Our Military Community

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Hey. Hello, everyone.

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Jerry, to have it with you on another
edition of our military community.

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Got a great program going today.

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A lot of things that you don't even know
about a special place out on the beach.

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It's called Man in the Sea Museum.

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Got three individuals with me today
that hopefully I can keep track

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of all of these guys and gals.

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But I want to introduce them,
first of all.

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And let's just start down here.

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We got Steven Grier,
who's a DC eight project manager.

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Noticed
I got that right, NSW, see Panama City.

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And then we got Steve Moore on.

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He's the executive director
and of course Jean McDougal.

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Over here
she is board member and event coordinator.

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And you do a lot of diving.

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We're going to talk about that
in just a minute.

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But let's to set this all up.

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First of all, Steven
just gives your background, please.

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Long story short,
I've lived here in Bay County since 2000.

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I retired from the Navy experimental

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diving as a chief
electrician sat diver in 2012.

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I've raised four girls in the community
and just this is home.

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So then you're giving back in the man
of the house blessed to your back?

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Yeah. Steve,

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retired master diver,

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been in Panama City off
and on for about 20 years.

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Love this place.

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It's the home of the military diver.

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And I've been with the museum
now for about three years

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and I've been the executive director
for about a year and a half.

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Good deal, Jean.

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You're you're actually you're
you're on the board.

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And thank you for coming in today,
but you're also the event coordinator.

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What got you interested
in being in part of the man of the sea?

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Because you.

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Well, for lack of better words,
I was roped into it.

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Okay.

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And actually, somebody told me one time
that I should be involved.

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They thought I could throw a really good
party and I didn't want to do it.

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And then I went in and I saw it
and I saw what it was about.

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And I said, I have to be a part of this.

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This is
this is something to treasure forever.

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And so then I threw a really big party.

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We made a lot of money,
and I'm good five years later.

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Good deal.

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And that's what we needed.

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We need and
and it's going for a good cause.

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Steve, give me a little history
on this museum Now.

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A lot of people,

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they've heard of Man in the Sea Museum,
but they say, yeah, well,

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it's the same old stuff
sitting outside and everything.

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They just don't realize
it's changed inside a whole lot.

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It's changed. It's changed a lot.

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A lot of people don't know that
that Panama City,

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this little base here, is
is really the home of saturation diving.

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And it's just sea lab

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One started here in Bay County and Sea Lab
one is sitting in the parking lot.

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That was the first time ever in history
that that men were able

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to live under water
there 186 feet off the coast of Bermuda

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for about 11 days.

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So so saturation
diving plays a key role in the museum.

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The founders of the museum were the sea
lab individuals who went from sea lab.

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And then because of that program,
all the offshore oil,

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everything right, stemmed from that.

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So they had a little bit of money
and they got together

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and they started this museum
or 40, 41 years ago.

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And it's just continued to grow.

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But what we're really focused on
is all military diving and the role

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that Bay County has played
with with military divers.

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A lot of people don't know that
the only dive school

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that the military has for any
branch is right here, Panama City Beach.

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Right.

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And and, Steve, you were a master diver.

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You know a lot about the diving
and everything.

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What a lot of people don't realize
is they say diving.

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That means it's Navy people.

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It's not I'm a little Air Force guy.

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There's actually Air Force
people get involved in this, too.

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Yeah.

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As the other state had mentioned,
you know, here in Bay County,

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every service goes through
dive school here now.

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And that's what we try to focus on at
the museum as well, try to tell the story.

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Obviously, like you
mentioned, it's a little heavy navy,

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but yeah, the Army Army has their divers.

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They have special forces divers

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and hardhat divers, Coast
Guard, as are that divers, Air Force,

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even though we don't want to admit it,
they have divers.

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Right. So

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and Marine combat divers.

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I mean, we're just we're proud

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that we want every community
to be part of our museum.

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And we've been striving
to get to that point.

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And one thing I want to get in before
I forget, you actually had the pleasure

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of doing some stuff with the space shuttle
crews, the astronauts.

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Well, I did in my previous job
before I started with the museum,

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I did have some time to dive in Houston
at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.

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Got some a funny story real quick.

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One of

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Sunita Williams, one of the astronauts
did a couple of space shuttle missions.

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We were actually on a ship together
way back in the day,

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so I got to see her again and talk to her.

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But of course I was in

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Beam three and she was a lieutenant.

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We didn't hang out too much
back in the day, but she still had.

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And she realized
you had an important job to do, too.

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So the military history is so big on this.

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And, you know, as a board member,
what do you see

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as probably one of the biggest challenges
in getting the word out

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to this community,
what this museum actually means

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to the community and

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really just helping them to know
that they can come in

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and there's something for everybody
they're

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being able to bring people

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their events that we have.

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These guys have done a phenomenal
job, right?

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I mean, they have brought
they have resurrected this museum.

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And so there's constantly new things,

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new displays
that they're doing, all kinds of stuff.

