When Peter Stidham looks back on his decades of service, he sees a lifetime that touched nearly every corner of the globe, carried on a proud family tradition and built bonds that still shape his life today.

Stidham, who grew up in Hyden, Kentucky, before moving to Pennsylvania and graduating from Pocono Mountain High School, served in the Navy, Army National Guard and Air Force Reserve. His military journey began in 1969.

“I was in the United States Navy from 1969 to 1973,” Stidham said. “I served a tour of duty in Vietnam in ’72. Then in 1981 I went into the Army National Guard, which was all reserve at the time, and stayed until 1985. In 1989 I went into the Air Force Reserve and was activated for Desert Shield/Desert Storm.”

In the Navy, Stidham worked on machinery and engines. Later, in the National Guard, he was a radio repairman. While serving, he used the GI Bill to pursue an engineering degree at the University of Scranton.

“I was already working on radios as a civilian at The Tobyhanna Army Depot,” Stidham said. “So when I got into the National Guard, it kind of fit right in. I was already trained.”

When he joined the Air Force Reserve, he became a cargo specialist.

“We used to laugh and call ourselves box kickers,” he said. “We loaded and unloaded planes, pushed pallets onto the aircraft and pulled them off when they came back.”

Stidham stayed with the 92nd Aerial Port Squadron until it was decommissioned in 2007.

“I retired from there in ’07 as a chief master sergeant and from my civilian job with the Tobyhanna Army Depot in ’08,” he said.

Enlisting in the Navy meant Stidham would keep his word that he wouldn’t be drafted.

“I swore I’d never get drafted, so I enlisted,” Stidham said. “I picked the Navy because my uncle had been in the Navy. He told me, ‘Pete, you go to all these different places, you get to travel.’ He was right.”

His Navy training began at Great Lakes, Illinois.

“I also went to Engineman A school there,” Stidham said.

For the Air Force, he trained at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Georgia.

“That’s where you learned to drive forklifts, K loaders, and how to load planes,” he added.

His time in the Navy brought him to the Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne, New Jersey, where he served aboard an ammunition ship.

“When we woke up, you could see the Statue of Liberty,” Stidham said. “They told us that if we ever blew up, we’d take half of New York City with us.”

In January 1971, he transferred to a destroyer stationed in Newport, Rhode Island. That ship would take him to Vietnam and eventually on a journey around the world.

“It was actually a trip all the way around the world,” he said. “We left Newport, went through the Panama Canal, stopped in Hawaii, Guam and Subic Bay in the Philippines. After Vietnam we went to Singapore, Pakistan, then down the coast of Africa — Kenya, Mozambique — and back to Newport.”

Stidham also recalled a Mediterranean cruise that brought him to Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece and Malta. His Air Force Reserve service took him to Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, Mildenhall Air Base in England, Ramstein Air Base in Germany and the Azores.

One mission stands out most vividly in his memory.

“We were sent above Haiphong Harbor in North Vietnam. Our mission was to get as close to shore as we could to draw fire,” Stidham said. “That was probably the hairiest one. Another ship was supposed to track where the fire was coming from. We also had times where we got gunfire requests and joined in offensives with the 5-inch guns on the ship.”

Not all of his memories were tense.

“As far as enjoyment, Ramstein, Germany, because my mother was from Germany,” Stidham said. “I just enjoyed the food, the beer, and the atmosphere.”

He said he felt pride throughout his service.

“I was proud to serve my country,” he said. “My father was in World War II. My grandfather was in World War I. We have a family tradition of service, and my father was very proud of me.”

Returning to civilian life wasn’t a major adjustment, Stidham said, since he had worked as a diesel mechanic in between service commitments.

But the habits of military life stayed with him.

“You’re never going to get rid of the military,” he said. “I call people yes, ma’am, yes, sir, respectful. Your mindset is military. I’ve got a job to do, I’m going to do it.”

Even today, small details stick.

“From boot camp, I used to fold my shirts a certain way,” he said. “I still do it that way.”

Stidham remains active in veterans organizations, including the Lehighton American Legion, Nesquehoning VFW and the Vietnam Veterans of Carbon County.

“There’s nothing better than getting with a bunch of vets,” he said. “They know what you went through, and you hear what they went through. It’s a brotherhood.”