I've known Joel for over 20 years, having first met him during our first US Navy WESTPAC (Western Pacific) deployment in 1988. We've run into each other on and off, in Subic Bay and Bahrain in the 90s, at Monterey in 2005, and more recently hanging out together as we were both in Manama, Bahrain from 2010-2012. Me and my family left Bahrain for our next assignment in June 2012 and I was extremely saddened to hear about Joel last week. It seemed we were just together. We used to make "tele-babad" (talking long over the phone during lazy evenings), talking about work, family, and retirement. He is such a hard worker. Joel used to tell me he doesn't plan to fully stop working even after Navy retirement. Me, my wife Grace and son Gabe miss our friend and our heart reaches out to the loved ones he left behind. May you find peace in this time of loss, knowing your husband and father is a good man and he is indeed in a better place.