I technically hired some professionals when I was a sailor in the Navy but none of them were photographers. Lol! 
In faraway lands I'm sure. Where all did you get to go, and what kind of ship were you on?
Joined the Navy the first time in October 1974 until October 1979 and was assigned to VS-21 and VS-41 as an Aviation Machinist's Mate. When I first joined there were two rating designations. An ADR which meant you were trained to work on radial/reciprocating piston engines and were not allowed to work on jet engines. The ADJ was trained to work on jet engines and were not allowed to work on radial/reciprocating. I think it was 1978 that they dropped the two separate rating designations by dropping the "R" and the "J" and it just became AD because just about everything in the Navy's inventory had become turbine powered. The left over ADR's were given the opportunity to retrain as jet engine mechanics if they had enough time left on their enlistments, change their rating all together or get reassigned until their enlistment ended. VS-21 and VS-41 flew the Lockheed S-3A and S3-B Viking air antisubmarine aircraft that used twin General Electric TF-34 turbofan engines.
VS-21 was a west coast squadron based out of San Diego but we were assigned to the USS John F. Kennedy CV-67 which was an east coast carrier based out of Norfolk. The S-3A was just being introduced to the fleet and we made the mistake of being commissioned and operational long before any of the east coast squadrons were ready. The Admirals wanted to showboat the new Grumman F-14 Tomcats and our Lockheed S-3A aircraft on the same ship. Ended up doing a Mediterranean cruise on the Kennedy. Visited multiple ports of different countries so Ill just list the countries.
Spain, Palma, Italy, Sicily, Greece and Turkey. Could have went on a tour to France while in Spain but decided to stay in a bar and get drunk instead.
The next ship VS-21 was assigned to was the USS Constellation CV-64. Did a Western Pacific cruise on her and went to the following countries and also included a couple of stops in Hawaii.
Philippines, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong
After my sea duty was up with VS-21 I got transferred to VS-41 (training squadron) for one year of shore duty. Right! "shore duty"! When I got to VS-41 I was the only jet engine mechanic that was both "high power" turn-up qualified and had the flight deck experience needed to train newbies. Spent a lot of time on board the USS Nimitz CVN-68 preventing the newbies from killing themselves while working the flight deck! Spent some time in Jacksonville, Florida because of this.
I got out of the Navy in October 1979 as an AD2 (jet engine mechanic) which is a Aviation Machinist's Mate, 2nd Class Petty Officer which is the same as an E-5 in the other military branches.
From October 1979 to November 1981 I worked mostly oil field construction when I decided to go back into the Navy. I will explain why I made that decision as I was making very good money in the oil field as a roughneck and a roustabout.
I spent a total of 21 years and some change in the Navy but I've only walked you thru the first 5 years. The next 16 years will be part two.
