Nearly 55 years after graduating from Recruit Training Command (RTC), Lou Braasch returned for the first time to tour the Navy’s only boot camp May 16-17 and shared his experiences as a survivor of the catastrophic fires on board USS Forrestal (CVA-59) on July 29, 1967.

Braasch served on board the world’s first supercarrier as an aircraft hydraulic mechanic and a crewman on a C-1A cargo plane. He helped fight the tragic fires that claimed 134 Sailors and Airmen, and seriously injured or burned another 161.  

The damage caused by that incident is the inspiration for and incorporated into training scenarios at RTC. Recruits conduct more than 40 hours of firefighting and damage control training at RTC, developing skills to keep their ship in the fight.

“Obviously, they train all the recruits more deeply than what we had when I was here at boot camp 55 years ago,” Braasch said. “I’ve seen them get into the wet trainer, where they were trying to plug pipes that were opening up all around them. It can be chaos at sea when something goes wrong and they prepared them well for all sorts of things that happen unexpectedly.”

Braasch, who received an honorable discharge five months after the USS Forrestal fire, went on to manage and own a convenience store in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the American Academy of Broadcasting in 1971 and enjoyed a 45-year career as popular on-air radio personality “Dan Steele.”

He was among those who responded when eight high-order explosions and a number of smaller weapons explosions blew holes in USS Forrestal’s armored flight deck above spaces primarily set aside for crew berthing. Flaming and unburned fuel, water, and foam cascaded down into the compartments. Battling the fires below deck was more difficult than that topside with the confined spaces, little light, thick black smoke, and toxic fumes. Although the fire on the flight deck was controlled within an hour, fires below deck raged until the following morning.

Braasch said he carries the memories of that fateful day aboard USS Forrestal.

“When I spoke to some of the recruits and staff here in training, I agree to do it not because I helped fight the fire on Forrestal,” he said. “Because there’s hundreds of other people who did exactly that, or more than I did, to put that fire out and save our shipmates. I agreed to come here in memory of 134 of my shipmates who did not come home from that cruise. You’ll find their names on panel 24E of the Vietnam Veterans memorial wall.”

Firefighting Division Officer Chief Warrant Officer 3 Juan Staggers was among those who accompanied Braasch during his tour of the USS Chief, a controlled training environment where recruits conduct hands-on training and testing while fighting fires in shipboard compartments. Part of the classroom training includes viewing a USS Forrestal training video, which Braasch watched before speaking with USS Chief staff during a brown bag lunch.

“For me and my staff, it was an eye-opening experience,” Staggers said. “Having him here, and him briefing us on the details of what actually happened, was a testament to how far we’ve come in the Navy. He was appreciative of my group and all that we do on a day-to-day basis. Just having him here, and learning about his experience was a benefit to my team and definitely a benefit to me so that we may continue to improve.”

Braasch also toured recruit ship USS Triton, visiting a berthing compartment, a firefighting trainer and a seamanship trainer. He told his tour guide, Senior Chief Sonar Technician (Surface) Benjamin Pittenger, that his visit to RTC was “something I’m going to cross off my bucket list that I didn’t even know was on the list.”

On the second day of his two-day visit, Braasch attended a Pass-In-Review ceremony, accompanying his good friends, Brenten and Robin Lavelle, as they witnessed the graduation of Robin’s son, Zane Gee.

“Back when Zane went off to boot camp, Brenten said to me, ‘You know you have to go to Zane’s graduation,’” Braasch said. “And back then, I thought, ‘Yeah, well OK, if I can work it in, I’ll try to figure it out,” Braasch said. “But he’s been working behind the scenes to make all this happen and I’m deeply honored. It’s been spectacular and something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Boot camp is approximately eight weeks and all enlistees into the U.S. Navy begin their careers at the command. Training includes physical fitness, seamanship, firearms, firefighting and shipboard damage control along with lessons in Navy heritage and core values, teamwork and discipline. More than 35,000 recruits are trained annually at RTC and begin their Navy careers.

For more news from Recruit Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/

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