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marble falls

(72,620 posts)
12. He had a pretty darn good service record ...
Wed Dec 5, 2018, 10:57 AM
Dec 2018
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter

Naval career

Carter had long dreamed of attending the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis. In 1941, he started undergraduate coursework in engineering at Georgia Southwestern College in nearby Americus. The following year, he transferred to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, and he achieved admission to the Naval Academy in 1943. He was a good student but was seen as reserved and quiet, in contrast to the academy's culture of aggressive hazing of freshmen. While at the academy, Carter fell in love with his sister Ruth's friend Rosalynn Smith, whom he would marry shortly after his graduation in 1946.[7] He was a sprint football player for the Navy Midshipmen.[8] Carter graduated 60th out of 820 midshipmen in the class of 1946 with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned as an ensign.[9] From 1946 to 1953, Carter and Rosalynn lived in Virginia, Hawaii, Connecticut, New York and California, during his deployments in the Atlantic and Pacific fleets.[10] In 1948, he began officers' training for submarine duty and served aboard USS Pomfret. He was promoted to lieutenant junior grade in 1949. In 1951 he became attached to the diesel/electric USS K-1, (a.k.a. USS Barracuda), qualified for command, and served in several duties including Executive Officer.[11]
President Jimmy Carter and Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, USN (far right) aboard the submarine USS Los Angeles in 1977

In 1952, Carter began an association with the US Navy's fledgling nuclear submarine program, then-led by Captain Hyman G. Rickover. Rickover's demands on his men and machines were legendary, and Carter later said that, next to his parents, Rickover was the greatest influence on his life.[12] He was sent to the Naval Reactors Branch of the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, D.C. for three month temporary duty, while Rosalynn moved with their children to Schenectady, New York. On December 12, 1952, an accident with the experimental NRX reactor at Atomic Energy of Canada's Chalk River Laboratories caused a partial meltdown resulting in millions of liters of radioactive water flooding the reactor building's basement and leaving the reactor's core ruined.[13] Carter was ordered to Chalk River to lead a U.S. maintenance crew that joined other American and Canadian service personnel to assist in the shutdown of the reactor.[14] The painstaking process required each team member to don protective gear and be lowered individually into the reactor for a few minutes at a time, limiting their exposure to radioactivity while they disassembled the crippled reactor. During and after his presidency, Carter said that his experience at Chalk River had shaped his views on atomic energy and led him to cease development of a neutron bomb.[15]

In March 1953 Carter began nuclear power school, a six-month non-credit course covering nuclear power plant operation at Union College in Schenectady,[10] with the intent to eventually work aboard USS Seawolf, which was planned to be one of the first two U.S. nuclear submarines. However, Carter's father died two months before construction of Seawolf began, and Carter sought and obtained a release from active duty to enable him to take over the family peanut business. Deciding to leave Schenectady proved difficult. Settling after moving so much, Rosalynn had grown comfortable with their life. Returning to small-town life in Plains seemed "a monumental step backward," she said later. On the other hand, Carter felt restricted by the rigidity of the military and yearned to assume a path more like his father's. Carter left active duty on October 9, 1953.[16][17] He served in the inactive Navy Reserve until 1961, and left the service with the rank of lieutenant.[18]

His awards included the American Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, China Service Medal, and National Defense Service Medal.[19]

