Listen to Your Elders: Ford Sailor Lends a Helping Hand

Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Sarah Mead | Interior Communications Electrician Seaman Ky Keys, from Tahlequah, Oklahoma, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, poses for a photo Oct. 30, 2020. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting carrier qualifications. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Sarah Mead)  

UNITED STATES

11.19.2020

Story by Seaman Apprentice Sarah Mead 

USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)           

Listen to Your Elders: Ford Sailor Lends a Helping Hand
By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Sarah Mead
USS Gerald R. Ford Public Affairs

NORFOLK— Interior Communication Specialist Seaman Ky Keys, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) combat systems department, is one of five shipboard information training and entertainment television directors aboard Ford.
Keys grew up in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He enjoys boxing and his favorite basketball team is the Oklahoma City Thunder. When Keys originally joined the Navy, he wanted to be a Hospital Corpsman to help people. He ended up joining as an interior communication specialist which he says he enjoys because it challenges him.
“Life is what you make of it, I can find other ways to help” said Keys.
Keys considers his community service to be one of his proudest personal achievements. Throughout Keys’ 18 months in the Navy he has completed over 75 hours of community service. He started while he was in A-school in Great Lakes, Illinois. He volunteered at Habitat for Humanity, forest clean-up, homeless shelters, and numerous animal shelters. Some of Keys’ days consisted of 12 hours of helping the homeless 2 –6 days in a row. One of Keys most memorable volunteering opportunities was participating in Honor Flights.
“The opportunity to not only see these skilled pilots fly, but also get to pay respect, as they do what they do best, it’s really something,” said Keys.
According to the Honor Flight website, Honor Flight is a national network of independent hubs working together to honor our nations veterans with an all-expenses paid trip to the memorials in D.C., a trip many of our veterans may not otherwise be able to make. When they fly into the airport, they are greeted by a parade of supporters.
“One moment that I hold onto is when I was working at a homeless shelter, I met a former Navy senior chief,” said Keys. “He didn’t tell me his life story when I told him I was in the Navy, he only gave me some words of wisdom ‘make sure you do the right thing, hard times may fall on you, but as long as you keep your head up you’ll get through it.”
Keys says this taught him his first real lesson in the Navy, which is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. He says he is hoping to get accepted in the Naval Academy to go to school. Keys says Lt. Heather Nearing and Lt. Cmdr. Desiree Frame, two Naval Academy graduates assigned to Ford, have taught him a lot about the Naval Academy and have inspired him to work to become a Naval officer.
“Study and focus on your goals and listen to your elders, they have a lot of wisdom that can save you a lot of hardship,” said Keys when asked for some words of wisdom of his own.

• Date Taken: 11.19.2020
• Date Posted: 11.19.2020 15:03
• Story ID: 383383
• Location: US