Thanks for your service … sucker

What an evil way to start a blog. I will admit it that I am very distressed to do something with so much emotion attached to it. Frankly, it’s taken me a few hours to digest the thing that caused me to even consider writing this. But there are some times when you are compelled […]

No wonder the bust went packing…

I have highlighted a bit about character and leadership recently in theleansubmariner. Its been refreshing to see the support from so many readers but I have also received my share of criticism for trying to put a smiley face on bad behavior. Fair enough. When reading someone else‘s opinions it can be easy to chip […]

In the beginning…

“The person who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – Chinese Proverb When I started this small blog over ten months ago, I really only had two goals. The first was to have an outlet where I could share stories about two of my favorite subjects (lean manufacturing and submarines). Today marks […]

Something so powerful, people were willing to die for it.

Kings and potentates. Dictators and tyrants. Savage bands of lawless men and unruly mobs. They all have one thing in common. Throughout history, they would all rob you of your natural born right to freedom. Mankind has a poor track record when it comes to guaranteeing freedom. I think the spark has always been […]

April 24th, 1972: The Oath

April 24th, 1972 is a day that I first raised my hand. Like most kids, I was cocky, self centered, in too much of a hurry to be grown up and not as disciplined as I should have been. But everything began to change on that day. Up until that point, my recruiter had been […]

Apollo 16: Losing the Dream

I was an astronaut in the 1960’s. Our launch facility in Western Pennsylvania was incredibly busy from 1963 to April 1972. We were cutting edge at the time. Not only did we have unlimited supplies of oxygen and “space” food, we journeyed well beyond the moon to find planets that even NASA had not discovered […]

In war, truth is the first casualty. AESCHYLUS

Like many baby boomers, I was born in the shadow of the Greatest Generation and the last good war. I am not sure how anything that caused so much destruction could remotely be considered a “good” war other than the fact that hundreds of millions of people were temporarily freed from one set of tyrants, […]

Intolerable Acts

April 19 is a day which has so much meaning to Americans for reasons both good and tragically horrible. It is a lightning rod day all the things that represent the best and worst of our country. In the dark past of our colonial beginnings, it was the day that marked the first “Shot […]

One of the greatest men I ever knew… Uncle Jack

I am a traditionalist and still believe in the idea that you respect your elders. The elders I am referring to came from a different time (in my case most were of the World War 2 generation). Jack Stuart Patrick was no exception. Like all men, he had parts of his life that he lived […]

USS Hunley AS-31 (Cold Warrior Extraordinaire)

Its hard to believe that a little over twenty years ago I checked on board the USS Hunley. The ship was already about thirty years old when I got to her as the Machinery Division Officer (later Auxiliary Division). The previous two years had been spent in Holy Loch Scotland where the Hunley had spent […]