Got started by volunteering at MARS station, MCAS, Beaufort, then applied for secondary MOS and received full-time position at N0XXN, MCAS Beaufort, SC  Placed many hundreds of phone patches between GITMO, Cuba and CONUS. Operated mostly with Dave Madden in GITMO.  Relayed written traffic, mostly from  NOIXN, Cherry Point.  Spent several Thanksgivings, Christmases and New Years running patches between personnel in GITMO and CONUS.  I offered code and theory classes to base personnel from which several joined the great hobby of Ham Radio.  One was Larry Grant, who later received a MARS operator secondary MOS and went to work at N0XXN, MCAS Beaufort.   

I greatly enjoyed being able to contribute. It was a tremendous moral booster for those guys in GITMO to communicate with their loved ones stateside. My experience in USMC MARS helped lead me to a full time civilian career in radio communications technology. I am currently inactive in ham radio but have kept my ticket.  Maybe when I retire......