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So it's not just some old stuff in there.

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They're constantly bringing out
new things, unclassified stuff

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They we have a new wall with
that seems like cool.

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That's easy, right?

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So a lot of good fun things
and being involved in raising money

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just to keep it alive. Well, and that's
what's so good about it.

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And that's why,
you know, volunteers are so important.

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It's it's what keeps things going
and especially something like this,

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which are nonprofit.
So you need the money.

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And we'll talk about that
a little bit later.

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But where do you get these artifacts from
anyway?

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I mean, people can go out there
and they can see they can spend

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more than a day going through that.

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I mean, you have artifacts upon artifact.
Where do they come from?

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We're really blessed.

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We've we've got a just a lot of it
comes locally.

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So many military divers retired
in this area.

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We just had a
the helmet from from the Washington

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DC first dive school ever the helmet

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from that from from that building
just happened to show up on our doorstep.

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We're getting ready to

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do a new display of all the different
dive schools, but it's all private donors.

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And, you know, it's
just it's such a nice responsibility

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and it's a privilege to be trusted
with this, with this material.

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Yeah.

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And I would imagine when you have people
come out there and visit this museum,

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when you see the look on some of these,
not only the

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the older people that come in, but
the kids that come in there and total law,

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how does that make you feel that
you're actually showing them some history?

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Well, it makes us feel great.

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Of course, we get a lot of people.

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We ask them how they heard
about the museum and they'll say,

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I was just driving by or I've driven by it
a million times and never stopped.

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Right.

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So they're stopping and they're they're
pretty much in awe of I didn't realize all

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this was in here, you know, And then we
we try to keep interactive with the kids.

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I mean, because, you know, granted,
the kids are happy.

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The parents are happy, Right?

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So there's some hands on stuff.

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Kids can turn an old dive pump
that's 120 years old.

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There's a couple of dive helmets
they can try on.

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We got a scavenger hunt
with prizes for them.

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So they they're learning
and not really knowing it.

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Yeah.

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By the way, what is that
we have sitting here on the set?

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So that is a mark five diving helmet
originally commissioned

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by the Navy in 1915 and dove by the Navy
up to the mid eighties.

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Wow. It's kind of the staple
when people think of military diving.

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That helmet like that was start.

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It was being used in the late 1800s,
like about 1870.

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They started using those helmets
and the Navy started using different ones.

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And like I was leaning towards in 1915,
they wanted to have one helmet

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that all the divers throughout the fleet
had so they can change out the parts.

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They knew how to do certain things.

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So that was the Mark five helmet
and you get the history like this

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and you also got some of the more modern
stuff.

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People don't realize that that right
there, that's £50 of weight right there.

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Yeah, the whole suit is £190

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with the weight belt
and boots and suit and everything. So

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before we get into some pictures
and things, we'll get to those.

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Just a second.

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But you're a diver.

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You do a lot of diving and everything.
I do.

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What are the reefs like that
these guys are working with?

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Make sure that they're available
for people

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they know about them in the outdoor.

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What what does that do for?

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Reefs have changed
quite a bit and I personally think it's

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from the hurricane I did last time I dove.

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There's kind of sand silt down
there, right?

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It's not as active and live and vibrant

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as I remember it before the storm.

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But you know what it has a way of

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being able to fix itself in some ways.

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And then, of course,

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while we're down there,
I'm trying to clean the lionfish

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because the lionfish are so invasive
and killing everything on the reef.

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Right. Plus, they taste good and it's fun.

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So, I mean, as far as

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the reefs out here, we do have beautiful,
beautiful reefs right.

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But I think that with what they do,

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they probably try to stay away
from the reefs to keep them healthy.

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Yeah, Yeah.

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But if people have questions about you
guys can answer them.

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Of course, we're actually
we're in partnership with Noa right now

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and they're working on a reef restoration
project out here in the Gulf.

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And we're going to actually
that was kind of a surprise

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I hadn't told anybody about,
but we're going to have a display

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in the next six months based on that
and what's going on,

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because the Navy's been helping them with
that as well.

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They're going as far as almost 500 feet
and we're raising coral

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and things of that nature.

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And that's what the good thing
is, is a lot of people like you said

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when we first started to drive by
and see our Man of the Sea Museum,

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I see a bunch of things that look like
they should be in the water out there.

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But this brings it all into focus on

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actually what's going on at that museum
and the history and everything behind it.

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And I know we got a bunch of pictures
loaded up here.

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Let's just go ahead, start rolling them

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and let you guys talk about those
as they come up.

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So there's the first one. What do we got?

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Well, we got Sea Lab one.

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They're sea lab one's
getting ready to be 60 years old.

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We're having a great anniversary
next year.

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That was Here's why it's so important.

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It was built here in Panama City.

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Like Steve was alluding to this
the start of saturation diving

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and now that's at the museum.

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People can walk through it and see what
it was like for those aquanauts to live.

