Military Culture Shift from the Eyes of a Chief Warrant Officer 4 Navy Sailor

Interview with Joseph P Cusumano Sr., History 150 Spring 2022, Conducted by Kayla Cusumano, March 8, 2022.

Overview to Social Change Interview:

On January 1, 1959, Cuba had a successful revolution overthrowing the dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who for many years had been supported by the U.S. When, in the context of the Cold War, the U.S. feared Fidel Castro, Cuba’s leader, was taking the path towards communism, the U.S. intervened.

On April 17, 1961 the CIA launched a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 U.S.-trained Cubans who had fled their homes after the revolution. This event became known as the Bay of Pigs in the U.S. President Kennedy continued his predecessor, President Eisenhower’s CIA campaign, ordering troops to Cuba with the support of Navy jets. Due to this invasion which ultimately failed, President Kennedy ordered troops to back off and return to Key West in Florida. The aftermath had a lasting impact that followed a year later review of the Naval Station sailors in 1962. My grandfather was one of the sailors chosen to participate in this conversation about the current status of the military. This interview also reveals that at this time, the US Navy had very different values that surrounded the perspective on family dynamic and military deployments range in length, compared to the current day.

This historical military event is one of the many first-hand experience’s my grandfather experienced in his 34 years of active service in the United States Navy. His direct involvement in the Persian Gulf, Iraq Freedom, and the Cambodian campaign gave him the opportunity to endure the gradual shift in military culture. This shift consisted of technological advancements, changes in attitudes towards women in the military, and improved recruitment tactics. From 1959 to 1992, the Navy has had a gradual shift in its overall military system that has proven to be a result of an extremely adaptive and a fast changing organization.

Biography:

My grandfather, Joseph P Cusumano, Sr, grew up in Brooklyn, NY and enlisted in the US Navy at 16 years old. After turning 17 in May, he was sworn in and went to bootcamp June 18, 1959. During his military service, he spent 26 out of 34 years (February 1959 to October 1992) aboard 14 various ships and crafts. He retired after 34 consecutive years of active duty in October 1992 with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CWO4) [senior level technical and engineering expert.]

He identified as an American-Italian sailor from the lower middle class. In December 1960, he was transferred from Norfolk, VA after serving on two seagoing ships to the Submarine base in Key West, FL. He was stationed at Port Services which was preferable sea duty on YO 192 (Yard Oiler) to fuel submarines and ships. Port Services also had tugboats. Around April 15, 1961 Port Services personnel were asked to volunteer for an undisclosed mission for which he volunteered. They got underway on an LCU (Landing Craft Utility) and they were [not] told where they were going or what they would be doing until they crossed the 3-mile marker for International waters.

At this time, they were informed that they would be going to a small island off the US coast to pick up a number of troops and then make a landing in Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. After they picked up the troops and headed to Cuba, around April 20, 1961 they landed on the beach, dropped the ramp and came under small arms rifle fire. US military jet planes flew overhead but never fired a shot. My grandfather was not sure if that was when President Kennedy called off the invasion, but they backed off the shore and proceeded back to Key West. Arriving after dark, they were told not to tell friends or family where they were or what they did.

Approximately a year later in 1962 there was a formal base inspection at which President Kennedy, Commander in Chief, reviewed the Naval Station sailors. After the formal inspection, Joseph Cusumano, was informed that he was one of 10 sailors chosen to have lunch with the President of the United States at the “Little White House” on the naval station. The luncheon with President Kennedy was very informal and conversational. My grandfather will always be proud to be one of the few who was able to meet him personally and shake his hand. The conversation with the President of the United States, Commander in Chief, was mainly about military readiness and personnel backgrounds. The base has since been decommissioned and closed. Many years later in the late 1990’s, he and my grandma visited Key West. The Administration building was still there and by total mistake they found the “Little White House” building was still there, which brought back many memories for my grandpa. In November 1967, he was ordered to the Battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) which was recommissioned and sent to Vietnam in 1968 returning home April 1969. He was then assigned to the Destroyer USS McKean (DD-784) in 1970 through 1974 for 4 additional deployments to Vietnam. In Charleston SC, 1978 to 1980, he was assigned for a tour of duty with the Seabees [construction battalion] as a member of one of the construction battalions of the US Navy. He was later involved in Persian Gulf, Iraq Freedom, and the Cambodian campaign.

Transcript:

KC: Hi, can you state your whole name and how many years you served?

JC: Oh, my full name is Joseph Peter Cusumano senior, and how many? I served 34 years continuous service in the United States Navy.

KC: Okay, and that leads into my next question, what led you to enlist in the military at such a young age?

KC: What led you to enlist in the military at such a young age? [repeats question]

JC: I joined the military because I didn’t like to go to school and I knew I was eventually going to be drafted.

KC: What was your military ranking? And what did this position involve?

JC: When I first joined, I was an E-1 promoted to E-2. I was a seaman and I worked on deck for about three years.

KC: And what did you do in this position?

JC: What would I do in this position? I painted, I scrubbed decks, I cleaned and did whatever they told me to do.

KC: And from 1959 to 1992, which operations have you participated in?

JC: I was at the Bay of Pigs it was my very first one in 1961. I was involved in the landing in Cuba. I was on an LCU stationed at Key West, Florida. We landed on the beach, and the Navy jets flew over and as they were flying over Cuba, President Kennedy called off firing onto the Cuban troops. I guess then we backed out and got out of there with no casualties for the boat crew.

KC: How would you describe the military environment from when you first enlisted?

JC: Oh, when I first enlisted it, it was longer deployments, more time away from home. It was harder on family life. If you had a family back then. But you learn to adapt. You did what you had to do and your family did what they had to do. As the years went by, it basically it did improve. Like you had asked earlier. Which way it improved, it improved that more emphasis was put on families as far as taking care of the wives while we were gone and in the helping with the children. But the bottom line is it was pretty rough back then. It was the military first and I’m not going to say that they didn’t think about families but they didn’t concentrate on them as much as they do today.

KC: So would you say they then…

JC: The communication with families and while I was on deployment, and the only thing we actually really had was mail. And it was sometimes depending where I was, you didn’t get mail for weeks. And I remember certain times you didn’t get mail for over a month so it was depending on where the ship was and what the ship was doing to be able to bring mail into the ship and for mail to leave the ship. So you probably communicated by mail average monthly back then the deployments were nine months or longer, depending on what you were doing and where you were going. So you did what you had to do. You had a job and your first thing was to do your job. That was number one.

KC: How did your view or perspective of the military? How did your view or perspective of the environment change as you gained experience and got promoted?

JC: Well, I was the type of guy that worked to get promoted. I was never happy where I was at, I always wanted to be the next rate higher. And the bottom line is, the higher you went, the more money you made, and the more responsibility you had, which that didn’t bother me at all.

KC: You spoke a little bit about Communication

JC: I guess, if you want to. Go ahead.

KC: Oh, sorry. Um, you spoke a little bit about communication and how you guys responded to family through mail. So there were no cell phones or email to make communication back home? How did the sailors managed to cope with communication deficiencies in this environment? Could you just add a little bit more on that?

JC: You didn’t really, there was nothing you can do about it. When you got into port, depending what port you were in and what countries, you were able to call home, at your own expense. It’s not like today where you can get on a cell phone and communicate around the world. You just learned to adapt to what the environment was at that time.

KC: Of your different assignments, how did this improve or degrade your perspective on today’s current military culture?

