the helicopter and pull people out of the water. But this was older technology in these helicopters were doing well Landing in saltwater. So eventually they switch to a rescue swimmer program and I waited for two years at a little small boat station called Ocracoke Island and Iran search and rescue on on motor Lifeboat swear. I would go out and pull people out of the surf and fishing boats that we're sinking and I kind of did that for two years while I waited for school and then when I got school

05:20 It was very hard training. We spent six weeks a tweco 13 weeks in school training to become rescue swimmers. We learn how to pack rafts. We learned how to pack survival gear. We learn how to pack parachutes. We ran everyday we swam every day. They would come at 4 in the morning and wake us up and pull us into the pool and make a swim. So it was really grueling but at that time the Coast Guard didn't really have a rescue swimmer program. So we were kind of using the Navy's program. So they would at the end of this Coast Guard program. You would go to Pensacola and train with the Navy and the day before I was supposed to head down to Pensacola to do my training which was really scary because we heard all these tales about how tough it was. They killed one of the rescue swimmers in the pool the instructors we're doing a training maneuver and the gentleman wanted to quit and they wouldn't allow him to quit and they pried his hands off and threw him back in the pool.

06:18 And told him that he needed to train he wanted to dor disenroll the rest of this class. They had turned their back to this gentleman and they sing have them sing the national anthem will the instructions continue to jump on his head and pulling down to the bottom story we heard is that he had a heart attack and died. Of course, it was a big investigation. A lot of people were held accountable. So I was held in limbo for 6 months in the Coast Guard and the instructors didn't really know what to do. So we painted rocks and we swept streets off and we ran every morning we swam every day and we we just that's all we did is train train train and finally the coaster decided to put it together its own rescue swimmer program. And so I was part of the very first group of Coast Guard rescue swimmers, and I went through that program and we all graduated except for one.

07:11 And we are at signed rescue swimmer numbers. Mine is some 123 and I became a Coast Guard rescue swimmer. And I stayed right there in North Carolina Elizabeth City and I was one of the first swimmers there and and I did quite a few rescues and worked out of there for 4 years. So let the modern helicopters how

07:40 Would you jump out of the helicopter and go see them or was the helicopter still Landing in the water and picking them up? I think for about 2 years. I flew on age threes and never flew into 52, but some of my friends did and those helicopters were phased out there actually museums now, so and that's not funny. That's not the museum but the helicopters are the helicopters you flew on technically, but I think they switch two helicopters that were could not land in the water so that they really ramped up the rescue swimmer program and we created I think there's three hundred rescue swimmers now and they're at every every Coast Guard Air Station throughout the United States and they provide a way to pull people out of the water and they're also

08:40 Do you so they provide medical attention? So that was kind of about the time. I came in it really boom. They stopped at Landing in the water.

08:50 Okay, so

08:54 About how long are you in the Coast Guard until a big rescue came up for a pretty big rescue?

09:01 City question, why did quite a few rescues in Elizabeth City where I rescued a fisherman? I rescued Hunters I did not have access to some folks off of a ship that I'm with burnt real bad. But I would say my biggest rescue. I had been in the Coast Guard about 14 years and I was stationed in I was stationed in Humboldt Bay, California, and we got launched out because of zodiac was lost up in one of the rivers. So we got launched about 7 that night crew of four pilot co-pilot rescue swimmer in Atlanta flight Mac, and we went to look for this zodiac and then we got a call that somebody found the Zodiac but they just got word that a Air Force C-130 King 5-6 was on its way to Hawaii and was experiencing engine trouble and was headed back towards

10:02 Portland so we turned and said we will head out offshore and see if we can we can find them in and and see if they're okay and any problems so we started heading offshore off of Mendocino and we got a call from Seattle Center and Portland Center which are the towers at the airports and they said Coast Guard rescue. Whatever our number was we just got word. We just lost King 5 6 on radar.

10:33 And we're like, okay. Well, where did you lose them on radar in so they gave us some coordinates. And so now we all started thinking. Okay. This is getting crashed. It must be some kind of problem that we start heading to that position and and both we checked in with both Seattle and Portland again, and they said yep. We have no aircraft on radar.

