How serving in the Navy re-centered DeKalb coach’s life

DeKALB – When Matt Quitno was in Navy boot camp, he was pushed hard – to what he thought was past his breaking point.

But thanks to support from those around him, that breaking point never came. Quitno, of DeKalb, served in the U.S. Navy from 2000 to 2006.

“It’s a lot like football,” Quitno said. “Everybody has a job to do, and you’re family. Your squadmates, or your divisions, they push you to get through it and keep fighting, and you don’t individualize it. You do it to help better the team.”

Quitno graduated from DeKalb High School in 1999. He said he got into a lot of trouble when he was younger and found himself at a crossroads. Eventually, he found himself following the family path. His dad, Robert Quitno, and brother Andy Quitno both served in the U.S. Army.

Those abundant bad decisions pushed him into service, he said, and he ended up joining the Navy.

“Growing up, you either make the right decisions or you don’t,” said Quitno, who also works in security at the high school. “You have to learn from them, and at that time I wasn’t focused on the learning part until I settled down and had to make a choice. Watching my father be in the Army, and my older brother went to the Army, it kind of just made sense to get a fresh start, get a break from everything, just re-center myself and my life in general to bring it all the way back around, be able to stand on my own two feet and be a man.”

Quitno was a petty officer third class and was working out of the combat systems divisions. He worked on everything from cooling skids to electronic equipment. He maintained the communications system below the radar.

Growing up, you either make the right decisions or you don’t. You have to learn from them, and at that time I wasn’t focused on the learning part until I settled down and had to make a choice.”

—  Matt Quitno

From January to May 2001, Quitno was stationed out of Pearl Harbor on the USS Lake Erie (CG 70). From October 2001 until his separation on Sept. 5, 2006, he served on the USS Cape St. George (CG 71) out of Norfolk, Virginia.

He was serving in October 2000 when the USS Cole was bombed in Yemen, ripping a hole near the waterline and killing 17 sailors. And he was in Dahlgren, Virginia, on Sept. 11, 2001. Things already had changed in terms of security after the Cole. But being 45 minutes from the Pentagon that day hit close to home, he said.

“It was just being on super high alert and being ready for anything and everything, honestly,” Quitno said.

He was deployed in May 2003 to the eastern Mediterranean, then shifted to the northern Arabian Gulf off the coast of Bahrain and other places. His next deployment took him to the eastern Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, where he spent a lot of time guarding oil terminals off the Gulf of Iraq.

Quitno served during pirate operations off the coast of Somalia, where they had to “take care of a few situations,” he said. One in particular saw pirates firing on the Cape St. George. Video, he said, is declassified and on YouTube.

Quitno was discharged in 2006 with a diabetes diagnosis, which made serving on a ship too risky. That combined with his father’s cancer diagnosis prompted Quitno to leave. He was honorably discharged.

Since then, he’s found his way back home but kept some things along the way.

DeKalb football coach Derek Schneeman said Quitno is selfless when it comes to the football program.

“He’s willing to do anything that helps the program,” Schneeman said. “He does any number of miscellaneous things off the field, pretty much anything he is asked. He’s not one of those guys making certain calls on Friday nights, but he’s doing things behind the scenes to make sure things run smoothly. He’s a great guy to work with.”

Quitno said the biggest thing he learned in the military was how to become an adult.

“You grow up real quick in the military,” Quitno said. “That’s just the main thing I remember. Being an adolescent, not having a care in the world, didn’t care what the repercussions were. I would just do it if I wanted to do it. ... But it’s like playing chess instead of checkers. Sometimes, you’ve got to sit back and look a few moves ahead. That’s the biggest and most lasting lesson I learned.”