Ted Nitka
Ted Nitka | Navy OCS | Geodetic Survey | “Chasing Subs” | Leadership Lessons
Ted Nitka (Netka) is from Philadelphia and served as a U.S. Navy officer after going through OCS in Newport, Rhode Island. He describes an unusually funny “origin story” for joining—then a very technical sea-heavy tour tied to Cold War operations.
Why he joined (the “track tickets” story)
Ted says he and classmates at Georgetown (Washington, DC) wanted racetrack tickets. The Navy was offering tickets if they took an OCS test. About 50 took it; roughly 20 passed and got the tickets.
The twist: Ted implies that passing the test essentially put them on the Navy’s radar and, after some dodging, they eventually reported to OCS at Newport. He frames it like: “We only wanted the tickets… then the Navy called us in… and we went.”
Training and commissioning
OCS: Newport, Rhode Island
He describes 6–8 months there, “qualified us for sea duty,” and says they “made officers out of us.”
What he did in the Navy
Ted emphasizes that his active time was overwhelmingly at sea and highly technical:
Primary mission: Geodetic survey / sounding lines
He says they spent about 90% of the time at sea
Running geodetic survey and sounding lines (mapping/seafloor measurement work)
Operating mainly in the Atlantic, going north in summer, south in winter
He notes their ship(s) were relatively small (he mentions ~250 ft and later ~220 ft converted minesweeper), and they needed calmer water for the work
Cold War element: “chasing Russian submarines”
He repeatedly says they tracked/chased Russian submarines for years
“We couldn’t touch them… they couldn’t touch us” — not a declared war, but constant readiness
Mentions involvement in the USS Thresher search (he references it as “thresher search,” positioning it as part of their highly technical work)
Equipment / tech
He calls it “brand new Navy stuff,” “high-tech,” and says some equipment came from London / British Navy.
Length of service and rank (as stated)
Ted’s timeline is a bit tangled in the transcript, but here’s what he explicitly claims:
Active duty: ~4 years
Reserves: ~3.5–5 years (he says both; later sums it as 8.5–9 total)
Separation rank: Lieutenant Commander (LCDR)
So, in his own words: roughly 8.5–9 years total service, ending as LCDR.
Why he got out
Ted says the Navy offered him “everything”—even master’s degrees and flight school—and he strongly implies he would have stayed in.
But he frames the decisive factor as marriage:
His (future) wife told him, essentially: “You marry the service or you marry me.”
He repeats the idea that Navy life then “wasn’t for married people,” because of the tempo and social environment.
What the military instilled in him
When asked for the single biggest takeaway, he answers plainly:
“Leadership skills more than anything else.”
He also mentions:
“cleanliness”
structure/discipline of officer life
training that translated directly into civilian work
Family legacy: Navy/Marine aviation thread
Ted says he has three kids and (approximately) 8–10 grandchildren (he corrects himself mid-answer).
He’s proud that his granddaughter attended the Naval Academy and is connected to aviation:
He says she went into the “air portion” of the Navy, didn’t like it, then became a Marine and is (or will be) in flight school (mentions Pensacola).
He repeatedly describes her as “number one” / a top leader at the Academy and references her holding a high leadership role (“running the academy” language).
(Some of that may be his phrasing rather than official titles, but the intent is clear: he sees a strong leadership legacy through her.)
His advice to younger people
Ted’s message is basically:
You have to choose a path and commit: “Do one thing or the other—do it well.”
He believes today’s military provides stronger benefits and opportunity than in his era, and that it can be an excellent deal for young people now—especially for leadership development.