Congratulations! I think you'll find eastern North Carolina a pretty congenial place.
I have a stepson, Byron Prezell, who's a civilian machinist at the helicopter repair facility at Cherry Point. After he got out of the Navy he went through the machine technology program at Pitt Community College; he did his apprenticeship at Cherry Point, and has been there ever since. I know it's a huge base, but it seems possible that you'll run into him.
My wife and I live in Greenville, a little more than an hour from Havelock.
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.