Courtesy Photo Alpena native Jeffrey D. Brasie stands with others while he served in the Navy. In honor of Veterans Day, Brasie reminisces on fond memories from his tour of duty.

Across America’s states and territories, there are over 18 million living veterans.

In Michigan, I am one of the state’s 582,000-plus women and men who served.

I was fortunate to have a great tour of duty.

It began at the U.S. Navy’s Great Lakes Training Center when I was in basic training. In the later weeks of training, I was called into my company commander’s office. He presented me with a sealed brown envelope. We opened it and it contained an FBI top secret security profile along with papers and a prepaid airline ticket reporting to the Pentagon for an interview.

In the end, I became part of the public affairs staff for the Secretary of the Navy. The then-secretaries were the late John H. Chafee and John W. Warner who went on to become U.S. Senators for the states of Rhode Island and Virginia. They were both Navy or Marine Corps veterans.

My commanding officers were Captains Herb Hetu and Robert Sims.

They were incredible role models for me to observe and learn from.

Our office handled some interesting and challenging situations, such as racial conflicts onboard ships and on base, entry of women into naval aviation and the Annapolis Naval Academy, losing ancient and needless enlisted sailor regulations, and even a Michigan tie with Project ELF (Sanguine), a once-secret Upper Peninsula nuclear submarine communications system.

My duties were to assemble the secretary with a brief book on print and some electronic Navy and Marine Corps media coverage, obtain background materials for speeches, write relevant press releases and select correspondence, and yes, as the lowest ranking person in the office, carry the briefing bags.

But one person in our office was the “root” of non-commissioned leadership — Senior Chief Petty Officer Byron Whitehead. He was my go-to person when I needed wisdom and guidance.

One of those consultation occasions involved a 24 cubic-foot refrigerator. This saga was someplace between a “Perry Mason” and “Seinfeld” episode.

Captain Hetu asked if I could acquire a refrigerator for the office. With this assignment, I drove the office’s Ford station wagon east of Washington, D.C. to a Defense and Supply Depot in suburban Maryland.

Upon arriving, I learned this was more than just a refrigerator request. I needed to have the appropriate requisition paperwork.

I returned to work and conversed with my chief, who frequently had the answers. He helped me complete the appropriate paperwork. In the why needed requisition line we entered: “We are the Secretary of the Navy’s Public Affairs office and require a refrigerator to keep our camera film fresh.”

I trekked back to the Supply and Disposal Depot. Days later a monster of a 24-foot white refrigerator was rolling through the Pentagon into room 4E725. It barely made it down the office suite passageway to a far corner niche.

If memory suits me correctly, the refrigerator ended up storing more than Kodak or Fuji film.

You got to love CPOs. They cut through the clutter.

There were two other memories I fondly recall:

Secretary Warner assigned me to find a safe vehicle for his daughters to drive. It ended up being a Volvo which was delivered to the Pentagon’s Mall entrance. The wagon’s 7/11; Slurpee orange color clashed with the black and dark blue Ford, Lincoln, and Cadillac sedans parked in the vicinity.

Years later in my career, I was CEO of Clovernook Centers for the Blind and Visually Impaired (Cincinnati/Dayton and Memphis). Our manufacturing division made USN personnel file folders and compostable-disposable hot beverage cups for the Navy and Marine Corps.

I was right at home.

A number of years after discharge, I was briefly in the USNR serving in public affairs with all the skills I learned from Bob, Herb, Byron, two Navy secretaries, and numerous others.

A hand salute to all of you who have served.

This Veterans Day, may I encourage you to recall those who you served with.

Jeffrey D. Brasie is a retired health care CEO. He frequently writes historic feature stories and op-eds for various Michigan newspapers. As a Vietnam-era veteran, he served in the U.S. Navy and U.S. Naval Reserve. He served on the public affairs staff of the Secretary of the Navy. He grew up in Alpena and resides in suburban Detroit.