Maine Maritime Academy

I grew up in the Bucksport/Orland community and graduated from Bucksport High School. I always participated and played in the varsity sports for Bucksport and always enjoyed the communities support each and ever sports season. When I was deployed last year on April 1, 2019 aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln we were expected to home port on October 31,2019. When tensions with Iran grew drastically, my ship was relied on to keep peace in the Middle East. We were the only active air craft carrier in the United States Navy. Our deployment was extended multiple times. I went from expecting to be home on Halloween, to maybe Thanksgiving, then to maybe Christmas, and by the end of it they didn’t know when we would go home. We went stretches of 87 days straight out to sea. My mom signed me up for the Marcus Latrell foundation care packages and I received his book (lone survivor) and his companies t-shirt with a hand written letter from him. Most importantly, I received overwhelming support from the small tight knit community back home. I received multiple emails, letters, care packages and Facebook messages sending me prayers and moral. The communities support helped get through the longest deployment by an aircraft carrier in the U.S Navy’s history. It helped me get though not seeing my family for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years. We finally returned to the United States on January 20,2020. Over 200 consecutive days deployed. I am forever grateful of the small Maine community that supported me, and it made my decision to return home and attend MMA that much easier.