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Just a Sailor: A Navy Diver's Story of Photography, Salvage, and Combat
EYES UNDER THE WATER
When Steve Waterman left home in 1964, he was looking for the most exciting job the U.S. Navy had to offer. So Waterman became an underwater photographer, joining an elite group that numbered only fifteen men in the entire navy--men always on call for unusual and interesting assignments.
Yet it was the time Waterman spent in Vietnam with Underwater Demolition Team-13 that deserves special respect. Existing in a state of adrenaline driven alertness, UDT-13 men carried out their harrowing missions. Stealthily, silently they crept through Vietnam's waterways, never knowing if the next bend in the river concealed VC patiently waiting to spring a fiery, murderous ambush.
Employing the wit and unvarnished honesty that got him into trouble more than once during his thirteen years in the navy, Waterman unfolds a compelling tale of an ordinary sailor who chose to serve his country during one of the most controversial, challenging times in its history.
When Steve Waterman left home in 1964, he was looking for the most exciting job the U.S. Navy had to offer. So Waterman became an underwater photographer, joining an elite group that numbered only fifteen men in the entire navy--men always on call for unusual and interesting assignments.
Yet it was the time Waterman spent in Vietnam with Underwater Demolition Team-13 that deserves special respect. Existing in a state of adrenaline driven alertness, UDT-13 men carried out their harrowing missions. Stealthily, silently they crept through Vietnam's waterways, never knowing if the next bend in the river concealed VC patiently waiting to spring a fiery, murderous ambush.
Employing the wit and unvarnished honesty that got him into trouble more than once during his thirteen years in the navy, Waterman unfolds a compelling tale of an ordinary sailor who chose to serve his country during one of the most controversial, challenging times in its history.
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 3, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 22, 2020
A pleasant enough read, but it spends as much time covering his various apartments as it did covering diving operations or combat actions ... and it greater detail. I set this aside after the author's first tour in Vietnam. Not the sort of anecdotes I was expecting.
April 4, 2010
"Just A Sailor", by Steve Waterman, is a travel through time of a man who went from what could have been a life of trouble to that of a man who made something of himself following his enlistment in the U.S. Navy. Waterman decided to become a naval photographer, and went as far as joining and being accepted into the UDT's (Underwater Demolition Team. This extrodinary story takes the reader from civilian life, through Boot Camp, to A school and beyond, culminating into his experiences in combat during the Vietnam War and then back in the states, doing Salvage operations. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning a true life story through the eyes and words of someone who has been there.
As I read this story, I was able to remember some of the places I had been shortly after Waterman had been there. I especially have fond memories of NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
This story is not just about a sailor, but one of life, and the ability to grow from ones experience.
As I read this story, I was able to remember some of the places I had been shortly after Waterman had been there. I especially have fond memories of NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
This story is not just about a sailor, but one of life, and the ability to grow from ones experience.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews