Kiefer native talks about his experiences in the US Navy

Tuesday, March 9th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The USS Enterprise is back from the Persian Gulf and Operation Iraqi Freedom. One of her crew was at Kiefer High School Tuesday morning to talk to students about his career in the Navy.

News on 6 Rick Wells says LTJG Brad Ashford is home in Kiefer for a few days, talking to students about his work aboard the USS Enterprise. Actually he's a nuclear power engineer aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise, it's the Navy's first atomic powered aircraft carrier and bigger than anything he'd ever seen.

â€œI think the biggest thing, the first thing that hit me was the stairs, and I wasn't used to the stairs." And he says, the organization involved in getting 5,000 crew members working toward one goal is amazing. They just returned from supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. "In the Persian Gulf right off the coast of Iran, there's an imaginary box they have you steam around in. They were doing flight ops and doing reconnaissance missions."

Then back out in the Indian Ocean and into the Red Sea on into the Mediterranean and his favorite stop, Naples, Italy, with a side trip to Rome. "That was nice to go see the Coliseum and the Vatican; I never thought I'd ever see a place like that."

We looked at a high school year book from 1994. His hair is cut a little different. And he's different; he credits his success to his background in Kiefer.

He told the students to work hard, stay focused on their goals and good things would happen. "It's definitely a blessing to go out there and see what the worlds like."

And for the moment he's very happy in the US Navy. The USS Enterprise will leave Norfolk later this month headed for Florida and Fleet Week at Fort Lauderdale. Good news for the crew, it's also Spring break in Florida.