From Fire Control To The Classroom

Send us Fan MailHe joined the Navy to stop sitting in classrooms, then the Navy sent him to years of school anyway and that’s where the real story starts.I’m back with my shipmate and one of my favorite Chiefs, Nick Riggs, to walk through a full Navy career arc: high school uncertainty, choosing the service, surviving the training pipeline, and learning what “ready to roll” really means when you’re forward deployed. Nick breaks down what it’s like to come up as a Fire Controlman, how hands-on maintenance finally makes the textbooks click, and why Japan shapes sailors in a way stateside commands often don’t.We also talk about September 11th from the perspective of a sailor stationed in Japan: the sudden phone calls, getting to base fast, force protection ramping up, and ships surging with no clear return date. From there, Nick shares the less-glamorous leadership moments that actually define careers: being out of rate on shore duty, culture shock on a stateside ship, and getting tapped to fix problems outside your comfort zone by simply being consistent and present.Finally, we get real about military retirement and the transition to civilian life. Nick explains what he wishes he knew about VA disability claims, why using a service officer matters, how he used the GI Bill for a cybersecurity degree, and how he unexpectedly became an elementary computer science teacher so he could be present for his kids. If you care about Navy leadership, veteran transition, and building a second career with purpose, this conversation will hit home.Subscribe to Words from the Wise, share this with a shipmate, and leave a review if it helps. What part of the transition do you wish someone had warned you about sooner?https://www.wordsfromthewise.net/