The Retired World Traveler

Anthony J. Pachuta has circled the globe.

As a surface warfare officer in the United States Navy, he has driven war ships, worked with marines and led an amphibious squadron of 11 ships in Japan. He has traveled to India, Cambodia, the Phillipines, nearly every country in Europe, most of South America, the east and west coasts of Africa and the Persian Gulf. He has even sailed through all of the Great Lakes.

But after a 27-year career in the Navy, Mr. Pachuta was ready to hang up his captain's hat and find a place to call home.

"I didn't want to just take the uniform off and put a suit on and do the same thing," Mr. Pachuta says. "At my age, I was looking for something more fulfilling — a valuable skill that I could learn and put to good use."

With a teaching license in history in his back pocket as a fallback plan, Mr. Pachuta went in search of his new beginning. What he found was the EVMS ophthalmic technology program.

For a logical guy, he says EVMS was the logical choice. His daughter and her family live in Hampton Roads. Mr. Pachuta and his wife have lived here five different times. Plus, the access to quality health care is a bonus. But what really sold him on the idea was a visit to the EVMS campus where he spent the day shadowing students in the ophthalmic technology program.

It was an eye-opening experience, he says — pun intended.

"I have an interest in learning that I didn't have when I was younger and an eagerness to help make a difference in people's lives," Mr. Pachuta says.

As one of the older incoming students, Mr. Pachuta says he knows that there will be challenges in relating to younger students. His approach to bridging that gap is one of ease and lighthearted humor.

"I told a few of my classmates that they give senior-citizen discounts on tuition when you're my age," he says. "It took them a minute to realize I was just joking, but we all had a really good laugh."