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And we're going to talk
a little bit more about that.

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But let's go to the next one here,
see what we got.

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I mean, this is this is stuff
you could actually see out there.

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Yeah, This is when they got done
with Sea Lab one.

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They brought it back to Panama City and
it sat in the Gulf of Mexico by stage two.

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I know it's a great diving spot
for a lot of people.

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It's sat there for ten years.

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And this is this is right
after they brought it back up.

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Did you ever dive in that spot, Gene?

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What's it like?

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My dad actually did.

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He had a pretty funny story.

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Mainly my dad.

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Not as much, Leon, but yes,
we do like a good deal.

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All right, let's go on to the next pitch.

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We got to We've got a ton of pictures.
Yeah.

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I want to get into a much as we can,
a little a little bit older picture

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from when Sea Lab
was first out there at the museum

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and some of the sleeves
that we have out there, you know,

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go on. Yeah, keep going.

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Just kind of showing

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once again.

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See, Lab

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sat on the bottom of the ocean, so before
they can open up the interior of it,

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some of our prior board members
spent a lot of time

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going through all that rust
and redoing the decks and everything.

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We were
glad that was accomplished in 2016.

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They recommissioned Sea Lab,
as you see there.

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That's when it was open to the public
to go inside.

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We were honored to have Bob Bath there
at the time.

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He was he was the only aquanaut to dive
all three sea labs there.

00;12;48;30 - 00;12;50;04
And the man in the corner right

00;12;50;04 - 00;12;54;11
with the brown suit on Culpeper, he was
actually the engineer who built that.

00;12;54;40 - 00;12;57;38
And what people didn't know
is that never been done.

00;12;57;38 - 00;12;58;48
So most of the parts for Sea Lab

00;12;58;48 - 00;13;01;54
came from this really high
end store called Sears or Sears Roebuck.

00;13;02;46 - 00;13;05;44
But before that cold pepper was
it was a young engineer who

00;13;05;44 - 00;13;07;08
who actually designed that system.

00;13;07;08 - 00;13;09;07
And even to the end,

00;13;09;07 - 00;13;12;08
you start talking about that system,
that man, he knew it every right.

00;13;12;46 - 00;13;16;40
And before we go on to another picture,
I want to get this in real quick.

00;13;17;09 - 00;13;21;30
There's a gentleman here in town
that actually Jim McCarthy. Yes.

00;13;21;33 - 00;13;23;03
Made a real important

00;13;24;01 - 00;13;24;42
invention.

00;13;24;42 - 00;13;28;27
And you guys talk about that at the museum
and expand on that just a little bit.

00;13;28;59 - 00;13;30;15
He design is funny.

00;13;30;15 - 00;13;33;15
He went from Polaris
missiles to the Sea Lab program.

00;13;33;25 - 00;13;34;28
So he'll be the first to tell you

00;13;34;28 - 00;13;38;31
he doesn't know much about diving,
which is he's brilliant.

00;13;38;44 - 00;13;40;23
He was far more than me. Right.

00;13;40;23 - 00;13;43;30
But he he was the engineer
who designed the ocean simulation facility

00;13;43;30 - 00;13;48;55
over at the Experimental Dive Unit
here on in SWC in Panama City Beach.

00;13;48;55 - 00;13;52;04
And it's the world's largest,
deepest hyperbaric facility.

00;13;52;42 - 00;13;57;44
Let's get to 2250 feet and the wet
part of it, he holds 55,000 gallons.

00;13;57;44 - 00;14;00;06
It's it's amazing.
And it's actually saved lives.

00;14;00;06 - 00;14;03;42
I had to get that in about Jim,
because I know Jim and he has made

00;14;03;42 - 00;14;06;42
such an important contribution
to the world in diving

00;14;06;49 - 00;14;08;10
that I'm glad you guys put it out there.

00;14;08;10 - 00;14;10;07
Okay, let's go.
We got pictures. Pictures, folks.

00;14;10;07 - 00;14;10;39
Let's go ahead.

00;14;10;39 - 00;14;13;50
And Jim's been a board
member of the museum for the whole time.

00;14;14;08 - 00;14;18;03
He it you see the interior of sea lab
right there.

00;14;18;47 - 00;14;22;13
That's Jim McCarthy's
love love of the museum

00;14;22;13 - 00;14;25;35
and and his hard work
and Craig Cooper before.

00;14;25;35 - 00;14;28;11
And they really did that for Bob Barth.

00;14;28;11 - 00;14;31;11
So Bob could go back up there,
see how it was,

00;14;31;45 - 00;14;34;11
where we're honored to display.

00;14;34;11 - 00;14;38;15
Obviously, that picture was taken
right after Sea Lab was painted.

00;14;38;55 - 00;14;41;55
The sun does a lot of wear and tear
and back to being a nonprofit,

00;14;42;09 - 00;14;45;23
we've been able to do some fundraising and
and different grants.

