Podcast | Nowicki Media

Michael Goldstein grew up in Cleveland Heights, OH and was fascinated by submarines. He won a science fair contest at the age of 14 and was invited to New London to a special tour (see below). I let him tell you the rest of his story.

I dropped out of college after three years in 1966 and enlisted in the Navy, although the Army offered me a commission as a 2nd LT in the infantry. Note the year for my obvious choice. I went to Great Lakes the day after Thanksgiving, entering as an E-3, and spent the winter in Hell for 13 weeks in boot camp.

For some interesting reasons I opted for language school and began a 30 year active duty and active reserve career in the Naval Security Group. Three years active duty in Rota after boot camp, language school, and USAF Security Service school at Goodfellow AFB, TX, and did one submarine trip as a spook. You haven’t aired a boat-rider spook interview yet.

I left active duty as an E-5 Communications Technician in 1970, went back to college, and transferred to active reserve USNR. Graduated in 1971 and entered law school, finishing in 1974. I’ve been practicing law for 40 years, but a year ago I did a partial and very interesting career change, which I’ll explain below.

Made E-6 (then Cryptologic Technician) in the reserves. Took the Chief’s Test twice, was selection board eligible twice, and twice no one made chief: there were no billets. I went to the powers that be and told them that I had 11 years enlisted service, was a lawyer, and if they didn’t give me a commission I would get out. They gave me a direct commission, and I went from E6 to O-2 in a five minute ceremony.

I was CO of our Naval Reserve Security Group unit in Cleveland and traveled to other cities where billets were available, retiring as LCDR in 1996 after 30 years service. Unlike most other Naval Reserve communities, in SECGRU we ran an active duty mission out of the reserve centers. I did one 2-week active duty for training at the sub base in NL in the mid-80’s.

I am now working in the nuclear energy field with the eGeneration Foundation (www.eGeneration.org). I had been a Senior Attorney with the Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company and the first CEI attorney at our Perry Nuclear Power Plant in Perry, OH while we were building it. At eGeneration Foundation I am Director of Government Affairs and Director of Strategic Alliances.

We have here in Cleveland a beautifully restored WWII submarine, USS Cod (SS-224) (USSCod.org), and I sometime lead tours of the boat.