Robert Raffetto

Robert Raffetto was born in Neptune, New Jersey. He was, at the time of his interview, a retired veteran. Raffetto participated in Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Deep Freeze, and Iraqi Freedom. He is a member of a family of Navy men. His father was a Navy physician and flight surgeon, with one brother a supply officer and another a radio operator during World War II. His uncle and another brother also served as Navy dentists.

Raffetto attended Furman University in South Carolina, where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry. He then became a dental student at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Raffetto joined the Naval Reserves after his first year in dental school, and attended three brief summer training sessions. While he was in dental school, a US Marine peacekeeping force in Lebanon had its barracks bombed, with 241 men killed.

In his summer training sessions at Newport, Rhode Island, Raffetto trained with many professionals and had many great experiences. He had brief deployments with the Marines aboard two different ships, with the submarine community, and with an air squadron, providing dental care to patients in need.

After graduating in 1986, Raffetto was commissioned as a lieutenant, transferred from the reserves to the regular Navy and assigned to Great Lakes Naval Training base for a one-year period. There he practiced his acquired skills in a large dental clinic, and enjoyed the Navy’s equal opportunities for men and women because he believed in equality.

As he progressed in his Navy career, Raffetto managed several clinics. He did two tours with the Marines, offering care to anyone in need, as well as he supervised training in Hawaii. In 1990, Raffetto left Hawaii and spent seven months in Saudi Arabia supporting the Marines during Operation Desert Shield and then Desert Storm. His mentor recommended advanced training if he wanted to stay in the Navy; so, he did a one-year fellowship program in comprehensive dentistry in San Diego, which enabled him to work independently in small clinics around the world. Working independently was his ultimate goal and Raffetto enjoyed it.

Raffetto enjoyed a tour of duty on the USS Emory S. Land, a United States Navy submarine tender. Since he was a department head on that ship, he got a lot of experience aiding men from other vessels in the Mediterranean Fleet, which was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Raffetto recalled that technology changed significantly during his twenty-nine years of service. He could have retired early but chose to stay because he enjoyed being on ships, although he found it hard to be away from his family. Raffetto accepted a post at Lakehurst, New Jersey because it was close to his family; after three years, he became operational again.

The last twelve years Raffetto spent in the Navy entailed going back and forth from Lakehurst to Naval Support Airbase La Maddalena in Italy, where Submarine Squadron 22 and Submarine Tender, USS Emory S. Land (AS-39) provided mobile repair, weapons handling and logistic support for submarines and other Navy ships operating in the Mediterranean Sea, until its closure in 2007. He recalled that he got to experience the world’s good and some of its bad in his service from August of 1982 to June of 2011, when he retired with the rank of Commander. Raffetto loved the Navy and joked using the popular sport phrase, “Go Navy beat Army!” at the end of his interview.

Among his service awards he earned were the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy Achievement Medal and the Combat Action Ribbon.