A Gainesville native had a hand this week in U.S. military exercises with South Korea, as an international crisis loomed with communist North Korea.

Petty Officer 1st Class David Rice, a 1990 Gainesville High graduate, works in aviation maintenance aboard the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier that took part in drills that ended Wednesday.

"From my perspective, it's just day-to-day operations, the same thing we do here every day - flying airplanes and such, patrolling the seas," he said in a phone interview earlier this week.

The exercises followed a Nov. 23 artillery barrage by North Korea that killed four people on Yeonpyeong Island — two South Korean marines and two civilians — and sharply raised tensions on the divided peninsula.

International crises may have not been on Rice's mind when he signed up for the Navy in 1993, but circling the globe was.

"Join the Navy, see the world — that's what I really wanted to do," he said, referring to the old slogan. "I wanted to get away and get out and go places, see things, do things. ... I've been a lot of places. I've done what I wanted to do."

He headed for college after Gainesville High "and did not find it to my liking," he said. "Not really knowing what to do and not just wanting to hang around town, I joined the Navy."

Much of Rice's service has been spent in Japan, home port of the George Washington.

"I've only been on (the carrier) for a couple of months," Rice said.

His wife, Nahoko, and their two sons, Chris, 7, and William, 5, live in Japan.

Rice said he plans to retire from the Navy in about two years, "unless I advance further" in rank, and then work for the U.S. government as a civilian.

"I may not have always had the most exciting career, but I cannot look back on my Navy time with any regrets," he said.

"I've always liked the people I've worked with. ... There's something about camaraderie of being in the military. I know it's something I'll remember for a long time."

His mother, Mary Rice, who lives in Gainesville, said she is proud of her son and his service.

"I don't really worry about him. He's been there almost 20 years now, so he's doing fine," she said.

She said her son first enlisted with the Marines but decided "to change over to the Navy because they have better planes to fly.

"It was fine with me. He's always, more or less, known what he was going to do. I don't think he's really ever made bad choices," she said.

She described her son as "intelligent, quiet and well-read." He's also humble, having not mentioned that he won a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

"His superb performance has been monumental and has had lasting impact on the U.S. Navy," she said, reading the citation.

She laughs when asked why she thought her son didn't mention that honor during the interview.

"He wouldn't. He probably thinks it's no big deal," his mother said.