A military career born of 9/11

Andrew Demarsico wasn’t sure what he wanted to do when he graduated from Valley Stream Central High School in 2005, but he was always struck by the sight of a person in a crisp military uniform. With Sept. 11, 2001, fresh in his mind, the then 18-year-old enlisted in the Navy.

“Everybody, especially from New York — that’s just a day that you never forget,” Demarsico said. “I feel like it’s your obligation to stand up and serve your country.”

Before joining the military, Demarsico worked at Wheeler Deli in Valley Stream, starting when he was 14. His boss was John Tufarelli, now a village trustee. “He was always a good kid with a good foundation to him,” Tufarelli said.

Tufarelli remembered when his young employee came into the store and sat down with him to discuss joining the military. Demarsico asked him what he thought about it, and Tufarelli said it was a choice he should be sure about before committing to it — especially as his parents’ only child. But Tufarelli said he could tell that the teenager was already serious about the prospect, and that meant something.

“He always had a good mind,” Tufarelli said. “He always did the right thing.”

Demarsico’s military career has been a diverse assortment of roles. He spent three six-month deployments in Afghanistan as part of an air unit that jammed electronic signals. He served as a leading petty officer on the destroyer USS Howard, which deployed to the South China Sea in 2013 and 2014. The ship’s mission was anti-submarine warfare, he said.

Demarsico is 28 now, with the rank of petty officer first class, and is in charge of food service operations at Naval Medical Center San Diego. He said his years at Wheeler Deli proved to be useful experience for his present role, which he is well qualified for after completing a program and receiving his professional chef certification. He is one of a handful of Navy personnel who have that distinction, he said.

Traveling to places like Afghanistan and Thailand, where he worked with orphans as part of a community-relations mission, exposed Demarsico to the realities that so many people in the world live with.

“Seeing the conditions that people live in, I learned to appreciate how great we have it in the U.S.,” he said.

While he joined out of a sense of duty, Demarsico said he stayed because of the camaraderie he found there. With October marking 10 years, he said he wants to spend at least another 20 years in the military.

“It’s not for everybody, but when it’s for you, it’s for you 110 percent,” he said. “I’ll stay as long as the Navy will keep me.”