Marty
United States navy / Owner of the vape deck
jacksonville, florida
as relayed by mr. parsons
On April 12, 1995, I left my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland and reported to Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois to fulfill my 6 year contract as an Electronics Technician. Prior to boot camp, I hadn't smoked a cigarette for 2-1/2 years (I originally started smoking when I was 13 years old). A couple of months after boot camp, a few of us were out at a bar, and I made the mistake of smoking a cigarette. The habit got me again!
After completing a school in Great Lakes and one in Virginia Beach, I headed south to my first command, the USS Hue City (CG 66) in Mayport, Florida. Since I smoked during most of my 20 years, I will make the rest brief so here it is in a nutshell:
There is no way any of my accomplishments would have been possible if it weren't for Kim. All too often, the military spouse is overlooked because they aren't the one who is deployed or away. Kim has had to deal with raising our son, Tyler, fixing what breaks around the house (or the vehicles), taking care of the pets (one dog, one cat, and six snakes...yep, six snakes), and every little thing life throws at her. She has put off taking care of a knee injury, which happened during my last deployment (last year) - she is that stubborn, and she always puts me and Ty first. She was paying the bills while saving money for us to start our business. There really is no other way to put it then Kim is the driving force behind our accomplishments. It’s important for everyone to know that while I put in twenty years with the Navy, Kim was the driving force during fourteen of those years. I have to say that she is truly a hero and I am very fortunate to have her on my team.
With two years of not smoking and only vaping under my belt, I felt that it would be awesome to retire from the Navy and open our own vape shop. Despite numerous vape shops in the Jacksonville area, we wanted ours to be closest to the base in Mayport. While we are still in the early stages, we have a great location, and most of my shipmates know where we are located. At least a few times a week, some of my friends enjoy their lunch break from the ship by picking up some chow and chilling at the shop with us. If the tunes aren't playing, there just might be a movie playing on the TV. We have the PS3 and the XBox 360 in case folks want to play some games...not to mention the board games for the old school gamers!
As I conclude my military career, I’m still able to see my shipmates, as well as other folks who decide to stop in. I'm still the same guy just hanging out enjoying the flavors and the clouds. After spending much time away over the past years, I get to be with my family, and I love it!
Our heartfelt thanks to Marty and Kim Parsons of The Vape Deck for their support of Bumble Bee WARRIORS.
After completing a school in Great Lakes and one in Virginia Beach, I headed south to my first command, the USS Hue City (CG 66) in Mayport, Florida. Since I smoked during most of my 20 years, I will make the rest brief so here it is in a nutshell:
- April 1997 - April 2001: USS Hue City (CG 66) in Mayport, Florida; during the summer of 2000 I met Kim through a mutual friend. She emailed me, we met when she visited Florida, she moved to FL a month later. We married in January of 2001 and knew each other for 6 months prior to getting married!
- June 2001 - June 2004: Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD; assigned to Ground Electronics Maintenance Division
- July 2004 - June 2007: USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) in Mayport, Florida
- August 2007 - August 2008: Naval Expeditionary Guard Battalion in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I worked here as a guard in the detention facilities (this was an unaccompanied tour so Kim and Ty had to stay back in Florida).
- December 2008 - February 2012: Naval Station Mayport; assigned to Ground Electronics Maintenance Division
- May 2012 - April 2015: USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) in Mayport, Florida. In March of 2013, I broke my smoking habit and picked up vaping. There is a designated smoking area on the ship known as the “Smoke Deck." The upper chain of command said that we needed to use our electronic cigarettes on the smoke deck. We (the vapers) were fortunate enough to have a voice; one of the Chief Petty Officers spoke up and stated that we were vaping to stay away from cigarettes. It was his voice that helped our command in designating us with our own vaping area. This place was located on the other side of the ship (opposite from the smoke deck) and it is known as "The Vape Deck."
There is no way any of my accomplishments would have been possible if it weren't for Kim. All too often, the military spouse is overlooked because they aren't the one who is deployed or away. Kim has had to deal with raising our son, Tyler, fixing what breaks around the house (or the vehicles), taking care of the pets (one dog, one cat, and six snakes...yep, six snakes), and every little thing life throws at her. She has put off taking care of a knee injury, which happened during my last deployment (last year) - she is that stubborn, and she always puts me and Ty first. She was paying the bills while saving money for us to start our business. There really is no other way to put it then Kim is the driving force behind our accomplishments. It’s important for everyone to know that while I put in twenty years with the Navy, Kim was the driving force during fourteen of those years. I have to say that she is truly a hero and I am very fortunate to have her on my team.
With two years of not smoking and only vaping under my belt, I felt that it would be awesome to retire from the Navy and open our own vape shop. Despite numerous vape shops in the Jacksonville area, we wanted ours to be closest to the base in Mayport. While we are still in the early stages, we have a great location, and most of my shipmates know where we are located. At least a few times a week, some of my friends enjoy their lunch break from the ship by picking up some chow and chilling at the shop with us. If the tunes aren't playing, there just might be a movie playing on the TV. We have the PS3 and the XBox 360 in case folks want to play some games...not to mention the board games for the old school gamers!
As I conclude my military career, I’m still able to see my shipmates, as well as other folks who decide to stop in. I'm still the same guy just hanging out enjoying the flavors and the clouds. After spending much time away over the past years, I get to be with my family, and I love it!
Our heartfelt thanks to Marty and Kim Parsons of The Vape Deck for their support of Bumble Bee WARRIORS.