NYCHA Veteran Recalls Time in the Service as Navy Journalist

When he was fresh out of high school, longtime NYCHA employee Juan Santiago found the U.S. Navy to be just the place to pursue his ambitions at the time.  

Having only left his home in the Bronx on a few occasions to visit extended family in the Dominican Republic, the young Mr. Santiago “really wanted to see the world.” 

And as someone who always took an interest in writing and communications, he felt he had a calling for journalism.   

In the Navy, Mr. Santiago saw an opportunity to not only serve his country but to merge his passion for storytelling with his desire to travel to far-off places.  

“What better way to learn about these places than to actually be responsible for taking pictures and writing about them?” Mr. Santiago said about his decision to become a Navy journalist, serving from 1983-89.  

As he reflects on his time with the Navy on this Veterans Day, Mr. Santiago, Deputy Director in NYCHA’s Community Development Department, recalled how his parents didn’t speak English when they first immigrated from the Dominican Republic to New York, but being in America enabled them to earn a living and support their family. While Mr. Santiago’s family was unable to afford sending him to college, the military offered “a real option” for the then-18-year-old, who was the first in his family to join the service.   

“I grew up with a patriotic feeling and really grateful for the opportunity my family had and that I was given,” he said.  

After he arrived at the USS Worden in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Mr. Santiago learned that he was the only journalist working on a ship of 400 crewmembers. Despite the long hours in charge of all radio and television broadcasts, producing the ship’s monthly newsletter, and taking all news photographs, he relished the role of a Navy reporter.  

“I was young, full of energy, and I loved doing it,” Mr. Santiago remembered.  

Over the years, as the ship traveled to locations such as Australia, Hong Kong, Kenya, the Philippines, and Singapore, Mr. Santiago documented shipboard life and notable happenings through photographs and human-interest stories about fellow crewmembers. With the crew out at sea for up to six months at a time, the newsletter stories served as a “connecting point” for their families to know what they were doing, he noted.  

In recognition of his work, Mr. Santiago earned the 1986 Chief of Information Award, the Navy’s highest award for written family grams, which he considers among his proudest achievements during his time as a journalist.  

Mr. Santiago’s six years in the military were free of any major armed conflicts, as the U.S. was then engaged in the Cold War with Russia. Serving his country allowed him to fulfill his goals for travel and journalism, and taught him a range of skills to carry into civilian life, particularly time management and multi-tasking.  

“I really enjoyed my time in the service,” he said. 

When it came time to choosing a career beyond the military, Mr. Santiago briefly pursued interests such as acting, but he really hoped to find a way to help others. 

“My family was able to provide a stable and firm foundation, and that’s something that I felt I could also give, so I wanted to look for a place where I could definitely work towards that,” he recalled. 

That desire led him to NYCHA, which had an open position to work with youth in its former Alternative High School program. Twenty-three years later, Mr. Santiago is still assisting people in the NYCHA community, soon transitioning to a Senior Manager for Outreach and Engagement in the Chair’s Office.  

“Every day I’m reminded that I made the right choice, because I get to speak to people one-on-one and in meetings, and they always show their appreciation,” he noted about his NYCHA career.  

As the nation marks another Veterans Day on November 11, the NYCHA veteran believes the holiday is a time to commemorate those who have served their country to protect the freedoms of fellow citizens: “I think the chief thing that I’m always reminded of is that freedom is not free, and somebody has to make a sacrifice to preserve the rights and benefits we all enjoy.”

Photo caption: Navy journalist veteran Juan Santiago works on the USS Worden’s monthly newsletter in 1987.