Jeff Zahratka is a retired command master chief petty officer who entered the Navy in 1972.  He remained on active duty until his retirement in January of 1999.  The story is essentially an autobiography of his adventures and his personal slant on the social issues of the era. The author was initially a technical type known as an interior communications electrician, normally assigned as part of the engineering or combat systems departments on most navy ships. 

He readily communicates in the language that Sailors understand and educates the curious about ships and Sailors having been a member of five different crews. The author earned the title of Command Master Chief and spent his final tour aboard the USS KAUFFMAN (FFG-59).  One of his primary duties was counseling the ship’s crew on all matters of personal and professional issues.

Once retired with experience as a counselor the author pursued and obtained a degree in psychology from St Leo University graduating Magna Cum Laude as a forty eight year old in 2002.  From there he went on to an inner city assignment as a group home counselor.

Since 2003 the author has instructed young Sailors and their family members at a computer learning facilitator at the Navy’s Master Jet Base in Oceana, Virginia.  There he is able to keep his pulse on how the force is progressing and as the cliché goes, “once a master chief, always a master chief.” 

His wife, known in the book as the Heroic Iris, is also a master chief.  She is a reservist who is currently assigned to Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia.

The Zahratkas are in the fullest sense of the term, a Navy family. They have two children, Andrew Tomas and Kelly Rachael.  They reside in Virginia Beach.