This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American Stories,

the show where America is the star and the American people. And we love

our listeners stories. If you have one, share it with us at Our American Stories.com. That's

our American Stories.com. They're some of our favorites. When we talk about the United States

nuclear navy or even the widespread use of nuclear reactors to generate power,

we need to talk about one man, Admiral Hyman Rickover, a man whose active duty service spanned

63 years, making him the longest serving naval officer, as well as the longest serving

member of the U.S. Armed Forces in history.

Despite Rickover's impressive length of service, he is more known for his unorthodox interview tactics.

Here is retired Navy Captain Bill Toadie to tell us about his experience with the kindly old gentleman.

Music experience with the kindly old gentleman. The time was about 7 p.m. after a series of very long days.

Like the others, this day was filled with tests and interviews, hours of mental intensity, interrupted by hours of mind-numbing boredom.

I was a first-class midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy, and this was the singular event that would determine the course of my professional life.

For the previous few hours, a combination of fatigue would determine the course of my professional life.

For the previous few hours, a combination of fatigue and nervous energy had been building,

and I had become riveted, torn between the awe of the moment and fear of screwing this up. We had heard many tales about what I would soon encounter.

Most of these stories were presumed to be tall tales.

For example, several different renditions of the Make Me Mad story had been circulating,

where Admiral Hyman Rickover dared a midshipman to do something that would anger him,

purportedly to see how willing the midshipman would be to follow an order.

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