Commander Roderick Burtram, USN (ret.) spent the first ten years of his Naval Career as an enlisted man, serving as a Torpedoman’s Mate aboard diesel submarines.  After a year as a recruiter, he “commissioned an Ensign through the Limited Duty Officer Program. His first duty as an Officer was with the Regulus Missile Program in Hawaii. Subsequent tours of duty were with U.S. Naval Submarine School, New London, Connecticut; and Staff, Commander Submarine Squadron Six, Norfolk, Va.

In 1971 he was ordered to the Commissioning Crew of USS DIXON (AS 37), where he served for three years as the Weapons Repair Officer. Later tours of duty were Staff, Commander Submarine Group Five in San Diego, California and finally Staff, Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, where he served three years as the Nuclear Weapons Safety Officer. In 1979, Commander Roderick Burtram was re-designated as an Unrestricted Line Officer and served an additional eight years. His final tour of duty was Commanding Officer, U.S. Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center, Bessemer, Alabama, from which he retired 1 Jan., 1988. Commander Roderick Burtram is the author of Clear the Bridge: My Life in the Submarine Service.

The MOAA said of Clear the Bridge: My Life in the Submarine Service, “This memoir is a recollection of events during a Navy career that spanned nearly 40 years, mostly with the submarine service. It follows a path through 10 years of enlisted service in diesel submarines as a Torpedoman’s Mate. It is written with wry, sometimes risqué humor interspersed with sober treatment of the dangers inherent in submarining.”