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RETIRED POLICE LT- I also worked with the US Marshals office as a Special Deputy US marshal  for 14 years in the fugitive task force(Operation Intercept)
USAR- SFC (E-7) OSUT Instructor (11B4H) -108th Div Tng.  Later was the  NCOIC of the S2 / S3 offices
Other Comments:
Retired from the Tng Cmd, 108th Div Training US Army Reserves after 16 years 10 months. Total length of service: 22years,10 months
Laid down, 7 September 1954, at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, MS.
Launched, 10 November 1955
Commissioned USS Spiegel Grove (LSD-32), 8 June 1956, CAPT. S. Filippone in command
Decommissioned, 2 October 1989
Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet
Struck from the Naval Register, 13 December 1989
Custody transferred to the Maritime Administration (MARAD) for lay up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, James River, Fort Eustis, VA.
Title transferred from MARAD the State of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Largo, FL., 13 June 2001
Final Disposition, sunk as an artificial reef, 17 May 2002 six miles off the Florida Keys, in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Specifications: Displacement 8,899 t.(lt), 11,525 t(fl) Length 510' Beam 84' Draft 19' Speed 20 kts. Complement
Officers 18
Enlisted 330 Troop Accommodations 325 Armament (as built)
four twin 3"/50 dual purpose gun mounts
four twin 40mm gun mounts
six twin 20mm AA gun mounts Boat Capacity (Well Deck)
three LCUs or nine LCM-8's or fifty AAV's/LVTP-7's amphibious tractors Aircraft Capacity up to 8 helicopters Propulsion
two D-type boilers, 600psi.
two steam turbines
two propellers, 24,000shp
Spiegel Grove was laid down on 7 September 1954 by the Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Miss., launched on 10 November 1955; sponsored by Mrs. Webb C. Hayes, and commissioned on 8 June 1956, Captain S. Filippone in command.
Spiegel Grove sailed for Hampton Roads and arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, on 7 July 1956. She headed for the Guantanamo Bay area on her shakedown cruise on 26 July 1956 and returned on 15 September. The ship was in the yard during October 1956; then in November she participated in amphibious exercises off Onslow Beach, North Carolina.
On 9 January 1957, Spiegel Grove, with other ships of Transport Amphibious Squadron 4 (TransPhibRon 4), sailed from Morehead City, North Carolina, with elements of the 6th Marines embarked, for a tour with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. She returned to Norfolk on 3 June and operated along the east coast for the remainder of the year. In November, she transported 364 Army troops to Labrador. In January 1958, the LSD was deployed with her squadron to the 6th Fleet on an extended tour which did not end until 6 October. On 22 October, Spiegel Grove was assigned to PhibRon 10, the new Fast Squadron. The years 1959 and 1960 saw the LSD participating in numerous operations along the east coast and in the Caribbean.
Spiegel Grove stood out of Norfolk in April 1961 with Task Force 88 (TFÂ 88) for "Solant Amity II", a good-will tour to the African coast. The force carried tons of medical supplies, food and disaster supplies, toys, books, and seed. During the four-month cruise, the ships visited Gambia, Durban, the Malagasy Republic, the Seychelles Islands, Zanzibar, Kenya, the Union of South Africa, Togo, and Gabon before returning home on 8 September. She then entered Horne Brothers Shipyard, Newport News, Virginia, for an overhaul that was not completed until early January 1962.
USS Spiegel Grove in 1965.
Spiegel Grove conducted refresher training and then spent March and April in amphibious exercises in the Caribbean. In May, she took part in operations supporting Malcolm Scott Carpenter's manned space flight in Mercury-Atlas 7. In July and August, she returned to the Caribbean for "Phibulex 2-62". On 1 December 1962 a tender availability period was begun to prepare the ship for "Solant Amity IV". The LSD loaded supplies during January 1963 and sailed, on 15 February for her second good-will tour which lasted until late May. The ship steamed over 21,000Â miles (39,000Â km) and visited nine countries before returning home. Spiegel Grove next deployed to the Caribbean from July to September with PhibRon 8.
The landing ship has spent the greater part of her active service participating in amphibious exercises along the eastern seaboard and in the Caribbean. Spiegel Grove was deployed to the 6th Fleet from January to June 1964, 3 November 1966 to 11 May 1967; and from 17 April to 9 October 1971. She participated in "Operation Steel Pike I" off Spain in October 1964 and made a midshipman cruise to England and Denmark in 1970. On 22 July 1974, she participated in the evacuation of American citizens from Cyprus along with several other ships of the U.S. Sixth Fleet. She repeated this service in 1976, this time in Lebanon, during "Operation Fluid Drive".
In 1983, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet.
Post-commission career
Spiegel Grove was decommissioned 2 October 1989 and her name struck from the Navy list on 13 December 1989. The vessel was transferred to the United States Maritime Administration in the James River "mothball" fleet.
In 1998, title passed to the state of Florida, with the plan of sinking the hull to make an artificial reef off Key Largo. To achieve this, the EPA had to increase the acceptable amount of PCB (a toxic chemical substance) remaining in future wrecks from 2 ppm to 50 ppm. On 13 June 2001, the Spiegel Grove was transferred to the State of Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, Largo, Fla., by the Maritime Administration, so that the ship could be sunk as an artificial reefing and to become a tourist attraction for divers.
Sinking for reef
Red tape and financial problems delayed the sinking of USS Spiegel Grove for several years, but the ship was finally moved from Virginia to Florida in May 2002. The total preparation and reefing cost was $1 million. The ship sank prematurely on 17 May 2002. During the planned sinking, volunteer work crews dropped her 12-ton anchors and flooded her ballast tanks with water. But the ex-Spiegel Grove settled too soon and suddenly started rolling to her starboard side, forcing workers to abandon ship - and their equipment. She sank several hours ahead of schedule, ending up upside-down on the sea bottom and leaving her bow protruding slightly out of the ocean and her stern resting on the ocean floor.
On 10â??11 June 2002, at an additional cost of $250,000 dollars, the ship was rolled onto her starboard side by Resolve Marine Group which pumped air into the port side hull tanks to displace at least 2,000 tons of water, used air bags with 350-400 tons of buoyancy, and two tugboats. On 26 June 2002 the wreck was finally opened to recreational divers. In the next week, over a thousand divers visited the site. There were 50,000 dives a year done on the ship during just the first two years.
The ex-Spiegel Grove is located on Dixie Shoal, 6Â miles (10Â km) off the Florida Keys in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
