Fixing the Navy’s finest equipment is no simple task, especially when it’s all done 40 feet beneath the surface of the ocean, with limited visibility, and every weather condition known to man. For the last 34 years John Muns has been fearlessly executing jobs that may seem near impossible for most people to complete. Over the years John has, seemingly effortlessly, lead dive teams to success with his wealth of knowledge and experience of underwater ship’s husbandry. However, it has finally come time for John to pass the torch to the next in line and enjoy his life as a retired, and accomplished, Deep Sea Diver.
John’s career started out in September 1976 when he first joined the Navy as a Boatswain’s Mate. In December of that year he reported to his first duty station, the USS Hull (DD945), in the Philippine’s. He joined the ship for 2 different West Pacific tours before leaving for 2nd class dive school in 1978. From there John met with his ship, the USS Edenton (ATS-1), in Italy and deployed with his crew for 2 Mediterranean cruises.
Shortly after John decided to leave the Navy and return to school at Tidewater Community College. After college he was hired at Norfolk Naval Shipyard and began his vast career as an underwater ship’s husbandry diver. His knowledge and love for the trade was quickly recognized as he began supervising dives in 1985 and leading teams to their ultimate success. For his recognition of being a great supervisor John was given the work leader position in September of 1989. Throughout the years, John worked on almost every team at the dive locker, and was able to train new divers into experts of their own craft. In January 2000 John made work supervisor and was in charge of running his own team. Since then he has been the go-to guy for every job and has been an integral part of almost every job that was, at one time, impossible to complete underwater. Success has been the only option throughout his career and his respected track record is there for the proof.
Throughout the years John had also become a family man. John and Karrie met in March 1981 at a local recreational center and celebrated their wedding on September 11, 1982. John, and his wife, raised a wonderful family of their own. Together, they had two children. The oldest, Corey, was brought into the world on January 30, 1983, and his sister Jessica decided to join them on April, 17 1985. As every family tends to grow, they were no exception to the rule. John and Karrie are also the grandparents of Avelynn who was born on December 12, 2005 and Amura, born March 30, 2015.
Known at the dive locker as “The Godfather of Underwater Ship’s Husbandry”, the time has finally come for Johnny Muns to “Leave Bottom” and “Surface” as a retired Deep Sea Diver on June 1, 2016. Whether you know John from working with him on the dive side, or from the well-known and sought after “salvage training” that he offers his divers to blow off steam, there isn’t too much wrong you could say about the man who has been a pinnacle to bringing husbandry to where it stands today. John has passed on every grain of knowledge he could afford to give, and has left shoes that will be difficult to fill. But after a long, exciting, and very accomplished career the time has finally come for Johnny Muns to “hang up his watches”, and spend his time with his beloved family and reflect back on the great memories made over the decades.