NEW ULM — For 22 years, Fritz Busch has worked full-time as a reporter for The Journal and has worked for several other newspapers in his lifetime. However, in addition to his work as a writer, he served over 20 combined years in the United States Navy and Navy Reserves.

Busch was born in Gaylord, Minnesota but attended school throughout the region, attending Junior High in New Ulm and graduating from Fairfax High School in 1974.

During his time in high school, Busch wrote for The Journal as a sports reporter. After high school, he attended Willmar Junior College and Mankato State, studying Mass Communication. He continued to work part-time as a newspaper reporter, working for Willmar’s paper and The Journal.

Busch decided to join the Navy in late 1980, about six years after graduating high school. Busch said his decision to join the service was an economic one. He did not feel the economy was strong and liked the benefits he would receive from serving. In addition, he had not settled down in one place. It felt like a great fit. Busch had several other relatives who served in the Navy. His father did a tour in the Navy as a storekeeper and his uncle was a Navy supply officer.

Upon joining the Navy, Busch attended boot camp in Waukegan, Illinois. Following boot camp, he received orders to serve on the USS Lexington. This was a WWII-era aircraft carrier. The original Lexington sank in 1942, but a new version was constructed and named in honor of the original. The new Lexington would become a training ship in 1969.

“It was training for pilots to get their carrier landings,” Busch said.

He would serve on the Lexington from 1981 to 1985. For most of the time, the Lexington was docked at Pensacola, Florida. The Lexington would eventually be decommissioned in 1991, but the ship would have over a million plane landings. It had the most carrier landings of any ship.

During his time in Lexington, Busch worked in the Education Service Office, typing orders. His experience working in newspapers meant he could type fast. Busch also helped with basic maintenance on the ship. This meant painting, waxing floors and shining brass.

“It was good duty,” Busch said. His favorite part was spending off duty time in Pensacola, which has wonderful amenities, from great food to beautiful beaches.

In 1985, Busch took on a temporary active duty assignment in Japan. For six months he served at Navy Air Wing, US Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni. Busch volunteered for this temporary assignment and enjoyed his stay. During this time he was able to take more college courses through the University of Maryland, Asian Division.

After a stint in Japan, Busch returned to the Lexington, which was now docked in Philadelphia. By 1986, he transferred to shore duty at the naval air station at Whiting Field, in Florida. Again, he was stationed at a pilot training location. His duties were similar to those on the Lexington, but he also helped with payroll and bookkeeping for the Navy. He was also able to attend college courses toward his degree. Busch eventually received an Associate’s Degree in mass communication, a bachelor’s in liberal studies and a degree in business management.

Throughout his time in the regular Navy, he never stopped working as a journalist. While stationed in Florida, he worked part-time at the Pensacola News Journal, covering school board and other features.

Busch served in the reg-ular Navy until the early ’90s. Then he joined the Navy Reserves, still serv-ing in Pensacola. It was at this time the first Gulf War began and Busch was called up and sent to Sau-di Arabia.

Looking back, Busch found it a little ironic that while he was in the regular Navy, he was never sent to a combat zone.

“I go into the Reserves and they send me to war,” Busch said. It was a little surprising, but he saw on the news the rising tension with Iraq and realize the war was a possibility, Still, it came at an inconvenient time for Busch. His daughter, Kathrina, was one-year-old at the time and his wife Marietta was pregnant with their son Andrew.

Busch deployed in De-cember 1990/January 1991 to Saudia Arabia. He was stationed in northern Saudi Arabia, not far from Kuwait.

“We were set up as a fleet hospital,” Busch said.

“We waiting for people to come in from the battle.”

Despite a large number of U.S. Marines in the country, Busch saw few U.S. casualties come into the hospital. Most of the patients he did see were Iraqis.

The conflict was over relatively quickly.

“That thing went like lightning,” Busch said. He was in Saudia Arabia for about three months in total.

One of the most famous images from the conflict was the burning of oil wells. Busch remembers seeing the smoke from these fires. He was several miles away, but the smoke was still visible.

Most of the U.S. armed forces deployed to the Persian Gulf stayed over for six months, but Busch return home earlier because Marietta was due to give birth. He arrived home in time to see his son Andrew born.

Busch would remain in the Reserves for roughly 10 years. During that time he worked as a newspaper reporter in South Dakota and Minnesota. In 1993, he took a job with the Sleepy Eye Herald-Dispatch. He started working for The Journal full-time in 2000, though he still resides in Sleepy Eye.

He retired from the Navy Reserve in January 2006 after nearly 21 years of service to the Navy and Naval Reserve.

Busch initially joined the Navy for the benefits and it was one of the reasons he stayed, but he did enjoy the work. His time in the Navy granted him several opportuni-ties, including meeting his wife Marietta. Busch met his wife through common friends. Marietta is from the Philippines but was serving as a nurse in Qatar. One day she came to Pen-sacola to visit friends and met Busch. The two married in Pensacola in 1987 and have four children Kathrina, Andrew, Kristina and Jessica.

Busch acknowledged that without the Navy he probably would never have met his wife.

Busch’s advice for others thinking of joining the service is to know what kind of training they want. He said there is a lot of training available in the service.

Busch also recommends taking advantage of the benefits. He received significant educational opportunities.