Jake Hankins knew from an early age that the Navy was right for him.

"Watching John Wayne movies, I am serious. I knew from the time I was in grade school that I was going to join the navy and I just made it happen," Hankins said.

Hankins followed through on that goal and joined the navy in the late seventies. He said his 26 years as a sailor played a large role in shaping the man is today.

"The Navy has engrained in me a bunch of standards, morals, and patriotism that has lended itself well to what an American citizen is supposed to be all about," he said.

While he was involved in most of the conflicts throughout the 80's and 90's, he points to his time in the first gulf war as the major turning point in his career.

"I was executive officer of a destroy in harms war, responsible for about 480 sailors, and that makes a man out of you pretty darn quick," Hankins said.

 It was just a job to him, but he returned home and saw the welcome that his sailors got when they came home. He describes crowds of cheering people and how that made him realize how important the military is to most Americans. That feeling made him more excited to be involved in the Navy and made him want to do stay on.

So when he retired 5 years ago, he joined the Navy League of Mayport to show other sailors how the navy impacted him.

"I looked back at everything the Navy did for me and wanted to give something back and the United States Navy League was the perfect organization to do that," he explained.

Now he councils and offers guidance and experience to current sailors. He wants to teach current sailors the lesson he learned from the Navy.

"Their making career decision, and you know, where to transfer to, what is best for me. You hear them gripping about this, you hear them gripping about that. And you kind of relate your own, if you will, experiences with them and kind of let them take that for what it is worth and hopefully influence them to make the right decision," Hankins said.

He is one of the driving forces behind this weekend's celebration and sees what he is doing now as an extension of his navy service. He says he will stay involved with the Navy as long has he can.

 "I love the job I am doing and I am going to keep on doing it until they say 'Jake we don't need ya no more'," Hankins said.