Ingenuity, camaraderie keeps 20-year Naval career underway

SEELEY LAKE – Looking back over his 20 years in the U.S. Navy, Bryce Smith said, "It's such a beautiful collage. There were people from every walk of life and every corner of this country that were just amazing to have spent a piece of my life with."

Fueled by an early fascination with aviation and especially the Navy's F-14 Tomcat fighter jets, Smith entered the Navy's Delayed Entry Program while still a senior in high school. Upon graduation in 1998, he fulfilled his promise to enlist in the U.S. Navy.

Smith started as an Aviation Structural Mechanic (AM) with a specialization in egress syst...