Countryman reflects on career in the Navy

Tom Countryman stood on the deck of the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy watching the American bombers taking flight towards Kuwait and Iraq. It was Jan. 17, 1991 and Operation Desert Storm was just getting underway. He was a long way from his home in Columbia Falls, watching history unfold before his eyes.

“I remember watching the planes take off that night and wondering which ones would be coming back,” he recalled. “I saw a lot of interesting things during my time in the Navy. There I was, a Montana kid that had never been on a Navy ship before and I found myself on an aircraft carrier steaming towards countries I had never seen and some I had never even heard of.”

A 1983 Columbia Falls High School graduate, Countryman would end up spending quite a bit of time in the Middle East during his 30-year career in the Navy as he served in Operations Desert Storm, Desert Fox, Iraqi Freedom and others. During that time, he served in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

“I’ve been to most of the countries in the Middle East,” he said. “That includes a few countries that we were in when really shouldn’t have been.”

Countryman’s Navy career began in 1987, after a former high school classmate shared with him his stories of adventures around the globe while serving in the Air Force.

“He was living in London and he came back to the Flathead Valley with a lot of great stories and was always traveling the world. I was at the local junior college and I decided that sounded interesting to me, so I joined the Navy,” Countryman said.

After basic training in San Diego in 1987, Countryman would return there for additional training in 1989 and 1991 before finding himself serving as a dental lab technician at Bethesda, Maryland’s Walter Reed National Military Medical Center when the Gulf War broke out. His next assignment would send him to the Middle East for the first time, but it would not be his last trip there.

“The Navy was what I expected at first, and then the Gulf War broke out. I ended up spending a lot of time over there throughout my career,” he said. “That was not exactly what I was expecting.”

While Countryman did spend a lot of time in the Middle East, he also got to visit dozens of other countries during his time in the Navy, including most of Europe, a large part of Africa, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Guam and a particularly memorable trip “down under.”

“There were nuances that were cool everywhere, but I think my favorite place that I got to see was Australia. I spent almost eight weeks near Perth and Freemantle and it was a lot of fun,” he said.

Countryman said another interesting part of his career was spending time on two aircraft carriers, the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy and the Abraham Lincoln. Floating cities that carried more than 5,000 men each, he said it was quite something to serve on ships with almost twice the 1991 population of his home town.

“They would have to move 10 pallets of sodas per day just to keep the machines around the ship stocked. They had a whole group that did nothing but that,” he said. “They would also deliver different kinds of vegetables by the semi-truck load. One load for each different kind of vegetable.”

While Countryman found seeing different places and the logistics of carrier life interesting, he said the most amazing part of being in the Navy was seeing how people came together as a team to reach their goals.

“I really enjoyed the experience of meeting people from different backgrounds and to see them function as a team,” he said. “We might take someone from Chicago, someone from Florida, Montana, the Philippines or even another country, and to see them function together at a high level was truly awe-inspiring at times.”

After 30 years in the Navy, Countryman retired from the service in July 2017 with the rank of Master Chief Hospital Corpsman at Naval Hospital Bremerton in Washington. He will soon be returning home to the Flathead Valley, an area he said shaped his career and always showed him tremendous support.

“I don’t think I would have been as successful in the military if I had not been born and raised in the Flathead Valley. The people that touched my life when I was young made a huge impact on me and showed me that hard work and treating people with dignity and respect goes a long way,” he said. “I could always tell when somebody was from Montana, especially the Flathead Valley. Their work ethic was always second to none.”

Upon his return home, Countryman says he is hoping to use his experiences over the past 30 years to help others in the area.

“I want to be involved in helping the Flathead Valley, and especially Columbia Falls, in any way I can – either in a volunteer aspect or by helping people in need. If I can help some young man or woman who wants to join the military with my advice and experience, that would be outstanding,” he said. “Every time I have come home to Flathead Valley, I have been amazed by the level of support for our veterans. If you see a veteran, don’t just thank them on Veteran’s Day, thank them every day for what they do.”