00;14;45;54 - 00;14;49;28
The Saint Saint Joe
Community Foundation has been great to us,

00;14;49;46 - 00;14;52;46
but we're painting Sea Lab next week
and we're excited about it.

00;14;52;46 - 00;14;56;09
One thing about that, too, is we have
that picture on the interior there.

00;14;56;41 - 00;14;59;12
People don't realize it,
but there is actually

00;14;59;12 - 00;15;01;51
a good amount of room
in there to be underwater.

00;15;01;51 - 00;15;03;51
I mean, it wasn't
it wasn't like a little two

00;15;03;51 - 00;15;06;51
by two square that you had to sit in
and they had bunks in it and everything.

00;15;06;57 - 00;15;08;25
But that was our first.

00;15;08;25 - 00;15;08;41
Right.

00;15;08;41 - 00;15;11;41
And it's they've, they've reduced the size
greatly.

00;15;11;50 - 00;15;14;32
Right. Right. It's not like that now.

00;15;14;32 - 00;15;16;55
But but again,
that's, that's more history that

00;15;18;02 - 00;15;19;32
you get out there folks.

00;15;19;32 - 00;15;20;13
Then look at these

00;15;20;13 - 00;15;23;20
what these guys have out here and they're
available to talk to any time out there.

00;15;24;16 - 00;15;27;16
This is this is kind of a picture
just reminding us

00;15;27;32 - 00;15;30;57
this picture is about 20 years old
and kind of give you a feeling

00;15;30;57 - 00;15;33;57
of why people drove by the museum a lot.

00;15;34;06 - 00;15;36;42
It almost looks like an old dynamo.

00;15;36;42 - 00;15;39;42
We've been working hard on the landscape
and we painted the building

00;15;40;22 - 00;15;45;08
some of the stuff outside was just
kind of unsafe because of its foundation.

00;15;45;08 - 00;15;46;55
It was sitting on and and stuff.

00;15;46;55 - 00;15;51;56
So we've rearranged some of the where
some of the items sit and everything, but

00;15;53;13 - 00;15;55;21
we can go on. Yeah.

00;15;55;21 - 00;15;59;07
Here's our grand reopening
that we had two years ago.

00;15;59;07 - 00;16;01;10
The museum had been
kind of shut down for a bit.

00;16;02;49 - 00;16;06;28
But, you know, the support
from the community has always been great.

00;16;06;28 - 00;16;11;20
Both, both Bay County Chamber
and the Panama City Beach Chamber.

00;16;11;34 - 00;16;12;53
Panama City

00;16;12;53 - 00;16;15;58
itself has been great and helping us
when we hold events and everything,

00;16;16;40 - 00;16;19;47
then you're going to you're going to have
a special anniversary that's coming up.

00;16;19;47 - 00;16;22;46
Now, tell us about this for that
sea lab out there.

00;16;22;55 - 00;16;26;06
So Sea Lab, as I mentioned, 1964,

00;16;26;17 - 00;16;29;20
July 20th, is when they divers
launched down there.

00;16;29;51 - 00;16;35;22
So this coming July in 2024,
we're going to have the 60th anniversary.

00;16;35;36 - 00;16;38;02
We're going to have a couple of big
celebrations.

00;16;38;02 - 00;16;39;46
We're
going to celebrate the sea lab program.

00;16;39;46 - 00;16;41;34
But we haven't really talked about
is there.

00;16;41;34 - 00;16;43;18
There were three of them, Total

00;16;43;18 - 00;16;46;18
Sea Lab, two and three
wanted up off the coast of California.

00;16;46;38 - 00;16;49;14
But the guys did
a lot of training here in Panama City.

00;16;49;14 - 00;16;52;11
They do a lot of pre dives and things.

00;16;52;11 - 00;16;55;05
Dove on Sea Lab one again
just to get their their foot.

00;16;55;05 - 00;16;58;17
They're feeding about them
for being in a hyperbaric chamber.

00;16;58;44 - 00;17;01;59
And we're going to celebrate all that.

00;17;01;59 - 00;17;06;23
We got a big banquet
planned for Friday, July 19th

00;17;06;23 - 00;17;10;37
and then Saturday,
July 20th will be at the museum itself.

00;17;11;09 - 00;17;14;20
And speaking of that, before we go
in a little further on that gene,

00;17;14;41 - 00;17;16;29
you know,
you got big celebration coming up.

00;17;16;29 - 00;17;17;41
You're the event coordinator.

00;17;17;41 - 00;17;19;29
What do you plan on doing for this now?

00;17;19;29 - 00;17;22;07
Well, I put you on the spot.

00;17;22;07 - 00;17;24;37
It's a little guilty on this.

00;17;24;37 - 00;17;26;35
Like I said, these guys have really

00;17;27;35 - 00;17;29;21
taken the reins and run really,

00;17;29;21 - 00;17;33;00
really well with it that I asked them,
what do you want me to do?