10:53 So as we are heading to this position, we're all wearing night vision goggles, and I remember looking out the right window and I saw these little flickers well part of my job as a rescue swimmer was to maintain the survival gear. And so I knew those as strobe lights. So I told the pilot I said Sarai I have I have strobe lights in the water. Probably 6 Mile and he said nope. Nope. Seattle Center has the the plane went down in this position. We're going to go there while the co-pilot actually was a friend of mine Kelly who was a rescue swimmer went through the ranks and became a pile and she was like, you know, sir. I think we need to listen to petty officer Cavallo cuz those do look like strobes.

11:38 So the pilots it. All right, we're going to go look. So we turn the aircraft started heading that way when I started putting on you and kind of half dressed in my my rescue gear my dry suit and fins and mask and stuff and I was trying to get it all ready just in case something was going on there for sure enough. We kind of pulled up on the scene where these lights were flickering we came through the clouds and it was horrific Chaz. There was a gigantic Wing floating in the water. There was a tire flowing floating in the water. There was debris everywhere so we can meet at Lee drop down on the wing and we started slowly flying forward. We saw a couple bodies face down in the water and it look like there may have been some sea Predators around them and the pilot said well, we're going to we're going to check and make sure they're alive and about that time. We saw a guy's hand come up and wait.

12:33 So the pilot turn to go over to this guy because he was obviously not face down in the water floating and about this time. We're running running out of fuel to so you add that to the whole mix now we're running low on fuel. So we turn and this guy's waving and are helicopters have a an interesting thing where you press a button when you fly over them and you kind of take your hands off and it's almost like an autopilot and the plane will automatically circle around and coming to a hover over that spot. Well, when they press the button and they flew over this poor guy who have been waving the plane automatically went into a bank and shot sideways and I thought we were going to crash so I was laying on the side of the helicopter now going sideways and the pilots were kind of waiting for it to re acquire they satellites cuz I didn't want to lose this guy will the co-pilot Kelly finally just said, you know, that's just crazy. She just straighten the plane up before we crashed and she was able to Circle us around we look for a little while and Mary was he was still wave.

13:33 He wasn't doing well, so I immediately went out the door. I was lower down. I grab this guy we both start drinking jet fuel because there's this plane was full of gas going into Hawaii. So there's people everywhere see predators in the water and I grab this guy and I'm staying connected to the helicopter and with a cable and I am now getting kind of sick. He's kind of sick and I can hook up to him and we're getting up to the helicopter. We're both kind of nauseous from Alma School. And I remember I have to wait for the been too kind of Boom in to bring them into the helicopter and he threw up all in the side of the helicopter. Will Corps helicopter blades are coming down and threw up all over me and so loud so crazy this plane just crashed and he turned to me and said sorry I'm like, oh my gosh, I get this guy in there and I start working on and he's got a broken hip. He's got a broken ankle and it starts to get his clothes often and tending to his wounds and I reach over and I said how many people on board

14:33 And I believe he said 11.

14:37 Well, we we saw two that were clearly not alive and nobody else. So about this time. We have to head back. We're out of fuel. So helicopters from all over the coaster heading out there ready to do some more rescues if there's anybody alive so we flew back to the hospital and we dropped him off. I actually had to stay in the hospital for a little bit with him because I was sick from all the fuel I ingested and helicopters got on scene ships got on scene in the rest of the folks on board had died, so

15:09 That was probably one of the the most

15:13 Challenging and also rewarding, you know, I mean, I I I wish I could have saved all 11, but I know that that one person is alive today and he still a good friend of mine Bobby Bogle and I we can keep in good communication and I feel like you know, if we weren't out there that night is a crew with the pilots in the rescue swimmer in the neck that this guy is not be around. So I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment.

15:41 So

15:50 Do you want the funniest one the funniest one, please? What was the funniest experience in the Coast Guard flying down the coast on the way home in California after doing some training in Oregon and we were coming back into California and we were kind of skirting the coastline and there had been a couple of shark attacks earlier in the week some of the Surfers and we saw this huge great white in the surf cruising. I remember telling the pilot and let's not lose an engine now and we used to call the landlord. That's what we called the great white as we figured if the landlord was in the house you did not want to be in the house. So we always had a good joke about the the great whites. What about this time? We come on this this huge Rock. That's about I don't know a hundred feet offshore.