Recommendations

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Umm.... jberryhill Dec 2018 #1
umm no both are 94 years old , the same generation . stonecutter357 Dec 2018 #2
Holy cow jberryhill Dec 2018 #5
I hear you malaise Dec 2018 #9
Yes the statement can be taken two ways but sdfernando Dec 2018 #18
Grammatically, the word "last" is linked to "his generation" so the OP is correct. yardwork Dec 2018 #22
I see how you are misunderstanding the statement. It's not worded well, but it's correct. Honeycombe8 Dec 2018 #47
Last of his generation to die is not accurate n/t malaise Dec 2018 #4
But that's not the statement jberryhill Dec 2018 #6
How did Jimmy Carter win that WWII victory medal then? Baltimike Dec 2018 #23
never mind that, how did Jimmy Carter get a time machine.... jberryhill Dec 2018 #25
No time machine needed. Jimmy Carter and HW Bush are in the same generation. Baltimike Dec 2018 #27
And which one was president last? jberryhill Dec 2018 #35
I'm curious- who do you think was the first of that generation to serve as president onenote Dec 2018 #36
Kennedy dsc Dec 2018 #44
Correct. And if he is the first because no one of that generation was president before him onenote Dec 2018 #46
My father got one too nitpicker Dec 2018 #60
Correct. That's why no one said that. Read the statement again. nt Honeycombe8 Dec 2018 #48
The wording matters zaj Dec 2018 #3
It was poorly worded. Should have said "last WWII vet to get ELECTED President. All those after him Honeycombe8 Dec 2018 #49
MSM hates Carter because he's so foreign to them. lark Dec 2018 #7
Maybe so. But the statement that GWHB is the last of his generation to have served as president onenote Dec 2018 #14
He was the last one to get elected...better wording. nt Honeycombe8 Dec 2018 #50
They've been calling it the WWII generation leftynyc Dec 2018 #8
The last vs. last surviving Zambero Dec 2018 #10
Different generation... brooklynite Dec 2018 #11
Carter is the same age as Bush was. yardwork Dec 2018 #24
He had a pretty darn good service record ... marble falls Dec 2018 #12
Who of that generation served as president after GWHB? onenote Dec 2018 #13
The navy has always been the red headed stepchild of the armed forces elmac Dec 2018 #15
But Bush was in the Navy Reserves. itsrobert Dec 2018 #33
I think I just heard a bunch of Coasties say "Excuse me?" n/t whopis01 Dec 2018 #39
Coming from a family of Marines, father, brother, cousins, uncles elmac Dec 2018 #43
I get it - have family in both the Marines and Navy whopis01 Dec 2018 #56
Who Will Bet Carter Wont Get 5 Days Of Gushing PaulX2 Dec 2018 #16
He'd BETTER! maddiemom Dec 2018 #17
But I expect most of the world will remember President Carter positively erronis Dec 2018 #19
I haven't watched one minute of the coverage... llmart Dec 2018 #37
I will give him more than that malaise Dec 2018 #53
Conservative reality -- History as seen through the glass eye of the beholder. ffr Dec 2018 #20
Fun fact: Bush was president after Carter. Kaleva Dec 2018 #21
You just misunderstood what they meant. phleshdef Dec 2018 #26
I'm so sick of turning on MSNBC and listening to everyone gush over Pappy Bush! oldlibdem Dec 2018 #28
I don't understand why you do it then. Kaleva Dec 2018 #32
Who said I sit in front of the "idiot" box all day? oldlibdem Dec 2018 #38
I didn't say you sit in front of the idiot box all day did I? This is what you said: Kaleva Dec 2018 #41
Post removed Post removed Dec 2018 #58
I'm just saying don't let the idiot box control you. Be your own master. Kaleva Dec 2018 #59
jumped to wrong conclusion, removed previous comment still_one Dec 2018 #29
Ok. Tell me who of that generation served as President after GHWB onenote Dec 2018 #34
You are right, I was thinking served in armed forces, not WWII. Thanks for the correction still_one Dec 2018 #52
You should trash this thread. It's an off handed attack based upon your misunderstanding tymorial Dec 2018 #30
+1 BannonsLiver Dec 2018 #40
It's getting pretty gross. tymorial Dec 2018 #51
+2 Kaleva Dec 2018 #42
Abide. Sneederbunk Dec 2018 #31
+ IADEMO2004 Dec 2018 #54
What a semantics war.. LakeArenal Dec 2018 #45
..and I don't believe Carter ever bailed out and killed his crew.... joanbarnes Dec 2018 #55
Carter was in the Naval Academy during WW2 flotsam Dec 2018 #57
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