00;17;33;58 - 00;17;38;24
And because we did switch
from a very large oyster bash,

00;17;38;42 - 00;17;40;30
which we just can't make the money
anymore,

00;17;40;30 - 00;17;41;54
you know, the oysters are too expensive.

00;17;41;54 - 00;17;45;59
So we had to come up with new ideas,
different things.

00;17;45;59 - 00;17;48;59
And then these guys
had just picked up and run with it. So

00;17;50;01 - 00;17;53;55
I might make them event coordinator
and just stick with board member.

00;17;53;55 - 00;17;56;50
Wait a minute.
These guys got enough to do?

00;17;56;50 - 00;17;59;21
Yeah, no, I have that now. Of course.

00;17;59;21 - 00;18;02;25
Jean McDougall, she sells

00;18;02;32 - 00;18;05;10
tickets or gets the free beer.

00;18;05;10 - 00;18;05;51
Right.

00;18;05;51 - 00;18;08;51
We got some more pictures there we want at

00;18;09;34 - 00;18;12;05
There you go here.We

00;18;12;05 - 00;18;15;16
last year we celebrated the museum's 40th
anniversary.

00;18;15;27 - 00;18;16;58
We had a great kids day out there.

00;18;16;58 - 00;18;19;28
You can see our mascot, Sharkey.

00;18;19;28 - 00;18;22;13
The governor
even recognized us for our anniversary.

00;18;23;50 - 00;18;26;30
You know,
once again, it's all about the community

00;18;26;30 - 00;18;29;30
and giving back and letting them know
that we're part of it.

00;18;29;52 - 00;18;32;57
Back beach roads so busy now
and we get so many.

00;18;33;20 - 00;18;37;25
We've tripled the number of visitors
that we've had in the past three years.

00;18;37;25 - 00;18;41;01
So this year we're on goal
for 8000 visitors for the year

00;18;41;01 - 00;18;44;22
and that's pretty good for the way
you guys are trying to develop and grow.

00;18;44;22 - 00;18;45;30
So that's pretty good.

00;18;45;30 - 00;18;49;12
One thing you have to think about
is with all that congestion

00;18;49;12 - 00;18;52;11
and everything going out there
now, maybe the sign a little higher

00;18;53;02 - 00;18;53;54
go on with it.

00;18;53;54 - 00;18;55;56
We think, no, definitely

00;18;55;56 - 00;18;59;12
light it up or have Jean out there
waving the flag or there you go.

00;18;59;55 - 00;19;02;14
You know, once again,
it's all about the community.

00;19;02;14 - 00;19;03;55
We've been part of the master diver union.

00;19;03;55 - 00;19;05;57
That happens every two years out here.

00;19;05;57 - 00;19;06;58
We're getting ready to have that.

00;19;06;58 - 00;19;09;10
And may that Cajun place

00;19;10;09 - 00;19;11;15
Angry Tuna.

00;19;11;15 - 00;19;11;53
There's been so

00;19;11;53 - 00;19;15;20
many restaurants that have supported us
with a little fundraiser that we have.

00;19;15;40 - 00;19;18;40
You know,
we've been at different concerts,

00;19;19;14 - 00;19;20;33
doing fundraising events.

00;19;20;33 - 00;19;24;36
So but that's what you have to do
and that's the way that you get out

00;19;24;36 - 00;19;27;50
and make this community aware
of what's actually going on out there.

00;19;28;15 - 00;19;31;44
And one of the things that we've seen in
quite a few pictures right now, but

00;19;32;38 - 00;19;34;43
I want to talk about

00;19;34;43 - 00;19;36;40
the tours that you have out there.

00;19;36;40 - 00;19;40;34
People can actually call and schedule
a tour of the group tours if they want to.

00;19;40;54 - 00;19;41;50
We do.

00;19;41;50 - 00;19;44;31
We have a lot of school groups come out.

00;19;44;31 - 00;19;49;12
We definitely like those plan because
we can have 100 people a day sometimes.

00;19;49;18 - 00;19;52;14
And if a group of 40 kids came in,

00;19;52;14 - 00;19;54;09
you know,
if we can plan that on one of the days

00;19;54;09 - 00;19;57;12
we're closed or,
you know, prior to opening a little bit,

00;19;57;12 - 00;20;00;12
we can definitely make the experience
a lot better for them.

00;20;00;30 - 00;20;03;06
But once again,
we have scavenger hunts that we can do.

00;20;03;06 - 00;20;06;31
We have little documentaries
that introduce them to see lab

00;20;06;31 - 00;20;09;42
and diving and then you know
that hands on experience.

00;20;09;42 - 00;20;13;28
When the kids try on a dive helmet,
they are taking picture

00;20;13;28 - 00;20;14;46
because they all have cell phones now,

00;20;14;46 - 00;20;18;38
but they're taking a ton of pictures,
just smiles from ear to ear.