16:39 And you could tell that this guy had walked out during low tide and got on this rock and was sitting up there reading. Well, he must have lost track of time in the surf came in and started pounding around him. So the pilot said, you know, I don't think that guys can be able to get off that rock. Why don't you just went we lower you down will pick them up and we'll take them over and lay them on the beach. So he will you know, cuz he gets caught up in that store if he's going to get pulled out I said, okay, so I got in the door. I got prepared got my stuff on in the Pilot's lowered me down and I I came down on the cable and still connected to the cable and I land on the Rock and I'm a pretty close to the guy and he races around to the other side.

17:18 So I'm a little confused. So I give some hand signals and the helicopter slides around and gets me around to the other side and kind of wave and for him to come over so I can pick him up and put a harness around him and take him up to the helicopter bases around the other side. I'm like what the heck what's Lau the serfs coming in the helicopter. So I maneuver myself a little bit closer and I said

17:40 I'm here to rescue you and he says.

17:45 Do I have to pay for this and I'm like what? No, it's free. You're a taxpayer. He immediately ran over and got right in my arms. I put the harness around them. I hooked them up and we pull them up to the aircraft. Oh man. We had such a great laugh about this guy and he's like, I thought I'd have to pay for this. I can't afford this. So that was one of the the funniest rescues I did.

18:11 Okay.

18:15 What is the highest earning metal? You've ever gotten what? How did you get it?

18:22 That one I got two are metal on which is I think it's pretty much the one of the third or fourth highest Metals you can get but usually given during wartime, but I receive my are metal for a rescue up in Alaska and fishing boats sunk with three fishermen on board and we got in a helicopter and it was you know, 80 mile an hour winds 30 miles an hour in a 30 foot Seas. Just really a snotty Alaskan day and on the way out there are anti-icing failed. So these are little heaters on the blades to keep the blades from getting ice when they start to pick up ice and think it's too much ice on at the helicopter can fly so we turned around went back and we actually got another helicopter. They had it waiting for us. We got out of one got an another one and now the weather got even worse we had to fly even lower because the ceiling hadn't had come down to about 200 ft and so when we got on scene there,

19:22 Some two fishermen in a in a raft a boat turtled upside down and one guy getting pulled Downstream from the raft. He obviously fallen out and he was so hypothermic that he couldn't really move or talk or so, I went down and rescued him and when I put them in the basket, they picked him up and then usually they just put a hook down for me. But since we wanted to move a little bit quicker to get these guys out of the water, they dropped the basket down and I got in it with my fins and it was just kind of a Converse in position and about that time a huge wave hit me and Tangle the basket up and push me under water and the helicopter didn't know what to do. So it paid out more line, so I wouldn't get hurt but about the time the wave pulled out the basket unraveled and it nearly killed me.

20:17 But I was able to get my composure and get back up to the helicopter and we went up went up stream and we were able to pull the guys out of the raft and it was just it's hard to explain but it was it was just a scary Mission and there was a lot of danger involved in the crew and and I feel fortunate that we were able to make it and come back and save three lives. So

20:47 So did you did you help out with Katrina? Like were you making a lot of rescues during Katrina? If so, how many so actually I was not a rescue swimmer during Katrina and advance to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer and I became a marine inspector but they saw my my ability to work with are cruise and I'd actually was on a rescue where I'd gone out all day long and tried to rescue a couple of Canadians who whose boat was sinking in came back in one of my friends or one of the guys that worked for me wanted to take the next flight and I let him take my flight and the helicopter went out and crashed and killed everyone and so I went through a lot of critical incident stress debriefing training to help deal with that and they figured since I had that experience that I would be the best person and I also volunteered to do it to work with Eric.

21:46 After traumatic incidents has to go in and help them deal with those kind of things so I could Trina I didn't do any rescuing I went in and what we call I helped rescue The Rescuers. So I went down to Katrina New Orleans and I ran a bunch of teams critical incident stress debriefing first who went in and talk to people who have lost loved ones or aircrews who had had really bad rescues in and we're concerned and we tried to mitigate them from getting PTSD years later. So I was part of that team and I was really proud of that and I spent a lot of time in in New Orleans right after Katrina and I got to see a lot of the stuff that went on there, but it was more of a rescue The Rescuers and it was a great way to end my career.

22:34 Okay.

