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From YouTube: Meet U.S. Navy Veteran Rick Becker
Description
U.S. Navy Veteran Rick Becker retired from the U.S. Navy after 20 years of service. Rick shares stories about his deployment to Vietnam and his experiences upon returning home. Watch the video to hear about how Chandler's Field of Honor Memorial helped in his healing.
A
I'm
Rick
Becker
served
in
the
world's
largest
Canoe
Club,
also
known
as
the
U.S
Navy
went
in
in
the
delayed
entry
program,
I
started
out
out
of
high
school
joined
when
I
was
in
high
school
and
if
you
signed
up
for
six
years,
they
guaranteed
you
two
years
of
school.
My
dad
was
in
the
Army
Air
corps.
He
was
a
BB,
stacker
or
ordinance.
Man
put
the
bombs
on
the
planes
when
I
was
a
little
kid
I
used
to
play
with
a
little
army.
A
A
left
there
summer
is
72
joined
vf21.
They
assigned
me
advanced
electronics
in
the
intermediate
phase
of
electronics,
which
means
I.
They
send
me
the
black
box
from
the
airplane
and
I
troubleshoot
and
repair.
What's
inside
plain
and
simple
I
really
enjoyed
that
it
utilized
my
analytical
skills,
I
liked
working
with
my
hands,
just
taught
me
to
trade
Electronics.
A
Life
in
general,
I
mean
quickly
came
back,
I
was
back
for
about
six
months,
had
various
things
happen,
but
it
wasn't
until
we
came
back
from
the
second
deployment
at
the
end
of
the
end
of
the
war,
because
I'm
coming
back,
I'm
I'm
so
happy
that
War's
over
that's
behind
us
sort
of
turns
out
I
had
a
new
war
to
fight.
Internally,
we
come
into
the
bay.
A
We
had
to
sort
of
just
wait:
the
ship
just
sort
of
didn't
drop
anchor,
but
it
waited
till
they
could
close
off
the
Golden
Gate,
because
there
were
a
lot
of
protesters
on
there
wanting
to
throw
garbage
on
us.
When
we
were
going
to
come
like
her,
there
was
a
big
difference
from
my
first
sort
of
period
between
deployments
and
after
I
came
back
the
second
one.
A
A
lot
of
people
still
even
though
the
war
was
over,
people
were
still
upset.
It
got
so
bad
that
we
were
allowed
normally
you're,
not
aware
allowed
to
wear
beards
in
the
Navy
because
of
the
Oba,
your
oxygen
breathing
apparatus.
In
case
you
got
to
fight
a
fire
on
the
ship.
You
know
you
don't
want
to
be
smelling
smoke
so
for
protection
and
they're
saying
you
don't
have
a
tight
fit
on
your
Oba.
A
If
you
have
a
beard
well,
Admiral
Zumwalt,
who
was
chief
of
Naval
operations
at
the
time,
realized
a
lot
of
the
harassment
that
military
was
going
through.
So
he
he
put
out
these
what
he
called
Z
grams
and
so
one
of
the
Z
grams
relaxed.
So
you
could
wear
grow
a
beard
or
you
could
wear
your
hair
a
little
bit
beyond
the
standards
so
that
you
wouldn't
get
recognized
that
you
were
in
the
military.
A
So
I
didn't
grow
a
beard,
then
just
out
at
Sea,
which
was
fun,
but
they
would
see
the
sticker
on
the
windshield
of
the
car
that
you
was
required
to
get
through
the
gate
and
so
we'd
get
flipped.
I'd
get
flipped
off
or
you
know
spit
on
all
that
sort
of
stuff
and
it
got
so
bad
that
they
even
recommended.
If
you
want
to
you,
can
go
out
and
buy
wigs.
A
A
A
And
he
thanked
me
for
my
service
and
I
had
heard
that
several
times.
You
know
that
that
became
one
of
the
public
mantras.
You
know
you
see
a
veteran
thank
him
for
his
service
back
in
the
90s
or
whatever
I
had
been
thanked.
It
wasn't
until
that
moment
that
I
felt
sincerity
and
read
sincerity,
because
a
lot
of
people
say
the
words,
but
they
don't
really
feel
it
so
I
didn't
feel
it.
I
did
then
Chandler's.
A
My
home
now
has
been
since
the
90s
and
it
didn't
completely
feel
like
home
until
they
finished
the
memorial,
because
I
went
and
buried
some
demons.
There
finally
got
rid
of
some
demons.
It
was
a
place
for
me
to
heal
place
for
me
to
go
and
honor
those
fellow
vets
that
are
still
healing
that
have
sacrificed
in
D.C.
You
got
the
wall
for
Vietnam,
whether
it's
the
three
guy
statue
or
whether
it's
the
wall
places
to
heal.