Byron Croker
National Undersea Research Center
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Diving Specialist
dvmstrbyron@juno.com

Introduced to the water early in my life, I learned to swim in sunny San Diego, California, when I was six months old. As the years passed I spent lots of time on and in the water; boating, skiing, and swimming. When I was twelve, I earned my first diving certification through a little dive shop in Gainesville, Florida. This was one of my most memorable experiences and something that has stayed with me throughout
my life.

My professional experience began after high school graduation. I enlisted in the United States Navy as a nuclear propulsion plant operator and electronics technician. Completing the most demanding enlisted military training pipeline, I went to work on the USS San Juan (SSN-751). I continued to expand my knowledge of electronics and electrical systems while in the Navy and gained extensive experience in shipboard operating systems, which helps me today as a contributing member of the Aquarius crew.

After the Navy, I worked for Avery Dennison in Framingham, Massachusetts as an industrial maintenance technician and attended classes at Framingham State College. While living in Massachusetts I earned my dive master certification with Mass Diving and expanded my diving experiences to New England waters. I missed life on the ocean so I decided to move to Wilmington, North Carolina where I enrolled in the Marine Technology program at Cape Fear Community College. During my time at Cape Fear I volunteered with the engineering department at the school and we built a manned submersible to study pelagic (open water) fish. After two semesters at Cape Fear I learned about a job opening for an electronics technician at UNCW's National Undersea Research Center, working on the Aquarius project. I applied and got the job! I work with an elite group of people here in Key Largo who enjoy working above and below the water.

With the 2002 mission season coming to an end I look forward to my fourth saturation mission. This season has brought unique challenges that have helped us develop and exercise our skills as the only true undersea habitat technicians currently working on an operational platform in the world. This field of work includes great responsibility and we take tremendous pride in our accomplishments - accomplishments that only come with dedication and love for the work. Dr. Mark Patterson, our current mission PI, has prior saturation experience with the program and a good reputation here. It will be my pleasure to assist his team in their endeavors. I'm sure that there will be new challenges to help Dr. Patterson meet his mission objectives.

The Aquarius team has lost and will be losing (to new jobs and new adventures) a few good friends and hard workers by the end of this mission season. I would like to take this opportunity to tell them good luck in their future endeavors, thank them for their contributions to the program, and wish them fair weather and following seas for the rest of their days. They will be missed.