Fireman Edward Chartier, a Waterford native serving aboard the USS San Juan, recently earned his Enlisted Submarine Warfare pin from a retired submariner he worked with as a teenager.

Robert Smith, who now serves as the regional director for the U.S. Navy’s Sea Cadet Corps in southeastern New England, was Chartier’s Sea Cadet commanding officer when he was a teen.

In a release, he said he received his pin, known in the submarine community as “dolphins,” from another retired submariner who wanted his pin to “go back to sea,” and he wanted to continue the tradition.

Smith’s son was friends with Chartier as a kid and brought him to the Sea Cadet program; both spent eight years in the program and were named chief petty officers of the Sea Cadets.

Chartier received his dolphins from Smith in a May 11 ceremony on the USS San Juan Pier.

“This is a great way to start my career,” he said in the release.

Friends & Neighbors is a regular feature in the Times. To submit a story, email l.howard@theday.com.