NMCRS: A Shipmate’s Testimonial

NORFOLK, VA, UNITED STATES

03.20.2018

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Joseph C Boggio  

USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77)

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Joe Boggio, USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) Public Affairs


I’ve donated to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS), but like many other Sailors who donate, I didn’t think much about it. We all hear the stories about Sailors and Marines who must take out a loan to get through difficult times, but these stories are often lost in the haze of “donate this much,” or “our command is trying to raise this much this year.” Like many other Sailors, I mostly forget that I make the monthly allotment that can help others in their time of need. I didn’t think however, about the importance of this fund until I got a letter from the American Red Cross telling me I needed to come home as soon I as could.

My ship was in England at the time, with the end of the 2017 deployment in sight. We made it. We were almost done. We would be home soon. It was the first day of our port stop and I was called into my divisional officer’s office to read what I had feared all of deployment. My father, Roger Boggio, was being placed into hospice care after a short battle against pancreatic cancer. The world slipped away as my breath caught in my chest. How could the man of steel, my own Superman...die? I have little memory of what was said that night, besides my chief telling me I was going home as soon as it could be worked out.

Two days later I was alone on a train to London as I realized that now was not the time for tears or anger at a perceived injustice about his life ending. I thought about the often used expression by people who fight breast cancer, a quote from Bob Marley, “you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice.” With this I pushed forward and eventually made it to back to Norfolk like so many of our crew couldn’t wait to do. I, however, found myself in need of a ticket to Arizona.

I wish it was inexpensive to fly from the world on short notice, but it is not. I had to make it home as soon as I could. Searching for a cheap ticket was not an option, and I began to feel anxious about how I could make it across the country. That first night back I weighed my options, and the next morning I walked into an NMCRS office. I sat in the office, weary from travel, exhausted thinking about the journey still to come, and morose about what waited at the end of it. In those moments I was thankful that this organization exists to assist when called upon. I found myself thankful for an organization I didn’t think much about until I needed it. They printed my flight itinerary and away I went.

I landed a mere couple of hours after my father arrived so that he may die in his own home. We said everything that needed to be said, spoke about the good times, his beliefs in what I would someday become, and his pride as a father. It was a wonderful time. Three weeks later, even before deployment ended, I was there to hold his hand as he went still and turned cold. I no longer had to be strong and finally the tears I had kept in could fall, tears I was thankful to have because I was there at the end of his life.

Without the donations that the NMCRS relies on, I would not have made it back, or perhaps not have made it back so quickly. I donate, and will continue to donate to an organization that many people may not think about until they need it. Even when we are strong, or forcing ourselves to be strong in the difficult times, we can still use a helping hand from one another.

Petty Officer Boggio is currently stationed aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). He was born Sept. 2, 1990 in Tijuana, Mexico as Juan Carlos Torres Baez. Due to poverty, and while still in the womb, his mother and father decided that an international adoption would be the best future for him. A few months after birth, Charles Roger Boggio, better known as Roger, and his partner Philip Alan Schjolberg made him their son. Boggio was raised in Southern California and enlisted into the Navy in January 2014.

• Date Taken: 03.20.2018
• Date Posted: 03.20.2018 09:52
• Story ID: 269944
• Location: NORFOLK, VA, US
• Hometown: DANA POINT, CA, US