US Navy RHO/RS Retired Affairs

Navy RHO/RS Retired Affairs
CDR Ken L. Groves


Ken and Bethany with oryx shot at White Sands Missile Range, NM

Contact Information:

K. L. "Ken" Groves
HC75 Box 1200
Rutheron, NM 87551
(505)588-9064

ken.groves@ucop.edu    or
sevorgservices@yahoo.com

Accomplishments During Service:

Hospital Corpsman (1960-1968), Honor Man Class 62-25, Naval Hospital, San Diego; active enlisted service at Naval Hospital, Corpus Christi, TX (6/62-2/64) and USS Isle Royale (AD29), Long Beach, CA (2/64-1/66); While HM1 in USNR-R commissioned as ENS MSC (HCA)-(6/ 68)

BA Chemistry University of New Mexico (6/69), MS Health Physics, Texas A&M University (12/70)—recalled to active duty 1/71

"Discovered" increased (unexpected) radiation levels with introduction of new weapon system in Holy Loch that ultimately caused the redesign of all magazines and adjacent spaces in AS (FBM) fleet

Became a "Medical Physicist " and attended (with Jerry Thomas) the two-month Nuclear Medicine Officer Course at NNMC (first RHOs to attend)

Second Director, Radiation Health at Pearl Harbor NSY (relieved CAPT Bob Reed)

Second Director of Training at Naval Nuclear Power Unit (relieved John Duley)

First MSC Director, Radiological Affairs Support Office (RASO)

First RHO to visit the South Pole (classified project)

First Director, Navy Nuclear Weapons Radiological Controls Program Office (NAVSEA)-- evolved into Navy Radiological Controls Program Office after NAVSEA took over RASO function from the CEC in 1982; established NAVSEADET, RASO at NWS, Yorktown, VA in 1983

One of the primary authors of the "PRO-10" manual (Nuclear Weapons Radiological Controls); funded and oversaw the writing of the "RAD-10" manual (Roy Smith at RASO led this effort)

Part of team that transferred all individual NRC Licenses to single Navy License (Tom Bell led this effort)

First RHO deep-selected for O-5 (Jim Spahn told me this); the real accomplishment here was moving from one name junior to Jerry Thomas to three names senior to Jerry on the Lineal List!

Selected as primary MSC candidate to attend Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Ft. McNair, VA (1985)—NAVMAT (remember them) asked Surgeon General to leave me in assignment at NAVSEA for one more year—you buy me the beer and I’ll tell why I didn’t go to ICAF!

Only RHO in my peer group NOT to attend Graduate School while on active duty

RHO assignments included:

Commands	Dates
Naval Sea Systems Command-06N (Director, Navy Radiological Controls Program Office) (LCDR-CDR)	Oct 80 to Oct 86
Naval Energy and Environmental Support Activity (Director, RASO) (LCDR)	Oct 79 to Oct 80
Naval Nuclear Power Unit (Director of Training) (LCDR)	Nov 78 to Oct 79
Naval Shipyard, Pearl Harbor (Director, Radiation Health) (LT-LCDR)	July 75 to Nov 78
Naval Regional Med Center, Great Lakes (Med Physicist/RSO) (LT)	Feb 73 to July 75
USS Canopus (AS34), Holy Loch (RHO/RSO) (LTJG-LT)	April 71 to Feb 73

Awards:

Meritorious Service Medal
Navy Commendation Medal (2)
Navy Unit Commendation
Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
Good Conduct Medal
Naval Reserve Meritorious Achievement Medal
National Defense Medal
Antarctica Service Ribbon
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (member of surgical team moved from NH, Corpus Christi to Camp Pendleton, CA during Cuban missile crisis)
Humanitarian Service Medal (DNA Audit Team--Enewetok Clean-up)
Sea Service Deployment Ribbon
Armed Forces Reserve Medal
Navy Expert Rifle Marksman’s Medal
Navy Expert Pistol Marksman’s Medal

Accomplishments Since Retirement:

October 1986--January 1995: Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, NM); jobs included: Deputy Group Leader (Health Physics); Office Leader, Emergency Management and Response; Program Manager, Radiological Emergency Response; and Project Leader, DOE Human Studies Project.
January 1995--April 2001: University of California, Office of the President, Laboratory Administration Office (Oakland, CA), Deputy Director, Environment, Safety and Health
May 2001--present: UCOP/LAO (Los Alamos, NM); Associate Deputy Director ES&H (45% time)—I failed retirement for the second time!
May 2001--present: President, Sevorg Services; Consultants in ES&H Operations and Training (always looking for those folks that can make me look better!)
My most important accomplishment since retirement: Getting to spend more time with my wife and family, and time to enjoy hunting, fishing and sailing on a more regular basis!

Words of Wisdom:

Friends you make in the Navy are friends for life; honor that for good friends are hard to find!
Never miss an opportunity to learn from your job, your seniors and your juniors; all three will provide something that will serve you well at some point in your career and/or your life.
Enjoy and nurture your hobbies, and your non-Navy endeavors while you are on active duty; one day you’ll wake up, not have to put a uniform on and you’ll need something to do with all that time!
Surround yourself with people smarter than you, harder working than you, better at thinking "out of the box" than you, BUT not better looking than you; then step back and let them make you look even better! I was fortunate enough to be able to do this at NAVSEA; that group included Bob Devine; my first deputy, Bill Flor, my second deputy John Taschner (an ex-USAF Lt Col HP); John Duley (as a civilian), and my most successful ex-RHO (he started as a LTJG as my deputy at NNPU) and is now the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Energy, Rick Jones.
With no disrespect to the retired RHO CAPT community; I think that I was a member of a special group of now retired RHO Commanders who left an indelible mark on our specialty during the years I served on active duty and after. I would be honored to be counted among that group that includes: Bill Murrell, Bill Beckner, Jim Spahn, Tom Bell, Roby Enge, Mike Knight, Joe DeCicco, Bob Devine (Dr. Neutron) and Bob Yacovissi (soon to join the others in a well deserved retirement).