Dyer native reenlists in Navy
By Cara Zarecor
Casey Ivie, a 28-year-old Dyer native, has made his parents, his community and his country proud by recently reenlisting in the US Navy.
Ivie is the son of Fred and Lois Ivie of Dyer and the younger brother of Heather Ivie Myles, who now makes her home in Jackson. He grew up playing baseball, Gibson County High School football, was active in the youth groups at Fairview Baptist and Cloris Chapel churches and had many good friends.
When Ivie graduated GCHS in 2010, he opted not to go immediately to college, but landed a job at Caterpillar in Dyersburg. One of his jobs with the corporation was painting specialty parts for Boss Hoss motorcycles. Even though he had established his independence by moving to Dyersburg and holding down a full-time job, Ivie wanted more.
Mr. and Mrs. Ivie said that their son came home after a couple of years, and they all sat down to talk about Ivie’s future. Ivie told his parents that his great uncle, Wallace Brown, who was a retired colonel in the US Air Force, had influenced him the most and that he wanted to enlist in the Navy.
Mrs. Ivie recalled that time seemed to pass by quickly and before they knew it, Ivie’s recruiter in Jackson was taking him to Memphis for his swearing in ceremony. Mr. and Mrs. Ivie attended the ceremony, where each recruit read a heartwarming letter aloud to their parents before being whisked off on a bus headed to the airport.
Ivie attended basic training at Great Lakes, Ohio, which is home to the Navy’s only recruit training command. After completion, he was sent to San Diego to board the USS Carl Vinson. Mr. Ivie said that some folks will remember this ship because it hosted the Carrier Classic in 2011, which was a basketball game between Michigan State and North Carolina.
While aboard the USS Carl Vinson, Ivie studied aviation, prepared fighter jets for takeoff and met his wife, Susan Rodriguez. The two had unknowingly attended basic training together. In December of 2016, Ivie and Rodriguez came home to marry at Cloris Chapel in Dyer. Ivie’s family was in attendance as well as several from Rodriguez’s family, all from New York City.
For a time, Ivie was sent to the USS George Washington, which, at that time, was off the coast of China before returning to the USS Carl Vinson for the remainder of his five-year commitment.
Ivie is currently serving shore duty at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla., where he just reenlisted for another six years. Mr. and Mrs. Ivie attended the ceremony along with five of their grandchildren.
Ivie, his wife and two daughters, Mia, age 6, and Riley, age 3, are waiting on his next orders to find out where they will go from Jacksonville.
