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A few passing clouds. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..
A few passing clouds. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Grant Speace (second from left) takes part in an informal ceremony on the beach.
The R. Harris/J. Reyher — Hooyah Award
Grant Speace gets a hug from his mother, Stacy Speace Schloegl of Fenton Township
After a video of his surprise proposal to Hailey in 2019, where he was assisted by police, Grant and Hailey Speace were featured on Good Morning America.
Grant Speace and his wife Hailey have been living in Hawaii but will be relocating to Virginia.
Grant Speace (second from left) takes part in an informal ceremony on the beach.
The R. Harris/J. Reyher — Hooyah Award
Grant Speace gets a hug from his mother, Stacy Speace Schloegl of Fenton Township
After a video of his surprise proposal to Hailey in 2019, where he was assisted by police, Grant and Hailey Speace were featured on Good Morning America.
Grant Speace and his wife Hailey have been living in Hawaii but will be relocating to Virginia.
Grant Speace calls Fenton Township and more specifically Lake Ponemah his home, but he’s making waves in a completely different body of water.
He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 2016 and has already traveled the world. He’s been stationed in Maui, Hawaii and will be relocating to Portsmouth, Virginia. Some of his favorite places so far have been Antarctica, Colombia, and Costa Rica.
He’s currently an (E-5) Petty Officer Second Class.
He decided to enroll in the Navy Dive School as a Coast Guard student, which is voluntary and extremely selective.
“Dive School is a very competitive program and I decided I wanted to be a diver so that I can continue to grow and learn new things in my career,” he said. “This has been the most challenging and rewarding aspect of my career.”
During the selection process, there was an 86% attrition rate. Out of the 23 Coast Guard candidates just three of them, including Speace, made it.
“The hardest part I experienced is an evolution called “over-under.”
Speace explained that this is where you sprint the width of the pool and then swim to the bottom, touch the corner, swim across the bottom, touch the corner, and then surface. This is an exercise for aquatic adaptability.
“I think anybody can do this training with the right mentality and physical conditioning,” he said.
Classes are weekly. Some of the topics covered are Basic Dive Physics, Search and Recovery Operations, and Underwater Cutting and Welding.
After 18 weeks of training, he completed and graduated from Dive School on Aug. 23. He also was presented with the R. Harris/J. Reyher — Hooyah Award.
“Graduating the Navy Dive School will change my job in the Coast Guard from a Boatswains Mate (BM) to a Diver (DV),” he said.
He said the most memorable part of Dive School was “pool week.” During this time his class was in the pool, training and getting familiar with SCUBA systems and operations. The instructors imposed problems on them that they were required to solve while keeping their composure.
When asked what he’d tell his future grandkids about his experience with the Coast Guard, Speace said, “I’d tell my future grandkids that the Coast Guard Divers are way more Deep Sea than the Navy Divers, Hooyah!”
Speace is not shy about going after what he wants. In 2019, the Times ran a story about him when he appeared on a Good Morning America segment after his proposal to his now-wife Hailey was shared online.
In that video, Speace, then 24, who attended West Shore Elementary in Lake Fenton Community Schools as a kid, was driving with his girlfriend, Hailey Stultz, then 23, when they were pulled over by police. An officer told them there’s a warrant out for Speace, and they both get out of the car.
Instead of being arrested, Speace got down on one knee and proposed. Police body camera footage captured the moment. Within days of his proposal, the couple married.
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