William Brian Leppert, CTO2 USN, 1965-1971 It was by a lucky stroke of fate that I became a CT in the Naval Security Group. When I joined the Navy in November of 1965, I wasn’t sure what rating to pursue and I thought that something in the electronics field would be interesting and also be of benefit to me when I got back into the civilian world after my hitch was through. While in boot camp, I was asked how I would like to go to into Naval communications, since it included some basic electronic training. I thought that it sounded interesting, so I was on my way to USNCTC at Pensacola after I completed boot camp in January of 1966. I was assigned to 16 weeks of CT“O” school from February to June, 1966. Part of the training included the use of a TTY and since I had already learned typing skills in high school, I had the skills necessary to operate a TTY very proficiently. My first duty station after Pensacola was NAVCOMSTAPHIL at San Miguel, Philippines. Due to the Vietnam War, San Miguel was the busiest Naval Communications Station in the world. I served at both San Miguel and at DaNang with Det Bravo flying with VQ-1. My last two years in the Navy were spent at NSA at Ft. Meade, Maryland. My rating at the time of my release from active duty was CTO2. I decided to leave the Navy to attend college on the G.I. Bill. There have been many times, however, that I wish that I had made a career out of the Navy serving with the Naval Security Group. The Naval Security Group had some of the best and brightest professional sailors the Navy had to offer and I feel fortunate that I had the opportunity to serve with them.