It was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. It was a good day, a damned fine day. The way things are going, I doubt that I will ever again set foot upon an aircraft carrier headed out to sea. Kinda sad, but good in some ways.
I guess...
 |
| Hand salutes were rendered... Those who know, know. |
A fine day, spent with family and friends...
Eyes are good today.
Still mourning the loss of a fine musician, the old days are dying, the new days are upon us. For better or worse, just gotta roll with it brothers and sisters.
Otherwise, I've nothing to say...
Nothing to Say
Ian Anderson
Every day there's someone asking
"What is there to do?
Should I love or should I fight?
Is it all the same to you?"
"No," I say, "I have the answer
Proven to be true
But if I were to share it with you
You would stand to gain and I to lose."
Oh, I couldn't bear it, so I've got nothing to say
Nothing to say nothing to say
Every morning pressure forming all around my eyes
Ceilings crash the walls collapse broken by the lies
That your misfortune brought upon us
And I won't disguise them
So don't ask me will I explain
I won't even begin to tell you why
No, just because I have a name well I've got nothing to say
Nothing to say nothing to say
Climb a tower of freedom paint your own deceiving sign
It's not my part to criticize or to ask you to be blind
To your own pressing problem and the [heat] you must unwind
And ask of me no answer there is none that I could give you wouldn't find
I went your way ten years ago and I've got nothing to say
Nothing to say nothing to say
Nothing, nothing to say
Nothing, nothing to say
Nothing, nothing to say, nothing to say
Nothing, nothing to say, nothing to say
Nothing, nothing to say
Those pictures of North Island remind me of the time that I did Red Flag Ex's (along with others) on both the Shitty Kitty and the Connie. The CO was none too happy, but somebody from the outside has to do them from time to time to keep everybody honest.
ReplyDeleteI should have gone brown shoe. Ah, well, as they say, that ship has sailed.
As I look back, I often wonder at the paths I could have taken, but did not.
DeleteHa. You, LL, probably enjoyed the living heck making the CO not happy. You found your niche and did it well. No regrets there. And what you did has given you some interesting insights to the functioning of the world.
DeleteNo one loves the outsider come to cleanse the temple. As it were...
DeleteA long time ago in GTMO a little YN3 had go from little 180 buoy tender over to the Kitty Hawk to pick up some classified material that the OOD thought was important enough to wake him up at 0330 instead of the duty RM. Wandering over through the maze of security and what hell are you doing here in the wrong uniform looks from their duty sections to pick up said messages, was interesting. Especially with the two armed marine escort I received until I got back to the gangplank. Never did read what was going on in the messages, but I had to deliver them to the CO's quarters and he was awake. Interesting night a lot of people were working late that usually didn't. Haven't set foot on another one of those very large ships since that day. :-)
ReplyDeleteCarriers tend to be busy bustling places, all sorts of folks going to and fro. Easy to get lost on such a ship.
DeleteWanting to know why things are happening because the people around you are all a-stir is maddening.
DeleteOne time at Vandenberg (alright, blogger, I spelled it correctly, just like I spelled Kwajalein correctly so quit telling me I miss-spelled it, dangit) we (mom, the kids) got to take a vacation to grandma's in Porterville at a time when we shouldn't have had to take a vacation. And we went without dad. That put us 2 hill lines and 1 mountainish range between us and him.
Still wonder what the heck was going on. But I'll never know, because I don't need to know. An itch to scratch, but unscratchable. Grrr.
Got some record of his service. Still have to wait a few more years until some of the blanks can get filled in. What the heck was he doing? Dunno. And unlike Congress, I can keep my mouth shut and not talk about things I shouldn't not talk about.
Ah, but then there's the whole "need to know" thing. Drives some folks batty that one does.
DeleteYeah, I didn't need to know anything and I the less I knew back then when I look back now, probably the better. All I know is the next morning the CO/XO were both in pissy moods when they came to the ship's office to look through their inboxes. The CO told me to forget that I woke up that night and went on the A/C and the way he said it, I just said "yes sir". Still wonder to this day what got everyone's tail feathers all on fire, but I didn't need to know anymore than what I did that night. But I was actually glad for the marine escort, I would have gotten lost without it, they chuckled and picked on the Coastie they were escorting around, that the small town boy from Maine, looking all big-eyed at the big ship hehehehe.
DeleteHahaha! I get that!