JC: Uh how do you answer that? The bottom line is you could learn like again, like I said, you just learned to live with it. To live with the environment that you had. You know, I remember that some of the first ships I was on, to give you an example, we didn’t have air conditioning now ships have air conditioning. Now ships have better communications between land and sea where people can talk while you are underway. And from what I understand you can be underway today and talk to your family or your friends. Back then, I won’t say we were isolated, but when we were at sea, that’s what it was. You didn’t have any communications and unless an emergency come up, and somebody from the Red Cross would contact the ship and tell him that you had an emergency at home. But other than that you were completely cut off. In the work schedule to give you an example, you worked probably out of a 24 hour day you worked at least 16 to 20 hours a day. So it kept your mind on what your job was. You had a job to do and you did your job.

KC: Can you describe any significant changes in military strategies and recruitment tactics from today’s modern military culture? Anything you’ve seen or?

JC: Well when they did away with the draft and they went to an all volunteer force, it changed the military to a certain point where I’m not going to say better people came into the service. But people that wanted to be in the service came in or are coming in now. Where back then when you had the draft, there were some people who didn’t spend two or three years in the military and only interested in if they joined the Navy they would do their time and they would get out so there was a lot of transition or turnover. You might want to call it and the personnel that were aboard ships back then, it was an all male force. And it didn’t start really going on to male and female until the mid 70s. So, you learned to adapt with what you had.

KC: Anything you wanted to add about the shift in military culture that I did not cover?

JC: And you got to remember that things were different back then. You know, you’re talking about the 50s 60s and 70s. Things really didn’t start to change until the 70s when they started bringing females into the service. They knew that they naturally had problems, not only with the males, but the females, but it’s adapting to the changes. And obviously, it’s getting better or it’s much better than it was 40 years ago. That’s what we’re talking about 40 or more years ago.

KC: Thank you

[Transcribed by https://otter.ai]

Research:

Through my research I conducted information on all of the military events that occurred from 1960-1990 that would have overlapped with the events my grandfather served in. According to World 101 Historical Context this website includes essentials events starting from 1945 to 2022. This timeline overlaps with my grandfather’s timeline of service. It includes biographies of every single military event that has happened including The Bay of Pigs 1961, The Vietnam War 1955, The US Navy Seabees [Navy Construction Battalion], the Cambodian Campaign 1970, Persian Gulf 1990, and the Iraq Freedom war.

During my interview, the theme I focused on is the military culture shifts that my grandfather has endured, focusing on military strategies, family dynamic, and recruiting tactics. I used the Navy Times in my research to identify 21st-century US navy culture shifts that differ from the early 1960’s. This article states that since then the US Navy has proven to be extremely adaptive and a fast changing organization. Gender roles in the Navy states as early as 1943 the Bureau of Aeronautics was training 23,000 women sailors (Waves) as navigation trainers, gunnery instructors, ordnance repairers, metalsmith, parachute riggers, and air traffic controllers. Whereas in February 2010 the U.S. Navy announced women would be eligible to serve aboard nuclear submarines. The article also states new advanced technology that has made a difference a major difference in the military world such as the new nuclear submarines were based on complex new principles and technologies derived from the outer edge of scientific knowledge. Through time, the Navy has been able to evolve in new military tactics and technological advancements that have shifted the military culture more efficiently.

Bibliography:

“Essential Events since 1945.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, https://world101.cfr.org/historical-context/global-era/essential-events-1945.

History.com Editors. “Bay of Pigs Invasion.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2009, https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/bay-of-pigs-invasion.

Ronald Spector, Military History Quarterly. “Sea Change: How the Navy Kept Reinventing Itself over the Past Century.” Navy Times, Navy Times, 27 Dec. 2018, https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/12/27/sea-change-how-the-navy-kept-reinventing-itself-over-the-past-century/.

Follow-up Commentary and Brief Technological Notes:

This interview was conducted over a zoom call on March 8, 2022 5pm eastern time. During the interview, my grandmother would repeat the questions that were hard to hear. The transcription was made by Otter.ai. Edited using Audacity. Citations created by EasyBib. On April 18, 2022 this interview was approved after having editorial changes to the biography and transcription.