Happy Hour

"IF A LIFETIME CAN BE LIKENED TO A DAY, THEN THIS IS HAPPY HOUR!"
BUCK PENNINGTON

Mother, Mother Ocean

Mother, Mother Ocean, I've heard you call
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall
You've seen it all, you've seen it all
Watched the men who rode you, switch from sails to steam
In your belly you hold the treasures, few have ever seen
Most of 'em dream, most of 'em dream
Yes, I am a pirate, two hundred year's too late
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late

Yoda

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is."
―Yoda, to Luke Skywalker

Counted the Stars

Counted the stars on the 4th of July
Wishing we were rockets bursting in the sky
Talking about redemption and leaving things behind
I have these pictures and I keep these photographs
To remind me of a time
These pictures and these photographs
Let me know I'm doin' fine
We used to be so happy once upon a time
Once upon a time
But the sun sank west of the Mendocino County Line
And the sun sank west of the Mendocino County Line


""SOME SEE A GLASS AS HALF FULL, SOME SEE IT AS HALF EMPTY, I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHO’S DRINKING MY RUM."
Rumbear

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Does anyone remember?

I caught a Facebook post by a friend about the Mohammed Ali versus Ken Norton fight in Zaire today. It seems that today is the 40th anniversary of this "significant" event.

Forty years ago, I was serving aboard USS Independence CV-62 on my first overseas deployment to the Mediterranean Sea/Sixth Fleet.

On 8 September 1974, TWA Flight 841 went down in the Ionian Sea to the West of Greece. The entire Task Force was directed to assist in the Search and Recovery.........................I was three days shy of turning 20 at the time. We had already covered the evacuation of the US Embassy in Nicosia, Cyprus. Does anyone remember?

Seems that the PLO or some other terrorist organization had put a bomb aboard TWA 841 and it went in. The speculation continues to this day about who is actually responsible.

We did as we were supposed to do.................
About 36 hours mostly dead in the water..................the ship held position into the wind for helicopter operations.....................

I was in line at the forward chow hall/bomb assembly area when a bomb elevator came down...............................on it were two Stokes Stretchers with body bags....................
Impact. It is still with me to this day.
The one had a child's toy on it........................

Today, I say Shepard Smith on Fox News and one of Mohammed Ali's daughters having a love fest about how awesome the draft dodging scum bag was.........................

I still remember when Ali refused to show after receiving his draft notice and making it a big deal because of who he was................................
I remember the Vietnam War from TV news and the fact that I had a Draft Lottery Number in the last draft.......................................I still enlisted in the Navy.

I have done more in a single fucking day than Mohammed Ali and his entire family have done in their collective lives for this country that I love.

The fucker gets a pass? Jeebus! I am sorry that he has Parkinson's. My Great Aunt Serina had it as well. She still loved good Canadian Whiskey and taught school for many years.

Oh Yeah. My lottery number in the 1973 Draft was 334, if memory serves. I still enlisted.

Mohammed Ali and the rest of his enablers and entourage can go to hell....................Just sayin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_841_(1974)

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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)