Montel Williams - (Talk Show Host) Williams enlisted in the U.S. Marines upon graduating high school in 1974. After basic training, he was sent to the Desert Warfare Training Center near Palm Springs, California where he was accepted to the Naval Academy Preparatory.  After completing the one-year course, he went on to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.  Upon his arrival at Annapolis, Williams was honorably discharged as a corporal from the marines, and enlisted into the Navy as a Midshipman. Upon graduation in 1980, he became the first black enlisted marine to complete and graduate both the Academy Prep School and Annapolis. Commissioned as an Ensign, he spent the next one and a half years in Guam as a Cryptologic Officer for Naval Intelligence. In 1983 he was transferred to Ft. Meade in Maryland, where he worked with the National Security Agency and was eventually made Supervising Cryptologic Officer with the Naval Security Fleet Support Division . It was while counseling his crew that he discovered a gift for public speaking. Williams received the Navy Achievement Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Navy Commendation Medal.