00;20;18;56 - 00;20;22;44
You take them in, see lab and show them
and I'll make them learn

00;20;22;44 - 00;20;24;57
even though they don't realize
they're doing it. Yeah.

00;20;24;57 - 00;20;29;34
And one thing I noticed out there, too, is
you actually have a room where

00;20;30;03 - 00;20;33;46
if the kids are small, like four or five,
six year old, they can sit there,

00;20;33;46 - 00;20;35;27
they can color pictures
if they want to see.

00;20;35;27 - 00;20;39;31
You've got something for the little ones,
you got something for the larger ones

00;20;39;31 - 00;20;39;47
with.

00;20;39;47 - 00;20;42;11
And it's all and the interactive part.

00;20;42;11 - 00;20;43;12
Talk about that.

00;20;43;12 - 00;20;45;58
You do have some interactive stuff
where they can push buttons and things

00;20;45;58 - 00;20;46;35
like that.

00;20;46;35 - 00;20;51;18
What we do, once again,
being being able to turn a dive pump

00;20;51;18 - 00;20;54;30
that's 120 years old
and it still spins it right out air

00;20;54;46 - 00;20;57;41
and realizing that back in the day

00;20;57;41 - 00;21;01;10
somebody had to turn that pump
so the diver didn't drowned.

00;21;01;17 - 00;21;05;34
You know, it's that air for them to do
that, to try on their helmets and stuff

00;21;06;37 - 00;21;07;43
through some of our grants.

00;21;07;43 - 00;21;09;57
We're growing in the interactive phase.

00;21;09;57 - 00;21;13;49
We got some touch screen monitors coming
right where they can choose

00;21;13;49 - 00;21;17;28
through different categories
and learn different things.

00;21;18;02 - 00;21;19;39
But that part, we're still kind of

00;21;19;39 - 00;21;22;48
growing on a little bit
as far as some of the electronics.

00;21;23;44 - 00;21;26;44
You know, we kind of live in a in a day
where

00;21;27;29 - 00;21;30;07
you got about 2 minutes of somebody's
attention.

00;21;30;07 - 00;21;30;34
Right.

00;21;30;34 - 00;21;33;34
A little video or a little 30 seconds that

00;21;34;28 - 00;21;37;54
kind of attracts them and makes them learn
without really knowing they're learning.

00;21;37;54 - 00;21;39;06
And the thing about it now,

00;21;39;06 - 00;21;42;06
it's it's no longer
where you have a bunch of tables set up

00;21;42;17 - 00;21;46;18
where you look at a big display
and you got a 40 foot

00;21;46;18 - 00;21;47;51
long table,
you got all these items sitting there.

00;21;47;51 - 00;21;51;18
You've actually built racks and cabinets
and things like that.

00;21;51;40 - 00;21;54;31
Yeah, it's
only a 5000 square foot building.

00;21;54;31 - 00;21;56;49
And of course
we have a lot of stuff outside,

00;21;56;49 - 00;21;59;40
but we have a lot of stuff inside
that needs to be displayed. So

00;22;00;49 - 00;22;02;29
getting better at

00;22;02;29 - 00;22;06;03
how it's displayed
and and telling the story.

00;22;06;41 - 00;22;09;59
Once again,
Jeanne alluded to the some of the secret

00;22;09;59 - 00;22;11;59
diving that happened after Sea Lab.

00;22;11;59 - 00;22;15;08
We've been able to get hold of a piece
of a Russian missile,

00;22;15;12 - 00;22;18;24
a piece of the K 129 submarine
that went missing.

00;22;18;24 - 00;22;19;52
It was a Russian submarine.

00;22;19;52 - 00;22;22;14
I mean, these these pieces are priceless.

00;22;22;14 - 00;22;22;29
All right.

00;22;22;29 - 00;22;26;08
And and it's all documented,
which a lot of people don't realize that

00;22;26;08 - 00;22;29;42
you're not putting up anything out there
that you can't prove that that's exactly

00;22;29;42 - 00;22;32;10
what's there. Right? Right.

00;22;32;10 - 00;22;32;33
Yeah.

00;22;32;33 - 00;22;35;33
Diving wise, I'm going to give him a break
because he mind.

00;22;35;58 - 00;22;38;58
But as far as diving,

00;22;39;09 - 00;22;44;14
what is probably the most excitable thing
about actually seeing

00;22;44;14 - 00;22;46;31
what's in the museum
and then getting out there in the water

00;22;46;31 - 00;22;49;34
and actually diving and listening
and thinking about what these guys are

00;22;49;34 - 00;22;50;17
telling you about?

00;22;51;15 - 00;22;52;07
Well,

00;22;52;07 - 00;22;54;42
these guys do a lot deeper dive, right?

00;22;54;42 - 00;22;59;56
And so I can only imagine
that the sea life that now is down

00;22;59;56 - 00;23;01;54
there is a lot bigger.

