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"It is unfortunate," he muses, "that with all the time and money the Navy has invested in me that they don't need my services--that I am expendable." That is probably his most devastating conclusion of the past two months. Waddle's life goal was to be indispensable: to his country, to the military and to the men he commanded. Born in Japan, where his father was stationed as a U.S. Air Force pilot, he was brought up in England, Georgia, Texas and Naples, Italy, where he graduated from high school. Since his parents divorced when he was young, Waddle did not have much contact with his father during his boyhood. His mother Barbara remarried, to another Air Force pilot, but his stepfather, quiet and reserved, was not the model for Waddle's own personality. Says he: "I'm not like that. I am loud and opinionated--I like to be the center of attention." Even his acts of generosity take on showman quality. One Christmas Waddle used airline vouchers he had accumulated to upgrade 18 complete strangers to first class on a flight from Denver to Seattle.
Waddle didn't want to be in submarines at first. The purpose of a sub is to be silent and undetectable, not the Waddle style. He would have preferred to be a pilot like his father and his stepfather. But bad sinuses kept him out of the Air Force, and at Annapolis he flunked a vision test, which ruled out flying altogether. He then tried out for the submarine program and got in, passing the rigorous psychological testing that is designed to ensure that the men who run America's submarine fleet can endure the confines of a sub for long periods.
Academic work was never Waddle's strength, and he had to push himself hard to get through his bookwork both at school and during his time at the Academy. But no effort was too great if it meant earning the respect and praise of others. His ascent was spectacular. Very soon after he passed his engineer's exam in the Navy in 1985 and returned to his ship, the Trident submarine U.S.S. Alabama, the captain, Garnett Beard, said he was sending the regular engineer on leave and putting Waddle in charge of the nuclear reactor plant that powers the submarine. "Do you know what that did to me?" says Waddle, reliving the thrill of an old success.
That same year Waddle married Jill Huntington, whom he had met at a cosmetics counter in Silverdale, Wash. She provided the unquestioning devotion he had been seeking all his life. "She loves me unconditionally, although for the longest time I didn't appreciate that," says Waddle. "This tragedy has done one good thing--it has strengthened our bonds, when in other marriages it could have weakened them." They have one daughter, Ashley, 13.