Former SEAL still protecting his country
by Courtesy of "THE COMPASS" bi-monthly publication of NWS Earle
Posted:02/05/10

Monmouth County, NJ - You have to listen carefully to catch every word of this soft-spoken retired Navy Seal. But it's worth the effort, if only for the instant education you can pick up from a retired Master Chief who was an "Explosive Safety Officer in Naval Special Warfare Group One" his entire Navy career.

Meet John W. Horton, former Navy SEAL, former production supervisor and process improvement engineer in his private late after Navy, now Safety Manager and Explosive Safety Officer at NWS Earle.

As such, John oversees all the explosive movements by rail and road, the loading and unloading of ships at the pier, and overseeing all standards of safety with the assistance of five others in his department. He's quick to point out that each of the team has specialties, and all excel at their jobs. As Safety manager, he oversees every safety program on base, ranging from the regular motorcycle safety courses and quality air testing to insuring all Navy and OSHA compliances are met or exceeded.

He loves his position at Earle, one he accepted last November after having been Installation Training Officer here the year previous. But make no mistake about it; it was a tough choice ten years ago when he made the decision to retire from the Navy after 20 years as a SEAL.

"If it weren't for the family, I'd still be in the Navy," he says, with the same soft but powerful voice and conviction. He had a second chance at seeing at least some of his children growing up and the feeling to do so was too strong to resist.

He and his wife have five children, but for most of the growing up years for the first three, John was away on military duties. He didn't get to see Candice, his first-born, until she was three months old. And while you can hear in his voice the void that created, he proudly offers that Candice is now 22, a Temple University graduating and now pursuing her master's degree; son Shawn is 20 and in the Marine Corps, and Joshua, now 19, is studying at a community college in San Diego before heading to San Diego State.

So when Caleb, now 12, and Beth, ten, came along, the Navy Seal let his paternal instincts win out and loves the fact he's with his children every day, can watch them grow up, share in their accomplishments, and attend all the functions important to children. He's been there since Beth was a month old.

He's also mighty proud of his Brooklyn-born wife, who is rapidly becoming a Jersey Girl now that the family lives in Point Pleasant. Jean, he asserts, "has been the cornerstone of my success in the military and post-military career. She has always been there for me."

And just in case you don't believe it, he's ready to give examples. A week after Joshua was born, John was on a training exercise, John deployed six months later. When he was at SEAL Team One and broke his leg in a parachuting accident in California, Jean thought nothing of packing up the three little ones and driving cross-country in a weekend to be at his side. There are a dozen or more stories like that.

After retirement, armed with the business administration degree he had earned in service from Chapman University in Orange County, California, John was production supervisor and Black Belt at York International, a company in Waynesboro, Pa., and then a process improvement engineer at MACK engine assembly plant in Hagerstown MD.

NWS Earle is a special kind of place, he thinks, but in a way wishes it were back to the days when it was larger, more personnel were aboard, and more diverse. "I love this job," he says in that same quick talking mode, "it has enough military to be effective, enough civilians to work with them, and not enough to have a lot of bureaucracy. It's the best of all worlds." There's nothing he would change, he said, once again praising his staff. But again, if he could have his way, "we're a one mission show; I'd like us to have more assets."

There are few, if any, difficulties with the job, this very capable administrator asserts, which could partially be the result of his habit of "calling everybody together to sit at one table. That way, we hear all the issues and can work together."


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