00;23;01;54 - 00;23;05;24
And I think that would be probably
one of the biggest differences

00;23;05;48 - 00;23;09;35
that they see some things that we don't
typically see as much on shore.

00;23;09;59 - 00;23;12;59
Now, if you're lucky,
you might here and there,

00;23;13;58 - 00;23;17;14
but yeah, pretty much the sea life,
I think that's that.

00;23;18;07 - 00;23;20;00
You still dive today, don't you?

00;23;20;00 - 00;23;20;56
I do not.

00;23;20;56 - 00;23;23;06
You don't?
I thought you did. I do not know.

00;23;23;06 - 00;23;26;29
A bathtub in the bathtub in the pool.

00;23;26;30 - 00;23;27;42
That's about it.

00;23;27;42 - 00;23;28;34
Called the bottom a boat.

00;23;28;34 - 00;23;33;55
But now I retired and president.

00;23;33;56 - 00;23;36;12
The museum. That's about the extent of my.

00;23;36;12 - 00;23;38;20
I love it. I've had a rich history.

00;23;38;20 - 00;23;38;42
Right.

00;23;38;42 - 00;23;40;05
And that, you know,

00;23;40;05 - 00;23;42;38
having had the opportunity
just to dive on the Arizona memorial

00;23;42;38 - 00;23;46;33
and on the monitor and things
like that, it's been fascinating.

00;23;46;33 - 00;23;50;11
Career wouldn't trade it for the world,
but, you know, new shoulders, new knees,

00;23;50;41 - 00;23;53;21
broken
back, broken pelvis by David Taylor.

00;23;53;21 - 00;23;56;16
What's the what's some of the coordinates
of Steve that you have to go through?

00;23;56;16 - 00;23;58;49
I mean, you don't just get this stuff
right here in Panama City.

00;23;58;49 - 00;23;59;51
You're talking to like you say.

00;23;59;51 - 00;24;04;10
No, you're talking to the space
command, you're tight.

00;24;04;13 - 00;24;05;52
How does this coordination work for that?

00;24;05;52 - 00;24;08;21
You make sure everybody's
on the same page.

00;24;08;21 - 00;24;13;39
It's you know, once once
we have that connection and we're talking,

00;24;13;46 - 00;24;16;45
it's just keeping the lines
of communication open,

00;24;16;57 - 00;24;19;51
you know, talking with the board members
and making sure

00;24;19;51 - 00;24;23;41
we're all on the same page what what
our goals are and things of that nature.

00;24;23;54 - 00;24;27;26
And then working with the
the person that wants to donate.

00;24;27;26 - 00;24;30;26
Right now, we're looking at
getting a submarine rescue chamber

00;24;30;37 - 00;24;33;49
from natural
and and that'll be a great asset.

00;24;33;49 - 00;24;36;06
I got to dive that a few times

00;24;36;06 - 00;24;39;08
to 850 feet, so I'm kind of excited
about getting one of them.

00;24;40;19 - 00;24;42;42
Okay,
Tell us some trades with some things.

00;24;42;42 - 00;24;45;05
Some items for the one atmosphere suits.

00;24;45;05 - 00;24;47;45
Yeah. Yeah, we have. We've done
a range of people as well.

00;24;47;45 - 00;24;50;45
That's something that's amazing
to, to look at those suits from

00;24;51;14 - 00;24;53;35
50 years ago diving to today.

00;24;53;35 - 00;24;55;31
Today it's like putting on a coat and tie.

00;24;55;31 - 00;24;58;31
I mean, you know, it's far
because everything's so slim

00;24;58;49 - 00;25;03;01
and it's so much more economical
and it's not as heavy and as bulky.

00;25;03;33 - 00;25;06;33
Progress education,
they learn things from that

00;25;07;18 - 00;25;08;21
before we run out of time.

00;25;08;21 - 00;25;09;31
You know, they go so quickly.

00;25;09;31 - 00;25;11;26
I want to talk about membership.

00;25;11;26 - 00;25;14;35
How can someone become
a member of Man in the Sea Museum?

00;25;15;13 - 00;25;17;26
Well, we love we love our members.

00;25;17;26 - 00;25;21;36
That helps helps us upgrade and everything
helps.

00;25;21;56 - 00;25;25;32
You know, we have a run an email list
where we can get the word out, where

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we're having fundraising dinners
or we're having special events

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where they can meet a aquanaut
or something like that.

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They're welcome to come in and join
and get a membership

00;25;33;57 - 00;25;37;31
or they can also go to our website
at Man in the Sea Forum, and we have

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our membership link where they can donate
and or get a membership.

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One of our big fundraising
events is a brick that's going

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brick patio that's out there
so they can buy a brick as well.

00;25;50;06 - 00;25;53;06
Well that is super on their

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what's, what's your normal hours
operation out there.

00;25;56;43 - 00;25;57;52
Wednesdays, Thursdays,

00;25;57;52 - 00;26;01;44
Fridays and Saturdays tend for once again,
if you have a larger group,

00;26;01;44 - 00;26;05;16
they can give us a call drop us a email
and we can set up something special.

