Hi,
I'm Mike Torpey and I'm retired from the U.S. Coast Guard where I was in the communication field (started as a
Radioman, and they changed the name to Telecommunications Specialist).
Here's a little bit about what I do, what I've done, where I've been and where I'm going. I was born in Stamford Connecticut, moved at age 7 and grew up in Ft Lauderdale FL, joined the Coast Guard after high school (Boyd H Anderson High
class of 78) and spent a year on a ship out of Boston, the Coast Guard Cutter Chase conducting immigrations and drug interdiction patrols in the Caribbean, than transferred to Cape Cod where I met Christina. We have experienced a lot, traveling with the Coast
Guard. We got married on Sandwich Beach (Cape Cod MA) when I was stationed at Coast Guard Station Cape Cod Canal working on the
search and rescue boats. I transferred to the Coast Guard Cutter White Sage (a
buoy tender) in Woods Hole MA before going to radioman school in Petaluma CA (north of San Francisco). After
graduating from Radioman School, I was transferred to Coast Guard Communications Station Miami FL (NMA) where I was a
radio operator listening to morse code, working air to ground voice radios and
ship to shore radio teletypes (I was there when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded supporting the
search & rescue efforts). Christina and I both missed Cape Cod, so I took a transfer to the Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma, again conducting immigrations and drug interdiction patrols in the Caribbean, one patrol was supporting the
space shuttle program when it resumed, patrolling the safety zone. When it was time to move again I figured a transfer
to a district office would help my career, so the Second Coast Guard District Headquarters in St Louis MO was our next destination. Marine Safety Office Duluth MN was next, working as the Regional System Manager supporting the western region of the Great Lakes computer systems.
Then came retirement. We moved back to Florida, Melbourne area, where we've lived mostly ever since.
Then I retired after almost 10 years with Northrop Grumman Information Technology running the PC Service Center in the Melbourne Florida Campus of Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems supporting the Airborne Ground Surveillance and Battle Management Systems (JSTARS). I've been Married to Christina for
29 years, and have 3 boys and two granddaughter.
When the kids were all gone we acted like other early
retirees enjoying RVing full time, like snowbirds, traveling the country. It was for about two years. You can read some about that on "our RV travels" page.
I joined the American Legion to be a more active part of the Veterans
community. I built their
website. Check it out http://legionpost163.com. I love riding my motorcycle
daily, I joined the Legion Riders and enjoy some group rides. I rode in Cape Cod MA, St Louis MO and Duluth
MN for years, Florida is a longer riding season and I'm enjoying it every day. I
have taken a few road trips you can read about and see some photos on the other
page.
Well, 3 years with the American Legion Post 163 and 2 years with the Legion Riders at 81, I had to split my loyalties between the two post, so I figured I would see if we could get a Legion Rider Chapter started at post 163. I presented a motion at the post meeting in May and it passed. In June our Legion Rider Organizational meeting closed as a chapter. So I'm Director of Legion Riders FL Chapter 163.
Right now !! Semi-Retired = Working at what I can when I need to..
Casey At the Bat, an old baseball poem from the early days is on my favorite photo page. I scanned the newspaper fullpage illustration with the poem and about the author and illustrator. Take a look at it.
