Travel, service and studies
Photos courtesy of Mark Moline July 01, 2024
Undergraduate student Evan McArdle reflects on time in the Air Force, work with Project Recover in Micronesia
University of Delaware undergraduate student Evan McArdle has been self-sufficient since the age of 19 when he left home to join the United States Air Force. Serving as a munitions systems technician, who later earned the title of precision guided munitions inspector/munitions inspector, McArdle realized that he had two main principles by which he wanted to live his life: He always wanted to focus on service and travel.
Once he got to UD and found out about Project Recover, this combination of travel and service blended perfectly and led McArdle to work with the organization this summer as part of a UD study abroad environmental science internship course taking place at the Chuuk Islands in Micronesia.
“I'm a big service guy. I like to give back, and I think people need to do that, whether it's through civil service or just in some small capacity,” McArdle said. “The opportunity to work with Project Recover aligned with my mindset, just in the objective and the whole focus of the project. I think it's valuable. It's a good thing for families to get some closure, and it's kind of giving back a little bit because this is something that I think needs to be done.”
For more than 30 years, Project Recover has been the nation’s foremost citizen-led, nonprofit organization to search, locate, document, recover and repatriate the more than 81,500 American service members missing in action and to bring recognition and closure to the estimated 5,000,000 MIA Gold Star family members.
The Chuuk Lagoon was home to Japan’s main naval base in the South Pacific theater in World War II, and it was the site of a United States attack, known as Operation Hailstone, in February of 1944.
Mark Moline, co-founder of Project Recover and the Harrington Professor of Marine Studies in UD’s School of Marine Science and Policy, said it was great to have McArdle and all the UD students take part in this latest expedition.
“I have been so impressed with all the students of this study abroad class with energy and dedication not only to this mission but learning about the culture of the Chuukese people,” Moline said. “Evan’s prior military service has brought an added level of meaning and palpable connection between the past and present, which all the students recognize and respect.”
McArdle participated in the scuba diving program at UD, completing all three courses and acquiring his advanced scientific dive certification in January of 2024. That scientific dive certification allowed him the opportunity to serve as a diver with Project Recover.
McArdle, who is studying environmental studies with a concentration in environmental design and planning in UD’s College of Earth, Ocean and Environment, said that one of the things he enjoys most about traveling to new parts of the world is the opportunity to immerse himself in a different culture.
Before he arrived at UD, McArdle had already traveled to several locations around the world. His role in the Air Force allowed him the opportunity to live in Italy and South Korea, as well as have assignments in Oman and Kuwait. In 2018, after his time in the Air Force came to an end, he got a job as a precision guided munitions technician in Qatar and lived there for a little over a year.
“When I go places, I really like to get into the culture,” he said. “The countries that I’ve lived in have been amazing and I’ve met a lot of cool people.”
When he worked in Qatar, McArdle said that he would work six days a week just to make sure he could gain extra overtime to see even more places.
“I like to keep moving, so when I had accrued time off, I would go different places and get in the cultures and travel around,” he said.
In Micronesia, in addition to getting the opportunity to dive and look for wrecks, McArdle has gained a better understanding of the culture and learned some of the basic language.
He said it was great to witness and be part of the Project Recover team in action, looking at interesting sites underwater and conducting dives to some of the wrecks.
As McArdle plans to wrap up his time at UD in the spring of 2025, he knows that his future plans will have a strong outdoor component.
“My biggest thing is, I want an outside job. I don’t want to be stuck in an office, I can't do that. I want to be outside,” he said. “I want to keep moving. Anything outside. If it has to do with scuba, that's a bonus.”
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