Our Chaplain, Pete Blum is originally from Cincinnati Ohio. He joined the military in 1987 at the age of 17 and served a total of 11 years active duty (4 Navy and 7 Marines). During the first 4 years he went to bootcamp at Great Lakes Illinois, Parachute Rigger School at Lakehurst New Jersey, and the rest of the time stationed with VRC-50 at Cubi Point in the Philippines working on personal survival equipment and fixed wing aircraft survival equipment. He got out of the Navy as a PR3 with an honorable discharge.
From there he joined the Marine Corps and went to bootcamp at Paris Island South Carolina, Logistics School in Coronado California, and was then stationed at Camp Pendleton California with HMLA-367 (cobra and huey helicopters) providing logistics support and leadership for all deployments. During that duty station he did deployments to Japan, Korea, Kuwait, on the USS Tarawa (LHA-1) and on the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). While underway he was able to visit the ports of Hong Kong, Singapore, Bahrain, UAE, and Australia… and while crossing the equator he became a Shellback.
His second duty station in the Marine Corps was at Quantico Virginia with the Presidential Helicopter Squadron (HMX-1) providing logistics support and leadership. He was able to visit the White House on several occasions and met President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office. He got out of the Marines as a SSgt with an honorable discharge.
Since leaving the military in 1998 Pete moved to Florida and has worked in information technology doing software administration and managing websites. He has had roles at various organizations such an CIO, Marketing Director, COO, Scrum Master, and Agile Coach. Currently he is the Chief Education Officer for JULO Strategy Global and educates business owners on having a CEO Mindset. Aside from the servant leadership he has provided thorough his time in the military and civilian life he has been an adult education trainer, facilitator, coach, and mentor to individuals, teams, and businesses from military to corporate to small business/startup.
Pete continues to serve the military community by volunteering for the following veteran organizations providing specific needs to each such as technical training, social media and website administration, teaching them about entrepreneurship/starting a business, and helping them on their life journey by ministering to those in spiritual need.
Veterans For Worship, Chief of Staff | Vice Chair | Tampa Chapter Leader | Director of Networking | International Expansion
Project Transition USA, Technology Trainer | Associate Instructor | Group Manager | Advisory Board Member
With a desire to help others on an even deeper level Pete has become Mental Health Life Coach Certified and Maxwell Leadership Certified enabling him to expanded what he does over the last few years to include helping the military community with PTS, anxiety, depression, and other afflictions. His ultimate goal is to help them all get to a positive healthy lifestyle that produces a higher level of balance, performance, and success. He additionally helps the homeless community.
Now as the Chaplain of the Florida Naval Sailors Association Pete tends to the Executive Board, members, and families of members by providing prayer over meetings and individuals as well as ministering to those in spiritual need or wanting to grow in their relationship with God.
Pete is married to Brenda Blum from Joliet Illinois and between the two of them they have six children and 7 grandchildren.
Pete’s favorite things to do are geocaching with Brenda and exploring new places together.
You can connect with Pete in person at one of our meetings or connect with him on social media using one of the links below:
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/peteblum/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/peteblum/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/blumpete/