22:37 So

22:41 When you retired did you ever think that you would work for a business like the vet court court going to school to be a web designer and I got an email to volunteer and help clean up parks with a bunch of veterans and get a small stipend each month, and I'm I did that and it turned out to be very rewarding and I enjoyed working with the veterans. What kind of Eco therapy type thing?

23:13 Then I got recognized by some of the folks because I think of my critical incident debriefing skills and my leadership skills from the Coast Guard and I was asked to be one of the first book or members. So I am I was assigned to Cascadia college and I started working with bats. I started creating a bat core system. We didn't know really what we were going to do at the college's to help veterans kind of a peer-to-peer and I got recognized again and my boss hired me to run the program. So then I ran that core for two years. I had 32 veterans spread out all over the states and their job was to help other veterans who are coming back from the war or even Vietnam era veterans help them be more successful in college. So again, I just stumbled into it and I feel fortunate and I ran that program for 2 years and then they it's they're getting much bigger and going National and I was asked to run that for

24:13 But I keep telling my bosses that I am a photographer I go to school to become a photographer and if I take that job, I'm never going to be a photographer. So I'm kind of stepping out of the back or in Americorps, but I leave it with great memories with national service and I really feel like I've helped a lot of people and I've done a lot of good in the in the two years that I ran the program and the year that I was actually an Americorps member.

24:43 So what do the vet courts do to help veterans get out of the military and they don't understand how College works and they don't understand.

24:58 The how to navigate that system. So the vet Court member is there to help them understand the GI Bill understand their benefits as a veteran and they also help educate the college litha the college understand how to be a vet safe college and abet friendly college. So it's a really good team between the college and the students. So I am really proud of the back were members and what they do on campus

25:27 So

25:31 So, do you have any major hobbies that you continue now in the Seattle Art Institute for photography and I continue to work with bats. I'm looking at doing a program where people donate cameras and I'm going to give them to Veterans with PTSD and traumatic brain injury and I'm hoping to get some great art from them edited up and presented to some of the local Galleries and possibly the Tacoma Art Museum and host some of this artwork. So that's a goal I have it's in the works and of course, you know, you'll be part of that cuz I'll drag you in.

26:35 How long are you in the Coast Guard from when you actually were in the Coast Guard after booty Camp boot camp and tell you and you're tired? I did Iverson for 20 years in one day. I was kind of funny. I told him I wouldn't do a day over twenty and when I went to retire, he said for this to work out correctly have to do 20 in one day. So I did 20 in wind and retired as a chief warrant officer 2.

27:07 So does that mean you're pretty high-ranking really the technical experts? So the enlisted really it's a good connection between the officer Corps and the enlisted. So it's it's as if it was hard for me because I was in aviation most of my career and then when you switch to becoming an officer, I I became a marine inspector, which was at that's I think that's why I retired. I really had a hard time going from Aviation and rescue swimming to you know, inspecting big old 930 barges and trying to understand that that world. So it was interesting and I had a good time there to I had a great time my whole cooker career. So but I decided that you know that I wanted to retire and do something else.

28:07 And then it seems like I stumbled into Americorps and decor and it's been a wonderful Journey as well.

28:14 Can you tell me all the places you places you were stationed from the beginning of your career to the end of your career went to Elizabeth City North Carolina at the air station. Then I went to Clearwater Florida at the air station. And then I did a tour in Puerto Rico for 2 years and loved that in Aguadilla and and had a great time in Puerto Rico and then I transferred to

28:45 California Humboldt Bay where I met your mom and then I was there for four years and then I transferred to Kodiak Alaska and from Kodiak Alaska. I became a warrant officer and they transferred me to New Orleans where I was at during Katrina, and then I finished up shortly after Katrina and retired from New Orleans.

29:11 So what are the happiest what are some of the happiest moments in your life? What is some of the saddest Warren was one of my happiest moments and then I think you know with all the rescues I did. I mean I've delivered babies in the back of the helicopter. I've rescued plane crashes and those were incredible but usually somebody didn't make it. So those were happy and sad like, I'm on King 5 6 with the C-130, you know, I saved one person or we as a crew save one person and and you know, 10 other people did not make it so that was a sad moment. You know, it was a sad and happy moment that that we were able to pull one person out of there. So I think those are you know, those are the biggies in my life.

