"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Rhythms, part I

Rhythms, part I A day in the life aboard an aircraft carrier at sea.
For all who have never been to sea on a man of war................................this is for you and for those of us who were touched by Carroll Lefon and his most eloquent way with the written word.
Gotta do it.
The try, again. This time all chapters at one per day.
When the book comes out, I will buy it.
Our Good Captain, Carroll "Lex" Lefon on the right with Bill "Pinch" Paisley. Fighter Guys. These two along with Buck Pennington are the best blogging friends a man could ever have.

2 comments:

Buck Pennington said...

You humble me, Glenn. To place my name in the same company as Lex and Pinch is a bit over the top, but pleasing. Thank you, Sir.

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip, said...

Well sir... you have dredged up some memories with that repost.

There are some differences though.
Back in the early sixties we were Radarmen, but still understaffed by about 50%.
We had storekeepers, disbursing clerks, corpsmen and postal clerks standing CIC watches.
They lucked out with three section instead of port and starboard.
The RD watches were from chow to chow, except for the midwatch.
It started at 0000 and there was no meal.
There may have been a bowl of chili and crackers if some snipe or deckape hadn't already scarfed it down.
The midwatch ended when the relief finished breakfast (sometime between 0730 and 0745).
We would relieve them sometime between 1200 and 1215.
Their only complaint was they missed the ships movie.
Invartiably GQ would be called sometime in the morning so the only real sleep we got was after evening chow.
I was on a Gearing class Fram I tincan so we didn't have any bunk lights and showers were something we got in port because the ships evaporators could keep up with water usage most of the time.
He mentioned bathrobes.
About the only place we may have seen a bathrobe would have been Officers Country.

I'm not complaining. I could been a grunt trying to sleep in the mud.

I will not go down and tell my children I didn't have the courage, the conviction, the commitment or the character to fight for this country...Don't go home and let your children down~~ LTC Allen West

Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

‎"Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.("Therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war")" from "Epitoma Rei Militaris," by Vegetius (Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus)