Russ Fazio

After undergraduate school at Niagara University in New York, I started my Masters at Fairleigh Dickson University.  While in FD, I enlisted in the Navy Reserves in September 1965.  The total commitment was six years.  This entailed one year of reserve time going to reserve meetings one night per week.  During this year I also spent two weeks in Navy Boot Camp in Waukegan, Il.  Reservists were also required to spend two weeks aboard a Navy ship for onboard ship training.  However, the ship I was assigned to never left port and mostly the reservists onboard chipped paint for two weeks.  Following the reserve time, I was required to serve two years active duty followed by another three years of reserve duty.

My active duty started in November 1966.  I was assigned to Assault Craft Unit II in Little Creek, Va.  Little Creek is home to the Navy’s amphibious fleet and is near the Navy’s main base in Norfolk, VA.

I was assigned to the Supply Department was given the job OPTAR (Operating Target Funding to achieve and maintain readiness) Accounting Clerk and held that position for the next two years becoming a Storekeeper Third Class (SK3) during that time.  My duties entailed logging each department’s disbursements against the budget given each department and in total the units entire supply budget.  At day’s end the books had to balance before anyone was relieved for the day.  Every Friday I was required to prepare a report for the Supply Officer on the performance versus budget of each department and in total for the entire unit to be presented at a staff meeting to the Commanding Officer.

Eventually, only the Master Chief I reported to and I knew how to do the OPTAR job so I received little interference from anyone else in the supply department.  It was a job that kept me busy every day which I was grateful for.

Unfortunately, nothing too exciting happened that is worth telling.  In looking back on my active service, I would have to summarize it this way:  I went where the Navy sent me, I did the job I was assigned and I think I did it very well.

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