New guy advice from a 2.5 year rookie.

I was fired from my first job working as a groundskeeper/maintenance guy at a boat dock at 14. My supervisor always come to work drunk and high as a kite. Anything went wrong it was my fault. They had me cleaning off lake algea off boats with hydrochloric acid without safety gear. When I was fired I called my grandfather to come get me. He was pissed beyond anything I'd ever seen. Screamed and yelled at me for the 15 minute ride home. After he calmed down he finally asked me what happened. Once I told him about the deal with the acid wash and no safety gear, and my boss being drunk and high all the time he sat there for about 10 seconds stone faced, started getting red, then screams "why in the #### didn't you pick up a god #### 2x4 and beat his ###?!" Lol then he went on an hour tirade about how the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
Next morning I got a call from my grandmother that there was something wrong with him that I needed to come over. We only lived 300 get away. Once I get over there I see he's in serious cardiac distress, not breathing, foam coming from the corners of his mouth. I was red Cross certified in CPR from scouts, tried for about 3 minutes then the squad got there. He passed from congestive heart failure. I miss him every day. That was in 95.

My youngest daughter was born 3 days after his birthday in 03

 

It lasted for a total of 3 months. The downhill slip started 3 weeks before the end

 

He believed that every able bodied man should do at least 4 years in service to the govt. I promised him I'd join the Navy same as him. I did that, mom told he would've loved that. The day I got my CDL was when she said he would've been proud of me

 

I've got several stories from him about his time in. He was a submariner based in Pearl. His ship was deployed with the carrier groups that morning conducting excersizes.