AUSTINTOWN — Michael Walsh didn’t have a college fund for education after high school.

“I knew I was going to college,” he said. “I just didn’t have a way to pay for it.”

His career in the Navy gave him the money he needed — and so much more.

He entered the U.S. Navy Reserve while still in high school. After he graduated, he spent two years on active duty — and those two years taught him lessons he says he used throughout his life.

Walsh completed his basic training and was sent to Norfolk, Virginia. He was assigned as a communications yeoman aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Forrestal in 1969. Deep in the Cold War, just two years earlier, the aircraft carrier had been involved in fighting in the Gulf of Tonkin in support of operations in Vietnam. An accident led to an explosion and fire that killed 134 sailors and injured 161.

“When I first was told, ‘You’re going on the U.S.S. Forestal, I had some apprehension; one, maybe it’s not the luckiest ship to be on; and two, that maybe it is not as safe as a new one,” Walsh said. “But people don’t realize, every tour you take on an aircraft carrier, people do lose their lives. Jet pilots crash sometimes, people on the deck get hurt.”

Words shared by his first commanding officer proved life changing: “Don’t cross off the days like a prison calendar.” The officer told him to explore; connect; and live life to the fullest. “You may never get this chance again.”

He took the commanding officer’s words to heart. While onboard the ship, he did his job distributing messages and transcribing communications; once he was permitted into the restricted area and asked to help with a transmission. (“It was a message about the admiral’s dog, Rosetta, having six lovely puppies,” Walsh said with a grin. “No wonder they let me help with it.”) The sailors were allowed to spend some time off the ship; he spent his free time following his commanding officer’s instructions.

He explored ruins in Greece. He met an American in Athens while looking for ice cream. He rode motorcycles through ancient areas in Olympia. He fell in love with paella at Los Caracoles in Barcelona. And through it all, he took advantage of every opportunity the Navy gave him.

While he primarily worked in the communications office, he did see some danger — while never in outright combat, there were plenty of shipboard accidents. The ship was also patrolling in the Mediterranean, in the area of Israel and Jordan where an ongoing conflict in the region had everyone on heightened alert.

After returning home, Walsh completed his studies at Youngstown State University, earning degrees in police science and police administration. His military service gave him a small boost when he took the Civil Service exam at the Youngstown Police Department; he tested seventh in his cohort.

He served on the Youngstown Police force for 31 years, rising to the rank of detective. He spent time in homicide investigations before going on to lead the department’s auto theft unit. In his retirement, he wrote a short book, “Copper Capers,” collecting humorous stories of police work.

Now retired, and a grandfather several times over, Walsh said he values his time in the service more than anything. “I gave so little, and the Navy gave me so much,” he said.

He said he hopes more young people will consider military service as a career path.

“I think that everybody should probably be required to do some service to their country,” Walsh said. “I don’t know exactly what it would be and how it would be set up, but I think instead of entitlement, people would feel a little more ownership of America. And that’s good. I think everybody should own America a little bit.”