Lyn Hack has a history of military service

BY LAURA HEWELL
THE TOCCOA RECORD
      During Lyn Hack’s tours of military service, she was based near Norfolk, Va., which meant her Fourth of July celebrations were pretty much every other American.
    She said she got together with family, friends, and neighbors and enjoyed food and fireworks which is the same plan she has for this upcoming Independence Day on Tuesday, July 4.
     However her late husband, Rick Hack, did some civilian work on bases overseas and according to Lyn those bases went all out with huge celebrations on the Fourth of July.
     “Because we’ve always been involved with the Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Veterans Day celebrations, I think we have demonstrated to our kids and grandkids the importance of celebrating those patriotic things, service of our military, sacrifice of our military, and importance of our country,” Hack said.
   Her involvement continues in the local  Memorial Day and Veterans Day events and her presence is common.
    Hack is a retired Navy Reservist who served on six years of active duty and 14 years in the reserves.
     Her father and uncle both served four years in the Navy prior to Hack joining the service.
     Hack went into service with a bachelor’s degree of science so that allowed her to bypass the traditional basic training experienced by enlisted recruits.
     She went through a four-month officers course which also entailed physical training to learn how to become an officer in the Navy.
    After completing that training, she started her job as a naval training officer for the A-6 bombers which are no longer in service.
    That position consisted of training pilots and the maintenance crews before they went to their active duty post.
      She served in that position for three of her six years before transitioning to the SeaSprite helicopter training squadron for her last three years.
     The SeaSprite squadron consisted of the same type of job Hack did with the A-6.
     During her time in the squadron, she spent two years creating the flight schedules for the aircrafts.
      She retired as an O5 commander and spent her 14 years in the reserves under Commander Atlantic Fleet Training which was usually held by an admiral.
      Her responsibilities during that time were making sure that the ship on board fire fighting school and ship on board damage control school ran smoothly.
    The damage control school was to teach sailors what to do if the ship gets hit.
     “It was just stuff I was given so it was an area of life I kinda got to learn about and come to appreciate who they are and what they do,” Hack said.