David Chepauskas
Title/firm: Senior Wealth Administration Adviser / Summit Monetary, LLC
Department: Subject Artillery department
Rank held at starting of service and at finish: 2nd Lieutenant / Main
Service dates: 1977 – 1990
Work you probably did: I graduated from the US Navy Academy at West Level in 1977, as a Second Lieutenant selecting to enter the Subject Artillery department. After attending officers’ primary artillery course (OBC) in Fort Sill Oklahoma, I used to be stationed with the one hundred and first Airborne Division in Fort Campbell Kentucky for 5 years.
Transient story that stands out out of your service time: I commanded a discipline artillery firing battery for 2 of these years as a primary lieutenant. After finishing the sector artillery officers superior course (once more at Ft Sill), I had the privilege of commanding the biggest artillery battery within the US Military, stationed in Berlin, Germany.
This was a singular project, residing in a walled in metropolis over 100 miles inside a communist nation (which most Individuals didn’t understand), in the course of the Chilly Warfare. The town of Berlin was surrounded by a number of Soviet Divisions, and we had a single Brigade; we have been outnumbered many occasions over. Apparently, we have been capable of journey by Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin.
I usually say that seeing a communist nation in 1990 in the course of the Chilly Warfare was maybe one of the best commercial for capitalism one may think about. Crossing by Checkpoint Charlie from West Berlin, a bustling metropolis like Manhattan or Paris, into East Berlin, was like strolling right into a black and white film from the early 1900s. The town buildings nonetheless had not repaired most of the bullet holes 45 years after World Warfare II ended. The seeming attraction of an 11 to 1 foreign money trade price would presumably allow a 28-year-old to buy issues we usually couldn’t afford on a Captain’s wage. To our shock, it apparently didn’t matter how a lot cash we had accessible; there was nearly nothing to be bought. The division retailer entrance home windows would show superb German crystal and dishware, collectibles, cameras, and so forth. However once we went inside to buy, we discovered that they have been solely there for present; nothing was truly accessible for buy. Folks would wait patiently on lengthy strains to purchase rotten fruit. Shabbily dressed residents drove East German-made automobiles which appeared too small to suit into. The first supply of warmth was coal, giving one a headache from the fumes by the top of the day.
Upon completion of my German tour, I used to be accepted to show on the West Level college, so I used to be despatched for a grasp’s diploma on the College of Georgia. As a school member at West Level, I attended evening courses for a second grasp’s diploma in enterprise. It was there that I took a finance course, deciding that I needed to make a profession in finance.