Fred enlisted in the US Navy April 30 1965, completing the Underwater Demolition Team Replacement training in December 1965, class 35 in Little Creek VA being assigned to to Underwater Demolition Team-21. There he was assigned to the Geminy 7 (Gemini 7 - officially Gemini VII) was a 1965 manned spaceflight in NASA'sGemini program) recovery team . In 1966, Fred was transferred to SEAL Team2, and started 6 months of jungle warfare training. In December 1966, Fred was deployed to South Vietnam, making a total of four deployments.
Throughout his enlistment, Fred cross-trained with our foreign counterparts around the world, where part of this training included parachute jumps, completing close to 400 hundred jumps; In 1973, spending six months on the island of CRETE training prospective Greek Frogmen in Diving and Demolition; in 1981, being assigned to Special Boat Unit 24 as Operations Officer; in 1984 being assigned to Commander Naval Special Warfare Group 2, as Assistant Operations Officer; then on October 1, 1987, retiring after 22 ½ years of service.