DeleteI would love to spend a day aboard a carrier again, but I don't know how that could ever happen. Even in my current Navy job, mine warfare and Carrier aviation don't really have any ties so one has to dream. Then again, A friend of mine is the CO of the Nimitz so maybe a friends and family day cruise is in my future! Same for you with Big Time maybe?
ReplyDeleteI hope you get your wish. And who knows, maybe one of these days Big Navy will discover it needs mine warfare again. As to having friends in high places, what else are they for? Go for it before it's too late and your friend is no longer there.
DeleteOne of the big things about my dad's position at Kwajalein as the Air Force Liaison officer is he was 'in charge' of the Range Instrumentation and Tracking ships that were in the area (those funky ships that look like they've been attacked by radar units.) So when one came to Kwaj, he always arranged a tour with the family of them, usually ending up in the Officers' Mess for lunch or dinner, which was very nice as the ships usually came straight from Pearl Harbor so they still had fresh milk. Mmmmm... fresh milk.
Not a big thing, right? Try making whole milk out of frozen concentrated milk. Bleh. But fresh, refrigerated, unfrozen milk...
The things you miss when they aren't there...
Go. Go arrange tour. Pull strings. Sacrifice chickens (on the bbq or in the fryer) or something.
You need it, want it and have the possibility of it. Go!
Tuna - If you have a friend commanding a carrier, you have a shot at it. Big Time is an option for me.
DeleteBeans - Fresh milk over frozen concentrated? I'll take the former every time. Ain't easy getting supplies to Kwajalein is it?
DeleteHey Tuna, put in a good word for me! Ray Ilg used to punch me in the stomach and Gene Conner yelled at me several times, so, you know, maybe the Nimitz CO Mafia can hook a brother up with a ride. I can show the new guy where the FDBDS corpsmen used to hide the beer! ;-)
DeleteHahaha!
DeleteCarriers are an amazing collection of odd things that all work together well. Ah, the road not taken. If only... If only my allergies weren't what they were. If only my head was in a better place.
ReplyDeleteI regret not being able to serve. Wish I could. Continue the Marine tradition of my mother's side of the family, or follow in my father's footsteps in the Air Force, or go crazy and go Armor or Artillery in the Army, or sail in the Navy (they wanted me for their nuke program, until they read my health records, even then they were willing to chance it, but I balked (head issues) and screwed that up.
But then I met Mrs. Andrew and that is the one thing in my life that's worked out well. Got close, but we're still together.
I hate looking back. The tidal wave of regrets and mistakes seems ever-so overwhelming.
So, instead, I bake bread. It works. Bread's relatively unforgiving. Miss a step or don't pay attention and no bread. Get everything right in the correct order and on time, you get bread.
Sometimes it's the simple things that keep you going.
I look back as it's in my nature, the past as history and all that.
DeleteRegrets? Nah, I'm good.
Never a feeling quite like getting underway. Sailors belong on ships and ships belong at sea. I'm sure it wouldn't be the same, but I'd sure enjoy getting underway on a carrier again.
ReplyDeleteLove the way the Man can look down on carriers coming and going. It's a nice place up there.
It's a nice view.
DeleteHey AFSarge;
ReplyDeleteAwesome pics. I do have regrets and but they ain't bad. If my life was differently than I may not have the wife or my son and overall my life has turned out ok.
Just the way I look at things as well MrG. I'm right where I belong.
DeleteA long time ago our large gray home scheduled a family day cruise from NAS Alameda. The usual, lots of family aboard, air show, folks visiting all over their dad/brothers/sons nearly permanent home ('twas during that unpleasantness in SEAsia). Got underway and out past the Golden Gate bridge the weather went from o.k. to no good for flying. Much disappointment 'till the C.O. exercised his backup plan. He brought a '65 Chevy Impala up from the hanger bay and loaded it on the #1 cat. Launched it to the enjoyment of all.....right up to the point where the Aviation Bos'n Mates surprise for the Captain was seen. Half way down the cat the trunk lid came open about 10 inches and an arm was seen waving frantically to all. And that Impala got airborne; with the flying ability of a brick it crashed into the ocean about 200 yards ahead of the boat. Yup the Bosn's had rigged a department store mannequin in the car's trunk with a spring load that released when the cat fired. A family day cruise that was remembered by all....
DeleteHahaha! That's priceless!
Delete