Mercer County native and active duty sailor in Navy recalls his experiences

Dec. 23—ATHENS — This Christmas is a special one for Mercer County native Taylor Jordan Bennett, a sailor in the United States Navy, because it's the first one he will spend at home in five years. His previous Christmas holidays were spent on the island of Guam.

Born in Florida, Bennett came to West Virginia when he was a child. He's always claimed the state as his roots.

"I moved up here when I was 6, so Mercer County's always been home to me," Bennett said. "Other than my birth certificate stating otherwise, West Virginia will always be my home."

Living in the Speedway area near Athens, Bennett attended elementary and middle school in Athens, then graduated from PikeView High School — where he played baseball — in 2011.

After graduating from high school, Bennett worked for Dotson Pest Control before moving back to Florida where his father's side of the family has a small chain of hotels in Panama City. He worked for the hotels for two or three years, he recalled.

"And after that, I kind of getting a little tired of that scene and I decided to raise my right hand and join the United States Navy," he said. "I was 25 years old. That was in 2017."

Bennett said his reason for joining the Navy was different from those of most other recruits.

"Well, you know, not to discredit the age generation I'm in, you hear a lot of folks say I joined specifically for the college or the benefits," he said. "I really joined to serve my country; and you still have some people who do that, but a lot of people and from the consensus I gather, is that they joined for the benefits."

"There's some proud guys and gals who joined solely to serve their country, and that's what I did," Bennett said. "I take pride in that when I put my uniform on, so I really just joined to serve; although I have used my tuition assistance and I'm actually a part-time college student right now through the University of Maryland."

Bennett is now an E-5, a Petty Officer 2nd Class, in the Navy. He is a logistics specialist second class.

"We do a wide array of things from procurement of materials whether it be repair parts, tires, we order uniforms," Bennett said. "There's also different units we work at where we procure and order food, MREs (Meals Ready to Eat). We also handle mail for the Navy, which is a huge moral booster especially if you're deployed. Care packages are a big thing."

"We also pay for different services if we're doing a training exercise and you might need a Porta Potty service, stuff like that as well; so it's a very wide, broad job spectrum, being a logistics specialists," he added.

The logistics specialists acquire and distribute the items that Navy personnel need in order to function.

"That's where we come in. There's a saying in the Navy, 'Bullets don't fly without supply,'" Bennett said. "It's such a vital part. We break down into a couple of rates in the Navy. Culinary specialists which supply the food and your retail service specialists which do things like your ship stores in the Navy. They do barbershops and vending and stuff like that, and we're just in a wide position in the Navy to do a multitude of different things."

Bennett is not the first member of his family to serve in the military.

"My grandfather Julian Bennett, he's from Florida. He ended up being an attorney and he served in the JAG Corps in the Army, later down the road he was actually a congressman for Florida," Bennett said. "And then my grandfather here in West Virginia, Ted Kessinger, he was in the Air Force and he was in more like communications and Morse Code stuff. and he was in the Korean War. He served in Japan. He's a native of Athens. We lost him two years ago. He got the Elder Award and the Key to the Town in Athens. He's very well known in the Town of Athens, and we definitely miss him."

Bennett said that the majority of his time in the Navy so far has been on Guam.

"I reported to boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois," he recalled. "That was April 17, 2018. I did two months there, standard boot camp, then I reported to Mississippi for RA school or trade school; and then I went to combat school after that. Both of those were Meridian and Gulf Port, Mississippi, respectively. After that I had small little bit of leave and then I reported to Guam, Oct. 21, 2018."

On Guam, Bennett was a logistics specialist with the Explosive Ordinance Disposal, Mobile Unit Five.

"Those guys they do out and do underwater or on surface, making sure they clear the field for IEDs or mines that are underwater," he said. The work can be dangerous.

"Not so much for the folks who are attached to it, but if they go deploy or go out the door and anything pops off, we're going to be right there with them out there," Bennett said.

Now on leave, Bennett has orders to report to a new post at Virginia Beach.

"I'll be reporting to Explosive Ordinance Disposal Training and Evaluation in Unit 2," he said. " I'll be there in February, so I look forward to that. A big thing for me because my next duty station will be geographically closer to home. Virginia is as close as I can get."

Being in Virginia means having more time with his family.

"I'm excited to get to Virginia and I'm more excited to be spending my first Christmas at home in five years," Bennett said. "It was a humbling experience to be on Guam. A lot of people don't know that that is in fact a U.S. Territory. It's a very important part of our military strategically and location wise for us to be out there and serving out there on Guam."

Bennett said he would encourage other people to consider a career in the military. He did not go straight to college after graduating high school, but he emphasized that education is very important.

"I stand firm believing education is your number one tool in life, but that's not for everybody," he said. "We need people to fry our french fries and change our oil, so no matter what it is, I think there's a purpose in everybody's life to be proud of whatever it is they do. Me personally, I think military service is something I'm extremely proud of."

"As a Navy sailor and a native of West Virginia, I proudly represented West Virginia a lot when I was overseas," Bennett said. "You would be surprised at how many people do know the "Country Roads" song. Whether I was in a karaoke bar on Tinian (island) 8,000 miles away, and Korean people will suggest to play that song or request it. It's just crazy to hear that song. It gets you emotional when you're so far away."

Bennett added that while he was partial to the Navy, he has worked with active duty service members of the Marine Corps as well as the Air Force. People thinking about joining the military can also consider the Army and the Coast Guard.

"And the Space Force," he said. "A lot of people don't realize that the Space Force has kicked off, and that's something. I know some people who have switched from branches to the Space Force and they love it. So I would say for anybody who's interested in joining the military, you could absolutely reach out to me and I could give you some advice maybe about the Navy."

Bennett said he can be contacted on Facebook at Taylor Bennett.

"And my phone number 304-320-4373 and that's going to be my permanent number back here stateside," he said.

There is no local Navy recruiting office in Mercer County. Bennett said he had to travel to the Bridgeport area near Morgantown to speak with a recruiter.

"The reason I want to put my information out is because if somebody is interested, I could maybe try to get them set up with the appropriate person just because there's not somebody physically right here in the tri-Mercer County area," he said.

Bennett explained why he joined the Navy.

"There's just something that interested me about joining the Navy. I think it's a very historic and proud branch," he said. "Like I said, I hang my head high when I put my uniform on that I joined not only the military as a whole, but specifically the Navy. I think it's a very important branch, not to discredit the other branches."

"I'm really a proud sailor of the United Stats Navy," he stated.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com