Teachers.

Coaches.

Priests.

Bosses.

The five junior officers who served aboard the USS Reaper from 1968 to 1970 encountered all these potential mentors, among others, before they set sail from Long Beach, Calif., to cross the Pacific Ocean and head to war.

But to a man, those five officers, who are now in their 60s, said they learned more life lessons from their executive officer, Ken McClanahan, and their captain, Bob Kahler, aboard their minesweeping ship than from any other figures in their lives.

The men learned "Efficiency, responsibility, focus, meeting requirements, being fair — all things you need to know to succeed in everyday life," said Rich Myers of Washington, D.C.

"We feel that we got a better education from (Kahler and McClanahan) than we did from any high school teacher we could think of or any college professor we could think of," said Scott Wilson of Santa Barbara, Calif.

For the first time in 40 years, the junior and senior officers who served aboard the Reaper under Kahler in Vietnam — McClanahan, Myers, Wilson, Wayne Schild of Barrington, Ill., Robert Hatch of San Diego, and Greg Nye of Palm Desert, Calif. — gathered for a reunion at Kahler's home in the Willow Valley retirement community to relive the short, but life-altering time they spent together, and to say good-bye to their captain, whose health is failing.

"I served under many captains during my time in the Navy, but (Kahler) was far and away the best," Myers said. "He was encouraging and he made our job seem like fun."

Kahler's fun-loving nature persists even as his seventh decade of life draws to a close.

In his left ear, the retired Navy man wears a small, gold anchor earring.

That's not a piece of jewelry he's had since he was the strapping, young commander of a minesweeper. Kahler got his ear pierced just seven years ago.

"I think I can say that I am the only male resident of Willow Valley who wears an earring," he said with a broad smile.

•••

The USS Reaper was a 166-foot-long vessel specially outfitted for finding and sweeping mines.

It had a wooden hull and aluminum engines to reduce the ship's magnetic field, preventing it from tripping magnetic mines.

Those anti-mine protections, however, made the ship slow and susceptible to damage.

"A lot of what we did was just work to keep the ship in service," said Nye.

A naval officer since 1960, Kahler took the helm of the Reaper — his first command position — in 1968 as the ship headed to war.

At 28 years of age, Kahler was the youngest captain in the Pacific fleet.

"Only the best get to be captains and rarely did someone in their 20s get a command position," Wilson said. "That's how good (Kahler) was."

Aboard the Reaper in 1968 with Kahler were McClanahan, Wilson, Nye and Myers.

A year later, Wilson was replaced by Schild and Nye was replaced by Hatch.

All were in their early to mid-20s.

Joining the five officers was a crew of about 70 men.

Although the ship was built for sweeping mines, the Reaper spent its tours in Vietnam patrolling three miles off the coast, stopping and searching boats for weapons.

"That was pretty nerve-wracking," McClanahan said. "You never knew what you were going to find."

Fortunately, the Reaper's crew never ran into any trouble under Kahler's command, but, during patrols, the men always knew the next ship they searched could be the one that broke the streak.

"We were under a tremendous amount of pressure," Wilson said.

One of the Reaper's patrols lasted 60 days.

"That's 60 days we were at sea without ever going ashore," McClanahan said.

During that time, there was a never-ending litany of tasks to perform.

"Minesweepers had less officers than other ships of the same size," Nye said. "That meant we all had to do more."

Besides completing their normal assignments, the junior officers each had to stand watch on the bridge for eight hours every day.

"You did your administrative duties and you squeezed in eating and sleeping when you weren't on watch," Myers said.

The seemingly insurmountable mountain of hard work gave the officers confidence that they could handle any task that was asked of them.

"Very quickly, you learned to step up to the assignments," said Wilson.

And besides, Kahler said, keeping busy with important tasks on a smaller vessel beat the alternative.

"We didn't want to get stuck on a big ship and be the guy who supervises the washing of the portholes in the morning," he said.

•••

Following their respective tours aboard the Reaper, the six men who served under Kahler all went their separate ways.

Some stayed in the Navy for a while longer. Others immediately dove into civilian life.

All said they have been successful, and they credit their time aboard the Reaper with shaping their lives.

"It was an incredibly maturing experience, because at a very young age we had an incredible amount of responsibility," Wilson said.

On Monday, all the men except for Kahler headed to the Chesapeake Bay to sail together aboard Myers's sailboat.

They expected it to be their last voyage as a unit.

"An experience like we all shared is something that sticks with you forever," Myers said.

preilly@lnpnews.com