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But that's our normal time.

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$10 and less.

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Get in.

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Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing.

00;26;11;23 - 00;26;13;54
Yeah, Well, worth it. Yeah.

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As as an event coordinator,

00;26;17;55 - 00;26;20;55
what kind of special things
do you have just

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to signify how important the military is?

00;26;24;42 - 00;26;27;45
I mean, I mean, you have like Veterans Day
events, Christmas events.

00;26;27;45 - 00;26;30;14
Yeah,
those kind of things set up out there too.

00;26;30;14 - 00;26;33;36
We do some of those again, back to that.

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These guys have been really good

00;26;34;48 - 00;26;37;49
and tapping into the military part
because I was never military.

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So but as far as raising money,

00;26;40;53 - 00;26;45;10
we have an annual that we do
try to do in January, which is coming up.

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We will raise some pretty good money.

00;26;49;32 - 00;26;51;38
They're not like our big, big events.

00;26;51;38 - 00;26;54;25
But again,
you know, to take a big event like that,

00;26;54;25 - 00;26;57;25
you got to figure out
where the money is to be made.

00;26;57;29 - 00;27;01;01
And so we've got that and then we've got

00;27;01;36 - 00;27;04;35
we've done quite a few food trucks

00;27;04;35 - 00;27;08;35
kind of open the museum post
with a food truck, that kind of stuff.

00;27;08;44 - 00;27;11;06
Six post super. That is super.

00;27;11;06 - 00;27;12;52
We got about 3 minutes left to go.

00;27;12;52 - 00;27;14;43
Steve, closing remarks.

00;27;14;43 - 00;27;15;59
I thank you for having us.

00;27;15;59 - 00;27;18;28
We really are without without community,
we would have a museum.

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So really appreciate your time,
appreciate your service and your history.

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Thank you.

00;27;22;51 - 00;27;25;50
And look forward
to having you back at the museum.

00;27;25;50 - 00;27;26;54
I will call me.

00;27;26;54 - 00;27;28;06
I mean, I'm hooked on that.

00;27;28;06 - 00;27;31;07
It's so important, so important that we we

00;27;31;07 - 00;27;35;26
look not only today and tomorrow, but
we've got to look at where we came from.

00;27;35;53 - 00;27;37;21
And you guys are such a good thing.

00;27;37;21 - 00;27;41;29
Steve, what what do you really think this
this museum is part of Bay County?

00;27;41;31 - 00;27;44;11
I mean, Bay is home of the military diver.

00;27;44;11 - 00;27;45;48
We we will.

00;27;45;48 - 00;27;48;08
And we have to keep this museum alive.

00;27;48;08 - 00;27;51;08
And with the community support
we've already had

00;27;51;13 - 00;27;55;40
and hopefully even more that we get now
and the museum will get better and better.

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I promise you it will it will do well.

00;27;59;08 - 00;28;00;15
And also

00;28;01;14 - 00;28;04;41
new board members, new people,
fresh ideas.

00;28;04;41 - 00;28;08;42
You know, we can't do this forever,
although our hearts fair

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and we could be lifetime memberships,
but boots on the ground.

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We need fresh people
every once in a while.

00;28;15;11 - 00;28;16;55
Yeah.

00;28;16;55 - 00;28;18;23
You know,

00;28;18;23 - 00;28;20;18
cut this off here
because we're about running out of time.

00;28;20;18 - 00;28;24;12
But this has been something
that's dear to my heart, to the people.

00;28;24;12 - 00;28;27;30
Learn the military history
and how everybody work together out there.

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And this is not for your benefit.

00;28;30;20 - 00;28;32;03
It's for the community's benefit.

00;28;32;03 - 00;28;35;03
Steve, Steve, Jean,
thank you so much for coming in.

00;28;35;12 - 00;28;36;52
If you need something, give me a holler.

00;28;36;52 - 00;28;39;31
Thank you for coming in today
and our military community

00;28;39;31 - 00;28;41;26
and we'll make sure the word gets passed.

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Thank you. Thank you so much.

00;28;44;31 - 00;28;45;21
That's it, folks.

00;28;45;21 - 00;28;48;14
That's
another edition of our military community.

00;28;48;14 - 00;28;50;49
30 minutes doesn't last very long,
but again, go out

00;28;50;49 - 00;28;54;10
and visit our Man of the Sea
Museum there in the phone book.

00;28;54;10 - 00;28;56;25
You give him a call there.
You can look him up online.

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But a lot of things going on.

00;28;57;40 - 00;29;00;44
Support your local man of the Sea Museum.

00;29;01;04 - 00;29;02;43
Thank you for watching. I'm Jerry Tabart.

00;29;02;43 - 00;29;05;01
We'll see you again
live another edition next week.

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Of our military community.
Have a great day, everyone.