Petty Officer First Class Ken Cary

Petty Officer First Class Ken Cary

From Operation Insight by The Mid America Veterans Museum

June 21, 2026 · 2h 37m · Season 5 · Episode 20

About this episode

The episode features Ken Carey sharing his journey from a horse farm to serving in the U.S. Navy, highlighting family influences and experiences in aviation ordnance.

Join us on Operation Insight as we host Petty Officer First Class Ken Carey of the U.S. Navy! From a horse farm in Leonard, Michigan to the thunder of carrier flight decks, Ken’s story is precise, human, and unforgettable. We begin with family: great-uncles on the WWI battlefields, brothers and cousins in WWII and Korea, and a father who returned with a piece of shrapnel and a story that would become the moral compass for a son. Ken remembers the night his father recounted how a fellow soldier leapt on a grenade—the image of that sacrifice became the lesson that would follow Ken into boot camp, into leadership, and back home for a lifetime of service. Ken walks us through the moment that changed everything: a young man from Kansas and Michigan walking into a Navy recruiting office, dreaming of college and wrestling fields, only to be chosen by the Navy for aviation ordnance. What sounds mechanical—loading, testing, and safeguarding weapons—becomes a study in responsibility. Ken’s vivid accounts take you under the flight deck: safety wiring by headlamp, the hush of nighttime launches, and the trust between ordnancemen and pilots. He explains how a single shim on an F-14 pylon and…

People in this episode

Host: The Mid America Veterans Museum

Guest: Ken Carey

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: U.S. Navy, USS Eisenhower

Books & works: Operation Insight

Places: Leonard, Michigan, Kansas

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