Bryan Goff, San Diego, California
Bryan Goff
I was born in Los Angeles county and raised in Topanga Canyon. At the age of 19 I was going down a not so good path and decided to join the military. I ended up joining the United States Coast Guard. Making that the decision was one of the best things I have done in life so far. It allowed me to pursue my dreams of travel and photography.

During my time in the Coast Guard I worked as an Information Systems Technician, IT. I have worked on everything you can think of regarding information technology and if you don't know much I'll list it. I have installed, maintained, troubleshot, programmed and fixed the following: Ethernet cables and systems; fiber optic cables and systems; network switches, hubs and routers; computer systems and software; server systems and software; private branch exchanges, PBX's aka a telephone system; microwave systems; satellite communication systems ; information systems security practices and procedures.

All the while I was learning the techie stuff above I was traveling the world seeing amazing places and meeting wonderful people. I was stationed all through out the country while I was in and they are as follows in chronological order: Kauai, HI; Baltimore, MD; Seattle, WA; California: San Diego, Pt. Reyes, Alameda and Petaluma. I would say that Kauai was my favorite as I was 19 years old at the time and I got to go to the beach almost everyday and surf.

I spent 21 years in the Coast Guard and 8 of those years were spent on ships. Being on a ship is one of the greatest things I could think of, but it is not for everyone. Due to the amount of time at sea it causes a bunch of stress to people and their families. I have missed countless birthdays, weddings and holidays due to sailing on the open oceans. It also comes with great rewards. I was able to see places that most people only see in magazines. One of those places was Antarctica. While I was stationed in Seattle I was on the Coast Guard cutter POLAR SEA (WAGB-11). It was a heavy duty icebreaker and the most amazing piece of machinery I have seen. We would deploy for 6 months at a time and sail from Seattle to Hawaii, Hawaii to Australia and the finally Australia to Antarctica.

Finally on December 1st, 2017 I retired after 21 years of service. It was a sad but happy day as it allowed me to start another chapter in life. I moved down here in 2018 and bought a house by Guajome Park so I could be close to my mom and brother. In 2019 I started my first semester at Palomar and am majoring in Drone Operations. I love it so far and look forward to the future.

If you like photos of space or photos in general take a look at my Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/bryangoffphoto/ I take some pretty amazing pictures of our celestial heavens, which is another passion of mine.


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