30:09 Cool

30:20 When you got for me little come on I got a question for you. Are you going to become a helicopter rescue swimmer someday or a photographer like your dad know?

30:29 Sorry, but I do look up to use no matter was just

30:39 What do you what are you proud of?

30:42 I'm proud of my Coast Guard career. I think I I made a difference. I think I I saved some lives along the way and I was proud of the rank. You know, I went as high as Chief in the enlisted ranks, and then I went on to become a warrant officer. I'm so I'm very proud of that. I'm proud of the the men and women I got to serve with I think they were some of that the sharpest people around very proud of my time affect cord Americorps and I'm excited to see where it's going. There there everyday, it seems like they're getting bigger and bigger and other states are trying to adopt that core and I feel like that's a part. You know, I feel like I had a part in that I am I was one of the first Corps members and then I went on to run the program and I'm just I think I'm really proud of that core and I'm I'm excited to see what they're going to do in the future.

31:38 Do you have any regrets?

31:41 I do have some regrets.

31:45 I regret that you aren't a little bit older when I was in the Coast Guard to see some of that I think you would have had a enjoyed seeing your dad doing a lot more of the flying in the and the job I did in the Coast Guard. I also regret that I didn't take more pictures, you know, I've always been into photography and it seemed like I didn't take as many photos when I was in the Coast Guard as I should have.

32:11 That's that's really bad on my regrets.

32:15 Well, I definitely know this answer because he's my uncle but who is your best friend growing up in the not growing up in the Coast Guard? Who is your best friend in the Coast Guard hockey was a rescue swimmer. We went to rescue swimmer school together. We we helped each other along the way we actually married sisters along the way and we've been best buds ever since and actually he's in Hawaii now playing for a civilian Helicopter Company still doing rescues.

32:54 Take your time jazz.

33:07 How is military life different than civilian life? How was it different than how you expected? Was there anything you had trouble adjusting to and yes I did and I didn't realize I would so I went from the military and having a group of friends and a cohort and just Elmo's like a family, you know, when we're almost like a fire station, you know, when we're at the small units when everybody knows everybody we have barbecues and so all of a sudden I was out of the Coast Guard and I didn't have a lot of these people around so I missed I miss the camaraderie and I missed the storytelling and I missed I miss my friends and and it seem like, you know, I had this great mission in this great job in the Coast Guard and in people's lives depend on it, and now I'm retired and my mission and my job was to make sure I got it went to Costco and got extra.

34:02 Laundry detergent so it was kind of a it was kind of a letdown for me. And I think that was what helped me with Americorps and that core because I realized that transition veterans have this the same kind of need like I have so when I became a back remember and ran the program and I pushed every College to have a bedroom so veterans could come together on campus call it their own and they could share stories and kind of build.com laundry again. So I'd have to say the biggest thing I missed missed once I retired and became a civilian was the camaraderie.

35:10 Is there anything that you've never told me that you want to tell me now about your career and vetcorps and whichever?

35:21 I think you have pretty much.

35:25 Rake me over the coals for story. So I don't think there's really much that. I haven't told you about the Coast Guard or I guess the only thing I would think of

35:37 If I if I was given the opportunity again, I may not have become a warrant officer. I think I really enjoyed the rescue swimmer aspect of my job and that's probably one thing that I second-guess becoming an officer and switching jobs because being a rescue swimmer was really a lot more of who I am and my life and I realized at the time but but again, I had a great experience as a as a officer and as a marine inspector, so but I'd that's one thing I probably second-guess today is maybe I should have just stayed a rescue swimmer.

36:12 Can you retired who is there? Like what was it like?

36:17 Was it big was it well you were there and it was it was with full honors at Air Station Clearwater and there was a lot of friends that had flown in and family members that came to see us and so that was really exciting as exciting to retire after 20 years. So

36:40 Did was there any ceremony at your retirement with involving helicopters flying?

36:47 Or anything like no, I've well, they put all that helicopters on the on the hangar deck in such a way. So that that we were all surrounded by I'm at the ceremony. So that was kind of I felt kind of fitting to good way to retire with all that Coast Guard helicopters around us you were you were young you were in my arms the whole time. I think you were for the time.

37:11 No.

37:15 Makes up