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By Chuck N. Baker
(Las Vegas) Navy veteran Robert Serge discovered a hidden talent and new passion late in life. It is designing websites. Serge is now in high demand with veteran service organizations in southern Nevada, but the path that led him to this point has been anything but predictable.

 

Serge served in the Navy for 20 months working in an ordnance laboratory test facility. As he puts it, “We designed harbor mines and stuff like that.” He had to juggle testing dangerous mines while wading in deep waters and moving out of harms way before the explosions detonated. He trained at Fort Monroe, Virginia in the cold waters of the nearby bay. “We tested mines out there away from the land mass, so no one would get hurt,” he said. Except sometimes, they did.

He explained, “I was in the water to set the charges to go off electronically.” The last time he set a charge and moved to get out of the water, it went off prematurely and threw him against the test boat. The Electrician’s Mate ended up with a smashed knee cap, cutting short his planned military career. After surgery and other treatment, he received a medical discharge.

As a civilian, Serge earned a degree in structural design and worked as an architectural draftsman, part of a team that helped build Rite Aid drug stores. Later he worked for other firms involved with designing pharmacies.

Fast forward to Nevada and to today, where Serge is now in his senior years. He started volunteering with the Disabled American Veterans as a driver in the organization’s transportation system. During this time, he managed to fit in some study time, learning basic computer skills. “I’d been kind of working with computers for a long time,” he said.

The local VA provided a short computer training class to enable him to access the program for the DAV transportation system that schedules veterans requiring travel assistance. Soon, on his own, he located a private company that helps design websites. The firm instructed him in the use of computer modules. He took to the subject quickly. Before long he was fully engaged tossing around technical lingo and gaining digital knowledge, not to mention a little bit of web design.

When Vietnam Veterans of America Post 17 wanted a website of its own, Serge volunteered. The new website was a hit. Word began to spread. Soon, American Legion Post 76 came calling with a request for a website and a blog. Then another Vietnam Veterans group, Chapter 1076 in Henderson, asked about starting a website. Before long the group that assists the Fisher House in North Las Vegas, the Nevada Veterans Foundation, was added to the mix.

As his reputation spread around Southern Nevada, member John Waid of the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) invited Serge to a meeting. Serge does not have a Purple Heart, but Waid had a solution. He arranged for the computer operator to become an “Honorary Member” of the group, and Serge added the MOPH to his list of website formations. Richard Small of the MOPH pointed out that as far as he knows, “Serge is the only Honorary Member of the national group.”

Serge is humble about his talents stating, “To me it’s kind of simple once you use the modules. You type whatever it is you need to, show pictures, and it’s done.” He said his volunteer work encompasses between 40 and 50 hours a week. Still, he always makes sure that despite his voluminous computer assignments, he does not ignore family life. Serge said his wife is very supportive but joked, “She tells me it’s great that I have something to do. Because I’d drive her crazy if I didn’t!”